In a tunnel that led to the center of the Quidditch Stadium, Asterion and Narcissa looked at each other with serious gazes. The crowd could be heard in the background, everyone seemed happy. But that joy was likely to fade on this day, which would be remembered for a long time.
"What do you mean, Asterion?" Narcisa listened to Asterion with a serious expression.
"Go back to the mansion and don't come out, take Daphne, Astoria, Andromeda and her family and don't come out until everything calms down again." Asterion repeated what he had said a few moments before, his eyes more serious than ever. Three days had passed, today would be the day that the last test of the International Tournament of Witchcraft and Wizardry would begin.
Everything seemed completely normal, even the most paranoid person couldn't have imagined that festivities on this scale could be the harbinger of war. But whether it was Asterion, Dumbledore, Rose or anyone else who knew about the conspiracy, they knew that it was all a cover for what was about to happen.
Asterion also discovered that Gabriele and Apolline Delacour were missing, with only Fleur and Luis Delacour still present at the time. He could imagine that Fleur had asked her mother and sister to disappear to be safe somewhere far away, something he himself was doing at the moment.
Narcissa looked at Asterion with a deep frown, there were countless questions in his mind, but seeing his eyes, unmatchably serious, she remained silent and nodded.
"Take care, Asterion. I love you, my little star." It was the only thing Narcissa could say before she left, leaving a gentle kiss on Asterion's forehead.
Asterion looked at her back and suppressed the feeling of unease running through his mind; there was no doubt, today would be the day that the Third Magical World War would begin.
It was a very good time for anyone who wanted to truly wreak havoc on the world. Asterion and Dumbledore were sure that Louis and Joseph wouldn't miss such a good opportunity right then!
Walking towards the light at the end of the tunnel, Asterion kept his face expressionless as he watched the light getting closer and closer and the voices of the crowd in the stands. For some reason, Asterion felt his heart calm down, unlike he thought it would when the time came.
Perhaps because he had already faced a lot of really big events, he wasn't so nervous or fearful, there was just a calmness in his mind.
Stepping through the blinding light of the tunnel entrance, Asterion saw the Quidditch stadium completely packed. Rose, Luna and Cedric waiting for him.
While Cedric seemed calm and well, the same couldn't be said for Rose and Luna. Both girls showed tense expressions, Luna in particular had a pale face and dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't had enough sleep.
"Someone was nervous about the third test." Cedric spoke in an amused tone, trying to make Luna feel better, but it obviously didn't work.
Rolling his eyes at the Hufflepuff Golden Boy's comments, Asterion stroked Luna's hair and spoke in a low tone, impossible for anyone else to hear. "Don't be nervous, Luna. Even if the sky falls, there will be people to hold it up. Me, Dumbledore and Rose."
"I'm not nervous, I just wanted to see far enough into the future to help you." Luna felt incredibly comfortable with the caresses in her hair, however, she spoke with a dissatisfied tone with the assumption that she was scared or afraid.
Raising an eyebrow, Asterion couldn't help but look at Luna with a reproachful look. Seeing the future was such a burden on the mind and body, many seers went mad in the later stages of life. He didn't want the same thing to happen to this sweet but incredibly strong girl.
Sensing his gaze, Luna stuck out her tongue in total defiance and didn't bother to say anything else to Asterion.
"Dumbledore has finished his preparations to prevent the two insects from escaping, if they move, they will die without any resistance." Rose approached Asterion, hugged him and murmured to him showing an intimacy in front of the audience, but it was only an act to mask her words, preventing anyone from reading her words through her lips.
Asterion nodded and thanked her. "Thank you for your hard work."
They both split up and lined up next to the other teams. Asterion felt a gaze fall on him and followed it, staring into Fleur's blue eyes. He showed no goodwill in her gaze, even a slight hostility.
Although Fleur had nothing to do with her father's actions, Asterion still harbored no goodwill towards this manipulative young woman. Perhaps it's normal for one manipulator to dislike another.
However, Fleur only smiled and winked seductively at him, although there was no sense of amusement in her eyes. The young woman looked more serious than Asterion himself, the difference in strength making her feel something completely different when faced with such a big crisis.
Asterion rolled his eyes and looked around, trying to find something suspicious and he did indeed find it, not difficult in the first place when the son of the German Minister was staring at him with a look of extreme hatred. A hatred so strong that it made Asterion feel genuinely confused.
He didn't really remember when he had offended Hans Weiss so deeply, although losing an arm was a real big deal, but it was Rose who had destroyed his arm, not him, so Patriarch Black was genuinely confused as to where such strong hatred from Hans came from.
"Uh?" Suddenly, Asterion noticed something unusual about Hans, apart from the obvious murderous intent towards him. He couldn't sense any magical energy coming from Hans' body, which completely confused him. Alchemical item?
Asterion quickly shook his head, denying the possibility that Hans had used an alchemical item to hide his magical energy so perfectly. They were at a tournament and Hans had obviously been searched when he entered the Quidditch Stadium.
Besides, hiding the magical energy was like putting Hans under a spotlight in front of everyone. The German team captain's lack of magical energy was extremely obvious.
However, Asterion didn't move and let the young man act as he pleased, he would die anyway, so it didn't matter if he was cheating or not. Yes, Asterion decided to kill all the members of the German team. No one would return to his homeland.
Originally, the French team was supposed to suffer the same fate as the German team, but since Fleur had betrayed her own father, country and talked about the conspiracies on the walls of Hogwarts, Asterion wasn't going to hurt the French team, not at the moment. If they met on the battlefield, he wouldn't mind finishing the job and killing them all at once.
Ignoring Hans Weiss's increasingly venomous and resentful glare at him, Asterion looked towards the VIP seats and his eyes met Dumbledore's. The man looked genuinely happy, acting skills that even he wanted to praise.
As if noticing his gaze, Dumbledore smiled kindly at Asterion and stood up with a gentle expression full of joy. He took the microphone and began to speak. "Good evening, world. I hope you haven't waited too long, because I'm just as excited to decide the champion."
"The Third Race is simple, get to the end of the Labyrinth and collect the Golden Cup. Of course, there may be a few obstacles along the way." Dumbledore's words had the crowd cheering, the first two trials had been brutal, there was no reason why the third shouldn't be!
It may sound strange, but most people had violent feelings welling up inside them, so watching something so brutal made the violence inside them feel satisfied, it was almost as if humans were programmed to get off on brutality.
Asterion couldn't help but cluck his tongue in annoyance, although competing was more interesting than he had imagined, being a monkey in a zoo for everyone to admire wasn't the best of sensations. He really wanted to know how world-class stars dealt with fame. It was suffocating to be in the spotlight all the time.
Suddenly, Asterion felt the gaze full of hatred and resentment again. He didn't even have to look to know that it was Hans Weiss, the man was really furious and full of hatred for him for some reason he genuinely didn't know. However, that didn't mean that Asterion liked being stared at like that.
Turning to look at the captain of the German Team, Asterion signaled with his finger near his own throat, as if to say that he was dead. And his actions practically made Hans spit flames of anger out of his eyes.
"You're going to die, and painfully." Asterion muttered to himself, feeling that Hans' gaze still hadn't left him, which was really pissing him off.
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