Barty Jr. wanted to use the trophy to send Harry to Voldemort. That meant he had to ensure Harry made it through the maze and even defeated Tver to become the one who reached the cup in the end.
But that was exactly what Tver could not understand.
With him here, even if Barty Jr. managed to deal with Fleur, Viktor, and Cedric, Harry would still have no chance of reaching the trophy.
From the moment he entered the maze, Tver had been prepared for an ambush. He had even planned how to eliminate himself so Harry could take the cup without hesitation.
Yet along the way, nothing happened at all. It was even more relaxed than strolling through the castle.
That silence from Barty Jr. felt deeply unsettling.
Or perhaps he had some other plan to guarantee Harry would still be transported?
"Just as I expected. I knew you'd be the first one here."
Cedric came running out of a passage, breathing heavily.
He looked pleased that his guess had been right, but also helpless at the thought of facing Tver.
Still, the badge on his chest glowed with a faint yellow light, and the magic within it gave him a bit of confidence.
"I only got here a moment before you. You're just a step behind."
Tver smiled and tapped the trophy with his wand as it slowly began to gather light.
So this was how it worked. It drew on the guardian's magic until it triggered the sparks. The more magic it absorbed, the brighter the final display would be.
Even Dumbledore, who had been setting obstacles for him all along, probably believed that Tver was the most likely winner.
That was why he had arranged this, to end the tournament with a spectacular display of fireworks.
"I don't think we're late, are we?"
Viktor jogged in at that moment, with Harry right behind him, both of them out of breath.
After catching his breath, Viktor faced their questioning looks and said firmly, "We teamed up to save time."
In truth, the maze had been made easier to leave space for the final confrontation and to allow the champions to reach the center more quickly.
But the two of them had run into a Blast-Ended Skrewt and lost quite a bit of time, so they decided to work together.
To show his friendliness, Viktor slung an arm around Harry's shoulders and leaned his weight on him.
He clearly had not considered the difference in their builds, and the two of them promptly fell over together.
"What happened to you two while I was on my way here?"
Fleur arrived just then. Unlike the others, she had not rushed, so she still looked composed and elegant.
That is, aside from the teasing look she gave the two tangled on the ground.
"We just tripped!" Harry protested loudly from the ground.
Viktor's size made it hard for him to get up quickly, and with his weight pressing down, Harry could not stand either. The two of them were stuck in an awkward heap.
Tver watched them with amusement from a distance. The sound carried poorly through the maze, so he could not hear them clearly.
"Don't waste time. You only have…" he glanced at the trophy, now about one-sixth lit, "less than twenty-five minutes."
At that, Viktor jumped up and pulled Harry to his feet.
Cedric and Fleur both grew serious, tightening their grips on their wands.
The badges on their chests shone brightly, lighting their faces.
And the determination in their eyes was unmistakable.
The Shield Charm stored in the badges was their greatest advantage, but none of them intended to rely on it alone.
"The professor can't destroy the surrounding walls or cover. If he does, it counts as a failure." Cedric pointed at the barriers nearby and the enclosing hedge in the distance.
"So we use that to lure the professor into attacking the walls?" Harry paused, then realized what they meant.
Fleur and Viktor simply nodded, clearly having thought of this the moment they learned the rules.
"But Tver won't be that careless. He'll either weaken his spells or control them more precisely," Viktor said.
Having known Tver for years, he understood very well that such a simple trick would not defeat him.
Fleur explained calmly,
"If he weakens his spells, the badges will help block them. If he focuses on precision, the number of spells we face drops sharply. Either way, we gain the advantage."
Viktor looked like he wanted to argue, but Cedric smiled and cut in,
"I know we're still at a disadvantage. But that's what makes challenging the big boss interesting."
"Or maybe I choose neither option. Then where does your advantage come from?"
A voice drifted down from above.
Startled, all four of them looked up. A familiar imp hovered there, one hand on its hip, the other stroking its chin.
It had clearly been listening for quite some time.
"Expelliarmus!"
Harry reacted instantly, but the spell was casually blocked by a Shield Charm the imp flicked out with a wave.
"I should remind you, imps don't carry weapons. You might want to try a different spell, Harry."
That brief moment was enough. Cedric and the others rolled aside and slipped behind nearby cover.
If Viktor had not pulled Harry along, he might have stood there, stunned by how quickly his teammates moved.
"Well then, let's begin."
As soon as the words fell, the imp flicked its hand and fired a Stunning Spell at Viktor, who had just tried to peek out. He ducked back immediately.
But Cedric caught something. A flaw. Or rather, a weakness.
"There's a delay because of the distance!" he shouted. "After it raises its hand, there's almost half a second before the spell reaches us. That's enough time to dodge!"
In the distance, Tver pressed his lips together in mild annoyance.
He could transmit sight and sound to the imps almost instantly when focused, but the magic he sent back always carried a slight delay.
Half a second.
It did not sound like much, but it cut deeply into his advantage in casting speed.
And since the imp had to raise its hand before casting, the movement was obvious. In a straightforward exchange of spells, Cedric and the others really did gain some ground.
But who said a magical battle was just trading spells back and forth?
The imp flickered aside, dodging Cedric's probing attack, and in the next instant appeared above Fleur, who had quietly hidden herself.
"Hide-and-seek is over, Miss Delacour."