Ivan could guess what Ron was thinking, but he ignored him. He had a lot on his plate and couldn't spare much time trying to talk sense into Ron.
However, since Ron was willing to come, it at least meant that he had come to his senses, although it was unknown why he did not apologise and make up with Harry as he had done in the original timeline.
Looking away from Ron, Ivan glanced around and spotted Luna in the crowd. The little witch was leaning against the entrance of the tent, holding a wooden sign. Like Ron, she had no intention of coming over.
Their eyes soon met, and Luna gave a quick wink and displayed the wooden sign in her hand.
Ivan instantly saw that it was the wooden tablet that Luna had made for herself during the Quidditch match last year.
However, in addition to the slogans cheering him on, his well-known titles were written all around in ink of various colors —
Gryffindor's Champion, Hogwarts Star, Troll Killer and… Dragoon, the latter of which looks as if it has just been written.
Ivan even saw the name "Gryffindor pitching machine" written in purple ink on the corner of the wooden sign, and his face turned red with embarrassment.
Luna had no intention of staying in the tent for long. After showing Ivan her modified wooden sign, she carried it away…
"What are you looking at, Yvonne?" Hermione asked, noticing that Yvonne was staring in the same direction for a long time. Hermione looked curiously in the same direction, but saw no one there.
"No, nothing!" Ivan hesitated, then shook his head.
Hermione gave Ivan a dubious look, but before she could ask any more questions, Harry, Moody, and Professor McGonagall approached her.
"Well done, lad! You're the first underage wizard to ever defeat a dragon, and that alone will go down in history!" Moody said with a smile as he trotted over to Ivan on wooden legs.
McGonagall was amazed at how much Ivan had changed in the summer.
She felt confident that she could subdue a dragon with the help of the Transfiguration Charm, but it would never be as easy as Ivan made it seem.
This undoubtedly proved that Ivan had surpassed him in the art of Transfiguration!
Ivan was very calm in the face of Moody's praise. He had known that he would be recorded in history when he first made the Wolfsbane Potion, and now he was just adding to it.
As the tent became more and more crowded, a piercing whistle sounded again, followed by Bagman's booming voice.
"Now let's reveal the final score for each champion!"
"Go on, Harls, Potter, they should be giving you marks!" Professor McGonagall urged.
Yvonne nodded, and she and Harry left the lounge to return to the paddock, Hermione following, not wanting to miss such an important moment.
Fleur and Krum, who had left earlier, arrived early and were seated near the judges, looking tense and nervous.
Ivan and the others found some empty seats and sat down.
Bagman cleared his throat and turned his attention to Fleur. "We will now begin the judging," he announced. "The highest score for each referee is ten points!"
"First, the champion of Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour! She used an ancient charm to hypnotise the dragon and obtained the egg! Time elapsed: thirty-nine minutes and twenty-three seconds! Now, judges, please give a fair assessment!"
With that, Bagman took the lead and held up a sign that read — Five Points!
Crouch was also quick to give his score — six points.
Dumbledore waved his wand and shot a beam of light into the sky, revealing a large "seven".
Maxim hesitated for a long time before slowly raising his wand and spitting the word "nine" into the air.
Karkaroff did the same, generously giving Fleur nine points.
The young wizards in the audience were unhappy with the two's attempt to raise their points. With Ivan's spectacular match as a reference, Fleur's use of the charm to hypnotise the dragon to take the egg seemed too boring. Nine points was too high!
"Warrior Fleur, thirty-six points for the first match!" Bagman shouted, turning to Harry to introduce the second champion.
Harry, who passed the game unscathed with the help of the Fly-kinden and Eye-Disease Charms, was second only to Ivan in the paddock, so he scored a further 43 points than Fleur.
Krum, on the other hand, received a total of only thirty-two points, due to the dragon's near-death experience at the start of the match and the fact that he was suspected of copying Harry's method of clearing the game.
"And finally, our fourth champion, Ivan Hals!" Bagman announced, his voice thick with emotion. He looked at Ivan from a distance, but did not seem eager for the judges to rate him.
"We've all seen Hars's performance during the match. He is the only player to have successfully defeated the dragon. He is a worthy champion! Let's cheer for him!"
The atmosphere in the paddock became heated, and everyone's eyes fell on Ivan, who was standing at the edge of the paddock.
Bagman waited for the cheers to die down a little, then raised his voice and continued, "I believe today's events will go down in history, and I would like to invite the judges to give their fair judgement!"
"If you don't mind, I'll go first, and I'll personally give you ten points for Harls's wonderful performance!"
Bagman glanced at Karkaroff and Maxim as he spoke.
Crouch and Dumbledore did not hesitate to give it full marks.
Maxim did not move for a long time, and she was visibly upset, as they had agreed that she should score an ultra-low point to balance things out, so that Fleur would be able to tie the score for the rest of the game.
However, Ivan's performance in the first task was too shocking, and Maxim was confident that if he did not give her a perfect score, there would be a thousand Howlers in her carriage the next morning, drowning her.
After all, the Triwizard Cup was an important event that the European wizarding community paid close attention to…
Maxim sighed as he thought about this, and finally waved his wand to give a ten!