Chapter 483: Bagman's Suspicious Behavior

"Harry!" Bagman's baby face showed a bright smile, "I just hope to meet you! How are you? Is everything okay?"

"Very good, thank you." Harry's expression was stiff. He had never been used to Bagman's strange enthusiasm for him.

"I wonder if I can have a few words with you alone, Harry?" Bagman smiled and looked at the people around him, "Excuse me, can you make it easier for us?"

"Uh..." Ron didn't really want to agree.

"Okay!" Hermione responded crisply, picked up two glasses of butterbeer and put them into Loren's hands, walked around behind him, stretched out her two hands and put them on his shoulders, pushed him and went to find something else. Seats were taken.

Ron glanced at Bagman and followed him.

Loren was restrained by two full glasses of butterbeer, and there was a driver behind her, so she could only push her forward.

"Aren't you curious what they would say?"

"curious!"

"Then you are still leaving?"

"Lower his guard."

"How despicable, Pilot Granger."

"I know you think so too, Morgan Cart."

"..."

The two walked around several tables and chairs, and finally found a seat not far behind Bagman to sit down, with Ron following behind.

The three of them looked at each other and tacitly agreed to keep quiet, eavesdropping on the conversation not far away.

Bagman smiled helplessly at Harry: "Actually, what I mean is that we can leave alone for a while."

"The result is the same..." Harry looked over Bagman's shoulder and met the eyes of the three people behind him. His eyes moved slightly, and then he moved away calmly.

"Your friends are so considerate, especially the red-haired boy." Bagman winked at him, with a weird smile on his face, "I remember his name was Ron, right? He's a child of the Weasley family. There are so many that I can’t remember their names.”

"Yes, Ron Weasley..." Harry looked at his expression, not sure what he wanted to do.

"The friendship in school days is the most memorable, isn't it? You should understand, it's like a treasure..." Bagman blinked again, which made Harry feel uncomfortable in his heart.

"Mr. Bagman, what do you want from me?"

"Oh, Harry, I want to congratulate you again on your excellent performance in dealing with that tree peak." Bagman praised sincerely, "It's great! Clean and neat!"

"Thank you." Harry frowned slightly. If it was just a blessing, he wouldn't have to move Loren and the others away at all.

However, Bagman seems to be in no rush to uncover the answer to the mystery, or there may be some clues that he has not noticed.

Harry paid attention to Bagman's gaze and saw him glancing at the goblins on the other side of the bar in the mirror. The goblins' clothing styles were very different and they did not seem to be local. They all had squinting black eyes and were looking here silently. .

"It's an absolute nightmare." Bagman saw Harry looking at the goblins and said in a low voice, "They speak terrible English. It's like going back to the Quidditch World Cup with those... The Bulgarians are entangled..."

"But at least the Bulgarians can make gestures so that people can understand. These guys kept mumbling and talking in their turkey language..." Bagman gave a low and short laugh.

Harry noticed that the goblins looked at Bagman warily, as if they regarded him as a prisoner and were worried that he would escape.

He couldn't help but wonder: "What do they want?"

"Uh... they..." Bagman suddenly became nervous, "They are looking for Barty Crouch."

"Why come here to find him? Can't they contact the Ministry of Magic?"

"Oh, Barty has handed over all the affairs of the Ministry of Magic to interns." Bagman stuttered, "He is only thinking about the Four Wizards Tournament now. Harry, you will not believe it. He actually plans to I threw it in-"

Bagman suddenly paused. He lowered his voice and looked around cautiously: "I can't tell you these things directly, and you must never tell anyone about this. Do you understand, ha?" profit?"

"Understand what?" Harry looked confused, "I didn't understand anything!"

"Yes, that's it!" Bagman said with a delighted smile, "Baty has been too busy recently and hasn't had much rest. He's a bit crazy. He actually handed over all the affairs of the department to interns... This is nothing. Good news, you know Rita Skeeter is still asking around, this matter will definitely be regarded as a disaster if it gets into the newspapers..."

"But fortunately, Rita Skeeter hasn't appeared for a long time..." Seeing Harry's increasingly confused eyes, he became nervous again and lowered his voice and said, "Well, after saying so much, I actually want to ask you, how are you doing with that golden egg?"

Golden Egg...Ron...Treasure

Harry vaguely grasped something. He looked at Bagman's face and said absently: "Well... not bad."

Bagman suddenly became a little anxious: "Is it okay? Haven't you—"

"Nothing?" Harry asked knowingly.

"Oh, Harry, the other warriors have already started to prepare... I can give you a hint."

"We should solve the mystery alone, shouldn't we?" Harry tried to sound casual and not sound like he was accusing the Director of the Department of Magical Sports and Sports for violating the rules.

"Oh, yes..." Bagman paused and said cautiously: "Listen, Harry, I feel very sad about all this. You were forced into this competition. No one was optimistic about you. You didn't participate voluntarily..."

Bagman's voice was very low, and Harry had to get closer to hear it clearly: "If I can help, I will give you a little help... It's not a bad thing. I am optimistic about you and hope that you can be smoother... It's okay, as long as you say a word."

"Thank you, but I have almost studied the golden egg."

"Really?" Bagman was a little annoyed.

"Yes, the secret is in the water, isn't it?" Harry knew clearly that Bagman was a member of the jury, and he didn't need to hide it.

This sentence was like a happy spell, making Bagman smile all of a sudden: "Oh, yes, I knew you could solve it, you are very smart, I saw it when you dealt with the dragon!"

"Well, I still have a lot of things to deal with, I have to go quickly." Bagman's smooth little face flushed, "Nice to see you... and your friends. Good luck, Harry."

He hurried out of the tavern, and the goblins all stood up from their chairs and followed him out.

Driver Granger pushed the Morgan cart back to the bar again, and asked as soon as he sat down: "What does he want?"

There was a very quiet sentence just now, and she didn't hear it clearly.

"He wants to give me some hints about the second project..." Harry took a sip of butter beer, "In fact, he has already given me hints."

"He shouldn't do this!" Hermione said sternly, "He is one of the referees!"

No one paid attention to her justice, even Loren was lazy.

Ron asked excitedly: "What is it?"

"You." Hermione slapped the table and said crisply, she heard the previous sentence clearly.

Harry was so depressed that his expression was uncomfortable. He finally had a chance to show his smart mind, but Hermione snatched it away.

"Me? What does it have to do with me?"

Harry's face was happy, but he heard Loren said quickly: "They are going to throw you into the lake and let Harry find you within an hour."

"!!"

Harry's eyebrows were tightly twisted together, and he looked very uncomfortable. He looked at Ron eagerly--

Ask about the reasoning process, ask about the process!

"Oh!" Ron clapped his hands and suddenly realized, "So the previous deliberate mention of me, and the messy friendship and so on, turned out to be hinting at this!"

Harry's eyebrows drooped, and he looked at the three people expressionlessly, his eyes blank.

Tired, want to sink all of you into the lake, the kind that won't pull you up.

"What do you think, Ron?" Hermione sipped butter beer.

"Nothing could be easier than this!" Ron said proudly, "Don't forget the coral stone, I can also be in the limelight then!"

"This is good for us, but be careful of unexpected situations..." Hermione looked at Loren unconsciously, and there was a circle of beer foam on the edge of his lips. She paused before continuing, "Did you buy the gilly grass?"

"Yes, it's quite expensive."

Harry came back to his senses and said, "He said the storage method was very special. Ron and I thought he was cheating us, so we used the bargaining method Loren taught us to talk to him and almost got kicked out."

Loren rested his chin on the table, his mind empty: "You didn't grasp the essence."

"..."

The rest of the time, the topic became relaxed. They lazily lay on the table in the tavern, and the Goblet of Fire and mermaids were temporarily put aside...

In the evening, sporadic lights were lit on the streets of Hogsmeade. The four of them left the tavern together and walked through the cold and wet path back to school.

The road was muddy and difficult to walk on due to the accumulated water from the melting ice and snow. Every step would leave mud spots on the trouser legs and hems.

It hadn't snowed heavily for several days. Occasionally, we saw sleet, but more often it was fine rain. The rain was not heavy, but it rained frequently, always in the middle of the night and early morning.

The weather warmed up, and the Black Lake began to thaw slowly. Durmstrang's big ship was still parked on the lake, with a straight mast, but it looked like a salvaged shipwreck, and the side bed was flashing a dim, misty light.

"Look, it's Krum!"

Following Ron's line of sight, he saw Krum walk from the cabin to the deck, wearing only a pair of swimming trunks, climbed up the side of the ship nimbly, stretched out his arms, and jumped into the water with a splash.

The black head was floating in the middle of the lake, swimming very fast.

Ron shuddered in empathy: "Hey, it's January now, it must be freezing!"

"He must be practicing for the second project." Harry said solemnly, "I wonder how he will solve the problem of breathing underwater..."

"Think about yourself." Loren clenched his right fist in front of his mouth and yawned, "Although you can breathe underwater, your swimming skills are definitely not as good as his."

"Yes, you have to practice hard!" Hermione nodded.

"Well, I'll try my best."

...

Sunday, the prefect's bathroom.

There was colorful mist floating in the room, and a thick layer of foam was spread on the surface of a pool of hot water. Harry suddenly surfaced, wiped the foam off his face, and exhaled comfortably and melancholy.

"This swimming speed is definitely not as fast as Krum's. There is no mermaid to lead the way for me during the competition..." Harry leaned against the pool and lamented, "What should I do..."

"Maybe I can help you." Myrtle sat on a faucet with her legs crossed, blinking at him from behind the thick lenses.

"Are you familiar with the underwater terrain?"

"Oh, I sometimes go to the lake." Myrtle spread her hands, "Sometimes I have no choice, someone flushed my toilet when I was not prepared..."

"..."

Harry restrained himself from thinking about such a scene, and mourned for the ghost girl in his heart for a few seconds, "Thank you very much."

"This is what friends should do, you're welcome, just come to my bathroom to see me from time to time."

"Uh, I'll try, but now please close your eyes again..." Harry climbed up, dried his body, and put on his clothes again, "Now, I have to go to Professor Snape to learn brain occlusion... Goodbye, Myrtle."

"Goodbye." Myrtle said melancholy.

...

Walking through the dark underground corridor, Harry walked lightly to the door of the Slytherin Headmaster's office, but before he knocked on the door, he heard a familiar voice from inside.

"We need to talk."

It was Headmaster Karkaroff of Durmstrang, and his voice was anxious.

"I'll talk to you in the evening, Igor." Snape said lightly.

"I want to talk now, while you can't slip away, Severus, you've been avoiding me lately..."

"...I don't understand why there's such a fuss, Igor."

"Severus, you can't pretend that this didn't happen!" Karkaroff's voice sounded panic and hoarse, as if he was afraid of being heard by others, "It has become more and more obvious over the past few months... I'm very worried now, I can't deny..."

"Then run away." Snape's voice was very impatient, "Run away, I will excuse you, but I want to stay in Hogwarts."

"Severus--"

Just as Karkaroff was about to pester, Snape suddenly raised his voice: "Come in, Potter."

Harry's heart skipped a few beats, and he quickly stopped thinking about it and pushed open the wooden door with a normal expression.

"Good afternoon, Professor."

When he saw Karkaroff standing beside him, he showed just the right amount of surprise, "Principal Karkaroff? Oh, nice to see you."

Karkaroff looked at him deeply, then at Snape, his goatee with a small curl at the end trembled a few times, snorted at them and strode out of the office.

Harry stepped aside to make way, a series of questions popped up in his mind.

When did he and Snape start calling each other by their Christian names?

What did he want to talk about? What did they have to talk about?

Why was Karkaroff so worried?