In accordance with Middle Kingdom traditions, after the Sorting Ceremony should have come the long, tedious speeches from the leadership.
"I mainly have three things to talk about today. The first thing consists of three sub-points, and the first sub-point has three specific precautions, blah blah blah..."
Fortunately, although Dumbledore showed some slight signs of losing touch with the student body, he ultimately didn't possess those terrible habits.
When the last student, Kevin Whitby, was sorted into Hufflepuff, Dumbledore announced the start of the feast, and the empty platters in the Great Hall were instantly stacked high with all kinds of delicious delicacies.
Looking at the tasty food on her plate, the little Beaver pouted her lips unhappily.
All this food was prepared by the house-elves in Hogwarts' underground kitchens—unlike the house-elves of the Grindelwald family, those in Hogwarts Castle had no holidays, no wages, and no freedom...
For the vast majority of their lives every day, they remained trapped in the dark underground kitchens preparing dishes for the students.
For the rest of the time, they avoided the students' gaze, cleaning various parts of the castle and performing odd jobs for the students, such as doing laundry or feeding owls.
Hermione sighed somewhat helplessly.
At present, she still had no way to change the living conditions of the house-elves.
Perhaps when she became Minister for Magic in the future, she would have a way.
Glancing at the figure sitting at the Hufflepuff table teasing the younger kids, a smile curled at the corner of Hermione's lips.
It seemed she needed to work really hard.
Simply becoming Minister for Magic was far from enough to bridge the distance between herself and him—maybe she would need to aim for Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards?
As Hermione pondered, her thoughts gradually drifted off course.
Professor Dumbledore and Lord Grindelwald—one was the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and the other was the First-Generation Dark Lord...
Looking at it this way, if she wanted to be worthy of standing beside the Third-Generation Dark Lord, it seemed she really had to set her sights on the International Confederation of Wizards?
When the time came, maybe she could even form a Blood Pact with Kyle or something.
A Blood Pact—that was a vow that even Konan hadn't managed to seal with Kyle. She, Hermione Granger, absolutely could not let that temptress beat her to it.
When the post-dinner desserts were also swept clean by the Hogwarts students, the remaining crumbs on the plates vanished, leaving them clean and sparkling once more.
Dumbledore stood up from his seat.
"Well," Dumbledore said with a smile on his face, "now that we are all fed and watered, I have a few announcements to make."
"First of all, I regret to inform you all," Dumbledore spread his hands quite playfully, "that the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup will be canceled this year."
The Great Hall exploded into uproar instantly.
In the wizarding world, where entertainment options were scarce, no one had developed leisure games like playing cards or mahjong; nor could wizards play video games due to the interference of ambient magic power leaking from their bodies.
Wizards' entertainment options were basically reduced to Quidditch and Wizard's Chess.
Now Headmaster Dumbledore was saying there would be no Quidditch Cup—wasn't that as good as taking away their very lives?
The only ones completely indifferent were the Father-Worrying Alliance members, who had long known about the Triwizard Cup.
When it came to dramatically pausing mid-sentence for effect, Dumbledore was clearly a master.
He deliberately allowed the hall to clamor for a while before finally announcing the Triwizard Tournament.
Listening to Dumbledore's description of the Triwizard Tournament, the more Kyle listened, the more off it felt to him.
Multiple countries sending delegations to compete...
The venue for the tasks would be set in the Forbidden Forest outside the castle...
Contestants had to be Genin—cough, students aged 17 or above...
Wasn't this just the Joint Chunin Selection Exams?
Good grief—so by that logic, the Forbidden Forest outside their castle was meant to correspond to the Forest of Death?
Kyle scratched his head. As the headmaster of the host school, Dumbledore possessed a certain degree of authority over the organization of the tournament schedule.
He wondered if he could offer Dumbledore a few suggestions regarding the arrangement of the competition tasks when the time came.
Hand out a scroll to each student before they entered the field—there would be two types of scrolls: "Heaven" and "Earth."
Students would randomly receive either a Heaven or Earth scroll. As long as they stole scrolls from others to assemble a complete Heaven and Earth set and reached the tower in the center of the Forbidden Forest before sunset, they would pass?
Kyle suddenly recalled the matter Snape had informed him about in a letter a few days prior—the return of the Dark Lord.
According to their plan, they were going to cooperate and perform to the best of their abilities alongside Voldemort's play this school year.
During the summer holiday, Snape had flipped through Dark Arts books for a long time, eventually discovering the most suitable spell to reshape Voldemort's body—namely:
Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son.
Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master.
Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe.
Compared to other body-reshaping spells that came with various side effects, this spell was considered the closest to perfection.
Not only would it allow Voldemort to return at peak strength, but if the final ingredient—the "blood of the enemy"—came from Voldemort's archenemy, Harry Potter, then...
When that moment arrived, the protective magic left to Harry by his mother, Lily, would cease to protect Harry against Voldemort.
That also meant Voldemort would be capable of killing Harry.
Although such a decision was harsh on Harry, it was necessary if they wanted to kill Voldemort once and for all.
Fortunately, Harry wasn't guaranteed to die.
The Resurrection Stone was in Snape's hands. If Harry could become the master of the Resurrection Stone, he might still stand a glimmer of hope when that moment arrived.
According to Kyle and the others' plan, after Voldemort returned, he would realize he still had a large group of... er, rather, only two or three useless lackeys left.
Under such circumstances, Voldemort's desire to regain his peak power would shoot up to an extreme level.
The bone of the father and the flesh of the servant were easy to come by; the real issue lay in how to obtain Harry's blood right under Dumbledore's nose.
That would be Snape's job. Kyle and the others would assist Snape in putting on a show for Voldemort so he could successfully obtain Harry's blood.
The best opportunity to act would likely be during the Triwizard Tournament.
When the time came, the teacher-student pair of Albus Dumbledore and Tom Riddle would recognize each other on the grounds of the Joint Chunin Exams...
I, Tom Orochimaru Riddle, shall slay my master today to prove my Dao!
Not even Merlin could save Dumbledore—I said so!
Dumbledore was aware of this plan as well, but plans never quite kept up with changes...
Kyle couldn't help but feel a little worried. His adoptive father...
Wouldn't end up crashing and burning when the time came, right?
As Kyle pondered how to set a trap for Voldemort, his thoughts gradually drifted far, far off course.
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