What happened while Harry was gone? (was: Task 3 point of view)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 45468

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., rvotaw at i... wrote:
> 
>  Deb331 wrote:
> 
> > When Harry and Cedric were portkeyed away, what did the crowd 
> > know of  what was happening?  
> ...big snip...

Richelle replied:
> I think that yes, everyone was aware.  However, I don't think the 
> crowd (or all of them) quite knew what to make of it.  Perhaps they
> thought, as Harry and Cedric briefly did, that being teleported was 
> part of the task.  ...big snip...
> 
> Richelle 

bboy_mn with a couple of minor points:

There are some people who think that the Tri-Wizard's Cup was always a
portkey, but Fake!Moody added an extra stop. This is based on Harry
returning outside the maze; I believe he returned to the entrance of
the maze. So some people suspect the Cup was intended to do that all
along; bring the winner out of the maze.

Assuming that's true, and assuming the Cup area at the center of the
maze was a somewhat larger open area so everyone could see the winner
take the cup, the problem didn't occur when Harry and Cedric
disappear, but when they failed to reappear at the entrance of the
maze. I'm sure it took a couple of minute of uneasy silence before it
hit Dumbledore that something had gone wrong. But what? Then when
Dumbledore and the teachers started freaking out, I'm sure the crowd
figured it out pretty fast. They must have been going nuts during the
(What?) hour that Harry was gone. What could they do? I can't think of
or even imagine any test or spell that might have helped them figure
it out.

A couple other somewhat unrelated points. Why on earth were the
referees (or whatever you want to call them) patrolling the perimiter
of the maze on foot. That would mean fake!Moody was the only person
who could see anything. What could the others do beside hang around
and wait for someone to send up sparks. Wouldn't it have made more
sense to have the 'guards' patroling on brooms so they could actually
see what was going on in the maze, and be ready to swoop down at any
sign of real danger?

Next, why isn't Madam Pomfry at these and other dangerous events so
that she can render first aid as soon as possible? 

Sorry, none of that probably helps much. Just a few thoughts that came
to me.

bboy_mn