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So, at 8:30 that evening, Kyle left the Hufflepuff common room on time.
"I said, why do you want to follow?"
Kyle suddenly spoke as if to himself as he walked down the deserted hallway.
"Of course it's out of curiosity." Fred's voice came from the side...or it could be George's.
Their voices were more similar than their looks. Without seeing their faces, even Kyle had a hard time telling who was speaking.
"Yes, we spent half a year learning the Disillusionment Charm, wasn't it just for this moment?"
There was a wave in the air, but it disappeared immediately.
"Oh, Cedric, you stepped on me."
"Not me, I'm over here..." Cedric's voice came from the other side of Kyle.
"Fred, you did a great job!"
"Hey, I didn't mean it."
……
As they were walking through the foyer, Ms. Maxime happened to be walking over from the other side of the venue with Fleur.
Fred and the others immediately quieted down and stopped following Kyle.
"What do you think it could be?" Fleur suddenly said as they walked together in the cloudy night. "I think it should be an underground tunnel. We are going to look for treasure."
Ms. Maxime glanced over here, as if she wanted to stop it, but in the end she said nothing. She just quickened her pace and walked in front.
"That's easy," Kyle said. "Maybe we can borrow a few Nifflers from Hagrid and let them do the work. Those little guys might even be able to dig out the Triwizard Tournament trophy."
They walked along the dark grass towards the Quidditch pitch and then through the passageway onto the pitch.
"Oh, this is magnificent."
The court was no longer flat, and someone had built countless intricate, winding hedge walls here.
Bagman walked over from the middle of the court, talking to Dumbledore. Not far away were Chris and Barty Crouch, who he hadn't seen for a long time.
"Oh, poor old Batty, that investigation took a toll on him."
When Kyle and Fleur walked over, they heard Bagman whispering to Dumbledore, "He didn't want to get involved in this matter, but we think he has made a lot of efforts for the Triwizard Tournament before, so he should still participate.
“Of course, the referee will not change, to be honest, he is not in a good condition to give a score.
"Oh, hello." At this time, he also saw the two people coming over, and quickly changed the subject and said, "How is it, do you think the progress is good, right?
"In another month, Hagrid will make them twelve feet tall... oh, and Krum is here too."
Bagman's tone became much more cheerful.
"Well, I think you can probably guess what we're going to do here."
“A maze,” Kyle said.
"That's exactly right," Bagman said. "The Triwizard Tournament trophy is in the center of the maze. Whoever touches it first will be the champion... simple and clear, isn't it?"
Bagman said cheerfully, "There will be lots of obstacles in the maze. Hagrid has provided a lot of magical animals, Pomona has provided a lot of plants, and there are some spells that must be broken... things like that. It should be fun."
"Wait, whoever gets the trophy is the champion?" Krum asked gruffly, "What about our previous scores? Are they useless?"
"Of course not. The warrior with the highest score can enter the maze first." Bagman smiled at Kyle, "Mr. Krum, you are the second one, and the last one is Miss Delacour.
"Of course, the lead is only temporary. Whether you can finally win the Triwizard Tournament trophy depends on your ability to overcome obstacles...
Well, if there are no further questions, let's go back to the castle...it's getting a bit cold here."
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 566 Cheating
Bagman left the Quidditch pitch with them, but did not go to Hogwarts Castle. He deliberately slowed down and walked with Karkaroff at the end of the team.
"I really don't understand why we have to wait until night to make preparations. Didn't they consider the weather?"
"Yes, you are right." Karkaroff showed a concerned look. "Well, would you like a drink? I have a collection of gin on board. It should warm you up a lot."
"Drmstrang's gin..." Bagman seemed a little tempted, but then shook his head. "Forget it, Igor, I still have to supervise the construction of the maze... and Chris and Batty are here too. You know, they work very hard and may not like me drinking at this time..."
"I think that's a bit of an exaggeration," Karkaroff said dismissively. "Just a small drink. They won't notice."
"Forget it." Bagman glanced at Kyle in front of him, intentionally or unintentionally, "But I do have something to tell you... Um, regarding the number of stands reserved for Durmstrang, do you have any other requests?"
"Of course." Karkaroff said immediately, "This event is very rare. Many of our professors and honorary alumni want to come and watch Viktor's final victory. I request to add twenty more seats in the first three rows."
"That might be a bit too much, ten more at most..."
"Not enough, at least fifteen..."
"You know I'm in a difficult situation. Let's talk about it over here."
As they walked, they separated from the group and turned in the direction of Black Lake.
At this time, Kyle had already arrived at the stone steps of the castle.
He looked at Furong and asked, "Are you going back to the dormitory?"
"No, I will live in the carriage for the next few days."
She glanced back, "And I'm going to wait here for Ms. Maxime. If Durmstrang can add more seats in the stands, we'll make the same request... It's strange that she hasn't come back yet."
"Is that so? All right then," Kyle said.
Then he walked up the stone steps alone and returned to the castle.
It's already half past nine, which is curfew time. There is no one in the castle, and it is eerily quiet.
Usually at this time, Filch's footsteps could always be heard in the castle, but recently the administrator seemed to have lost his enthusiasm for patrolling the castle and spent most of his time in his small office with Mrs. Norris.
"Fred, George, are you going back to the Gryffindor common room?" Kyle asked.
But he didn't get a response, and the surroundings remained quiet.
"Cedric?" Kyle tried another name, but no one answered.
I guess they are still outside and haven't come back yet.
Kyle wanted to wait for them, but after standing in the chilly hallway for five minutes, he turned back to the common room.
Mainly because it looked a bit too silly standing alone in the foyer after curfew.
There were a lot of people in the lounge, and when Kyle came in, they all looked over as if they had made an appointment.
"What is the third project? Is it a treasure hunt?"
"Nonsense, I guess it must be a duel."
"I agree. Only the strongest can become the champion."
Everyone was guessing the content of the third project.
"Neither." Kyle shook his head.
But when he came back, Chris reminded him to keep some mystery, so Kyle didn't reveal too much, only saying that the game would be exciting.
By ten o'clock, seeing that they could not get any more information out of them, everyone got up and went back to the dormitory. Soon, only a few people were left in the lounge.
At this moment, the wooden door on the wall suddenly opened, and the next second, three people appeared in front of Kyle out of thin air.
In addition to Cedric, there were also Fred and George. They did not return to the Gryffindor common room, but came here together.
"You'd never guess what we heard."
As soon as he entered the door, Fred couldn't wait to speak. He looked so angry that even the tips of his ears turned red.
"We were just a little curious and wanted to hear what Ludo Bagman and Karkaroff had to say."
George said angrily, "I didn't expect they were talking about the content of the third project."
"That Ludo Bagman, I didn't expect him to want to help Durmstrang against Hogwarts. I thought he was the best beater before."
"When we get back later, we'll tear down his posters and throw them into the fireplace!"
"As a referee, you helped the warriors cheat. This is a serious violation of the rules of the Triwizard Tournament!" Cedric was also very angry.
He had followed Fred and George because he was worried about them getting caught, but he didn't expect to accidentally discover such a big secret.
"Wait..." Kyle frowned and said, "Are you sure you heard him reveal the content of the project?"
"I heard it clearly," George said. "They probably thought there was no one around, so they didn't cover up at all."
"No, we have to go to the principal and report them!"
Fred was so angry that he was about to go outside, but was stopped by Cedric.
"It's useless. We don't have direct evidence and they won't admit it." He sighed.
"We can't just let this go!" George slammed the table. "This is such shameful cheating."
"What did they say?" Kyle, who had been silent, suddenly asked, "Did they mention which is the correct route to the maze?"
"Well... it seems not." Cedric thought for a moment and shook his head. "Although Karkaroff asked this, it is probably because the maze has not been built yet. Bagman said that he doesn't know which path leads to the central trophy."
"No, they mentioned a similar piece of news." Fred added, "Bagman said that the place with the Sphinx and the Manticore is the right one, and we just need to keep going along it... This is no different from telling him the correct route directly."
"Hey, guys." George suddenly thought of something and slapped the table. "I agree with Cedric's suggestion. It's better not to tell Dumbledore what happened today."
"What? You..." Fred was about to say something when he was stopped by George.
"We were so angry just now that we didn't realize the most important point." He said meaningfully, "Remember? Kyle was the first person to enter the maze."
After being reminded of this, Fred immediately understood what this sentence meant, and the expression on his face quickly changed from anger to excitement.
"Damn it, how could I have forgotten this." He lowered his voice, "Bagman told Karkaroff about the contents of the third project, but we heard it, which means Kyle also got the information."
"That's right," George said. "And Kyle will enter the maze before Krum. By the time he finds the Sphinx Beast, Kyle might have already reached the trophy..."
"Krum's expression will be very interesting then..."
"And Karkaroff's..."
(End of this chapter)