The bells chimed to mark the hour, and students from all three schools chatted with obvious excitement in the selection hall.
"Please sit down," Dumbledore's voice carried authoritatively across the entire hall.
The young wizards quickly found places to sit and waited with anticipation for Dumbledore's announcement.
"Now, the moment everyone has been waiting for has arrived—the selection of champions."
Dumbledore raised his hand and waved dramatically, extinguishing all the other torches in the hall, leaving only the Goblet of Fire still glowing with mysterious blue light.
Dumbledore placed his hand carefully on the Goblet of Fire. The blue flames turned purple for a moment, then a piece of parchment flew out, which Dumbledore caught with practiced ease.
"The Durmstrang champion is Viktor Krum," Dumbledore read aloud with clear authority.
Thunderous applause erupted from the Durmstrang section as surrounding classmates cheered enthusiastically for their hero.
Then the flames changed color again, and Dumbledore caught the second piece of parchment that flew out gracefully.
"The Beauxbatons champion is Fleur Delacour."
Fleur's selection drew unanimous welcome from the male students of all four houses. Her applause was noticeably warmer than Krum's had been.
Finally, the Goblet of Fire flickered for the third time, and another parchment flew out with dramatic flair.
Dumbledore took the parchment, frowned slightly, and hesitated for a brief moment.
"The Hogwarts champion is... Aiden Prewett."
Cedric felt a sudden wave of disappointment, experiencing both relief and regret simultaneously.
Students from all four Hogwarts houses applauded enthusiastically for Aiden.
The Manipulator adjusted his monocle thoughtfully. Why was he able to enter the champion list so easily?
It was quite simple. Because the Goblet of Fire, as an imitation of the Silent Slabs, also possessed the ability to detect the collective unconscious sea.
Using it as a selection tool for the Tournament essentially involved observing which students were most favored by monitoring the size of waves in the collective unconscious sea.
This served as the primary basis for selecting champions. However, as a skilled Manipulator, Aiden had the ability to easily stir up storms in the collective unconscious sea.
This bypassed the normal prerequisite of widespread student recognition, while also carrying the natural popularity that came with being Ravenclaw's Rose.
Having thrown his name into the Goblet of Fire under everyone's watchful eyes, the combination of multiple factors resulted in his appearance on the champion list.
Aiden walked forward confidently and shook hands with Dumbledore.
Dumbledore gave Aiden a meaningful look that clearly asked, 'What exactly are you trying to do?'
'Having fun!' Aiden raised his eyebrows, his crescent-shaped eyes revealing obvious joy, then walked toward the waiting room.
"You actually let a child under seventeen participate. Is Hogwarts planning to surrender?" Karkaroff sneered with obvious contempt.
"Who knows," Maxime said, raising her wine glass for an elegant sip, a knowing smile forming at the corners of her mouth.
"Excellent, we now have three champions. Please remember, only one can be written into history and lift this champion's cup."
Dumbledore pointed backward with his palm, and the cloth covering the trophy flew away dramatically, revealing the crystal-clear trophy.
Just then, Snape noticed something unusual and walked forward two or three steps with growing concern.
The flames of the Goblet of Fire rose again unexpectedly, and it spat out another piece of parchment.
Dumbledore took the parchment, feigning an expression of complete disbelief, and murmured, "The fourth champion... Harry Potter."
"No, that's impossible," Hagrid shook his head firmly in denial.
"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore shouted with authority.
"Harry, go quickly," Hermione said, seeing the completely confused Harry and shaking him awake.
"He cheated." "He's not even seventeen." "Isn't Aiden also underage?"
The young wizards discussed in overlapping, excited voices.
Professor McGonagall worriedly patted Harry's shoulder, and Harry walked reluctantly toward the champion waiting area.
In the restroom, Fleur was casually joking with Aiden. "You're not even seventeen. Is Hogwarts planning to give up on competition this year, little boy?"
"Age doesn't increase your chances of winning. Let our results do the talking," Aiden smiled back with quiet confidence.
Krum nodded approvingly from the side.
Then Harry walked in looking bewildered, and Fleur seemed to have discovered a new toy.
"Oh ho, another little boy. Hogwarts has quite an interesting strategy this year—trading one adult for two minors. Do you want to rely on numbers to increase your chances of winning the championship?" Fleur teased with obvious amusement.
"You're both cheating!" Krum glared angrily at Harry and Aiden.
Then a group of noisy adults rushed into the rest area with obvious agitation.
Dumbledore entered first and calmly asked Harry, "You didn't put your name in the Goblet of Fire, did you? And you didn't ask an older student to help you, did you?"
"I swear I didn't," Harry said with extreme grievance and confusion.
"Headmaster, I think..." Snape began but was silenced by Dumbledore's authoritative gesture.
"Dumbledore, why can your school have two champions? We demand more too," Karkaroff complained tirelessly.
"Hmm, you dark wizard, you didn't deliberately put Harry's name in to justify adding people to your own school, did you?"
Moody spoke up and began arguing with Karkaroff aggressively.
"He's lying, and this entire competition isn't fair at all."
Madame Maxime walked in and struck the chandelier overhead with her large hand.
"Perhaps this boy simply wanted to show off for attention."
Snape spoke sarcastically from the side. If Aiden couldn't see the genuine worry in his body language, he would have been fooled by Snape's perfect acting.
"You know the Goblet of Fire is an extremely powerful magical device. To deceive it requires casting a powerful Confundus Charm on it—a fourth-year student couldn't possibly accomplish such advanced magic," Moody explained.
"You seem to understand quite a bit about this, Mad-Eye," Karkaroff said, bringing his face provocatively close to Moody's.
"My job requires me to think like dark wizards such as yourself," Moody replied, also narrowing his eyes dangerously.
"Albus, you know Harry couldn't possibly..." Professor McGonagall pleaded from the side, constantly defending Harry.
"Alright, quiet everyone. Barty, you make the final decision," Dumbledore said, stepping forward as the others followed.
"The rules are absolute. According to the binding contract, that child is already a Triwizard Tournament champion."
Barty Crouch refused with an impassive, official face.
After the heated argument, everyone left unsatisfied, leaving only Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Aiden.
"This can't continue, Albus. First the Dark Mark, now the Goblet of Fire," Professor McGonagall said, waving her hand with frustration.
"Then what do you suggest, Minerva?"
Dumbledore poured each of them a drink. The greedy dragon reached for one but had his hand slapped away by Professor McGonagall.
"End this immediately. Don't let Potter participate, and this child shouldn't either," Professor McGonagall said, reaching out to protectively rub Aiden's head.
"But you also heard what Barty said—the rules are absolute," Dumbledore reminded her.
"Then let Barty and his precious rules get lost. Since when do you take orders from the Ministry of Magic?" Professor McGonagall demanded, putting her hands firmly on her hips.
"Headmaster, I believe this is definitely not a coincidence. If we want to solve the mystery, we'd better wait and observe," Snape said, walking up and rubbing his hands together.
"What? Wait and see? Use them as bait? They're children, not expendable meat," Professor McGonagall said with obvious astonishment.
"But Aiden possesses magical accomplishments no less impressive than mine."
Dumbledore extracted his memory and placed it carefully in the Pensieve, hoping to use his recollections to observe whether there were any overlooked details.
Aiden smiled slightly at Professor McGonagall and said, "Professor, my participation was itself carefully planned."
Professor McGonagall looked at Aiden with serious concern and reached out to pinch his cheek affectionately.
"What's going on? Give me a detailed explanation right now."