"Forty-seven points... tsk, not bad, I guess."
Hearing the score Barty Jr. announced, Avada clicked his tongue exactly as expected. There was no helping it—that unlucky pillar was a flaw among flaws. If he himself had been sitting in the judges' box, he probably would not even have had the nerve to give himself full marks.
And if it was forty-seven points, that meant that out of the five judges, at least two had still given him full marks. That was already generous enough. Thinking of that, he could not help glancing over at the judges' stand. Aside from Dumbledore, the other three were all looking at him with expressions of astonishment and disbelief, while Dumbledore, after noticing his gaze, smiled lightly and gave him a thumbs-up.
The enormous dragon had finally vanished from his sight. Then the staff hauled over another, even larger crate and set it down at one side of the arena—presumably the dragon that the next champion would have to face. At the same time, "Ludo Bagman" came jogging down from his platform, carrying a bundle in one hand and waving enthusiastically at Avada with the other.
"That was absolutely magnificent, Mr. Ken!"
His voice was a little hoarse, probably from shouting too loudly during the commentary. "When we designed this task, we practically never expected any champion to fully restore the golden egg and still go on to defeat the dragon! Guiding the dragon's mentality... what a brilliant idea!"
"The golden egg obtained in this task was originally meant to be used in the third challenge. And the reason the difficulty was designed this way was precisely to make what the champions face in the third task even harder. But with a complete golden egg—let me tell you in advance, Mr. Ken—the third challenge will suddenly become much easier for you! If you can keep up this kind of astonishing form, then the Triwizard Tournament championship is practically yours for the taking..."
As he lavished praise on him, he undid the bundle he was carrying, revealing a glittering golden egg that really did seem to be made of pure gold.
"This is your golden egg. You'll need to keep it safe for the next while, since the third challenge won't be until May next year—nearly half a year from now. The three of you champions have been pushing the pace a little too quickly."
"Thank you, Mr. Bagman."
Avada gave the golden egg a cursory glance. After finding no obvious curses or traps on it, he took it into his hands. "So where am I supposed to go next?"
"The medical tent over there."
"Bagman" pointed in some direction outside the arena. "Although the dragon practically never touched you, I'd still recommend going there and having them check you over, just in case you only discover some hidden and troublesome injury after you get back... I need to go call the next champion. Shall we talk more during the interview?"
"...With pleasure, Mr. Bagman."
Avada gave the already-turning "Bagman" another look before silently carrying his golden egg and heading toward the direction he had pointed out.
If he had not seen it with his own eyes, he would never have been able to imagine that a person's acting could be polished and flawless to such a degree.
From the outside, whether it was expression, tone, movement, or even the deepest detail in his eyes, the enthusiastic and excited Ludo Bagman Barty Jr. was performing was absolutely perfect. But within Avada's magical perception, although the surface layer of his mental force was doing everything it could to match the role—that is, to fully inhabit the character—in the depths of his heart, there remained a trace of killing intent toward him.
Faint. Inconspicuous. But utterly unshakable.
'Still, it wasn't a wasted effort after all. I got the complete golden egg.'
Avada once more examined the golden egg in his hands through magical perception, though he still did not inspect it too carefully just yet.
'There are still a full six months until this egg comes into play. And as long as I solve Harry's problem over Christmas, then I'll have no more worries holding me back. With that much time, I can thoroughly study every single scheme...'
"Well done, Ken!"
Suddenly, his train of thought was interrupted by a mess of shouting. His Hogwarts companions came rushing over in a swarm. Though perhaps out of consideration for the fact that he was heading to the medical tent, they did not directly hoist him into the air like last time.
"Beating a Ukrainian Ironbelly by yourself—that means you can break into Gringotts' underground vaults all on your own!"
"That's a bit exaggerated. Gringotts still has plenty of other layers of security..."
"I was just saying! And anyway, you've only lost four points total across the first two tasks, which means that even if Krum and Delacour both get perfect scores, you'd still only be in second place!"
"But is there any chance they'll actually get perfect scores?"
"Hahaha..."
The group chattered noisily while congratulating him and accompanying him to the medical tent. After the burly Durmstrang school healer examined him and declared that he had suffered no injuries whatsoever, they all reached down in unison, scooped him up, and carried him straight back to the Hogwarts seats.
"And now, our second champion, Miss Fleur Delacour, takes the stage!"
Bagman's voice rang out once more. "Just like Mr. Ken, she too must follow the rules of this task, and only by defeating a brand-new Ukrainian Ironbelly at the end will she be declared victorious. We would also like to thank our behind-the-scenes staff—keeping three Ironbellies under control at once is no easy task..."
Now seated in the stands, Avada could easily see Fleur's current expression.
She was also reading through that little rulebook, and the look on her face gradually shifted from shock to distortion, then to struggling despair, before finally settling back into calm as she showed a thoughtful expression. It seemed she had already come up with a countermeasure. As expected, anyone who could become a champion was no simple person.
"How do you think she'll deal with the dragon?"
Since the match had not begun yet, the Hogwarts group—like all the other students—started discussing it.
"I remember she's a half-Veela, right? Couldn't she just hypnotize the dragon directly and make it do whatever she wants?"
"No, she can't. Veela magic isn't that absurd."
Avada flatly rejected Cedric's guess. "And the outfit they gave the champions also has a curse on it that enrages dragons. That's practically a natural counter to a Veela."
"But her personal strength doesn't seem bad either."
Baron shook his head lightly. "Let's just watch. After all, she's a champion chosen by the Goblet of Fire—someone qualified to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ken."
And so, in the arena, under the gaze of the entire crowd, Fleur finally drew her wand, straightened her posture, took what was probably a deep breath, and stepped through the barrier in a single stride.
At the exact same moment, the Ukrainian Ironbelly that had been resting on the ground abruptly opened its bloodshot eyes...
(End of Chapter)