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Dudley's words once again successfully earned him the animosity of both Madame Maxime and Karkaroff.
"We must abide by the rules. The rules clearly state that anyone whose name comes out of the Goblet of Fire must compete in the Triwizard Tournament." Lucius, as the special Ministry liaison, spoke up. His eyes darted around, his thoughts unknown.
He stood in a far corner of the room, seemingly making an effort to avoid Karkaroff and keep his distance.
Ludo Bagman quickly and obsequiously agreed. Logically, he was the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports and the main organizer of the tournament, but he willingly ceded the primary position.
That's because the Malfoy family was famously wealthy, and Ludo Bagman happened to be drowning in debt. He was planning to borrow some Galleons from old man Malfoy.
"I think we can organize another sign-up," Karkaroff said again, his expression now utterly grim. "It's only fair that each school has only one champion..."
At the mention of "fair," Dudley looked up at him.
Indeed, one champion per school would be the fairest. But Harry wasn't entered as a Hogwarts student; someone had entered his name under another school.
Even if Harry won the championship, it wouldn't mean a victory for Hogwarts.
So, in the strictest sense, this wasn't the Triwizard Tournament—it was the Four-Wizard Tournament.
"The Goblet of Fire contains a magical contract that cannot be relit until the next Triwizard Tournament," Bagman continued. "It's an ancient pact; once a name is chosen, it must be honored. So the list of champions is set, and the competition must proceed."
"Durmstrang will absolutely not participate in the next tournament!" Karkaroff fumed to himself.
"Nor will Beauxbatons," Maxime announced, her expression just as fierce.
"Regardless of what happens in the next tournament, what we need to discuss now is this one," Dumbledore said, ignoring the two Headmasters' threats. They might say that now, but it would be a different story next time around—if they were even still headmasters.
"It seems we must have both Dudley and Harry compete at the same time."
Seeing that they both had something more to say, he added, "If the two of you have a better solution, I'm all ears."
What better solution could they have? Just as Bagman said, the Goblet of Fire contained ancient contract magic. Once signed, it couldn't be broken until the competition was completed.
The only option now was to bite the bullet and go through with the tournament.
"Even though Hogwarts has two champions, neither of them has reached the age of seventeen."
"Liar..."
Both Dudley and Harry had physiques far beyond the average person. Who would believe that they were both underage kids under seventeen?
Dumbledore looked slightly exasperated. He really wasn't lying; both Harry and Dudley were only fourteen years old.
"Please, Mr. Bagman, provide some guidance to our four champions."
Bagman didn't hesitate. He walked over to the group and said in a no-nonsense tone, "The first task is meant to test your courage. The ability to face the unknown is an important quality for a wizard..."
While Bagman was giving a simple explanation to the champions, back in the Great Hall, the students were in complete disarray, chattering away.
"Why would Harry sign up behind our backs?" Ron whispered, leaning on the table and asking his fellow members of the "Discipline Group."
"Anyone could have put in a vote, but it definitely wasn't Harry," Draco said seriously. His expression was dark, and his gaze kept flitting over to the room where Dudley and the others were.
Ron, Harry's best friend, was doubting him, while Draco, who usually loved to antagonize Harry, stood by him.
Fortunately, Ron was just venting. In reality, he believed Harry wouldn't leave him out.
Before long, Dudley and the others emerged from the small room and returned to their seats.
Dumbledore didn't explain what had happened, simply said a few words, and then announced the end of the feast.
The fact that Hogwarts had produced two champions caused quite a stir.
Harry was suddenly the center of attention for the entire school. After all, compared to his cousin, the "Boy-Who-Lived" had been quite low-key in recent years.
The Gryffindors naturally supported Harry, but they were more interested in learning how to get past the Age Line; the Hufflepuffs were disappointed that Cedric couldn't compete but quickly joined the ranks of supporters for both Dudley and Harry; the Ravenclaws leaned toward Dudley, as they often saw him in the library; and as for the Slytherins, they didn't really care whether Mr. Potter or Mr. Dursley won.
Until the tournament was over, the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students would stay at Hogwarts and attend classes with the four Houses, specifically with their corresponding year.
Besides one low-year student from Beauxbatons, the rest were roughly at the level of a Hogwarts sixth-year.
Although the three schools' curricula weren't exactly the same, they could still learn a thing or two. The quality of the professors at Hogwarts was a tad higher than at the other two schools.
Especially in Potions. The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students simply couldn't keep up with Hogwarts's pace. It was a sixth-year class, but Hogwarts was already teaching seventh-year material.
What kind of monsters were at Hogwarts?
Looking at the Hogwarts students with their precision-marked measuring cups, exquisitely crafted test tubes, and incredibly accurate scales, then looking at their own crude, almost primitive-looking Potions equipment, a sense of inferiority naturally arose in them.
They were even more shocked when they saw the advanced theoretical concepts of Potions that Hogwarts was using, which were far beyond their own schools.
It was a good thing they were only sitting in on sixth-year classes. If they had gone to the fourth-year class, it would have been more than just a feeling of inferiority—the fourth-years' pace was already on par with the sixth-years, or even a little faster.
All these "tiny bits" of difference added up to something far from tiny, and that's how the gap was created.
In just a week of academic exchange, the students from the other two schools clearly realized the gap between themselves and Hogwarts.
They were truly a grind.
It was a completely different level from the "happy learning" at their own schools.
They'd even heard that besides the four Houses, Hogwarts had a legendary "Discipline Group" that single-handedly overpowered the other Houses and was currently in charge of students from the first to sixth years. And that the Hogwarts champion, Dursley, was the leader of this group.
Many of the students from the other schools were already starting to worry about their own champions being beaten down by the Hogwarts champions.
In both a magical and physical sense.
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