"I know that what happened today may seem a little too bizarre for all of you."
None of the four judges showed any surprise at the arrival of these unexpected guests. Karkaroff even seemed to smile a little.
"Whether it was Mr. Ludo Bagman's betrayal, Professor Dumbledore disguising himself as Grindelwald, the Dark wizards who appeared earlier, Voldemort, or the guests who have now arrived... Yes, in every sense, today will be an extraordinarily unusual day."
"And by unusual, I mean far more than something as simple as the conclusion of the Triwizard Tournament, or the capture of Voldemort's remnants. I mean something that can truly be called epoch-making, something whose influence is no less than the invention of the wand or the signing of the Statute of Secrecy. And we—all of us present here, as well as everyone at Hogwarts and Beauxbatons watching remotely—are the luckiest of people, able to witness this moment with our own eyes. Everything that happened before was merely a small prelude to this matter..."
"An influence no less than the Statute of Secrecy?!"
Everyone was startled by Karkaroff's exaggerated wording.
The invention of the wand was naturally the most important event in the entire history of magic, bar none. And the signing of the Statute of Secrecy back then had likewise been something that truly changed the way every wizard in the world lived, exerting a fundamental influence on later social changes and the development of magic.
Although whether that influence was good or bad remained controversial to this day, none of that could change the fact that the signing of the Statute of Secrecy itself had become one of the most important milestones in magical history.
And now, an event whose influence could rival those two things had suddenly happened right before their eyes, without the slightest warning?
"...What else could there be? Haven't all those Dark wizards already been caught?"
The students looked around one by one, exchanging glances with the classmates beside them, only to see the same confusion in each other's eyes.
"Has Voldemort's organization been completely destroyed? That's indeed rather important for the present day, but there's no way it could compare to the Statute of Secrecy... Or is the Ministry of Magic about to introduce some subversive new law? Or are the three magic schools going to jointly announce some epoch-making academic achievement?"
"Or... does it have something to do with that university that suddenly appeared?"
"In that case,"
Only after the buzzing discussions in the crowd gradually quieted did Karkaroff continue, sounding rather pleased with himself.
"Let us invite the headmaster of Hogwarts, and also an important participant in this incident, Professor Albus Dumbledore, to explain the full story to everyone."
As he spoke, he patted Dumbledore on the shoulder and sat down.
After that, Dumbledore stood, his expression solemn as he pointed his wand at his throat and spread his voice across the entire venue.
"If I wish to explain everything clearly, I may first need to tell everyone from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang about several matters that occurred in Britain. These matters are the origin of all the changes that happened today..."
"Voldemort—I believe many of you should have heard this name and know what he once did, so I will speak of it briefly. He was defeated once thirteen years ago, and that defeat should originally have killed him outright. But due to a certain ancient and evil Dark Magic, his soul remained in this world in a form separated from his body, and he had been searching all along for a way to return to life..."
Dumbledore spent several minutes swiftly and clearly laying out the full sequence of events, from Voldemort's state after his death, to how he had been lured by the Philosopher's Stone three years ago and thoroughly sealed away, and then to how his subordinates had sent "a conscious Dark magical object" into Hogwarts two years ago, resulting in the opening of the Chamber of Secrets.
"After that, those people who used the banner of pure-blood glory to harm the entire magical society for the sake of their own interests temporarily fell into silence. But there are rumors that during this so-called 'silence,' they were not idle either. For instance, the werewolf attack incident that shocked Britain last year is suspected to have been pushed forward by them behind the scenes... And their apparent silence ended in the first half of last year, when the plan for this Triwizard Tournament was born."
Dumbledore paused, seeming to organize his thoughts again before continuing.
"At that time, they had already fully realized that without Voldemort as their backer, it was almost impossible for them to achieve their goals. The firm opposition of the entire magical society, as well as a small contribution of my own, also placed them under tremendous pressure at all times... In order to resolve the problem before them, they came up with a plan."
"In this absurd plan, they intended to achieve two objectives at the same time. One was to recover their backer—in other words, to resurrect Voldemort completely. The other was to remove what they saw as their greatest stumbling block, namely myself. To be honest, this was also one of the signs of their shortsightedness. If they had thought just a little farther ahead, it would not have been difficult for them to discover that among all the forces obstructing them, the part that came from Albus Dumbledore was only the most insignificant little bit..."
After his habitual moment of self-deprecation, Dumbledore continued.
"But because Voldemort's soul had already been placed under my watch, resurrecting him and killing me were almost the same thing... Therefore, in order to deal with me, they planned to invite my old opponent, Gellert Grindelwald, to come out of retirement and cooperate with their trap to eliminate me completely."
The pure-blood families actually took the initiative to invite Grindelwald to deal with Dumbledore?
Standing behind Dumbledore, Avada raised his eyebrows.
Did they not know what relationship those two have?
And besides, thanks to Lucius, didn't they still think I was somehow connected to Grindelwald? They clearly knew I was still studying under Dumbledore, and even cooperating with him, yet they still dared to invite Grindelwald out just like that?
There must be something else hidden in the middle of all this...
"Fortunately, an informant I had planted among them discovered their conspiracy in time. So I made use of the fact that Nurmengard Prison's location is difficult to find and successfully constructed a fake Nurmengard, guiding them to infiltrate that place and reach an agreement with the fake Grindelwald I had arranged. The next step was how to lure me into the trap."
"As it happened, the proposal to restart the Triwizard Tournament had also been discussed almost to completion at that time. Therefore, they used their influence and pushed the matter along, setting the Tournament for this year. At the same time, they bewitched Mr. Ludo Bagman, who was troubled by debts, and had him agree to play the role of victim in the first task. Then, using that opportunity, they had one of their own replace Mr. Bagman with Polyjuice Potion, placing a chess piece beside me."
"Yes, the Bagman who betrayed us earlier was an impostor. The real Mr. Bagman has now been rescued, and due to health reasons, he is still resting. I expect you will be able to see news about him in the papers in a few days... And apart from him, Professor Karkaroff also became one of their recruitment targets."
"As all of you should have heard, there have long been some unpleasant rumors surrounding Professor Karkaroff, slandering him as a former servant of Voldemort. It was precisely because of this that some of those Death Eaters believed it to be true and developed the intention of recruiting him. Karkaroff pretended to accept their recruitment, then worked with me, Madame Maxime, and Mr. Crouch in secret, using a false victory at the end to lure them out and capture them all in one fell swoop... That is everything that happened today."
...They're trying to completely whitewash Karkaroff?
Avada listened in astonishment.
What is this? One of the conditions of their cooperation? And although this explanation can barely withstand scrutiny, there are still far too many unclear details. Who knows how much has been hidden from the public...
"All right. That is what happened today."
Suddenly, Dumbledore changed his previous solemn expression and clapped his hands cheerfully.
"Next, please allow me to briefly introduce the matter that is about to change the entire magical society..."
"The world's first magical university, Leach University, will begin public enrollment today for Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang."
(End of Chapter)