"Ladies and gentlemen," Bagman's voice boomed throughout the Stadium, "the Third and Final Task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in First Place, with Eighty-Five points each - Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkness.
Lucifer didn't much feel like cheering or applauding any of the Champions right then, there was too much unknown; he knew something bad was going to happen, he just didn't know what, and it wasn't like he could just stop the Tournament, because the Magical Contract made with the Goblet was unbreakable by anyone other than the Witch or Wizard making it, and the only way it could be broken would result in the death of the Witch or Wizard the Goblet chose.
"In Second Place, with Eighty Points - Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!" More applause, but mainly just from the Durmstrang students. "And in Third Place - Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!"
"Is her score so low that they won't even say it?" Lucifer asked aloud.
"I guess so... kind of sad, really..." Hermione said, "I mean I don't want her to win, but the Second Task did kind of prove something..."
"So... on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" Bagman said, "Three - Two - One!" He gave a short blast of his whistle and Harry and Cedric hurried into the maze, where it promptly closed behind them.
"What does it prove?" Lucifer asked.
"Viktor, on my whistle!" Bagman said again, and when he blew into it, Viktor slouched into the maze, the hedges closing behind him as well.
"I hate to say it, but Fleur doesn't cope well with danger," Hermione said, then decided to quickly explain, "I just mean that with the Grindylows and Kappas, and maybe combined with being underwater and isolated, the pressure got to her."
"Fleur, on my whistle!" Bagman said finally for Fleur, and when he blew the whistle, she jogged in, the hedges closing behind her to signal the Final Task finally starting for all Champions.
"In the First Task, she at least had a crowd cheering her on while she was competing," Hermione continued explaining, "she couldn't hear anyone cheering her on while underwater, and it's incredibly unlikely she'll be able to hear anyone in the Hedge Maze."
Lucifer hadn't thought of it the way Hermione had, 'That's why I love her... she thinks of things I don't... Luna's right, there's almost nothing Hermione and I couldn't figure out and accomplish together...' he looked over at her as she was looking at him, 'We complete each other.'
He smiled at her and he saw her cheeks tinge pink as she smiled back and looked down at her knees.
'And I'll be there to help her through just in case something goes wrong at her home... if she wants me to.'
*******
It was a while later when something happened.
The otherwise silence had been filled with the level of noise you'd normally hear in the Great Hall.
Fleur had been the first one found and brought back.
She looked shaken and scared, 'It seems Hermione was right...'
She was led over to Madam Pomfrey who began checking over her and healing the lacerations that were visible.
Viktor was also brought back, but he had to be awakened and he claimed to not remember anything.
Pomfrey checked him over as well, but aside from some cuts, he seemed to only be suffering from a mild concussion.
It made Lucifer wonder just what the hell happened in the Maze.
It was when Harry appeared out of nowhere, like he'd just used a Portkey, Lucifer thought, when a silence had filled the air.
Applause suddenly rang out, but Lucifer wasn't clapping.
He saw it immediately; along with Harry was the Cup, and Cedric, only... Cedric wasn't moving.
Lucifer stood up immediately and began to make his way down to Harry, Hermione hot on his heels.
A scream from someone to his left rang out, and everyone else seemed to realize what he had moments prior; Cedric Diggory was dead.
In the panic and confusion, people stood up and impeded his path towards Harry.
He tried to push his way past them, but they were close together like packed sardines, making it nigh impossible for him to move forward.
He saw Dumbledore moving towards Harry and seized him, turned him over, and began to speak, but Lucifer was too far away to make out the words.
Even his supernatural hearing would make everything more painful because of all the noise around him, it'd just deafen him.
Harry seized Dumbledore by the wrist and said something, but then Cornelius Fudge approached them and his voice carried.
"My God - Diggory!" Fudge yelled out, "He's dead! He's dead ! Cedric Diggory! Dead!"
Anyone who still hadn't believed it, now had no choice but to believe that Cedric was dead, and there was no coming back.
Still, two people refused to believe it, and Lucifer, still trying to push through the crowd, saw Amos Diggory and his wife, rushing over to Harry and Cedric.
Cedric's mother let out a sharp cry of pain as she cried into her husband.
Amos had a look of unregistered shock on his face.
When Lucifer had finally pushed his way to them, he found that Harry was nowhere to be found.
He looked around to find his friend.
"Professor Dumbledore!" He said, getting the Headmasters attention, "Harry's gone!"
McGonagall, Snape, Lucifer, and Hermione were all following Dumbledore as he moved swiftly through the Castle.
He led them to Professor Moody's office, "This is where I believe Harry has been taken. We should approach with-"
Lucifer didn't let him finish as his eyes glowed red, the door opened violently, almost flying off the hinges, as the man pretending to be Moody, brought his wand up.
Lucifer thrust his hand forward and the man was flung backwards into the wall, knocked out from the force.
Harry looked at them in awe.
Lucifer walked up to the man on the floor, "Barty Crouch... Junior..."
Hermione gasped, "Lucifer, a-are you saying... what I think you're saying?"
"I should have seen it way sooner than now..."
'I saw this happening... not this specifically, but I saw something... something told me Crouch Junior wasn't dead...'
"Bartemius Crouch Senior... he didn't let his son die like everyone had thought."
McGonagall, while curious to know how Lucifer knew of this, was more concerned for Harry, "Come along, Potter," she said to him, "Come along... Hospital Wing..."
"No," Dumbledore said sharply.
"Dumbledore, he ought to - look at him - he's been through enough tonight-"
"He will stay, Minerva, because he needs to understand," Dumbledore said curtly, "Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. He needs to know who has put him through the ordeal he has suffered tonight, and why. Lucifer already revealed who he believes this imposter to be, but Harry, do you believe him?"
"Moody... that - that's not Professor Moody, is it?" Harry asked quietly.
"No, this is not Alastor Moody," Dumbledore said quietly.
Lucifer was still standing over Crouch Junior, "You have never known Alastor Moody, most current Hogwarts students have never known the real Alastor Moody. The real Moody would not have removed you from my sight after what happened tonight. Lucifer was the first to realize you were gone, it's because of him we got here as soon as we did."
Lucifer bent down and pulled out the flask Crouch Junior drank from almost every hour on the hour, and he knew why, "Polyjuice Potion..." he said, and Dumbledore agreed.
He had also pulled out a set of keys on a ring and handed them to Dumbledore,who then turned to McGonagall and Snape.
"Severus, please fetch me the strongest Truth Potion you possess, and then go down to the kitchens and bring up the House-Elf called Winky. Minerva, kindly go down to Hagrid's House, where you will find a large black dog sitting in the Pumpkin Patch. Take the dog up to my office, tell him I will be with him as soon as I can, then come back here," Dumbledore said to both of them clearly and precisely.
Both Professors turned and left the office at once.
Dumbledore walked over to the trunk with seven locks, fitted the first key in the lock, and opened it.
He did this seven times until he opened the trunk for the seventh time, when Harry let out a cry of amazement.
Lucifer and Hermione walked over and peered inside, where they all four saw someone far at the bottom, sound asleep, thin and starved in appearance.
He didn't look like it now, but Lucifer knew this was the real Alastor Moody.
Hermione gasped at the sight of Moody and how sickly he looked.
Dumbledore climbed into the trunk, lowered himself, and fell lightly onto the floor beside the sleeping Moody. He bent over him, "Stunned - controlled by the Imperius Curse - very weak..." he spoke softly, "Of course, Crouch Junior would have needed to keep him alive. Harry, throw down the imposter's cloak - he's freezing. Madam Pomfrey will need to see him, but he seems to be in no immediate danger."
Harry went and recovered the cloak before walking back to the trunk and dropping the cloak down to Dumbledore.
He covered Moody in the cloak, tucked it around him, and clambered out of the trunk again.
"Lucifer, could you pour out the contents of that flask onto the floor?" Dumbledore asked him.
Lucifer did just that, he opened the flask and let the thick, glutinous liquid splatter onto the floor, "You see the simplicity of it, and the brilliance... for Moody never does drink except from his hip flask, he's well known for it. The imposter, Crouch Junior, needed to keep the real Moody close by, so that he could continue making the potion. You see his hair?"
Dumbledore looked down into the trunk again and pointed it out to Harry, "his hair has been getting cut off all year, see where it is uneven? But I think, in the excitement of tonight, Crouch Junior might have forgotten to take it as frequently as he should have done... on the hour... every hour... we shall see soon enough."
Lucifer leaned against the desk, crossed his arms, and waited.
Hermione stood beside him, holding her left arm in her right hand as she waited anxiously.
She glanced up at Lucifer for a moment with a look of admiration, and she saw that his gaze remained fixated upon the man on the floor.
xxxxxx
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