"Professor, that is the funniest joke I've ever heard," Daphne Greengrass said, wiping tears from her eyes. "Miss Grindelwald just graduated from Hogwarts this year; she's only seventeen.
How could she possibly be Grindelwald's sister? Let alone his older sister... You'd be better off saying she's Mr. Grindelwald's descendant; that would sound much more plausible."
"Well, I knew you wouldn't believe it anyway," Newt said, lowering his head. "But that is basically the way it is..."
After class, the students laughed and chatted about what Newt had just said.
No one truly believed Newt's words; everyone treated the matter of Miss Grindelwald being Mr. Grindelwald's older sister as a joke.
"I really didn't expect the usually serious Professor Scamander to enjoy joking with everyone," Lavender said with a grin.
But Hermione didn't laugh. She, of course, knew the truth—Veratia really was Mr. Grindelwald's biological older sister, born of the same mother, and she was the one who had raised him with her own hands.
Upon returning to the Great Hall, Harry received a message from Veratia. The gist was that the situation with Crouch had been settled, and Mr. Crouch was now "firmly on our side."
It wasn't actually hard to understand. As a man addicted to power, Barty Sr. would absolutely never accept being removed from office due to certain matters. Even if he couldn't become Minister for Magic, holding onto his current position was better than nothing.
Harry felt quite happy about this good news.
Normally, the start of the summer term meant Harry would be intensifying training with the Quidditch team, preparing for the final match of the season.
However, this year, the Quidditch Cup had been canceled due to the Triwizard Tournament, and he had to prepare for the third and final task of the tournament.
But the third task was different from the second; there were no clues for them to actively uncover.
Harry couldn't be bothered to ask; the professors would notify him when the time was right anyway.
Time passed day by day. Whenever he had free time, Harry buried himself in the library, trying to find a way to save Anne.
But just like a hundred years ago, he still came up with nothing.
What if... he muttered inwardly, I go check Durmstrang's library? After all, they didn't forbid students from studying the Dark Arts over there. Wasn't that kid Gellert a top student who honed his skills at Durmstrang back in the day?
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed, so he mentioned this to Veratia via their communication.
"Oh, you mean Anne?" Veratia said. "I don't think Durmstrang has a suitable solution either, but I do have a tentative idea."
"What idea?" Harry asked curiously.
"Hmm..." Veratia thought for a moment and said to Harry, "Perhaps we can use a Horcrux."
"A Horcrux?" Harry said in shock. "It's not like Sebastian didn't think of that back then. Do you remember what we did? We beat him to his knees and made him promise he would never think of such an evil method again..."
"Relax, darling," Veratia said with a faint smile. "I know that, of course, but you must have misunderstood me. My idea is to use Voldemort's Horcrux to absorb the Dark Magic curse on Anne..."
"Are you absolutely sure?" Harry asked cautiously.
"No," Veratia said, shaking her head. "It's just an idea. It might succeed, or it might not."
Harry took a deep breath.
He couldn't help but retort, "Why don't you just tell me you have two trees out front: one's a date tree, and the other one... is also a date tree?"
"We can conduct an experiment," Veratia said with a beam. "For example... let someone acquire a similar curse, then use one of Voldemort's Horcruxes to test it... I think it's a pretty good idea, don't you?"
"Let who acquire the curse?" Harry looked at Veratia warily; he had a feeling she was about to target someone significant.
"Barty Crouch Jr., of course." Veratia was still smiling. "After the Triwizard Tournament ends, Barty Crouch Jr. will have outlived his usefulness... Hmm... though I did promise Mr. Crouch that I'd let Barty Jr. find a witch to pass on the Crouch family bloodline first. After that, he's ours to deal with."
"You actually agreed to that for Barty Sr.?" Harry asked in surprise. "Heavens, I always thought you couldn't be coerced..."
Hearing Harry's naive words, Veratia laughed happily.
"Hahaha... Do you really think he could coerce me? It's merely that I pity their family's ancient heritage... Of course, I suggested Mr. Crouch find a Veela. After all, Magical Creatures and humans can use spells to facilitate things... if you know what I mean."
"The world of adults is truly too complex," Harry recited expressionlessly.
They chatted until midnight. Harry and Veratia agreed to meet during the third task, and only then did he reluctantly end the call with her.
After Transfiguration the next afternoon, Harry was surprised to be held back by Professor McGonagall.
"Potter, go down to the Quidditch pitch tonight at nine o'clock," Professor McGonagall told him. "Mr. Bagman is going to tell the champions what the third task is."
"Yes, Professor," Harry answered obediently.
So, at eight-thirty that evening, after reading in the common room for a while, Harry went downstairs.
As he crossed the Entrance Hall, Viktor was just coming out of the Slytherin common room.
"What do you think it will be?" Viktor asked Harry as they walked down the stone steps together, merging into the cloudy night. "Fleur keeps rambling about underground tunnels. Honestly, I can't quite understand her accent... If I heard correctly, she thinks we're going to be hunting for treasure."
"Actually, that would be quite nice. If it really is a treasure hunt, I could ask Professor Scamander from Care of Magical Creatures for a Niffler and just leave the treasure hunting to it."
"That is indeed a brilliant idea, Harry." Viktor seemed very pleased; he apparently hadn't thought of that method. Harry's words had truly opened the door to a new world for him.
They walked across the dark lawn toward the Quidditch pitch, then entered through a gap in the stands.
"Merlin's baggiest T-shirt!" Harry pointed furiously at the transformed Quidditch pitch and shouted, "What on earth have they done to my beloved Quidditch pitch!?"
The Quidditch pitch was no longer smooth and flat as usual. It looked as though someone had built countless long, low walls there, twisting and crisscrossing in all directions.
Like a maze.
"It's walls! Is our final task related to a maze?" Viktor said, squatting down to closely examine the low wall nearest to him.
As a typical Slav, the heels-flat squat was second nature to him.
Perhaps feeling that just looking wasn't satisfying enough, Viktor placed his hand on the wall.
It was quite cold.
"Hello there!"
A cheerful voice called out.
Ludo Bagman was standing in the center of the pitch, with the pretty Fleur standing beside him.
Viktor stood up, and he and Harry stepped over the low walls, walking toward them.
As Harry approached, Fleur gave him a brilliant smile—ever since Harry had the Merpeople save her sister from the lake, her attitude toward him had done a complete one-eighty.
It looks like Veratia let the poor girl off the hook, Harry thought to himself.
Then again, Harry felt quite happy that Veratia showed a little jealousy; it made her seem very cute.
"Well, what do you think?" Bagman asked happily as Harry and Viktor clambered over the last low wall. "Coming along nicely, isn't it? In a month's time, Hagrid will have them twenty feet high. Don't worry," he added, seeing the unhappy look on Harry's face, "once the Tournament is over, your Quidditch pitch will be back to normal! Now, I imagine you can guess what we're going to do here?"
No one spoke for a moment, and then—
"A maze," Krum said gruffly.
"That's right!" said Bagman. "A maze. The third task is very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze, and the first capable champion to touch it will receive full marks."
"We just 'ave to get through the maze?" asked Fleur.
"There will be plenty of obstacles," Bagman said cheerfully, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Newt has provided a heap of creatures... and there are spells that must be broken... that sort of thing, you know... Also, the champion with the leading score enters the maze first. That's you, Harry."
Bagman smiled at Harry.
"Wait!" Harry suddenly asked. "So here's the question: we worked tirelessly in the first two tasks to earn points, but what was it all for?"
"Yeah," Viktor chimed in. "Just to enter the maze first? I ask you, I just ask you, what difference does it actually make?"
"Mr. Krum guesses correctly; it is indeed to determine who enters the maze first in the final task," Mr. Bagman said helplessly. "In fact, I don't know what use this bizarre rule serves either, nor do I think entering the maze first makes much of a difference."
He paused for a moment and continued, "Following that order, Mr. Krum goes in next... and finally Miss Delacour. But you will all have to fight to succeed; it depends on your ability to get past the obstacles—should be fun, shouldn't it?"
"Indeed, very fun," Harry said deadpan. "Newt Scamander providing magical creatures for the final task... that really is a joy. Simply too much fun!"
"Yes, indeed very fun!" Mr. Bagman said happily. "I saw the Blast-Ended Skrewts Hagrid bred over there; they are absolutely a work of genius... So, at Dumbledore's suggestion, the Blast-Ended Skrewts have also been added to the maze's roster of magical creatures."
"Oh, well I certainly hope every Cockroach Cluster he eats from now on turns out to be real cockroaches," Harry said through gritted teeth.
It wasn't that he was afraid of the Blast-Ended Skrewts themselves; he was afraid of the Skrewts' chemical warfare... Just think about it, even if you defeat the creature, it leaves behind that pungent stench that is hard to get rid of even with magic...
Low damage, extreme insult.
"Haha, I think so too," Mr. Bagman said, then addressed them again. "Excellent... If you have no questions, let's head back to the castle, shall we? It's a bit chilly here..."
Everyone followed Mr. Bagman's suggestion. The temperature outside wasn't very high, and since they weren't wearing much, it was indeed a bit cold.
They stepped over the slowly growing low walls and walked all the way back toward the castle.
"How is it?" Mr. Bagman deliberately hung back, walking beside Harry to ask, "How are the preparations going, Harry? Feeling confident?"
"It's alright," Harry said after a thought. "You know how I am, Mr. Bagman; I never really feel much pressure."
"Haha, you certainly shouldn't feel pressure." Mr. Bagman chuckled and patted Harry on the shoulder. "I've bet a few more Galleons on you this time. I hope you can achieve the final victory... Thanks to you and Miss Grindelwald, I feel like money is just rolling in every time..."
Finally, Mr. Bagman asked somewhat casually, "By the way, Harry, did Miss Grindelwald mention anything about Mr. Crouch?"
--
Support me & read more advance & fast update chapter on my pa-treon:
pat reon .c-om/windkaze
(Just remove the hyphen - and space, to access Pa-treon normally.)