Chapter 398 30 Points (2 in 1)

"How did Jon Green get 180 points!"

The first to question this was Bonnesante.

The smile on his face was the first to freeze, and he was also the first to react, barely even resisting the urge to interrupt Matthew on the spot.

On the shore, the students from the castle were also staring at Matthew, and when they heard someone take the lead in asking the question, they shouted along with him.

"Yeah! Jon Green got 100 points in his first task and now this 50, how does that add up to 180 points!"

"Did Mr Graves miscalculate?"

"Such a simple addition couldn't have been intentional on his part, could it?"

Listening to such questions, Matthew just put down the parchment in his hand as he calmly stared at everyone and said.

"There's nothing wrong with Jon Green's score of 50 for this second task, but he didn't just get 100 points on the first one."

"There were no students around, but we were all there! He was the one who found the most golden snitches, came first on top of the count to get 70 points and then came back from the Forbidden Forest second to get 30 points, that's still nothing more than 100 points! You're announcing this kind of misinformation in front of all the judges!"

Bonnesante was completely impatient, it was as if he sensed some sort of conspiracy, Matthew could not help but want to turn things upside down with Dumbledore, there was no way to change the result of the second task in full view of everyone, so they made a move on the first one.

He shouted while still turning his head to look at Snape.

"You were there at that time, weren't you, say something, Snape! They're cheating!"

Snape simply responded to him with a cold look and did say something, only it was addressed to him.

"Incorrigible fool."

With that, he nodded to Matthew as if saying hello, then turned and headed off in the direction of the castle as everyone watched in disbelief.

Naturally, none of those students gathered around dared to stop him, and one by one they all scrambled to part a pathway for their Deputy Headmaster to pass through.

Bonnesante didn't react at first and froze in place, waiting until Snape was already far away before the expression on his face began to twist.

"What does he mean by that? How dare he curse me like that! Cursing in such a manner!"

The expression on Matthew's face remained unchanged from start to finish as he continued with the words he hadn't finished earlier.

"I think that you may have forgotten something, Mr Bonnesante, after the first task, the panel of judges launched an investigation into the issue of the dragon plague at the time, and although there were no clues or results in the end, the compensation for Jon Green was approved by all the judges at the time, including Mr Headmaster of Hogwarts Castle, and this compensation was to add another 30 points on the first task score"

The twist on Bonnesante's face was instantly frozen for a moment.

Naturally, he had been informed of this when it was confirmed, but he didn't care about it at the time, thinking that Jon had already come first in the first task and that adding a few more points to him wouldn't affect anything.

But it was only after the second task was finished that he realised that the scores of the first two tasks were added together to calculate the ranking which would have an impact on the third task.

In other words, the 30 points given to Jon at the beginning were crucial and basically ensured that he would be on top!

No wonder he was able to go ashore with such an unchanged face after harvesting only one pearl, and showed no concern for Emil and Draco's scores.

In fact, even if Jon hadn't shown any interest in finding the pearl at all, he would just have to return immediately after entering the water and get the guaranteed 50 points, and that would be a win!

As for whether the 30 points he was compensated for were justified, it was something Voldemort had agreed to, so Bonnesante couldn't have any objections to it.

So it was already a foregone conclusion.

And he's still acting like a jumping clown, questioning Dumbledore's collusion with the panel of judges to cheat up until now, and actually asked Snape to speak up?

Almost as quickly as the naked eye could see, Bonnesante turned red, because by now all the students were looking at him, and with Snape gone without a word, they could only get an answer to the question of whether or not the information was true from the Deputy Headmaster of Beauxbatons.

"Yes, there is such a thing!"

Bonnesante practically squeezed the words out of his teeth.

Matthew's eyes averted from him, he couldn't understand from the start how the Deputy Headmaster could be so happy.

The surrounding students didn't understand how the points for the first task were calculated, but you don't understand either.

It really confirmed what Snape had said before he left, incorrigible fool.

Emil also felt like a basin of cold water had been poured on him at this time, and his whole body wilted.

At this point in time, Jon's extra points were not only communicated to the judges, but also to the participating champions, but at that time they had all recognized Jon's first place, so they didn't think it was a big deal.

But when the two tasks were completely finished and the total points were added up, the advantage was downright obvious.

No one in the castle side had a smile on their faces after hearing Bonnesante's personal confirmation.

The look on their faces could even be described as embarrassment, as if a flock of ducks had carried a swan's egg back to their nest, only to have it blatantly pointed out that a duck is a duck, and it can't lay a swan's egg.

Where George and Hermione stood, there was no cheering after it was confirmed that Jon had come first overall.

It was as if this was the way things were supposed to be, and the cheers from the students from the castle side simply didn't matter to them.

In front of everyone, Matthew finally asked again.

"Are there any questions about the overall scores of the first two tasks?"

The place was incomparably quiet, every point the four champions got was now well documented and following the rules, so of course no one would have any more questions.

At this time, Matthew also breathed a long sigh of relief inside.

No matter what, these first two tasks had finally ended safely, and as for the anomalies that had occurred under the waters of the Black Lake during the task, it would probably be just like the dragon plague in the first task and would be nothing more than a messy account.

"Then I announce that the third task will commence at 10 a.m. on the 12th of April this year, and the exact rules will be made public on that same day."

When Matthew finished these words, it meant that the day's tournament was completely over.

The students in the castle looked as if they didn't want to stay for another moment, and they turned their heads and hurried back towards the castle, looking as if every second they stayed would add further embarrassment to their faces.

Barty Jr. watched the scene from the tower of the castle from high above.

He already knew the outcome of the task before it even started, so there was no point in trying to watch it.

Only a fool like Bonnesante would have any illusions about the final outcome of the second task, if only he had counted Jon's score in the first task, he wouldn't have lost his temper.

Instead of going to his office, Snape also came to this tower and stood next to Barty Jr. after returning to the castle.

"There's been an accident in the middle of the task."

"Can you identify who did it? Dumbledore? Or was it a means left behind by our lord earlier?"

"I'll check the lake later, the exact source of where it came from is up for debate."

Barty Jr. narrowed his eyes as he looked at a girl with long chestnut hair in the group that was returning to the Hogwarts wagon.

"Regardless of the outcome of the task, as long as Dumbledore and the others don't find out about our lord's disappearance, it won't be a big deal. If you lose the first two tasks, so be it, it's not like the key to winning is in this, even a big advantage would just give the last task some boost, if you really want to win, you still have to lift that Triwizard Cup."

Snape was also looking down, his eyes narrowed as he was watching Jon, who was being carried around the shoulders of both George and Lee together, as they bantered along behind Dumbledore.

"Does the lord have made any arrangements for the third task?"

"Of course, but I don't know what kind of layout the lord has, and so far you, I don't even know what this last, crucial task is about. But since our lord has not left us any message, he has either actually arranged everything, or"

Barty took one last deep look at Hermione, the girl who had made him fall so heavily before, and finally turned to leave the tower.

"Lord doesn't actually care about this Triwizard Tournament at all, that so-called blood pact and the attitude of importance nowadays is just to catch the attention of Dumbledore."

He left his last words and his entire body had disappeared into the doorway, leaving only Snape still standing in the tower, and instead of continuing to look at Jon and his group who had returned to the wagon, he lifted his head and looked out into the azure blue expanse of space.

The harsh sunlight shone on his hollow eyes, and it was unclear whether he was murmuring to someone or to himself.

"Whatever it takes, just live well."

Jon wasn't surprised that the second task had ended this way.

He and Diane had known early on what the second task would be, the format was the same as the first, so naturally then they had already worked out what they would need to go through on this second task early on, and essentially nothing would change as far as the first position was concerned.

Stretching the score a bit more might have had a better impact on the third task, but again, there was really no need for that at all.

Back in the wagon, just as he used to go to the Headmaster's office for a wrap-up meeting after all the big events, Jon followed Dumbledore to the Headmaster's office for this one as well.

"That big squid is fine, right?"

Jon asked with a blink of his eyes just as he sat down.

Dumbledore's face looked calm.

"Fawkes has helped to bring it to Lyons, where there are specialists who are specialized in magical creatures working on its rescue, but even if we can keep it from dying outright, it doesn't have more than a few years left to live after losing so much vitality."

Jon was silent for a moment.

He had never seen the big squid before today, but both in the original and from the other students he could hear that this massive creature maintained the friendliest of attitudes towards each and every student.

"Can I know, this squid, why he is being tortured by the Dark Lord like this?"

A heavy look appeared in Dumbledore's gaze.

"Because its existence is deeply connected to the other founder of Hogwarts in history, Godric Gryffindor, and that is what Riddle had his eyes on, and if those four things that are displayed in the Headmaster's office are all relics left behind by the founders, then this squid is a living fossil that means even more to the whole castle. "

Jon frowned, even if he hadn't been much involved in all those plans Dumbledore and Hermione had made in the castle before, he could see the problem now.

"But Professor, if the Dark Lord is really very concerned about how to take the castle into his own hands, why hasn't he shown up to stop us until now? Leaving aside the ancient runes in the Chamber of Secrets for now, whether it's in the Headmaster's office or the Slytherin common room under the Black Lake, we've basically left quite a few hands and tails behind, and I don't think the Dark Lord wouldn't have sensed that we've pried into his secrets."

Dumbledore spoke softly.

"Actually, it's not just about what you said Jon, we haven't even figured out what sort of purpose Riddle had in mind when he wanted to gain control of the castle itself. The castle should have meant nothing to him, having a nominal headmastership is enough for now, but he still wants to go to all the trouble to obtain the whole of Hogwarts."

Jon also became curious about this.

"Does Hogwarts really has a consciousness of its own?"

"Why not?" Dumbledore asked rhetorically, "Gryffindor took off his hat and that hat became a sorting hat that could somewhat discern the students. Hogwarts castle is a school founded by four great wizards together, everyone who studies and lives here is a young wizard with magical powers, so it's fair to say that it will develop its own set of rules and consciousness ."

"And how did the Dark Lord determine whether he was recognised by that castle and suffered rejection instead?"

Dumbledore did not answer his question, but instead had a sudden look of interest on his face.

"If you ever get the chance, Jon, promise me one thing."

Jon froze a little, he didn't know why Dumbledore was suddenly saying this.

"What is it?"

"The next time you go back to that castle and are going brightly and openly, try to go to that Headmaster's office once more and then just say a word inside it."

Dumbledore said with a big smile on his face.

"Just pretend you're talking to yourself this sentence, [throw rotten eggs at my head, Hogwarts]."

Jon couldn't help but wince at the corners of his mouth.

"Is that some kind of secret password?"

"Just try it if you get the chance, it's not a task or a secret code, it's just a fun experiment."

Dumbledore looked like he was really just being impromptu about this and his face reverted to a serious expression as he finished the sentence.

"Alright, let's get back to the main topic now. We still have up to four months until the final task which will determine the victor, and in the meantime, Salazar has a request for you."

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