"I didn't do it."
Turning toward Ron and Hermione, I, Harry Potter, spoke as if pleading for help.
"You know I can't enter, right?"
But the two of them could only stare back at me, looking utterly stunned.
Then, when I looked over at the Slytherin table, I saw Elaina doing much the same, turning toward Malfoy and the others and opening her mouth as if seeking their agreement.
"I did it."
Why did Elaina look so proud…?
"You all saw it, didn't you? My valiant attempt to break through Headmaster Dumbledore's Age Line."
"Don't lie, Elaina. You failed every single time," Malfoy shot back."And halfway through, the teachers had their eyes completely on you. You couldn't do a thing."
Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson sighed in exasperation, and the Slytherin table erupted into a mix of snorts and wry smiles.
Plenty of students had witnessed the top-of-her-year Elaina trying every trick in the book to cross the Age Line, so compared to me, it apparently did not seem all that surprising. If anything, curiosity won out, with whispers like "So she finally pulled it off?" and "How did she do it?" spreading through the crowd.
"Harry, Elaina, come here, please."
At Dumbledore's call, the two of us, still in a daze, staggered toward the staff table.
On the way, crushed by the pressure of hundreds of staring eyes, I glanced at Elaina. She was strutting along lightly, chin raised and face perfectly composed.
"This way, through that door."
Guided by Dumbledore, Elaina and I opened the door leading out of the Great Hall and entered a small room lined with portraits of witches and wizards. Inside, a roaring fire blazed in the hearth, and the three champions were gathered around it.
"What's going on? Is this a message?" Fleur asked.
Not knowing how to answer, I looked at Elaina. Just as she was about to speak, Dumbledore entered with Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Mr. Crouch and Mr. Frank, followed by Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Moody, and explained the situation.
Naturally, Karkaroff and Madame Maxime were furious.
They pressed Dumbledore on why Hogwarts had produced three champions, and when Krum and the others heard this, their eyes widened in shock.
After calming the two headmasters as best he could, Headmaster Dumbledore first turned his gaze to me.
"Harry, did you put your name into the Goblet?"
"No."
I shook my head firmly.
As Snape wore a malicious "liar" expression, and Karkaroff and Madame Maxime eyed me suspiciously, Professor Frank had a delicate expression that seemed to hover somewhere between troubled and amused.
Next, Dumbledore turned to Elaina.
"Elaina, you attempted to put your name into the Goblet… multiple times, did you not?"
"Yes!"
"This is hardly something to be proud of."
Dumbledore sighed and changed his line of questioning.
"Would you tell us how you attempted it, and what methods you considered?"
"Of course."
Elaina puffed out her barely noticeable chest and answered defiantly. What I had seen were a levitation charm, a message arrow, and a failed attempt to bribe Montague, but apparently she had also tried aerial drops using owls and a variety of other schemes.
"I also thought that using Polyjuice Potion to turn into Euphemia Rowle might let me sneak past, but…"
Smoothly and without hesitation, Elaina went on for nearly ten full minutes, rattling off more than a dozen different methods one after another.
Listening to every conceivable trick for fooling the Age Line spill from her mouth, Fleur and Karkaroff, who had been irritated at first, were left utterly speechless by the end. Professor Frank was desperately holding back laughter.
"In the end, I even asked the house-elves working at Hogwarts for help, but they refused… and that's everything."
By the time Elaina finally finished, the air was thick with a sense of "Someone needs to deal with this quickly." The only one clearly enjoying herself was Professor Frank.
"Elaina. Just to be clear, breaking the rules is not acceptable, you know?"
But Elaina showed no sign of remorse at all.
"Well, aren't rules meant not as ends in themselves, but as means to achieve a purpose?"
In other words, Elaina continued,
"The purpose of this age restriction is to prevent those who lack the skill to face the trials from entering. The rule itself is merely one means of achieving that purpose."
At Elaina's sophistry, Professor Frank looked even more entertained, Professor McGonagall let out a heavy sigh, and Snape wore a vacant expression like that of a Tibetan sand fox.
"In other words?"
"In other words, having broken the magic of the greatest wizard of this century, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, I clearly have nothing but the qualifications to be a champion!"
Unable to hold it in any longer, Professor Frank burst out laughing, while Madame Maxime and Karkaroff watched her with visibly irritated expressions.
"Someone tried to make Ogwarts take three bites of the apple!""Exactly. After all those meetings and negotiations to reach a compromise, I never imagined something like this would happen!"
As Madame Maxime raged, Karkaroff voiced his agreement.
"I shall lodge a protest. To the Ministry of Magic and the International Confederation of Wizards…"
"The one with the most right to complain here is Potter," Moody growled, cutting Karkaroff off.
"If someone wanted Potter dead…"
It seemed Moody believed that some dark wizard had put my name into the Goblet of Fire in order to kill me.
According to him, a powerful Confundus Charm had been used to make the Goblet forget that only three schools were participating, causing it to mistake Elaina and me for candidates from Mahoutokoro and Ilvermorny, a fourth and fifth school.
"As for Celestria, though, even if she used some underhanded trick for money, I doubt anyone would question it."
Moody's magical eye swung toward Elaina in a sharp glare, but perhaps because Dumbledore was present, Elaina still looked faintly defiant.
"If you're talking about something suspicious, then what about Ilvermorny?"
Karkaroff suddenly turned his accusation toward Professor Frank.
"Isn't it possible that they secretly entered through foul means?"
"Oh?"
Professor Frank replied with complete composure.
"If the key champion ends up being a Hogwarts student, then even winning wouldn't be very rewarding."
"And besides," Professor Frank continued,
"Harry is supposedly from Mahoutokoro, which isn't even here. I think the culprit simply wrote down the name of some random magical school."
Karkaroff's temple twitched as a vein bulged, and this time he turned his gaze to Mr. Crouch.
"Mr. Crouch, ah, well… you are a neutral judge. Wouldn't you say this situation is highly irregular?"
From the shadows, Mr. Crouch answered in a businesslike tone.
"We must follow the rules. And the rules are clear. Anyone whose name emerges from the Goblet of Fire is obligated to compete."
"Then I demand that Durmstrang also be allowed to field two more champions, borrowing names from Castelobruxo and Uagadou!"
Karkaroff snarled, baring his teeth.
"That would be true fairness."
"Beauxbatons requests the same response," Madame Maxime added, nodding as she looked at Mr. Crouch and then Dumbledore.
"However, the Goblet of Fire has already gone out," Dumbledore said. "Until the next tournament, its flame will not be lit again."
"But…!"
As Karkaroff tried to press his protest further, Professor Frank stepped in to mediate.
"Well, well. In the end, it's the judges who do the scoring, isn't it? In that case, why not have Harry and Elaina participate as observers, and simply have all the judges give them zero points? Wouldn't that solve everything?"
At Professor Frank's suggestion, Elaina let out a despairing cry.
"Whaaat?!"
"Oh, that is an excellent idea," Dumbledore said, clapping his hands once as he looked at Madame Maxime and Karkaroff.
"Just as Professor Frank suggests, how about treating Harry and Elaina as observer participants only? Officially, both will receive zero points from start to finish, and under no circumstances will they be able to win."
When Dumbledore asked, "How does that sound?" Karkaroff and Madame Maxime finally seemed to relent.
"If that is how it will be," Madame Maxime said.
"Whether they are the culprit or not, if they earn no points, I have no objection. Let us enjoy the spectacle," Karkaroff added.
Both of them nodded reluctantly.
"Mr. Crouch, is that acceptable to you as well?" Dumbledore asked.
"No problem. Champions are obligated to compete, but scoring is entrusted to the discretion and conscience of the judges."
"Then it is settled."
Dumbledore clapped his hands, and the matter appeared resolved.
＊＊
"Cedric, Harry, and Elaina. All three of you should return to your dormitories and get some rest."
Dumbledore, who had looked stern until then, finally smiled.
"Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Slytherin are all likely waiting to celebrate with you. When you have such a perfect excuse for a raucous party, it would be a shame to waste it."
Elaina and Cedric nodded, and the three of us left the room together. The candles in the Great Hall had burned low, and everyone was already gone.
"So, it looks like we'll be competing outside of Quidditch too," Cedric said with a smile that was hard to read.
"Harry, how exactly did you put your name in?"
"I didn't."
"Hm… I see."
I denied it reflexively, but Cedric did not seem to believe me. As for Elaina—
"Just a little more, one thousand Galleons… just a little more, one thousand Galleons…"
She muttered bitterly under her breath, clearly assuming she would have won. Seriously, where did that confidence come from?
◇◆◇
After parting ways with Harry and Cedric and returning to the Slytherin dormitory, a deafening roar assaulted my ears.
Immediately, more than ten hands reached out and grabbed me firmly, dragging me straight into the common room. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by cheering, thunderous applause, and whistling Slytherins.
"Make way for our champion!"
"Well done, Elaina!"
"You broke through Dumbledore's magic! That's incredible!"
Starting with Draco's excited shout, Senior Montague raised his voice with an impressed look, while Senior Warrington slapped my shoulder so hard it actually hurt.
"Unfortunately, due to negotiations between the headmasters, I've been legally removed from contention for the championship," I said.
"Well, considering the other schools' pride, that's probably the most reasonable compromise," someone replied.
"But you weren't banned from participating, right?"
As Astoria spoke with a troubled expression, Draco Malfoy cut in with a shrug.
"As long as I get to see you outdo Potter, I'm satisfied."
"Exactly. From a spectator's point of view, as long as the matches are entertaining, that's enough," Zabini added flippantly.
"Of course, we won't hold back on providing support. If you need an ambush, leave it to me," Nott said, offering help that sounded half serious and half joking.
Cries of agreement like "That's right!" and "Go for it!" rose from all around.
"But seriously, how did you do it?" Astoria asked.
When I revealed the various methods I had thought of, each one was met with reactions like "Oooh" and "Wow."
"Though in the end, I don't actually know which one worked," I admitted.
"Doesn't matter!"
"You probably just threw enough attempts at it until one hit!"
"Honestly, I'm more impressed you thought of all that."
"Well, I don't know the details, but if you run into any trouble, I'll help!" Pansy concluded.
That set off more rowdy cheers from the other Slytherins, full of curious enthusiasm, with shouts like "YEEEEES!!!" and "YEAHHHHHH!!!"
Thus, although I was officially allowed to participate as a champion and secured the full backing of Slytherin House, the headmasters' negotiations meant I could no longer win the prize money.
"Elaina, do your best!"
"If those Hufflepuffs give you any trouble, come to us anytime."
"I'll keep an eye on Potter to make sure he's not cheating!"
"I'll ask my father to put pressure on the Ministry to tighten security, just in case."
"..."
Facing the Slytherins who were genuinely happy for me, there was no way I could say now, "If I can't get the prize money, there's no point in participating…"
"Thank you, everyone…"
And so, the witch who had schemed to obtain the prize money through every dirty trick imaginable unexpectedly ended up working for free, finally reaping the consequences of her own stingy behavior.
(End of chapter)
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