"Very good. It seems everyone has arrived!"
After the students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had all entered the university hall and the other two doors had finally closed, the sharp crack of Apparition suddenly rang out in front of everyone, startling the students who were still somewhat dazed.
Appearing together with that crack were three wizards dressed in black robes. The one who had spoken to everyone just now was an elderly witch with white hair. She took a step forward and waved to the crowd, a kindly smile on her face, as though she were very happy to see so many young people visiting this place.
"Welcome, everyone, to Leach University."
Her voice was not loud, yet it easily passed over the chaotic discussions in the crowd and clearly entered everyone's ears.
"This meeting may feel rather sudden—I know what is happening outside, and I also know that many of you may still have quite a few doubts. But please rest assured, I will do my best to explain the full sequence of events today and make you a little less worried..."
"First, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Miranda Goshawk, and I am the headmistress of this school. I imagine quite a few of you may have heard this name before..."
"Miranda Goshawk?!"
Before she could continue, the students who heard that name almost immediately erupted into an uproar. In fact, even before this, many of the students standing closer to the front, who had been able to see the witch's face clearly, had already shown expressions of uncertainty and shock.
"That Miranda Goshawk?"
Anyone who had ever attended any wizarding school in the world could not possibly have never heard the name Miranda Goshawk.
Whether it was her earliest Book of Spells or the later, carefully revised Standard Book of Spells, both had been translated into dozens of languages and sold across the world as foundational reference books. Naturally, they were also textbooks at Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, both of which were European schools.
And now, such a great educator had suddenly appeared right in front of them without warning?
Moreover, she seemed to be the headmistress of a magical school?
She certainly had the qualifications to become the headmistress of any school, but why had no one ever heard of this before?
And the name "Leach University" was completely unfamiliar as well... Oh, they had heard of "Leach," of course, a former British Minister for Magic—but since when had there been a magical school named after him? And a "university," no less, something that had never appeared in magical society before?
"It seems I don't need to introduce myself further."
Seeing the students' reaction, Miranda Goshawk smiled as expected, then continued speaking.
"As for what just happened at the Triwizard Tournament—please be at ease first. Whether it is Professor Dumbledore or your three champions, all of them are currently very safe. Professor Karkaroff has not truly betrayed Dumbledore either."
"What about Ludo Bagman?"
After hearing that Karkaroff had not truly betrayed them, the atmosphere among the students instantly eased by quite a bit. But after noticing that Goshawk had temporarily paused, someone still could not help asking about the other judge who had turned traitor: Ludo Bagman.
"That was not Ludo Bagman."
This time, it was a male wizard beside Goshawk who answered.
"According to our investigation, that person should have imprisoned the real Bagman, then used Polyjuice Potion to disguise himself as him and infiltrate Durmstrang. As for who that person truly is, and how exactly he managed to do all this, we still have no clue..."
As he spoke, he exchanged a glance with another wizard beside him.
In truth, the university had known from the very beginning that the person's true identity should be that Death Eater, Barty Crouch Jr., who was supposed to have died in Azkaban. But since they had already used that as a bargaining chip to secure the full cooperation of a certain British Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, they had no intention of publicly exposing that person's identity. In fact, after the matter was over, they would even have to help clean up the aftermath in secret to keep the Aurors from discovering any clues...
"In truth, ever since last summer, a certain force has been attempting to infiltrate and interfere with this Triwizard Tournament," Miranda Goshawk continued. "Their goal is to kill the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Dumbledore, and retrieve from his possession the soul of their former master—that is, Voldemort."
"Fortunately, Dumbledore detected what they were doing in time, and ultimately chose to cooperate with us to thoroughly resolve this matter together while ensuring the students' safety. That is also why all of you have come here to take refuge. In a short while, Dumbledore will pretend to be defeated, then lure everyone involved in the plan to Durmstrang..."
The students from the other two schools were still somewhat confused, but all the Hogwarts students reacted at once.
People who wanted to kill Dumbledore and retrieve Voldemort's soul...
Wasn't that the Death Eaters?
Starting three years ago, they had been persistently trying to stir up trouble. First Voldemort himself had infiltrated the school and then been sealed away. Then came the Chamber of Secrets crisis that had caused panic throughout the school, ultimately sending half the school governors to Azkaban. And there were even rumors that last year's werewolf attack incidents, which had caused an uproar across Britain, had their shadow behind them as well...
And they still had no intention of stopping?
Not only that, the scale was getting bigger and bigger.
They had even invited Grindelwald back!
Right. Speaking of Grindelwald...
"Ms. Goshawk, then what exactly is going on with Grindelwald, who is currently fighting the Headmaster?"
The moment that name was mentioned, the crowd—who had relaxed somewhat because of the previous news—became tense again.
The students, especially the Durmstrang students, had long since heard of the name of that once-notorious Dark Lord. Naturally, they also knew just how serious it was for him to suddenly break free from the tower that had imprisoned him for fifty years.
With bad luck, this might even be the beginning of another great upheaval throughout magical society!
"Grindelwald?"
Unexpectedly, after hearing that name, not only did Goshawk and the others not look nervous, they almost could not hold back their laughter.
"That is the most dramatic part of the plan arranged by Dumbledore, Karkaroff, and us... Forgive me for being unable to tell you the truth of that matter for the time being, but I can let you see it for yourselves."
As she spoke, Goshawk lightly waved her wand, summoning a large expanse of familiar mist out of thin air. It formed two screens in midair.
One screen still showed red and blue flames intertwined, clearly broadcasting the battle currently taking place underwater. The other screen displayed a familiar lakeshore.
Most astonishing of all, there were still a large number of figures in red robes gathered there, all raising their heads together and watching the scene on the mist screen...
"What's going on?!"
The Durmstrang students immediately broke into commotion.
"Didn't we all already evacuate here? Why are there still so many people left behind?!"
"There is no need to worry. Those are not Durmstrang students."
Seeing this, Goshawk could not help smiling again. Then, before they could begin checking one by one to see who was missing, she explained,
"Those are students from our university. They are responsible for pretending to be you, confusing the people who are about to arrive, and helping capture them at the end..."
"And there is no need to worry about their safety either."
"I suspect they are probably having more fun than anyone right now."
(End of Chapter)