Chapter 205: Krum's Confusion

"Wait a moment," Luo En shouted in the crowd of reporters. "I am Harry's friend, I have something to give him."

Harry took the small booklet Luo En handed over. He noticed that some plans for dealing with interviews were written on it and immediately gave Luo En a big smile. "Big help, good brother."

"Harry, congratulations on perfectly completing the competition task. I would like to ask, how did you feel when facing the dragons?" Rita said with a full smile.

"No feeling; when I knew the challenge of the first task was only dragons, to be honest, I felt bored," Harry began to talk big with full confidence.

Luo En wrote in the booklet that if Rita liked exaggeration, then one must be more exaggerated than her so that she would know to restrain herself; moreover, even if readers saw these remarks intact, they would only think this was the result of Rita's embellishment.

Clearly, even for a female reporter accustomed to writing shocking articles, hearing these words directly from Harry's mouth, she couldn't help but pause for several seconds.

"Alright," she slowed down. "I noticed Deng Buliduo gave you a score of six points; do you think this is fair and reasonable?"

"Very reasonable; Deng Buliduo always has to consider problems from a more comprehensive perspective; he wouldn't hope for children to fall into danger because of imitating me, so naturally he has to suppress this score, and it is also to avoid me being proud," Harry recited the prepared reply calmly.

"Some audience members reacted that your way of dealing with dragons was too bloody and cruel; do you think this is true?" Rita asked a slightly sharp question.

"If you want to say Renata is cruel, perhaps it is a very controversial topic, but if someone thinks I am cruel, then I can give him a suggestion," Harry read the cold joke Luo En wrote. "You can buy a plane ticket to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, find that national forest park; there is a mountain inside, and there is a Christ statue on the mountain. You shout at him to move over and change to you standing there."

"If you ask me, you are making judgments without understanding Great Britain," Cedric, who was busy dealing with a local blonde reporter, said. She seemed to have been intentionally or unintentionally steering the topic toward homosexual love. "Why do you insist on reporting this?"

"I never felt that we would lose, just the difference between small wins, medium wins, and big wins," when Harry, who finished the interview, handed the small booklet to Cedric, he also began to speak without restraint. "I came to Beauxbatons for a trip, and I only feel that Hogwarts is better; you say what educational atmosphere, I say it's just not hard enough."

"You ask who performed the best; you must want to hear me say Fleur, then I will just follow you and say that; I won't refute you either," Cedric shook his head and said. "Report whatever you want; I will only want to laugh when I see it."

Before he could chant the more excessive content behind the booklet, Madame Maxime ended the interview and invited the champions to stand together to wave goodbye to the audience, and announced that the first task had come to a perfect end.

On the way back, Harry said happily: "This small booklet of yours is truly too genius; it bluffed Rita immediately."

"It's also very useful for dealing with French reporters," Cedric praised. "That overflowing confidence, I couldn't think of such sentences."

"Actually, it was Hermione's suggestion; she said I had best also prepare a speech manual for dealing with interviews," Luo En scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly, but then he excitedly sold a hook. "Do you guess how I wrote it?"

Harry understood now; no wonder Elena and Fleur were so generous and decent when facing interviews; it seemed Hermione provided behind-the-scenes support. However, he was also very curious; although Luo En was usually a person with a sense of humor, how did he think of so many flamboyant sentences?

"I read a large number of reports written by Rita Skeeter; these were all learned from her," Luo En said triumphantly. "I estimate she herself didn't expect that she would be defeated by her own moves."

Amidst laughter and joy, Harry returned to the train. At this time, all the students of Hogwarts were at the dining car, happily preparing to celebrate their victory.

"Although it's a copper egg, it's also shiny," a girl said.

"Open it quickly and see what's inside," another person booed.

"Alright, alright," Cedric said. "We'll open the dragon egg; if there are any hints, we can also ask everyone to help take a look."

"Of course." Harry picked up the dragon egg and observed it for a while. He noticed a circle of grooves on the top of the crack, so Harry dug his fingernails in and pried the egg open very easily.

It was empty inside, nothing—but the moment Harry opened it, a terrifying, sharp, and ear-piercing screech filled the entire room.

Harry endured the discomfort in his ears and slammed the dragon egg shut.

"Too outrageous; she said the clues would be a bit vague, but didn't expect this to directly become a puzzle," Luo En said with dissatisfaction.

"In fact, Madame Maxime also told us a little information," Cedric said. "It was a person's name, Melody Pender, but I am still confused."

"Could it be some character in French history?" Harry said. "Just like Nicolas Flamel."

Zhang Qiu burst into laughter and said: "If it were a historical figure, I would guess Kennedy."

"Let's worry about this another day; now it's carnival time!" a boy said, and the crowd became noisy again.

They played very late. After having a big meal in the dining car, someone suggested going outside to hold a bonfire party. The students lit a huge bonfire, laughing and playing around it, noisily, forming a sharp contrast with the cabin of the Durmstrang ship that was emitting a faint green light.

Harry slept until noon the next day. He told himself he had best cheer up, go flip through books, check information, and figure out who Melody Pender was. However, he also felt the word Melody sounded familiar, suspecting whether he had heard it somewhere.

"Harry?" Luo En propped up his body from the bed. "Do you still remember how we found Nicolas Flamel? I think we can go and ask the history teacher here."

"History teacher," Harry muttered. "I don't think so; he might not necessarily help us. Now Fleur has obtained complete and clear clues; this is their advantage. People from Beauxbatons won't help."

"That's right, Fleur obtained complete clues," Luo En clapped his hands. "We can go and ask Hermione."

"Will she say?" Harry said somewhat worriedly.

"She won't tell us everything," Luo En said, "but she will definitely give hints or useful suggestions."

"Let's do it," Harry began to put on clothes. "Where is Hermione, the library?"

When they were walking toward the library, just after passing a corner, they noticed Hermione standing in the corridor, talking to someone—that was Krum.

Harry quickly took out the Invisibility Cloak. Perhaps eavesdropping on others' conversations was very immoral, but if he didn't think about Hermione's matter and just thought of it as eavesdropping on Krum's words, then there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

"I really need to see Fleur; I need to talk to her alone," Krum said somewhat anxiously.

"No, we cannot let Fleur talk to you alone; you can tell me first what you want to say," Hermione said. "Elena also has to agree; champions in the same group should not have any concealment."

"But people always have to have some privacy," Krum said with dissatisfaction.

"Indeed, but I don't think it's possible for you and Fleur to have any privacy; if it weren't for this competition, you might not even know each other's names," Hermione crossed her arms, her words full of guard.

"Alright, then I'll tell you quietly, you don't tell others," Krum said. "I now suspect there is some conspiracy behind the Triwizard Tournament; I need to find Fleur to confirm one thing."

"What thing do you want to confirm?"

"Er, that is," Krum looked around nervously. "Are you sure you want to tell you first?"

"This is necessary; I can convey it for you," Hermione said.

"Did Fleur fix the match?" Krum asked in a low voice.

"What?" Hermione widened her eyes in surprise. "This is slander, rumor-mongering; this is impossible!"

"But, Renata seems to know something, er, but I broke up with her, and I want to investigate this matter myself," Krum faced the angry Hermione, somewhat incoherent. "I'm not saying match-fixing is bad; I just, I need to confirm it, find someone to discuss it with."

"You want to find someone who is fixing the match to discuss? Discuss what?" Hermione didn't quite understand. She frowned and said, "Regardless of what kind of ecstasy Renata poured into you, since you broke up, then don't believe a word she says, understand?"

"No, she was before we broke up; in short, she knew some things; I am very passive, and now I am also very troubled," Krum grabbed his hair painfully. "I had best talk to other champions, talk alone, but, eh, I can't figure it out; this is too complicated, a very complicated conspiracy."

"Can't you say?" Hermione saw Krum's appearance and couldn't help but reveal some sympathy. "What difficulties did you encounter? If you say it out, Fleur and Elena will be willing to help you."

"No, I have to confirm with her alone, otherwise I can't say it," Krum's eyebrows were twisted together. "I looked for Harry, but he seems not to know, so I came to Fleur to try my luck."

"It doesn't matter, you consider it carefully again, and I will also discuss it with Fleur," Hermione said gently. "If you feel there is a conspiracy here and want to clear up some things, you can write it on paper; this helps you think."

"Good, alright, thank you," Krum pressed his forehead. "I'll come to find you another day."

"Fleur is fixing the match? Doesn't look like it," Luo En asked in a low voice. "And what conspiracy are they talking about?"

"I'm not sure about the conspiracy," Harry retreated slowly with him. "But match-fixing should be true, and Renata very likely knows about Krum's match-fixing, maybe even has evidence." ===== CHAPTER 206 =====