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Chapter 555: Champion

They quickly turned their heads. Outside the hut, Hagrid had just straightened up and turned around. If he had been blushing before, it was nothing to what he was doing now.

Getting to their feet very cautiously, so that Hagrid wouldn’t spot them, they peered through the window and saw that Madame Maxime and the Beauxbatons students had just emerged from the carriage, clearly about to set off for the feast too.

They couldn’t hear what Hagrid was saying, but he was talking to Madame Maxime with a rapt, misty-eyed expression. 

“He’s going up to the castle with her!” said Hermione indignantly. “I thought he was waiting for us!”

Hagrid didn’t even look back at his cabin. He was trudging off up the grounds with Madame Maxime, the Beauxbatons students following in their wake, jogging to keep up with their enormous strides.

“He fancies her!” said Ron incredulously. “Well, if they end up having children, they’ll be setting a world record. I bet any baby of theirs would weigh about a ton.”

A few minutes later, they let themselves out of the cabin and shut the door behind them.

It was surprisingly dark outside. Drawing their cloaks more closely around themselves, they set off up the sloping lawns.

The topic remained on Hagrid, and no one could believe it.

“I have to admit that those French girls are great, and it’s not strange that Hagrid is fascinated.”

“Yeah, especially the two sisters of Veela descent, their names are Fleur and Gabrielle, aren’t they?!”

“Hum, is this what you boys think?!” Hermione said disgruntled, but her eyes were fixed on Evan, who was silent.

Evan shook his head subconsciously. He found that Hermione was unusually sensitive since last night.

Did she find anything?! Or what was the misunderstanding?!

This was really bad enough; those girls are really a headache!

When they reached the lake, The Durmstrang party had just come down from the boat.

Viktor Krum was walking side by side with Karkaroff, and the other Durmstrangs were straggling along behind them.

Ron watched Krum excitedly, but Krum did not look around and did not see them.

When they entered the candlelit Great Hall, it was almost full of people.

The Goblet of Fire had been moved. It was now standing in front of Dumbledore’s empty chair at the teachers’ table.

Fred and George, clean-shaven again, seemed to have taken their disappointment fairly well.

“I really hope it’s Angelina,” said Fred as Evan, Harry, Ron, Colin and Hermione sat down.

“So do I!” said Hermione breathlessly. “Well, we’ll soon know!”

The Halloween feast seemed to take much longer than usual. Perhaps because it was their second feast in two days, they didn’t seem to fancy the extravagantly prepared food as much as they would have normally.

The people in the Great Hall kept craning their necks, with impatient expressions on every face.

They were fidgeting and standing up from time to time to see whether Dumbledore had finished eating yet. They simply wanted the plates to clear, and to hear who had been selected as champions.

At long last, the golden plates returned to their original spotless state, and there was a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the Hall, which died away almost instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet.

On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as tense and expecting as anyone.

Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at various students. Mr. Crouch, however, looked quite uninterested, almost bored.

Evan saw his eyes stay on Moody for a moment, then on Snape, then on Karkaroff and Dumbledore, with a look of undisguised hatred.

After confirming through the Marauder’s Map, Crouch was currently the most likely to be a fake; his son in disguise.

Of course, he might also come in disguised as someone else, which was hard to check.

It was impossible for Evan to stare all the time at the Marauder’s Map, which was not omnipotent.

With enchanted name like Caresius, or magical protection like Durmstrang’s big ship, The Marauder’s Map would work, but the name would not be marked.

In fact, no matter who Barty Crouch Jr. was pretending to be, Evan was ready. He had already talked to Caresius about this and confirmed that he would get the necessary help.

If the other party was still following the original plot, then he would sneak into the maze at the last moment. If there were any changes, he could also adapt to the circumstances at that time.

When necessary, Dumbledore would certainly make moves, and would not let things deviate too far.

“Attention, please. The Goblet of Fire is almost ready to make its decision!” Dumbledore said, waving down. “I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions’ names are called, I would ask them to please come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber, where they will be receiving their first instructions!” He indicated the door behind the staff table, and everyone looked there.

Dumbledore took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it.

At once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished.

The Great Hall suddenly fell into a state of semidarkness, and the Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes.

Everyone watched, waiting; a few people kept checking their watches…

Without any warning, the flames in the goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it.

The people in the Great Hall all held their breath and looked at the note.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm’s length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white.

“The champion for Durmstrang,” he read in a strong, clear voice, “will be Viktor Krum.”

In an instant, a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall.

“No surprises there!” yelled Ron.

Viktor Krum rose from the Slytherin table and slouched up toward Dumbledore. He turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.

“Bravo, Viktor!” boomed Karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. “I knew you were destined to be a champion!”

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