Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 304 Viktor Krum

Lunch break is when Durmstrang Castle is at its busiest.

Unlike England, where it's rainy all day long, the weather outside Durmstrang seems to be perpetually fine. Golden sunlight streams down from the cloudless, azure sky, not only casting a pleasant warm hue on the already yellowish grass but also providing a welcome respite for the students battered by the chilly air—going for a stroll after dinner in such weather is indeed a delightful experience.

So even the stunningly beautiful Fleur wasn't so noticeable once she blended in with the dense crowd of students scattered outside the castle. Plus, she wore a felt hat to slightly conceal her face, so naturally no one would notice her quietly approaching the tents next to the Hogwarts Express...

"Krum should be keeping an eye on Barty Crouch right now, and will signal immediately if he notices anything unusual."

Inside the express train, Avada was resting in his original room, keeping a close eye on Fleur as she approached the tent with his magical senses. Durmstrang hadn't actually restricted him from returning to his original room, but only the temporary accommodation in the basement had the ability to block the badge's surveillance. So, if he didn't want his eating, drinking, and relieving himself to be seen by others, he would eventually have to return to his designated room to rest.

The reason he stayed here was to coordinate with Furong's next move.

In their plan, Fleur was undoubtedly the main force. She was responsible for taking the greatest risks to get close to the investigation team's residence and extract as much information as possible from them, striving to obtain the information they needed in the shortest possible time. Avada's job was to hide in the train and secretly use mental magic to support her actions. If she encountered particularly determined individuals, or needed to deal with multiple people simultaneously, her mental magic would be needed to intervene slightly.

In any case, the fact that he could cast mental magic without a staff from such a distance was beyond the common sense of most people. In addition, he did not need to chant incantations when casting spells, so he could act secretly right under the badge's nose and most likely would not be discovered to be anything unusual.

Krum was tasked with handling low-probability events—he needed to use his local status to keep an eye on Barty Crouch, who was most likely in charge of the surveillance network, and the other members of the investigation team working on the second floor. If he detected anything amiss, he would send a specific signal through the window, allowing Avada and Fleur to evacuate in advance.

To be honest, when they were formulating their plan, they did consider asking more in-depth questions, such as what their purpose was and what their next plans were... However, considering that these questions were too sensitive and could easily provoke strong resistance from their targets, this radical idea was ultimately abandoned—after all, if they could actually find the evidence they wanted, the final result would be pretty much the same. Besides, inquiring about something as seemingly insignificant as gambling isn't actually a very sensitive matter...

"Cough cough."

As the tent drew closer, Furong took a deep breath, a hint of nervousness in her voice. She cleared her throat, removed her felt hat, and smoothed her hair. The complex emotions on her face vanished, leaving only curiosity and tension…

"Excuse me... is anyone home?"

She stopped half a meter away from the tent and timidly called out softly inside.

"……who?"

A moment later, a hand reached out from behind the tent flap and pushed it aside, revealing the face of a middle-aged male wizard with a wary expression—he looked like he still had some bread crumbs on his face, probably from eating.

"His mental strength is average, only slightly stronger than a normal adult wizard. He's at a trained but not professional level, and his current alertness is also limited... It shouldn't be a big problem; I don't need to intervene."

Avada, who was lying on the bed with her eyes closed and covered by a blanket, moved her hands slightly and quickly came to a conclusion in her mind. At the same time, she once again drew most of her mental energy back to observe the movements of Fleur and the male wizard.

He still wanted to avoid taking action as much as possible.

It wasn't that he wanted to be lazy; after all, he was about to cast mental magic without a staff, a high-level spell that was among the most difficult of all spells. Being able to do it silently and without a staff was already his limit. He had to make some additional auxiliary gestures to ensure that the spell's strength was sufficient—which could reveal his weakness.

"Very good, Hibiscus has begun to unleash her talent. The intensity is gradually increasing, so it won't feel too out of place from the start, just as planned... The effect is also within expectations. The wizard's vigilance has dissipated, and he's now moving towards being bewitched..."

"Hopefully, no one else will jump out of the tent. Although the Veela's magic affects a group, another person's appearance might interrupt the charm's progress, and that's when I'll have to intervene... Damn it!"

Suddenly, as Hibiscus and the male wizard were talking about something, and it seemed his mental defenses were about to completely crumble, the tent flap was suddenly lifted again, and another wizard emerged from inside with a puzzled look on his face. This startled the male wizard from before, and his previously scattered mental energy began to rapidly recombine...

Okay.

Avada quietly rolled over, positioning himself facing the window, his eyes slightly open so he could see Krum's signals at any moment. Then, he tucked his arm, which had been hanging outside the covers, back under the covers and began to slowly and subtly perform the hand gestures for casting a spell...

"They've taken action."

Seeing the two wizards' eyes glaze over again, Fleur felt reassured. Without hesitation, she unleashed her full potential and skipped the usual gentle persuasion, going straight to the point with her question:

"...I've never been very confident in my abilities, and I don't know if I can beat the other two warriors in the upcoming matches—oh, by the way, sir, since you're investigating Mr. Bagman's murder, you must know who he bet on to win! I heard he was a particularly heavy gambler..."

"Of course, Miss!"

The two wizards chuckled raucously, looking like drunkards trying to pick up girls: "Of course we know who Bagman bet on. It's clearly written on his ticket—he bet on Viktor Krum, the champion with the highest odds, and he bought a full three hundred Galleons. He seems very confident..."

"I see. Thank you both so much for the information. I feel much more at ease now..."

Upon hearing Krum's name, Fleur felt a chill run down her spine, but she remained composed and continued to maintain her Veela talent, quickly and naturally ending the conversation before hurrying back to the castle.

As soon as Fleur withdrew her talent, Avada used some mental magic again to lighten the two wizards' impression of the conversation. He then lay down for a while until class was about to start before returning to the castle. He still didn't know what information Fleur had heard, but he wasn't in a hurry for the next few hours.

So, at night, as the students dragged their weary bodies back to the lounge from the library, preparing for the curfew, the three warriors gathered once again in Avada's room.

(End of this chapter)