Noticing the trio's bizarre stares, Maurise looked up and asked curiously, "What is it?"
Kyle handed the newspaper to him. "See for yourself."
Maurise took the paper.
The front page was entirely dedicated to an article about the Triwizard Tournament, written by Rita Skeeter. The first thing to catch his eye was a massive photograph of Harry Potter, taking up nearly a quarter of the page—it was even larger than the group photo of the four champions.
Below that was a lengthy feature on Harry. It was classic Rita Skeeter: a cocktail of half-truths, fabricated drama, and highly questionable quotes.
"I suppose I get my strength from my parents... yes, sometimes at night, I still cry for them. I don't feel ashamed to admit it..."
Maurise was absolutely certain Harry had never uttered those words.
Using someone's deceased parents to manufacture a cheap sob story was truly despicable behavior.
'Rita Skeeter, you really are something else,' he thought, his disgust for the woman deepening.
However, Fred, George, and Kyle clearly weren't giving him those strange looks because of Harry's sob story.
Maurise continued reading. At the very end of the article, there was a collage of the champions' "daily life" photos. Judging from the angles, they had all been taken secretly.
The most prominent photo among them was a candid shot of Fleur and Maurise.
It was the exact moment from the owl attack incident.
In the photograph, Fleur was falling backward, and Maurise was standing beside her, holding her hand while casting the Petrification Charm on the owl.
Originally, this had been a perfectly normal, albeit chaotic, scene. However, the photographer had chosen an incredibly clever angle. The two of them appeared deeply intimate, their faces seemingly pressed close together.
Fleur's hair was a tangled mess, looking as though she had just been through a vigorous ordeal, and a few stray strands were draped over Maurise's shoulder. Furthermore, the red scratch on her face left by the owl's talons had been caught in the sunlight, making it look like a highly suggestive, flushed blush.
The message conveyed by the photograph was blatantly clear and required no further explanation. In fact, the author of the article had very sneakily chosen not to include a single caption for it.
"..."
Maurise was utterly speechless. That was it? He had thought something genuinely terrible had happened.
Fred grinned widely and asked excitedly, "So, when exactly did you and Fleur Delacour start dating?"
Maurise shrugged. "Imagine whatever you like. But let me remind you, this is a report by Rita Skeeter." He acted as though he couldn't care less.
"How boring," Fred muttered, his excitement deflating.
He naturally knew exactly what kind of journalist Skeeter was. This photograph had highly likely been doctored or taken completely out of context. Rita Skeeter would do absolutely anything for a sensational headline.
However, not everyone shared Fred's rational perspective.
'Maurise Black and Fleur Delacour are dating.'
This rumor spread through Hogwarts like wildfire, practically conquering the entire school in a single day. They were students, after all; they lived for this kind of juicy gossip. The fact that it involved two Triwizard Champions only poured fuel on the flames.
In the days that followed, whenever Maurise walked down the corridors, he was met with a bizarre array of stares: curiosity, admiration, envy, hostility...
Of course, Maurise couldn't have cared less. He had always been the center of attention; he was thoroughly used to it. Whenever someone bothered to ask him directly, he would simply clarify the situation.
As for Fleur, she completely ignored the rumors. When she bumped into Maurise, she even advised him not to take it to heart.
---
The weekend before the First Task was a Hogsmeade weekend.
Maurise didn't join the rest of the students in Hogsmeade; instead, he stayed behind in his Ship in a Bottle, tinkering with his magic. He had finally begun to grasp some of the core principles from the Mage's Grimoire.
Knock, knock!
Someone knocked on his bedroom door.
Maurise opened it to find Fred—no, wait, it was George.
While some twins might grow to look completely different, Fred and George were certainly not among them.
George's first words were, "Come look, Maurise! Fred and I finally finished our invention!"
"What invention?"
Maurise followed George out to the living room. Fred immediately bounded over, gripping a crystal ball roughly the size of a fist in each hand. They looked completely identical to the ones used in Divination class, but these were undeniably magical artifacts.
"Try this out!" Fred handed one of them over.
Maurise took the crystal ball and looked down. He was genuinely surprised by what he saw.
Inside the crystal ball, an image clearly materialized: Fred's face, the television behind him, and the surrounding layout of the living room.
"Is this..." Maurise asked immediately, "the same function as a Two-Way Mirror?"
Fred snapped his fingers. "Exactly."
He explained excitedly, "This is what we managed to reverse-engineer from that broken Two-Way Mirror. Unfortunately, we haven't figured out how to transmit sound yet, so it only provides a visual feed. We call them 'Surveillance Crystal Balls.'"
Maurise examined the crystal ball with great interest. Whenever Fred moved the ball in his hand, the image within Maurise's crystal ball shifted accordingly.
"Our thought was this," George said enthusiastically. "Maurise, perhaps you could integrate this function into your telepathic communication crystal balls. That would solve the audio issue completely."
"Ah, excellent idea," Maurise nodded.
If this integration was successful, his telepathic communication crystal balls would evolve from simple voice chat devices into full-fledged video chat terminals. It would be a massive leap forward.
For the rest of the day, Maurise discussed the intricacies of modifying the crystal balls with the twins. The process went incredibly smoothly.
By nightfall, Maurise had successfully integrated the video chat function into his telepathic crystal balls.
Furthermore, he commissioned the twins to manufacture a few extra pairs of Surveillance Crystal Balls for him. They were perfect for security purposes, and he planned to place a few around the Ship in a Bottle. The twins were, of course, more than happy to help.
---
Before long, it was the morning before the First Task.
Maurise hadn't even reached the Great Hall when Harry abruptly intercepted him and dragged him into a secluded corridor.
"What is it?" Maurise asked.
Harry glanced nervously from side to side. After confirming no one was around, he lowered his voice and whispered, "The First Task... it's dragons."
"Dragons?" Maurise didn't look particularly surprised. "Any specific details?"
"I don't know," Harry said, sounding frantic. "But whatever it is, we are definitely going to be facing fully grown dragons. We might even have to fight and kill one..."
He suddenly remembered that Maurise possessed a bone dragon.
"Do not worry," Maurise patted Harry on the shoulder, trying to calm him down. "They will definitely not ask you to kill a dragon. That is impossible for a single wizard to accomplish."
"Then what do you think the task is?" Harry asked, finally calming down slightly.
At this moment, he was incredibly thankful that Maurise was also a champion. Even though they were technically competitors, Maurise was clearly more than willing to share information with him—that was just the kind of person he was.
Maurise stroked his chin and guessed, "Perhaps surviving a dragon's attacks for a set amount of time?"
Harry's face crumpled in despair. He was absolutely certain he would be trampled flat in a single second.
"You both look rather troubled."
Suddenly, a voice sounded from right behind them.