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The maze walls moving was not surprising, as they were made from a living magical plant that was chosen precisely because of this ability, with the intention of making exploration through the maze even more challenging.
But the walls should move one at a time in a medium time interval, and they should also do it randomly.
However, this time almost all the walls near me within a 10 meter radius were moving, and I could feel that they were arranging themselves in a way that would eventually trap me in this part of the maze.
And if the maze going crazy wasn't enough, I could feel many creatures of various species that should have been violent and predatory running in groups towards me, when actually they should have been attacking each other.
"Okay, this is getting weird," I said, realizing something was wrong.
And now that I had stopped to think about it a little more carefully I realized that things had been strange almost from the moment I entered the maze.
All the chaos caused by my fights would obviously end up attracting the attention of other creatures and attracting them to me, but now I had realized that after a while in the maze I started to encounter many more creatures than expected or normal.
'That doesn't make sense,' I thought grimly, 'The maze is huge, so the sound caused by my fights shouldn't reach the furthest parts of it, nor should it attract the attention of the magical creatures that were in those places.'
'But now it seems that all the creatures in the maze, and I mean all of them, are either close to me or coming towards me' and realizing the strangeness of the situation I felt like cursing.
'Something is happening in this area of the maze, and I know that whatever is happening, I am the target'
'And I'm also pretty sure I know who's behind this' I narrowed my eyes.
And as I thought about how to prove whether my suspicions were correct, I felt a vile and disgusting sensation overcome my senses.
Soon after, a magic signature that I had become quite familiar this school year entered the range of my magic radar.
And this magic seemed to bring a disturbing and chaotic energy, causing me to immediately become alert.
'Damn, I knew it,' I thought, turning to look back at the long maze path
Because of the distance and the fog that covered the maze, it was almost impossible to see anything, but with my good vision I was able to see the figure of a person at the end of this path.
*Step*
...
*Thud*
...
*Step*
...
*Thud*
...
*Step*
...
*Thud*
...
*Step*
...
*Thud*
...
This person was walking calmly and slowly towards me, with me only hearing the sound of his irregular footsteps that were quite characteristic and the sound of the roars and grunts of the creatures in the maze in the background.
And while this was happening I stood where I was, looking at him completely attentive and alert, holding my wand tightly.
And even though he was moving slowly, it didn't take long for him to reach me, stopping 5 meters in front of me.
I already knew who this person was from the moment he entered the range of my senses, but I still wanted to confirm his identity with my own eyes.
And now that he was close to me I could finally get a clear look at his appearance, seeing an old, scarred face that all the students in the DADA class were used to.
"Professor Moody," I said, looking at the impostor in front of me with disdain and coldness.
And hearing me say "his" name, False Moody smiled.
"Hello Mr. Night," he said, in a friendly, casual tone that failed to hide its malice and cruelty from me.
And hearing my name come out of his mouth I narrowed my eyes at him, with a frown appearing on my face as I entered a combat stance, ready to initiate an attack if necessary.
And seeing this Barty Junior just smiled even more, and his smile seemed somehow almost maniacal and insane.
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-In the stands-
[POV – Third Person]
At the same time that all this was happening in the maze, something strange was also happening outside of it, causing a commotion in the stands.
"Huh?"
"What happened?"
"Where is the champion Night?"
"Are the mirrors defective?"
"Why can't we see the maze anymore?"
Practically everyone in the stands was feeling confused or upset, yelling, complaining, or looking around trying to see if there was anyone who could tell them what was going on.
And the reason for all this fuss was because the mirrors that were showing Hogwarts' main champion, which in this case was Ethan, suddenly stopped transmitting images.
A few seconds ago everyone was seeing Ethan standing in the middle of a maze area full of magical creatures he defeated, and the next instant everything went black.
And this bothered a lot of people because until now the only champion who was doing something really interesting and exciting was Ethan, who was on a frantic hunt for the creatures of the maze.
And now that they had lost their source of entertainment, everyone couldn't help but complain and feel dissatisfied.
"What's going on? Why aren't the mirrors that were showing Ethan working anymore?" Sarah asked, confused and worried.
And Joshua beside her looked at Sirius, the creator of mirrors, with an anxious look, "This wasn't supposed to happen, was it?" he asked.
"No. It wasn't," Sirius replied as he frowned.
He then looked at an area near the entrance to the maze, where there was a group of people from the ministry who were in charge of the equipment that controlled the mirrors.
And this group made up of 3 wizards and 2 witches seemed to be as confused as the people in the stands, looking with panic at the control equipment, which was a stone tablet with various symbols and runes that glowed slightly.
"Psst, what's going on?!" Bagman, who had paused in narrating the task, asked them in a low voice.
"We don't know!" one of the wizards replied, waving his wand frantically over the stone tablet, "We suddenly lost connection with the mirrors in that area of the maze!"
"And you can't get the connection back to them?" Bagman asked, starting to feel nervous.
"We are trying Mr. Bagman, but it is proving difficult," another wizard replied this time.
"Yeah, and even if we are able to do so, it will probably take some time." the first wizard added.
And hearing this Bagman cursed under his breath, "Shit" he said, before turning to look at the audience in the stands, seeing that they were already starting to feel dissatisfied and irritated.
And hearing the complaints of several important and influential people who were watching the task, Bagman began to sweat with nervousness, and then he looked back at the wizards and witches in charge of the control equipment.
"But what about the other mirrors in the maze? Those who are monitoring the other champions... Are you still connected to them?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes sir, they are still working normally," a short witch nodded.
And with the confirmation that the other mirrors were still working, Bagman sighed in relief.
"Great, so while you guys try to solve the problem with the mirrors in Mr. Night's area, start transmitting the images from the mirrors that are monitoring the other champions," he said.
And hearing his order, the 5 ministry officials nodded, before turning to the control equipment again.
And not a second after that, the four large mirrors that previously showed nothing but the reflection of the audience began to transmit the situation of the other competitors in the maze.
Even though the audience was still a little upset about not being able to watch Ethan in action, at least now they could go back to watching the task, and that made almost everyone's complaints lessen.
And seeing now that things have calmed down, Bagman felt calmer.
'Luckily the problem was partially solved' he thought, taking out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat on his forehead.
But while Bagman felt relieved that the problems were being resolved, those close to Ethan felt their worries and anxieties increasing with every second that passed without information about the amber-eyed boy.
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[POV – Ethan)
Back in the maze I continued to stare at the dark wizard in front of me, alert for any sign of suspicious movement from him.
'This motherfucker, I knew he was the one behind all these strange things happening in the maze' I thought, mentally cursing the one who had stolen the face of the old Auror Mad-Eye.
And without knowing that I was cursing him in my mind, Barty Junior started looking around at the area of the maze we were in.
"Well, you made a big mess here," he commented, looking at the defeated creatures and the destroyed place.
And after inspecting everything around us with his normal eye and magical eye, both of his eyes fixed on me.
"Now I see you're more impressive than I thought, my boy," he said, looking me up and down.
"Heh, and I'm sure that's very frustrating for you, isn't it?" I said, looking at him mockingly, "Having an 'impressive' 14-year-old boy messing up your meticulously laid plans must suck."
And hearing this, "Moody" blinked his only normal eye, being taken by surprise by my words.
End.
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