Dumbledore watched the fourth small piece of paper flutter down with a smile. He thought it was a prank by some Little Wizards and merely shrugged, smiling indifferently, until the moment the paper actually landed in his palm, and he was dumbfounded.
The magic on it was indeed the magic of the goblet of fire, and the aura within it was indeed the ancient Laisian fire from the goblet of fire.
He frowned, unfolded the small piece of paper, and after reading it, sighed helplessly: "The fourth champion, Harry Potter!"
Bang!
Kayson's wine glass was directly crushed in his hand: "What the hell is going on?"
Harry, who had been called out and was the focus of all eyes in the Great Hall, stood up, looking around with a bewildered expression. Even his companions were looking at him with a strange gaze.
"Harry… come up." Dumbledore waved to Harry.
Soon, Harry walked towards Dumbledore in a daze: "…Professor… it wasn't me."
Dumbledore hummed: "Rest assured, I certainly know it wasn't you. I don't believe you could bypass the magic barrier I set, unless one day the paper ball thrown by the Weasley Twins had your name on it."
"So Dumbledore, what exactly is going on?!" Madam Maxime asked sharply.
"Apparently, Mr. Potter and I have been framed by a snake hidden in the shadows," Dumbledore said casually.
"Oh, you say that so easily, don't you, Mr. Karkaroff?"
Karkaroff, who was inexplicably dragged into the center of the battlefield, looked at Madam Maxime with a bewildered expression. He couldn't possibly say that not only did Dumbledore have leverage over him, but Kayson had almost blown up his door with a redstone cannon, could he?
In this situation, he absolutely dared not say anything frivolous. In fact, his current refusal to quickly align with Dumbledore was already adhering to his character.
"It's regrettable, but it is indeed so. Perhaps we can use other methods, for instance, if Harry Potter truly wins the goblet of fire, as the hosts who failed to protect the goblet of fire, we are willing to award the trophy to the second-ranked champion, besides the Hogwarts champion." Dumbledore said sincerely.
"You know, we don't care about a so-called trophy, especially one given as charity," Madam Maxime said, frowning.
"I will also apologize to you at the European magic Association as the Principal of Hogwarts. Let's end this matter here. Harry, please go to the champions' room; I believe Cedric will take care of you. Kayson, Severus, come to my office!"
Dumbledore quickly took control of the situation and walked towards the staircase, then instantly teleported back to his office after entering the stairwell.
The other two were much the same; neither of them concealed their methods, arriving at Dumbledore's office as quickly as possible.
"What exactly is going on?" Snape asked directly upon entering the office.
"Harry didn't lie; it was indeed someone else, a snake hidden in the shadows of Hogwarts," Dumbledore said faintly.
"Who could it be? Karkaroff? He was a former Death Eater after all, or perhaps someone used Polyjuice Potion to infiltrate Hogwarts… Nios is also a possibility; wasn't he a prime suspect before?" Snape quickly listed several names.
"Polyjuice Potion can be used on a large scale, for example, by adding it to Hogwarts food. Karkaroff wouldn't dare to do that. Perhaps we should focus our investigation on Nios," Dumbledore said.
"You've been pen pals with him for so long; don't you have any clues?" Snape asked.
"If you can't tell by meeting face-to-face, how can you tell through text?" Dumbledore retorted.
"What about me? What should I do?" Kayson asked.
"Can you check what kind of notes were put into the goblet of fire from the moment it was lit until the results were announced?" Dumbledore asked.
"...It's not impossible. I can try."
"That's all for now. These are the only urgent matters."
Kayson nodded and used Ender Teleportation to leave the office, reappearing in the Great Hall.
The Little Wizards remained in the Great Hall, as did the Principals and students from the other two schools.
"How is it, Kayson? What does Dumbledore want to do?" Professor McGonagall walked over and asked.
"He wants me to check if the goblet of fire has been tampered with," Kayson replied.
"Can you find any clues?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"In fact, I've already seen it." Kayson walked over, and through his monocle, a small entry appeared before him.
[goblet of fire (Confundo)]
"This thing has been hit by a Confundo," he said directly.
"Can a Confundo confuse such an ancient Alchemy device?" Madam Maxime asked, frowning.
"Unfortunately, Alchemy is a constantly developing field. Please do not view Alchemy with narrow, traditionalist thinking. An Alchemist with equivalent talent in the modern era will undoubtedly achieve more than twice what an ancient Alchemist could," Kayson responded without holding back any politeness.
"Then can you do it?" Professor McGonagall asked again.
"Apparently, yes." Kayson pulled out a book and a grinding wheel. This situation clearly required the most primitive method, such as using a grinding wheel to slowly grind out each entry and then gradually identify them.
"I will wait here. We accept Hogwarts' second champion, but we also need the truth," Madam Maxime said.
"Hmm, you'll find out. Professor Flitwick, do you know Confundo?" Kayson asked while working.
"Apparently so. What do you need?" Professor Flitwick walked over and said.
"The Runes version of Confundo."
Soon, a parchment full of Professor Flitwick's writing appeared before Kayson. Kayson found the entry for Confundo and, following that order, found the first entry after it.
[School: Pureblood Supremacy]
[Champion: Harry Potter]
"Clearly, the truth is out. Someone used Confundo to make the goblet of fire believe there was a fourth school called Pureblood Supremacy, and this school only had one champion, Harry Potter, enrolled. That's why Harry's name was spat out by the goblet of fire," Kayson said, standing up.
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