The German Ministry of Magic and the Austrian Ministry of Magic have merged?
That was such an earth-shattering piece of news that Mr. Crouch was so shocked his Magic Wand fell to the ground.
In fact, it wasn't just Mr. Crouch who was shocked—Harry also subconsciously squeezed Pabi so hard that she let out a soft "ow ow."
"You're hurting me…" Pabi said, all aggrieved.
"Sorry, I'm just too shocked." Harry said dryly, but he had no intention of loosening his grip at all.
Since it was already a mistake, they might as well roll with it.
"I know you're shocked, but hold it in for a bit." Pabi whispered, "Knowing Vivi's personality, there's probably even bigger news coming, and if you're already shocked now, it'll just look premature."
"That's true." Harry nodded, accepting Pabi's reasoning. "But it looks like Hagrid and Mrs. Maxim's date is going to fall through—"
"Why?" Pabi asked curiously.
"With something this huge happening, Mrs. Maxim, as Beauxbatons Principal, definitely won't pretend nothing's going on—look." Harry pointed at Mrs. Maxim. "As everyone knows, Mrs. Maxim is French, so what do you think will happen next?"
"What will happen?" Pabi asked blankly.
"Idiot!" Harry lightly slapped Pabi's drum-skin. "Think about it: when Germany and Austria merged, besides Poland, who was the most upset?"
Pabi suddenly had a flash of insight.
"France?"
"Exactly." Harry gave her a "the kid's got potential" look. "As a French, this is absolutely Mrs. Maxim's PTSD… With something this big happening, how could she possibly stay unmoved?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Mrs. Maxim had already hurried off.
Leaving Hagrid standing there alone, completely at a loss.
"This is a big deal," Harry said, gloating a little. "I think the school won't be peaceful tonight. I mean, even the news about the Triwizard Tournament isn't as big as the German–Austrian merger, don't you think?"
"Isn't that obvious…" Pabi muttered, "The Triwizard Tournament is just a competition between students, but the German–Austrian merger is a major international incident."
Harry snickered to himself. He felt that the German–Austrian merger was probably just the beginning, not the end.
What Harry didn't expect, however, was that Hagrid wasn't at all dejected by Mrs. Maxim's departure. After Mr. Crouch hurried away, he stood beside Charlie, gazing dreamily at the Fire Dragons in the distance. The words "I want" were practically written clear as day in his eyes.
Everyone knew Hagrid dreamed of raising a Fire Dragon.
After staring for a long while, Hagrid finally remembered Harry.
"Four in all…" Hagrid said. "So that means each Warrior has to deal with one, right? What do they have to do—fight the Fire Dragons?"
"I think they just have to get past them." Charlie said. "If things go wrong, we'll jump in at once and cast the Extinguishing Spell on the dragons. They're all nesting mothers on eggs; I don't know why… Four choices for three people—whoever draws the Welsh Green Dragon or the Swedish Egg White Dragon is the luckiest. But I can tell you, whoever gets the Hungarian Tree Bee is in for it—it's just as dangerous in the front as in the back, look."
Charlie pointed to the tail of the Hungarian Tree Bee. Along its tail, every few inches there was a row of long spikes, gleaming with a soul-chilling sheen.
"How's Harry doing?" Charlie asked again. "I already wrote to Ron about it, but I still think he needs to actually see it… Fire Dragons are no joke."
"If I were you, I'd be worrying about the Fire Dragons." Hagrid stared unblinkingly at the Hungarian Tree Bee in front of him, murmuring over and over, "She's so beautiful."
It was hard not to suspect he might be just as full of praise when facing Mrs. Maxim.
Charlie gave Hagrid a speechless look, then sighed and said worriedly, "I just hope he comes out of this danger safe and sound. I didn't dare tell Mum what Harry has to do in the first task. She's already a nervous wreck over him…"
"Don't worry, Charlie." Hagrid said cheerfully, patting Charlie on the shoulder. "Believe in Harry. There must be a reason Dumbledore and the Flame Cup chose him as Hogwarts's Warrior. I heard…"
Here, Hagrid lowered his head, glanced mysteriously around, and whispered to Charlie, "I heard that You-Know-Who was defeated by Harry."
"That's not exactly a secret, Hagrid." Charlie said, rolling his eyes.
"No, I don't mean the one more than ten years ago." Hagrid said quietly. "You know? In his first year, You-Know-Who possessed Professor Quirrell, but Harry shattered his plot… And in second year I heard Harry also had some kind of run-in with You-Know-Who…"
"There's stuff like that?" Charlie said in amazement. "But Ron never told me anything about it…"
"Maybe for secrecy's sake." Hagrid shrugged. "Ron joined in the first siege against Quirrell too. I heard he made a huge contribution, and Gryffindor got fifty points because of it."
"I heard about that from Mum." Charlie said with a grin. "She was over the moon, mentioned it several times in her letters, and made a point of saying Ron wasn't like those two troublemakers."
Even though she hadn't named names, both Harry listening in on the side, and Hagrid over there, and even Pabi, who didn't know much about the Weasley family, instantly locked onto that pair of twins.