Chapter 512: Highest Honor for a Young Magician

How can this be?!

Ivan blinked and confirmed it again and again.

As he looked up, he could see Moody standing in front of Dumbledore, and the two were whispering something.

But on the Marauder's Map, only Dumbledore's name was visible, and there was only a small black dot on the opposite side of his name.

The Marauder's Map had lost the advantage it gave Ivan before, and he was experiencing this situation for the first time.

The name of the guy who took Mad-Eye Moody's place could not be marked.

Thinking of the eponymous charm, that person must have applied a spell to his own name.

Like Voldemort, every time someone read his name, his location was perceived.

The magic used by this guy was to prevent his name from being tracked and marked by any magic.

Using this magic on names, only the most evil and powerful dark wizards would do it.

That required a lot of magic and harsh casting conditions, and Mad-Eye Moody would definitely not use this dark magic.

If it was Barty Crouch Jr. impersonating him now, then his strength was completely beyond Ivan's expectations. He never thought Barty would be this strong.

Ivan put away the marauder's map. This sudden change gave him an ominous hunch. This guy was too strange, and he felt more dangerous than Ivan could have expected.

Ivan began to doubt that there were unpredictable variables in his plan according to the original story. His mind was in chaos and, for a while, he was very confused.

However, since Barty Jr. was in school, he was not to act rashly until he had a chance to eliminate Harry.

He would follow the original plot and start at the last minute of the Goblet of Fire quest.

There was still time, and Ivan finally decided to find an opportunity to try it first.

At that point, depending on the results of the test, he would decide whether to take action or let nature take its course.

At the teachers' table, Dumbledore didn't seem to think that the Mad-Eye in front of him was a fake.

He whispered a few words and then Dumbledore motioned him to an empty seat to his right.

Moody sat down and shook his head.

He shook his mane of dark gray hair out of his face, pulled a plate of sausages towards him, lifted it up to what was left of his nose and sniffed it. Then he pulled a small knife out of his pocket, stuck a sausage on the end and began to eat.

His normal eye was fixed on the sausages, but the blue eye kept circling restlessly in its socket, taking in the Hall and the students, staying on Ivan for a long time.

"Allow me, please, to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." said Dumbledore brightly into the silence to the stunned young wizards, "Welcome Professor Moody."

It was customary for new staff members to be greeted with applause, but none of them clapped except Dumbledore and Hagrid.

Ivan thought for a moment and then clapped, but the sound of their applause echoed resoundingly in the silence of the Great Hall.

At the sound of the applause, Moody looked up and his normal eye and his false blue eye fell on Ivan.

His incomplete nose twitched slightly and Ivan didn't know what he was thinking.

After Ivan, Dumbledore and Hagrid gave some applause, they dropped their hands.

No one else spoke. They seemed too transfixed by Moody's strange appearance to do more than stare at him.

"Ron, remember?" Harry muttered. "This Mad-Eye Moody is the one your father went to help this morning!"

"That must be him," Ron said in a low, astonished voice. "The best Auror in the Ministry of Magic. "

"What happened to him?" Hermione whispered "What happened to his face?"

"I don't know, but he looks great." Ron whispered back, looking at Moody with fascination.

Moody seemed totally unfazed by everyone's cold reaction.

After staring at Ivan for a while, he continued eating.

Ignoring the pitcher of pumpkin juice in front of him, he reached back into his traveling cloak, pulled out a hip flask and took a long swig from it.

As he reached up to drink, his cloak was pulled a few inches off the floor, and several inches of a carved wooden leg could be seen under the table, ending in a clawed foot.

"Well, back to the subject!" Dumbledore cleared his throat and said, smiling at the sea of students before him, all of whom were still staring at Mad-Eye Moody, "We are going to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event in the coming months, an event that has not been held in over a century. It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"Oh my goodness, did I hear that right?"

"Are you kidding me?!"

The tension that had filled the room since Moody's arrival was suddenly broken. Almost everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.

Students born into wizarding families knew more or less about the Triwizard Tournament, and had this contained in the stories they heard since childhood.

For a young wizard in school, this was the highest honor.

Muggle students also asked in a hurry to find out what the Triwizard Tournament was all about, and they were amazed and talked excitedly.

"Well, some of you may not know what this tournament entails, so I hope those of you who do know will forgive me for giving a brief explanation, and allow your attention to wander freely. As we all know, the Triwizard Tournament is a friendly competition between the three largest magical schools in Europe: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. It was a very good showcase platform and helped young witches and wizards of different nationalities to bond. It had become a tradition in the past until, that is, the death toll increased so much that the tournament was discontinued. "

"Death toll?" Hermione whispered, looking at Dumbledore in horror. "There's nothing in the books about this..."

But her anxiety did not seem to be shared by most of the students in the Hall; many of them were whispering excitedly to each other.

They were all far more interested in hearing the details of the tournament than worrying about deaths that had occurred hundreds of years ago.

"There have been several attempts over time to reestablish the tournament," Dumbledore continued, "None of which have been very successful.... However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided that it is time to make another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to make sure that this time, no champion is in mortal danger."

"The Headmasters of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will arrive with their shortlisted contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place on Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are the most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a personal prize of one thousand galleons. I hope you know that it will be a great honor for the champion, their home, and their school."