Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 307 The Attack!

7 p.m., Durmstrang Castle Hall.

The once spacious auditorium was now packed with students from the three schools, and Karkaroff sat in the middle of the teachers' seats, flanked by Dumbledore, Maxim, and Barty Crouch.

The seat that originally belonged to Ludo Bagman remained conspicuously empty, immediately bringing to mind the bizarre murder case a few days ago, the possibly infiltrated castle, and the potential conflict between wizards and fairies... This created an oppressive atmosphere throughout the hall.

"Now, let's announce the latest developments in the investigation of the Ludo Bagman case, as well as the further details of the Three Kingdoms tournament schedule."

Karkaroff's voice echoed in the Great Hall: "If nothing unexpected happens, meetings like today's will be held every week from now on, so that everyone can have a clearer understanding of the current situation and reduce some unnecessary worries and suspicions... Thank you, Professor Dumbledore, for this suggestion."

A sparse clapping sounded slowly, then quickly faded away. Dumbledore chuckled and nodded, saying nothing more.

'Kakarov indeed possesses an unbreakable oath.'

Taking advantage of the opportunity to see Karkaroff again, Avada carefully examined the structure of Karkaroff's spiritual and life force one last time, and sure enough, discovered the unbreakable oath that echoed Crouch's: 'Now all my previous guesses can be confirmed.'

"But...why do they all seem so relaxed?"

Avada glanced at the four referees' mental energy with some confusion: 'Crouch and Karkaroff seem relaxed, which is understandable, Dumbledore probably didn't tell them what's going to happen next... but why doesn't Dumbledore himself seem nervous at all?'

"If things go wrong, he might have to fight Karkaroff and Crouch, two top wizards, one-on-one, plus an entire investigation team, while also having to protect the other students... Doesn't that put any pressure on him at all?"

"And Mrs. Maxime is quite calm...Dumbledore didn't tell her about the plan? Isn't she trustworthy?"

"...Then, Mr. Barty Crouch will now summarize the latest developments of the investigation team."

Barty Crouch stood up solemnly and began to recount the various clues he and his investigation team had discovered during their "case-solving" process, as well as their dealings with the "fairies" from the outside world. His words were filled with meaningless details and bureaucratic jargon, making the academic whizzes below drowsy. Even those who had initially taken the matter seriously lost interest after hearing so much platitudes…

Finally, after reciting a long string of technical jargon that made no sense, Crouch sat down again.

"Thank you, Mr. Crouch, for your report and for your hard work with the investigation team."

Karkaroff nodded, completely ignoring the students' reactions: "Well then, if there are no further questions, I will now announce the latest schedule for the Triwizard Tournament..."

"Wait a minute, Professor."

Hearing three familiar voices overlapping around them, the students widened their eyes and turned to look at the source of the voices closest to them—at the front center, left rear, and right front of the auditorium, three figures stood up in unison after saying the same thing, and under the astonished gazes of those around them, they came to the very front of the student seats and stood shoulder to shoulder.

"...Mr. Krum, Mr. Ken, Miss Delacour."

Karkaroff raised an eyebrow: "Do you have any questions about Mr. Crouch's previous statements?"

"Yes, Professor."

Standing in the middle, Avada quietly exchanged a glance with Dumbledore, and after receiving an affirmative look, took a step forward.

"In fact, we happen to know a little about Mr. Ludo Bagman's past, but it seems to contradict what Mr. Crouch said earlier, so we'd like to ask him about it, for example..."

Seeing that Dumbledore's hand had already quietly slipped into his sleeve, Avada finally breathed a sigh of relief, a hint of a smile appearing in his eyes: "We believe that Mr. Bagman's death was not caused by being killed by goblins for owing money, but rather by knowing something he shouldn't have known, and mistakenly letting those who were trying so hard to hide those things know that he knew..."

"ha."

In his magical senses, Karkaroff and Crouch's mental energy suddenly tightened, causing Avada to let out a silent, cold laugh.

"What are you trying to say?"

Karkarov's expression was rather unpleasant.

"A kind member of the investigation team once told me..."

Fleur also took a small half-step forward and said in the melodious voice unique to mixed-race Veela, "Mr. Ludo Bagman is notorious for his gambling addiction and has also participated in this betting on the Triwizard Tournament... and the winner he bet on is Viktor Krum, and he even wagered a full three hundred Galleons—he's currently in debt, so three hundred Galleons must be a lot of money for him."

A murmur came from behind—Crouch hadn't mentioned this before.

"I was very confused at the time. Why would he be willing to bet a lot of money on Krum to win, even though he had clashed with him at the Quidditch World Cup and Krum didn't have a significant advantage over me and Ken? After thinking about it, I could only come to one conclusion..."

She shook her head: "That is, as one of the earliest planners of the Triwizard Tournament, Bagman knew long ago that Krum was very likely to become the Warrior, so he deliberately caused a public conflict with him at the World Cup—as everyone knows, that conflict was almost entirely his one-sided unreasonable behavior—in order to raise the odds of Krum winning, so that he could win more money in the following betting..."

"Thank you for your valuable insights, Miss Delacour."

Crouch abruptly interrupted Fleur: "We've received the leads you provided, and we'll be focusing on that area going forward. You can go back now."

"Oh no, that won't do, we haven't finished asking our questions yet."

Krum, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up, his towering frame taking a step forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with the other two: "However, simply raising the odds won't make money. Bagman also needs to find a way to help me win the match. So I suspect that his request to become the referee was to cheat in the upcoming match, to manipulate things behind the scenes to help me win in the end. Anyway, similar things have been commonplace in previous championships..."

"Mr. Bagman did not request to come here."

Karkaroff stared intently at Krum, his goatee trembling slightly. "It was Durmstrang who invited him, and Mr. Crouch did the same..."

"Oh, you invited me out of your own initiative."

Krum nodded slightly: "After he exposed your shady deal with Mr. Crouch more than ten years ago, Principal?"

"!!!"

For the first time, a look of astonishment appeared on Karkarov's face.

(End of this chapter)