Chapter 191
After Dumbledore saw that he had become more excited, he removed his hands from Albert, but he said, "How do you know about this charm?!"
Albert did not hide anything and said in a low voice, "I found it inside my house four years ago,.... Do you know its owner?!"
Dumbledore was silent for a short time and said, "Well... forget about that!!... Well, even though you have this charm, you won't be able to penetrate my barrier that I placed around the blue flame unless you master that charm completely!!"
Dumbledore left Albert alone, then returned to the place where he had given the speech and then directed everyone to return to their sleep!!
After everyone began to leave and head towards the Entrance Hall, Hermione shouted to Albert, saying, "Is what you said really true?!"
Harry, Ron, and the twins, George and Fred, were all eagerly waiting for what Albert would say.
Albert spoke, saying, "Yes.... and Dumbledore himself agreed with me on what I said!!"
After Fred and George heard Albert's answer, they approached him, and Fred said, "Well, can you teach us that charm so that we can also participate in the Triwizard Tournament?!"
Albert smiled at the twins' naivety and said, "Even if I taught you this charm, you won't be able to penetrate that barrier, as it requires you to master that charm to the maximum level, and to master it, you need more than 10 years!!"
Fred grabbed his head after hearing the disappointment from Albert. He was confident that after finding the solution from Albert, he would also be able to participate in this tournament!!
George spoke, saying, "And you, Albert... have you mastered that charm completely?"
Albert turned to him and said, ".... Yes!!"
Fred said, feeling disappointed, "And will you participate?!"
Albert was silent and did not reveal anything. Albert left them to pursue his path and walked towards the common room!!
Ten minutes after everyone was walking, Harry heard Fred Weasley saying, "A magical age line. Well, the Ageing Potion can trick it, and once your name is placed in the Cup, it won't be able to reveal your age!"
Hermione said, "But I don't think those under seventeen will have a chance. We haven't learned enough..."
George replied to her, "Speak for yourself. We'll try to participate, Harry... won't we?!"
Harry quickly thought about Dumbledore's insistence on those under seventeen not participating, but the image of him holding the Triwizard Cup filled his mind again, especially the reward the winner of this tournament would get.... Then he thought angrily, imagining Dumbledore saying, "If someone under seventeen participates somehow..."
Ron seemed not to have heard anything of what was said, and he began to look around for Krum, then asked, "Where is he?... Did Dumbledore say where the Durmstrang students will sleep?"
Ron quickly knew the answer to his question when he saw Professor Karkaroff advancing towards the Slytherin table, where his students were sitting, saying, "Come on to the ship... Viktor, how are you? Have you eaten enough? Shall I order you a drink from the kitchen?"
Harry saw Krum shaking his head in negation, and another student said, "Professor, I want a glass of juice."
But Karkaroff shouted at him, "I wasn't offering it to you, Poliakoff, and I also notice that you have stained your clothes with food again."
Then Karkaroff turned and led his students towards the doors at the same moment Harry reached them and let him pass first. Karkaroff looked at him carelessly, saying, "Thank you!"
He did not linger, but froze in his place and turned towards Harry, staring at him as if he could not believe his eyes, and behind him came the Durmstrang students to find out the reason for their teacher's stop. Karkaroff's eyes roamed over Harry's face until they stopped at the scar on his head, while his students looked at Harry with interest. Harry could see on the faces of some of them that they understood the matter when they pointed towards his head until they heard a voice from behind them saying, "Yes... it's Harry Potter."
Karkaroff turned with his students to find Moody standing there, his magical eye scrutinizing Karkaroff, who looked a mix of fear and anger before saying, "You!!"
Moody replied, a phantom smile dancing on his lips, "Me. And if you have nothing to say to Harry, Karkaroff, perhaps you'll want to move away because you're blocking the way to the entrance."
And this was true. Half the students had gathered behind them to find out the reason for this stop, and so, without a word, Karkaroff and his students headed towards the door, and Moody watched them until they disappeared.
Since the next day was Saturday, it was natural for the students to eat their breakfast late, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione were not the only ones who woke up earlier than they were used to on holidays, and when they descended to the Entrance Hall, they did not find Albert, which was unusual!!
Hermione spoke, saying, "Harry... Is Albert still asleep?!"
Harry spoke, surprised, "Yes, before Ron and I came down, I got tired of waking him up, but he told me to go and leave him."
Hermione was surprised and said, "That's strange. Albert has changed a lot this week. He doesn't talk to us much anymore. Have you noticed that?"
Ron spoke, answering Hermione's question, "Yes... even when we finish class, he was the first one to leave the class to go back to his room!!"
After moments, after they entered the Great Hall, they found about twenty people looking towards the Goblet of Fire, which was placed in the middle of the Hall in the same place occupied by the Sorting Hat, and on the floor there was a golden line surrounding the pedestal holding the Cup. Ron asked, "Has anyone put their name in yet?!"
A third-year student replied to him, "All the Durmstrang students, but I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet."
But the truth was that some of them had put their names in at night after everyone went to sleep, which Harry expected when he said, "If I were one of them, I would have dropped my name in yesterday. I wouldn't want anyone to see me doing that. What if the Cup rejected me immediately?!"
Harry heard someone laughing behind him, and when he turned around, he found both Fred and George with Lee Jordan hurrying up the stairs, with great joy on their faces, until Fred said with clear triumph, "We did it.... We participated!!"
Ron said in astonishment, "What?!!"
Fred said, "Ageing Potion!!"
Then George rubbed his hands and said, "One point for each of us... all we need is to be a few months older than our real age."
Then Lee Jordan continued with a smile, "We'll split the prize equally between us if one of us wins it."
Hermione warned, "I'm not sure this trick will succeed, and I'm sure Dumbledore thought of this."
The three ignored her, and Fred said to them, "Ready? Come on... I'll start."
Harry watched what happened when Fred pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket bearing his name and the name of Hogwarts, and he walked with it towards the edge of the golden line and stood there, raising his ankles as if preparing to dive into the water before taking a deep breath and stepping towards the Cup.
For a second, Harry thought the trick had succeeded, as George certainly thought, but in the next second, they heard a buzzing sound, and the twin was repelled backward with force, as if someone had pushed them to retreat from the golden circle drawn on the ground, and ten feet away from this circle, a loud sound rose before a long white beard appeared on each of their faces.
The Hall erupted in laughter. Even Fred and George laughed when each saw the other's beard, and from behind everyone came Dumbledore's voice, saying, "I warned you!!" He looked at the twins sitting on the floor and then said, "I think you should go to Madam Pomfrey. She is treating Fawcett from the Ravenclaw students and Summers from Hufflepuff, as both of them decided to increase their ages slightly to participate in the competition, although I don't think their beards are as good as yours."
George and Fred rushed to the hospital wing, followed by Lee Jordan, who was still laughing, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed for breakfast!!
But finally, Albert appeared inside the Hall where the blue flame was, opening his mouth, a sign that he was still feeling sleepy!!
When Dumbledore saw Albert approaching, he stopped in his place to see if Albert could really penetrate the barrier he had placed on the pedes
tal holding the blue flame...
To be continued...