Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 298 New Clues from the Principal

"...What? Grindelwald won't let me see him??"

In the president's office at Nobiridge University, Kru Impree, controlled by Avada, stared at Miranda Goshak with an incredulous expression.

After learning of Ludo Bagman's murder and confirming that it was not a hidden event in the Triwizard Tournament, Avada, who remained at Nobiridge University, immediately informed Professor Baker, who knew his true identity, so that the news could be integrated into the university's intelligence network. He had originally intended to inform Mr. Shafik as well, but for some reason, Mr. Shafik had not been seen at the university recently.

As for this matter, he hadn't originally planned to ask Grindelwald about it immediately. After all, Grindelwald had already revealed the entire outcome of the incident to him, and the news he brought to Nobiridge University would inevitably reach Grindelwald, who was the vice-chancellor. If there was really some great danger hidden in this, Grindelwald certainly wouldn't stand idly by—that was what he originally thought.

Just now, Principal Miranda Goshak suddenly called him into the principal's office and told him that his biggest trump card had completely gone offline, the kind that you can't even call back...

"To be precise, he told everyone not to go looking for him."

Goshak nodded affirmatively: "You were just emphasized."

"...And what is the specific reason?"

He said he needed to deal with some very personal matters during this period.

"He didn't tell you exactly what he was doing?"

"no."

"...If I remember correctly, you were the principal of this school, weren't you?"

"Of course, so the professors usually give me their opinion on educational matters."

Goshak smiled faintly and nodded: "But you should have known from the beginning that the reason we've gathered together isn't just to start a university... I am the principal, that's true, but that's all I am."

"My purpose in coming to this university is simply to make education more accessible to more people and to give them more choices for their future. Of course, it would be even better if I could promote my book along the way—but as for those other grander things, I'm not cut out for them."

"……All right."

After a brief silence, Avada continued, "Did he say when he would finish?"

"No, not at all."

Goshak shook his head and said, "However, if it's just ordinary intelligence processing, you don't necessarily need to go to Grindelwald. The university's own intelligence system is already quite comprehensive... I remember, you've been involved in the Charudo Bagman matter recently, haven't you?"

"Yes."

"I do know something related to this that might be helpful to you."

She paused, then slightly raised her head, slowly recalling, "As far as I remember, Ludo Bagman was once accused of conspiring with Death Eaters, and almost ended up in Azkaban for it. But that charge was eventually dropped, which qualified him to later become an official in the Ministry of Magic..."

"Ludo Bagman is also connected to Death Eaters?"

Avada was startled—he had indeed never heard of this.

"And there's something even more interesting,"

Goshak nodded: "If I remember correctly, the person who presided over his trial and once tried to send him to Azkaban... was another referee who was on par with him in this tournament, Batty Crouch."

Avada remained silent for a long time.

"...Thank you, Principal."

Finally, with a solemn expression, he expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Goshak, and then asked, "Where can I find a complete record of the whole incident?"

"This matter itself is not a secret; many people know that Bagman has this past experience."

Goshak replied, "But if you want to know more details, you'd probably have to find the people who were involved back then, like the jury members, or even just go through the relevant files... The university's intelligence capabilities should be able to do that, it just will take some time."

"……I see."

Avada nodded emphatically: "Thank you so much for telling me this, Headmaster."

"Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch..."

"No, this clue contains too little information; using it now could be misleading... I need to figure out the whole story from back then before making a judgment—maybe this matter has nothing to do with the current situation at all?"

……

Durmstrang, the underground level, Avada's temporary residence.

"Krum is right, we're in this together now."

Seeing that Furong looked somewhat hesitant, Avada quickly chimed in to help, "Don't forget, the contract for the Triwizard Tournament still binds us, but the right to hold the tournament is still in the hands of Karkarov and his group. We don't even have a chance to withdraw and protect ourselves."

"This kind of power struggle between big shots is like gods fighting while mortals suffer, and we're practically at the center of it all. Some people want to use us, and others probably want to harm us directly, but the people we could rely on are either powerless or haven't realized the crisis yet... If this continues, the danger that will come sooner or later will crush us one by one."

"The only thing we can do now is to unite and turn the tide. We were chosen by the Goblet of Fire; as outstanding students, if we work together, we can definitely form a force that cannot be ignored and is powerful enough to influence the situation!"

"That's right, the situation has now gone far beyond the scope of the competition, and we are no longer competitors in this matter."

Krum clenched his fist tightly: "We need your strength."

"……All right."

After a period of silence, Hibiscus finally raised her head again, tossing her long silver hair: "Do we need a contract?"

"After all, the three of us are all nominally suspects... To work together effectively, we need to trust each other first, right?"

"That's right."

"But the problem is... what do we have to use to make a contract? We don't even have a wand right now!" Krum said gruffly.

"..."

"I think I can do it."

Just as the two fell into an awkward silence, Avada stepped forward with a relaxed expression: "I've specifically studied staffless spellcasting for a while. If it's just a simple contract, I can create it by hand..."

"real?"

The two men immediately turned to look at him, gaining a deeper understanding of the true worth of this youngest warrior.

"Of course, and this way of establishing a contract is simpler, and you can check the effects yourselves... For example, we can make the hair of someone who violates the contract change color? That's the most basic curse effect, like this..."

Avada immediately began making it on the spot—he pulled a blank parchment from his bag, then made complex gestures and muttered incantations… As he moved, lines of clear writing gradually appeared out of thin air, faintly shimmering with a special luster.

"I guarantee that I have no causal relationship with Ludo Bagman's death; I shall not attack or harm any other contractor, directly or indirectly, outside of the Triwizard Tournament; I shall not disclose this contract to any other life form other than my contractor in any way..."

Seeing the detailed terms and the clearly defined casting process of Avada Kedavra, which anyone with even a little knowledge of contract magic could understand, Fleur and Krum secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After the contract was finally completed, they reached out and used their fingers instead of wands to inscribe their magical marks.

"So now... we're teammates."

The three of them looked at each other and nodded vigorously at the same time.

(End of this chapter)