The way back to the castle from the Black Lake was filled with laughter. Felix reckoned that they would occupy the great hall for a celebration, just like last time. The only difference would be that the champions from other schools also followed the crowd in the direction of the castle.
"We've achieved our goal, haven't we?" Bagman said as he stood next to him, "To get the students to cooperate in a competition."
"That doesn't sound like something that would come out of your mouth." Felix chuckled slightly.
"Oh, well ... it's actually Barty's statement that I ripped out of his office." Bagman explained in a whisper, "I'm not very good at this, but if we need to liven things up ... let's get back to business." He suddenly became restless.
"It's about that ... what do you call it, the magic projector?" He stammered and looked away as the students walked down the marble steps into the castle in a queue, with occasional "crackling" explosions, or red sparks shooting from the tip of someone's wand.
The projection screen on the shore of the Black Lake remained in place, and several Future World staff members circled around it. These projection screens will be dismantled and put into temporary storage until the next time they are used.
"That's right." Felix said, in fact, the magic gramophone and magic projector are not very different, the magic used in both are similar, but Felix hoped that the projector can project ordinary films.
He looked at Bagman, who wiped the sweat on his forehead, "I know that the 'Future World' company obtained the authorization to sell the footage of the second task to the public ..."
Felix nodded slightly and said calmly, "There is indeed a plan for that, the Tournament of Champions will bring no less talk than the Quidditch World Cup, and there is no worry about sales, the only problem is that Remus is trying to make the projector more refined. In Clammy's words, more magical ..."
"I can convince the Ministry of Magic to promote that footage," Bagman said, his head soaked with a dense layer of sweat that looked shiny in the sunlight. " We can convince Fudge easily... he's having a hard time lately, he's miscalculated things, no one seems to care whether the Ministry of Magic has secured another international collaboration on potions under his leadership, as people want more exciting and eye-catching information, such as a tournament of champions. One of my colleagues told me that other countries republished a lot of stories from our side."
"I'm not going to change the contract-"
"Oh, of course not, it won't affect you, I'm just making a suggestion which Fudge will agree to, he wants to divert the public's attention." Bagman said slowly, "You know, there's been a rumour going around the Ministry lately ... Dark Mark ... that old Barty was arrested, and Scrimgeour has a strong opinion... ..."
...
"Don't be a spoilsport, Hermione, we're definitely going to have some fun after a painful while." Ron said cheerfully.
Fleur and her companion had just left, and she had come over to thank Harry. She gave Harry a couple of kisses on the cheek, much to Ron's envy. The Uagadou champions then parted the crowd and praised Harry for that wonderful Patronus Charm.
Captain Nona Leibert also presented an amulet to Harry that looked like some sort of hollow knot woven from leaves and twigs.
"It will bless you." Nona said with confidence.
The other two Uagadou champions stood next to her like guards, and for the first time, Harry stood so close to them that he suddenly realized how tall all three of them are.
Harry took the knot and mumbled, "Thanks." Then he hooked it on his shirt.
"That looks nice." Nona said with a smile, and they turned to leave.
The trio was overwhelmed by what happened after that, as one champion after another looked for a chance to be alone with them just to have a few words. Even the gloomy and shrewd-looking Graves came forward to talk to them, Harry hadn't felt too comfortable with him before because he had tried to attack Hermione with a powerful spell, but to his surprise, he took the initiative to talk to them.
"Which direction sun rised?" Ron asked blankly.
"It should be a credit to Harry's Patronus." Hermione thought for a moment and answered.
"But, I just used one spell." Harry said with wide eyes, "They look at me like I've done something amazing ..."
"Oh, well, it was different Harry." Hermione said with half admiration and half regret in her eyes as she looked at him.
Harry looked back with some uncertainty.
"By the end of the tournament, everyone was exhausted, and if it weren't for your Patronus, they might have been caught back by the Merpeople in one fell swoop, and that's a very big difference - the difference between success and failure in evaluation," Hermione said, "I think that's why they are grateful to you."
"So," Ron was taken aback, "we had a chance to be even well ahead of everyone in the second task?"
"Just a possibility." Hermione said with a stern face, "I guess if that happened, maybe the other teams would have scored half of what they are now, but that's all speculation, after all, Harry had already made his choice."
Harry scratched his head before he didn't consider that much, he just felt that on that occasion he had to do something, not to mention Cedric and the group were also involved as well. Hermione's words made him blush a little, luckily at that moment the Weasley twins passed in front of them, so he winked at them as he followed the pair.
"Hello, Mr. Bagman ... can we buy you a drink?" Fred and George said with smiles as they stepped forward.
"Oh, uh, boys ... well, let's go talk over there ..." Bagman said, leading Fred and George out in a hurry, narrowly avoiding colliding with Harry, Ron, and Hermione who were following them, they tacitly slowed their pace, while keeping their ears open to listen.
"I'll get the payment soon, when? It's today. So don't worry, boys!" Bagman said in a raised voice, and then he disappeared into the great hall with the twins.
"Guess what they-Oh, Professor." Hermione said as she looked at Felix.
Harry and Ron also greeted him. Felix nodded at them and smiled, "Congratulations." He said meaningfully, "You guys are going to be famous for this game."
"Is it in the newspaper?" Ron asked with interest, "I saw quite a few journalists showing up, but they only turned around when we came out of the black lake, and then they focused their cameras on the distinguished guests again." He added pointedly.
"Probably much more than that." Felix chuckled, "Maybe you'll get your own fan mail ... in a month or two, I reckon?"
It left the trio puzzled.
Near the end of the evening, Sirius knocked on the office door hurriedly, "Felix, I need to borrow your fireplace. I almost forgot, I promised to go back to school to organize the equipment, old Verner alone can not handle ..."
"How was school life?" Felix asked him, sitting behind a table.
"Just the same," Sirius said vaguely, while hastily grabbing a puff of Floo powder and sprinkling it in the fireplace, "those unruly students ... are everywhere, sometimes I really want to hit them on the head with my wand. "
"Maybe that's what worries Dumbledore," Felix said.
Sirius stared at him, froze for a moment, and shouted, "You mean he's worried about me beating up students? I'm not always so much-"
"I didn't say any of that," Felix said in a teasing tone as he looked at him with a smirk, "but surely you can no longer see yourself as a student, perhaps you like the title The King of Children? Want to be the head of Gryffindor House?"
Sirius gestured a rude gesture and disappeared into the rising turquoise flames.
Felix withdrew his attention and stared at the Book of Runes on the table.
It lay there quietly, flickering every few seconds as if it is breathing rhythmically. Whether it is breathing or not he is not sure, but he knows one thing, the book is indeed evolving.
In the beginning, he just wanted to organize the runes he had learned, then he chose the shape of the book for convenience, and also because of habit. At first, the book of runes was completely illusory, without a bit of solidity, and then there was the first page, the second page.
Felix said softly: "In fact, I should have thought of it long ago, the number is meaningless, my understanding of ancient runes forms the core of the book, when one after another filled in, these runes will spontaneously find the optimal alignment ... Finally, it's time to harvest. "
His index finger gently brushed the spine of the book, and the book of runes opened in a flash.
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