Dumbledore hadn't come to question him for any other reason than the fact that the situation was inherently suspicious.
The merpeople were part of the trial he had arranged, and he was the one who had communicated with them. Now that the merpeople had voluntarily delivered the Hogwarts champion's hostage, this matter...
To put it nicely, perhaps Harry's charisma had simply won over the merpeople.
But people from the other schools wouldn't see it that way. They would only think that Dumbledore must have tipped off the merpeople in advance, which was why they had taken the initiative to deliver the hostage belonging to the Hogwarts champion.
Cleo recounted exactly what had happened underwater to Dumbledore. Dumbledore was initially astonished, then he glanced at Harry before furrowing his brows.
"Very well," he said. "You still need to come to the judges' table and explain what just happened to the judges..."
Cleo followed Dumbledore to the judges' table.
It was unclear what was said, but Madame Maxime's expression relaxed, while Karkaroff remained frowning deeply.
Before long, Viktor surfaced from underwater, holding his hostage—his dance partner—in his arms.
He swam to the water's edge and placed the hostage on the ground, eliciting a round of cheers and applause from the surroundings.
After all, as a star Quidditch Seeker, Viktor's popularity at Hogwarts was quite high.
Harry sat to the side, clapping reservedly for Viktor as well.
"That was really nice," Ron said, sniffing as he dried himself off. "The feeling of being soaked in water is actually quite nice..."
"You've probably waterlogged your brain," Hermione sneered from the side. "Did you see Karkaroff's expression? He is definitely mentally looking for an opportunity to find fault with Harry—just think about it."
"Don't worry, it doesn't matter," Harry said, spreading his hands. "Do I still care how he scores me?"
He had a point.
A short while later, Fleur surfaced from the water, floating on the surface.
She had many wounds on her body and appeared to have fallen unconscious.
Madame Maxime moved quickly; she immediately went to Fleur's side and brought her to the shore.
Madam Pomfrey stepped forward and began to treat Fleur.
After a while, Fleur slowly woke up.
"Grindylows..." she coughed up a couple of mouthfuls of water. "There were too many of them, I couldn't... I couldn't... They swarmed me as if they were mad... Gabrielle, where is Gabrielle? Is she okay?"
Fleur stood up and screamed, trying to run back into the water.
Madame Maxime held her back tightly to prevent her from running into the lake.
She was in too poor a state and needed proper rest, not to return to the water.
Just then, the merpeople surfaced, delivering Gabrielle to the shore.
"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she hurt?"
Fleur was completely hysterical. She broke free from Madame Maxime's restraint, struggled over, and gathered Gabrielle into her arms.
"She is fine," said the merperson who appeared to be the female chieftain. "Mr. Potter instructed us to return the hostage to the shore if the last champion did not appear, and we did so."
Hearing the chieftainess's words, Fleur instantly perked up.
She ran to Harry's side and cupped his face with both hands.
"You saved her," she gasped, so agitated she could barely breathe, "even though she wasn't your hostage."
With that, she lowered her head and kissed Harry twice on each cheek.
Suddenly, the originally sunny sky turned overcast with heavy clouds in an instant.
A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, and Harry hurriedly broke free from Fleur's embrace.
"It was what I should have done," he said, wiping his cheeks frantically with his sleeve, jumping backward with a strong survival instinct.
When he turned his head, he saw a smiling Veratia, an expressionless Cassandra, and Poppy Sweating, whose chest was heaving with anger.
Bad.
Harry thought to himself, Fleur is in for it now...
He reasoned that he had to persuade Veratia properly. It wouldn't be good to cause an international diplomatic incident—besides, Veratia was the Deputy Minister of the Austrian—no, the Greater German Ministry of Magic. She couldn't be stained with blood and let people think she was a bloodthirsty Grindelwald monster.
The judges returned to their seats at the table. Harry noticed Mr. Bagman giving him a thumbs-up from a distance.
Of course, Mr. Crouch had sat back down at the judges' table. He looked somewhat absent-minded, his expression a bit complex.
"When did he come back?" Harry asked curiously.
"Who?" asked Ron.
"Mr. Crouch," Harry said. "Didn't they say Mr. Crouch was missing? How did he suddenly come back? Was he found?"
"I suppose so?" Ron spread his hands. "He only just sat in that seat. You mean he was missing? Percy didn't mention that to us..."
Harry thought to himself that Percy had likely already been co-opted; naturally, he wouldn't care about Crouch's disappearance.
Veratia had already told him about Percy. That guy wasn't loyal to Mr. Crouch; he just wanted to be the Department Head's secretary and didn't care who the Head was.
At this moment, Ludo Bagman stood up and cast a Sonorus charm on himself.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally reached a decision. Merchieftainess Cleo has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have decided to award points to the champions out of a maximum of fifty as follows..."
"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by Grindylows as she approached her target and failed to rescue her hostage—we award her 25 points."
Applause came from the stands.
"I deserved zero," Fleur said hoarsely, shaking her beautiful head.
"Viktor Krum used Transfiguration, which, though incomplete, was effective. He was the second to return with his hostage—we award him 40 points."
Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking triumphant.
"Mr. Harry Potter," Mr. Bagman said again. "He was the first to return to land. Although he was escorted by merpeople, after clarification, we learned of the events that transpired underwater—Mr. Potter earned the friendship of the merpeople, and he wanted to ensure that all hostages returned safely, rather than caring only for his own hostage."
"Oh, wow," Ron whispered. "I think that dog Karkaroff is going to find a reason to deduct points from you."
" Most of the judges," Bagman said here, sweeping a very dissatisfied glance at Karkaroff, "feel that this fully embodies a high moral standard. However... Mr. Potter's score is 45 points."
"You guessed right," Hermione said, clapping. "Those missing five points were definitely deducted by Karkaroff, that bitch!"
"You swore!" Ron looked at Hermione in astonishment. "You actually swore. That's very bad..."
"Oh, come off it, Ronald," Hermione rolled her eyes.
Everyone applauded Harry enthusiastically. The Hogwarts students naturally believed that Harry had won the friendship of the merpeople—but at the same time, his classmates didn't quite believe that Harry had won their friendship through peaceful means.
"You're brilliant, Harry!" Ron shouted at the top of his lungs amidst the noise.
"The third and final task will take place on the evening of June 24th," Bagman continued. "The champions will be informed of the specific content of the task one month in advance—thank you all for your support of the champions."
After the Second Task ended, the most wonderful thing was that everyone was eager to know what had actually happened at the bottom of the lake, which meant that for the first time in his life, Ron, like Harry, became the center of attention.
Harry noticed that Ron told the story over and over again, and it was slightly different each time.
At first, what he said was fairly consistent with the facts, largely matching Hermione's account—in Professor McGonagall's office, Dumbledore used magic to put the hostages to sleep and assured them first that they were in absolutely no danger and would wake up as soon as they broke the surface of the water.
However, a week later, Ron began telling a thrilling story of kidnapping, describing how he fought fifty fully armed merpeople with his bare hands. They had to force him into submission before they could tie him up.
"He thinks he's Bruce Lee," Justin Finch-Fletchley whispered to the students next to him.
"Who is Bruce Lee?" a student from a wizarding family asked curiously.
"Bruce Lee," Justin shook his head and sighed. "He's a very powerful man who can fight a hundred fish-men with his bare hands—very powerful."
"That is indeed very powerful," the students said in unison.
Ever since Ron became the center of attention, he had become extremely popular.
Hermione always looked at him helplessly but didn't expose Ron's lies.
Giving a child some face in public was, after all, a part of life.
Harry was also very busy; the matter he was busy with was persuading Veratia not to kill that audacious Fleur.
"Oh, really?" Veratia asked Harry with a smile in the office. "It seems you treat her quite well. Look, you're even starting to defend her. Well, I don't mind. If you really like her, you can tell me, Harry."
"How could I!" Harry hurriedly rebutted. "Look at her: firstly, she doesn't have our years of friendship; secondly, she doesn't treat me as well as you do; and thirdly, she isn't as beautiful as you... I will always like you, Veratia!"
"Is that so?" A hint of satisfaction flashed in Veratia's eyes. "Although, hearing you say that..."
"Of course, I'm not just saying this to keep her alive," Harry said, his survival instinct kicking into high gear. "Look, I'm considering your reputation... Think about it, Veratia, if everyone misunderstands you as a bloodthirsty, indiscriminate killer like Gellert Grindelwald, will they still support you?"
"How do you know I'm not that kind of Grindelwald?" Veratia asked with a faint smile.
"How could that be!" Harry retorted righteously. "In my heart, you have always been that gentle, bright, kind, and lovely Veratia!"
At the door, Cassandra suddenly retched.
Gentle? Bright? Kind? Lovely?
Of these four words, which one had anything to do with a Grindelwald? Forget it, men in love are truly unreasonable... Veratia, however, nodded, accepting Harry's evaluation of her.
"I didn't intend to do anything to Miss Delacour, Harry," Veratia looked at him with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "You don't need to be so eager to save my reputation—or perhaps her life."
Harry thought, I believe you like a ghost; you wicked old woman! But on the surface, Harry still smiled and said, "I think so too, Veratia."
Veratia didn't pick up on Harry's words but said to him, "We have already resolved the matter of Crouch. Next is the plan on how to get Godfather into the Ministry of Magic to replace Crouch's position..."
"How did you find Mr. Crouch?" Harry asked curiously.
"At his home," Veratia said with a smile. "He was under the Imperius Curse... Don't you think it's ridiculous? The dignified Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation at the British Ministry of Magic was actually ambushed in his own home and placed under the Imperius Curse... What I find even more ridiculous is that he wasn't the only one ambushed; a senior Auror was also under the Imperius Curse..."
"Was it the Death Eaters?" Harry asked alertly. "Do they want to control the Ministry of Magic through Mr. Crouch?"
"Yes, and no," Veratia said with a faint smile. "You only guessed part of it right. They aren't controlling Mr. Crouch to control the Ministry of Magic... Guess, why is it?"
"I can't guess," Harry spread his hands and said quite frankly.
"Godfather found this out," Veratia placed her hands on the table. "We have to start with Crouch's son, Barty Crouch Jr.—this man is a loyal follower of Voldemort and the first escapee in the recent history of Azkaban Prison."
"The first escapee?" Harry said in astonishment. "Isn't the first escapee Godfather? Why has it become Barty Crouch Jr.? Wait... Could it be old Barty Crouch's doing?"
"Bingo!" Veratia gave a thumbs-up. "You guessed right. I've seen Crouch's memories... Around 1982, due to her son's imprisonment, Mrs. Crouch's health deteriorated rapidly, and Barty Crouch Jr.'s health also worsened due to severe depression caused by the prison."
"Because old Barty held a high position in the Ministry of Magic, Mrs. Crouch begged him to visit their child. She persuaded her husband, drank Polyjuice Potion herself, took her son's place, and smuggled her son out of Azkaban—shortly after, she passed away and was buried outside the castle under the identity of Barty Crouch Jr."
"What a great mother's love..." Harry sighed.
Veratia continued, "Old Barty tried to subdue his son, protect the secret of his son's existence from the public, and prevent him from seeking out Voldemort—eventually, old Crouch had no choice but to cast the Imperius Curse on him, forcing him to hide under an Invisibility Cloak all the time."
Harry suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
"Wait!" He stood up and said, "Could it be that later, Barty Crouch Jr. broke free from the Imperius Curse and, in turn, controlled old Barty?"
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