Professor McGonagall came over for a quick look. Her expression changed slightly, but she quickly composed herself and waved her hand toward the hall, signaling the prefects of each House to take their students back to their dormitories.
The students from the other two schools sensed that something strange was going on, but without any instruction from their own headmasters, they wisely chose not to act rashly.
At that moment, Dumbledore's newly acquired lapdog, Karkaroff, took the lead and waved to his students. "Back to the ship."
On the other side, seeing someone take the initiative, Madam Maxime decided not to linger either and gestured for her students to return to the carriage.
"What happened?" Once everyone else had cleared out, Professor McGonagall stepped closer to Kasenhis and asked quietly.
"A plot targeting Harry. We've already identified a few suspects, all of—" Kasenhis hadn't even finished speaking before McGonagall stopped him. "If Dumbledore didn't summon us, it probably means there's someone among us he doesn't fully trust. Don't say more for now—if he wants us to know, he'll tell us himself."
Kasenhis nodded. "Alright." He then gathered the data he'd extracted from the Goblet of Fire's core code and handed it over to Dumbledore before immediately heading back to his office.
Several young wizards had already been waiting there for quite some time.
"Professor, we want to know what happened with Harry," Neville asked calmly.
Kasenhis didn't rush to answer. Instead, he looked at the three of them—yes, only three. Harry was still in that champions' waiting room.
Among the three young wizards, Neville and Hermione still looked normal, but Ron's expression was a bit odd—he seemed rather unhappy.
Kasenhis could only sigh at the sight. He understood that kind of youthful emotion very well. It's like when you and your easygoing friend have always been stuck dealing with all sorts of absurd misfortunes together—then one day, that same friend suddenly turns out to be exceptionally good at something.
Of course, a true friend should want their friend to do well—but ideally, that improvement happens gradually, not all at once.
The former gives you that warm "my buddy's finally growing up" feeling. The latter? Feels more like "this bastard's been secretly grinding behind my back." There's a fundamental difference.
"You think Harry tricked you, don't you?" Kasenhis asked.
Ron's face stayed tense, and after a moment of awkward hesitation, he gave a reluctant nod.
"To make sure your hard-earned friendship doesn't die halfway," Kasenhis began, "I think it's necessary to tell you a small secret."
He then explained the whole situation—that Harry had been set up, forced into becoming the fourth champion through someone's manipulation.
"But this stays between us. No one else can know, not even Harry himself. Understood?" he emphasized.
"Will Harry be in danger?" Ron ignored everything else and asked directly.
"Of course there's danger," Kasenhis replied calmly. "But don't worry—we professors aren't a bunch of idiots."
"Alright, Professor." Ron nodded, though his expression was still far from cheerful.
"Ron, cheer up a little. Harry's definitely not feeling great right now. You don't want him to come out and see a bunch of faces that look worse than if you were crying, do you?" Kasenhis said encouragingly.
"Alright then, Professor, should we go pick Harry up?" Ron suggested.
"I'll take you there." Kasenhis wrapped them in a force field and instantly teleported them to the room outside the Great Hall where the champions were waiting. By now, a crowd of young wizards had already gathered there.
He gave the scene a quick glance—Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were there to welcome their own champions, nothing wrong with that. Hufflepuff students greeting Cedric also seemed normal.
But the other three Houses—Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw—given Harry's on-again, off-again popularity and what Kasenhis knew of the latter two Houses, he could tell they were probably there to sneer or gossip.
As for Gryffindor… sure, Harry belonged to them, but considering how many of them were stubborn or blunt to a fault, the odds of hearing anything kind weren't very high either.
"All Hogwarts students except Hufflepuff—leave immediately! You'll have plenty of time to cheer for your champions later. What are you all crowding here for?!"
For once, Kasenhis raised his voice, startling quite a few of the students. It was probably the first time they'd ever seen the not-so-gentlemanly version of Professor Kasenhis. Frightened, they hurriedly scattered in all directions.
The area quickly grew quiet and spacious again, leaving only Hufflepuff, Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and Kasenhis with the few young wizards who had come with him.
He turned to one of the Hufflepuff students and asked, "After all this time, they still haven't come out yet?"
"It seems one of the professors went in to explain the rules," someone answered.
Kasenhis nodded. "Then we'll wait."
Before long, the champions began to emerge. Fleur and Krum both looked visibly displeased—understandably so. In their eyes, what was supposed to be a fair one-on-one-on-one competition had suddenly turned into a one-on-one-on-two. No one would feel good about that.
Meanwhile, Cedric fully lived up to his role as the senior and true Hogwarts champion, standing protectively in front of Harry.
Watching that, even Ron—who had always felt a little jealous of Cedric—couldn't help but admit that Cedric truly deserved the title of Hogwarts champion.
"Harry, your friends are waiting for you. Cedric, you still haven't finished your homework," Kasenhis said with a smile.
"I know, Professor… and thank you, Cedric," Harry nodded, glancing back mid-stride to give Cedric a sincere word of gratitude.
"And good luck to you too, Harry," Cedric replied with an easy smile, stepping back to stand beside Kasenhis.
"Let's go back," Kasenhis murmured softly. With a flicker of Ender teleportation, he and Cedric vanished, reappearing inside the Alchemy office.
For the Hufflepuffs, their champion suddenly vanishing was quite a blow.
Fortunately, Kasenhis reacted quickly—just a few seconds later, he returned their Cedric to them.
"Have fun, but remember—you're all underage, so no drinking," Kasenhis reminded them before disappearing once again.
"…Honestly," Harry muttered, standing beside his friends and feeling a little better, "Professor Kasenhis has absolutely no right to say that."
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