The Admiral of Hogwarts

The moment the Beauxbatons students removed their scarves, a small commotion arose among the Hogwarts students, because one of the girls seemed to possess an extraordinary allure.

This girl had long, waterfall-like silver hair that cascaded down to her waist, along with a pair of large, azure blue eyes and a set of pearly white, even teeth.

"Fleur Delacour!" Hugo immediately recognized the specific identity of the girl who had just given a cold snort during the Headmaster's speech.

In terms of appearance alone, Fleur's looks were already quite stunning, but only on par with a normal state Ship Girl. What truly attracted people was her special aura, like a magnet that made it impossible to look away.

"Is that girl really human?" As soon as Fleur revealed her appearance, Hermione suddenly said to Hugo through the Admiral Network. "When she showed her face, I felt a mental shock; this is completely beyond what a human can do."

"Your feeling is correct, my dear sister," Hugo said, looking at Fleur sitting not far away. "If you feel carefully, you will find that this mental shock is similar to what we encountered during the summer vacation—"

"Veela—no, that's not right; non-human creatures are not allowed to use wands," Hermione reacted at once, before Hugo could finish speaking. "She must be a witch with Veela blood."

"I think that's most likely the case, and I think she's very likely to become Beauxbatons' champion this year," Hugo reminded his sister.

"Compared to ordinary wizards, these wizards with non-human blood often have special advantages in certain aspects. For example, our Head of House, Professor Flitwick, has a much stronger spellcasting ability than ordinary wizards."

Just as the two were quickly exchanging information, the doors of the Great Hall opened, and Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch walked in and sat down on the two empty seats on the head table.

Obviously, as the organizer of the event, the Ministry of Magic would definitely send someone to participate in the opening ceremony, so it sent Ministry of Magic officials related to foreign exchange to show their presence.

As long as everything goes normally, tomorrow's *Daily Prophet* will feature a front-page article similar to 'Under the wise leadership of the Ministry of Magic, the Triwizard Tournament successfully opened at Hogwarts,' and so on.

When the last dessert was also eaten, the golden plates were wiped clean again. At this time, Professor Dumbledore stood up and walked to the side of the podium.

Without him speaking, the entire hall quieted down once more. An emotion of excitement and tension seemed to permeate the entire hall. Because everyone knew that the Headmaster would next announce the method for selecting the Triwizard champions.

Regarding how the Triwizard Tournament participants should be selected, the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students listed many guesses, ranging from dueling selection to school-wide voting.

However, for the Ravenclaw and Slytherin students, they had already learned from their elders at home or from books that this competition was traditionally selected by a magical artifact called the Goblet of Fire, similar to the Sorting Hat.

"The moment has finally arrived," Dumbledore did not beat around the bush, "The Triwizard Tournament is about to begin. I would like to explain a few words before bringing in the box—"

"First, let me introduce our guests, Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch from the Ministry of Magic, who have been making various preparations for the Triwizard Tournament for the past few months."

When the Headmaster finished speaking, everyone applauded. Mr. Bagman smiled and waved to everyone after hearing the applause, while Crouch still sat there with a serious face.

"In the next period of time, they, along with myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madam Maxime, will form a judging panel to evaluate the efforts of the champions," Dumbledore continued after the applause stopped.

As soon as they heard the word "champions," all the students perked up. Dumbledore seemed to notice their sudden silence, and he smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Filch, please bring up the box."

No one noticed that Filch had been lurking in a corner of the hall just now. At this moment, he walked towards Dumbledore, holding a large wooden box inlaid with jewels in his hand. The box looked very old. There was even a layer of obvious patina on it.

"The specific events of this year's champions' competition have been carefully reviewed by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," Dumbledore said—at this time, Filch carefully placed the box on the table in front of him.

"They have also made many necessary arrangements for each event. There are three events in total, which will be held at different times throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different aspects…"

"Test their magical talent—their courage and their reasoning ability—and, of course, their ability to overcome danger." Hearing the last sentence, the hall became silent, and everyone seemed to stop breathing.

"As you already know, there will be three champions participating in the competition," Dumbledore continued calmly, "each representing a participating school. We will score them based on the quality of their completion of each competition event."

"After the three events are over, the champion with the highest score will win the Triwizard Cup. The one responsible for selecting the champions is a fair selector, and that is the Goblet of Fire."

Speaking of this, Headmaster Dumbledore pulled out his wand and tapped the box three times. The lid slowly creaked open. He reached in and took out a roughly carved wooden goblet.

The cup itself did not look eye-catching, but inside, there were blue and white flames dancing. At the same time, Hugo could feel that there was a soul hidden in this flame that was similar to the core of the Sorting Hat.

This is actually a relatively advanced application of ancient alchemy and is part of the research results in the research direction of artificial intelligent life.

It's just that, apart from Hugo and the Ship Girls, the other students on the scene can't see the mystery in the Goblet of Fire at all, so naturally, they feel that it is unremarkable.

"Every student who wants to compete for the champion must write his name and school name on a piece of parchment and throw it into this goblet."

Dumbledore said, closing the box and placing the cup on the lid so that everyone in the hall could see the cup clearly.

"Anyone who aspires to be a champion can register within twenty-four hours. Tomorrow night, that is, on Halloween night, the goblet will select the names of the three students it deems most capable of representing the three schools."

"Tonight, the goblet will be placed in the Entrance Hall, and all students who wish to participate in the competition can come into contact with it. In order to prevent underage students from being tempted, after the goblet is placed in the Entrance Hall, I will draw an Age Line around it. Anyone under the age of seventeen will not be able to cross this line."

"In addition, each of the three schools will send personnel to guard the only entrance and exit of the hall tonight to ensure the safety of the Goblet of Fire."

"Where did these guards come from?" After hearing Dumbledore say this, Hugo felt a little surprised, because he remembered that this matter did not exist in the original text at all.