A week later...
Kayson sat in the Great Hall, eating breakfast while reading the Daily Prophet.
Until he spotted a section titled, "How Difficult Is It for a One-Armed Writer to Persevere!"
In that instant, he thought of many things. Truly, many things.
He had once heard a saying: when a person found something absurd to the extreme, they would laugh out loud.
And at that very moment, Kayson let out a helpless laugh.
He was no longer angry at Rita Skeeter. On the contrary, he felt a deep sense of admiration for her.
"This person... she's so damn impressive that she'd succeed at anything," Kayson said sincerely.
After breakfast, Kayson, who had no classes for the entire day, and Hagrid were drafted into service. They followed the Ministry of Magic planners to the Quidditch pitch to design the maze needed for the third task.
Originally, Hagrid had wanted to bring Professor Sprout along, since she should have had some fast-growing magical plants that could be used to quickly construct the maze.
Then Kayson placed a leaf block on the ground.
"Wow... is this alchemy too?" Hagrid asked in surprise.
"Obviously, yes." Kayson nodded.
The two of them and the Ministry of Magic planners crafted a giant maze by hand, making it thicker and taller.
In the end, Hagrid carried over an enormous trophy, representing the champion of the Triwizard Tournament.
Kayson examined the trophy through his monocle. "Uh... gold-plated iron? That's a little shabby."
"Actually, the Ministry of Magic had already struggled to come up with this much gold. Most of this year's discretionary budget was paid to Romania. While four dragons weren't particularly precious, maintaining relations between the two countries was still necessary," the Ministry planner explained.
"I didn't mean to disparage it." Kayson walked toward the trophy