Chapter 192

"Stop pretending, champions of Hogwarts," Renata said coldly. "We arrived even earlier than you."

Harry awkwardly removed the Invisibility Cloak, noticing Cedric's hands fidgeting uselessly and Ron's ears bright red.

Only Zhang Qiu spoke indifferently: "Fine. Now none of us can mock the others."

Hermione said in surprise: "You were already here? Hiding invisibly this whole time? To be honest, that's rather…"

She swallowed the rest of her sentence with a complex expression.

"I'm sorry, Miss Granger, we didn't mean to," Krum said nervously. "We only intended to avoid that dog."

"Oh yes, its name is Kainan. Isn't it adorable?" Fleur smiled lightly.

"We're not here to talk about dogs," Renata said icy cold.

"But dogs are so cute," Alina immediately retorted. "Don't you know how delicious dog meat is? No, you don't—you only care about yourself."

"Hey, hey, let's get back to the competition," Hermione struggled to defuse the tension. "Now everyone knows the first task involves dragons, right? Have you considered strategies? Of course, you don't need to reveal them—but you could say which position you'd prefer to go in."

"My strategy is to get fat enough that when the dragon eats me, I'll choke it to death," Alina said. "To avoid them stopping the competition, I think it's best if I go last."

"Are you serious?" Fleur stared at her teammate in astonishment.

"I think she's serious," Renata said. "Dragons don't have molars, so they never chew their food."

"So you agree we should go last?" Alina challenged her with a smirk.

"No. One death won't stop the competition," Renata said expressionlessly. "Let us go last—then if the dragon hasn't digested you yet, we can still rescue you."

"They're completely lying through their teeth," Ron pretended to whisper to Harry, but his voice carried clearly to everyone present.

"I don't think so—he's just joking," Harry replied in the same volume, lips pressed tight.

"How about this," Zhang Qiu suddenly stepped forward. "If all of you intend to go last, let us go first, then you can decide among yourselves who goes after."

"But I think Alina should go first," Fleur suddenly regained her composure. "That way, after she's eaten, she'll have two chances at rescue."

"If none of you want to go second, we could consider going second," Cedric paused. "But then we'd need compensation."

"Excellent suggestion, Cedric," Harry's eyes lit up. "And whoever offers the better compensation, we'll support in the ranking contest."

"I can teach you a spell," Fleur said without hesitation.

"I'll give you a Firebolt," Krum immediately followed.

"I'll give you two—no, seven—enough to arm a whole team," Alina jumped in at once.

"I'll spend a night with you," Renata said, leaving everyone in stunned silence.

"Hey, hey, there's absolutely no need for this," Hermione once again stepped forward under pressure. "Why don't we all go back and think it over? We can discuss this again tomorrow."

All the champions left simultaneously. Though the evening had been framed as a peaceful discussion, it ended with a distinctly sour tone.

"Seven Firebolts—my god, how could I even imagine that?" Ron blurted the moment they returned to the carriage.

"I think she never intended to deliver," Cedric said calmly. "And Renata saying that means she has no intention of giving anything at all."

"Actually, we can't let them dictate our choices," Zhang Qiu said. "We need to decide clearly: which position do we truly want?"

"One thing is certain: the organizers prepared many dragons—about ten," Harry said. "And I have ample means and confidence—I fear not even ten dragons at once."

Cedric looked at him in disbelief.

"I think the task involves more than just fighting dragons," Ron said. "So while Harry holds off the dragons, Cedric, you can handle the other tasks."

"Agreed," Cedric nodded with a complex expression, then continued. "It's easy to deduce that other pairs will also use the same strategy—one to distract the dragons, one to complete the task."

"So the key to scoring has two points," Harry said. "First, I need to hold off more dragons and appear even more effortless. Second, you need to complete your task faster and better."

"Therefore, the advantage of going later is that the task performer can observe how others completed their tasks and optimize their own approach," Zhang Qiu summarized. "But the disadvantage is that if the dragons are too injured or too weak, the distraction becomes meaningless."

"So whether we go first or last depends on who has more confidence in outperforming the other champions," Ron said.

The four in the carriage fell silent. Harry knew more—but he considered more too.

He had the Seven Sins, which could easily suppress those dragons—no doubt. But since Alina mentioned "choking the dragon," it meant she intended to kill them. And Renata's remark about "rescuing Alina before full digestion" implied she could gut a dragon herself. So if we go later, and the first two have badly wounded all ten dragons, my dominance won't be visible—I'll have undermined myself.

Moreover, their confidence implies the task performers will be Fleur and Krum, who will surely engineer some "accidents." Even if Cedric completes his task perfectly, the judges will assume he merely copied the earlier pairs' lessons—and may not award him a high enough score.

Harry recalled another matter: Fleur and Krum were planning to fix the match. That itself could hint at the other pairs' strategies.

Fleur had rejected the idea of going first during the initial discussion. And since these two must know "the Ministry wants Harry to shine," they'd easily guess "Harry has a calm, effortless way to handle dragons." So what did Fleur's remark imply? Perhaps that Alina lacks the power to seriously wound many dragons.

Alina wouldn't lie to Fleur. So if Fleur believes Harry can go later, it means Alina cannot wound more than five dragons. Yifamoni thinks Alina can match Renata—so Renata cannot either. But if both can wound four dragons, that's bad for Harry.

And after hearing Harry's words, Krum might choose to go after Harry, still using his broom. As a famous Seeker, Krum could easily convince Renata to accept this plan. Thus, Harry's best option seems to be going second.

But this assumes Fleur and Krum actually thought this through. If they're merely opportunists, slacking off with half-hearted cheating, then this conclusion cannot be trusted.

Thinking this through, Harry carefully organized his words and spoke: "Let's first speculate on how the other pairs are dividing roles."

"Very likely, Alina and Renata handle the dragons, while Fleur and Krum handle the tasks," Zhang Qiu said. "When dragons are mentioned, the former appear relaxed, while the latter show clear tension."

"You observe very carefully," Cedric praised.

"Krum's greatest strength is broom flying—we must go before them," Ron said. "As for Fleur and Alina's intentions, that's still uncertain."

"But from Alina's joke, she may have real confidence against dragons. If she wounds more than half, Harry's advantage disappears," Cedric realized.

"Hey! We have another advantage," Ron suddenly snapped his fingers. "We can ask Hermione—she's on our side!"

"I don't think that's fair to Hermione," Cedric frowned.

"Actually, you've overlooked Hermione's opening line: 'Now everyone knows the first task is dragons.'" Zhang Qiu said. "We thought it was obvious—but what if we didn't know? The situation was: Renata asked Fleur, and Fleur told her. But she wasn't sure whether Harry and Cedric knew. Yet she stated it outright."

"Exactly—that proves she's on our side," Ron said happily.

"But before that, Renata already said 'Now everyone knows.' Maybe she deduced it herself?" Harry said uncertainly.

"Then the situation may be more complicated than we thought," Zhang Qiu mused. "Renata learned about the dragons from Fleur, but she didn't know if Fleur lied. By saying that, she tested both the truth of the dragon information and Hermione's loyalty."

"I remind you—Renata and Krum may have overheard our conversation long ago," Cedric said.

"In any case, Renata is a deeply calculating opponent we must guard against," Harry rubbed his chin. "Our position must be before Krum's. As for Fleur and Alina's intentions—and how to secure the order we want—we'll need to talk to Hermione again tomorrow."