Chapter 561: Hufflepuff's Change of Address

"Great, Ron!"

"Good job!"

"Boy, you should have told us you got in!" bellowed Fred; he looked half annoyed, half deeply impressed. He wrapped his arms around Ron's shoulder and looked exultant.

"I didn't expect our little brother to become a Hogwarts champion!". George continued.

"I've already written to tell my mom, and I'm sure she'll be crying with excitement." Ginny laughed and walked over.

They all laughed and jumped around Ron.

"If it couldn't have been me, at least he's a Gryffindor!". Angelina had also pounced on him.

"We've got food, Ron, come and eat...".

Everyone was celebrating, as if they were mad.

Yeah, if it couldn't be me, at least he's a Gryffindor!

Angelina's words spoke everyone's thoughts. After the initial shock, everyone accepted the fact that Ron became a champion. Although it was shocking, it was a good thing, wasn't it?

Gryffindor had their own champion, everyone was celebrating and partying. This was the glory of all Gryffindors.

Lee Jordan had pulled a Gryffindor banner from somewhere and draped it around Ron like a cape.

The crowd around him closed ranks, forced another butterbeer down his throat and shoved potato chips and peanuts into his hands.

Everyone seemed to have lost their senses and gone into a state of revelry.

Everyone was asking Ron, wanting to know how he'd done it, how he'd fooled Dumbledore's Age Line and gotten his name into the Goblet of Fire....

There was a steady stream of congratulations and celebrations, and Ron became the center of attention for the first time.

At first, he didn't adjust to it, but he soon got involved and really enjoyed it.

He started bragging about it to others and talking about it a lot.

Of course, most of it was nonsense. He didn't know how he had become champion either, but that didn't stop him from quickly accepting the change in status and enjoying the vanity of the championship.

Hermione looked at everyone angrily for a while, unhappy with Ron's behavior. She did not join the party and went straight back to her dormitory.

Ivan followed her as well, still brooding over the matter.

The party went on for a long time, until the middle of the night, without a break.

Fred and George even went to the Three Broomsticks Inn in the dark and came back with a bunch of butterbeer.

When Professor McGonagall came to stop them, they all went back to bed.

The next morning, Ivan got out of bed.

He saw Colin sitting up with two large dark circles under his eyes, mechanically carrying his robe.

"What a rush we had last night! I still can't believe Ron has become a champion." He yawned. He had two deep shadows under his eyes. "I took all the pictures and mailed them to Professor Lupin in no time. It will definitely be sensational news. By the way, I think I should ask Ron for a signed photo. My brother wants to collect it."

"Yeah, I didn't think it would be Ron!" said Ivan. He had always thought it would be Harry.

When they entered the Great Dining Hall, they found that everyone was discussing what had happened last night.

Harry and Ron hadn't arrived yet, and Hermione had already taken her seat early.

"What is wrong with these people?!" Hermione said discontentedly, indicating to Ivan to look at the other long tables.

Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin were looking at the Gryffindor long table suspiciously, a look of contempt on their faces, all whispering, most of them focusing on Ivan and Hermione.

From the looks on their faces, they seemed to suspect that Ivan had helped Ron become champion.

However, no one dared to look Ivan in the eye. When Ivan looked back at them, they all looked down.

"These guys were going around all morning pointing fingers at me!" said Hermione, "As if I was the champion!".

It was no wonder. Everyone knew that Ivan, Harry and Hermione are Ron's best friends.

"Where are Ron and Cedric?" asked Ivan, grabbing a piece of bread for himself.

"They haven't come yet, everyone is waiting for them," said Hermione, "I thought about it last night. This fact is too strange, who wants to frame Ron? There's no reason. If it was you, or Harry, it would make sense..."

Indeed, his current enemy was Barty Crouch, hiding in the darkness.

Voldemort needed Harry's blood to regain his strength. He needed someone to lead him to Harry. Caresius had already confirmed this point. Turning Harry into a champion to compete in the Triwizard Tournament should be the best option for them.

That is unless he knew something that would make him choose Ron as a candidate instead....

As for Ivan himself, there was no point in making him champion. The three tasks were not difficult for him.

"Ron didn't realize the seriousness of this matter. He was still complacent there!" said Hermione in a serious tone. "I think we should write to Sirius and tell him about this. He might give us some advice."

"Let Harry write..." said Ivan; he really wanted to hear Sirius' opinion.

Sirius' current status as an Auror allowed him to know a lot of things.

He might have some information that they didn't have access to, such as things about Barty Crouch.

Ivan even wanted to write to Percy to ask him about Crouch, but Percy definitely wouldn't say anything.

Just then, Ron entered the Great Dining Hall, followed by Harry, Fred, George and others.

The long Gryffindor table applauded enthusiastically, and there were boos from the other three Houses.

"How about we go for a walk?" said Hermione, holding up a pile of toast, which she was carrying on a napkin.

"Why do you want to go, the atmosphere here is pretty good, isn't it?" said Ron, taking a seat.

He seemed to be in a good mood and in high spirits.

Looking at him, he seemed to think that once everyone got used to him as champion, things would get better.

But Ron might have made a big mistake. Besides the Gryffindor students, everyone else thought he was a disgrace.

Not to mention the Slytherins, who had a bad attitude, the most surprising thing was the change in the Hufflepuffs.

It was known that they had always gotten along well with the Gryffindors at school.

The Hufflepuff students were not people who liked to be the center of attention, and their abilities and accomplishments were usually relatively ordinary. Most of them were students who studied hard with their heads down, but did not get results. They obviously complemented the Gryffindor character.

They were not good at dealing with the wise Ravenclaw, nor were they willing to deal with the despicable Slytherin.

On the contrary, many Hufflepuff and Gryffindor students were good friends.

But now this was not the case at all. All Gryffindor students were indifferent to them.

It seemed that this was definitely a big problem.