In the deep night, two Owls spread their wings and flew out of Hogwarts, heading rapidly toward the recipient addresses.
The next morning, when Amanda, Hermione, Cho Chang, and Marietta Eckmore arrived at the Great Hall for breakfast, many people were already there.
"Why did everyone get up so early today?" Looking at the nearly full Great Hall, Marietta Eckmore was surprised.
You should know that although they usually didn't wake up as early as Amanda, they still woke up much earlier than most Hogwarts students.
So generally, when they came to the Great Hall with Amanda, there wouldn't be many people there.
But today, when they arrived at the Great Hall, there were suddenly so many people?
"Because everyone wants to see who will put their name into the goblet of fire."
Penelope took a bite of a pie and spoke to Marietta Eckmore while chewing.
Sitting down, Hermione looked curiously at Penelope next to her, "Senior Penelopa, who has signed up so far?"
Penelope swallowed the pie in her mouth and counted on her fingers, "Viktor Krum from Durmstrang, Fleur from Beauxbatons, Cedric from our school's Hufflepuff house has also signed up, and Angelina from Gryffindor seems to have signed up too."
"Oh, oh." Hermione nodded in understanding.
"Viktor, Fleur, Cedric." Amanda, sitting among the four girls, suddenly spoke.
"What?" Hermione, who had just forked a fried egg for herself, was stunned.
"The final champions for the three schools have an eighty-two percent probability of being these three people."
"Wow," Cho Chang gave a small cry of surprise, "How did you analyze that?"
Isn't choosing people the goblet of fire's job? Can the choice of an object be predicted?
"The goblet of fire definitely doesn't choose randomly; the strength of magic and the level of comprehensive ability will definitely be its key considerations."
"By analyzing the people who might sign up from the three schools, the three of them are the most prominent in terms of magical strength and comprehensive ability, and they fit the requirements best."
"I see." Cho Chang understood instantly.
"Go for it!"
"Good luck!"
Just as Amanda and Cho Chang finished speaking, a burst of cheering came from the direction of the goblet of fire.
The five girls turned to look in unison; Fred Weasley and George Weasley were standing smiling outside the Age Line around the goblet of fire, each holding a bottle of Potion.
Age Line, Potion, "aging potion." Amanda said the name in an indifferent voice.
"aging potion?" Hermione frowned, "Do they really think such a method can pass the Age Line set by Headmaster Dumbledore himself?"
"I think their thought process is that Headmaster Dumbledore, being such a powerful Wizard, might not think of such a simple method."
Amanda briefly analyzed the personalities and working styles of the Weasley Twins, and after ruling out many options in an instant, confirmed this explanation.
"Then will they succeed?" Marietta Eckmore turned her head to look at Amanda with great interest; she was quite curious if Headmaster Dumbledore's Age Line would really be fooled by two small bottles of aging potion.
"No," Amanda shook her head decisively, pointing a finger at the Age Line drawn on the floor by Headmaster Dumbledore, "This Age Line can detect a person's true age. The aging potion only promotes bodily growth and changes, making the body reach a state and appearance of an older age."
"But it cannot make a human truly reach another age stage."
Otherwise, Wizards could freely control their age just by relying on aging potions and De-aging Potions, and every Wizard could live forever. If so, why would the Philosopher's Stone be so precious and hard to come by?
After listening to Amanda's explanation, the other four girls nodded, and then they watched helplessly as the Weasley Twins fed each other the aging potion in the form of a cross-cup toast and then jumped directly into the Age Line.
"Yeah!"
"We did it!"
Initially, the Age Line didn't show any reaction, and the Weasley Twins even high-fived each other in a particularly good mood.
However, Amanda blinked indifferently as she watched the Age Line grow brighter and brighter, "The two of them are about to be thrown out."
Sure enough, the next instant.
Bang!
With a crisp explosion, the Weasley Twins were thrown back together with perfect synchronization, landing heavily on their backs on the ground.
"Ouch..."
"That hurt."
The two brothers rubbed their backs and sat up, only to see each other sporting a head of white hair and a white beard.
"Pfft, hahaha..."
"Merlin's wig, Headmaster Dumbledore is so funny!"
The four girls sitting next to Amanda laughed along with everyone else in the Great Hall, and even Amanda couldn't help but curl her lips.
After staring at each other for two seconds, the Weasley Twins laughed in unison and then began scuffling while blaming each other.
For a moment, they brought even more joy to the people around them.
"Hehehehe." A voice, aged but not old-sounding, came as Headmaster Dumbledore slowly walked into the Great Hall; the steadiness of an old man and the lightheartedness of a youth blended perfectly within him.
"aging potion, a very good idea, but unfortunately I did not overlook them."
Headmaster Dumbledore winked mischievously at the Weasley Twins. The Twins looked at each other and quickly scrambled up from the floor, though they still poked and prodded each other, showing no sense of self-consciousness in front of the Principal.
The Hogwarts students were used to this and were all laughing and talking to each other, but the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were shocked as they watched this scene.
The person in front of them was their Principal; shouldn't they show some restraint?
And they signed up despite not meeting the requirements; now that their Principal had found out, wouldn't their Principal punish them? Or at least scold them?
But Headmaster Dumbledore clearly had no such intention. He continued to stroke his long beard cheerfully; now Fred and George's white beards were only half as long as his.
"Go to the Hospital Wing, Mr. Weasleys, both of you. Your friend is there too, though I must tell the truth, your beards look much better than his."
The Twins nodded with a smile and pushed each other out of the Great Hall.
Rubbing her cheeks, which were stiff from laughing, Hermione couldn't help but lean curiously into Amanda's ear, "Amanda, if it were you, would you have a way to break through this Age Line?"
"Yes," Amanda nodded certainly, "There are four ways that are effortless and save time, and one way that requires a bit of effort."
"Four effortless ways?" Penelope glanced around, lowered her head, and leaned closer to Amanda, "Whisper them to us."
Cho Chang and Marietta Eckmore also leaned in immediately, the four girls' heads crowding together around Amanda, waiting for her to reveal those four methods.
"The Age Line mainly targets people; as long as no person enters the Age Line, the Age Line will not take effect."
Amanda first briefly explained the function and working method of the Age Line.
"Mhm, mhm." The four girls nodded in unison.
"So as long as you don't enter the Age Line yourself, it's fine. Standing outside the Age Line and using a Levitation Charm to throw the slip of paper for signing up inside—that's the first method."
"Using magic to send the slip of paper into the Age Line from underground and then controlling it into the goblet of fire—that's the second method."
"Standing directly outside the Age Line and throwing the slip of paper into the goblet of fire—that's the third method."
"Asking an adult Wizard for help to put the slip of paper into the goblet of fire—that's the fourth method, though it might need to be used with a Confundo."
"Hiss... those really are very simple methods."
Marietta Eckmore clicked her tongue. These methods could all cleverly bypass the defense range of the Age Line. They could be called simple and ingenious, but no one except Amanda had thought of them.
Hermione lowered her eyes slightly and said thoughtfully, "Headmaster Dumbledore specifically mentioned the existence of the Age Line, which in fact should be intentionally guiding everyone to focus on finding a way to cross the Age Line themselves, rather than finding a way to put the signup slip into the goblet of fire."
"Shifting the focus." Penelope nodded secretly as she watched Headmaster Dumbledore walk to the Staff Table and sit down. Indeed, the old are wiser.
With just one sentence, he silently guided most of the students at Hogwarts and even allowed them all to feel joy from it.
After all, being able to clash with the greatest white wizard, even if the result of losing was so interesting, which Young Wizard wouldn't smile knowingly?
Throughout the entire day, most of the Young Wizards hardly had any mind for classes. They were simply too expectant and curious to see who the champions of the three schools announced during the dinner would be.
Of course, these Young Wizards did not include Amanda. Taking notes seriously in class and practicing Charms, in Amanda's performance, it was as if any external fluctuations and changes simply did not exist for her.
When it was time for the dinner, Amanda had just sat down when Hermione grabbed her arm, "The champions are about to be announced. Harry's name should be there too, right?"
"Yes, definitely." Amanda nodded expressionlessly. According to Barty Crouch Jr.'s plan, Harry's name should have already been thrown into the goblet of fire.
After Headmaster Dumbledore stood up and wished everyone a Happy Halloween, he let everyone in the Great Hall have dinner first.
Curiosity about the choice of champions was one thing, but Young Wizards were at an age where they were growing, so dinner should still be eaten on time and eaten well.
Everyone ate this dinner exceptionally fast. Amanda, who now subconsciously slowed down her eating speed, was actually among the later group to finish.
Just as everyone put down their knives and forks and looked at Headmaster Dumbledore with bright eyes, he smiled and picked up his pumpkin juice, taking a leisurely sip.
"Old child..." Cho Chang whispered.
"What?" Hermione said in confusion, "Old child? What kind of saying is that?"
"Uh, it means an old person who is playful like a child and has a child-like personality." Cho Chang explained as clearly as possible.
"Then that title really suits Headmaster Dumbledore."
Hermione chuckled with her hand over her mouth, watching as Headmaster Dumbledore, under everyone's gaze, finally stopped intentionally delaying, stood up, and walked to the side of the goblet of fire.
"Everyone is very excited about the choice of champions, so let's reveal the answer now."
As he spoke, he turned to look at the goblet of fire. The flames of the goblet of fire changed color in an instant, and a few seconds later, a slip of paper was spat out of the goblet of fire. Headmaster Dumbledore quickly reached out to catch it and unfolded it to check.
"The champion for Durmstrang, Viktor Krum."
A majestic and steady voice rang through the Great Hall. Viktor stood up amidst polite applause, bowed slightly in return, and then, under Filch's guidance, walked toward the small room behind the Great Hall.
Putting away the slip of paper in his hand, Headmaster Dumbledore looked at the goblet of fire. After a brief pause of a few seconds, the goblet of fire spat out another slip of paper.
Catching the slip of paper with agility that didn't match his age, Headmaster Dumbledore unfolded it, "The champion for Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour."
Amanda glanced sideways; sure enough, it was that girl who was part-Veela.
Quickly withdrawing her gaze, Amanda looked at Hermione, who was sitting next to her and clapping politely.
Well, she still thought Hermione was better looking and more in line with her aesthetics.
A few seconds later, Headmaster Dumbledore unfolded the third slip of paper and read out the name of the Hogwarts champion, "The champion for Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory."
Cedric stood up from the Hufflepuff Table, and everyone at Hogwarts immediately gave him warm applause, while the other two schools also clapped politely.
Just as the three of them had entered the small room and Headmaster Dumbledore was preparing to announce the end of the dinner, the goblet of fire spat out another slip of paper.
Reaching out to take the slip of paper, Headmaster Dumbledore's expression turned solemn with just one look, and he looked toward the Gryffindor Table in shock and uncertainty.
"Harry Potter."
Sitting at the Gryffindor Table, Harry quickly showed a terrified expression, pointing at himself in disbelief.
"Me?! I didn't sign up!"
"He should have paused for two seconds before acting," Hermione whispered, "This makes the reaction seem too fast."
Amanda nodded secretly in agreement. Headmaster Dumbledore was still more impressive; his acting was so natural.
The Great Hall fell into silence. The Hufflepuffs were in disbelief, the Gryffindors were at a loss, the Slytherins looked at each other, and The Ravenclaws collectively looked at Amanda.
The corners of Amanda's mouth slowly curled up, revealing a smile as if she had known it all along, and then she slowly began to clap.
Amanda was smiling and clapping? Was there more to it? The Ravenclaw Eagles narrowed their eyes and then followed suit, clapping along.
When the Little Badgers saw Amanda leading the Little Eagles in clapping, they quickly synced their thinking with them. Amanda and The Ravenclaws knew it all along; was something going on?
Based on their unconditional trust in Amanda and the Little Eagles, the Little Badgers also quickly started clapping.
Seeing this, Gryffindor and Slytherin immediately followed, watching Harry, who was moving stiffly as Headmaster Dumbledore led him toward that small room.
Because of Amanda's lead, everyone in the Great Hall had the same thought: Someone is trying to harm him!
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