Chapter 558: Empty Threat

"This is my negligence. I should have thought of better measures," Dumbledore said.

"You admit it?! So it looks like a senior boy helped you put his name in the Goblet of Fire." Karkaroff said in a ruthless voice, "This is a gross violation of the rules. Hogwarts is cheating."

"I didn't do it!" muttered Ron, his face pale and bloodless. "I didn't cheat!"

"Mr. Weasley didn't!" Professor McGonagall said angrily. She shot a very angry look at Professor Snape. "We should believe him. He didn't convince the upperclassmen to help him do it. This can be verified."

"Ron has been with us all day, at Hagrid's house!" Hermione said quickly.

"We can prove that he didn't put his name in the Goblet of Fire!" shouted Harry.

"Yeah, and I don't think the Goblet of Fire would be that wrong, picking two champions from the same school," said Ivan, "This is some kind of conspiracy!".

"What do you mean?!" they all looked at him as if they didn't quite understand him.

"As you all know, the Goblet of Fire is a very powerful magical object," Ivan said, "It would have taken an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm or some other dark magic to bamboozle that goblet into forgetting that only three schools are competing in the tournament.... I guess they submitted Ron's name under a fourth school, to make sure he was the only one in his category."

Hearing Ivan's words, everyone thought about the possibility of such a thing.

"Absurd!" said Karkaroff, "The idea is simply whimsical, that the boy put his name in the Goblet of Fire, and then the damn goblet got it wrong and spat out his name."

"No way, there's nothing wrong with the Goblet of Fire, Karkaroff!". Ludo Bagman said uneasily, "We've checked before, haven't we, Barty?".

"I was responsible for the inspection!" said Crouch in a curt voice. He was standing outside the circle of firelight, his face half hidden in shadow, his wrinkled skin as white and transparent as paper.

"Do you doubt me, Karkaroff?" he asked.

"Of course not, I'm not doubting you!" Karkaroff stepped back and looked very frightened of Crouch. He said again in an oily voice, "But you must think it's very inappropriate, don't you?"

Bagman did not reply. He wiped his round, boyish face with his handkerchief and looked at Mr. Crouch.

"It's not a question of what is reasonable or unreasonable. We must follow the rules, and the rules clearly state that people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are required to compete in the tournament." Crouch didn't look at everyone. He just stared at the burning fire, thinking about something.

For a few seconds, Ivan even thought he was going to walk into the flames.

"Barty knows the rules inside out," Bagman said, smiling and turning to Karkaroff and Madame Maxime, as if the matter were already closed.

"No, I insist on resubmitting the names of the rest of my students!" Karkaroff's face was ugly. He stopped staring at Crouch by the fire, and turned to Dumbledore. "You will set the Goblet of Fire once more, and we will keep adding names until every school has two champions. That's fair enough, Dumbledore."

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way, Karkaroff!" Bagman frowned and said, wiping his fingers with his handkerchief. "You know, the Goblet just went out and won't be turned back on until the start of the next tournament."

"Durmstrang will certainly not be competing in the next tournament!" exploded Karkaroff. "After all our meetings, negotiations and compromises, little did I expect something of this nature to happen! I'm half as eager to leave now."

Ivan shoved Moody in the back. It was time for him to get out. If things went on like this, they would fall apart. And in the crowd, besides Moody, no one could stop Karkaroff.

"Empty threat, Karkaroff!" snarled Moody immediately, his voice louder than Karkaroff's, startling everyone. "You can't make your champion leave now. He has to compete; they all have to compete. Magical binding contract. Convenient, isn't it?"

He limped to the center, blocking Ron behind him and glaring at Karkaroff.

Under his gaze, the expression on Karkaroff's face turned extremely ugly.

"Convenient?!" he said angrily. "I'm afraid I don't understand you, Moody."

You could tell he was trying to sound dismissive, as if what Moody was saying was hardly worth his attention, but his hands gave him away; they had balled into fists.

"Isn't that right?" said Moody quietly. "It's very simple, Karkaroff! As Ivan said, someone put Weasley's name in the Goblet of Fire knowing that he would have to compete if he got out."

"Obviously, someone who wished to give Hogwarts two chances!" said Madame Maxime.

"I quite agree with you, Madame Maxime!" said Karkaroff, bowing to her, "I will be lodging complaints with the Ministry of Magic and the International Confederation of Wizards."

"Stop it, if anyone has cause to complain, it's Weasley!" growled Moody, "But I don't hear him say a word!"

"Why would he complain?" burst out Fleur Delacour, stamping her foot furiously. "He's got a chance to compete, hasn't he? We've all been waiting to be chosen for weeks and weeks! To win the honor for our schools! A thousand galleons in prize money! This is an opportunity many would die for, and our school has undergone rigorous selection!"

"Maybe someone expects Weasley to die for it," Moody said, with just the slightest trace of a snarl. An extremely tense silence followed these words.

Ludo Bagman, looking very anxious, bounced nervously on his feet and said, "Moody, old man! what a thing to say!"

"We all know that Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn't uncovered six plots to assassinate him before lunchtime," Karkaroff said loudly. "Apparently, he is now teaching his students to fear murder as well. A strange quality in a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."