By around three o'clock in the afternoon, the sixth-year students had already finished their last exam, happily looking forward to the upcoming competition and holidays.
But the fifth years still had to wait another two hours for their O.W.L.s to be over.
In the afternoon, Kael and Cedric sat by the Black Lake, discussing the competition that was about to begin.
Meanwhile, Fred and George were up to their old tricks, off to find Bagman and Karkaroff again. According to them, the closer it got to the competition, the less they could afford to let their guard down.
After all, now that the maze was finished, who knew if Bagman would secretly tell Karkaroff the route to the cup.
"Only a few more hours until the competition begins. I wish time would go faster…" Cedric said, gazing at the giant squid sunbathing in the lake. "How are you with those Charms? No problems, right?"
"Of course there's no problem," Kael replied. "Honestly, I feel like you're even more nervous than I am."
"I don't know, probably because this is the final task." Cedric said, "You were leading in the first two tasks, and if… if you were to lose in the last one, that would be a real shame."
"Don't worry. There's no way I'm going to lose."
"I know." Cedric said with a smile. "If you manage to win the Triwizard Tournament, Professor Sprout is definitely going to be thrilled."
"I saw her in Hogsmeade last time, in the wizarding robe shop. She looked like she was picking out a new set of robes."
"New robes?" Kael turned to look at him, "Are you sure you didn't get it wrong? Didn't she just buy new robes last year?"
If it were anyone else, that might sound strange—no one only buys one set of clothes a year. But for Professor Sprout, it was perfectly normal.
Normally at school, she wore sturdy clothes that were better for tending to the plants in the greenhouses. Robes only came out for the start-of-term feast and similar occasions.
Kael had also noticed that her yellow robes hadn't changed for several years, up until last year when Hufflepuff took the House Cup for the fourth year in a row, and then she switched to a new set.
And the new robes were fancy enough that she wore them as a dress robe for the Yule Ball.
"I'm pretty sure I wasn't mistaken," Cedric said. "I mean, if you win, that's not just an honor for Hogwarts, it's a huge honor for Hufflepuff too. Professor Sprout would definitely want to celebrate."
Alright then, buying new robes to celebrate… That did sound exactly like Professor Sprout.
Just then, Cedric said suddenly, "Kael, look over there—it's the headmaster."
Kael looked back and saw Dumbledore just coming out of the castle, with a few other judges in tow. They were in the midst of an intense discussion about something.
"What are they talking about?" Cedric asked curiously.
"No idea," Kael shook his head. They were too far away to make out anything the judges were saying.
"I guess it must be something about the competition."
"No way," Cedric exclaimed, "The competition is about to start. Are they still arguing over something?"
"Who knows." Kael replied, not seeming to care much.
Every headmaster wanted to favor their own school's Champion—a little disagreement was only natural.
...
By five o'clock, bursts of excited cheering drifted from the castle.
"I guess the exams are finally over," Cedric said.
Then they got up as well, getting ready to head back for dinner.
"Hey, you guys are out here…"
At that moment, Fred and George reappeared, looking as excited as ever after being gone all afternoon.
"Guess what we found out…"
"Don't tell me Bagman actually gave Karkaroff the path through the maze!" Cedric blurted immediately.
"Nope," Fred shook his head, "but Bagman did go meet with Karkaroff again."
"He said the maze was built by all the judges together, so no one actually knows the full path."
"Well, that's good," Cedric said.
"But we heard something else," George said mysteriously, "Seems like the judges want to add a twist, same as the second task, to make things harder."
"A twist like the second task?" Kael asked, puzzled. "What does that mean?"
"Hostages," Fred said. "They want to add some hostages inside the maze—the Champions have to find all the hostages before they can get to the cup."
"You must've heard wrong," Cedric blurted. "The maze is dangerous enough. Why add hostages?"
"We swear we didn't," George said seriously. "Anyway, that's exactly what Bagman said—we heard it clear as anything."
"Wait… something doesn't add up," Cedric realized, "It's broad daylight. Your Disillusionment Charm lets you get that close to them?"
Ludo Bagman was one thing, but even Karkaroff was a headmaster. In broad daylight, with no night to hide them, there's no way he'd miss someone sneaking up under a Disillusionment Charm.
"Of course not. That's why we brought a really useful little device," Fred waggled his eyebrows and pulled an ear-shaped thing from his pocket.
"Extendable Ears—we only just finished this batch a week ago."
George explained, "We disguised it as a bush and planted it nearby. Heard everything Bagman and Karkaroff said."
"Alright," Cedric sighed, glancing helplessly at Kael, "Looks like Conna's about to be a hostage again. Let's see how fast you can rescue her this time."
"No, no, not this time," Fred waggled a finger. "The Hogwarts hostage isn't Conna—it's Harry."
"Harry Potter?"
"That's right," George said. "They reckon if the Boy Who Lived takes part, it'll make things even more exciting."
"Getting Harry involved in the final task?" Kael frowned, a little uneasy. "Do you know whose idea that was? Karkaroff? Or… Barty Crouch?"
"No clue,"
Fred said, "Probably decided ages ago. We were only paying attention to Bagman—he's the one who mentioned it to Karkaroff while we were listening in."
"And Bagman also said this event is sure to get the Daily Prophet's front page for a week."
Kael frowned, still sensing something odd about all this. But before he could ask, Conna and Cho came running over from nearby.
"What are you all talking about?"
"Triwizard stuff," Fred said. "Anyway, you two go ahead to dinner—we need to find Headmaster Dumbledore."
"It doesn't have to be Harry as the hostage—we could do it too," George chimed in.
"This is the Triwizard Tournament, and it's our only year to ever have a chance…"
"We were just saying on the way over,"
"Even if we can't be Champions, at least we've got to try for the hostage gig…"
With that, the two of them dashed off toward the castle, set on finding Dumbledore.
Kael stood there, thinking for a moment.
Letting Harry be the hostage was a bit strange, but with Dumbledore around, nothing should go wrong…
As long as they remembered to double-check the Goblet of Fire later, it would be fine.
Having thought that through, Kael went off to the Auditorium with the others.