After HP shared the dream, Lao Fu was conquered by me

Chapter 238: Top 3 Tournament (1)

"Okay!" Dumbledore looked at everyone with a smile and said, "Now that we have eaten and drank enough, I must ask everyone's attention again. I want to make a few announcements."

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to inform you that this year, a few more items have been added to the list of prohibited items within the castle. These are Screaming Yo-Yos, Frisbees with Teeth, and Boomerangs. The full list consists of approximately 437 items. It can be seen in Mr. Filch's office. Anyone interested can check it out."

Lamia keenly noticed that the corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched a few times.

He continued: "As before, I would like to remind everyone that students are not allowed to enter the Forbidden Forest on the other side of the venue, and students below the third year of Hogsmeade are not allowed to visit."

"I would also like to inform you with great regret that the Academy Cup Quidditch Tournament will not be held this year."

"What?" Harry gasped in surprise.

Lamia didn't think anything of it, Quidditch meant almost nothing to her.

Harry turned to look at his Quidditch teammates, Fred and George, who were staring at Dumbledore with their mouths open, as if too stunned to speak. Dumbledore continued, "This is because a major event will begin in October and continue throughout the school year, taking up a great deal of the teachers' time and energy - but I am sure you will all find it very enjoyable. I am very pleased to announce that this year at Hogwarts -"

At this moment, there was a deafening thunder, and the door of the auditorium slammed open.

A man stood in the doorway, leaning on a long cane and wrapped in a black traveling cloak. Everyone in the hall turned to look at the stranger, and suddenly a forked bolt of lightning streaked across the ceiling, and Hermione gasped.

The lightning illuminated the man's face extremely clearly. Lamia frowned. She had never seen such a face before. It looked like it was carved out of a piece of rotten wood, and the carver had only a vague concept of what a human face should look like, and was not very good at using the chisel.

Every inch of skin on his face seemed scarred, his mouth a crooked gash, and the area where his nose should have been raised was missing. The most terrifying thing about this man was his eyes.

One of his eyes was small, black, and sparkling; the other was large, round like a coin, and a vivid, bright blue. The blue eye kept moving without blinking, moving up and down, left and right, completely unrelated to the normal eye - then, the blue eye rolled over and went into the man's head, and everyone could only see a big white eyeball.

The stranger walked up to Dumbledore and held out a hand, scarred like his face. Dumbledore shook his hand and whispered something to him, something Lamia couldn't be sure she heard, as they were spoken so quietly.

But he seemed to be asking something to the stranger, who shook his head without a smile and answered in a low voice. Dumbledore nodded and gestured for the man to sit in an empty seat on his right.

The stranger sat down, shook his head to push his long gray hair away from his face, then pulled a plate of sausages over to his stump and sniffed them. He took a knife from his pocket, stabbed the end of a sausage into it, and began to eat.

His normal eye was focused on the sausage, but his blue eye was still moving around in its socket, looking at the auditorium and his classmates.

"Allow me to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Dumbledore broke the silence happily, "Professor Moody."

Normally, when a new teacher meets everyone, everyone will applaud and welcome him, but now, except for Dumbledore and Hagrid, no teacher or student applauded.

Dumbledore and Hagrid clapped a few times, then, realizing their applause sounded lonely in the silent hall, tactfully lowered their hands. The others seemed stunned by Moody's strange appearance and just stared at him intently.

"Moody?" Lamia repeated in a low voice. This was not Moody. The aura on him was very familiar to Lamia.

Lamia heard Harry whispering to Ron, "Mad-Eye Moody? The one your father went to help this morning?"

"It must be him," Ron whispered fearfully.

"What's wrong with him?" Hermione asked in a low voice. "What's wrong with his face?"

"I don't know," Ron whispered, staring at Moody in fascination.

Moody seemed unfazed by the general indifference. Ignoring the pitcher of pumpkin juice before him, he reached into his traveling cloak, pulled out a curved bottle, and took a long drink.

As he raised his arm to drink, his cloak, which trailed on the floor, was pulled up a few inches, and Harry saw that under the table a few inches of a carved wooden leg, with a claw-like foot underneath.

Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"As I was saying," he said, beaming at the crowd of students before him – who were still staring blankly at Mad-Eye Moody – "in the coming months we will be honored to host a very exciting event, one that has not been held for over a century. I am delighted to report that the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts this year."

"You're kidding!" Fred exclaimed.

The tense atmosphere that had hung over the Great Hall since Moody entered suddenly broke. Almost everyone laughed out loud, and Bridgman chuckled appreciatively.

"I'm not joking, Mr Weasley," he said, "but since you mention joking, I did hear a very amusing joke about a troll, a hag and a leprechaun who all went into the same pub..."

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly.

"Oh - perhaps this is not the right time to bring this up... not the right time..." said Dumbledore. "Where was I? Ah, yes, the Triwizard Tournament... Some of you may not know what it is all about, so I hope those who do will forgive me for a brief explanation while I allow their minds to wander."

"The Triwizard Tournament was founded over seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest magic schools in Europe: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. Each school selects a champion, and then the three champions compete in three magical disciplines.

The Triwizard Tournament was held every five years, with each of the three schools taking turns hosting it. It was considered a great way for young wizards from different countries to build friendships – but the death toll was too high and the Tournament was discontinued.

"Death toll?" Hermione whispered, looking around in amazement. But most of the students in the hall were not as nervous as she was, and many were whispering excitedly.