Naturally, no one would question whether Professor McGonagall had the strength to become a champion.
The heads of the three schools could not become champions, but deputy heads were not included in that restriction. Every professor currently in service had been required to submit a slip of paper with their own name written on it.
Professor McGonagall becoming a champion naturally elicited the most enthusiastic cheers from the Gryffindor students, but Ravenclaw alone—every single Ravenclaw student at that moment was staring intently at Harry, staring at Professor Flitwick, praying that their head of house would be successfully selected as a champion.
The hope of the entire house—though not a student champion, at least it would be a Ravenclaw—please! Head! Become a champion!
Crack!
The Goblet of Fire spat out another tongue of flame, and a still-warm piece of parchment fell into Harry's hand.
"Hogwarts' second professor champion is—Professor Flitwick!"
Screams.
The Ravenclaws finally breathed a sigh of relief. Many of the young eagles were patting their chests nonstop, and those who were more emotionally stirred were hugging each other.
Six slots, and Ravenclaw finally hadn't been completely left out. Great, fantastic—there was simply nothing better than this.
Yes, Ravenclaw House did indeed pride itself on being aloof, fully devoted to knowledge and paying little mind to trivial matters. But that didn't mean they were indifferent to everything. Ravenclaws often used all sorts of methods to achieve or obtain what they wanted.
It didn't mean they cared about nothing. For those truly important things or—
Tell a joke that's not actually a joke: the house with the most former students imprisoned in Azkaban wasn't even Slytherin, but Ravenclaw—and many of them ended up there for financial crimes or exploiting legal loopholes.
The laws in the wizarding world were indeed quite vague in many areas, but vagueness didn't mean they were easy to exploit—vagueness meant you could be hauled in for just about any reason.
In short, the proud young eagles could hardly imagine what they'd be mocked as if, once the six champions were freshly selected, not a single one had any connection to Ravenclaw. What smug expressions those Slytherin snakes would wear, not to mention the always high-profile Gryffindors.
But now things were different.
They had a savior.
"No problem, Professor Flitwick?" Harry asked the white-haired old professor.
Putting aside everything else, Professor Flitwick was indeed a bit too old—even Professor McGonagall didn't have a full head of white hair. Though Flitwick had won the Wizards' Dueling Championship trophy in his youth, he was old now, with old arms and legs. Harry was genuinely a little worried.
"Of course," Professor Flitwick himself looked completely at ease. He patted his chest and said, "Rest assured, Harry. I'll bring the cup back to Hogwarts."
"Safety first." Harry nodded slightly and caught the parchment spat out by the Goblet of Fire for the final time. But this time, he didn't read it out immediately. Instead, he stared wide-eyed at the parchment, saying nothing for a long while.
"Professor? Hurry and call it out—the last professor champion, who is it?!"
"We're dying to know!"
Fred stood up directly from his chair and shouted, looking utterly impatient.
"Hogwarts' final professor champion is... Harry Potter."
His face still etched with confusion, Harry was certain the name on this parchment was his own.
[Hogwarts
Harry Potter]
The entire Great Hall fell silent. Everyone already knew the rules of the Triwizard Tournament clearly: the heads of the three schools could not enter, only serving as judges to score the champions' performances.
So the question was, why had Harry's name been spat out by the Goblet of Fire?
Gradually, a single clap echoed in the Great Hall, and soon that clap spread into enthusiastic applause and cheers, with students shouting:
"Headmaster Potter is a champion! We're guaranteed to win! We're guaranteed to win!!"
For the ordinary students, they didn't care about this or that—they only knew Harry's magic was incredibly strong, and now Harry had become Hogwarts' champion. That meant Hogwarts was guaranteed to win!!
But for the people from the other schools, this wasn't exactly friendly.
"Why are you a champion, Headmaster Potter?!" Karkaroff immediately said in a rage. "This is unfair! It's unreasonable! Crouch? Right, Crouch! You can allow this kind of rule-breaking to happen?!"
Madame Maxime's expression looked a bit grim too, but she didn't say much.
"Calm down a bit, Karkaroff." Harry glanced at Karkaroff and calmly displayed the parchment in his hand. "This isn't my handwriting."
"I think the most important thing now is to head to that room first," Dumbledore suddenly said from beside Harry. "This is still the Great Hall, after all, and the children are down there."
Some things truly couldn't be let known to the children.
And so, amid the students' cheers, Harry smiled and waved in response, then walked into the side room off the Great Hall where the other champions would enter.
The room wasn't large, and with eighteen champions crammed in, it felt a bit cramped to stand—let alone with Dumbledore and the others following close behind, plus Crouch and Bagman.
"Professor Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked in some surprise. "Has something happened? Why are you all—"
"Something has indeed happened, Professor McGonagall!" Karkaroff interrupted her irritably. "Headmaster Potter has become a champion! He became a champion! How is this possible?!"
"This is indeed somewhat unfair to us," said Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons. No matter how much she admired Harry, she had to defend her school's position at a time like this. "And it violates the rules. Heads of schools should not be allowed to compete."
"Er, I have to remind everyone—the Goblet of Fire's flames have gone out," Ludo Bagman said, scratching his head. "Which means Headmaster Potter has already signed a magical contract. He can't withdraw—if he does, he'll die."
"Are we just supposed to watch this happen?" Karkaroff's voice suddenly turned oily. "What about you, Mr. Crouch? What do you say?"
"We must abide by the regulations. The regulations clearly state that anyone whose name is spat out by the Goblet of Fire must compete in the tournament," Crouch said in a rasping voice.
"Hey, Barty's got the regulations memorized backward and forward," Bagman said with a sigh of relief.
"I insist on re-entering," Karkaroff said, no longer smiling, his voice no longer slick. He looked furious. "You must reignite the Goblet of Fire, but this time, Madame Maxime and I will add our names too."
"Frankly, Karkaroff," Snape, who had followed in, suddenly said with disdain, "even if you added your name, you'd probably have a hard time being selected as a champion."
"What did you say?!" Karkaroff whirled around to glare at Snape.
"But Karkaroff, once the Goblet of Fire goes out, it can only be relit for the next tournament—we can't make it burn early."
"So we're just supposed to watch Hogwarts cheat? In that case, Durmstrang absolutely won't participate in the next Triwizard Tournament!" Karkaroff thundered. "Despicable! Shameless! Using such despicable methods—!"
"Durmstrang is more than welcome not to participate," Harry said coldly. "And you don't need to throw a tantrum here, Karkaroff. There are plenty of magical schools in the world—besides, you can't leave now anyway. Durmstrang's champions have signed the magical contract too."
"Everyone," Harry said after suppressing Karkaroff with his presence, scanning the room and raising the parchment in his hand. "I can swear to all of you that I did not put my name into the Goblet of Fire, and the handwriting on this parchment is completely different from mine. This can be proven with my past letters."
"Who knows?" Karkaroff muttered. "You could easily have had one of your people write it and toss it in."
"Unfortunately, that's impossible, Karkaroff," Dumbledore suddenly said. "The Goblet of Fire only selects from those who willingly submit their own names themselves. This is to prevent students from secretly entering others' names, leading to unprepared people dying in tragedy. Such things have happened before, and ever since, the Goblet has had this restriction added."
Karkaroff opened his mouth, but for a moment, he didn't know where to begin.
At that moment, Lupin suddenly pushed open the door and came in, holding the Goblet of Fire in his arms.
"Everyone," Lupin said seriously. "After my careful examination, I've discovered that a powerful Confundus Charm was cast on the Goblet of Fire. It was this charm that made it ignore Headmaster Potter's status as headmaster and also ignore that this parchment wasn't submitted by him personally."
"Aha! I knew it!" Karkaroff snapped his fingers as if he'd suddenly found a target. "You cast the Confundus Charm on it, didn't you? It was right there, in the entrance hall—you had a whole evening..."
"Shut up, Karkaroff!" Snape threatened irritably. "Has your brain been taken over by a troll? Can't you see that someone is clearly trying to murder Ha... Headmaster Potter?! Why exactly did you come to Hogwarts!!"
Snape's gaze cut into Karkaroff like a knife, burning with intensity—he had reason to suspect Karkaroff, and he wouldn't trust him just because Karkaroff wanted to avoid the fact of Voldemort's return.
What if Karkaroff had secretly pledged allegiance to Voldemort?
Harry being unexpectedly selected as champion, the Goblet of Fire under a powerful Confundus Charm—these things were, in Snape's eyes, ironclad proof that someone was trying to murder Lily's child. He would never allow it!
He had to strike at Karkaroff immediately!
Karkaroff was suddenly speechless, his face red as if it were on fire.
"Frankly," Crouch suddenly said from the side, "but from the perspective of the regulations and rules, Hogwarts and Headmaster Potter have not actually violated them."
"What?" Karkaroff's eyes widened.
"Because while Headmaster Potter is the head of Hogwarts, he is also a professor at Hogwarts—and currently the only Shamanism professor in the wizarding world," Crouch explained in his rasping voice, unhurried. "Which means he is a member of the Hogwarts faculty, qualifying under the restrictions for this Triwizard Tournament's professor category."
"H-how can this be," Karkaroff stammered, like a third-rate villain whose plot had been exposed.
The small room fell silent for a moment; no one spoke. The selected student champions didn't dare speak either—they had roughly realized what was happening now, so much of their joy at becoming champions had dissipated.
"Alright, then that's settled," Madame Maxime suddenly said. "Since Headmaster Potter himself shoulders the duties of teaching a class, this indeed doesn't count as violating the rules—the only issue is that we'll probably need to select another judge."
Madame Maxime's gaze fell on Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore," she said. "Mr. Crouch, Mr. Bagman—as headmistress of Beauxbatons, I only recognize Dumbledore as the replacement judge at this moment. I believe he can score fairly."
"If no one minds," Dumbledore said with a slight shrug.
"...Fine, I have no objections," Karkaroff said, his face still looking terrible, but no one particularly cared about his opinion now.
"That's settled, then?" Bagman rubbed his hands together, looking relieved.
As the newly appointed head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, Ludo Bagman didn't want the first major event he oversaw to end in unexpected failure.
"Excellent, then shall we proceed? Barty? It's time to brief our champions, isn't it?"
"...Yes," Crouch said, still expressionless. "The first task is to test your courage. Eighteen champions—there has never been a Triwizard Tournament with so many, from students to professors. The first task will bring you danger and wash out those timid champions among you, especially those who are just filling numbers."
"Therefore, we will not tell you what the first task specifically is. Even though the student champions and professor champions will face different tasks, this point is the same."
"The courage to face the unknown is an essential quality for wizard champions, especially since this tournament will be open to Muggles. We absolutely will not allow anyone to lose face for wizards."
"The first task will take place on November 24th, at the end of this month, completed in front of your fellow students and the panel of judges."
Crouch was extremely serious; his words themselves represented Scrimgeour's attitude, or rather, the attitude of the vast majority of wizards in the magical world—absolutely no letting Muggles look down on wizards.
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