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

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 45478


> >  Deb331 wrote:
> > 
> > > When Harry and Cedric were portkeyed away, what did the 
crowd 
> > > know of  what was happening?  
> > ...big snip...

bboy:
> 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.<<<

Me:
I did  a long post on this once, but the gist of  my theory was that 
the magically weaker judges were confunded by fake!Moody, 
while the stronger ones were inside the maze, and out of 
communication, attending to Fleur and Viktor. The crowd was 
probably being told it was all part of the show, that the 
champions would be reappearing shortly, they're just being 
checked over by Madame Pomfrey, etc. As for where she was, 
well, she probably was near the maze, just as she was at the 
other two tasks. It's clueless (or Evil!) Fudge who says that Harry 
should go to the Hospital Wing.


Bboy:
> 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?

Me:
There must have been some kind of charm to keep people from 
flying over the maze, or the champions could have used 
broomsticks themselves. Harry could have summoned his 
Firebolt and flown straight to the Cup. 

The sparks seem to have been the only way those in the maze 
could communicate with those outside it, and there should have 
been no way for people outside the maze to communicate with 
those inside it, regardless of what they could see. Otherwise 
people in the audience could have given signals or directions to 
those inside maze. Also, the spectators wouldn't know that Krum 
had performed Crucio on Cedric just from watching. There are 
minor curses that make people twitch, like the one that Draco 
used on Harry at the duelling club. Assuming the soundproofing 
charm works both ways, the crowd wouldn't have been able to 
hear the screams.

Pippin