Over the next few days, it was not just the students aboard the Hogwarts Express—even the people of Durmstrang as a whole had noticed the anomaly in the open field Cedric had pointed out. The construction workers had erected a massive dome over that area, covering everything inside. From a distance, it looked like an enormous hill.
The dome stood over twenty meters tall, nearly reaching half the height of Durmstrang Castle. From the outside, it looked like a layer of flowing ink—pitch-black and utterly without luster—blocking all sight and magic that tried to peer within. Only in the middle of the night could people occasionally spot workers going in and out of it, carrying sealed crates inside and emerging empty-handed...
Such an obvious operation naturally stirred even more discussion and speculation throughout the entire school.
And after Karkaroff publicly announced that the place was the venue for the second task and ordered unrelated personnel to stay away, the discussion was instantly set ablaze. Everyone was guessing what kind of event would require such an enormous arena. Some thought the champions might need to face some dangerous giant beast. Others believed a complex and perilous artificial environment was probably hidden inside. There were even quite a few who thought that, just like in the first task, the champions might need to fight together in cooperation rather than opposition, working as a team to overcome some unprecedentedly powerful challenge...
Such discussions—or perhaps betting pools as well?—continued for an entire week. Finally, on a freezing Saturday, the bell rang through the entire castle, signaling that the competition would begin in one hour and that spectators could start making their way to the venue. The emotions that had been brewing in people's hearts at last reached their peak...
Everyone except the three champions.
Probably because of Avada's warning before leaving—"The conspiracy hasn't disappeared. Stay alert."—Krum and Fleur had looked terrible all week. Nearly every day, they wore anxious expressions, and their complexion visibly worsened, which left Avada feeling a bit awkward. He really had not expected that a single warning from him would make the champions this tense.
If not for the fact that the information Dumbledore had provided was indeed trustworthy, and that he himself had already seen with his own eyes how Ludo Bagman had been switched out in full view of everyone, he might have started suspecting that he was maliciously spreading rumors on purpose and affecting the contestants' condition through off-field pressure. Fortunately, by the day of the match, Krum and Fleur's expressions had finally improved somewhat. They had probably either forced themselves to get a full night's rest or used some kind of non-prohibited potion.
As for Avada himself... he had never been especially nervous to begin with.
He was already used to weaving his way through all kinds of undercurrents and hidden schemes. In the end, whatever came, came—he would deal with soldiers as they came and water as it rose, and if the sky really fell, Dumbledore and Leach University would be there to hold it up. On top of that, they had already secretly seized the initiative, and Dumbledore's expression over the last two days had not looked bad at all. So for the moment, the conspiracy itself probably was not something he needed to worry about.
As for the second task hidden beneath that black dome, it naturally could not escape his perception of magical power. To prevent some hidden trick possibly related to the conspiracy from being secretly added into the venue, Avada had been monitoring the magical structure inside it for days. In the end, he had found no dangerous factors at all. Instead, he had practically examined the entire setup of the arena in advance...
It was not especially complicated. There were only a few stone pillars hidden underground that could rise or sink at any moment. They also contained various strange magical structures, though most were not particularly powerful. He had no idea what they were actually for. They would probably need to be combined with certain rules in order to form a complete and properly challenging task.
"...Mr. Ken, Mr. Krum, Miss Delacour, it's time for you to gather at the field below—you must prepare yourselves and do your best to complete the second task!"
Now less than twenty minutes remained before the match began. The three champions were seated in Durmstrang's great hall, surrounded by their classmates and friends, who whispered to them in tones that ranged from nervous to relaxed. Then all at once, Barty Crouch Sr.'s steady and resonant voice rang through the hall.
"Alright."
Avada spoke as he rose to his feet, casually pushing his chair back into place. Then he turned to glance in Krum and Fleur's direction—the two of them were moving a little more slowly than he was.
"Good luck!"
A whole group of his old Hogwarts friends stood up as well. "We're heading to the stands first—apparently the match is going to be broadcast live back to Hogwarts this time. Do your best!"
"I'll try."
Avada smiled at them, then turned and followed Crouch alongside Fleur and Krum. They passed through a side door and left the great hall, then after exiting Durmstrang Castle, they walked down a specially prepared path lined with barriers on both sides to prevent them from peeking at the competition grounds. Finally, they entered a tent whose flap had to be lifted with some force to get inside. Ludo Bagman—or at least the man wearing Bagman's face—was standing inside with a beaming smile.
"Alright, now that everyone's here, it's time to explain the situation to you!" Bagman said cheerfully, looking like some oversized cartoon character. He was even wearing the old Wimbourne Wasps uniform from his Quidditch-playing days, making him seem more like Bagman than Bagman himself.
"The rules this time are a little complicated. And because you'll each be entering the arena one at a time to undergo the challenge, I can't tell you the full rules here in advance if we want to keep things fair... But at least one thing can be revealed, and that is your objective in this match—obtain the golden egg!"
Avada's brows rose slightly. So it was still the dragon task?
This time, though, there had been no drawing of lots to choose dragons, and the arena also contained a whole bunch of strange pillars, so the details were probably somewhat different from the original. But to be honest, he did not really care. Back in his second year, that Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who had influenced him so deeply had once taught him that no matter how powerful dragons seemed, in the end they were only animals raised by wizards. Fearing them was meaningless.
"And now, you will enter the arena one by one according to your scores in the previous task. Which means..."
"Bagman" turned his gaze toward Avada, his small eyes brimming with delight. "Mr. Ken, please be the first to enter the arena and begin the challenge. Staff outside will give you the item you'll need for the match and explain the rules to you... good luck!"
"...Many thanks."
While inwardly marveling at Barty Crouch Jr.'s acting, which was truly worthy of an award-winning performer, Avada outwardly thanked him without changing expression and then stepped out of the tent with a relaxed face. He was, after all, someone who could already last a few exchanges against a combat master like Benjamin Baker. Even if many restricted spells could not be used, ordinary dragons really did not amount to much trouble for him...
That thought lasted right up until the moment he fully stepped out of the tent and saw the entire competition grounds.
(End of Chapter)