Spectators and Security (WAS: Seeing the TASKS)

[erisedstraeh2002]

No: HPFGUIDX 53310

bboy_mn wrote:

>So I think without a doubt there was at least some limited vision 
>into the maze of the third task.

Now me:

I'm not so sure it's that simple.  As I noted in my first post on 
this issue yesterday, all of the indications are that it's quite dark 
inside the maze.  And as I alluded to in my post, but as Aesob (Alex) 
stated more directly, there's no indication that anyone noticed Harry 
and Cedric's disappearance when they touched the Cup.  They are all 
still seated in the stands when Harry returns with Cedric's body.  
And unlike Narnia, where Lewis makes it clear that time stands 
relatively still when individuals are port-keyed to other places, 
this doesn't appear to be so in JKR's world.  For example, when 
Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys go to the Quidditch World Cup via 
portkey, a night passes before they return to the Burrow.

So I really don't think there is a clear-cut answer to this 
particular puzzle.  So, with that said, I was hoping to take this 
discussion down a different, but related path.

Which is:  Why, with Dumbledore "reading the signs" of Voldemort 
regaining power, and with his concern about Harry's safety during the 
Tournament, would two of the three tasks take place with little or no 
ability for Dumbledore to see what's going on?

I'll focus on the second task, since I think it's clear that no one 
could see what was going on under the lake (since Dumbledore has to 
ask the chief merperson to explain what happened).  I don't even 
think Fake!Moody's magical eye could see, since he tells Harry later 
that Harry took so long under the lake that Fake!Moody thought he had 
drowned.  At a minimum, there are grindylows and a giant squid down 
there.  In a worst case scenario, Voldemort could have managed to put 
all sorts of nasty traps down there in order to hurt Harry.  And no 
one would know, since no one above the lake could see what was going 
on.

The only way I can attempt to explain this is that perhaps the 
merpeople were charged with protecting the champions.  But Harry 
doesn't run into them until he reaches their "village."  I suppose 
it's possible that they're lurking in the shadows and he just doesn't 
see them.  But even this theory breaks down when I remember how 
scared they were of Harry's wand.

The first task makes the most sense in terms of both the spectators 
and the personal safety of the champions – the spectators could see 
what was going on; McGonagall tells Harry that there are dragon 
keepers at the ready in case things got out of control.  In the 
second task, there is nothing for the spectators to see (at least, 
until the champions emerged from the lake), and great risk to the 
champions due to the lack of visibility.   Whether the spectators 
could see anything in the third task is debatable, but I think having 
blast-ended skrewts and giant spiders in the maze was extremely 
dangerous.  It takes a simultaneous spell by both Harry and Cedric to 
bring down the giant spider.  What if one or the other had met the 
spider alone?  And clearly, the security does break down when Harry 
and Cedric touch the Cup and are transported to the graveyard without 
anyone knowing about it or being able to stop it.

Perhaps giving each champion a dose of "ancient magic" would have 
been a good way of protecting them during the tasks, although it 
would have kept Harry and Cedric from traveling to the graveyard and 
ruined the ending of GoF ;)  

~Phyllis