With a grand opening ceremony that combined global political theater with endorsements from academic luminaries, the Weasley Twins brought the excitement surrounding the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament to its peak.
On the enormous Water Vapor Screen, congratulations and expectations from around the world had just concluded, and the lingering heat of the frenzy sparked by the Horus Cup still hung in the air.
The students' pride and anticipation had risen to unprecedented heights.
They felt they were not merely watching a competition, but witnessing the great historical process of Hogwarts leading the entire wizarding world into a new era.
Yet, when every image on the screen finally faded, when those two jokers, Fred and George, finally disappeared from the Grandstand...
An entirely different atmosphere, like an invisible, icy tide, quietly swept over the whole of the Black Lake.
The revelry was over.
Reality returned with cold severity.
Everyone's gaze involuntarily pulled away from that stirring grand narrative and refocused on the solitary, specially built platform beside the lake.
The three Champions, Cedric, Pheobe, and Krum, stood there quietly.
They were the stars of this grand occasion, yet seemed utterly at odds with the clamor around them.
At that moment, the rigid figure on the Grandstand finally moved.
Percy, disguised as Barty Crouch, walked to the center of the Podium with his characteristic stride.
His stiff, pedantic voice, amplified by Sonorus, clearly overrode every whisper.
The entire Black Lake theater fell silent in an instant.
"The Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament-"
His voice paused. Every word was as precise as if measured with a ruler, devoid of any emotion.
He surveyed the crowd, his gaze hollow, as though reciting a cold legal provision he had long since memorized.
Then, enunciating each word, he announced the name that countless