Hogwarts' Golden Glory

Bagman blew his whistle.

Five people crossed the entrance line at the same time.

The hedge closed behind them, cutting the light and sound in two.

The maze appeared larger inside than outside. The passageways were wider than expected, and the soil on the ground was more compacted than outside, as if someone had trodden it beforehand.

The hedge was about twelve feet high, and you couldn't see the top or the distance.

Kane didn't walk quickly. He paused at the first fork in the maze, as if waiting for something. A few seconds later, Harry emerged from the right-hand passage, saw Kane standing there, paused for a moment, and then walked over.

"Were you waiting for me?" Harry asked.

"I'm waiting for everyone," Kane said, "not just you."

Harry didn't ask any further questions. He turned his head and saw people moving in the passageway in the distance—Fleur's figure was quickly passing through a side path, Cedric was further away, and Krum had disappeared around a corner in some passageway.

Kane glanced in the direction of Hibiscus to confirm her path, then turned towards Cedric, as if checking everyone's location in his own way.

Obstacles begin to appear in the maze.

A fork in the road was blocked by a thick rope with tiny bells hanging from it, as if touching it would trigger something.

Kane didn't touch the rope and led Harry around it via another route. They walked a while longer and encountered a Boggart.

It turned into a snake, then into a cloud of black mist. Kane didn't wait for it to fully form; he walked over and made it disperse again before it could solidify.

Fleur encountered a group of Blasttails at a corner. As Kane passed by, he cast an area-of-effect repulsion spell on the center of them, causing them to retreat to either side of the passage, allowing Fleur to pass through. Cedric encountered a Sphinx further in and was trying to answer its questions. Seeing Kane and Harry pass by, he gave a brief nod.

Krum wasn't nearby. He might have taken another route, or he might have encountered some other obstacle.

Kane didn't specifically look for him, but he kept an eye on the surroundings, as if he was trying to confirm every exit and corner in his own way.

Harry began to sense that something was amiss.

Their sense of direction seemed to be going in circles, as if they were being pulled astray by something. The shadows of the trees moved more slowly than when they passed by, as if they were being continuously pulled.

He tried to walk in a direction that seemed obvious, but after about twenty steps, the path ended at a seamless hedge, making it impassable.

"We need to find another way," Harry said.

"I know. I've been looking for a breakthrough in that direction."

Kane's voice wasn't loud, but it was steady, as if he were confirming something that had already been ruled out as a possibility. He turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the height of the hedge, then readjusted his direction and headed down another fork in the road.

Then Krum emerged from around the corner of that fork in the road.

His steps were somewhat stiff, as if he had already walked a long way.

His eyes were dark gray, just like usual, but the position he stood in the passageway blocked their only way out, as if he were completing a pre-arranged task.

Kane stopped in his tracks.

He stood between the fork in the road and where Krum was, as if he was trying to determine the next direction in his own way, but had not yet made a decision, neither retreating nor moving forward.

"Did you come from that direction too?"

Harry spoke. Krum remained standing there, offering no reply, as if waiting for a specific moment to arrive.

On the next shot, Kane said, "Step back."

Harry took a step back as he uttered the first word, creating distance between himself and Kane once again.

Krum leaned forward slightly, as if some fixed device was being slowly released.

His eyes underwent a slight change in that instant—a very faint red tinged through the deep gray, then disappeared, as if something was fading away from his body.

"Is it over?" Harry asked.

"Not yet," Kane said, "but we can go now."

They passed through Krum's location and continued forward. After about a hundred paces, the hedges finally began to thin out, and the light in the distance was gradually brightening, revealing a clearing.

The Three Power Cup is suspended above the base in the center of the open space, its edges shimmering with a faint golden luster under the light, like a pulse that has been silent for a long time.

Kane didn't step forward immediately. He shifted his gaze from the Triwizard Trophy, briefly glancing around the edge of the open space, as if confirming in his own way whether the boundaries of the open space and the space around it were in the positions he expected.

"You go first," he said.

"What?"

"You go first. If you get it, I get it too."

Harry didn't ask any more questions. He stepped forward and reached out to grasp the handle of the cup.

The cup emitted a deep hum upon contact, and then the entire base began to glow. An outward force emanated from the surface of the trophy, as if triggering a pre-stored transmission command.

The moment Harry touched the trophy, Kane shifted to the side, reaching out to grasp the rim—as if he knew beforehand that the trophy couldn't accommodate two people holding it at the same time, but he didn't let go.

Then a white light enveloped them.

The ground felt different now, the texture of soil replaced by hard stone slabs. A breeze blew in from the open, carrying the scent of dry, withered grass. The sky was a different color than before, deeper and darker, as if someone were shifting the time of day.

After Harry stopped, the first thing he saw were the tombstones. The grayish-white stones were arranged not far away, of varying sizes; some had names engraved on them, while others were weathered and illegible.

In the distance stood a withered tree, its branches bare, as if it had been dead for a long time. He recognized the place. Little Hangton's graveyard.

"We've been teleported to another place," Harry said.

"I know," Kane's voice came from his left. "I came with you."

He stood beside Harry, wand in hand, his gaze sweeping across the space between the tombstones and the trees, as if confirming that the layout of the cemetery matched his memory. He turned his head to look at the spot where the trophy lay; it was resting quietly on the ground, the light around its edges extinguished, as if it had already completed its assigned task.

Footsteps approached from not far away. It wasn't one person. It was three people, or more, moving from the other side of the cemetery through the gaps between the tombstones, towards their location.

They wore dark robes and walked with slow, deliberate steps, as if they had already familiarized themselves with the terrain. The man at the front was tall and thin, and he slowed down as he approached Kane, seemingly confirming in his own way whether the opposite location was indeed his target.

A green light flashed. It wasn't aimed at Harry, but at the air around him, as if to determine his exact distance.

"You've finally arrived." A voice came from behind them. Harry turned around and saw a figure standing next to the dead tree, wearing a dark robe and holding a wand that was pointing at him.