บท 345: Chapter 345 Dissent
Before dawn, a cold, grayish-white light pierced the forest fog a little, and the conversation, which no one knew about, drew closer to its end.
"My lord, the newspapers say that the Longbottoms are healed, and they will accuse me ..." whispered the figure sprawled on the ground.
"Time will erase all traces, have not my servants forgotten my majestic name, and how many purebloods once prostrated at my feet and kissed my robe?" Voldemort said lightly.
Barty Crouch Jr.'s body suddenly trembled, as if there is an invisible whip lashed on his body.
But Voldemort ignored him as he said lazily, "I'm going to share an insight with you, magic is power. Do you know why memory extraction and Truth Potion cannot be used as evidence in court? It's because they are unreliable, and these means can be deceived by highly skilled wizards. Let me ask you - were you caught red-handed?"
"No, no," whispered Barty Crouch Jr.
Voldemort sneered twice, "That's right. There are too many ways to refute their accusations, Polyjuice Potion, Obliviate, Confundus Charm ... The key is to have a witness of sufficient weight!"
"If Dumbledore comes forward and identifies you, that would be a problem, but an ordinary Auror couple? Don't forget, their own memories are glued together, how credible are they?"
Barty Crouch Jr.'s face turned rosy with excitement.
"Ideally, as originally planned, I succeed in resurrecting myself, recruiting my former forces from the shadows, and building up my strength... Anyway, after you finish off Moody, inherit Crouch Sr.'s fame and connections and enter the Ministry of Magic ... At that time," he said softly, "you will gain immense glory, and the position of Minister of Magic will be just the most insignificant reward."
"Your will is my mission, My Lord!"
...
The sun finally came out, and the mist in the forest completely dissipated without leaving any trace. The camp became lively.
Felix did not sleep for long, he had always felt that Barty Crouch came with an unknown intention, and thought for a long time, but had no clue. At dawn, he saw Clammy emerge from her compartment, carrying a cup of hot cocoa and a thin blanket in her other hand, half-squinting and yawning.
"What can't sleep?"
Clammy blinked, before seeing Felix sitting on the couch, "Professor, why don't you turn on the light?" She walked over to the table where she had eaten yesterday and tapped a magic lamp in the shape of a bronze eagle, which flapped its wings and flew into the midair to spit out balls of light, and the tent instantly brightened up.
She sat down across from Felix and covered herself with a blanket, unable to resist letting out another yawn, "I oh, I just can't sleep, I'm going to stay up a little longer and go back to sleep in the office. When are we leaving?"
"Anytime you want to leave," Felix said gently, "we don't need the Portkey, we can just use Apparition," he looked at the other two compartments in the tent that were simply dividing, "Let's wait for Remus and Eric. I guess."
Clammy hugged her thin blanket, sipping hot cocoa as she chatted away with a smile.
"When my leave is over, I have to make a trip back to the Gringotts to hand over my work ... Unfortunately, I made a lot of friends in Egypt." She intertwined her fingers and said something with amusement, "By the way," she asked with sudden interest, "Professor, did Bill ever call you by the nickname to your face back then - the wandering Sphinx? "
"... No."
"That's an interesting nickname, how come no one calls you that?" Clammy showed a sorry expression, "I did hear someone in the company call you the Snake King behind your back, I don't think that's very good, easy to remind people of the Basilisk ..."
"Yeah, well, it's not like I can care what other people say." Felix made himself a cup of tea and said very leisurely.
Without realizing it, Clammy's hot cocoa ran out, and she stared at Felix's tea. "Want some?" Felix asked her, Clammy said hesitantly, "I've heard that drinking it will keep you awake ..."
At that moment, a low female voice came from the entrance: "Is Mr. Felix Hap inside? I'm Olympe Maxime, from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic."
Felix revealed a surprised expression, "Just a moment, ma'am." He stood up and poked his hand out while walking towards the door, "Whoosh!" A jacket flew out of his compartment and slipped into him, nimbly fastening the buttons.
Clammy also slipped back into her compartment with a blanket and empty cup.
Stepping out of the tent, he looked eyes to eyes with a tall woman. Unlike when he had hastily glimpsed her in the middle of the night, she had obviously been dressed up, wrapped head to toe in a blue cotton silk dress, her hair pulled back into a shiny black bun and an opal necklace around her neck.
"Madame Maxime?" Felix tentatively uttered the title he had heard by chance.
Madame Maxime blossomed into an elegant smile, and she held out her hand, and Felix flinched, but he still gently grasped it, as his lips touched the back of her hand.
"Mr. Hap," Madame Maxime said, "forgive me for taking the liberty by visiting you, but we are leaving during the day, and I really don't want to skip the meeting with the new school board member."
"Has Beauxbatons already got the message?"
"There is a list of school board members in the headmasters' office, and I saw your name appear on it when Mr. Nicolas Flamel died." Madame Maxime said with some sadness.
"So you are the headmistress of Beauxbatons."
They walked into the tent and Madame Maxime sat in where Clammy was, she took up the whole couch by herself and had to put her legs over on the side.
Felix took out empty teacups and placed them in front of them, then while directing the teapot to pour the tea, he said, "Actually, I have long wanted to visit Beauxbatons, it is just that I heard that some rules of the competition have not been finalized yet, and there are quite a few objections, so I did not set out to avoid suspicion."
Madame Maxime said, "Every Triwizard Tournament was big trouble, not to mention two more schools were added. The Ministry of Magic is not too happy ..."
Felix knew that she should be talking about the French Ministry of Magic.
"At least the general direction should be determined, is there any problem in deciding?"
Madame Maxime sipped her tea as she said carelessly, "The general direction is determined, but the details can't be sloppy, because if we agree this time, it will probably be an example for the next time."
"Every school has its own ideas, and so does every Ministry of Magic. We have to confirm all kinds of rules before lighting the Goblet of Fire."
"Is it the American and African sides that have made unacceptable conditions?" Felix asked.
He really hadn't paid much attention to the progress of the Triwizard Tournament which is now called as Tournament of Champions, but he had heard Charlie Weasley's captain mention a word about it during his visit to the Dragon Reserve, and it was said that Fudge had made many compromises in order to spread the tournament's impact out of Europe.
"The tournament location has to be determined first, which is still in Europe, and in order, this time it's Hogwarts' turn," Madame Maxime said, "Ilvermorny and Uagadou will have to wait in line at the back."
Felix nodded, he knew that the Triwizard Tournament had been hosted on a rotating basis until it was suspended.
"As for the specific items of the tournament, it is decided by the Ministry of Magic where this tournament is held, which is the British Ministry of Magic this year, and they're keeping the whole thing a secret from us." Speaking of which, she paused and let out a nasal hum, "Dumbledore must know, nevertheless I trust his character ..."
"What a few of us headmasters can be involved in deciding are those finer details, such as the number of participants, the age of the contestants, the forbidden magic, and other details, It where the controversy lies."
"Like what?"
"Ilvermorny demanded an additional number of participants, the argument being that they had four houses and each house had to select at least one champion."
Felix laughed heartily, "Isn't the selection of champion something that the Goblet of Fire does, and they want to do that?"
Madame Maxime nodded and said, "They did have the idea, but Beauxbatons, Hogwarts, and Durmstrang strongly disagreed before they gave up."
"And Uagadou's Self-Transfiguration," she pursed her lips and said with some alarm, "I also learned that they have mastered the human transfiguration magic that is very similar to Animagus, and nearly a third of the senior Uagadou students can transform into leopards and elephants, not to mention Those elite students can do much more ..."
"Self-Transfiguration? I've heard of this magic, but it shouldn't disrupt the balance of the tournament, right?"
"That depends on how you look at it." Madame Maxime explained, "Some animals have advantages that people don't have, for example, if a certain level is about speed, then Uagadou's students have a natural advantage."
"But that doesn't mean anything, it only means that Uagadou's students show their own characteristics." Felix didn't see any problem with that.
"Then do you know the amount of time Uagadou's students spent on this magic?" Madame Maxime asked.
"Does it mean it was very long?" Felix guessed.
"At least three to five years of study." Madame Maxime said, "They enter school at the age of ten, and after a year of observation, they choose their own appropriate direction, usually with two or three subjects as their main focus and three or four as minors. By the time they reach their senior year, they will have focused all their energy on the main subjects."
"For example, a young wizard, from the second year onwards, is exposed to the full knowledge of Self-Transfiguration and proceeds to prepare and practice it, and then after several years of uninterrupted practice, until he or she learns it. Even those who have learned it can also choose a second form, a third form."
"Very unique indeed." Felix nodded his head, Uagadou's headmaster should've regarded this as the knowledge that students must master, that's why he did it. There are some similarities with the advice he mentioned to Dumbledore, nevertheless, to really analyse, the difference in each school is quite big.
"Where is the controversy?"
"If you look at it alone there is no problem, but if you compare Uagadou and Durmstrang to view it? Uagadou's students bring their magic that they have practiced for years to the competition without any restrictions, while Durmstrang's students have to endure not being able to use their best dark magic, and of course, Karkaroff disagrees, they have lost too many times in the past and don't want to lose again."
Felix understood, this is the key to the problem, the competition represents the honour, and the history of competition between the top five schools, it represents the historical honour, the champion is destined to be in the history books, passed down for years.
In front of the huge honour, a slight advantage is going to be counted, let alone a gap that big, no one wants to swim with shackles.
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