Chapter 404 Throw rotten eggs at my head, Hogwarts (2 in 1)

Hearing his words, the four champions, including Jon, all looked at Matthew in shock.

Even those castle students who had already sat in the audience let out a series of gasps.

Hogwarts Castle is one of the stakes in the Triwizard Tournament and even holds a position equal to that of the entire French wizarding community in the blood pact made between Dumbledore and Voldemort.

The students in the castle had been brought out of the school thinking that the final would be at the Quidditch pitch and that they, for once, would be able to be proper spectators.

What they didn't expect, however, was that the real purpose of having them out was actually to make room for the four competing champions and reserve the playing field.

Of course, Jon also felt shocked, and after hearing Matthew's announcement he turned his head to Dumbledore, who met his eyes and shook his head.

This meant that the final task of the tournament being held in the castle was something that even Dumbledore himself didn't know, but then Jon looked over at Snape, who was also sitting in the judge's seat.

Dumbledore was unaware, but there was absolutely no way that Snape and the others were unaware.

If they wanted to use Hogwarts Castle as a venue for the tournament, they would have to get the approval of Voldemort, the current nominal owner of the castle, or else Matthew and the others would not have the guts and ability to make the decision privately.

In other words, the Voldemort side must have known about this before anyone else, but how much earlier was unknown.

After thinking of this, Jon's first reaction was not how much of a head start and advantage Draco and Emil and the others had over them, but rather, he could not help but have a question rise up.

Why had Voldemort agreed?

And just as this question arose in Jon's mind, Matthew's voice, enhanced by the Amplifying Charm, once again rang out across the Quidditch pitch.

"From the Forbidden Forest to the Black Lake, and then from the Black Lake to the castle, this Triwizard Tournament involves every corner of this school, and it will be within this castle that the ultimate winner will be crowned."

"The Triwizard Cup! The trophy that belongs to the winner of this tournament, the champion who lifts it at the last moment is the only winner and the camp to which he/she belongs will receive everything in the oath that has been made between you. The trophy is now hidden in the castle, and you will have to discover the clues to reach this final glory. There is no time limit for this task until someone has lifted the Triwizard Cup, and there are no forbidden areas within the castle, so any place you can think of that you can get to and enter could be the place where the final trophy will be hidden."

"And the ultimate ranking of the first two tasks will be used as the order of entry for you to enter the castle to start this task next. Jon Green, who has the highest score, will be the first to enter the castle to start the competition at exactly 10 am, whereas Emil Lestrange, who is in second place will enter the castle at 1 pm together with Diane Rosier due to close difference in points and problem happened in the previous task, and finally, Draco Malfoy, who is the last place holder, will enter the castle at sunset."

After the exact rules were announced, there was even more outcry from the audience.

Because as the one with the leading score, Jon's advantage on this task was simply too great.

He would enter a full three hours earlier than the person in second place, and even closer to a day earlier than Draco, and if he was lucky enough, then maybe he would find the Triwizard Cup and end this task even before others could come in first.

But even if some people felt that such a big advantage was unfair, the rules were unlikely to change at this point.

As soon as Matthew had announced all the rules, there were less than five minutes to go before the 10 o'clock mark.

And by this time, the confederation judge from Africa had given Jon a complete inspection.

"What's wrong with your eye?"

She asked warily.

Jon certainly didn't think that the changes in his eyes could be hidden from such an inspection, and he shrugged and said.

"A failed magical experiment has caused it to become like this, you can also find someone to help change it back to its original form if you prefer, there is nothing more I can do about it myself."

The African witch eventually found a professional wizard who had made a critical assessment of Jon's condition.

But apparently, even the professional had never seen anything like Jon's condition before, and his pale gold eyes, which burned like a fire, did not reveal much to him even after long observation.

As the time for the task drew nearer, Matthew stepped in and, without questioning the change in Jon's eyes, permitted him to compete as normal.

After another round of inspection to make sure he wasn't carrying anything that is against the rules, ten o'clock arrived.

Jon was led to the large open castle door, all eyes on him, and he looked back at Dumbledore before approaching the door, the two men simply locked eyes and nothing more was exchanged.

Finally, he stepped right into the doors of that castle without a second thought.

And just after he entered, the doors were slammed shut again from the outside until they would be opened again at one o'clock.

After watching the doors close and Jon officially began the tournament's final task, Dumbledore slowly rose from his seat, very few people were paying attention to him now, the vast majority of students and journalists were discussing the format of this final tournament task, and it was at this point that he wordlessly turned and left the venue and Hogwarts Castle, leaving Rosier alone as the representative of Witching Horizon.

Crouch noticed Dumbledore had disappeared only three minutes later.

He looked at the empty spot and turned his head to Snape and asked.

"Who's guarding the French Ministry of Magic side?"

"Selwyn and Luke Wood."

Snape said lightly, clearly concerned about Dumbledore's departure as well, but acted like he wasn't overly worried about it.

"Just remember who we are now and guard this castle for our lord, who I'm sure is better prepared than anyone else."

***

Jon hadn't felt any difference after entering Hogwarts Castle from when he had been here before.

But even so, he gripped his wand tightly in his hand, his mind kept on alert at all times.

As predicted before this third task, Voldemort himself was still absent from the stage for this final task, never appearing before the public since his return when the castle was attacked by the dragons in the first task.

It certainly didn't go unnoticed by Dumbledore and Jon; several people in Witching Horizon had actually been snooping around about Voldemort himself since the start of the year.

The results did bear some fruit, which is why Jon and Dumbledore spoke those words before the task began.

While the third task was in progress, Dumbledore naturally had to go and do some of the things he had to do, and this would most likely involve facing Voldemort himself.

But that didn't necessarily mean that Jon's side was safe.

Anyone could see Voldemort's attitude towards Jon since the very first task.

If getting rid of Dumbledore was the number one thing he had to do, then Jon was bound to come in second.

It was not just that Jon was the best student of the new generation on Dumbledore's side, it was also that Jon had disgraced Voldemort in front of so many people across Europe, killing two of his best men.

As a vengeful man, Voldemort would not let go of the opportunity to kill Jon if he had it, and if he didn't have it, he would create it!

And in this last task, it was certainly one of the perfect opportunities.

Jon, of course, had no idea what Voldemort was thinking or doing, but what he did know was that he had to be extra cautious at this point in time.

Now that he could enter the castle openly, he certainly had nothing more to hide, the search for clues or whatever came first, he walked up the stairs and began to head straight for the seventh floor, soon arriving at the door of the Headmaster's office, which was a restricted area for all students and professors in the entire castle, and instead of reaching out, he waved his wand and pushed open the door of the room.

Looking inside from where the foyer was, Jon didn't notice anything out of place.

There were no longer any living creatures guarding the place, and once he had stepped into the Headmaster's office, there were no magical devices that looked like they had been activated, everything was as normal as it could be.

The furnishings were largely unchanged from Jon's first visit, and all traces of the previous Hermione battle had been cleaned up.

Of course, the four relics on the middle desk hadn't been taken away and placed elsewhere; Jon didn't know that Barty Jr. and Snape couldn't contact Voldemort nowadays, but assumed that Voldemort himself had something to fall back on and knew that the four relics associated with the castle weren't likely to be taken out of the room without permission.

After lingering in this Headmaster's office for a while, Jon made his way up the corner staircase that ran up through the room, and he eventually made his way to the tower that had once been used to house the Quill of Acceptance and the Book of Admittance.

The table in the middle of the tower was now empty of any items and the walls around it were devoid of magical portraits, it was as if the place had been vacated.

After a careful search along the perimeter without any luck, Jon could not help but leave in disappointment.

Even if Voldemort had allowed Matthew to set up the tournament in Hogwarts Castle, they probably wouldn't have dared to hide the Triwizard Cup in the Headmaster's Office.

So Jon went back to the Headmaster's office and first tried to see if he could take the Gryffindor sword with him, thinking that even if he couldn't take it out of Hogwarts Castle, he could just use it in the castle.

No matter how hard Jon tried, he couldn't get it off the desk.

In the end, Jon had no choice but to give up, not even fulfilling his wish to be a Gryffindor Sword Knight for once.

And just as he was about to turn around and leave the Headmaster's office, which had failed to bring him any semblance of gain, he suddenly stopped in his tracks as if he had thought of something.

To enter the castle openly.

He was now entering the castle openly, wasn't he?

Having made sure of that, Jon turned his back to the door of the headmaster's office and spoke with his face in the direction of the desk.

"Throw rotten eggs at my head, Hogwarts."

It was a phrase that Dumbledore had told him after the second task, a strange secret password.

It had been four months, and originally Jon's memories were all rather fuzzy; after all, Dumbledore hadn't shown much solemnity at the time when he had uttered it, it had sounded more like a joke, so Jon hadn't been too bothered by it.

But now he suddenly remembered this matter, anyway, he came here, it is not like Dumbledore would harm him if he tried.

And right after Jon said the secret password, the whole headmaster's office was quiet, nothing changed, and no one or ghost jumped out and really threw rotten eggs at his head.

Just as Jon waited for a good three or four seconds, spread his hands, thinking that it was probably just a casual joke from Dumbledore, and was about to turn around and leave the Headmaster's office again, a slightly weak, but extraordinarily jumpy and excited voice suddenly rang out in his head!

"Hi! Hi! Hi! It's been so long, it's been so long! I can't believe there's still someone allowed to come here!"

Jon's steps, which had been halfway forward, stopped instantly, and he turned to look at the still-empty Headmaster's office but failed to spot where the voice was coming from.

"Why aren't you talking? Are you looking for me? If that's the case, then please walk forward."

Jon didn't do what the voice that rang out from his head said, but spoke softly and asked.

"Who are you?"

"Who am I? You don't know who I am? Then why did you open your mouth and say those words to wake me up? Don't be ridiculous, little friend."

"It was taught to me by Professor Dumbledore, do you know him? Albus Dumbledore."

The voice suddenly fell silent and Jon couldn't figure out what was going on, and just as he was about to speak again, the voice rang out with a long sigh.

"Albus Dumbledore, Albus. Of course, I know. You call him Professor? You're his student?"

"Yes, my name is Jon Green, and I was a fourth-year Hogwarts student under him."

"He set up a new Hogwarts after he left here? The school was split?"

"It was split, but not a new Hogwarts, we have always firmly believed that there is only one Hogwarts and this castle today as it is, doesn't deserve to be called a school, and now we are preparing to take it back."

Having said this Jon then went on to ask tentatively.

"Who are you exactly? Are you the castle?"

The voice looked like it was amused by Jon's question.

"Haha, the castle? Me? If you really want to know who I am why don't you just do as I say and come forward? A fourth-year student of Hogwarts - Jon Green."

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