Chapter 238

"What's wrong with him?" Harry asked subconsciously.

"He is sick; he told us it was illness from overwork, but this must not be true; he never gets sick," Krum said. "Some classmates said they heard the headmaster talking to himself; he is afraid of something..."

"This is easy to understand," Harry touched his chin. "He must be afraid of the Dark Lord; as soon as he gets a little news about the Dark Lord, he starts scaring himself."

"But he should—" Krum paused. "That's right, no one is not afraid of the Dark Lord."

"You don't need to worry too much for him, and you don't need to be too afraid of the Dark Lord," Harry said. "We have Deng Buliduo."

"But can Deng Buliduo again... alright, I think we can believe him one more time," Krum scratched his head. "But if the Dark Lord comes out, he must have become strong again, stronger than ever; can Deng Buliduo still be that strong?"

"Your English level is also quite strong," Harry sighed. "But I probably understand what you mean. Actually, this doesn't matter. When you didn't know, two years ago, the Dark Lord had already secretly made a comeback. But he was afraid of Deng Buliduo, so he had been dormant. Recently, it was because we were preparing to fish him out that we designed this plan."

"Ah? Ah!" Krum revealed an expression of half-understanding. "So those abnormal disturbances are all within Deng Buliduo's plan? Is he preparing to completely eliminate the Dark Lord?"

"You can probably understand it this way, but don't tell others," Harry shrugged. "I believe your headmaster will at most be scared for a while, and it will be fine after this matter passes."

"Next, I want to talk to you about..." Before Harry finished, he was suddenly pulled aside by Krum. He also made a gesture of silence, and then Krum said: "Invisibility."

Krum didn't know Harry had an Invisibility Cloak, but he saw Harry invisible to avoid Renata's spell in the second task, so he said this while casting a very rough Disillusionment Charm on himself.

In Harry's view, his Disillusionment Charm still left a silhouette with a blurred halo, which was about the same as not being invisible. So at this time, he couldn't care so much, unfolded the Invisibility Cloak to cover Krum's half-body, and then said to him: "Squat down!"

They hid behind a tree. Harry didn't know why Krum suddenly wanted him to hide, but soon Harry noticed that it wasn't just the two of them who used this place as a secret meeting point.

Karkaroff walked over wearing his fur cloak. He reached out, took an owl that flew from the sky, and then couldn't wait to open the letter.

"Ah, replied," he muttered, then threw the letter paper on the ground angrily. "Actually can't!"

"He said it so easily, this bastard," Karkaroff couldn't help but curse loudly. "Severus must be working for Deng Buliduo; absolutely, he made so much money selling potions, yet he couldn't even find an empty house; how is that possible!"

"Perhaps he just simply doesn't want to help you," another figure walked out; it was the headmaster of Koldovstoretz, Vaskov.

"Fedot, you have to help me; only you can help me now," Karkaroff turned around anxiously. "Nowhere is safe; I don't want to be caught by the Dark Lord."

"Seriously, Mr. Karkaroff," Vaskov's expression was very unfathomable. "We can provide you with help, but what can you pay?"

"I..." Karkaroff was speechless for a moment, but he immediately thought of one point. "Do you lack Dark Magic talent? I am an expert in this area."

Vaskov didn't speak. Karkaroff said again: "I also know potions very well, pedagogy is also quite good, or simply, let me find a place to teach German or English."

"You should know, Mr. Karkaroff," Vaskov said coldly. "Your most important identity is the headmaster of Durmstrang; leaving this layer of relationship, we will not risk offending the Dark Lord to accept you."

"Alright, is this your true face?" Karkaroff spat. "No different from the Dark Lord; use those who are useful, and kick away those who are useless."

"I need to correct you; we didn't use you, and we didn't intend to really kick you away," Vaskov said. "Our cooperation in the competition is mutual; it's not a question of who uses whom."

"But now I am very dangerous, yet you are unwilling to provide me with help," Karkaroff's face was very bad. "Isn't this kicking away?"

"Can't you be a little more flexible when considering problems?" Vaskov said helplessly. "We can't provide you with official asylum, but if you change your name and live in another place, then I am personally willing to provide a little help."

"No, nowhere is safe now; Britain is definitely not returnable, but the European continent has also begun to have undercurrents," Karkaroff kicked the fallen leaves with the tip of his leather shoes impatiently. "Is it safe there? Is the Great Purge still going on?"

"If you are worried about this, I can help you live in Muggle society," Vaskov sighed. "However, if you don't want to learn Russian, it's better to go directly to America."

"Yes, you actually provided me with a good idea, but all my foundations are here," Karkaroff hesitated. "Russian is also a big problem..."

"I'm just providing an idea; it's hard to give any substantial help," Vaskov said coldly. "You can freely decide your own destiny; I won't interfere."

He bit the word 'freely' very hard, then walked away without looking back.

"I have to think again; this is a good retreat, but it can only be used as the last plan," he said to himself in a very light voice. Harry had to cast a spell on his ears—this was a spell mentioned by Rita in an autobiography, specifically used to eavesdrop on others' conversations from afar.

"Dark Lord... no grievances... but Rabastan's statement is very tempting, if... Deng Buliduo, or even if only... the only problem is that Dark Lord... who knows what Deng Buliduo will think?"

Harry felt that this spell didn't seem very useful; the words and phrases he heard couldn't piece together the original words at all. Perhaps it was this spell that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't that cultivated Rita Skeeter's powerful ability to fabricate.

Karkaroff shook his head, then looked around vigilantly, took out his wand to burn the letter at his feet, and walked towards the big ship again.

"Did you hear that?" Krum said in surprise. "He intends to run away; he is too afraid of the Dark Lord."

"Understandable, but it's bad news for us; oh, it might not be completely bad news," Harry said. "I originally wanted to tell you that I hope you can form a student school protection club at Durmstrang. Now it's just right; the more turbulent the era, the easier it is for heroes to appear."

"Me? Hero?" Krum shook his head. "Forget it; I'm just a silly Bulgarian boy riding a broom."

"Don't say that, Krum," Harry encouraged him. "You have an upright heart, which is precious. In case Deng Buliduo fails and the Dark Lord runs rampant, we still need to unite to resist him, don't we?"

"So this is what you are doing," Krum widened his eyes. "You are worried that Deng Buliduo will fail, so you want to contact everyone who dares to resist the Dark Lord in advance?"

"Pretty much, yes," Harry said. "Try to show yourself in the Triwizard Tournament; only then can you better give everyone confidence and make people recognize me."

"But what does the Dark Lord have to do with you?" Krum said puzzledly. "Did you write to Mr. Scamander?"

"Who is that?" Harry was a bit surprised; it seemed Krum was the only person he met in the Wizarding World who didn't know he defeated Voldemort.

"Newt Scamander; he made a great contribution when resisting the Dark Lord last time," Krum said seriously. "Deng Buliduo should contact him; if Deng Buliduo forgot, you have to remind him."

Harry nodded; he had some impression of this name, perhaps a member of the Order of the Phoenix. But now he had no heart to recall carefully, just continued to say to Krum: "You are very right; I'd better go and tell Deng Buliduo, especially Karkaroff's unusual movements."

"You go quickly; I will organize a club at Durmstrang according to your suggestion," Krum said with a smile. "The power of justice must unite; however, even if the Dark Lord is defeated, I am very happy to write to you."

When Harry was packing the Invisibility Cloak, Krum continued, "Harry, you are a smart and brave person; you dare to face that conspiracy; I admire you very much. I will try my best in the third task; please believe me."

Harry didn't speak; he couldn't figure out whether this sentence meant "I will exert all my strength in the task" or "I will exert all my acting skills in the fixed match".

"I think the best harvest of this Triwizard Tournament is meeting you, Harry; I hope we can keep in touch in the future," Krum said this, seriously stretched out two hands to pat Harry's shoulder, then waved his hand and left.

Harry let out a long sigh of relief. He knew there were still two full months until the third task, but he decided to find Deng Buliduo right now. If Newt Scamander—he remembered now that this was a magizoologist—if this person could help the plan, he hoped Deng Buliduo could contact him as soon as possible.

And, Krum once mentioned that Voldemort might have arranged some conspiracy against the Deathly Hallows. Now Deng Buliduo possessed the Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone; Harry thought this matter should also arouse vigilance.