A few days ago, Ethan used Legilimency in Defense Against the Dark Arts class to read Moody's mind.
Back then, when Barty Crouch Jr. used the Imperius Curse to control Crouch, he had already made this arrangement. To prevent Ethan from being brought over to ruin Voldemort's resurrection plan, he specifically set the third trophy as a Portkey and prepared to activate it before the start of the competition. Moreover, he used persuasive words to guide Harry to the correct location.
However, Ethan had no intention of disrupting Voldemort's activities at all. After all, he still needed Voldemort to send him Gryffindor's sword after his resurrection.
Just as Harry was about to say something, Bagman's whistle sounded again, indicating that the second team was about to enter the maze.
Ethan immediately walked into the middle passage, while Harry paused for a moment and ran into the path on the right.
Ron stood on the spot, hesitated for a while, gritted his teeth, and followed Harry.
There was no other way. Currently, he had the lowest score. Although he wasn't at the bottom of his year, he couldn't be considered outstanding either.
He knew that competing with those adult wizards would definitely not be a match.
He realized this during the first task of stealing the dragon egg. The gap was indeed significant, both in terms of spellcasting level and magical power.
Now, following Harry, if he successfully obtained the trophy, he would definitely have a share of the credit. If he failed, Harry would take the blame. This was the best choice.
If he could snatch the trophy from Harry's hands, that would be even better.
Krum and the other two trotted over and also stopped at this crossroads.
Unlike Harry, who had Moody to remind him, they had no idea what was going on inside.
Karkaroff had a contract, so he couldn't possibly remind them of this. Moreover, he hadn't been in the mood to care about this in the past two months.
During this time, the long-dormant Dark Mark reacted again, and he knew exactly what this meant.
If Voldemort returned, he would definitely not let him go. After all, he had sold out the Death Eaters to escape the comfortable life of Azkaban. This was definitely the biggest traitor in the history of the Death Eaters.
As a result, his mind was filled with how he should deal with it if Voldemort really returned. As for the others, they were all left behind.
After standing there and thinking for a while, Krum made a decision.
"I'll go this way, Feld, you go in the middle, and Charleson, you go to the right."
"As long as you don't encounter Ethan Yeadrian, do your best to win the trophy."
Krum was well aware of his disadvantage. His score was not enough. If he only obtained one trophy, he would definitely not win the championship. This time, he had to win two.
Unlike the previous two competition events, this competition, although it also had a certain element of luck, placed particular emphasis on individual strength.
As long as he didn't encounter Ethan, he believed that his three would have an absolute advantage.
At the same time, he had a little thought. The path in the middle was likely where the Goblet of Fire was located. Ethan Yeadrian would most likely go there. He didn't want to meet Ethan at all. There was no way to fight.
As for the remaining two trophies, it didn't matter to Durmstrang which one he got.
Although Feld Duru and Richardson Clarence were a little unhappy with Krum's orders, they were indeed not as strong as him and could only accept it.
They immediately acted according to Krum's arrangements.
Finally, the three champions of Beauxbatons who remained on the field also entered the arena to the sound of Ludo's whistle.
Unlike Durmstrang, the three of them didn't communicate at all and each chose a path and walked straight in.
And Fleur was walking the path in the middle.
Walking alone on the dark path, Fleur took out a small whistle from her chest and blew it without hesitation.
Unlike the sound made by Ludo's whistle, this one was even more low-pitched.
Just after blowing the whistle, before long, Fleur heard a rustling sound in her ears. Coupled with the current environment, Fleur couldn't help but shudder.
Feeling something above her head, Fleur stiffly raised her head and saw a somewhat terrifying scene.
A giant spider the size of an elephant, with a hairy carapace and dark eyes the size of fists, stared at her intently.
"Phew!"
Fleur breathed a sigh of relief. So it was this guy!
During this time, Ethan had taken her to the Forbidden Forest quite a bit. Whether it was a Thunderbird, a dragon, or a unicorn and Thestral, she knew them all. Even the Acromantula, which basically no girl liked, had been to their lair many times.
The main reason was to help Ethan collect Acromantula venom. Fleur also knew that this thing was very valuable.
She didn't expect that the whistle Ethan gave her would summon this guy.
No wonder she asked him what the whistle was for and he wouldn't say.
After the huge Acromantula climbed down from the vine wall, Fleur hesitated for a while and used a Levitation Charm on herself, sitting on its back like Ethan.
At this time, several other Acromantulas also crawled from other directions. Finally, under the guard of five spiders, they turned around and ran to the left, their eight long legs running very fast.
Ethan, who was not far ahead, heard the unique whistle sound and knew that Fleur had summoned the Acromantula.
After reading Moody's mind through Legilimency, Ethan arranged all of this.
These Acromantulas, compared to Hagrid, except for Aragog, listened to Ethan more.
With these internal beasts arranged inside, Ethan could take whichever trophy he wanted. The day before yesterday, Ethan went to the Acromantula's base and arranged everything.
This was also to prevent Fleur from breaking into Voldemort's script.
It's just that in this way, Ethan felt that he was a bit like a nanny in this competition!
But who told him to be cheap and covet other people's bodies!
"Delacour, you, you..."
Falling to the ground and leaning against the vine wall, Hesselgode Winser pointed at Fleur on the spider's back, trembling, somewhat in disbelief.
When she first encountered these big guys, she thought she was hopeless. With XXXXX other magical creatures, there was no time to wait for rescue even if she launched a signal flare to withdraw now.
But who knew that these spiders were not interested in her at all, not even symbolically scaring her. What was even more unbelievable was that Fleur was actually on the backs of these spiders.
"Oh, I conquered these Acromantulas. Now they will take me to find the trophy. Is there a problem?"
Fleur looked down at Hesselgode Winser, saying with an indifferent attitude.
The relationship between the two was not good. Fleur was not in the mood to explain.
"Aren't you walking the path in the middle?"
Fleur rode the big spider to her side, so what should she do?
She was not afraid of competing with Fleur, but this big spider...
"Oh, they brought me here. I won't say anymore, I'll go get the trophy first."
Fleur patted the back of the Acromantula as she spoke, and then, driven by the Acromantula, she disappeared in front of Hesselgordwin in the blink of an eye.
Seeing Fleur walking away, Hesselgordwin cursed and prepared to stand up.
Now that Fleur had run to his side, he had no choice but to go to the middle lane since he couldn't compete.
What's going on?
He struggled a few times, only to find that he couldn't stand up. Taking a closer look, he discovered that the vines on the wall he was leaning against had wrapped around him and were getting tighter and tighter!
"Fleur Delacour..."
Hearing the shrill cry coming from behind, Fleur turned her head in confusion...
Fleur naturally recognized that it was the voice of her teammate Hesselgordwin, but she hadn't done anything to her!
Why was she making such a sound?
Could it be some kind of trap in this maze?
Thinking of this possibility, Fleur decided to ignore it and patted the spider's back beneath her. The Acromantula ran even faster this time.
On Ethan's side, with his powerful perception, he had a smooth journey. The maze and the mist were like decorations.
The magical creatures encountered on the way ran even faster than they came the moment they saw Ethan.
For example, Hagrid's precious Blast-Ended Skrewts, upon seeing Ethan, directly shot fire from their rear ends, using the powerful force to propel themselves away quickly.
As for the Dementors, Ethan unceremoniously took them in.
Until, on a long and straight path, he encountered an incredibly strange creature.
Its body was like a huge, terrifying lion: enormous paws, a long yellow tail with a tuft of fur at the tip, but the head was that of a woman.
A Sphinx, a XXXXX-rated magical creature from Egypt. For over a thousand years, wizards have used them to guard their valuable items and secret places. They are quite intelligent, fond of riddles and word puzzles, and can speak.
Ethan remembered that in the original story, this thing blocked Harry's path. Only after answering its question did it let Harry pass. So, would it ask him questions now?
Although he felt it wouldn't be difficult for him, Ethan had no interest in answering a riddle posed by a magical creature.
Just as the Sphinx blocked the path, preparing to ask something.
Ethan directly released his pressure. The Sphinx's body suddenly trembled, and then it simply knelt down on the ground. Its entire body rolled over to the other side, clearing the path.
Seeing the Sphinx being so sensible, Ethan didn't make things difficult for it and walked inside along the path it had cleared.
After Ethan walked far away, the Sphinx dared to stand up shakily, then ran in the other direction without looking back.
Exiting the path guarded by the Sphinx, there was another fork in the road ahead. With his perception, Ethan clearly headed to the right.
Before long, he saw a faint light shining in front of him, emitted from the base of the Triwizard Cup.
"Accio Triwizard Cup!"
The moment he caught the speeding Triwizard Cup, Ethan's entire figure immediately distorted. Ethan didn't resist this.
All three trophies had the ability of a Portkey. Originally, they were supposed to return to the location where the Triwizard Tournament was held, but the bronze one had been tampered with. The other two had no problems.
When his vision returned, Ethan was greeted by a sea of cheering people.
"Ethan Yaderian returns second and brings back the Triwizard Cup, adding one hundred points to Hogwarts."
Ludo, who was in charge of the ceremony on the platform, immediately announced loudly when he saw Ethan and the cup in Ethan's hand.
Ethan also raised the Triwizard Cup high in his hand. But he was the second?
Turning his head to look around, he realized that Fleur had already arrived first.
Well, that wasn't surprising. If magic wasn't used, even if Ethan had the talent of Earth Walking, allowing him to move faster on the ground, he certainly couldn't outrun a running Acromantula.
"Now, only the last bronze trophy remains. Who will be the ultimate winner?"
"Let us wait and see!"
Hearing Ludo's words, Madam Maxime's face also showed a hint of tension.
Durmstrang was definitely out. Of the three trophies, Beauxbatons and Hogwarts each had one. Even if they got the last one, it wouldn't matter.
However, Ethan Yaderian obtained the Triwizard Cup, which added more points than her side. Currently, they were already nineteen points ahead of Beauxbatons.
The remaining two from Hogwarts were not to be feared. Although their Savior, Harry Potter, managed to get good scores in every match, his strength was just so-so. He obtained them through tricks. The real worry was whether Durmstrang would get the last one.
As for her teammate Karkaroff, his mind was not on this at all. He was still sitting in his seat with a bitter face.
What was honor compared to a threat to his life? It was all bullshit.
Chapter 278: Harry and Ron
Time passed second by second. Champions were gradually brought out of the maze by Professor McGonagall and others.
Until now, only four people remained in the maze.
Durmstrang's Field Duru and Richardson Clarence, Hogwarts' Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
Therefore, the little wizards on the Hogwarts side had smiles on their faces that they couldn't suppress. They started celebrating in advance. No matter which side won the trophy, the championship was already in their hands.
At the same time, Madam Maxime also sighed heavily. As expected, they still failed.
Immediately, she waved to Fleur and the others. She couldn't understand how the two from her academy were eliminated when none of the Hogwarts people were.
And also Durmstrang's. Krum, the strongest, was out, but the other two remained.
Receiving Madam Maxime's call, Fleur and the other three dared not neglect it and hurried over.
Soon, under Madam Maxime's questioning, the three began to recount their experiences in the maze.
When Hesselgordwin said the reason for his forced withdrawal, Madam Maxime glanced at Fleur but didn't say much.
Riding an Acromantula, no wonder she won a trophy so quickly.
As for Hesselgordwin saying that Fleur tamed it, Madam Maxime wasn't stupid enough to believe it.
Even a pure Veela couldn't tame a XXXXX-rated Acromantula, let alone Fleur, a half-Veela.
And if there were no accidents, the path Fleur took should have been the one Ethan chose. Although it led to one person being eliminated, it was still a gain overall, because going the same path as Ethan meant you couldn't win.
