The Draw, the Competition Begins / The Tournament Is Underway, an Unexpected Hitch ...

"Therefore, their primary, and also most sensitive, sensory organ is their eyes, especially the Hungarian Horntail, which can even clearly see an ant hundreds of meters away! So imagine... in tomorrow's bustling arena, if the Dragon were to suddenly go blind, how would they react?"

"It'll probably be even more ferocious Norberta... Wait! Those eggs?!" Hermione seemed to suddenly realize something.

"That's right, those eggs are crucial too!" Harry nodded. "I saw them yesterday; all four Dragons were incubating Dragon. The tournament organizers definitely didn't choose them randomly. And none of the wizards used Conjunctivitis Curse on the Dragon yesterday. They were actually worried that the Dragon would go into a complete frenzy if they couldn't see the eggs. So, no matter what the competition is like tomorrow, the first principle is that we absolutely cannot harm the Dragon's eyesight, and even more importantly, we cannot harm the eggs they are guarding!"

"I see... No problem~" After listening to Harry's analysis, Hermione couldn't help but smile confidently. "No matter which Dragon it is, I will make it witness its own defeat!"

Hermione?

Harry was stunned when he saw the girl in front of him, and he was even speechless.

At this moment, the academically gifted girl was dazzling, radiating confidence from head to toe, just like when she first summoned her Patronus!

The next day, the first match of the Triwizard Tournament was finally about to begin, and Hogwarts was immediately enveloped in an atmosphere of tension and excitement.

The school had already closed at noon. After quickly eating a few bites of lunch, the students were all taken to the enclosure where the Dragon was to be placed.

Professor McGonagall approached Harry and Hermione at this time, but compared to the confident Hermione, the vice-principal seemed quite anxious.

"Miss Granger, I hope you won't be nervous." Her voice trembled incessantly in the November wind. "Just stay calm throughout. We've arranged for some wizards to be there; they'll definitely be able to control the situation. And... yes, and Mr. Granger, you're the referee for this match, you won't let anything happen to her, right? Hagrid has already done as you requested, having that Hippogriff waiting at the edge of the Forbidden Forest ... In short, you'll all be fine, right?"

"Don't worry, Professor, I'll be fine," Hermione said confidently with a smile.

"Yes, not just Hermione, all the Champion participating this time will be fine," Harry assured her earnestly.

"I hope so..." She still seemed very worried, walking with her hands clasped to her chest, muttering to herself as if in a constant prayer.

She led the two around to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where a large tent had been erected in the grove of trees where the hunting grounds could be clearly seen yesterday, with the entrance facing them.

"The other Champion have arrived, Albus is inside. He will tell you what to do." At the entrance of the tent, Professor McGonagall patted Harry and Hermione on the shoulder with trembling hands.

"Good luck to you... that's all I can say for now..."

Chapter 642 Draw Results, Competition Begins

After entering the tent with Hermione, Harry found the atmosphere somewhat oppressive.

Phoebe sat alone on a low stool in the corner, looking sickly rather than as radiant as usual.

Viktor Krum looked even more somber than before, his thick eyebrows twitching incessantly, clearly indicating his extreme nervousness.

Cedric Diggory paced back and forth in the room. When Harry entered, he nodded gratefully to Harry, but clearly wasn't in the mood for conversation.

"Harry, Hermione, you've finally arrived." Dumbledore turned to Harry happily. "Let me introduce you first. This is Babajide Akinbad, an old friend of mine and also the vice president of the International Confederation of Wizards. I specially invited him to serve as a judge for this event."

"Hello," Harry greeted the other person politely.

The man before Harry, Akinbad, was an elderly wizard with a dark complexion, presumably from Africa. He was smiling kindly at Harry.

The other party must have been invited by Albus Dumbledore to help coordinate the scoring. After all, if it were just the principals of the three schools, there would inevitably be an awkward situation where everyone would favor their own school. Therefore, an external judge is necessary to balance things out.

In the past, the national Ministry of Magic of the host school in the Triwizard Tournament actually played a role in coordinating the scoring, such as the two unreliable schools in the Britain Ministry of Magic.

Even so, the judges sent by the Ministry of Magic tend to favor schools in their own country to some extent. This is an unspoken rule and also part of the home-field advantage.

For example, there's a certain underworld country that Harry knows, which is doing quite well. They make full use of their home advantage and try to highlight the 'small' characteristic in their name in every aspect of a world-class competition.

Leveraging this advantage, they not only successfully cultivated a group of blind referees with physical disabilities but also went so far as to subdivide their national sports into weight classes based on kilograms, ultimately moving themselves while simultaneously disgusting the world.

Of course, their spirit (read backwards) is still commendable, after all, they could have simply awarded their contestants electronic waste, but they still risked losing money to hold a conference.

This attitude alone deserves our... ugh!

Okay, let's get back to the main topic.

In short, the Britain Ministry of Magic today is just like that underworld country that's living a comfortable life; its reputation among wizards is absolutely terrible. If Albus Dumbledore wants to find additional judges, he can only ask for help from the International Confederation of Wizards.

"I've heard Albus you, Harry Granger," the venerable old wizard shook hands with Harry. "If he hasn't exaggerated your deeds, then this match might be relatively safe for the Champion."

"I will do my best," Harry nodded seriously. "It's my duty."

"Alright, then I'll explain the details to the Champion." Akinbad called Cedric Diggory and the others closer. "The audience is already waiting outside. Now I need you to draw your opponents from this bag."

He held up a purple cloth bag and waved it at the four students. "You need to pick out the model of the thing we'll be facing later, and your task is to find a way to steal the Golden Egg it guards."

Everyone present nodded, and the expressions of the other three, except Hermione, instantly became even more serious.

However, this is actually quite normal, since they are not like Hermione, who can spar with a real adult Dragon anytime, anywhere.

"Ladies first then," Akinbad said, handing the bag to Phoebe and Hermione.

With trembling hands, Phoebe reached into her cloth bag and pulled out a small, exquisite model—a Welsh Green. Around its neck was a number tag with the number 'two' on it, clearly indicating Phoebe's order of appearance.

Hermione, on the other hand, was very unlucky—at least in Akinbad's opinion—to draw a card with a 'four' around its neck...

"Is it Hungarian Horntail... Miss Granger, you must be extra careful later," the old wizard said with concern upon seeing the situation.

"Thank you for reminding me, I'll be fine," Hermione replied confidently, the little creature baring its teeth in her palm unable to stir any emotion within her.

She will definitely win this match.

That Hungarian Horntail might seem like the most dangerous Dragon to others, but for Hermione, it was a stroke of good luck.

Of the four Dragon used in this competition, the Hungarian Horntail is most similar to Norberta in size and attack method. Hermione has now gained a wealth of experience in dealing with this type of dragon.

On the contrary, the Cedric Diggory drew, number 'one'—the most beautiful Swedish Short-Snout —was, in Hermione's opinion, the most difficult of the four dragons to deal with.

The Swedish Short-Snout's brilliant blue flames are the most powerful of the four dragons, capable of burning bones and wood to ashes in an instant. Hermione's pre-prepared fire prevention measures may not be enough to deal with it.

Viktor Krum, who was the last to draw lots, received a Chinese Fireball model with a 'three' on it, and he didn't even blink, clearly already knowing his opponent.

"Very well, now that you all know your opponents, Dumbledore and I should head to the judges' table." Akinbad put away his bag, then looked at Harry. "Mr. Granger, as the referee, you should also take your place. The match will officially begin when the announcer calls out the contestants' numbers."

"Alright, you guys need to do your best too." Harry gave a brief instruction to the four Champion inside the room before leaving with the two old wizards.

Meanwhile, the stands outside were already buzzing with excitement, with countless young wizards shouting excitedly.

Dumbledore and Akinbad walked together to the judges' table, where Olympe Maxime and Igor Karkaroff were already there.

In a corner next to the judges' panel, Mad-Eye Moody was hidden in the shadows, his inferior, later-replaced magic eye vigilantly scanning the surroundings, its gaze landing most frequently on Igor Karkaroff.

At the highest point of the audience, Lee Jordan of Gryffindor, Hogwarts' special commentator, was enthusiastically engaging the crowd.

"All the Champion are in position in the waiting area, and the four judges are seated in their seats, and then... oh my god, it's Harry! Harry Granger has flown up into the sky!"

Just as Lee Jordan was shouting excitedly, Harry suddenly blew a loud whistle, summoning Buckbeak, who had been waiting at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and he flew straight into the air with Buckbeak.

"Our referee has appeared! Harry Granger, he's flying on his Hippogriff!" Lee Jordan shouted even more excitedly. "Then let the terrifying monster appear too, the Champion are about to face... Dragon!!"

"Roar!!"

After a roar, the Swedish Short-Snout, ranked first, appeared menacingly in the enclosure!

Chapter 643 The competition proceeded, but an unexpected twist occurred.

At this moment, Harry rode Buckbeak soaring freely in the paddock, while the Dragon below spewed out bursts of blue flames in response. This scene undoubtedly caused a surge of hormones among the students, especially the male students.

Many people in the crowd were already waving and shouting at Harry, such as Will, the Weasley Brothers, and Sirius...

Okay, this guy actually just wandered in. After all, Harry, as the godfather, loves nothing more than having fun. He missed the Triwizard Tournament during his student days, so naturally he wouldn't let the opportunity slip by now that he had it.

Unlike the excitement of the audience, Charles Weasley, one of the dragon trainers responsible for security, wore a deep look of confusion on his face.

"Ginny should have already told him, so how come he's still acting as a referee? And... why doesn't the short-nosed dragon seem to be reacting at all?"

Charles Weasley's sister, Ginny, once told him with certainty that Harry was indeed keeping dragons in secret, and had even asked Charles to help him pull some strings within the dragon trainers to see if Harry could get a legal permit to keep dragons... at least to avoid any trouble caused by keeping dragons illegally.

Charles ultimately agreed to Ginny's request.

Because Ginny was able to give a reasonable account of when and where she discovered the Dragon, and Charles himself had indeed sensed the dragon's aura on Harry.

Also, Hagrid let it slip during a conversation with him the night before last.

The hunting ground guard with the big mouth seemed to mutter something like, "The tree bee looks a lot like the Norwegian Ridgeback," and also said that none of these dragons were as good as "Norberta"...

So it seems that Harry really was keeping dragons in secret, and Charles immediately contacted his friends to help him get a permit to keep dragons at Hogwarts.

After all... Harry had helped his family a lot.

But to everyone's surprise, Harry unexpectedly became the referee today, and the Swedish Short-Snout didn't react to him at all!

There's definitely something wrong with this. Given Harry's dragon aura, the female Dragon that's currently brooding would never be in the same frame as him, and it would definitely see him and the Hippogriff beneath him as food. It would never lie on the ground like this and ignore him!

However, just as Charles was puzzled, there were actually two boys in the audience wearing Durmstrang school uniforms who looked even more confused than him.

"What... what happened in this world? Why did he become the referee, while my aunt became the second Champion of Hogwarts?"

A boy who looked very much like Harry, who had traveled through time again, stared in astonishment when he saw that his 'father' had not become Champion but instead a referee on the field.

What surprised him even more was that the students of Ravenclaw House had actually put up a banner that read "Invincible Hermione Granger"!

Are you kidding me!

Shouldn't his aunt be from Gryffindor House? Why is she Ravenclaw now?

And why did she even become Champion in the Triwizard Tournament?!

So my own mother...

Well, after searching around, the black-haired boy finally had to admit... his mother was truly invisible at this moment.

"There are definitely a lot of problems with this timeline, Albus." The blond boy who came with him also frowned in confusion. "I saw my father, but he wasn't wearing the 'Your father is stinky dung' badge, and not only him, but nobody here is wearing one. Also, the number of judges in the stands is wrong; that one from Africa obviously can't be Ludo Bagman or Barty Crouch! And most importantly... if the match doesn't start soon, we're going to run out of time!"

"I know we only have five minutes! But Scorpius, don't use my father's situation to imply anything about me!"

The black-haired boy rolled his eyes at his friend, his hand gripping the wand slightly sweaty.

This time, he and his friend traveled through time again, but there was a very important 'history' to rewrite. If the main character didn't show up soon, then...

"Alright! Now we see that contestant number one is Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts!"

Fortunately, Lee Jordan's voice saved the two anxious boys. Cedric Diggory finally appeared after much anticipation, and under the watchful eyes of the entire audience, he cautiously began to approach the terrifying Dragon on the field!

"It's a Transfiguration Charm! Warrior Diggory has demonstrated his superb Transfiguration skills, transforming a stone into a Newfoundland Hound! It looked so lifelike, the dragon was completely captivated!"

Not only was Lee Jordan's commentary filled with excitement, but even Harry in mid-air nodded repeatedly. Cedric Diggory's basic skills were extremely solid, and he also possessed courage and wisdom, making him a perfect role model for underage wizards.

However, just when everyone thought he was about to succeed, a sudden change occurred!

"Expelliarmus!"

Someone shouted from the stands, and immediately a bright beam of light shot towards Cedric Diggory's wand!

"There are actually troublemakers?"

Harry frowned immediately. Although he had countered the spell with all his might in the first place, without letting it affect Cedric Diggory at all, the commotion on their side had still disturbed the Dragon that was watching the Transfiguration hound, causing it to turn around and chase after Cedric Diggory!

"Roar!!"

Feeling its intelligence being challenged, the Swedish Short-Snout roared and then spewed a terrifying blue flame at Cedric Diggory, instantly melting the rocks behind Cedric Diggory into lava!

"This... Protego!"

Meanwhile, Cedric Diggory, who was right next to the Golden Egg, gritted his teeth and cast the Shield Charm on his back. Then, without a second thought, he hugged the Golden Egg to his chest and began to fly away from the dragon's nest at top speed!

"Oh my god, Diggory did it! But... he got burned, thankfully he's not seriously injured, but will this affect his score?"

Cedric Diggory's Shield Charm failed to completely block the dragon's fire. When he barely escaped the Dragon's attack range, his back was already burned by the raging dragon fire, but he finally managed to get the dragon egg.

"Episkey!"

While Charles Weasley and the other dragon trainers were busy subduing the short-nosed dragon, Harry cast a healing spell on Cedric Diggory and applied a burn ointment to his back.

But then, Harry glared angrily at the stands where the spell had just been cast.

He was certain that the troublemaker couldn't escape, because he had retaliated with Stunning Spell that was twice as powerful!

Even an ordinary Auror would faint on the spot if struck by a spell of this magnitude, let alone an average student.

Chapter 644 The Mysteriously Vanished Troublemakers

"Get out of the way!"