When the pumpkin juice spilled onto the Great Hall floor, a terrifying silence fell. Tom couldn't believe that Professor Moody was willing to openly show him the liquid from his own jug.
After emptying the jug, Moody opened his coat to show that he only had that one jug and not another with a Polyjuice Potion.
"Did you see it clearly?" Moody glared at Tom. "If you did, keep that thing to yourself!"
Moody felt that his temper had improved a lot. If it had been him from ten years ago, how could he have been pointed at with a wand? He would surely have punished the other person first before speaking.
Tom picked up his wand and looked embarrassed. He now realized that he had made a serious mistake. The Moody in front of him was undoubtedly the real Mad-Eye Moody.
"Professor Moody, I'm really sorry... I was just..."
"Just what? It's incredible what you can imagine!" Moody glared at Tom once again. Thinking about Tom's assumption made Moody impressed by the imagination of young wizards today. However, upon closer thought, it sent shivers down his spine, as it seemed like a real possibility.
If someone had attacked him before his arrival at Hogwarts and then used a Polyjuice Potion to transform into him, couldn't they infiltrate Hogwarts? Everyone knew that Mad-Eye Moody only drank what was in his horseshoe-shaped flask, which would be convenient for a dark wizard to carry a Polyjuice Potion in a similar flask.
Moody was an extremely suspicious person, so ideas that seemed absurd to others had considerable value to him.
Moody was an extremely suspicious person, so ideas that seemed absurd to others had considerable value to him.
"Alright, go rest in the common room, I've got matters to attend to!" Moody waved his hand for Tom to return to his dormitory. He didn't care much about Tom's offense. Everyone had a different focus on things, like a bag of vegetables containing a cauliflower snake: some people would be scared, while others would realize they had meat to eat. To Moody, even though Tom's appearance in the Great Hall tonight probably violated school rules, what really mattered to him was the vigilant attitude Tom displayed.
Moody was an extremely paranoid person and was always on high alert to deal with any potential danger. This made him somewhat paranoid. Moody had even broken a package in the past because he believed it was a Basilisk egg, but it turned out to be an alarm clock sent by someone.
But his paranoia was entirely justified! After all, Moody had experienced the wizarding wars as a proud Auror. The words "having experienced the wizarding wars" and "Auror" meant that Moody had witnessed and confronted more darkness in person than others might have heard about in their entire lives.
This personality trait made Moody greatly appreciate those who were crisis-conscious. In his view, the war was not over yet, and Voldemort's followers would return someday, but everyone had become careless and had succumbed to the sweetness of peace. This greatly disgusted Moody, but there wasn't much he could do about it. However, today he had finally found another good prospect at Hogwarts, even if his imagination was a bit exaggerated. Therefore, he didn't dwell on Tom's mistake but let it pass easily.
If Tom could hear Moody's internal thoughts, he would surely say that this is absurd. He wasn't such an extremely cautious person, at least not as exaggerated as Moody imagined. Who in their right mind could relate "drinking only from a specific jug" to "this individual has been replaced"? That was already paranoia.
Tom made that connection simply because Voldemort had played enough with his mind.
Since he didn't know what Moody was thinking, Tom also didn't understand why Moody let him go so easily. At least, he thought that this time he would be punished with several detentions. Although he didn't fully understand Moody's way of thinking, he took advantage of the moment before Moody changed his mind and hurried back to the Ravenclaw tower. At this moment, his classmates were already in deep slumber, and in the common room, only faint snores could be heard. Tom didn't do anything else; he simply lay down on his bed and, exhausted from the day, fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.
Meanwhile, in the headmaster's office, Dumbledore looked at Moody with a tired expression. "Alastor, so you stayed up all night just to suggest that I ban the use of opaque containers at Hogwarts?"
"That's right, it's a serious security issue," Moody replied seriously.
Dumbledore: ...
Shouldn't he be concerned about the mental state of his teachers?
The next day was Saturday, usually, students would stay in bed late before going to breakfast or ask a "dorm parent" in the dormitory to bring them breakfast to the common room. But today was different; many young wizards were eager to get up as soon as dawn broke and then rush to the Great Hall, surrounding the Goblet of Fire.
The allure of entering the Triwizard Tournament was much greater than sleeping in late. Many people didn't even have time to eat breakfast, opting to watch while nibbling on a piece of bread.
Fred and George were among those people. They yawned as they held a small notebook, ready to jot down the information of those who signed up.
"Here you go," George said as he handed a bacon sandwich to Fred.
"Thanks. Should we remove the option for Durmstrang? They already have Krum; I don't think there will be any surprises regarding their champion. Could anyone be better than Krum?"
"Yeah, you're right," George nodded. "Most people don't know much about Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. They'll likely end up picking someone familiar and attractive."
Durmstrang wasn't a problem; Viktor Krum already had a great reputation, and almost everyone had heard of him. But Beauxbatons was different— who knew which famous students they had? In the end, they'd probably say, "What's the name of that silver-haired girl? Let's pick her."
That's how the conversation went.
George sighed and said, "It's hard to believe that the legendary Krum is still a student, he's probably the most famous person among these three schools, don't you think?"
"Not necessarily," Fred shook his head. "If Harry and Tom could enter, they'd probably be as famous as Krum, maybe even more. Of course, our dear brother also has a chance; after all, he's 'the top graduate of Hogwarts in the last three years.'"
George laughed and then said seriously, "Yes, Percy Weasley has a great international reputation due to his strict standard for cauldron thickness."
The two looked at each other and then burst into laughter.
While they were engrossed in their conversation, Karkaroff led all the Durmstrang students to the Goblet of Fire. Unlike Hogwarts, where only students over seventeen could enter, all Durmstrang students could participate.
They watched as pieces of parchment were thrown into the Goblet, and Fred and George removed Durmstrang from their betting options. They had planned to make a big competition between the three schools, not just guessing the Hogwarts champion but also those from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, but now it seemed unrealistic.
After the Durmstrang students left, perhaps influenced by what they had witnessed, Fred and George felt restless. In their view, tricking the age line didn't seem so difficult. A bit of aging potion would solve the problem.
Just as they were about to take action, Fawcett from Ravenclaw walked straight up to the Goblet of Fire.
"Fred, look quickly!" George noticed something strange. "Wasn't Fawcett under seventeen?"
"You remember correctly; she used some kind of 'trick,'" Fred immediately perked up; he wanted to closely observe this brave "trailblazer" and learn from her experience.
Under the gaze of everyone, Miss Fawcett confidently crossed the age line and then flew out in front of everyone, with a beard on her chin.
Fred, George: !!!
The phrase "kill a chicken to scare the monkeys" fit perfectly here. Both were stunned by Miss Fawcett's fate. However, despite the shock, how could they be scared off by something so insignificant and abandon their plans?
They just became more cautious.
After Fawcett left with her hands on her face, Fred and George together analyzed the reasons for her failure.
"Maybe her potion didn't work well? You know, our potions are not of common quality..."
Faced with George's analysis, Fred furrowed his brow. He didn't have a hundred percent certainty on that matter. And if an unexpected event like that were to occur, the prize-winning betting contest they had planned could be severely affected.
However, they weren't willing to give up so easily.
"Fred, George, you're up quite early today!" A familiar voice rang out behind them. Without even turning around, they immediately recognized the owner of the voice, their good friend Lee Jordan.
Fred and George: Heh heh!
The two quickly reached an agreement.
"Lee, are you already seventeen?" Fred asked an obvious question. The three were close friends; how could they not know each other's birthdays? Fred knew that Lee Jordan was still not yet seventeen.
Lee Jordan shook his head.
"We're not seventeen yet either, what a shame," George continued the topic.
"Yeah, we're just a few months away," Lee Jordan looked at the blazing Goblet of Fire with disappointment on his face.
He fell into the trap! Fred and George pretended to be indifferent on the surface, but deep down, they were excited.
"If we win the tournament, the prize is a thousand Galleons!" Fred said with regret. This time, that statement came from the bottom of his heart; he and George really needed those thousand Galleons to make their dreams come true.
It must be said that Fred and George were experts at daydreaming. Even though they hadn't put their names forward yet, they were already thinking about how to spend the prize.
Lee Jordan remained silent for over ten seconds, then leaned in close to Fred's ear and whispered, "Do you two have any idea? We can register together and split the thousand Galleons in half."
Lee Jordan was also a master of crazy ideas.
"We get a potion that makes us age a few months..."
"Then what are you waiting for? Drink it and register right away!" Lee Jordan's eyes widened when he heard about this opportunity; he was excited.
"Okay!" George took a glass vial from his pocket and handed it to Lee Jordan.
Lee Jordan uncorked the vial and was about to take a sip when he suddenly felt something strange. He frowned and looked suspiciously at Fred and George. "Are you two tricking me?"
Fred's head shook like a rattle.
"No, surely you're hiding something from me!" After spending six years with Fred and George, Lee Jordan knew them so well that he even knew how many moles they had on their backsides. So even though there was no evidence, he sensed Fred's lie.
"I'm impressed with you." Fred voluntarily took a sip of the potion in the vial, and George, following his lead, also took a sip.
"Make sure not to drink too much; we only need a drop... Are you going to drink it or not?" George impatiently shook the glass vial.
"Alright." Although still a bit puzzled, Lee Jordan decided to trust his friends and took a small amount of the potion.
Then, Lee Jordan took the glass vial and drank a tiny drop of the liquid inside.
The three were ready, now there was only one step left.
"Are you ready?" Lee Jordan looked at the Goblet of Fire, trembling with excitement. This would be a legendary prank; once they succeeded, he, Fred, and George would be remembered as the kings of mischief.
After receiving confirmation from his companions, Lee Jordan took a deep breath and, in front of everyone's gaze, voluntarily crossed the age line.
At that moment, Fred even thought that Lee Jordan had succeeded, but in the next second, there was a loud bang in the Great Hall, and Lee Jordan was thrown out of the age line, with a white beard appearing on his chin.
Including Fred and George, everyone in the hall burst into laughter.
Fred and George laughed while secretly celebrating: luckily, Lee Jordan had taken the risk for them!
"You two rascals!" Seeing Fred and George laughing so happily, Jordan was furious.
"It's okay, it's okay," George helped Jordan up, and they went together to the hospital wing.
Shortly after the three left, Dumbledore arrived, yawning.
"Did I miss something fun?" He said in great disappointment. "I thought Fred and George would find a way to overcome my age line."
After learning about Fred and George's prank, Dumbledore looked at the age line with a thought in his mind: Should I design a one-second delay? That way, I could catch everyone in one fell swoop.
Following Lee Jordan's failed attempt, one after another, students entered their names into the Goblet of Fire, and their names were recorded in Tom's little book.