0561 Final Preparations


    A thin, wispy fog shrouded the area like a filmy veil as the first morning light glimmered faintly on the horizon.


    High above in the dim, grey pre-dawn sky, a yellowish-brown owl returningte from its nightly hunt glided silently on the cool wind currents. It circled past the tallest astronomy tower of Hogwarts and tiredly towards the Owlery to rest its weary wings after a long night of hunting for prey in field and forest.


    However, just as it shed past the Ravenw Tower, the owl''s sharp gaze captured a wondrous sight - a majestic, circr structure that had appeared as if by magic overnight on the sturdy stone overpass set up across the deep ravine separating Hogwarts from the nearby mountains.


    The owl''s curiosity triumphed over its bone-deep fatigue. Intrigued, it tucked its wings and dived sharply crossing several miles in the blink of an eye.


    Then, riding a lucky oing gust of wind, the brown owl quickly soared again with powerful beats of its broad wings. Eventually, itnded on the edge of a huge, rectangr screen.


    This enormous screen, suspended on aplex bird''s nest-like steel frame structure, appeared ck overall, as if a starless night sky had been captured and pinned in ce.


    Up close, the owl could see it was pieced together by many square stone tablets fitted edge-to-edge. Each tablet was engraved with intricate magic runes. Tilting its head curiously, the owl lowered its hooked beak and pecked tentatively a few times at the strange surface with a hard-tapping sound, but this curious probing attempt was apparently defined by the enchantments as an attack.


    As a result, a gentle but firm wave of invisible force surged out of nowhere, catching under the owl''s wings and blowing the startled bird back up into the air.


    <strong>Hoo hoo--!</strong> The owl circled indignantly above the intriguing building, hooting its disgruntled protest after losing a few feathers to that sudden gust. Ruffling its remaining feathers with an almost offended air, the owl shifted its attention elsewhere, studying the transformed area spread out below.


    Relying on its exceptional dark vision, it immediately discovered that it was not the only one hovering in the air around the new structure.


    A number of strange little objects were also flying around, but these were quite odd to the owl''s eyes. They all had small white wings like moths orcewings that fluttered extremely fast as they flew around.


    The owl had indeed seen some people stick simr things to their eyes and look around intently while it had delivered letters to various wizards. Those odd things they wore had asionally emitted fierce, blinding white shes of light to illuminate a scene, but unlike the small winged objects currently before its eyes, they didn''t have wings.


    The owl did not choose to fly down lower for a closer look, despite its curiosity, because the early morning air down there contained a more concentrated amount of stirred up dust and debris at those lower positions, which made the owl''s sensitive eyes feel quite ufortable.


    However, this lingering dust did not significantly affect its vision. Hovering on an air current, it could still clearly see what the bustling wizards below were doing as they worked like busy ants.


    Arge number of wizards were waving their wands in unison as they stood around the stadium, and then the huge wooden boards and beams ced on the ground at their feet rose up and flew into the sky one by one as if pulled by invisible string. These boards inserted and fitted themselves into the load-bearing ports and sockets reserved in the steel frame''s framework with loud thunking sounds, steadily forming a sturdy circr floor as they locked into ce.


    <strong>Bang!</strong> A crisp, loud explosion nearby suddenly startled the owl, and it hurriedly pped its wings to make itself climb higher into the safety of open sky on instinct. Twisting its head around, it looked around for the source of the disturbance.


    "Bryan, I''ve got the carpets you wanted!"


    As the echoes of the noise faded, a wizard appeared seemingly out of thin air with a faint pop of disced air, carrying arge gray cloth bag. The man''s eyes wandered around the transformed area, clearly searching for someone.


    After looking about briefly and not immediately finding anyone, he pointed his wand at his own throat and called out in an amplified voice that boomed across the space,


    "Oy, where are you, Bryan?"


    "Ah, thank you, Ludo, you''ve helped me out a lot--"


    Before long, a tall figure emerged from a hidden small room behind the shielded referee''s seat at the top of the circr stadium in answer to the call. He stood on the high stand dozens of feet in the air, but still urately pinpointed the location of the person calling him far below.


    "How''s your wonderful new alchemy gadgeting along -- will there be any issues with it?"


    With another loud pop of Apparition, Ludo appeared right next to Bryan up in the stands with his bag still in tow. He nced curiously at the parts of unknown use that Bryan held in his hand and said enthusiastically.


    "I don''t exactly know just yet, Ludo, but I believe there won''t be any significant problems," Bryan replied thoughtfully, turning the delicate pieces over in his fingers. "I n to make an attempt at activating and testing the device at seven o''clock sharp--"


    As Bryan spoke, Ludo happened to notice that there was more than one person bustling about in the small studio behind Bryan - two goblins were also busy inside, fiddling with gears and lenses and crystals.


    Seeing the paranoid, secretive goblins, Ludo immediately scrunched up his shoulders, retracted his craning neck, and lowered his already-hushed voice quite a bit more as he leaned in closer to Bryan,


    "I managed to get these carpets from the Ministry''s warehouse stores. They were purchased brand new back when we were preparing for the Quidditch World Cup, but ended up going unused in storage. No need to spend yet more money, so ol'' Barty agreed readily to me when I exined what we needed!"


    Bryan expressed his sincere gratitude once again for Ludo''s efforts and assistance. He looked out around the stadium and saw with satisfaction that it had finally taken itspleted shape. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief, the tension easing from his shoulders a bit.


    There was still a hazy amount of lingering smoke and disturbed dust particles in the air, making everything in sight appear slightly blurry as if seen through a filtered lens.


    Not wanting to be clouded in dust, Bryan walked over to the sturdy safety railing at the edge of the high tform and casted a wide-area Scouring Charm with his wand in a clean arc from top to bottom of the stadium.


    The next second, a strange glittering ripple spread out rapidly in an expanding sphere, and the troublesome dust all seemed to suddenly bear a tremendous momentary gravity, instantly falling like heavy snow back to the ground far below, the pulse of magic even affected the curiously-observing owl still circling high above in the brightening sky.


    The new rity of sight satisfied Bryan, who gave a pleased nod at the much-improved view. He turned to therge bag Ludo had brought and pointed his wand at it.


    <strong>Whoosh--!</strong> Many neatly-bundled rolls of ck carpets suddenly shot out from the open mouth of the bag like a barrage of soft cannonballs. They evenly distributed themselves to nned points in various parts of the stadium, then unrolled and stretched out their bodies until they stuck firmly to the floors, making the recently-finished stadium look even more polished and grand.


    "Very nice indeed--" Ludo said happily, admiring the effect. He turned in a circle and found that the spectator seats behind them were not just simple chairs as he had first assumed. The smoothly-curved armrests had small rotating tabletops cleverly attached to them that could be used by the spectators to hold snacks and drinks.


    His tourplete, Ludo suddenly frowned and nced around in worry again, as if btedly realizing there was still one key element missing from the scene.


    "I say, where''s ol'' Dumbledore got off to?" he asked of no one in particr, hands on his hips. "Why isn''t he here yet overseeing things? Shouldn''t he be on site by now?"


    Bryan raised his eyes to the steadily-lightening sky in the east and pondered Ludo''s question for a long moment before giving a wry half-smile.


    "Well now, I can''t answer that particr question withplete uracy of course, Ludo, but ording to my guess he should have just gotten himself up at this time and is likely caressing his beard in the Headmaster''s private luxury bathroom--"


    Ludo immediately burst into a hearty, cheerfulugh at the amusing mental image, but then, when he turned to look at Bryan again, he found that he was already moving to return to the studio.


    Ludo''s face fell, then changed to a look of sudden nervous anxiety. He hurriedly reached out and grabbed at Bryan''s sleeve, stopping him. Bryan turned back with an inquiring raised eyebrow, and in the face of those unsettlingly-shrewd eyes, Ludo found himself hesitating once again, his previous boldness suddenly abandoning him.


    "Ahem, yes, well," Ludo coughed, clearing his throat ufortably. He lowered his voice and adopted a more coaxing, fawning tone.


    "I say, Bryan, you see... well, you should know, just between us, that this tournament is under an absolutely tremendous amount of attention and scrutiny, and I don''t just mean from the Ministry and the schools and all. I''m talking about attention from... ahem, shall we say interested outside parties, you understand?" Ludo tapped the side of his nose and attempted a sly expression.


    Bryan''s face turned nk, and he crossed his arms over his chest. When he spoke, his voice had gone cold and clipped. "Ludo... if you''re about to ask me -- as an official overseeing and organizing this tournament -- who I think will win the Triwizard Cup, hoping I''ll slip and tell you my predictions for the results so that you can turn around and win big on the gambling and bookmaking circuits..."


    Bryan gave a stern re that made Ludo wince and shrink in on himself, "Well, then, what I have to tell you is that any one of the champions has a chance to win, and I''ll not y favorites or predict. I''m warning you, Ludo -- don''t you dare bring those bad habits of yours anywhere near the Tournament. I won''t stand for any inappropriate scandals or rumors of rigged oues tarnishing the tournament''s reputation."


    "Aw,e off it, Bryan! I''m sure I don''t know what you mean about bad habits!" Ludo stuttered, looking offended, but there was an unmistakable glint of greed and calction in his small eyes that contradicted his words.


    "I was simply appreciating your past magnanimity, that''s all!" Ludo continued on eagerly, undeterred, "But this tournament is the opportunity of a lifetime! Just think, that''s a huge pot of gold to be had, and you clearly have the chance to get your hands on a cut of it nice and easy, no fuss, no muss! Why, with your information, it would be a piece of cake to--"


    Bryan''s eyes turned chilly and hard. He was just opening his mouth tosh on the shameless Ludo, but suddenly there was a newmotion and tter from outside the stadium. Bryan immediately knew that Charlie and the others had escorted a few dragons to the stadium.


    "Ludo, I''m not going to tell you again -- don''t do anything foolish or reckless," Bryan said sharply, the warning clear in his face and voice. He shook off Ludo''s grip on his sleeve and gave him a final re. "I have to go see to the new arrivals. Stay out of trouble, or there will be serious consequences."


    With that, Bryan turned on his back and strode away towards the hidden staircase, and his figure suddenly disappeared, leaving Ludo stamping his feet in frustration and reluctance.


    Down on the grassywn outside the stadium''s main gates, four huge carriages crashed heavily to the ground,nding hard from mid-air. The massive wooden hubs creaked and cracked, deforming to an almost exaggerated degree at the moment of impact before their heavy Cushioning Charms absorbed the worst of the shock.


    They expanded like squashed marshmallows, then bounced back into shape, sessfully bringing the four carriages -- and their critically-important living cargo -- to a safe, reasonably smooth stop on the spongy turf.


    Bryan popped back into existence a few yards away just as Charlie scrambled down from the lead carriage''s driver''s box, as he gripped the side rails.


    "Ho there, Charlie!" Bryan called out with a grin, striding over as Charlie jumped down thest few steps of the built-indder tond firmly on the grass. "How are our scaly ''protagonists of the hour'', eh? No issues, I trust?"


    "Sleeping soundly, Bryan!" Charlie also replied loudly, "I doubt they''ll wake up for a good few hours yet. Before we dosed them with the specially-brewed extra-strength Sleeping Draught, Hagrid and his helpful little elf friend... Freodom, I think he said its name was...? fed the beasties to the gills for us.


    After all, you know a hungry dragon is ten times more dangerous and feistier than a well-fed one, so we didn''t want to risk it, not with the champions going up against them!"


    A huge crack opened in the ground, revealing a ramp in everyone''s sight, and at the other end of the ramp, a faint glow of fire could be seen.


    Charlie instructed hispanions to slowly drive the carriages into this temporarily made dungeon, where the dragons would be housed before the start of the tournament.


    Another carriage moved up to the scene from the direction of the overpass, this one containing aplete temporary field kitchen staffed by a squad of Hogwarts house-elves. They would be responsible for providing delicious lunches to the early-arriving guests in the stadium, and during the spectating period, they could also enjoy delicious drinks.


    Although not quite as grand in size as the professional Quidditch World Cup stadium, which could seat a hundred thousand spectators, the newly-finished Triwizard Tournament arena was still more thanrge enough to amodate the sizable crowd that was expected to turn out for the event.


    Cleverly concealed in the misty valleys between the surrounding mountains, many massive magical broadcast antennas had been erected overnight by the crews, their rune-etched metal frames rising high into the fog.


    At the foot of each towering antenna, teams of goblins in Gringotts uniform and WWN staff technicians in burgundy robes hurried around theplicated-looking control panels, makingst-minute adjustments and tapping their wands in careful patterns to fine-tune the sensitive equipment.


    As the golden rays of the morning sun finally broke through thest bit of gloom lingering low between the mountains and valleys, Bryan stood in the center of the much-changed stadium and looked up at the enormous matte-ck screen hanging high above the pitch.


    He raised his wand and drew aplicated sharp-angled sigil in lines of glowing blue light, finishing it off with a twist and a decisive shot directly at the screen''s heart.


    All at once, the runes etched around the screen''s edges red with zing blue radiance, pulsing in perfect time with the dancing wand-light still flowing from the tip of Bryan''s outstretched wand. The strange radiance swiftly spread inside in forks of crackling lightning until it engulfed the entire screen in a rippling field of energy.


    The ck screen flickered, shimmered, then with a ze of silver sparks, a stable image finally set itself out.


    A bird''s eye view of the finished Triwizard stadium appeared as if seen from a great height, perfectly showcasing not just the stretch of the pitch itself, but also the grounds and theplex terrain of cliff, forest andkeshore surrounding it on all sides. It was a breathtaking sight, and Bryan felt his heart swelling with pride and satisfaction as he observed it.


    From half a year ago to this day, all the long days and nights of work had finally, finally borne fruit.


    Smiling, Bryan raised his wand high above and sent up an enormous fountain of red and gold sparks to sparkle in the brightening sky like celebratory fireworks. Far above in the dissipating mists, the tired owl saw the dazzling disy and, taking it as a sign, turned around and soared off for the Owlery with a final hoot.


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