"Awooo—"
Wolf howls echoed out of the Forbidden Forest, unusually clear across the dead-of-night silence of the Quidditch Pitch.
The sounds rose and fell, sometimes distant, sometimes close, particularly eerie against the still night.
But most of the audience in the stands had already started dozing off.
The match had been running for hours by now. Whatever excitement and tension there'd been at the start had long since faded, leaving only a long stretch of waiting.
Some leaned back in their seats for a nap, some nodded off mid-sentence, others simply pulled their robes over themselves and went straight to sleep.
Ludo Bagman was still forcing himself to stay awake, tracking the movement inside the maze.
His eyes stayed fixed on the handful of moving light dots, murmuring to himself, "Lynn's still there... Cedric's still there... Fleur's still there... Harry's still there... Ryan's still there... Katya... uh, Katya's still there too..."
His voice grew quieter, more slurred by the second.
Honestly, the maze's traps only really fell into a few categories—plants, creatures, and alchemy.
Most of them the champions had already figured out. Traps that needed stepping on got stepped on, monsters that needed fighting got fought, and paths that needed getting lost in got lost in.
Now it just came down to who could find the Goblet of Fire first.
All that was left was waiting for the final champion to emerge.
Before long, Ludo Bagman's own head started nodding too.
His chin drooped lower and lower, on the verge of hitting the commentary desk—
Ring, ring, ring—!!!
A sharp Magic Phone ringtone suddenly blared from the judges' panel.
Ludo's heart lurched instantly.
That feeling—anyone who's ever been jarred awake by a phone shrieking in the dead of night knows exactly what that's like—as if his heart were about to leap straight out of his throat.
Ludo shot up out of his chair, nearly toppling the commentary desk in front of him.
"What's going on?! What happened?! Is something on fire?!"
Beside him, Dumbledore had jumped at the ringtone too.
He pulled out his Magic Phone and glanced at the caller ID—Cornelius Fudge.
The old Headmaster's brow furrowed slightly as he hit answer.
"Albus!" Fudge's voice came through, urgent and panicked, breath audibly ragged. "Several Dark wizards are tearing through the Muggle streets! The Ministry's completely overwhelmed! Can you please come help, I know—"
Before he could finish, Dumbledore cut in. "Where?"
"Privet Drive."
Dumbledore's pupils contracted slightly.
In a flash of fire, his figure vanished instantly from the main stage.
The other headmasters nearby squinted at the flash, and by the time the light faded, Dumbledore was already gone.
Clearly used to his sudden disappearances, the other headmasters carried on with whatever they'd been doing.
No one noticed—
at the entrance farthest from the stands, a flicker of green light briefly flashed.
...
Inside the maze.
Lynn was still traveling along, riding the Acromantula.
He lay stretched out across its broad back, hands tucked behind his head, gazing up at the night sky sliced into fragments by the hedges overhead.
The steady rhythm of eight legs striking the ground rocked him gently, like a cradle, lulling him toward drowsiness.
In his head, he'd already started planning his midnight snack for after winning the championship.
Something simple, like Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish?
Or maybe Snow-White Bean Paste Balls?
Lynn mulled it over seriously.
A question worth real consideration.
Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish was sweet and sour, crispy outside, tender inside—but too much of a hassle to make. Snow-White Bean Paste Balls were soft and sweet, but easy to get sick of after too many.
What about... both?
Lynn nodded, satisfied that his logic held up.
The Acromantula pressed on and rounded a corner.
Just then—
a flurry of footsteps rang out from the darkness ahead.
Quick, uneven, tapping against the ground as they drew closer.
A second later, a figure burst out of the dark.
Fleur Delacour.
Pale-faced, her long silver hair disheveled over her shoulders, her robes streaked with mud and grass stains. She gripped her wand, gasping, her expression a mix of terror and panic.
Spotting an Acromantula blocking her path, she raised her hand and cast a Severing Charm.
The spell sliced straight toward the Acromantula's legs!
A flick of Lynn's wand threw up a Shield Charm in front of it instantly.
Clang!
The Severing Charm struck the shield, sparks scattering.
Only then did Fleur notice someone sitting on the spider's back.
"Ly... Lynn?"
Fleur let out a massive sigh of relief, her tense shoulders sagging as she nearly collapsed on the spot.
Lynn sat up on the spider's back and looked at her. "What's going on up ahead? You look completely spooked."
"I... I think I just ran into a Dark wizard?"
Lynn blinked, momentarily stunned.
"A Dark wizard?"
"Yes!" Fleur nodded fiercely. "A Dark wizard! Someone in a black hooded robe!"
She paused, then added, less certainly:
"I'm not sure... I just caught a hooded figure at a corner, gone in a flash... but something just feels wrong..."
Lynn studied her.
Fleur's face was still pale, terror lingering in her eyes, her grip on her wand white-knuckled.
Lynn suspected she was just scaring herself.
But what if she wasn't?
What if a Dark wizard really had slipped in?
He patted the Acromantula's head, ready to move it forward.
"I'll go take a look ahead, then."
Just as the Acromantula was about to step forward—
Fleur suddenly threw out her arms, blocking Lynn's path.
Lynn looked at her. "Something else?"
Fleur took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "Um... take me with you."
Lynn raised an eyebrow.
"I'll lead the way," Fleur said. "I know exactly where it was."
Lynn considered it.
Fair point.
Leaving her alone here, if that Dark wizard really was lurking nearby, would only put her in more danger. Better to bring her along—at least under his watch, nothing could go too wrong.
He reached out a hand.
"Get on."
Fleur took it and let him pull her up.
The two sat one behind the other on the Acromantula's back, close together. Her fragrance drifted over, mixed faintly with the smell of mud and sweat.
Lynn didn't mind.
"Which way?"
Fleur pointed ahead.
"Straight on, then left at the second turn."
Lynn nodded and patted the Acromantula's head.
"Hear that? Let's go."
Its eight legs pushed off together, and it took off in that direction.
The surroundings were quiet, only the thud-thud of legs against the ground and the sound of their own breathing.
Fleur sat silently behind Lynn.
Lynn didn't speak either, just staring straight ahead.
After walking several dozen meters—
"Look over there!"
Fleur suddenly called out, and Lynn instinctively turned to follow her pointing finger.
In that same instant, [Peter's Jolt] fired off frantically, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.
"Impe—"
The voice came from right beside him, right behind his head.
Imperio.
Lynn's pupils contracted sharply, his body reacting before his mind caught up—
he slammed his right elbow backward, hard!
The strike landed perfectly, connecting with the wand Fleur had just drawn.
With a sharp snap, the wand went flying to the side.
The spell bursting from its tip veered off course, grazing past Lynn's ear and striking the nearby hedge instead.
With a hiss, the leaves and branches where it hit began growing wildly, twisting instantly into a tangled knot.
Seeing her attack fail, a flash of ruthlessness crossed Fleur's eyes.
Her other hand lunged forward, grabbing for the hand Lynn still held his wand in.
But Lynn wasn't giving her a second shot.
He spun around, his movement almost too fast to track.
His left hand shot out like lightning, seizing her wand-hand wrist and twisting it hard.
Fleur cried out in pain, her fingers loosening.
The wand dropped from her grip and landed in Lynn's.
A second later—
Lynn gripped it and flicked it toward the nearby hedge.
The vines along the wall seemed to spring to life at once.
They wrapped around Fleur's body, her arms, her legs, wrenching her clean off the Acromantula's back!
"Ah—!"
Fleur cried out in alarm, her body arcing through the air, and then—
Thud!
She was pinned firmly against the wall by the vines.
Wrapped tight from shoulders to ankles, they held her fast against the hedge, unable to move an inch.
Lynn sat on the Acromantula's back, catching his breath.
His heart pounded against his ribs, fast and hard, like a trapped animal.
This was the closest he'd ever come to an Unforgivable Curse.
Close enough to feel the chill of the spell as it grazed past his ear.
Close enough that half a second slower, and he'd be a puppet on strings right now.
Lynn took a deep breath, forcing himself steady.
He hopped down off the Acromantula's back, walked over to Fleur, and leaned in for a sniff.
No trace of Polyjuice Potion.
He frowned and checked again, carefully.
Genuinely none there.
Just Fleur's own faint natural scent.
Lynn stepped back and studied her.
Looked like she'd been placed under Imperio.
He just didn't know whether it had happened before the task started, or sometime during it.
If it was before—then this had just gotten a lot more interesting.
A champion under Imperio had wandered the maze this long without a single person catching on. Beauxbatons' professors hadn't noticed. The judges hadn't noticed. Not even Dumbledore had noticed.
If it happened during the match—that was even worse.
It meant someone was inside the maze right now, and had cast Imperio on Fleur without anyone else knowing.
So where was that person now?
Lynn looked back up the pitch-black passage he'd just come from.
Nothing visible in the dark at all.
---
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