Time seemed to slow down all of a sudden, and the wizard chess and crackling exploding cards that they never had enough of playing became boring. Every time they played for a while, they would look up to see if it was getting dark outside.

From morning to noon, and then to afternoon...it felt like a month had passed, and the sky finally darkened.

When the moon rose, everyone couldn't wait to go to the auditorium.

Perhaps because there were banquets for two consecutive days, the carefully prepared sumptuous dishes were not so popular.

Everyone just took a few bites and put down their cutlery, and stood up from time to time to see if Professor Dumbledore had finished eating.

"Hurry up and sit down." When Ron stood up for the third time, Hermione finally couldn't help but say, "It will take time for the Goblet of Fire to make a decision. Even Headmaster Dumbledore can't announce the result in advance."

"How do you know?" Ron said, "After you put your name in the Goblet of Fire, will you know the time?"

"Of course not!" Hermione said impatiently, "Have you never read Hogwarts: A History? It's all written in it."

"I don't think many people would read such a thick book." Ron muttered quietly, but when he saw that Hermione was showing signs of being angry, he quickly changed his tone and said, "Well, could you please be so kind as to tell us what time it is?"

Everyone around looked over.

"The book only mentions that the Goblet of Fire will go out after one day," Hermione said, "but the Goblet of Fire was taken out at the end of the banquet yesterday. According to the time, it should be around 7:30."

Ron checked the time. It was ten past seven... Did that mean they had to wait another twenty minutes?

He took a plate of pudding irritably, but did not eat it. He just poked at it with his fork and asked, "Who do you think will be the champion of Hogwarts?"

Harry looked around and found Fred and George on the other side of the table before he lowered his voice and said, "I hope it's Angelina."

"I think it's not bad that Fred was chosen," said Ron. "That way I'll be considered the Warrior's younger brother. Maybe Krum will even give me an autograph."

Hermione gave a sarcastic sneer.

"But I think it could also be Hermione." Harry suddenly remembered that there was another person beside them who had also voted, and then he quickly said, "Your final score is higher than Angelina's."

Hermione blushed, a rare occurrence, and tried hard to look normal.

"That's because I took all the courses last year, so my score is higher."

"No, I think what Harry said makes sense." Ron nodded seriously, "You are always the first to complete the professor's task, and even Snape can't find any fault with you."

Hermione turned her head and looked at Ron in surprise, as if it was the first day she met him.

In fact, after knowing that she had thrown her name into the Goblet of Fire, although Ron didn't say it, Hermione could see that he was still a little uncomfortable... This was obvious, because Ron hadn't taken the initiative to talk to her since morning.

So Hermione never expected that he would say this now.

But Ron didn't notice any of this. He poked Pudding and continued, "If you really become a warrior...can you help me get an autograph from Krum?"

Hermione's face quickly turned cold and she grabbed a book and threw it over.

The thick volume of "The Evolution of Medieval Runes" fell on the table in front of Ron, scaring him so much that he almost threw the fork in his hand away.

"What are you doing? That book almost hit me." Ron shouted angrily.

But Hermione had already turned her head away and didn't look at him again.

Finally, twenty minutes later, the last dessert disappeared.

Dumbledore stood up and the hall fell silent.

"Well, the Goblet of Fire is about to make its decision," said Dumbledore, who seemed to be as nervous and expectant as everyone else.

Then he waved his wand, and most of the candles in the hall went out, leaving only those in the jack-o'-lanterns.

In this semi-dark state, the Goblet of Fire looked brighter than ever, and the bright blue-white flame emitted a dazzling light.

At the Hufflepuff table, Cedric kept breathing, "I've never been so nervous."

"It's almost here." said Mikel, who had been watching the time.

When the time came to half past seven.

Under the gaze of everyone, the flame in the goblet suddenly turned red, and sparks popped out with crackling sounds, like a volcano about to erupt.

Then, a tongue of fire leaped into the air, and a piece of burnt parchment flew out of it... The auditorium suddenly became quiet, and everyone held their breath.

A large hand caught the parchment.

"The champion of Durmstrang..." Dumbledore shouted, "It's Viktor Krum!"

"It's Krum..."

“That’s not surprising at all!”

Applause and cheers filled the entire auditorium.

Krum stood up from the Slytherin table and Ludo Bagman immediately stepped forward and took him to the next room.

"Excellent, Viktor!" Karkaroff boomed.

As the applause died down, a second piece of parchment popped out of the Goblet of Fire.

"The champion of Beauxbatons..." said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"

Next to Connor, Fleur stood up gracefully and walked lightly between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables.

This time the applause was not as enthusiastic as before, because many people were staring at her blankly. Ron opened his mouth, completely stunned.

When they came to their senses, Furong also walked into the next room.

The auditorium fell into silence again, but unlike the previous two times, this silence was filled with an extremely clear and intense excitement.

Now it’s time for the Hogwarts Warriors…

When the third piece of parchment appeared in Dumbledore's hands, nearly half of the people couldn't help but stand up.

"The champion of Hogwarts..." Dumbledore looked at the name on the parchment and suddenly smiled, "It's Kyle..."

Without warning, Kyle felt a buzzing in his head, as if hundreds of Billywigs were having a dance party, making it so noisy that he couldn't hear anything.

In fact, no one could be heard talking in the auditorium now.

The deafening cheers surged like a tsunami, as if they were going to overturn the ceiling.

"I knew it!"

Kyle felt someone hugging him... It was Connor. She was screaming and jumping excitedly, and even her ears were red.

"Don't you consider my feelings when you say that?" Cedric felt helpless.

Even so, he hugged Kyle excitedly and said, "Great! I knew you could do it!"

At the same time, Qiu, Fred and George also rushed over and surrounded Kyle.

"I'm sorry to bother you." Dumbledore had to remind him, "The other two warriors are still waiting. You'd better let him go quickly."

Everyone immediately separated and made way for Kyle.

In the guest of honor seat, Chris looked at him with a smile, pointed in the direction of the side door, and asked him to go over quickly.

Next to him, Karkaroff couldn't help laughing when he heard Kyle's name.

After the rules of the Triwizard Tournament were determined, he specifically investigated the situation of Hogwarts students.

The first of them is Kyle, who was awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class.

But Karkaroff didn't think it was a big deal. With a big guy over three meters tall and the famous magical animal expert Silvanus Kettleburn, with these two people around, even a Muggle could get rid of the werewolf.

So in his opinion, Kyle's second-class medal was nothing more than a lucky boy and two generous wizards, plus the influence of Dumbledore...that's all.

He was more concerned about Kyle's age... He had just turned fifteen, almost at the age limit.

Krum is already eighteen years old. For two students who haven't graduated yet, three years is a huge gap... This is no different from stuffing the championship into their arms.

Durmstrang wins!

Just at this moment, Dumbledore turned around.

"Albus." Karkaroff couldn't help laughing. "He must be the youngest member of Merlin's Order. Hogwarts is really full of talented people."

"Igor, speaking of talent, the most popular legendary seeker is at Durmstrang."

The two of them just looked at each other, and then simultaneously revealed a smile from the bottom of their hearts.

(End of this chapter)