Chapter 350: Living is more important than competing

Chapter 350: Living is more important than competing

Late at night, the footsteps of three people echoed in the corridor.

The candle flames danced beside the niches, and the portraits on the wall glanced at them sleepily and then shrank back into the depths of the frame.

Harry slinked over and poked Amanta's arm.

"Um...are we considered Hogwarts warriors now?"

His tone was not relaxed, and even sounded a bit like someone feeling guilty for failing a cramming session before an exam.

Before Amanta opened her mouth, Draco's voice suddenly interrupted from the right.

"What the hell did you do?"

He glanced at the two of them, his eyebrows knitted together: "Did you discuss something secretly behind my back?"

"...It can't really be considered a discussion." Harry said in a low voice, avoiding her gaze.

"Indeed... did something." Amanta added briefly, staring down at the steps ahead.

“…did something?”

Draco paused, his tone rising dangerously.

Amanta and Harry exchanged glances, and finally she spoke, trying to speak in a calm tone to recount how she and Julius had voted together that night.

Of course, she omitted the part about handing over the blood, and only said that Julius had told her that he could crack the magical recognition of the Goblet of Fire and asked her to try.

After Draco heard this, the expression on his face gradually changed from shock to despair. He looked at them with a slightly speechless look: "...Are you crazy? Do you know that after being selected by the Goblet of Fire, you have to abide by the magic contract to participate in the competition?"

"Of course we knew that." Amanta silently glanced back at him, her voice low, "But I didn't expect... that all three of us would be chosen."

She really didn't expect it.

She was still thinking back to that night.

The ancient and powerful Confusion Charm that Julius taught her to use was, in principle, indeed a Confusion Charm that could interfere with the age recognition of the Goblet of Fire.

No, Julius also cast a Confusion Spell at the same time. Could it be that... the one he cast himself was not the same spell at all?

She remembered it clearly.

The moment they both raised their wands, Julius did not chant any spells, he used a silent spell, and she had a strong sense of spells.

But she was too nervous to pay attention to it at the time, and Harry's interference later exacerbated it. Now that she thought about it, the interference effect of the spell he cast was not simply to create an "age deviation", but more like a domain confusion spell.

——In order to confuse "attribution".

She stopped in her tracks belatedly, her eyes gloomy.

It seems that the Goblet of Fire believes that there are six schools.

"He's lying to me." Amanta said softly, as if talking to herself, or as if confirming her own conclusion, "He's not confused about age... but about school."

Harry understood half of it and asked in surprise, "So the Goblet of Fire thinks we are the champions of other schools?"

"Choosing six is ​​not a mistake, it is within the rules."

"Just like--" Amanta looked at him, "The Goblet of Fire thought we were the Champions of the Six Schools, not the Violators."

Draco: "..."

"Wait, what's with my name? I didn't have it when you two were here-" He didn't even finish his sentence.

Amanta said calmly, "I asked Julius to put your name in as well."

"...Ah?" Draco looked stunned.

"I don't want you to watch us compete and then watch me or Harry face life and death outside the arena." She lowered her head and adjusted the hem of her cloak. "Harry is right. I shouldn't have kept it from you. Instead of waiting for you to follow without permission, it's better to pull you in from the beginning."

Draco: "..."

"It turns out you care about me so much." He muttered in a low voice, which was almost inaudible, and his earlobes were so red that they seemed to be bleeding.

Harry patted his shoulder: "Don't forget, this is all my credit."

Draco snorted.

Amanta ignored their little episode, her mind still working.

Julius, this was not the first time he had played a trick on her. His behavior was so strange that she could hardly figure out his motives.

But... maybe we can get some information about him from Durmstrang's students.

They continued walking forward. At the end of the corridor, in front of Slytherin's stone snake door, green light flowed and the Slytherin common room was right in front of them.

It goes without saying that all the students at Hogwarts are discussing what happened tonight.

In the Slytherin common room, green flames licked the fireplace, and the flames danced on the serpentine armrests of the sofas.

It was late at night, but the lounge was not quiet.

Almost everyone was awake, gathered around the curved sofa, in front of the tapestry, and at the entrance of the corridor, talking in a buzzing manner.

"How do they do that?"

"Confusing Charm? That would have to be at least NEWTs level or above, right?"

"But the Goblet of Fire didn't pick just one, it picked four...all from our house."

"This isn't cheating, this is simply - the most powerful magic fraud in history, right?"

Before they could guess the answer, there was a "click".

The door to the Slytherin common room opened, and Amanta, Draco, and Harry walked in side by side.

The next second, the air froze.

Everyone stopped moving.

The person on the sofa raised his head. The junior student who was flipping through a book in the corner forgot to turn the page. The fat boy who was putting almond cookies into his mouth even choked and his face turned red.

Their eyes gathered at the door like a tide.

...Dead silence.

Only the green flame in the grate was still flickering.

The three of them didn't know what expression to show for a moment.

Harry simply took out a biscuit from his body and stuffed it into his mouth as a cover. Draco glanced around. Amanta maintained a calm face, but there was a cold scrutiny in her eyes.

Footsteps sounded.

"Brother Draco!" A soft and sweet voice was the first to break the silence.

Astoria Greengrass, wearing a satin light green cloak, walked over lightly, clasped her hands in front of her chest, looked up at Draco, her eyes full of sparkling admiration.

"How amazing! My brother has also become a Hogwarts warrior... I knew that brother Draco must be the most outstanding."

The corners of Draco's mouth twitched, and he tilted his head to glance at Amanta, wanting to explain but not daring to.

Amanta looked at him and said nothing.

The next second, Blaise Zabini came over, holding a chocolate frog in his hand, nodding his head.

"Tsk tsk, Draco, Amanta, Harry, you guys are awesome."

He looked the three of them up and down, and said in a teasing tone, "Tell me, who did it? Confusion spell? Super high-level interference spell? Or did they directly buy off the Goblet of Fire?"

Harry, Amanta: "..."

"Coincidence," Draco said.

"Then I want some of this kind of coincidence, too." Blaise smiled carelessly, but his eyes revealed a certain scrutiny, "The warriors chosen are all fourth graders. Tsk, the Goblet of Fire's habit is too weird."

Theodore Nott stood beside him, looking at them expressionlessly.

"Are you really ready?" He looked at them intently and asked, his tone neither light nor heavy. "Being a warrior is not a gimmick. It is a bet on the honor of Hogwarts and Slytherin."

"Thanks for the reminder." Amanta nodded calmly.

At this moment, Goyle and Crabbe stood up from the sofa, with crumbs of some kind of pastry on their mouths, and shouted incoherently, "I told you they were special! That must be super powerful dark magic!"

"Yes, yes! When I saw their names come out of the Goblet of Fire, the flames in the Goblet of Fire were different!"

"...You don't mean to say that we have the halo of the protagonist?" Harry smiled speechlessly.

"You're encouraging them to talk nonsense," Draco whispered.

"How can I..."

"Have."

"All right……"

The Slytherin seniors around them had different expressions.

Some had a thoughtful smile on their lips, some were whispering to each other, and others were frowning in deep thought, as if analyzing possible violations.

But no one questioned it.

The Goblet of Fire had chosen them, that was a fact.

Amanta stood there, looking around the lounge. Julius hadn't returned yet.

She frowned. "Let's go sit in the corner," she whispered to Draco and Harry.

The three of them walked to the other side of the fireplace and sat down on the green velvet sofa in the corner, which was relatively remote and quieter.

Amanta whispered, "We need to seriously consider the issue of this Triwizard Tournament."

"The Triwizard Tournament is not a 'game', it's a competition where you could lose your life at any time." Her tone was calm, but more burning than fire. "From now on, we all have to be prepared to lose our lives. Staying alive is more important than competing."

The three of them looked at each other in silence.

They all understood that from this moment on, they were no longer bystanders before the voting began.

Instead, he was truly dragged into the life-and-death battle that was about to begin.