Chương 99: Chapter 99
The deadline for Dumbledore to turn himself in came and went with no response for the old man. Even his Order of the Phoenix lackeys did not appear to once again advocate his innocence, as doing so would only see them jailed for collusion.
Chad never expecting Dumbledore to turn himself in since the number of schemes the old man had spammed the wizarding world with would be easy to uncover with the Minister for Magic using his influence to use harsher interrogating methods.
A carefully worded oath swearing no involvement or the use of Veritaserum would undo the man as surely as being caught redhanded.
With the massive political block now opposing the Leader of the Light, nearly any method would easily be able to be voted through and see the Dark Lord brought down. And without Fawkes to teleport to safety as he pleased, Dumbledore's escape capabilities had been severely limited.
Which was why there was such a massive crackdown on any witch or wizard that would supply aid to Dumbledore, and a reward that would see even the Weasleys think twice about accepting it over their 'loyalty' to the man.
With Dumbles laying low, things seemed to quiet down except for the occasional raid on the more fanatical of his supporters like Diggle and the like. So much so that Chad hoped it would last a bit longer so he could at least finish school and reach adulthood.
Being a teenager sucked when you had the mind of an adult and wished to be treated as such. Thirteen-year-olds could not drink or do any of the fun stuff that he took for granted when he turned eighteen in his past life.
Well, at least openly.
But most importantly, as a child, he would never be taken seriously or be able to run for office in the Ministry. Not for the first time, he cursed R.O.B for making him Harry Potter instead of a random wizard that had already finished Hogwarts.
He might have actually attended the Yule ball if he was older, and even though a lot of the more senior years had their eyes on him thanks to his larger stature, looks, wealth and fame, he doubted they would treat him like anything other than his current age.
Older kids tended to look down on their younger schoolmates, even if it was by only a year or two.
Chad didn't bother attending the second task since he had no great desire to stare at the Black Lake until the contestants reappeared from rescuing their hostages.
Really, with untold applications for magic, surely someone could have come up with a way to view the champions as they swam under the surface of the water!
Predictably, Ron failed to come anything other than last, but he did surprise Chad by actually rescuing his hostage. The fact that his target was his sister Ginny spoke volumes of Ron's 'magnetic' personality.
The Triwizard Tournament organisers weren't exactly spoiled for choices when it came to selecting a hostage for the ostracised red-head since they couldn't exactly use his chessboard or food.
Without the Boy-Who-Lived by his side, and coupled with his radical stance of what was considered 'Dark', the only thing 'magnetic' about his personality was a magnet's repelling force when it came to his ability to drive people away.
He was the polar opposite of the current political climate, and his inability to keep quiet on his personal views had nearly everyone distancing themselves from him.
Still, even with Ron's magical aptitude and lack of friends, the boy somehow managed to struggle through the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. Chad suspected either outside interference or massive amounts of private tutoring.
With Dumbledore forced to lay low until Voldemort revealed himself, things settled down to what was considered normal in Magical Britain. Time flew by without incident until the third and final task of the Tournament was only hours away.
Though Chad had been wary of Dumbledore making a move while the tentative peace lasted, the final challenge of the competition filled him with anxiety. If ever there was a time for magical shenanigans that would disrupt his plans, this would be the time for it.
A public event such as the conclusion of an international tournament would be the perfect time for making a move, using the public exposure to spread whatever message the Dark Lord wished.
Also, Barty Jnr was still yet to make an appearance, and Chad wondered just how Dumbledore planned to make use of that crazy bastard without implicating himself. If Dumbledore had any sense, he would simply put the lunatic out of his misery.
Still, Chad was worried Dumbledore would do something drastic. At this point, practically the whole wizarding world was against him other than a few die-hard loyalists, and he had been publically branded as a criminal fugitive with a massive reward for any information leading to his capture.
The only possible way Dumbledore could redeem his good name was if Voldemort waltzed into the Ministry and started killing people while admitting to framing the old man.
And although Chad had thrown around the idea of Voldemort 'resurrecting' to increase his own fame, he sure as sh*t wasn't going to do it now that it would benefit Dumbledore!
By the time the champions had entered the hedge maze to battle its trials, Chad must have checked the Maurader's Map twenty times looking for suspicious names. But so far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Forty minutes later, Viktor Krum suddenly appeared on the stage in front of the judges with the Triwizard cup in his hands. The Durmstrang students went wild with cheers, and Chad quickly checked his map once again.
Nothing.
Was he perhaps overthinking the situation? Just because canon always had problems appear out of nowhere, didn't mean things would be the same now he had spectacularly changed the storyline.
After thinking this, he allowed himself to relax, well, after he checked the map one last time and still found nothing. A smile erupted across his face when he realised Dumbledore had probably decided to go back to playing the long game and waiting for Voldemort to mess up on his own accord.
Flitwick and Snape were sent off to retrieve the failed champions Miles Bletchley and Ron Weasley from the maze, and soon a short closing ceremony was held. Someone with a camera was snapping off pictures while Bagman was shaking hands of the winner from Durmstrang.
Everything was going just how you would expect the conclusion of a school competition to go, even a magical one. Of course, that was when a spell was shot into the sky, and a giant menacing skull with a snake slithering around it came into being.
Some idiot had used Morsmordre spell, the signature move of the Death Eaters.
"For f*ck sake!" Chad accidentally exclaimed aloud, his short-lived peace of mind destroyed at the sight of the creepy spell.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed in shock, still obsessed about propriety no matter how much he had changed her original annoying personality.
Not bothering to give her an excuse or an apology, Chad ignored her and watched as the crowd became panicked at the sight of the magical illusion.
Chaos was only a step away, and the herd mentality of the crowd was just waiting for the first person to make a move so they could follow their lead, much like an army on the cusp of defeat when the first person flees for their life. It quickly turns into a rout.
Thanks to the frightened minds of those seeing the first offender leg it, they would be quick to do so as well. It was the perfect moment to imprint the identity of those attacking in the subconscious of the crowd, even if it was untrue!
Witnesses to a crime usually had problems accurately recollecting what they saw at the best of times, let alone in stressful situations. But once their opinion was formed, it rarely changed, even if all the facts are put in front of them to prove otherwise.
"Dumbledore is attacking! Run, his Death Eaters are here!" Yelled the poor student that happened to make eye contact with Chad.
It only took a split second for him to wandlessly cast legilimency on the unprotected mind of the closest student, and he had his leader of the sheep to control the momentum of those gathered.
There was no way he was going to do it himself, that would put him under too much scrutiny and waste all of the effort he made staying off of Dumbledore's radar. Word would undoubtedly get back to the master manipulator if Harry Potter yelled out commands that would negatively impact him.
Just like Chad predicted, the panicked sheep took the incentive to flee screaming, the threat of the most powerful wizard turned dark too much for their minds to handle.
A few unfortunate people were trampled when they fell to the ground in the manic stampede, such was the chaos and danger of large numbers of people packed together. Those running for their life rarely stopped to help others.
A small group of masked men in cloaks had emerged from the Forbidden Forest and started firing stunners at those closest to them just after everyone ran thinking Dumbledore was going to kill them.
Even if he was the one behind the interruption to the festivities and had scripted this attack, Chad couldn't have timed it better than what had just occurred.
Fear from the giant skull in the sky had overridden the crowd's rationality, Chad's unwitting patsy had yelled out Dumbledore as the culprit, and then these obviously fake Death Eaters started shooting stunners.
If these were real Death Eaters, the streams of magic flying through the air would be green instead of red, and the victims would never wake no matter the counter curse or spell cast on them.
Luckily, everyone hit by the stunners was at the edge of the mass of fleeing witches and wizards, and everyone was running away from the attackers.
Those stunned were not trampled to death. But with such an uncontrolled exodus, there was bound to be many injuries.
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