Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 361: Be an ordinary professor?
"Yes, we knew before the game started that his condition would definitely be unstable. After you tore up the soul contract, the two souls in Riddle's body could no longer reach a way to coexist peacefully."
Dumbledore said quietly.
"The strength of his soul is very important to him. This is why he suddenly became so powerful. But now if there are two different souls in his body and a conflict occurs, it will definitely have a great impact on him. At the very least, it will turn him back to his original form and make him lose the power that does not belong to him at all."
"It's just that Riddle obviously used some special means to temporarily reconcile the soul in his body and prevent the negative impact from continuing to expand. But this is obviously not a long-term solution. He must find other ways to stabilize this change in his soul. Just when he needed to do this the most, he showed up in the French Ministry of Magic and swore a blood oath with me to organize and hold this Triwizard Tournament."
Of course, John did not forget all this. He also knew that Voldemort's current condition was definitely not normal . The soul contract in Sir Stoke's tower was a very crucial thing to the dark devil. After he tore up the contract, it would be impossible for Voldemort to solve all his soul problems so easily.
"But Professor, we also analyzed it at the time. In addition to the fact that his purpose of holding this competition is related to his desire to repair his soul, there is a greater possibility that he wants to use the Triwizard Tournament to delay time. It will take at least a year until the end of the competition, and he can use this time to find a solution to his soul problem."
Dumbledore nodded.
"This is indeed a very strong possibility. If this is really the case, even if we find out his true intention, we will not be able to refuse to win this competition. This is equivalent to falling into his trap."
Jon said thoughtfully.
"But in fact, no matter whether it is an open or secret plot, we must win the Triwizard Tournament anyway. And regarding your arrangement in the castle, I think Cedric can be of great help to us."
Dumbledore blinked.
"Is that the boy you were talking about called Cedric Diggory?"
"Yes, he is brave and careful, and I can see that he has not been brainwashed by the Dark Lord's pure-blood education. He hates the current Hogwarts Castle. I think he should be able to help us."
Dumbledore didn't seem to deny Jon's suggestion;
"We certainly can't miss the opportunity, but we can't ignore his own ideas either. Even if we really want him to help, we have to make it clear to him that he will face danger and let him make the decision himself."
Of course, John agreed with this, and he did not stay in the headmaster's office to have any further conversation with Dumbledore.
It was already very late, and he had hardly had a good rest during the three days of the competition in the Forbidden Forest. He had to go to the Hog's Head Inn to find Hoss early tomorrow morning, and he would definitely need his help to deal with some matters concerning the centaurs.
So Jon and Hermione left the headmaster's office together, said goodbye and went back to their own dormitories.
In the headmaster's office where Dumbledore was the only one left, a conversation between all the former orthodox headmasters of Hogwarts was taking place.
"I trust my instincts." Salazar said solemnly, "I have dealt with Riddle before. Even if this was a deceived exchange, it gave me some understanding of his character and personality. Since he has already launched a plan to kill the castle, he must have made subsequent preparations after eliminating the vitality of Hogwarts Castle. Otherwise, as you said, if it was just to destroy Hogwarts Castle, he would not have to waste so much effort. With his ability, it is not difficult for him to completely eliminate this school from the world."
"Moreover, today when Jon was guiding those fire dragons and planning to have them destroy the castle, he finally rushed back to protect this place. This shows that he at least didn't want this school to be destroyed, at least not in a superficial way."
Dumbledore crossed his fingers, his expression was unfathomably calm.
"But if his goal is to truly become the headmaster of Hogwarts and the master of this castle, then what benefits will this bring to him?"
All the principals on the wall were unable to answer his question. They really couldn't figure out what he would gain even if he was admitted by the castle.
Dumbledore thought for a long time, and suddenly a somewhat dumb smile appeared on his face.
"Is it true that, as he told me when he made the bet, his original wish was just to become an ordinary Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in Hogwarts Castle?"
Hearing his guess, the principals looked at each other, and then there was a slight laugh.
Apparently, most of them thought Dumbledore was just telling a joke that wasn't very funny.
…
The result of the first event of the Triwizard Tournament made headlines in almost all magic newspapers across Europe early the next morning.
It is no exaggeration to say that more than two-thirds of the wizards in Europe are paying attention to this game that concerns the fate of the French wizarding world, and the news in the newspapers makes most people feel unbelievable.
What was unbelievable was certainly not the final score of the first event. In some betting odds, Jon had the lowest odds of winning.
With his current record and strength, most people believe that he will shine in this game, and almost no one is optimistic about Draco.
The result of the game was exactly like this, without any surprises. This made some wizards who wanted to bet against the high odds go bankrupt and were ready to fly to a height of more than 100 meters on their broomsticks and jump down.
What really shocked them was the incident of Hogwarts Castle being attacked by a dragon, and many newspapers directly and secretly stated that John himself was responsible for this situation.
At the same time, news also spread that John accused Voldemort of cheating and tampering with the Golden Snitch, causing the dragons to riot and almost trap and kill him.
This looked like a scenario where Voldemort lost more than he gained, which increased the popularity of the game even more.
It also makes more wizards look forward to the second event of the Triwizard Tournament, which is tentatively scheduled to start on January 1st, the first day of the second year after Christmas.
