The Lonely Dragon of Hogwarts

The next morning.

"In other words, Dumbledore firmly believes that Crouch has nothing to do with this matter?"

Michelle asked softly.

John had told Michelle what he had said to Dumbledore yesterday.

Of course, I only told Michelle.

After all, both John and Michelle knew very well that Dumbledore and Snape would not want this matter to spread.

Besides that, what John cared more about was what Dumbledore said to him at the end.

John didn't think Dumbledore was simply giving him his blessing.

Instead, he was reminded from the side that the third project was about to start, and he should focus more on the project instead of investigating the case.

This did make John feel a little more at ease.

If we think about it from another angle, who is the murderer of Rita Skeeter, who is 'them' who attacked Karkaroff, who is the one who signed up John, Michelle and Harry...

The answers to these questions don’t really matter at all.

John and Michelle have made it through two projects so far.

As long as they successfully survive the third event, they are the winners.

Therefore, instead of dwelling on the truth, it is better to think more about how to protect yourself.

Dumbledore has always acted according to this idea.

Even if the Ministry of Magic continued to push back on the investigation, he did not criticize him at all.

He just kept urging the Ministry of Magic to strengthen the security of Hogwarts, and finally even forced Fudge to step down personally to preside over the last project.

John admired Dumbledore for understanding this.

He is really a wise old man.

Always able to see through the truth of things and do things in the simplest and most effective way.

Shaking his head with some emotion, John hugged Michelle tightly and said:

"Stop thinking about these things. We just need to do our own thing."

"It's great that you think so! You've been worrying about these things recently, and it makes me feel sad to see you."

As Michelle spoke, she excitedly took out a bag of cupcakes and handed them to John like a treasure.

"Pumpkin cake!~ My seniors taught me how to make it myself!"

"Are there any pumpkins this season?" John said in surprise, while Michelle fed him a mouthful of cake, "It tastes really good!"

Michelle laughed twice when she heard this, then carefully leaned into John's ear and whispered:

"I'm telling you, I secretly picked the pumpkins from Professor Sprout's greenhouse. You must never tell anyone, otherwise Professor Sprout will definitely punish me to hoe the fields again."

The hot breath that Michelle exhaled when she spoke hit John's ears, making them wet and itchy.

This wet itch seemed to have its own consciousness, and it was transmitted from John's ears to John's heart, making John feel a little excited.

But at the next moment, he saw Draco squeeze into his field of vision.

And he also has a bitter face.

This is really disappointing.

The smile on John's face disappeared and he said speechlessly:

"That's not it, Draco? It's just the final exam, there's no need to feel like this."

Hearing this, the bitterness on Draco's face became even more intense.

He grabbed his hair and said:

"Ah! John, I really envy you that you don't have to take the exam! You don't know, my father has already said that if Hermione Gryffindor, that Muggle-born witch, fails the exam again this time, he will ask her to go home. Break my legs!"

John couldn't help but joked:

"If I had known earlier, I should have given you a bottle of bone spirit for Christmas."

Michelle couldn't help laughing when she heard this.

But Draco didn't react.

He lowered his head, as if gathering courage.

After a while, he gritted his teeth and said:

"John, actually I have something to tell you. To be clear in advance, Professor Snape should have come to tell you this in person, but he forcibly assigned this job to me."

John frowned slightly and waved his hand to signal Draco to speak quickly.

Draco then said:

"The warriors' relatives will be invited to watch the finals today, so all the warriors, including you and Michelle, must go to the conference room next to the auditorium to meet their relatives after breakfast."

John's expression turned a little gloomy.

Michelle's smile disappeared.

As we all know, both of them are orphans and have no relatives at all.

It doesn't matter if the Triwizard Tournament organizes such an event, but forcing them to participate is just disgusting.

The sweat dropped from Draco's face when he saw this.

He knew it would be like this.

He even felt that Snape specifically asked him to inform him because he was afraid of such a situation.

But John was not someone who would anger his friends.

After calming down a little, John comforted Draco and asked him to work hard for the exam.

Then John and Michelle continued to enjoy breakfast.

But compared to before, the atmosphere between the two was less enthusiastic.

Until the entire auditorium was deserted, neither John nor Michelle had any intention of going to the conference room.

At this moment, the door of the conference room suddenly opened, and Cedric stuck his head out and said:

"Hey! John, Michelle, come on, they are waiting for you!"

John and Michelle looked at each other, stood up and walked to the conference room in confusion.

John was even ready.

If this was a prank meant to embarrass them, don't blame him for falling out.

Enter the meeting room.

Only then did I realize that it was very lively here.

Cedric stood by the door with his parents.

Viktor Krum, who inherited his father's hooked nose, spoke rapid Bulgarian to his dark-haired parents in a corner of the room.

On the other side, Fleur was chattering away in French to her mother.Fleur's little sister Gabrielle held her mother's hand.While talking, Fleur and Gabrielle waved to John and Michelle.

And Harry...

"John! Michelle!"

John was looking for Harry when a familiar voice came from beside him.

He turned around quickly, only to be hugged by Mrs. Weasley.

"Mrs. Weasley! I didn't expect you to come!"

Michelle shouted excitedly and opened her arms.

Mrs. Weasley also cooperated and smiled and stepped forward to hug him.

"I heard about the attack on you!" Mrs. Weasley choked, "It's so great to see you safe!"

Mr. Weasley also came over and shook John's hand and said:

"John, thank you for the Christmas gift, we all loved it!"

John smiled and nodded:

"You're welcome, this is our sincere wish."

Mr. Weasley suddenly smiled mysteriously and said:

"In fact, we also brought you a gift this time..."

Mr. Weasley paused here, obviously preparing to give up.

However, Mrs. Weasley didn't give him any face. She took out two large bags of candy from a large box and stuffed them into Michelle's arms.

Michelle exclaimed:

"So much?"

"We bought them all from Honeydukes Candy Shop." Mrs. Weasley explained, "Michelle, you should eat more! Look how thin you are! You need to eat quickly to make your body stronger. This way, you will have less trouble having children in the future... You are all excellent, kind-hearted and good children, and you should have many children in the future!"

Michelle's face turned red when Mrs. Weasley said it, and she was speechless.

John smiled and joked:

"Oh! Mr. Weasley, so many candies are not cheap. Have you won the lottery again?"

"Although not, it's almost the same." Mr. Weasley said with some pride, "Well, actually, the Ministry of Magic just gave me a bonus a few days ago. The specific amount needs to be kept secret, so I can't say it, but it's okay. Quite a few.”

John nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this.

Michelle next to her seemed to have eased out of her shy mood, blinking her big eyes and asked:

"Mrs. Weasley, are you invited here as relatives of John and I?"

"In fact, Michelle, the name they used when they invited us here, is Harry's relative."

Mrs. Weasley spoke and pointed to the corner next to her.

There, Harry was chatting excitedly with Charlie and Bill.

"Oh, that means we still have no relatives."

Michelle said a little disappointed.

John stepped forward and patted her back comfortingly.

But at this moment, another cough was heard from the side.

It's Snape!

Two meters away from him stood Professor McGonagall!

"Wow--"

Michelle cheered and threw herself into Professor McGonagall's arms, "So are you our relatives?"

Professor McGonagall smiled and helped Michelle fix her hair and said:

"I can't let you and John live without something that everyone else has."

Hearing this, Michelle's voice already had a cry.

John was also a little moved.

He walked up to Snape and bowed solemnly:

"Thank you, Professor Snape."

Snape looked very nervous.

He was obviously not used to this kind of scene, so he just said a stiff 'hmm'.

Seeing this, John raised the corners of his mouth slightly and said deliberately:

"Professor Snape, did you and Professor McGonagall make an appointment to come together?"

"of course not!"

"He forced his way over!"

Professor McGonagall and Snape shouted almost simultaneously.

After all, the two of them glared at each other dissatisfiedly.

This scene was so funny that it made John burst out laughing and Michelle burst into laughter.

The atmosphere of the entire family meeting was very joyful.

Throughout the next morning and afternoon, everyone gathered together and chatted.

John and Michelle also took Mrs. Weasley for a walk in the castle, looking for traces of Mrs. Weasley's school days.

It was not until evening that everyone returned to the auditorium to prepare for dinner.

As one of the referees, Crouch still did not come to the dinner this time.

The person who replaced him was not Percy, but Fudge himself.

As for Karkaroff, he was lying on the hospital bed looking crazy yesterday, but today he became refreshed and stayed beside Fudge and kept flattering him.

The dinner was richer than usual, but no one could eat much except Michelle.

Because everyone knows very well that the final challenge is coming soon.

When the enchanted ceiling turned from blue to dark purple twilight, Dumbledore stood up at the staff table, and the crowd fell silent.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes I'm going to invite you all to the Quidditch pitch for the last event of the Triwizard Tournament. Now, brave men and Mr. Bagman, to the stadium."

John stood up.

Almost everyone in the entire auditorium applauded him.

Including Fudge, Bagman, Dumbledore and other referees.

The Slytherins were uncharacteristically elegant and excitedly jumped onto the long table and cheered loudly.

"John!"

When John, Michelle, Harry and other warriors were walking down the steps, Snape suddenly stopped him.

John turned to look at Snape, waiting for Snape to give him his blessing.

However, this time, Snape did not tell him to pay attention to his safety as he did twice before.

Instead, he stepped forward and hugged John.

Snape's movements were short but hard.

A smile appeared on John's face.

This was the first hug Snape had given him since they met.

Under Snape's concerned gaze, John also said nothing, but smiled and made a V-sign for victory at Snape.

Then he walked towards the dark arena.