"…I don't know what you're talking about."
After that brief moment of shock, Karkaroff took a deep breath. The look he turned on Krum had already become as cold and venomous as a snake's.
"But whatever your purpose may be in saying such things, I hope you understand that casually slandering a headmaster and the director of a British Ministry department is a very serious matter. If you insist on continuing, then what you stand to lose will likely be more than just your student status…"
"Unfortunately, Professor, since I'm confident enough to say it aloud, I'm naturally also confident that it is not slander."
Krum spoke calmly, but deep in his eyes flickered a sorrow that others could hardly perceive.
Perhaps he himself was about to become the nail that pinned his alma mater to the pillar of shame.
Although he had never been particularly fond of Headmaster Karkaroff, Krum still held deep feelings for the school where he had spent seven years of his life, a place that carried so many of his memories. He had never wanted its safety or reputation to suffer harm. If not for that, he would never have voluntarily signed up for the Triwizard Tournament.
But now, it seemed that the school's reputation and the students' safety could no longer both be protected.
A headmaster's scandal of shocking proportions would become a disgrace that the entire school would not be able to wash away for decades, and every student who had come from it would be tainted by association. But if nothing was done, then that would be the same as allowing the vortex of conspiracy to keep forming until it swallowed everyone into it.
In the end, Krum still made his choice.
"…Over the course of these seven years at school, I have seen you many times, Professor."
At last, Krum's fingers silently clenched beneath his sleeve. The force of that grip seemed to drive him onward as he continued firmly:
"And on several of those occasions, I happened to notice a few faint marks on your wrist. In the past, I never knew what they were. But only after I uncovered certain things together with the other two champions, and after Ken discovered nearly identical traces on Crouch's wrist, did I realize… it was an Unbreakable Vow."
"Tch!"
Karkaroff forced himself to look disdainful.
"And that's why you think Mr. Crouch and I are suspicious? Because of a few marks on a wrist?"
"You idiot. I truly don't know how you ever became a champion… If you went and looked at the wrists of the other students right now, I'd wager you could find at least a hundred people with marks left by bracelets, sleeves worn too tight, or one thing or another. Are you saying all of them have made Unbreakable Vows too?"
"…An Unbreakable Vow can be detected."
Krum's voice remained flat.
"And if, as you say, I had only seen two similar marks, then naturally I would never have been confident enough to stand up here. The reason I am doing so is mainly because we also learned something else."
"You used to be a Death Feeder, didn't you?"
"…Death Eater."
Avada quietly nudged Krum in the arm and corrected him in a low voice.
"Utter nonsense."
Karkaroff frowned.
"When I first came to Durmstrang, people were already spreading rumors like that to undermine me. And now there are still people foolish enough to believe them?"
"Probably more people believe it than you imagine, especially since Hogwarts's new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor this year is named Alastor Moody."
Krum ignored Karkaroff's suddenly constricted pupils and continued speaking on his own.
"I learned that back then, you were pursued by Professor Moody for a full six months before you were finally captured. Then you reached a secret deal with Barty Crouch, who was about to put you on trial, and walked away completely untouched. Meanwhile, the number of Death Eaters captured by the Ministry suddenly multiplied several times over. There are even rumors that Crouch, in order to fulfill his deal with you, secretly erased all your records…"
"That's enough!"
Barty Crouch finally roared as he sprang to his feet.
"I refuse to tolerate such unrestrained slander any longer! Make your student be quiet, Karkaroff!"
"Oh, no."
Suddenly, a thin, bony hand landed on Crouch's shoulder with irresistible force, cutting off his roar in mid-breath and making him turn stiffly to the side.
Albus Dumbledore was looking at him with a smile.
"I believe everyone has the right to express their doubts openly."
Crouch's face went pale as he glanced at Dumbledore's other hand—it had already disappeared beneath his sleeve.
Meanwhile, the students below had completely erupted.
"You've got to be kidding me—Crouch and Karkaroff really were in cahoots?!"
"Why are you still doubting it? Crouch's face already tells the whole story… and I feel like I heard rumors like this ages ago!"
"But those rumors were all about Karkaroff! Mr. Crouch… wasn't he the one who personally put so many Death Eaters on trial?"
"Forget that for now. With the way Ken and the others are going with this… don't tell me the one who killed Bagman was actually Karkaroff or Crouch? The accusation is getting way too direct!"
Hearing the increasingly heated voices below, the expressions on Karkaroff and Crouch's faces grew darker and darker. Yet with Dumbledore smiling beside them, neither of them dared make the slightest move.
As for Maxime, who had originally known almost nothing about any of this, she now looked tense as well. She shifted her seat a little farther away, and one hand had already quietly settled at her waist…
'…?'
A trace of confusion flashed through Avada's eyes, but he gave nothing away.
"And among the Death Eaters who were 'suddenly arrested' because of Karkaroff, there just happened to be a friend of Mr. Ludo Bagman's—his name was Augustus Rookwood."
Krum's voice gradually grew louder now.
"Because of that, Bagman was implicated back then and even dragged into court once, and the one who presided over that trial also happened to be Barty Crouch. It is said that during that trial, Mr. Crouch was determined to send Bagman to Azkaban—determined to the point of nearly disregarding the facts and evidence entirely. I suspect it was already at that time that you realized Bagman might have guessed at the deal between you and Karkaroff, didn't you, Mr. Crouch!"
"That is the real reason why you and Bagman, both British officials, were able to break tradition and sit as judges at the Durmstrang Tournament."
Excitement had crept into his voice now.
"Because Ludo Bagman used that matter to threaten Karkaroff, demanding a judge's seat from him—and quite possibly demanding help in rigging the competition as well. Fearing the secret would be exposed, Karkaroff then turned to Crouch, and the two men, whose interests were already bound together, came up with a plan to kill Bagman!"
"And the proof is this: Bagman's true cause of death was not that goblin dagger, but the Killing Curse! Yet Karkaroff, Crouch, and later the investigation team all insisted he had been killed by goblins, despite the fact that a simple vitality examination would have revealed the abnormality at once!"
"That's right!"
The students below immediately burst into discussion again.
"I knew the way Bagman died couldn't possibly have been caused by just a dagger!"
"Exactly—I saw him too. He looked like he had no idea danger was coming at all… he was an athlete, for heaven's sake. If someone came at him from the front with a dagger, would he really have had no reaction?"
"I knew Durmstrang could never be infiltrated by a mere goblin…"
"Absurd!"
At last, Karkaroff showed a trace of delight and slammed the table as he shouted:
"Leaving aside the fact that not a single student in that corridor saw either me or Mr. Crouch, and not a single one heard any incantation either—let alone one as long as the Killing Curse!"
"Are you trying to say that either I or Mr. Crouch can cast the Killing Curse silently, with magical ability on par with a Dark Lord?"
Avada smiled.
After waiting this long, it was finally his turn to step onto the stage…
(End of Chapter)