Grindelwald, the Vinegar King

Dumbledore didn't come to question him for any other reason, but rather because the matter was inherently ambiguous.

The Merpeople were the trial plan he arranged, and he was the one who communicated with Merpeople. Now that the Merpeople have voluntarily handed over the Hogwarts champions as hostages, this matter—

To put it nicely, Harry's personal charm may have captivated the Merpeople.

But people from other schools wouldn't think that way. They would only assume that Dumbledore must have made prior arrangements with the Merpeople, which is why they willingly handed over the hostages belonging to the Hogwarts Champion.

Cleo recounted exactly what had happened underwater to Dumbledore. Dumbledore was initially taken aback, then glanced at Harry before frowning.

"Okay," he said. "You also need to go to the High Table section and tell the referees what just happened..."

Cleo followed Dumbledore to the High Table.

It's unclear what they talked about, but Madame Maxime's expression relaxed, while Karkaroff's brow remained furrowed.

A moment later, Viktor emerged from the water, still holding his dance partner, who was being held hostage, in his arms.

He swam to the water's edge, placed the hostage on the ground, and cheers and applause erupted around him.

As a star Seeker in Quidditch, Viktor is quite popular at Hogwarts.

Harry sat to the side and clapped for Viktor with restraint.

"That felt great." Ron dried himself off, sniffed, and said, "It felt so good to be soaking in the water—"

"You've probably lost your mind," Hermione said with a sneer. "Did you see Karkaroff's expression?"

He's definitely looking for an opportunity to pick a fight with Harry —just think about it.

"Don't worry, it doesn't matter," Harry said, shrugging. "Do I care how he grades me?"

That's not wrong.

A short while later, Phoebe rose from the water and Leviosa on the surface.

She had many wounds on her body and appeared to be unconscious.

Madame Maxime moved quickly; she immediately came to Phoebe's side and led her to the shore.

Madam Pomfrey stepped forward and began to treat Phoebe.

After a while, Phoebe slowly woke up.

"Grindylow— " she spat out two mouthfuls of water, "There are just too many of them, I can't help it—they're surging up like madmen— Gabrielle, where is Gabrielle? Is she alright?"

Phoebe stood up, howling as she prepared to run into the water.

Madame Maxime held her tightly to prevent her from running into the water.

She's in such bad shape right now and needs to rest, not go back into the water.

Just then, the Merpeople rose from the water and carried Gabrielle back to shore.

"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she still alive? Is she hurt?"

Phoebe was completely hysterical. She broke free from Madame Maxime's restraints and struggled to run over to Gabrielle, embracing her tightly.

"She's fine," said the Merpeople who seemed to be the female leader. "Mr. Potter instructed us to send the hostage back to shore if the last warrior didn't appear, and we did."

Upon hearing the female leader's words, Phoebe immediately perked up.

She ran to Harry and cupped his face in her hands.

"You saved her," she said, almost breathless with emotion, "Even though she wasn't your hostage."

After she finished speaking, she lowered her head and kissed Harry twice on each cheek.

Suddenly, the once bright and sunny sky turned into a dense cloud cover in an instant.

A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, and Harry quickly broke free from Phoebe's embrace.

"It's what I should do." He wiped his cheek haphazardly with his sleeve, desperately trying to survive, and continued jumping backward.

When he turned around, he saw Veratia smiling, Cassandra with a blank expression, and Pabbie, whose chest was heaving with anger.

broken.

Harry thought to himself, "Phoebe is probably in for a rough time."

He had to persuade Veratia properly, otherwise it would be difficult to deal with the international diplomatic incident. Veratia herself was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Magic of Austria, no, Greater German Ministry of Magic. She couldn't be stained with blood and make people think she was a bloodthirsty and murderous Grindelwald.

The referees returned to their seats in the High Table, and Harry noticed that Mr. Bagman was giving him a thumbs-up from a distance.

Of course, Mr. Crouch had already returned to his seat in the High Table, looking somewhat absent-minded and with a rather complicated expression.

"When did he get back?" Harry asked curiously.

"Who?" Ron asked.

"Mr. Crouch," Harry said, "Wasn't it said that Mr. Crouch was missing? How come he's suddenly back?"

Found it?

"I think so?" Ron shrugged. "He just sat in that seat. You mean he's missing?"

Percy didn't tell us about this.

Harry thought to himself that Percy had probably already been recruited by someone else, so of course he wouldn't care about Crouch's disappearance.

Veratia had already told him about Percy; the guy wasn't loyal to Mr. Crouch, he just wanted to be the Head of Department's secretary and didn't care who the Head of Department was.

At this moment, Ludo Bagman stood up and cast an Amplifying Charm on himself.

"Lady and gentlemen, we have finally made a decision. The Merpeople leader Cleo has told us everything that happened at the bottom of the lake. We have decided to score each of you warriors out of a possible 50 points as follows: " Phoebe de Delacour, despite demonstrating excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by Grindylow when approaching the target and failed to successfully rescue the hostage - we give her 25 points."

A round of applause erupted from the stands.

"I should have gotten zero," Phoebe said in a hoarse voice, shaking her beautiful head.

"Viktor Krum used Transfiguration, though incomplete, it was still effective. He was the second to return with the hostages—we give him 40 points."

Karkaroff clapped his hands with extra enthusiasm, looking quite smug.

"Mr. Harry Potter," Mr. Bagman said again, "Was the first to return to land, though escorted by Merpeople. But after some clarification, we learned what happened in the water— Mr. Potter gained the friendship of the Merpeople, and he made sure all the hostages returned safely, not just his own."

"Oh dear," Ron muttered. "I think that bastard Karkaroff is going to find a reason to deduct points from your score."

"Most judges," Bagman said, glancing at Karkaroff with obvious displeasure, "Felt this was Splinching of high moral character. However— Mr. Potter's score was 45."

"You guessed right," Hermione said, clapping her hands. "Those five points were definitely deducted by Karkaroff, that bitch!"

"You swore!" Ron looked at Hermione in surprise. "You actually swore, that's not good—"

"Oh, come on Ronald." Hermione rolled her eyes.

Everyone applauded Harry enthusiastically. The Hogwarts students certainly believed that Harry had won the Merpeople's friendship, but at the same time, they didn't believe that Harry had won the Merpeople's friendship through peaceful means.

"You've got guts, Harry!" Ron yelled at the top of his lungs amidst the commotion.

"The third and final event will take place on the evening of June 24th," Bagman continued. "The Warriors will know the details of the event a month in advance—thank you all for your support of the Warriors."

After the Second Task was completed, the most wonderful thing was that everyone was eager to know what exactly happened at the bottom of the lake.

This means that for the first time in his life, Ron has become the center of attention, just like Harry.

Harry noticed that Ron told the story over and over again, each time with slight variations.

At first, what he said was fairly true, and largely the same as Hermione's account—in Professor McGonagall's office, Dumbledore used magic to hypnotize the hostages and first assured them that they were in no danger and would wake up as soon as they came out of the water.

However, a week later, Ron told a thrilling kidnapping story, how he fought fifty fully armed Merpeople with his bare hands, who wanted to force him to submit before binding him.

"He thinks he's Bruce Lee," Justin Finch-Fletchley whispered to the students next to him.

"Who is Bruce Lee?" a student with a wizarding background asked curiously.

"Bruce Lee," Justin shook his head and sighed, "He's a very capable man. He can fight a hundred fishmen with his bare hands—very impressive."

"That's really impressive," the students said in unison.

Since Ron became famous, he has become very popular.

Hermione always looked at him helplessly, but she didn't expose Ron's lie.

Giving your child face in public is also a part of life.

Harry was also very busy, trying to persuade Veratia not to kill that audacious Phoebe.

"Oh, really?" Veratia asked Harry with a smile in the office. "Looks like you're still pretty good to her, aren't you? See?"

"They're starting to defend her now, well—I don't mind, if you really like her, you can tell me, Harry."

"How could I!" Harry retorted quickly. "Look at her! She doesn't have our friendship of so many years, she's not as good to me as you are, and she's not as pretty as you—I'll always love you, Veratia!"

"Is that so?" A hint of satisfaction flashed in Veratia's eyes. "Although you say that—" "Of course, I didn't say that just to spare her life." Harry said with a strong survival instinct, "You see,"

"I'm doing this for your reputation—think about it, Veratia, if people mistakenly think you're a bloodthirsty, indiscriminate Grindelwald like Gellert, will they still support you?"

"How do you know I'm not that kind of Grindelwald?" Veratia asked with a slight smile.

"How could that be!" Harry retorted righteously, "In my heart, you've always been that gentle, bright, kind, and lovely Veratia!"

Cassandra was standing at the door, suddenly gagged.

Gentle? Bright? Kind? Cute?

Which of these four words is related to Grindelwald?

Forget it, men in love are truly unreasonable.

Veratia nodded, acknowledging Harry's assessment of her.

"I have no intention of doing anything to Miss Delacour, Harry," Veratia said, looking at him with a half-smile. "And you don't need to be in such a hurry to protect my reputation—or perhaps hers."

Harry thought to himself, "I don't believe you! You're a wicked old lady!"

But Harry still smiled and said, "I think so too, Veratia -yi."

Veratia didn't respond to Harry's words, but instead said to him, "We've taken care of Crouch's matter. Now it's time to plan how to get the Godfather into the Ministry of Magic and replace Crouch— "

"How did you find Mr. Crouch?" Harry asked curiously.

"In his house," Veratia said with a laugh. "He was hit by the Imperius Curse —isn't that ridiculous? The Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation at the British Ministry of Magic, a high-ranking official, was attacked in his home and had the Imperius Curse cast on him. What's even more ridiculous is that he wasn't the only one attacked; a senior Auror was also hit by the Imperius Curse— "

"Was it the Death Eater?" Harry asked warily. "Do they want to take control of the Ministry of Magic through Mr. Crouch?"

"Yes and no," Veratia said with a slight smile. "You're only partly right. They didn't control Mr. Crouch to control the Ministry of Magic. Guess why?"

"I can't guess," Harry said, spreading his hands in a very nonchalant manner.

"This was found out by the Godfather." Veratia placed her hands on the table. "It all started with Crouch's son, Barty Crouch Jr. Crouch Jr.—a loyal follower of Voldemort and the first person to escape from Azkaban Prison in recent history."

"The first escapee?" Harry exclaimed in surprise. "Wasn't the first escapee the Godfather? Why is it Barty Crouch Barty Crouch Jr..? Wait—could it be Barty Crouch Old Barty.'s doing?"

"Bingo!" Veratia gave a thumbs up. "You guessed it, I've seen Crouch's memories—around 1982."

Mrs. Crouch's health deteriorated rapidly due to her son's imprisonment, and Barty Crouch Jr. Crouch.'s health also worsened due to severe depression caused by prison.

"Because Old Barty. held a high position in the Ministry of Magic, Mrs. Crouch asked him to visit her children. She persuaded her husband to take Polyjuice Potion herself and take her son's place, smuggling him out of Azkaban —she died soon after and was buried outside the castle as Barty Crouch Jr. Crouch Jr."

"What a great mother's love—," Harry sighed.

Veratia continued, "Old Barty tried to control his son and protect his son's secret from the public."

And to prevent him from finding Voldemort —finally, old Crouch had no choice but to cast the Imperius Curse on him, forcing him to remain hidden inside the Invisibility Cloak.

Harry suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

"Wait a minute!" he said, standing up. "Could it be that Barty Crouch Barty Crouch Jr.. later broke free of the Imperius Curse and took control of Old Barty. instead?"