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Chapter 512: The Ultimate Honor for a Young Wizard

As long as he looked up, he could see Moody standing opposite Dumbledore, and the two were whispering something.

But on the Marauder’s Map, only Dumbledore’s name could be seen, and there was only a small black dot on the opposite side of his name.

The Marauder’s Map had lost the edge it gave Evan before, and he was experiencing this situation for the first time.

The name of the guy who took Mad-Eye Moody’s place could not be marked.

Thinking Homonculous Charm, that person must have applied a spell to his own name.

As Voldemort did, whenever someone read his name, their location would be perceived.

The magic used by this guy was to keep his name from being tracked and marked by any magic.

Using this magic on names, only the most evil and powerful Dark wizards would do it.

That required a lot of magic and harsh casting conditions, and Mad-Eye Moody would definitely not use this black magic.

If it was Barty Crouch Jr. who was impersonating him now, then his strength was completely beyond Evan’s expectations. He had never thought that Barty would be so strong.

Evan put away the Marauder’s Map. This sudden change gave him an ominous hunch. This guy was too bizarre, and felt more dangerous than what Evan could expect.

Evan began to be uncertain whether there would be unpredictable variables in his plan according to the original story.

His mind was in chaos and, for a while, he was very confused.

However, since Barty Jr. was in the school now, he should not act rashly until he gets an opportunity to take Harry out.

He would certainly follow the original plot and start at the last minute of the Goblet of Fire quest.

There was still time, and Evan finally decided to find a chance to test him first.

At that time, depending on the test results, he would decide whether to take action or let nature take its course.

At the teachers’ table, Dumbledore did not seem to think that the Mad-Eye before him would be a fake.

They whispered a few words, and then Dumbledore motioned him to take an empty seat on his right.

Moody sat down and shook his head.

He shook his mane of dark grey hair out of his face, pulled a plate of sausages toward him, raised it to what was left of his nose, and sniffed it. He then took a small knife out of his pocket, speared a sausage on the end of it, and began to eat.

His normal eye was fixed upon the sausages, but the blue eye was still darting restlessly around in its socket, taking in the Hall and the students, remaining on Evan for a long time.

“Let me, please let me introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.” said Dumbledore brightly into the silence to the stunned young wizards, “Welcome Professor Moody.”

It was usual for new staff members to be greeted with applause, but none of the staff or students clapped except Dumbledore and Hagrid.

Evan thought for a moment and then applauded, but the sound of their applause echoed dismally into the silence of the Great Hall.

Hearing the applause, Moody looked up, and his normal eye and fake blue eye all fell on Evan.

His incomplete nose moved slightly and Evan didn’t know what he was thinking.

After Evan, Dumbledore and Hagrid took a few slaps, they let go of their hands.

No one else spoke. They seemed too transfixed by Moody’s bizarre appearance to do more than stare at him.

“Ron, do you remember?” Harry muttered. “This Mad-Eye Moody is the one your dad went to help this morning!”

“It must be him,” said Ron in a low, awed voice. “The best Auror in the Ministry of Magic.”

“What happened to him?” Hermione whispered “What happened to his face?”

“I don’t know, but it looks great.” Ron whispered back, watching Moody with fascination.

Moody seemed totally indifferent to everyone’s cold reaction.

After staring at Evan for a while, he continued to eat. 

Ignoring the jug of pumpkin juice in front of him, he reached again into his traveling cloak, pulled out a hip flask, and took a long draught from it.

As he lifted his arm to drink, his cloak was pulled a few inches from the ground, and one could see, below the table, several inches of carved wooden leg, ending in a clawed foot.

“Well, let’s go back to the topic!” Dumbledore cleared his throat and said, smiling at the sea of students before him, all of whom were still gazing transfixed at Mad-Eye Moody, “we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year.”

“Oh, my God, did I hear that right?”

“You’re joking!”

The tension that had filled the Hall ever since Moody’s arrival suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.

The students born in wizard families all knew more or less about the Triwizard Tournament, and they had this content in the stories they heard since childhood.

For a young wizard in school, this was the ultimate honor.

The Muggle-born students were also asking in a hurry to find out what the Triwizard Tournament was all about, and they were amazed and talked excitedly.

“Well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely.” said Dumbledore smiling, “As we all know, the Triwizard Tournament is a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. It was a very good display platform and helped young witches and wizards of different nationalities to establish ties. It had become a tradition in the past until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued.” 

“Death toll?” Hermione whispered, looking at Dumbledore with horror. “There’s nothing in the books about this…”

But her anxiety did not seem to be shared by the majority of students in the Hall; many of them were whispering excitedly to one another.

Everyone was far more interested in hearing about the details of the tournament than in worrying about deaths that had happened hundreds of years ago. 

“There have been several attempts over time to reinstate the tournament,” Dumbledore continued, “none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger.

The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money. I hope you’re aware that it will be a great honor for the champion, his House and his school. “