novelcrest Chapter 515 The End of the Triumph Tournament
Chapter 515 The End of the Triumph Tournament
Chapter 515 The End of the Triwizard Tournament (5)
Cedric left too hastily.
Even though he was marked, it still took the group quite a bit of effort to find him.
"Professor, you..."
Seeing the group of figures appear before him, Cedric was somewhat bewildered, even at a loss. Especially since, during the chase, someone had been shouting "Stop! Stop!", and he had assumed it was a maze obstacle, so he had run off without looking back.
"The three-way battle is temporarily suspended. Cedric, please pretend you've been eliminated and come back with us."
"Have they all left?"
"You are the third warrior we have found."
"Is this also part of the evaluation?"
"I guess so."
Seeing Cedric's unwavering determination, Sean nodded helplessly.
"If the act is convincing, it will earn you bonus points in the final grade."
Upon hearing this, Cedric breathed a sigh of relief, frowned, and quickly entered performance mode before heading towards the maze entrance with the rest of the group.
The official purpose of their trip was to "show Fudge around," and they couldn't stay too long, otherwise Crouch would become suspicious.
In fact, not being able to become one of the maze patrol members had already given Crouch a lot of trouble.
This was a serious departure from his plan. Without his presence, he couldn't ensure Harry would secure first place and be the first to touch the Triwizard Tournament trophy, which had been made into a Portkey.
He tried several times to sneak into the maze, but could never find a suitable opportunity.
Just as he was hesitating and preparing to take the risk, the others returned.
"Professor Moody, what are you doing here?"
At the entrance to the maze, Dumbledore stopped and looked at him.
"You guys were in there for so long, I was a little worried," Crouch said casually, then pointed to Cedric and quickly changed the subject, "Was Cedric eliminated too?"
Cedric was wiping the sweat from his brow when he heard Crouch's words and nodded.
"I encountered a tadpole snail and was chased by it for a while," he said. "Although I escaped, I missed too much time."
Crouch clicked his tongue, a hint of regret on his face, but his eyes quickly swept across the crowd—good, Harry was nowhere to be seen—this meant that Harry was the only one left in the maze. Without any competitors, who else could win the championship if not him?
"It seems this time the champion..."
Before Crouch Jr. could finish speaking, Sean interrupted him.
"Minister Fudge, Harry is likely to win this Triwizard Tournament. Why don't we follow Harry around and invite reporters to photograph him throughout the next challenge, capturing the moment he wins the tournament? The Savior has become the champion—there's no better material for the Ministry of Magic's publicity next month."
"Very good, Phillips. Do as you say." Fudge nodded with satisfaction.
As a large number of reporters and Aurors in charge of "Fudge's security" arrived at the scene one after another, Crouch Jr. vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
Meanwhile, Harry is still struggling with the maze.
All around was silent.
He accidentally stumbled into a bewitched mist, and the world suddenly turned upside down.
He was hanging upside down in mid-air, his hair standing on end, his glasses slipping off his nose, almost falling into the seemingly bottomless night sky below.
Realizing what had happened, he hurriedly pressed his glasses back onto the tip of his nose, leaving them hanging there, almost too afraid to move.
What to do? His feet felt like they were glued to the grass, which now seemed like a ceiling above him.
Below, the night sky is dark and deep, with twinkling stars.
With just a slight lift of one foot, one would fall into that boundless void.
Stay calm and think of a solution.
Harry kept telling himself this, his blood rushing to his head, a deep rumble in his ears, his mind racing for familiar spells, but none of them could cope with this upside-down situation.
He had only one choice—either risk moving his feet or launch a red spark to end the game.
These two choices are not difficult for Harry to make.
A moment later—
He closed his eyes, refusing to look at the dizzying void, and used all his strength to pull his right foot off the "ceiling".
The world instantly returned to normal.
Harry fell to his knees on the solid ground with a thud. Looking back, the golden mist shimmered softly in the moonlight, as if nothing had ever happened.
Soon after, he came to a fork in the road, stopped, and pondered his next direction.
Since that scream was heard, four red sparks have risen in the sky in succession.
This means that he is the last warrior in the maze, and the chance to win the championship is right in front of him.
This was the first time he had ever truly felt the possibility of victory. He could almost see himself standing in the center of the auditorium, holding the Three Champions Cup high, with the whole school applauding for him.
But in the next ten minutes, Harry encountered no obstacles, instead frequently finding himself in dead ends, and twice even turning onto the same wrong path.
Finally, he found a new path and began to jog along it. The light from his wand flickered ahead, and his shadow swayed back and forth on the hedge.
He turned another corner and ran head-on into a giant snail.
This giant scorpion was far beyond its normal size, almost beyond what could be described as a "giant scorpion." It was a thousand feet long and looked more like a giant scorpion. Its long stinger was coiled on its back, and its thick carapace gleamed coldly in the moonlight.
He collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious!
The spell struck the armor and immediately bounced back.
Harry dodged quickly, but still smelled a burning odor—the spell grazed his head, singeing a few strands of hair. The Blasttail suddenly spewed out a burst of flame, shooting straight at him from its tail.
"Obstacles ahead!" Harry shouted.
The spell was deflected by the armor once again.
He staggered a few steps and fell to the ground. "Obstacles everywhere!"
This time, the spell struck its unprotected abdomen, and the bombshell snail abruptly stopped just inches away from him.
Harry seized the opportunity to get up, turned around, and ran as fast as he could.
The effect of the Barrier Charm won't last long, and the Bombtail could come after you again at any time.
He rushed into a passage on the left, only to find it was a dead end. He turned to the right, but it was still a dead end.
He was forced to stop, used the orientation spell again to determine the direction, turned back, and chose a new road leading to the northwest.
After walking for a few minutes on the new road, Harry suddenly stopped.
A noise came from a small path nearby.
It is a Sphinx.
Its body resembles a giant lion, with thick paws, a long yellow tail tipped with a tuft of fur, yet it has the face of a woman.
As Harry approached, she slowly turned her head, her long, almond-shaped eyes fixed on him.
He raised his wand, but the Sphinx did not pounce; instead, it paced back and forth at the crossroads, blocking his path.
Then she spoke: "You're very close to your goal. The fastest way is to get here from me."
"Then—then could you please move aside?" Harry asked, though he already knew the answer in his heart.
"No," said the Sphinx as he paced back and forth, "unless you can answer my riddle. Guess it right the first time—and I'll let you pass. Guess it wrong, and I'll pounce on you. Don't answer—and I'll let you go, without hurting you."
Harry's heart sank.
This is something Hermione excels at, not him.
He pondered for a moment. If the riddle was too difficult, he could choose not to answer it. The Sphinx wouldn't hurt him, and he could take a longer route.
"Alright," he said, "can I hear a riddle?"
The Sphinx stopped, sat on its hind legs, blocked the way, and slowly recited:
First, think about what kind of person always wears a mask, acts mysteriously, and tells a lot of lies.
Tell me what else is always patched up, in the middle, or at the very end?
Finally, tell me which word you often say when you can't think of a word.
Now put them all together and answer me, what is an animal you wouldn't want to kiss?
Harry was stunned, staring at her speechlessly.
But just a short while later, he gave the correct answer.
"A spider!" he exclaimed excitedly. "The correct answer to this question is a spider!"
The Sphinx smiled even more gently, stood up, stretched out its front legs, and made way for the others.
"Thank you!" Harry said as he rushed over.
Half a minute after Harry disappeared, a large crowd slowly walked in from behind. At first glance, there were at least a hundred people—Aurors, Ministry of Magic officials, and Hogwarts faculty and staff—all advancing carefully and in an orderly manner, wands in hand, scanning their surroundings warily.
"Harry is very smart, isn't he?" At the front of the crowd, Sean turned to look at Crouch Jr. beside him, his tone casual. "It's rare to see someone solve the Sphinx's riddle in such a short time."
"Yes," Crouch Jr. nodded absentmindedly in response.
What exactly happened? This is his inner monologue.
His plans have now been completely disrupted.
Although Harry will most likely be the first to touch the key, just as he planned, he will disappear in full view of everyone.
This was completely different from what he had expected.
Run away? Looking at Dumbledore beside him, Crouch easily dismissed the idea.
It's not difficult to do this; anyone who actually witnessed the duel between Dumbledore and Mystic more than a decade ago can do it easily.
"you..."
The Sphinx stared at the crowd before him, slightly stunned.
This Sphinx was specially supplied by the Ministry of Magic for the final event of the Triwizard Tournament, and was specially allocated by the Department of Magical Creatures Control.
This magical creature originated in Egypt and, while it is a legend in the Muggle world, it is not uncommon in the wizarding world.
When the Ministry of Magic first began classifying magical creatures, Sphinxes were classified as beasts rather than creatures because they were prone to violence when faced with danger while guarding something.
Because of this factor, it is illegal for unofficial organizations to keep sphinxes in the UK.
In the 19th century, a wizard named Crispin Cronck was sent to Azkaban by the then Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic after repeated warnings went unheeded because he kept several sphinxes in his backyard.
"Sphinx, let us pass."
Fudge originally thought that if he stepped in, this "only" subordinate would give him some face as the minister, but Sphinx shook his head and refused.
"The rules haven't changed, the answer hasn't been solved, and the path is blocked."
This answer made Fudge so angry he wanted the Auror next to him to shoot him twice.
However, upon realizing that his entourage included reporters from various newspapers with cameras, he quickly abandoned the idea and turned to look at Sean.
Sean shrugged helplessly, indicating that he really had to answer the questions to pass.
"In that case, please pose a riddle."
The Sphinx nodded, curled its tail to its side, and slowly sat down.
She opened her mouth, and her voice slowly rose into the night sky:
I am clearest when there is no sound, and I am brightest when there is no light.
I am everywhere, yet I cannot be caught.
You can only sense it, but you can't control it.
"Tell me," she looked up at the crowd, "what am I?"
A moment of silence followed.
The Sphinx sat there, its tail swishing gently, its eyes scanning the crowd, waiting for someone to speak first.
Solving riddles is a piece of cake for young Ravenclaw wizards.
The password to their common room changes every now and then. The password is a riddle or a question. If you can't answer it, a bunch of junior wizards have to stand pitifully at the entrance of the common room, waiting for a smarter senior to come and rescue them.
Therefore, Ravenclaw has a special club-like organization dedicated to solving puzzles.
"This is different from the puzzles Harry encountered before," Fudge muttered to himself.
"It is clearest in silence, and brightest in the absence of light—" Dumbledore repeated softly, "that which cannot be grasped, but only sensed."
"Is it a shadow?" Fudge asked in a low voice.
“No,” Sean shook his head. “Shadows need light. She said they are brightest in the absence of light.”
"That was... a dream?" an Auror asked tentatively.
“Dreams can be grasped and remembered,” Sean frowned, “and they’re not necessarily everywhere.”
Everyone fell into deep thought. The Sphinx remained motionless, so quiet that she blended into the surrounding hedges, only a faint light gleaming in her eyes.
Sean spoke slowly: "You can only sense, not grasp—the brightest light in the darkness, the clearest sound in the silence—"
He was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly looked up: "It's thought."
The Sphinx looked at him but did not react.
Sean continued, "Thoughts cannot be touched or grasped, but you can feel them. They are clearest in silence and brightest in darkness. You cannot see them, yet they are always there."
The Sphinx's lips curled slightly as it slowly rose and stepped aside.
"You're right," she said.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Crouch's hand unconsciously touched his wand under his cloak. Dumbledore nodded and said softly, "Let's move on."
The crowd began to move again, passing through the passage cleared by the Sphinx, and heading towards the center of the maze.