Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 299 Cooperation and Deduction

"Then, let's sort out the clues we have so far."

Krum counted on his fingers, one by one, while Fleur pulled out paper and pen: "First of all, Bagman's death happened shortly after meeting Ken. His office door was still open, and there were many students leaving get out of class in the hallway, but no one saw how he died..."

"Indeed, there doesn't seem to be any explanation for this, including the investigation team's so-called fairy attack—not to mention that Durmstrang's anti-apparition barrier is specifically designed for fairies, even if they did possess other spatial magic, such spatial teleportation would generally create a significant disturbance, so there's no reason it wouldn't be detected..."

"Moreover, Bagman didn't even realize he was being attacked before he died."

Avada carefully recalled what he had observed: "If it were invisible, that would be fine; the Disillusionment Charm and the Invisibility Cloak can do that. But the sounds of teleportation or attacks, as well as the trajectory of spells, shouldn't be easily overlooked. And don't forget, Bagman is an excellent Quidditch player; his reactions and senses should be extremely sharp."

"Anyway, this kind of death couldn't have been caused by a fairy dagger."

As Fleur scribbled down their points one by one, she said, "Furthermore, Ken also believes that Bagman's cause of death might be the Killing Curse—but this is just Ken's opinion for now, and there are some inconsistencies... Let's put this aside for now."

"Then it was revealed that the Triwizard Tournament itself was a British conspiracy..."

"A conspiracy by the extreme pure-blood faction in Britain," Avada corrected.

"Okay, it's an extreme pureblood conspiracy."

Fleur shrugged. "They're planning to use this match against Dumbledore, and maybe others too. And those members of the investigation team from England might be problematic, at least they might have lied about Bagman's real cause of death... What else?"

"And then there are the two Englishmen, Bagman and Crouch, who came to Durmstrang as referees, and the reasons they gave were somewhat far-fetched, which is also a point of suspicion," Awada added.

"Moreover, suspicion of Bagman's death was almost evenly divided among the three of us."

Avada rubbed his forehead. "I let it go because I was the last one to meet him, Fleur's Veela grandmother is friends with the goblins who have a feud with Bagman, and Krum clashed with Bagman at the World Cup... But what do you two think about being suspected?"

"As for me... I don't know if my grandmother had any connection with fairies, but it's certainly possible."

Fleur put down her pen for a moment, resting her chin on her hand as she recalled, "After all, in a wizard-dominated magical society, it's normal for non-human beings to have closer connections. And as a diplomatic figure, it's expected that Bagman would interact with French fairies or fairies who are close to France... But my grandmother has already married a human, so she shouldn't have had many connections with other non-human beings, especially since Veela and fairies are different races, and their interactions are not as close as those within their own race..."

So, if you ask me,

She picked up her pen again and began to write: "My grandmother may indeed know the goblin who had a conflict with Bagman, but at most she would have met him and spoken to him. It shouldn't be the 'friend' relationship Crouch mentioned."

"Um."

Avada looked at what she had written, nodded, and then turned to Krum: "And you? About your argument with Bagman?"

"At the time, Bagman was deliberately being unreasonable."

Krum immediately said, his voice still carrying a hint of indignation: "Everyone was watching, but he insisted that I had fouled. During halftime, I went to him to ask for an explanation, and he said all sorts of sarcastic things, which almost made me curse on the spot... As a result, to outsiders who couldn't hear our conversation, it looked like we were arguing."

"Back then, nobody knew you would become a warrior."

Furong frowned as she pondered.

"not necessarily."

Avada recalled the information he had received from the university and Baron, his speech slowing involuntarily: "The planning for the Triwizard Tournament should have started almost a year in advance. By the time of the World Cup, the insiders should have already known the specifics, meaning they all knew that Krum was very likely to participate, and that he was definitely a top contender for the Warriors. I heard that after the tournament was announced, there was even a special betting game to guess who would become the Warriors... In other words, those who knew the news at that time already had a general idea in mind."

"So, Bagman likely already knew at the time that Krum had a high probability of becoming the Championship Warrior?"

Hibiscus's brows remained furrowed: "Then why does this make it even harder to explain why he actively sought out Krum? And if the tournament's details were already finalized at that time, he should have known he would be a referee... So why would he intentionally offend a favorite to participate? Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?"

As she finished speaking, the room fell silent for a moment.

"Intentionally offending a top contender for the competition... wait a minute!"

Avada, quickly recalling the clues he'd gathered over the past few days, suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "I forgot a very important piece of information—Ludo Bagman is a gambling addict! His so-called debt dispute with the goblins is actually just money he lost a bet with one of them!"

"A gambler?"

Krum thought for a moment, then asked doubtfully, "But what does this have to do with him deliberately offending a popular candidate?"

"He might be trying to change the odds in the betting game!"

Avada took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down: "Like any major sporting event, the Triwizard Tournament will definitely have a related betting scheme—and given Ludo Bagman's gambling addiction, plus the fact that he just lost money betting and is in debt... he has no reason not to participate in the Triwizard Tournament betting scheme!"

"And he happens to be one of the referees for this match!"

Furong's eyes lit up as she quickly grasped Avada's line of thinking: "When the other gamblers see that one of the three warriors has offended the referee, they will definitely feel that his chances of winning will decrease, and the odds will change accordingly..."

"...Are you suggesting that he'll bet on me to win the betting game and then use his position as referee to help me win?"

Krum felt a little confused—was this a bit too far-fetched?

"Have you forgotten? Cheating is one of the most notorious traditions of the Triwizard Tournament!"

Avada quickly added, "Plus, he has a huge debt to pay off... It's perfectly normal for him to take this opportunity to do something! As the referee, it would be incredibly easy for him to rig the game, especially since this match is on Krum's home turf. Maybe even Karkaroff would cooperate! It's a win-win situation!"

"But all of this is just reasoning."

Krum frowned. "We don't have concrete evidence—and besides, even if we did, what difference would it make? What does that have to do with Bagman's cause of death?"

"If that's really the case, then Bagman couldn't possibly have died at the hands of a fairy!"

Hibiscus explained excitedly, "Fairies, creatures who specialize in making money, must know all the intricacies of gambling, and they must know that Bagman is trying every means to raise money to pay off his debts, and that his chances of success are not small—why would they try to kill Bagman at a time like this?"

"So, all we need to figure out now is who Bagman bet on to win the championship... If it really was Krum, then we've essentially cracked half the mystery!"

Avada clenched his fist in excitement.

(End of this chapter)