Chapter 48 The Chosen Child

"Just wait."

When Hagrid poured hot tea into the cups facing Clark and them, he couldn't help it anymore, and smiled flamboyantly at the children.

"Just wait and see, this time around you're going to see things you've never seen before.

I can't believe they're going to spend so much money on this.

The first item is... ah, I shouldn't have said that. "

"Go on, Hagrid!" Harry and Ron urged, but Hagrid shook his head and grinned.

"I don't want to spoil your fun," he said, "you'll be surprised anyway, those warriors have something to do, I never thought I'd see the Triwizard Tournament resume in my lifetime !"

For the rest of the time, Harry and Ron kept trying to pry Hagrid's mouth open.

It's just that this time his jar-like mouth was much tighter, and he didn't let go in the face of Harry and Ron's various inquiries.

This made Clark wonder whether he had been enchanted with secrecy.

So they had lunch with Hagrid in anticipation, but neither of them ate much—Hagrid made them a pot of what he said was a steak hodgepodge, and Hermione poached from her share. Out of a big paw.

Now, she, Clark, Neville, and Ron and Harry didn't have much appetite.

However, they still sat with Hagrid all afternoon, speculating on which participants might be selected as warriors, and worried whether Fred's beard had faded.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, there was a light rain in the sky, and the sky became much gloomy.

Clark and the others sat by the warm fire, listening to the raindrops gently hitting the glass windows, and had to get up to pack their things and prepare to return to the castle.

After all, in this weather, they didn't want to walk back with their feet in the mud.

"I'll go with you," said Hagrid, putting his darned socks aside. "Wait for me, I've got to help decorate the Great Hall first, too."

He stood up, went to the chest of drawers beside the bed, and began to look for something in it.

Clark and the others didn't pay much attention at first, and they didn't realize something was wrong until a particularly unpleasant smell penetrated their nostrils.

"Hagrid, what's that?" Neville asked, coughing.

"What?" Hagrid turned, holding a large bottle in his hand. "Don't you like it?"

"Is it the body lotion you put on after you shave?"

Hermione asked in a somewhat suffocated voice, she couldn't hold it any longer, and immediately used wind spells to make an air hood over her head, so as to isolate these unpleasant smells.

"Well—it's cologne," muttered Hagrid, blushing, "probably spilled too much,"

He said hoarsely, "I'll wash it off, wait a minute..."

As he spoke, he walked out of the hut with heavy steps, rubbing his face desperately in the bucket outside the window.

"Cologne?" asked Ron in surprise. "Is Hagrid out of his mind? Why would he use that?"

"And what about his hair and suit?" Harry asked in a low voice.

"Isn't that obvious enough?" Hermione suddenly looked out the window. "Look!"

Outside the window, Hagrid, who was washing his face, straightened up and turned around.

If he blushed just now, then his complexion at this moment is like that of a freshly cooked lobster, because it is still steaming.

Clark and the others leaned against the window, stood up cautiously, so that Hagrid could not see them, and secretly looked out the window.

They saw that Mrs. Maxim, the headmaster of Beauxbatons, and her students just got out of the carriage, apparently preparing to attend a banquet in the castle.

Hagrid leaned closer cautiously. They couldn't hear what Hagrid was saying, but when he was talking to Madam Maxime, he could still clearly see the ecstasy and foggy expression in his eyes.

that look,

It was exactly the same as when Hagrid looked at the baby dragon Nobetta just hatched.

"He just left?" said Hermione in disbelief. "I thought he was waiting for us, but it turned out he was going to the castle with her!"

Outside the window, after chatting for a while, Madame Maxime turned and walked towards the castle, and Hagrid followed her step by step, without even looking back at his hut.

Beauxbatons' students followed them, trotting to keep up with their strides.

"He's in love with her!" said Ron in disbelief.

Everyone else nodded together, "It's obvious, Hagrid is in love."

"But that's normal," Hermione analyzed calmly. "After all, it's not easy to find a lady who fits Hagrid's body type."

They looked out the window together. From a distance, Hagrid and Madam Maxime were almost the same height.

"Ah, then if they have children in the future, they will definitely set a world record," Ron couldn't help joking, "—I dare say that each of their children will weigh a ton."

A few people chatted and laughed, and went out of the hut by themselves and closed the door.

Unexpectedly, it was already so dark outside, everyone wrapped their cloaks tighter, and walked up the slope of the lawn, the topic still remained on Hagrid.

"I have to admit, those French girls are great, and it's no surprise that Hagrid is fascinated." Ron said with a smile.

Hermione glanced at him, and immediately guessed what this guy was thinking, "Then others have to look at him, wishful thinking can only be called unrequited love."

Ron didn't hear the meaning in her words, and continued, "That's not sure, after all, it should be quite difficult for the headmistress to meet a man who is about the same size as her, and Hagrid is also very masculine." Well."

Speaking of this, Hermione thought of the cologne she smelled in the cabin just now, and she no longer had the desire to speak.

When they got to the lake, they saw Durmstrang's delegation just disembarking from the boat.

"Oh, here they come, look!" Ron whispered happily.

Viktor Krum and Karkaroff walked in front side by side, and the other Durmstrang students followed sparsely behind.

Ron looked at Krum excitedly, but Krum walked past them without looking at them, and walked straight into the main door without even looking at them.

When they entered the candlelit auditorium, there were a few people sitting here and there, waiting for the dinner to begin.

The professors were busy arranging the Halloween decorations. The four long college tables that were originally placed side by side were now moved to the side of the auditorium.

Because of this change, there was a large vacant space in front of the staff table, where Dumbledore was seated.

On the ground of the open space, in the center of a circular engraved hexagram circle, the Goblet of Fire that had been placed in the hallway before had been moved there, burning quietly.

Clark and the others found Gryffindor's long table and found that Fred and George were already sitting there. Madam Pomfrey's medical skills were good, and Fred's chin had returned to its smooth appearance.

"I wish it was Angelina," said Fred as Clark, Hermione, Neville, Harry and Ron sat down.

"Me too!" said Ron under his breath. "Ah, we'll find out soon!"

As time passed by every minute and every second, the number of people in the auditorium began to increase at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Finally, the time came to half past five, and the Halloween dinner officially started.

A series of exquisite food appeared on the golden plate in front of them, grilled chicken, grilled steak, grilled pork chops, grilled beef tongue, fried potato wedges, fried foie gras...

All kinds of delicacies are dazzling, and there are even some foreign delicacies that cannot be named, which look even more exquisite.

However, perhaps because there were banquets for two consecutive days, the little wizards did not like these well-prepared and sumptuous dishes as usual.

They were eating food, but they still focused more on the Goblet of Fire not far away.

However, whether it was their illusion or not, tonight's Halloween dinner seemed to be much longer than usual.

People in the auditorium kept looking up, with anxious expressions on every face.

Everyone was fidgeting and had no intention of eating at all, standing up from time to time to see if Dumbledore had finished eating.

Only Clark patiently ate a plate of pumpkin pie, as if he didn't care about it at all.

Finally, the golden plate returned to its original spotless state, and the voice in the auditorium suddenly increased a lot.

Immediately, Dumbledore stood up, and the auditorium suddenly became silent again.

Karkaroff and Madame Maxime on both sides of Dumbledore looked as nervous and expectant as everyone else.

Ludo Bagman was all smiles, winking at the students from various schools, while Mr. Crouch looked uninterested, almost bored.

"Okay, the Goblet of Fire is about to make a decision," Dumbledore's voice was mixed with some excitement, "I guess it will take another minute."

"When the names of the warriors are announced, I hope that they can walk to the top of the auditorium, walk along the staff table, and enter the next room—"

He pointed to the door behind the instructor's desk.

"—There, they will receive initial guidance. Then, they will appear in front of us to complete the final hero ceremony!"

Dumbledore drew out his wand, and gave it a great flick.

The next moment, except for the candles in the jack-o-lantern, all the other candles were extinguished. The magic ceiling above reflected the dark sky outside, and the entire auditorium suddenly fell into a semi-dark state.

Only the Goblet of Fire in the center of the auditorium now emits a dazzling light, brighter than anything in the auditorium, the blue-white flames bursting out with sparks are simply dazzling.

Everyone watched and waited... a few people kept looking at their watches...

"Soon," whispered Lee Jordan, who was two seats away from Clark.

As if to confirm his words, the blue-white flame suddenly rose and turned into a crimson pillar of fire, and crackling sparks burst out.

Then, a flame shot into the air, and from it flew a piece of charred parchment—everyone in the auditorium held their breath.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it far away so that he could read the words on it by the light of the flames. The flames were now blue and white again.

"The champion of Durmstrang," he said in a clear and forceful tone, "is Viktor Krum."

There was polite applause in the auditorium. This result was not surprising at all. Everyone could see how much the headmaster of Durmstrang valued him.

Viktor Krum got up from Slytherin's table and walked listlessly towards Dumbledore. He turned to the right, walked along the staff desk, and entered the next room through the door.

The applause and chatter gradually subsided, and a few seconds later, a second piece of parchment burst out of the cup amidst the crimson flames.

"The Champion of Beauxbatons," cried Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"

Like Krum, Fleur stood up gracefully, flicked her silver hair, and walked lightly between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.

When she also entered the next room, the auditorium fell silent again, and this time there was a strong excitement that could be tasted.

Now it's the turn of the Hogwarts warriors...

The Goblet of Fire didn't keep them waiting either, the flames turned red again, and Dumbledore drew a third parchment from the tip of the fire.

"Hero of Hogwarts," he said aloud, "is Clark Prewett!"

boom!

The entire auditorium exploded in an instant.

Yes, no applause.

A hum began to fill the auditorium, as if countless angry bees were chirping, and some students even stood up, just to get a better view of Clark.

Whether it was Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Gryffindor, everyone turned to look at him.

Without him, it is only because he is only in the fourth grade now, and he is only fifteen years old, which means that he cannot reach the qualification line set by Dumbledore at all.

Professor McGonagall stood up at the guest table, walked quickly past Ludo Bagman and Professor Karkaroff, and whispered eagerly in Professor Dumbledore's ear, Dumbledore listened attentively, frowning slightly I frowned.

Clark turned to look at Neville and Hermione, the students at the long Gryffindor table behind them all staring at him with their mouths open.

Even Ron, who was sitting next to Clark, looked at him in surprise, as if he knew Clark for the first time.

Perhaps only Hermione and Neville remained normal at the scene, no matter what, they trusted Clark.

After all, in terms of strength, among the Hogwarts students, who can be more powerful than Clark?

It's just that before the emotions of the little wizards intensified further, another movement attracted everyone's attention.

The flame in the goblet turned red again, and sparks sputtered out. A long tongue of flame suddenly jumped into the air, and there was another piece of parchment on it.

Dumbledore stretched out a slender hand as if subconsciously, and grabbed the parchment. He held it far away, staring at the name written on it.

There was a long silence, with Dumbledore staring at the note in his hand, and everyone in the Great Hall staring at Dumbledore. Then, Dumbledore cleared his throat and read aloud——

"Bruce Stewart."