Bagman's words were met with thunderous applause from the audience, and the young Gryffindor wizards rushed excitedly from the paddock, gathered around Ivan, and threw him high into the air…
For a time, the shore of the lake was filled with joy…
Bagman watched the proceedings with a smile, but Karkaroff, who was sitting behind him on the judges' bench, was extremely unhappy. He looked at Bagman and scolded him in an eccentric manner.
"Mr. Bagman, as I recall, there is no rule in the rules that allows the announcer to judge on the referee's behalf. This is an extremely serious infraction!"
"Ah, my bad, indeed…" Bagman patted his head, looking annoyed.
However, he did not even look at Karkaroff. Instead, he turned to the remaining judges and said, "But I don't think anyone has any objections to this judgment, do they?"
Dumbledore remained silent, smiling, but Crouch spoke first.
"Hales's performance on the field was clear to all, and I think it would not be unreasonable to give him a perfect score, and since the final score for the champions has now been announced, there is no need to change it."
"As for Mr. Bagman's actions of passing judgement on our behalf…"
Crouch hesitated.
"It was probably just a moment of excitement!" Dumbledore said casually, taking over the conversation.
"Yes, that's right, that's it!!" Bagman nodded his head vigorously, as if he had simply blurted it out in his excitement.
Karkaroff could not fail to see that the trio were in cahoots, and he was so furious that he slammed his hands on the table. However, it was clear that he alone would not be able to stir up any trouble, so Karkaroff quickly turned his head to seek Maxim's support.
However, considering that Ivan had saved Fleur's life in the second match of the season, and the fact that he had spoken up on Fleur's behalf to protect Beauxbatons' reputation, Maxim turned down Karkaroff's offer.
"Good, you're both good!" Karkaroff said, glaring at Maxim in exasperation, then leaving with a flick of his sleeve…
At the same time, in the middle of the arena.
Ivan was having a headache dealing with the over-enthusiastic cubs, and it took a lot of persuasion to convince them to stop playing the game of Raise-Up.
Ivan then took a look at the system's mission panel. As he had expected, the [Fanatic Follower] mission had been completed perfectly, and even exceeded by quite a bit. Unfortunately, there was no bonus reward, and it was still the same two Legendary Points.
However, Ivan was still very happy when he received the reward, as he now had five more Legendary Points.
This meant that he would be able to begin the Fourth Bloodline Fusion Ceremony today, which would greatly improve his strength.
This is great news for Ivan, who has been worried about Lord Voldemort's return…
… .
The noise of the game lasted the rest of the morning, and it was only after the cubs had left that Ivan was able to return to the castle with Harry and the others.
After a quick lunch, instead of relaxing in Gryffindor's common room, Ivan made a beeline for the Forbidden Forest's paddock, taking advantage of Norbert's nap to draw a large tube of blood and escape before he was discovered.
Hearing the faint roar of a dragon from the Forbidden Forest in the distance, Ivan stepped into the castle again to check his gains.
[Magical Item: Dragon's Blood
Activity: High
[Description: This is blood extracted from a female Norwegian Ridgeback. It is rich in magic…]
Ivan was somewhat relieved to see the description in his inventory. He had been worried that Norbert's not having an annual meeting would affect the dragon's blood, but it seemed that it would not.
After placing the bottle of dragon's blood in his hand, Ivan made his way to the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor. He had been preparing the Blood-Fusion Potion for a few days and expected to complete it today.
"I need to get into my own room!" Yvonne chanted to herself as she deftly paced the carpet three times.
A moment later, an ornate door appeared in the wall.
Ivan pushed the door open and found himself in an unusually wide space, complete with a potion room, an alchemy room, and a combat dummy. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and he could access any books he wanted.
The reason for putting everything together was to prevent the Room of Requirement from being invaded by Barty Crouch Junior.
He placed a large amount of protective magic around the room, which would immediately attack any foreign magic that entered and destroy the brewing of the Bloodline-Fusion Potion to prevent its important formula from being leaked.
Fortunately, everything seemed normal inside and there were no signs of an invasion.
The cauldron in the potion room was bubbling, and Ivan leaned in to take a look. The liquid in the cauldron had turned a pure transparent colour, indicating that he had come at the right time. The brewing was almost complete, and there was only one final step left.
Ivan did not hesitate. He took out the bottle of dragon blood and poured it into the cauldron. As the blood flowed into the cauldron, the colourless, transparent potion gradually turned scarlet red and began to boil in the cauldron like hot lava.
"Please don't taste as bad as lava…" Ivan muttered to himself as he recalled the painful experience of drinking the Bloodline Fusion Potion.
However, he had already boiled it. How could he not drink it?
'Let's do it!'
Ivan frowned as he picked up the cauldron and gulped it down!
The scarlet liquid tasted like heated syrup, but there was no sweetness to it. Instead, it was very choppy.
After swallowing it down his throat, his entire body felt like it was on fire. His bones creaked, and the magic that had been obediently in his body slowly became restless.
Ivan resisted this uncomfortable feeling and did not immediately exchange for the system's protective mode. Instead, he tried to calm the agitated magic with his will.
This was not Ivan's first attempt at this, as his previous attempts at hemolysis had given him plenty of experience, which was why he dared to take the risk of honing his skills.
It was effective at first, and Ivan managed to calm the restless magic.
However, in just ten seconds, Ivan found that the situation in his body had worsened. The rapidly increasing magic broke the balance, and the power of the dragon rampaged through his body, startling the "natives" there…