Tonight's dinner was much more lavish than usual, just as the judges stepped onto the teacher's dais from the side door, golden plates filled with delicious food magically appeared.
Kael picked up a piece of smoked meat and glanced toward the teacher's dais.
Ms. Maxime appeared very pleased, beaming with a smile, yet Karkaroff, sitting next to her, had a stern expression.
Ludo Bagman too, usually so cheerful, seemed oddly anxious, speaking quietly to Dumbledore.
But Dumbledore just shook his head.
"His front-page dream is shattered," a voice suddenly murmured nearby. Kael turned to see it was Fred and George.
At some point they'd come into the auditorium and were sitting at the Hufflepuff table.
"Don't be too surprised, we're worried you might be too tense, so we came to cheer you on," George said with a grin.
"Thanks a lot, really," Kael replied, "but what do you mean about Bagman's front-page dream?"
"This is our second piece of news," Fred whispered, "The plan to increase the hostages has been canceled."
"What?"
"Literal meaning," George shrugged, "we went to Headmaster Dumbledore, volunteering to be hostages..."
"But the headmaster refused..."
"He said the maze was too dangerous and didn't want students outside of the champions to risk themselves, so before they entered the auditorium..."
"Dumbledore, Maxime, and your father, the three judges, voted to cancel the plan."
"Karkaroff seems quite upset." Fred glanced at the teacher's dais, "He thinks everyone's too cowardly; he shouted at everyone in the foyer, saying this isn't the Triwizard Tournament he envisioned."
"Does it matter?" Cedric asked.
"Not at all," George said, "The original Triwizard Tournament stopped because of too many casualties, and now that it's being restarted, most people don't want students to face too much danger."
Kael instinctively looked towards the teacher's dais, Bagman was still talking to Dumbledore, clearly he sided with Karkaroff.
But that didn't matter.
Canceling the hostages naturally couldn't be better, at least it would save him trouble during the competition.
Soon, dinner ended, the enchanted ceiling gradually transformed from blue to a heavy twilight.
Dumbledore stood up, silence fell immediately.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in ten minutes, I will invite you all to the Quidditch Pitch to witness the final event of the Triwizard Tournament, and now the champions please follow Mr. Bagman to the sports field."
Kael stood up, the surrounding Hufflepuff students all applauded, accompanying him, Fleur, and Krum as they left the auditorium.
Fleur looked a little nervous, constantly taking deep breaths. Krum wasn't much better, walking crookedly several times.
They entered the Quidditch Pitch, which seemed different from what they saw before; hedges surrounded the pitch, growing to twenty feet tall, only leaving a dark opening before them.
"Rest a bit, and adjust your condition." Bagman led them to a changing room nearby and then left.
After that, Fleur and Krum each found a place to sit, Kael originally wanted to chat with Fleur for a while to pass the time.
But she didn't appear to want to talk, so Kael also remained silent, finding a place to sit and quietly waiting for the competition to begin.
Ten minutes later, people began entering the stands, filled with excited chatter and the sound of rushed footsteps, momentarily making Kael feel like he had returned to before the start of the first event.
Back then, he was also in the locker room, listening to the crowd outside filing in and taking their seats.
Just then, the locker room door suddenly moved, everyone immediately looked up.
A head quickly slipped away from the crack.
"Who's there."
Being the closest, Kael walked over, opening the ajar door, just in time to see Hermione and Ron sneaking away.
"Sorry, we didn't mean to interrupt." Hermione said a bit embarrassed, "We just wanted to see Harry, make sure he wasn't nervous."
"Harry?" Kael frowned.
"Yeah, Filch took him away, said it was to cooperate with the third event." Ron said enviously, "So lucky, being part of the Triwizard Tournament."
"But he doesn't seem to be here though." Hermione said, "We'll be off then, good luck, Kael."
"Wait…" Kael hurriedly stopped them, "When was Harry taken away?"
"Just now." Hermione said, "Shortly after you all left, Filch came... He said it was on Professor Dumbledore's instructions, to take Harry to the Quidditch Pitch for the event."
"After we left?" Kael felt something was off.
During dinner, Fred and George mentioned the plan to add hostages to the maze was canceled, why would Filch take Harry away?
Something's wrong!
Under Hermione and Ron's puzzled expressions, Kael quickly ran towards where the judges were.
"What's so strange about it?" Ron scratched his head, not getting what Kael meant.
Things seemed fine then suddenly he dashed off.
"Darn, do you think he's going to report us… you know, according to the rules, we aren't allowed in the champions' resting room."
"Don't be silly, Ron, Kael isn't like that." Hermione said, her expression somewhat serious. "Come, let's head to Beauxbatons and Durmstrang's positions, see if anyone's missing."
"Why go there?" Ron grumbled a bit unwillingly, "The event is starting soon."
But Hermione ignored him, running toward the center stands on her own.
On the other side, when Kael reached the judges' spot, Dumbledore was in conversation with several star-badged professors.
"Oh, Kael?" He looked at Kael, puzzled, "The event is about to start, what are you doing here."
"There's something, Professor." Kael glanced at the others.
Dumbledore immediately understood, stepping forward, "Go on, what's wrong?"
"Do we need to rescue hostages for this event?"
"You're well informed." Dumbledore chuckled, "We did consider something like that, but then overturned it, so you won't need to..."
"Harry's been taken away."
Kael interrupted before Dumbledore finished speaking.
"Just now, after dinner, Ron said Filch took Harry away, claiming it was for the event."
Dumbledore's expression gradually turned solemn.
"That's impossible, before dinner started, the proposal to add hostages was already rejected."
"But Harry was indeed taken away." Kael said, "Ron and Hermione saw it with their own eyes."
Dumbledore's smile vanished entirely; he turned, scanning around, momentarily pausing his gaze on Karkaroff's face before returning to Kael.
"I understand." He said seriously, "The event is starting soon, you should head back."
"Alright." Kael responded, then left the stands.
Truthfully, the matter was quite unexpected... especially that Filch was the one who took Harry.
Imperio? Or Polyjuice Potion?
Kael wasn't sure, since for the past month, to better monitor Ludo Bagman's movements, the Marauder's Map stayed with Fred and George.
Even if Kael had the Marauder's Map, he probably wouldn't pay attention to Filch.
A detestable Squib caretaker is the perfect disguise.
He could appear openly anywhere in the castle while avoiding suspicion.
Even if he drank a bit of Polyjuice Potion in front of students, probably no one would notice anything amiss, or he could specifically find a deserted area to drink the potion.
Kael carefully recalled. When he returned the Marauder's Map to Fred and George, he took one last look... although Filch seemed fine then.
If Kael remembered correctly, at that time he was in his office with Mrs. Norris, and the name "Barty Crouch" did not appear anywhere inside the castle.
As Kael pondered, he returned once more to the entrance of the maze.
By then, Fleur and Krum were out from the room, alongside Ludo Bagman, everyone waiting for him.
"Luckily, just one more minute and you'd miss the event." Bagman hurriedly ran over, pulling Kael into the group.
Though he said so, his eyes briefly showed a hint of disappointment, seemingly he'd have preferred if Kael indeed missed the event.
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