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[ There was a mistake in the previous chapter, it's already fixed now. Lynn will be representing Azkaban Institution of Higher Education, a fake school/school name used as a loophole to trick the goblet of fire, into make Lynn participate solo/not be on the Hogwarts team. ]
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Dead silence.
An absolute, total silence, where even the bats forgot to flap their wings.
Three seconds, five seconds, ten seconds.
And then—
"Pfft."
Someone, in some corner of a long table, couldn't hold back a laugh.
This single laugh was like a pebble dropped into a calm lake, ripples spreading outward.
First came suppressed gasps, the entire Great Hall erupted.
Lynn's brain went into a strange blankness at this moment.
He wanted to say something 'that he hadn't put his name in the goblet of fire'.
But he said nothing.
Because he knew that, in the face of the established fact of "being spat out by the Goblet of Fire in front of six schools," any explanation was futile.
Damn it! Don't let me catch who you are!
"Sigh, well, since I'm already here."
Lynn muttered, standing up. He crossed the Hufflepuff table, passed the high table, and walked straight toward that side door.
"Lynn!" Harry's voice chased after him from behind, sounding a bit urgent. "Wait for me—"
The two of them pushed open the door to the small room one after another.
The room was brightly lit, far removed from the ambiguous flickering light of the Great Hall.
Twelve people were scattered around, sitting on both sides of the long table.
Krum stood by the window, arms crossed, expression indifferent, though his gaze lingered on Lynn's face for a moment when he looked over. Louis sat next to him, looking down and studying the tip of his wand. He only raised his eyelids to glance at Lynn when he heard the door, then lowered his head again.
Katya sat at the very end of the long table, furthest from the door. The moment Lynn entered, he visibly shrank back into his chair.
Fleur sat on the other side of the long table, whispering something to Sophie. She looked up at the sound, a trace of confusion flitting through her eyes.
Chloe sat next to her, pouring herself some water.
Ryan was talking in low tones with Thomas and Jordan. When he saw Lynn enter, the smile on his face froze for a moment.
Amina sat in the middle of the Uagadou trio, looking relaxed. When she saw Lynn enter, she raised an eyebrow, her expression saying: And you said you didn't sign up.
Lynn ignored her.
Daniel, Luis, and Nicolas were huddled together, rapidly exchanging words. When they saw someone enter, the three stopped talking at once and turned their gaze toward the door in unison.
Naima and Wangari sat in the corner, as quiet as two statues, only their eyes following Lynn's movement.
Cedric sat near the fireplace. Seeing Lynn enter, he stood up.
"Lynn, you too..." He paused because he saw Harry following behind Lynn.
"What's the situation? Hogwarts has four champions?"
"It's a long story. And I don't even know where to start."
Roger Davies sat next to Cedric, looking back and forth between Lynn and Harry with a dazed expression.
Then everyone's eyes focused on Ludo Bagman in the center of the room.
Bagman looked at Lynn.
Then at Harry.
Then back at Lynn.
His mouth opened, closed, and opened again.
"...Which of you two is the champion?"
"Both." Lynn's answer was short and crisp. "Harry is for Hogwarts." He paused. "I'm from the Azkaban Higher Institute of Education."
Bagman: "..."
The room was silent for two seconds.
A suppressed "pfft" came from the corner.
Lynn turned his head.
Katya immediately looked down, staring at the tabletop in front of him, his shoulders shaking slightly.
Lynn looked away.
Bagman took a deep breath, trying to regain the professional poise expected of a Ministry of Magic official.
"Mr. Lynn, you really like to joke... Everyone knows Azkaban is—"
His words caught in his throat.
Because Lynn glanced at him—just a glance.
Bagman suddenly felt that what he wanted to say next, "How can a prison send a student to compete," might not be the most appropriate phrasing right now.
"...I'll go see what's happening with the panel of judges," he said quickly, then dashed out the door with an agility that didn't quite match his physique.
In the Great Hall, the battle was in full swing.
Bagman slipped back to the edge of the high table and found that Dumbledore and Karkaroff had already reached a fever pitch.
"This is unfair!" Karkaroff's goatee quivered with his heated words. "This is cheating! Hogwarts has four champions! You, Hogwarts, must provide an explanation!"
Dumbledore looked calm, even having the leisure to adjust his cuffs.
"Karkaroff, we are all well aware of the dangers of the Triwizard—now perhaps it should be called the Seven-School—Tournament. I have no reason to let a child participate..."
"Who knows what you're thinking?!" Karkaroff didn't give him a chance to finish. "I only know that Hogwarts now has four names! Four! This is a serious violation! It's a slight against the other schools!"
"Karkaroff."
Dumbledore's voice remained gentle.
The old Headmaster looked at the piece of paper in his hand him, his blue eyes showing no anger, only calm certainty.
"That child is not representing Hogwarts."
Karkaroff: "..."
He stood with his mouth open, for a moment not knowing how to retort.
"Even so..."
Thirty minutes.
A full thirty minutes.
Bagman shuttled between the judges and the side door four times, each time bringing back a "still deliberating" gesture.
In the small room, the atmosphere was subtle.
Krum still stood by the window, not having changed his posture from start to finish. Fleur was using her Magic Phone to reply to a message from Gabrielle. Ryan tried to strike up a conversation with Cedric, the two of them whispering guesses about the possible format of the first task.
Amina closed her eyes to rest.
Katya maintained his posture of looking down at the table, which he had held for nearly twenty minutes. No one knew whether he was reflecting on life or continuing to hold back laughter.
Lynn sat at the other end of the long table, at a distance from everyone else.
His elbows were propped on the table, his expression vacant.
He was thinking about a question.
Just who had thrown his name into the Goblet of Fire and, of all things, had even come up with an Azkaban Higher Institute of education?
Suspect Number One: Katya Volok.
Motive? Revenge. Having his note burned in public, being publicly rebuked into silence, being forced to give a ninety-degree bow and apology—that motive was sufficient.
But.
Did Katya have the brains for this?
Lynn thought seriously for three seconds.
Then he temporarily set this option aside.
It wasn't about clearing his name; it was an objective assessment.
Suspect Number Two: Moody.
As soon as this option popped up, Lynn's eyelid twitched.
The new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, former Auror, nicknamed "Mad-Eye," whose magical eye could scan three hundred and sixty degrees without any blind spots, seeing everyone as a Dark Wizard.
And—
The old man would call on him to answer questions for no reason in class.
"Mr. Lynn, what do you think is the countermeasure for this spell?"
"Mr. Lynn, if you were facing an enemy hiding behind a shield, how would you handle it?"
"Mr. Lynn, please come forward and demonstrate the standard posture for Expelliarmus—no, I didn't say to flick your deskmate's wand away, I said the standard posture."
Lynn had thought at the time that Moody simply had an occupational hazard, seeing everyone as a potential threat and wanting to test whoever he caught.
Thinking about it now...
Had this guy been eyeing him all along?
Moreover, Moody was perfectly capable of bypassing the Age Line. What was tossing a piece of parchment into the Goblet of Fire to him?
A key person of interest.
Lynn drew a red circle around Moody's name in his mind.
Third, fourth, fifth...
Lynn even suspected that he might have done it himself.
Finally, the door opened once more.
Bagman walked in for the seventh time. This time, his face carried a sense of relief, as if saying, "It's finally over."
He cleared his throat.
"Ahem."
All eyes focused on him.
"After the judges'... er, thorough and spirited deliberation, the following resolution has been made—"
He looked down at the parchment in his hand, as if confirming he hadn't remembered it wrong.
"Mr. Lynn will represent Az—"
He caught himself.
Damn it! Lynn was staring at him again.
"Ah! A brand-new, special, and exciting school participating in this tournament."
The room was silent for a moment.
No one clapped, no one questioned; everyone was looking at Lynn.
Lynn's expression didn't change at all.
"...Fine," he said.
Bagman quickly flipped to the next page of the parchment and began the formalities.
"This tournament will consist of three tasks, designed to comprehensively test the champions' courage, wisdom, adaptability, and magical prowess. At the end of each task, the panel of judges will award points based on your performance. The person with the highest total score across the three tasks—"
He read rapidly, his speed increasing.
"—will become the champion of this tournament. The specific details of the tasks will not be announced for now; they will be revealed in due time.
"The first task will take place on November 30th, on the Hogwarts grounds. At that time, the entire student body will observe, and the judges will award points on the spot."
He paused, finally slowing down his speech, his expression becoming a bit more serious.
"It needs to be emphasized: during the competition, champions may not receive any form of assistance from any professors, classmates, or other personnel."
He scanned the young faces in the room.
"You can only rely on yourselves—and the wands in your hands."
No one spoke.
Bagman looked down and confirmed once more that he hadn't missed anything.
"Well... that's about it."
He rolled up the parchment and tapped it against his palm, putting a period on this selection process.
"I wish you all good luck in achieving a high ranking."