Almost the very next moment after passing along that piece of information, Avada felt his feet leave the ground as his whole body was suddenly hoisted up by who knew how many hands at once...
"I knew you could do it!"
"Well done, first place!"
"Hahaha, who could've guessed the first task would be a detective competition... wasn't that basically walking straight into Ken's line of fire?"
"Exactly. He already exposed Voldemort's conspiracy. Compared to that, this was child's play..."
Just like that, Avada was carried back onto the Hogwarts Express by his jubilant classmates. The dining carriage there had long since been stocked with a lavish spread of food and drinks. Before a moment ago, no one had known that all of this was part of the tournament task, and no one had known that Avada would take first place. That could only mean Dumbledore had arranged in advance for the house-elves to prepare everything...
No wonder his spiritual state had felt so subtle that morning when he and the other two champions had gone to see Dumbledore.
In truth, even before Karkaroff revealed the truth, Avada had already vaguely sensed that everything that had happened earlier was very likely part of the Triwizard Tournament from the start. When he, Fleur, and Krum had each analyzed the case and exposed one shocking "truth" after another, the people in the faculty section—the tension from Karkaroff, the unease from Crouch, Maxime's confusion, Dumbledore's readiness to act... it had all basically been an act. In reality, their spiritual states had been perfectly relaxed.
Though Karkaroff and Crouch really had been a little tense. After all, the secret deal between the two of them, along with Crouch's deletion of records, had genuinely happened. And that was one of the things Avada was still puzzled about even now—Karkaroff and Crouch had actually been willing to let that be exposed?
Wasn't he afraid that one of the champions might have some extraordinary skill and really dig up hard evidence on the spot?
And not only that, during this competition, Avada had discovered something else extremely important, something that gave him an even stronger sense of urgency...
Knock, knock, knock.
The celebration aboard the Hogwarts Express lasted until late into the night. Everyone, including Dumbledore and the house-elves, was celebrating Avada's brilliant performance, marveling at the production team's ingenious idea for this tournament, and of course endlessly speculating about what the second task would be and whether it would unfold in some equally unexpected way...
It was only after everyone was so exhausted that they were practically ready to fall asleep in the dining carriage that people finally dispersed and returned to their compartments to collapse into bed...
Everyone except Avada.
Now, taking advantage of the lack of witnesses around him, he quietly knocked on the door of Dumbledore's temporary office.
"...I knew you'd come by sooner or later."
Dumbledore was still wearing the same clothes he had worn at the banquet, seated behind his desk and smiling lightly at Avada. On this trip, he had practically packed up his entire office and moved it onto the Hogwarts train. The strange silver instruments, the branch Fawkes always perched on, and all sorts of other odds and ends were arranged exactly the same as Avada remembered...
"I still had some doubts, and I really did find a few things..."
Avada shut the door behind him and lowered his voice. "You know what my ability is like—if this tournament really had been a disguise from the very beginning, a performance from start to finish, there's no way I wouldn't have noticed something."
"Because almost all of it was arranged by my own hand."
Dumbledore answered with a smile. "No matter how deep the waters may run beneath the surface, outwardly this is still only a safe, exciting, and historically significant international competition. Since you finally managed to become a champion, I naturally had to find some way for you to enjoy the fun of the tournament as well."
"..."
Avada's expression froze.
"Then..."
After a long silence, he finally asked cautiously, "Ludo Bagman's corpse?"
"I made it."
Dumbledore answered cheerfully. "Every bit of material used was real flesh and bone, and I didn't use any magic at all to refine the appearance. After removing the vitality, it was completely identical to a body struck by the Killing Curse. Actually, if you looked carefully, you'd notice that fake body didn't resemble Bagman all that much, so I deliberately set the cordon farther away."
Avada's face darkened.
Headmaster, you set me up!!
"...Karkaroff and Bagman's dirt?"
"Oh, that part was real. Both Karkaroff's identity as a Death Eater and the agreement he made with Crouch."
Dumbledore's expression became slightly more restrained, though he still looked thoroughly at ease. "But in truth, people of higher standing in the magical world had already heard more or less about those matters. And with so many years having passed, plus Voldemort himself already being under arrest, no one really cares about those old stories anymore... To be honest, even if those things really were exposed, neither Karkaroff nor Crouch would suffer much for it. Everyone can understand the choice Crouch made back then. As for Karkaroff... he has long since secured his position, and Durmstrang is highly tolerant of Dark Wizards as well."
"That's why they dared to add it into the competition."
Avada stroked his chin. "And after all this, even more people will believe those earlier rumors really were just false conspiracy theories. It even works as positive publicity for Karkaroff and Crouch, since the people involved dared to openly include them in an entertainment event without changing expression..."
"Exactly."
Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction. "Oh, and in order to get around the special spiritual gifts that you and Miss Delacour possess, several of us even altered part of our own memories before the performance began, just to make our reactions more natural... Noticing traces of memory modification is still very difficult for you at your current level, isn't it?"
"...And those investigators?"
"They were actually staff members here to set up the second task. They were only playing temporary roles."
Dumbledore smiled. "Of course, their memories were altered temporarily as well. In any case, Durmstrang would eventually erase their memories of the school's location anyway, so they had no objections. They only asked for double pay."
"I see."
Avada nodded thoughtfully. "In other words, the first task was actually under your observation and control from beginning to end, and the conspiracies aimed at you still haven't surfaced at this stage?"
"You could say that."
Dumbledore smiled faintly and stroked his beard.
"Then in that case, the fact that the Ludo Bagman who came back just now is actually a fake is also something you already knew, right?"
"Of course... huh?"
Dumbledore's hand froze stiffly on his beard.
(End of Chapter)