Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 404 Preparation before the game
"Look, it's the Minister of Magic."

Inside the castle, someone shouted something that instantly drew everyone's attention.

Siren glanced out the window and saw Cornelius Fudge walking briskly down the road leading to the castle.

There were two other people with him.

“That’s Percy,” Ron exclaimed in surprise, seemingly not expecting his brother to be standing next to the Minister of Magic.

“He’s probably about to jump for joy right now,” Fred said, drawing out his words as he looked down at Percy, who was struggling to keep up with Fudge. “He’s less than two inches from the Minister of Magic, and could touch his sparse hair with a simple reach.”

“This is something he’s always dreamed of,” George said with a grin.

Percy's love of power is well-known. When he went to Diagon Alley, his favorite thing to do was to look at a book called "How Prefects Gain Power" in a thrift store.

After he graduated and joined the Ministry of Magic, he began to constantly talk about his superior, Mr. Barty Crouch, with the same fervor as a house-elf at work.

“But the person he keeps talking about might change soon.” Fred cleared his throat, mimicking Percy’s expression and voice, “Oh, Minister Fudge said this report is very important, and I have to give it to him by tomorrow…”

“And it has to be mixed in with dragon dung,” George said.

"Don't talk nonsense, those are fertilizer samples sent from Romania!"

The two of them started laughing halfway through their conversation.

By this time, Fudge and his group had entered the castle. Besides him and Percy, there was also a tall, thin middle-aged wizard.

“That’s an Auror, Kingsley Shackle, Dad’s friend,” Fred said.

"Perhaps he was worried about being ambushed like Crouch, which is why he brought an Auror with him."

Everyone curiously gathered in the corridor, watching Fudge and his group go up the stairs to the eighth floor and enter the principal's office.

What they said inside is beyond the students' knowledge.

Fred and George also tried to secretly stick some small things on Fudge's clothes, but they were discovered by Auror Kingsley Shackles the next second.

Fortunately, he didn't say anything, but just glanced at Fred and George as if to remind them, and then gently moved his wand, and the little gadgets used for eavesdropping were thrown down the stairs.

“I knew it.” George looked disappointed; he was genuinely curious about what Fudge would say to the principal and the others.

"Do you think the three-way championship will be canceled because of this?" someone suddenly asked.

“Of course not,” Hermione said confidently. “When the Triwizard Tournament began, the champions had already entered into a magical pact with the Goblet of Fire, which required them to complete the tournament.”

“The punishment for violating this magical contract is severe. Even if Ludo Bagman and Karkaroff only have possible problems, the match will continue. At worst, we can just replace them with two new referees.”

Many people immediately felt relieved. Although finding a good referee was difficult, finding one was far too easy... To put it bluntly, anyone could be a referee, including these students.

Half an hour later, the last exam began. Everyone had to temporarily abandon their discussion of Ludo Bagman and rush to the exam room.

Garian and Lila stayed with Professor Sprout, while Celen, having nothing to do, whiled away the afternoon in the Room of Requirement before returning to the Great Hall for dinner.

Fred and George were still promoting the panoramic telescope when Celen walked into the Great Hall and saw that the two Slytherins had each bought one.

As darkness fell, the allure of panoramic binoculars with night vision capabilities grew stronger.

Although twenty Galleons is an exorbitant price that most students simply cannot afford, it is not unaffordable for everyone… for example, some Slytherins.

This was also the initial goal of Sheryl and the Weasley brothers. Of course, most Slytherins could see that Malfoy initially stated firmly that no matter how rich he was, he would not buy anything from the Weasley family.

But when only two panoramic telescopes remained, he finally couldn't sit still any longer.

A Slytherin freshman bought the last two panoramic telescopes and then handed them over to Malfoy, who then gave one of them to Crabbe and Goyle to divide among themselves.

Then they started fighting in the auditorium.

“They’re so rude,” Fred complained as he dodged a flying plate.

“Yeah, that’s really rude,” George said, taking two new binoculars out of his briefcase and hanging them around his neck.

Halfway through dinner, the referees for the Triwizard Tournament finally arrived in the auditorium.

Dumbledore and Fudge walked in front, followed closely by Bagman and Karkaroff, their faces grim. It seemed that the results of the afternoon's discussions had not satisfied everyone.

The absent-minded Bagman even went to the wrong seat and almost sat on Professor Flitwick.

The tall Ms. Maxim saw everything clearly from behind, her facial muscles twitching as she almost burst out laughing, but thankfully she managed to hold it in.

A little while later, when the enchanted ceiling turned dark purple, Dumbledore stood up from the teachers' table, and everyone immediately fell silent.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes I will invite you to the Quidditch pitch to watch the final game of the Triwizard Tournament. Now, warriors, please go with..." He paused slightly before continuing, "to the pitch with Mr. Ludo Bagman."

"Dumbledore..."

Fudge frowned, about to say something, when he saw Dumbledore gently shake his head.

"I understand what you mean, but it's okay."

Seeing this, Fudge stopped saying anything.

Helen stood up, and the Gryffindor students applauded him.

"Go Xilun, good luck!"

"You'll definitely be fine."

"We will prepare a celebratory banquet in advance."

……

At that moment, the atmosphere in the auditorium reached its peak. Things like referee cheating and collusion seemed to become less important. Everyone was genuinely cheering for the warriors.

Siren, Fleur, and Krum walked out of the auditorium together.

The cold night wind calmed their excited minds considerably.

Once outside, Ludo Bagman tried to explain several times, but Fleur ignored him and just kept walking without looking back.

He wanted to find Xilun again.

"How are you feeling? Are you nervous?" Furong, who was walking in front, suddenly turned around and asked, interrupting him at the same time.

……

(End of this chapter)