331 Chapter 330 The Failed Hagrid (2 in 1)

The official start of the Triwizard Tournament was announced just after the end of dinner that day.

It was a sumptuous feast, with all seven of the required judges present and reporters from almost every newspaper in the various magical societies of Europe.

At the same time, it was announced to the public that Lucius had stationed Aurors in Hogwarts Castle to ensure the smooth running of the tournament, guarding the main passageways and the secret entrances and exits that had been explored.

This kind of security was so tight that anyone who was not blind could see who was being guarded.

And even at the dinner, Jon and the others did not see any of the muggle students in the castle.

Their life trajectories were completely relegated to the underground floor, and until Dumbledore and his team left, Voldemort would not allow them to cross paths on any level.

At the dinner, Jon had also seen the three wizards from the International Confederation of Wizards.

About Matthew, George and Lee had already briefed him on the man during the afternoon, while the other two wizards, one with a white turban on his head, with a bushy beard and a long, lean body, which was all clearly suggested him being a Middle Eastern man, and the last one was a dark-skinned witch.

She was voluptuous, with big wavy black hair, no longer young by the look of her, dressed in purple robes covered in odd patterns, and by the introduction, it became clear to all present that she is the deputy headmistress of another magic school from Africa.

They all looked very kind and as Voldemort introduced them all to everyone at the beginning of the dinner, the three judges from the Confederation smiled both at the students of Hogwarts Castle and at Jon and the others.

And when it was time to formally begin the announcement of the rules for the upcoming tournament task at the end of the dinner, it was Matthew who acted as the general representative of the judges.

"The first tournament task will start in a week's time and in that time we also need to focus on checking out the layout of the venues. In addition to this, tomorrow, the four schools' champions are required to meet in the great hall at 10 am sharp, where the wands you will be using would be subjected to a standardised inspection."

"Finally, I would like to emphasise the rules of the upcoming Triwizard Tournament. First Rule: in all tasks, apart from wands, no other magic props are allowed to be carried by a champion, and when the task officially begins, we will be conducting a special search, and if a violation is found, you will be directly penalised as the last rank of the task in progress."

"Second Rule: the competitors are allowed to attack each other during the task, but the use of the Unforgivable Curse and any spell that may cause direct death is forbidden, and if such a phenomenon is found, an outright defeat will be awarded to the champion who violated the rule. Please note that the word defeat here does not refer to a single task, but rather a defeat throughout the Triwizard Tournament."

"Third Rule: No extra help may be provided in any way by the school or camp in which the champion is a part during the competition, and if this happens, the penalty will be in line with the second rule."

"Fourth..."

The rules were perfect, encompassing almost every possible way one could cheat, and were all clearly agreed upon by Voldemort and Dumbledore when they were established.

After all the rules had been read out, Jon's first day at Hogwarts Castle had finally concluded.

As everyone left the great hall, the eight Aurors that had been guarding the door to the great hall kept an eye on Dumbledore and his team, watching to make sure that no one sneaked into the other parts of the castle after they left the great hall.

"These people are like the hens my mother used to keep in the coop." George made a face at one of the Aurors, then whispered to Jon beside him, "Really protects this castle like it's their own nest, but the truth is they're going to get slaughtered sooner or later."

"Don't say things like that here, if they hear it and can't resist making a move on you it will cause a mess; although Professor Dumbledore will be able to react in the first instance."

Jon said while looking over at Aurors as well.

One of the eight had his eyes on Dumbledore at all times, two were staring at Rosier, three had their eyes on him at all times, and the other two were only casually watching the others.

These well-trained Aurors knew exactly who in the group could potentially pull off a stunt.

Dumbledore is indeed the strongest, but it is basically unlikely that he would go into action himself; should such a situation arise, it would be a fight to the death with Voldemort, and having someone watching him was just a precaution, a way to show respect to the most senior figure.

Rosier, on the other hand, is one of Grindelwald's men, and although the two sides are in the same camp on the Witching Horizon, they belong to two different factions, so if Grindelwald were to let her do something fishy in the castle, it would not necessarily be clear even to Dumbledore, so two men were specifically assigned to keep an eye on her.

The natural focus of attention would be Jon, who was being watched by three people simultaneously.

He bares the title of champion of the Triwizard Tournament in the first place, so there was nothing they could do to Jon while Voldemort himself wanted to get this tournament in order, because that would be tantamount to deliberately sabotaging the tournament and tearing up the blood pact he had made with Dumbledore in a one-sided way.

And Jon is not short of the ability to make trouble, among the Death Eaters one could count on one palm the number of those who dare to say outright that they must be stronger than Bella and Rodolphus.

That made him the most troublesome, and the one who needed Auror's attention the most.

But Jon wasn't in the mood to do anything at all, at least not right now.

Although he is now at Hogwarts Castle, his mind is always on the Animagus potion buried at Lyon's end. Before he left, he had asked Neville to keep an eye on the weather in Lyons and to call Lupin, who is staying at the school, to come to Hogwarts Castle at the first sign of a thunderstorm and bring the news to him.

The stormiest time of the year in Lyon would be in the following two or three months, and if no good news came in during that time, there would be little hope for the year.

After leaving Hogwarts Castle under surveillance, the other students returned to the wagon, while Jon carried a lunch box in his hand to the driver's seat at the front of the wagon.

He hadn't seen Hagrid during the dinner, and after hearing Dumbledore say that he was looking after the Thestrals, Jon felt that it wouldn't be easy for Hagrid to get into the great hall again after missing the current mealtime, so he had packed some food for him to prevent him from having to eat the rock cakes that seemed to be suitable for grinding his teeth.

When Jon arrived at the front of the wagon with his things, unfortunately, he didn't see Hagrid in sight.

Those Thestrals were still strolling lazily on the grass, and there was a plate of biscuits on the table in front of the driver's seat, but Hagrid was missing.

Jon walked up and stroked the black fur of the Thestral, these creatures had spent a good deal of time with him at sea and so were not repulsed by him.

"Can you tell me where Hagrid has gone?"

The Thestral lifted its head and snorted in the direction of the forbidden forest.

It was pitch black there, and nothing else could be seen except the occasional growl of a creature of some kind.

Jon frowned slightly.

Snape had made it very clear when he had brought them here that the Forbidden Forest is off-limits and that magic had been arranged all around the perimeter of this forest, and since he had dared to say something like that without sending someone to guard it specifically, it meant that he was very confident in the spell that protected the Forbidden Forest.

Jon could see that Hagrid had been distracted by the Forbidden Forest ever since he arrived at Hogwarts Castle, but he was definitely asking for trouble if he was just going to try and force his way in.

He stared in the direction of the Forbidden Forest for a few seconds, then placed the dinner he had brought on the table and was about to go back to the wagon to find Dumbledore and ask for his help in finding Hagrid on the outskirts, when the sound of stumbling footsteps suddenly reached his ears from afar.

Hagrid looked like a mess; his already loose hair and beard were now covered in grass blades, his face had a distinct red mark on it as if he had been slapped by something heavy, and his robes had several more torn holes in them than before.

"Are you all right? Hagrid."

Hearing Jon's voice, Hagrid lifted his otherwise drooping head at this time, and he met Jon's calm eyes with a bit of panic.

"Ah of course I'm fine, just been out for a bit of a stroll, erm. But you know, people tend to have trouble seeing in the dark when they get older, I accidentally tripped over a tree root, I was so careless"

Jon didn't say anything, just nodded as if he believed everything he said unconditionally as Hagrid defended himself.

But on the contrary, it was this gesture of his that made Hagrid completely unable to weave an excuse any further.

He sat down on the grass with a defeated look on his face, the moonlight spilling over him, making him look like a stupid bear that had been stung all over its body when it failed to steal the honey.

"I lied, Jon, I just tried to get into the woods and failed."

Jon didn't blame, nor was he in a position to, he could tell Hagrid was in a bad mood, Jon hadn't seen such a sad expression on his face since they had met.

He walked over to Hagrid and sat down, not bothering to ask why, but weighing his words.

"Actually, you can totally trust me and wait a while longer Hagrid. Whatever it is you want to do in the Forbidden Forest, you've been able to wait through all these years after being wanted, so why can't you wait for this less than one more academic year?"

"I trust you as much as I trust Dumbledore, Jon." There was a sob in Hagrid's voice.

"But after coming here, I really couldn't wait, and I didn't dare wait any longer. When Hogwarts castle was attacked by the Dark Lord that year, I had to go and help Dumbledore out, so I could only take the youngest, Beech, and Fang with me, the others and so many of my friends were left behind, I discarded them, and after all these years, the only place they could be hiding would be in the Forbidden Forest. I had to be sure that they are still alive. Aragog, Hoss, Morris, Parson."

He covered his face with those large hands and finally stifled a sob as he said the names.

"Fang has died by following me; he was the timidest, but on one occasion when I was being chased, he rushed to my aid and blocked a killing curse with his body. He saved my life. I dreaded to think that they would have also been killed if they had stayed in the forbidden forest. If only I had let them all out."

Jon sighed and stood up and then barely managed to pat Hagrid on the shoulder.

"They're all magical creatures, not some pets that have lost the ability to survive on their own, hiding in the Forbidden Forest would have been a return to the safest environment for them, you don't have to blame yourself like that."

Hagrid hugged Jon and cried like a child who had lost a friend and family member.

To Hagrid, these creatures were indeed his closest family, and after being expelled from Hogwarts, he had also lost his father, and if Dumbledore hadn't eventually taken him in and sent him to the Forbidden Forest to be a gamekeeper, then he would have been truly homeless.

In all his decades as a gamekeeper, those creatures were the ones he bonded with the most, not to mention the fact that he had to go through the death of Fang who died trying to save him.

It certainly added to his guilt and made him unable to resist trying to break into the forbidden forest to look for the safety of his magical creature friends when everyone else was gathered in the great hall tonight.

No amount of comfort from Jon could soothe and heal the wounds in Hagrid's heart, so as he patted him on the back and thought about it, he continued.

"Actually, if you really can't wait to find out how they're doing in the Forbidden Forest, I can help you."

Hagrid wiped the snot and tears from his face but shook his head with unmistakable determination at Jon's words.

"This is my personal matter, Jon, I can't involve you in this, you have a tournament to enter and the hopes of everyone resting on it, you shouldn't risk it for me."

"Don't worry, I'm certainly not going to force my way into the forbidden forest as you think." Jon reassured, "Based on what Professor Dumbledore and I have speculated, the odds that the first task of the tournament, which starts in a week, will be in the Forbidden Forest are very high, and I can go and see those magical creatures friends of yours in your place then if there is a chance."

Hagrid was clearly somewhat moved, but he soon shook his head.

"No way! Even if you could use the tournament to get into the forbidden forest, that would still interfere with your competition. You can't afford to spoil the competition just to help me."

"And you just said you trust me like you trust Professor Dumbledore." Jon shrugged, "I'm more measured than anyone else and I never gave you an absolute promise, I just said if there is a chance, so you shouldn't get your hopes up so high straight away."

Hagrid looked at Jon with red eyes and bewildered gaze, and after half a moment of silence, he finally stopped refusing and instead took Jon's hand tightly in his and said in a trembling voice.

"Thank you really thank you, Jon."

"Why the word thank you between us, ah yes, I almost forgot I'm here to bring you dinner. Other than that, those house elves at the castle are superb at roasting sausages, I brought you two extra."

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