Listening to the sudden applause outside the room, the three champions, including Cedric, were all stunned.
The three champions for the three schools had already been selected, so why was there still applause outside?
Therefore, when they saw Headmaster Dumbledore enter with Harry, they couldn't help but widen their eyes in disbelief.
"Wait, isn't there supposed to be only one champion per school?"
Fleur looked at Krum standing next to her, confused. Krum opened his mouth to speak, but remembering that Harry was a friend of that Miss Amanda, he closed it again and shook his head to indicate he didn't know what was going on either.
Seeing Harry looking pale and seemingly at a loss, Cedric took a step forward and led his junior from a different house to the side.
"Harry, what's going on?" He leaned down slightly and whispered into Harry's ear.
"I don't know," Harry shook his head, teeth gritted, looking both angry and bewildered. "I didn't put my name in the goblet of fire, but the goblet of fire spat out a piece of paper with my name on it!"
Frowning deeply, Cedric glanced at Headmaster Dumbledore and then nodded to Harry.
"It's okay, Headmaster Dumbledore is here; nothing bad will happen. I'm afraid someone is trying to use the Triwizard Tournament to harm you."
Unfortunately, while they felt that way, Karkaroff and Madame Maxime did not.
"Dumbledore, I thought each school could only have one champion?"
Karkaroff looked at Headmaster Dumbledore with dissatisfaction, as if he had suffered a great loss.
"If that's the case, shouldn't our two schools also add a champion?" Madame Maxime chimed in from the side.
"Shouldn't the right thing be to have this child withdraw?" Fleur looked around at the three headmasters present in shock.
"It's obvious he's not old enough; the level of danger for him to participate in this tournament is too high!"
"Indeed," Krum couldn't help but agree. "If he participates in this tournament, isn't it very likely that something will go wrong?"
"Headmaster Dumbledore," Cedric pursed his lips and looked at his headmaster. "I also feel that someone is trying to harm Harry. If possible, and if Harry is willing, perhaps withdrawing is the safest option."
Even though he knew in his heart that withdrawing was impossible, Harry still nodded vigorously behind Cedric.
If it weren't for the plan of Headmaster Dumbledore and Amanda, Harry felt that in this situation, his first thought would definitely have been to withdraw.
By Merlin's goblet of fire, he already had enough trouble; why did trouble keep finding him without a moment's rest?
"I'm very sorry, children, but I'm afraid Harry can no longer withdraw."
"As I said before," Headmaster Dumbledore said, looking at Karkaroff and Madame Maxime, "once your name is chosen by the goblet of fire, you have entered into a sacred contract with it. This contract cannot be broken; it must be fulfilled."
Harry sighed and shook his head at Cedric to indicate he was fine.
Karkaroff wanted to speak again but was interrupted by his student. "It doesn't matter much if one more Mr. Potter participates in the tournament; what matters is ensuring his safety."
As Krum spoke, he secretly spat twice at Karkaroff in his mind. This old fellow—it was one thing to act all high and mighty and bully other students back at school.
But now he was at Hogwarts and still being dishonest, planning to pull that same act on Harry Potter?
Setting aside whether Headmaster Dumbledore would agree, if that Miss Amanda in the Great Hall outside found out about his attitude, she could probably make him disappear without a trace.
Since things had reached this point, Madame Maxime could only state that she had no objection.
And so, this session of the Triwizard Tournament, now with four champions, officially began.
As soon as she returned to the Ravenclaw Common Room, Amanda was surrounded by a large group of Little Eagles.
"Amanda, what on earth is going on with this?"
"Yeah, Potter doesn't meet the age requirement; why was he chosen by the goblet of fire?"
The Little Eagles asked all at once, but their focus was on how exactly the goblet of fire and the Age Line personally drawn by Headmaster Dumbledore could be deceived.
For the studious Ravenclaws, these two points piqued their curiosity the most.
"To deceive the goblet of fire, all that is needed is a sufficiently powerful Confundo."
Amanda's voice was calm and clear like glacial water. As for how to deceive Headmaster Dumbledore's Age Line, she repeated the methods she had previously told Hermione and the others to the Little Eagles.
"In that case," one Little Eagle pondered with lowered eyes, "regarding Potter, the most likely scenario is actually the last one."
"Someone wrote his name and threw it into the goblet of fire, then used a Confundo so that the goblet of fire spat out his name after spitting out the three champions' names."
"Exactly," Amanda nodded with a calm expression. "And no matter who this person is or what their purpose is, Harry is in danger."
The Little Eagles collectively gasped.
"But, isn't Headmaster Dumbledore still here?" a first-year Little Eagle asked, timidly raising a hand.
"Headmaster Dumbledore is here," Amanda said, glancing at the first-year who asked, "but Headmaster Dumbledore is also human. Humans have moments of negligence or times when they can't attend to everything."
Just like herself—back when she was protecting Ginny while dealing with the Basilisk, didn't a mistake happen that allowed the Basilisk to escape?
The Little Eagles looked at each other, all realizing that this school year would likely not be peaceful either.
"Alright, everyone," Penelope stepped forward and raised both hands to signal for calm. "Regardless, we are still at Hogwarts. We have Headmaster Dumbledore, the Professors, and Amanda."
"Our safety is still guaranteed to some extent, but I believe everyone has felt the undercurrents growing stronger year by year."
"So, I must ask everyone to study hard this year as well and master as many Charms as possible."
"As Amanda just said, as long as one is human, there will be oversights. Therefore, we cannot rely entirely on the protection of others, no matter who they are."
"Strengthen your study of magic and protect yourselves."
After revealing a bit of the situation to the Little Eagles, Amanda returned to the Dormitory with Hermione, Cho Chang, and Marietta Eckmore.
Sitting on the bed, Hermione looked at Amanda with some melancholy. "When should we reveal the news of Voldemort's resurrection to everyone?"
Amanda lowered her eyes, her brain working rapidly. Voldemort's resurrection, revealing the news, the reactions of various parties—she simulated all the variables and possible scenarios at the same time.
After a dozen seconds, she looked up at Hermione. "Once everything for this school year is over and Voldemort has truly been resurrected, we can reveal the news."
"Just reveal it like that?" Marietta Eckmore, who had been listening, couldn't help but interject. "Revealing it like that will easily create a public outcry, won't it?"
"Indeed," Cho Chang nodded. "Whether out of fear or to comfort themselves, people will try every possible way to refute it."
It can only be said that human nature is such that once something is too terrifying and isn't revealed in a particularly tangible way—meaning, people haven't seen it with their own eyes—
Then people will deny it as much as possible, no matter how real the evidence before them is. It's as if by denying the terrifying thing, it will cease to exist.
"Not only will most people in the British Wizarding World refuse to acknowledge it," Amanda said with a cold expression, "the Ministry of Magic will also do everything in its power to deny Voldemort's resurrection."
"They will even spare no effort to smear me, smear Harry, and smear Headmaster Dumbledore."
Listening to Amanda's words and following her line of reasoning, Hermione felt as if she had grasped something.
"What you want is exactly the Ministry's smearing of us and their denial of Voldemort's resurrection?"
She looked at Amanda on the next bed with some uncertainty; Amanda nodded with an unchanging expression, indicating she was correct.
"Yes. We announce that Voldemort has returned; the people of the British Wizarding World will deceive themselves, and the Ministry of Magic will refuse to admit it."
"In the short term, those people will seem to support the Ministry's view. But once something places Voldemort's resurrection right before their eyes, forcing them to believe it—"
"They will no longer be able to deceive themselves, and they will vent all that frustration onto the Ministry of Magic, and onto Fudge and his lot."
"If that happens, the probability of Fudge being ousted will reach ninety percent."
"Fudge steps down," Amanda pointed her finger downward, "and Hermione—who has been advocating the news of Voldemort's return, warning everyone to be vigilant, and who has the support of Harry, myself, and everyone in Ravenclaw—takes office."
Pointing at Hermione, Amanda slowly spoke the final words: "It follows naturally."
"Wow..." After hearing Amanda's explanation, Marietta Eckmore exclaimed in shock, "What a... what a clever strategy."
How should one put it? This wasn't just the Ministry of Magic; the entire population of the British Wizarding World, and even Voldemort himself, had been factored into Amanda's calculations.
By slightly utilizing everyone's most natural reactions to achieve her goals... one could only be thankful once again that Amanda was a naturally kind and gentle girl.
While Hermione went to shower, Amanda sat on her bed with her legs stretched out, her mind still constantly reviewing the plan she had just described.
Basically, no part of it should go wrong. Based on probabilistic calculations, everyone's reactions would almost certainly not deviate from Amanda's estimates.
The only point that Amanda was still uncertain about and didn't know how to handle was how to make the fact of Voldemort's resurrection be placed clearly before everyone in the British Wizarding World after being publicly questioned and denied by the Ministry.
Specifically, it had to be placed before the Ministry so that no one, including the Ministry, could question it a second time. Only then could she achieve her goal of ousting Fudge and putting Hermione in power.
At this moment, Amanda, who was still racking her brains with constant deductions and calculations, did not know that by next year, Voldemort would personally hand her an opportunity that perfectly matched her ideas.
As long as information about an event wasn't required to be kept secret, it would always spread very quickly within Hogwarts.
By noon the day after the champions were announced, word had already spread throughout Hogwarts that Amanda had confirmed Harry's name being spat out by the goblet of fire was because someone wanted to harm him.
Because of this, almost everyone looked at Harry with pity and sympathy.
Stiffening his neck to swallow a piece of bacon, Harry looked through gritted teeth at Ron, who was sitting across from him, pretending to look at him with a pitying gaze like everyone else.
"Ron! If you look at me with that gaze one more time, I'm really not going to be able to stop myself from punching you."
"Ahem," Ron quickly withdrew his gaze and waved his hand. "Sorry mate, but this is really interesting."
Sighing helplessly, Harry shook his head. "I really don't know why they all have that expression. It's not like I've been sentenced to death."
"It's just participating in the Triwizard Tournament; I won't necessarily die."
It couldn't be that just because he was in the Triwizard Tournament he was going to die; that would be too unreasonable!
"Because you are the youngest among the four champions, and I have already explained that someone wants to harm you by having you participate in the Triwizard Tournament."
Amanda's cool voice drifted over, and the next moment, she sat down next to Harry with efficient movements.
"Hey, Amanda, what are you doing here?"
Harry, somewhat at a loss, shifted away from Amanda while casting a cautious glance at Hermione behind her. He only breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Hermione nod with satisfaction.
Good, good thing his reactions were fast.
Ignoring Harry's reaction, Amanda continued to speak mechanically, "After the Triwizard Tournament ends, I need you, Harry, to stick firmly to the claim that Voldemort has been resurrected."
"Uh, isn't that the truth?"
Harry looked at Amanda blankly. Wasn't Voldemort going to use his blood to resurrect at the end of the third task?
Amanda was the one who told him that.
"My meaning is, no matter who denies it, you must stick to it."
Amanda made her words clearer and repeated the plan she had discussed with Hermione and the others the night before to Harry.
"Okay, no problem," Harry agreed without hesitation. "But is my support that important?"
Pointing to himself, Harry didn't quite understand how his support could be placed on the same level as Amanda's, Headmaster Dumbledore's, and The Ravenclaws'.
"Of course it is," Amanda affirmed without hesitation. "You will be the witness to Voldemort's resurrection, the one who escaped death at his hands once again."
"You will also be the savior of the British Wizarding World, the hope for defeating Voldemort."
"Ah? Me?" Harry was dumbfounded. He knew he might have to face Voldemort in the future, but he really didn't know the burden on his shoulders was so heavy.
"We won't make you duel Voldemort alone," Hermione comforted Harry from behind Amanda.
"Exactly. We just need the people of the British Wizarding World to know that only you can defeat Voldemort, and that you support Hermione."
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