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-In front of the labyrinth entrance-
The Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch, which hours before had been buzzing with excitement as the crowd watched the final task of the Tri-wizard Tournament, was now plunged into confusion and despair.
Teachers, students, parents, and guests looked anxiously at the large two-way mirror floating in the sky above the maze, murmuring and whispering among themselves, exchanging nervous and confused glances.
"Where could they be?" Professor McGonagall, who was standing with the group of teachers and ministry officials in front of the maze entrance, muttered in distress.
She, who had always been someone composed and serious, was now unable to stay still, pacing back and forth to the point of tearing up the grass in the field at her feet.
It was quite obvious why Professor McGonagall was so stressed and nervous in this situation. Two of her favorite students, one of whom was someone she considered her own grandson, had suddenly disappeared during the final task.
The cup, which was supposed to teleport the champion who picked it up to the entrance of the maze, thus ending the tournament and guaranteeing his or her victory, had sent the three teenagers to some unknown place.
And now, no locating spell, tracking enchantment, or any kind of magic could find them.
'Please be safe,' she pleaded in her mind, worries flickering in her eyes behind her glasses.
Professor McGonagall wasn't the only person in front of the maze who was worried.
Professor Sprout, beside the feline teacher, was biting her nails, frowning in a sign of worry and fear. And even the always cheerful and smiling Professor Flitwick was strangely silent, with his small fists clenched at his sides.
Madame Maxime, equally worried about her Veela student, leaned on Hagrid's arms, who at this moment could not even be happy about this, completely distressed as he thought about his two young friends.
And Headmaster Dumbledore, standing at the head of the large group, had a grave expression on his face, his eyes attentively observing every detail of the magic mirror that showed internal images of the maze.
'So he's made his move,' he thought, referring to the mysterious criminal who had put Harry's name in the goblet of fire.
The old wizard already knew that something was going to happen in this task, but he didn't expect this criminal to sabotage the cup, changing the location where the portkey was supposed to teleport the winning champion.
And he also didn't expect that besides Harry, two other students would also be involved in his dangerous scheme.
'Sigh, the situation just got a lot worse' he sighed, feeling the weight of the situation on his shoulders.
"What's going on Dumbledore?!"
The Headmaster was then pulled out of his thoughts by an irritated and anxious voice.
Turning to look back he saw Sirius, who stopped in front of him with a large group of parents and relatives of the missing champions behind him.
"Albus, where are they?" asked Nick, stepping forward. His voice was calm, but his eyes were deadly serious.
Dumbledore, for his part, did not answer immediately. His brows were furrowed, and the way he held his wand indicated that he did not have a satisfactory answer to that question either.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Magic, Fudge, who saw the large group with many influential people arriving, immediately went to them.
And hearing the immortal sir's question, and seeing Lord Black's increasingly irritated expression, he quickly tried to appease them, maintaining a facade of control.
"Let's all calm down, what happened was just a small unforeseen event that our Ministry is already resolving," he said, holding his green bowler hat as he smiled nervously at everyone.
However, his attempt to reassure everyone was met with looks of disdain and anger, especially from the champions' parents, who were now clearly losing their patience.
"Gasp!"
"Kyaah!"
"By Merlin!"
"Holy shit!"
Just as a tense discussion was about to begin, gasps, screams, and shocked and frightened exclamations came from the people in the stands.
Pausing for a moment, those in front of the maze entrance looked at those in the stands in confusion, seeing that they were staring at the large two-way mirror with wide eyes in horror and bewilderment.
Turning their gazes to the large mirror as well, the large group on the Quidditch pitch saw what had shocked the audience, and immediately understood why they had reacted that way.
"Oh God!" Sarah gasped in shock, placing her hands over her mouth.
Joshua and Jean, as soon as they looked at the large mirror, immediately covered Cele and Gabi's eyes, preventing them from seeing this horrific scene.
"Fuck..." Sirius let out unconsciously, his voice weaker than usual.
What the mirror was showing everyone was one of the areas of the maze, and obviously this shouldn't cause that much of a stir.
But the real problem was the destructive and bloody state the place was in.
That entire area of the maze was destroyed, falling to pieces, full of bodies, organs and limbs of magical creatures scattered across the floor, with blood completely staining the place.
And in the middle of this area, there was a broken and mangled human body, lying in the center of a huge crater. And you didn't have to be the most attentive person in the world to realize that this person was dead.
"W-who... Who is he?" Fleur's mother, Apolline, asked in a shaky voice.
"Those clothes... Aren't they Professor Moody's clothes?" Professor McGonagall said, noticing that the corpse's ruined, bloodstained robes reminded her briefly of the clothes the former Auror and current DADA teacher was wearing today.
As soon as she said that, everyone else paid attention to the clothes the dead man was wearing, realizing that they were indeed Moody's clothes.
"Hurry! Bring that body here!" Headmaster Dumbledore immediately ordered the ministry officials, and his grave tone left no room for argument.
And even Fudge, who saw his employees being ordered around by the Headmaster, knew he should remain silent.
"And stop broadcasting that maze area in the mirror! Now!" Headmaster Dumbledore continued, seeing that many students were still staring at the bloody scene in the mirror.
Following the Headmaster's orders, several ministry officials entered the maze with wands in hand, quickly heading towards the area where the dead man was.
And those in command of the equipment controlling the mirrors immediately began transmitting images from another area of the maze to the audience.
...
...
...
As they waited for those in the maze to return with the corpse, the large group in the field looked at each other with anxious expressions, feeling a strong, almost palpable tension in the air.
The families of the missing champions wanted to return to discussing where their children were, angered by the lack of answers from the three schools and the ministry.
But they knew from Fudge's nervous look and the Headmaster's frown that nothing the two of them said or replied would be to their liking.
And besides, the appearance of a dead person in the maze made the situation even more serious and worrying.
So the three families decided to wait for the corpse to be brought to them, because perhaps it, even dead, would reveal something about what happened in the maze and where Ethan, Harry and Fleur were.
"Sir," one of the ministry officials approached the Headmaster, breaking the tension and getting his and the others' attention, "We checked, and that area where the dead body is, is the same place where we lost connection with the mirrors that showed the champion Ethan Night."
"!!" this new information caused some people's eyes to widen slightly.
And the ones most impacted by this were those closest to Ethan, with a mixture of feelings of fear, worry and panic rising within them.
End.
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