章 74: The Triwizard Decree
His fingers traced the handle of his new dagger. It had taken him a solid month of hard work and patience to complete them and he was quite proud. Honing the blades had been the hardest part. He had been extra careful while making the blade from the tooth because he wasn't sure if Horntails were poisonous like the Ridgeback that bit Ron during their first year. Since he didn't want to find out the hard way, he took his time.
He had gotten the idea of making the knife during one of his swimming lessons with Hermione. She had been tracing her fingers along the thick, ropey, scar very slowly. It was as if she were realizing how close she had come to loosing him. That reminder also made him realize how close to death he had truly come that day.
Harry was broken out of his musing when Dumbledore's magically enhanced voice boomed out, "Attention! The Third Task is about to begin. Viktor Krum will enter the maze first, followed by Cedric Diggory, Harry Potter, and finally Fleur Delacour. Champions, prepare yourselves. The Triwizard Cup is located somewhere deep within the maze. The first one to reach the Cup will be the winner."
Dumbledore paused to let the cheering and applause die down. Turning to face the Champions, he motioned Krum to the entrance of the maze. Facing the crowd again, he said, "Let the task begin!"
Harry felt a sense of calm wash over him when Viktor darted into the maze. He was comfortable with his plan; now all he had to do was wait.
Hermione was watching Krum's progress through the maze with interest. She wanted to see how he fared and how much he knew about the maze. 'He doesn't seem to know the layout of the maze,' she thought to herself as she watched him double back for a second time.
She heard Dumbledore send Cedric into the maze and her eyes shifted to begin following his progress. As a result, she never noticed the dot labeled, Viktor Krum wander next to another labeled, Barty Crouch, Jr., someone that was supposed to be dead. Nor did she see how Viktor's dot seemed to be heading away from the Cup and towards Cedric Diggory.
Nymphadora Tonks was scanning the map when she noticed something wrong. In front of her stood Mad-Eye Moody but on the map he was labeled, Barty Crouch, Jr. Confused, she alerted everyone about the anomaly and began making her way towards him with her wand in hand.
Remus looked down at the blinking dot on his map and frowned. Harry hadn't even started yet and there was already trouble. 'Why had Dora flagged Barty Crouch? Wasn't he missing?' he thought to himself as he made his way towards them. His pace picked up considerably when he noticed the Jr. tacked on at the end of the name.
He turned the corner and saw Dora talking with Moody at the edge of the maze. Confused, he looked down at his map and realized the problem at once, Polyjuice Potion.
Stepping up to the pair, Remus called out, "Hello, Mad-Eye. Hello, Dora. Everything okay here?"
Moody's voice was gruff as he barked back, "Hello, Remus. Everything is going well here. I need to get back to patrolling the perimeter. Please excuse me."
Just as he turned his back to them, Remus struck. "What's that?" Remus cried out in alarm while pointing towards the edge of the maze. When Moody shifted his attention, Remus hit him as hard as he could on the temple. The blow was so great that Moody's magical eye popped out of his head and came to rest on the ground next to Dora's feet.
Before Moody could hit the ground, Remus pulled the unconscious imposter upright. Turning to Tonks, he said, "Disillusion him and grab that eye. The real Moody will want that back if he is still alive."
Tonks performed the spell on the fake Moody and pocketed the magical eye. When she stood back up, she levitated the body and said, "I'll have to return to my patrol. Can you handle him alone?"
Remus nodded and said, "Yes. I'll be taking him somewhere secure before beginning to question him." He grabbed the unconscious, levitating, body and headed up towards the castle.
They had been so wrapped up in apprehending Barty Crouch, Jr. that they never noticed that Harry had entered the maze.
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