The air in the Abandoned Transfiguration Classroom was deathly still.
Their earlier "The Emperor's New Clothes" scheme, which had caused an uproar throughout the school, had been both a success and a failure.
It had successfully drawn everyone's attention to them. All of Hogwarts was discussing the entirely nonexistent theory of the "Black Lake Ecological Resonance Ritual."
But it had also attracted the "emperor" himself.
Professor Douglas Holmes had not exposed them. Instead, he had smiled and publicly praised their "academic breakthrough," then formally invited them, on behalf of the Academic Affairs Office, to give a public academic presentation and live demonstration in the Great Hall, before the entire school's staff and students and the Triwizard Tournament delegations.
That invitation was a death warrant for the frauds.
They had dug their own graves.
This situation was even worse than their last failed reconnaissance attempt, suffocatingly so.
It was practically advance notice of a public execution, with no chance of escape.
Ron buried his face in his arms and stayed motionless, as though rehearsing his own funeral.
Cedric leaned against the wall, pale-faced, staring blankly at a crack in the floor and wishing he could squeeze himself into it.
Even Pheobe and Krum, those two proud Champions, now simply sat in silence.
The only genuine piece of intelligence they had brought back, the Forged Ancient Runes Copy, had instead become the most damning evidence.
Hermione stood before the blackboard with her back to everyone, saying nothing.
She could feel those despairing gazes behind her, making her back burn.
She had planned this deception, and now she had led everyone into a dead end.
In that deathly silence, a voice spoke.
"He wants a show," Harry said quietly but clearly, with an unnatural calm. "Then we'll give him a show unlike anything