Understanding Sirius and the others' good intentions, Kasenhis stopped meddling in Hagrid and Madame Maxime's affairs.
He was still a little bit selfish. If it was about reputation, money, or power, he didn't really care. Those were easy to give up.
But if it was about friends…
Emm…
Even selfish Professor Kasenhis, though he wouldn't deliberately sabotage things, also couldn't bring himself to send Hagrid off to Beauxbatons.
Alright, a bit of a dark little thought.
Time passed quickly. For example, right now, Cedric and Harley were standing in front of Kasenhis, visibly nervous.
Kasenhis didn't say much. He simply took out two Ender Pearls and handed them to the pair.
"If you run into danger, smash this. I'll appear at the spot where it breaks."
"The match is tomorrow. You both know there's a traitor inside Hogwarts. This year, the only major event at Hogwarts is the Triwizard Tournament. I don't believe that guy can hold out until the end of term. If nothing unexpected happens, he'll make his move tomorrow."
Cedric and Harley took the pearls and carefully slipped them into their pockets.
Seeing this, Kasenhis waved his hand, telling the two of them to head back to their own places. Cedric nodded and left, while Harley clearly still didn't quite understand and stayed behind.
"Professor, logically speaking, that potion of mine should only last for a month. Why am I still a girl now?"
Kasenhis also fell silent, rubbing his chin. "That's true. In theory, you should've reverted by now. Could it be that the dosage I took from Severus back then was off?"
"Then, Professor… should we go ask Snape?" Harley suggested.
"Wait until after your match tomorrow. If the antidote has any side effects, it might affect your performance," Kasenhis explained.
"Alright."
......
Early the next morning, Kasenhis sat in the stands. He had gone to bed early last night precisely so he could monitor every corner of the arena nonstop for twenty-four hours today.
Harley and Cedric were now standing in front of the maze. To be honest, there was quite a gap in their scores. After Cedric entered the maze first, Harley still had to wait a fair while before she could go in.
But once inside, the two of them advanced at an astonishing pace.
Why was that…
Because this maze had been designed by the British Ministry of Magic, and its construction had been done by Kasenhis himself, stacking leaf blocks one by one.
To make the two of them run the maze in a more "natural" way, Kasenhis even designed a directional sequence for them. Basically, after entering it was right, left, left, that sort of thing. To avoid it looking too much like cheating, he even deliberately designed a few forks so they'd have to turn back at certain points.
Pure spoon-feeding, straight into their mouths.
And the two of them didn't disappoint. You could say they arrived in front of the trophy almost at the same time.
"Harley, which one of us?" Cedric took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
"You do it. Dumbledore already said that if I win the championship, the trophy and the champion's title will seamlessly pass on to the next person behind me," Harley said with a helpless shrug.
"He really dug a huge pit for us there," Cedric sighed.
"Mm-hm. Maybe he never even thought I could win in the first place. Even if I did, my win wouldn't exactly be glorious. I basically cheated in all three tasks," Harley joked bluntly.
"Just relax," Cedric nodded, offering a completely mismatched bit of comfort as he slowly walked toward the trophy.
Just as he was about to lift it, a pale blue spell shot out from the leaves toward him. He spotted it in time and swiftly knocked it aside with his mechanical arm.
"Who is it?!" He stared at the wall of leaves that had fired the spell.
The next instant, another golden streak of light shot straight toward Harley. Cedric once again moved in front of her, but this time the mechanical arm didn't react in time, and the streak struck Cedric squarely in the chest.
Harley watched with her own eyes as Cedric blocked the attack for her, then vanished. Enraged, she went all out, blasting every destructive spell she could cast at the leaf wall.
At the same time, she quickly pulled the Ender Pearl from her pocket and smashed it against the ground.
Crack!
"Harley, all I can say is that Cedric needs my help more than you right now." Kasenhis was summoned over just like that, with the first drop of blood still clinging to his mechanical arm.
Only a second earlier, he had been in a desolate graveyard. Cedric had smashed his Ender Pearl before Harley did.
Seeing this, the person hiding in the shadows instantly changed tactics. In the current situation, there was no way Harley could be taken away anymore.
In that case, the primary task still had to be completed.
The next moment, Harley's body suddenly split open with a number of strange wounds. Large amounts of blood drifted out from them, floating backward behind her.
Seeing this, Kasenhis sent a surge of magic blasting along the direction the blood was drifting. After an explosion, a humanoid figure appeared in midair, holding a bottle.
They collected some of Harley's blood, then quickly rushed toward the trophy and slapped a hand onto it.
Buzz!
"Stay here. I'm going to find Cedric." With Harley's side handled, Kasenhis immediately rushed back to that ruined graveyard.
Cedric, who had been struggling to maneuver between gravestones using spells that weren't particularly powerful and the high mobility of his mechanical arm, suddenly heard a familiar buzzing sound.
Another Death Eater appeared in the graveyard holding the trophy, even waving the small red bottle in his hand toward the swaddled figure.
Then another appeared.
Cedric's eyes widened. He saw Kasenhis abruptly appear in front of him, two mechanical arms shooting out at lightning speed and piercing straight through the chests of two Death Eaters.
"That's enough, retreat!" The person wrapped in swaddling shouted as soon as he saw Kasenhis return yet again.
These Death Eaters might not have been particularly fierce in a fight, but when it came to running away, they were truly impressive. In barely two seconds, the entire graveyard was left with only Cedric and Kasenhis.
Oh, and an opened coffin, with the corpse inside missing a leg.
"Professor!" Cedric was just about to explain when Kasenhis stopped him.
"When the time comes and everyone's here, you can explain it all together," Kasenhis said reassuringly as he patted Cedric on the shoulder.
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