novel-bin Chapter 417 Peak Battle of Wits
Chapter 417 Peak Battle of Wits
Chapter 417 Peak Battle of Wits
"Wh-what?!"
Exclamations erupted among the students, and all the heroes stared at Harry in shock.
"Do you know what you're saying, Harry?" Fleur said, pursing her lips. "Look at Professor Hamilton—in his current state—and he can still say something like that?"
"No—no—" Harry quickly explained, "I just feel—the whole thing is—very strange."
Cedric, standing beside him, quickly stepped in front of Harry and said, "That's my thought too—if everyone really doesn't agree with Harry and me, could you please wait until we've finished speaking?"
"You—" Hibiscus gritted her teeth, wanting to say something, but was pulled back by Emma beside her.
"Shall we—shall we let them finish speaking first?"
"————" Furong pursed her lips in silence, then took a deep breath and said nothing more.
Having dealt with the rather agitated Fleur, Harry nodded slightly and continued, "At first, I also suspected Snape—Professor."
"But as I investigated, I started to feel something was increasingly strange—first of all, this strip of cloth." Harry said, holding up the strip of cloth, "The tear in the cloth wasn't torn off."
"Instead, it was neatly cut off by a spell."
"At first I thought this was Professor Hamilton's retaliation—but if it was damaged by a retaliation, why would it be the lining?"
"It should be an overcoat, right?" Harry said, looking at Snape, only to find to his surprise that Snape didn't make any sarcastic expression, but instead turned his face slightly away from them.
It seems—it seems I've hit the nail on the head?
He nodded slightly and continued, "Besides that—I'm also thinking about the necklace."
"Cedric and I investigated almost the entire area in the water—especially the direction Professor Hamilton went."
"But we haven't found the necklace."
Harry pointed to the necklace in Krum's hand and said, "This necklace is clearly glowing—it should be clearly visible even in dark water."
"How could Cedric and I possibly miss out?"
Harry's words silenced the heroes for a moment.
At this moment, Hibiscus suddenly said slowly, "You mean—someone put the necklace in after you left the water?"
"That's right." Harry nodded seriously. "It definitely wasn't underwater from the beginning!"
"And there are even stranger things besides that."
"That's about going into the water." Harry said, looking at Dumbledore. "With Headmaster Dumbledore, who is definitely not the murderer of Professor Hamilton, around—why would he let the six of us students go into the water?"
“What if the killer didn’t leave the water and was still lurking there—wouldn’t we be in great danger?” Harry said, a puzzled look on his face. “I don’t think Headmaster Dumbledore would ever let us—take such a risk.”
"Besides this—there's Professor Hamilton—" Harry said, looking at Professor Hamilton lying motionless on the ground: "If Professor Hamilton was really murdered—why is his body left here like this—"
"And Professor Hamilton is incredibly skilled—to be honest, I really can't think of anyone who could kill Professor Hamilton—" Harry paused, clearly realizing his reasoning was a bit far-fetched, but he continued, "So I started to think—could the whole thing be related to the second match?"
"If you look at it from this perspective—everything becomes clear."
"Why are we going into the water in batches? Why are clues appearing one after another? Why did Mr. Crouch say that no one else would enter the Black Lake? Why aren't the professors taking any action?"
"Because the content of the second game is to find out who killed Professor Hamilton, the most likely possibility I can think of is that Professor Hamilton is not actually dead."
Harry finished speaking, pursed his lips, and looked at Dumbledore with a hint of trepidation. It wasn't that he was afraid his reasoning or guesses were wrong—he was afraid he was completely wrong, and if that happened—Professor Hamilton would—really—
But then, a slight smile appeared on Dumbledore's face. He didn't speak, but slowly began to clap his hands.
Everyone else, except him, started clapping.
"What's going on?" The sudden clapping startled Furong, who looked at everyone in disbelief.
"Mr. Potter is very clever," Mrs. Maxim nodded with satisfaction, then said, "Mr. Potter is right."
"The whole thing was a competition—"
"It's about finding out who killed Professor Hamilton." She couldn't hold back her smile any longer, and she bent down to pat Loila, who had been keeping her eyes closed.
"Wake up, Professor Hamilton—you're not asleep, are you?"
"Hmm—" Under the gaze of all the heroes, Loila, who was lying on the ground, slowly opened her eyes, looking sleepy—as if she had really fallen asleep.
"No—this is too much—" Furong looked at the scene before her, not knowing whether to be angry or happy. She clenched her fists, sometimes lowering them and sometimes clenching them again.
Emma, who was next to her, rushed over and hugged Loila tightly.
"Professor Hamilton, it's so good to see you alright! So good!" she said, a bright smile spreading across her face.
But—actually, from Harry's perspective—she seems to have always known something—how come she seems to know nothing now?
But none of that matters anymore—Harry smiled as he looked at Loyra, who was unharmed.
"Cough cough—cough cough cough." Loila, who was being held by Emma, coughed a few times, as if she had caught a cold from lying there for too long.
Upon seeing this scene, Madam Pomfrey immediately stepped forward and took Loira's hand: "Headmaster Dumbledore, may I take her away now?"
“Of course, Mrs. Pomfrey,” Dumbledore said, blinking. “Miss Hamilton did a very good job, didn’t she?”
"I already said I should have sent her to the infirmary earlier—it wouldn't be good if she caught a cold or something." Mrs. Pomfrey's tone was reproachful, and so she left with Loira.
With Loila's departure, this strange second match seemed to have come to an end.
But—what happened in the second game was far more than that.
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