The Hagrid's son

Barnaby asked Sanshi to search for any anomaly in the area, anything suspicious or out of place. She returned quickly with results.

"I found two scents similar to Moody," Sanshi said through their connection, her confusion evident. "What's strange is that the second scent is coming from some kind of enchanted chest, but I'm sure it smells the same."

"Could it just be a chest full of dirty clothes or something?" Barnaby asked.

"No, I'm certain," Sanshi affirmed confidently, trusting her sharp sense of smell.

"Well, that's definitely odd..." Barnaby glanced at Moody, who had remained standing still, not moving.

But according to the description Tonks had given him, shouldn't Moody have been the first to react?

His eyes unconsciously drifted toward the bulging flask under Moody's coat, and suddenly, he realized something: the frequency with which Moody drank seemed too... regular.

Even an alcoholic wouldn't be so rigid with their drinking!

"Could it be... Polyjuice Potion?" Barnaby frowned, recalling how Snape had mentioned yet another theft from his potion ingredient storeroom. He should probably suggest Snape improve security measures...

Gripping his staff, Barnaby approached Moody quickly.

"Mr. Moody, did you notice anything unusual when you left the trophy in the maze?" he asked carefully, paying close attention. "Anything might help."

Moody tensed up at Barnaby's approach, but after hearing the question, realized it was a reasonable inquiry.

"Nothing," Moody grumbled in a harsh tone, turning his gaze toward the maze entrance. "If there had been anyth—"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Moody's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed onto his back, unconscious, with three large bumps the size of apples swelling on his forehead.

"Barnaby, what are you doing?!" Professor McGonagall gasped as she saw Hagrid's son repeatedly whack Moody on the head with his staff like a club. She ran to check on Moody, but Barnaby stopped her from approaching.

"I think he's an imposter," Barnaby pointed to where Sanshi had indicated the second scent was coming from. "It's possible the real one is trapped over there."

"It seems plausible," Dumbledore said, also surprised but for a different reason. "The real Moody would never have let anyone do something like this to him. What made you suspect him?"

Barnaby crouched down, grabbed the flask, and opened it, taking a sniff before tossing it to Snape.

"Polyjuice Potion, without a doubt," confirmed the potions master after a quick whiff.

"Minerva, take the imposter to a secluded room with Pomona, Hagrid, and Flitwick. Make sure to take the necessary precautions," Dumbledore ordered as he approached Barnaby. "Where do you think the real Moody is?"

"Over here."

Barnaby led Dumbledore, Snape, and some Ministry staff to a storeroom, where a chest practically screamed "suspicious" just by its presence.

"Stand back," Snape waved his wand, assuming a cautious stance as he unlocked the chest.

After disabling several layers of mechanical sounds, they finally revealed the real Moody at the bottom. He was in terrible shape, but alive, and that was what mattered.

As long as he was alive, Madam Pomfrey could work her magic!

That was a certainty; otherwise, the imposter wouldn't have had access to fresh hair for the Polyjuice Potion.

As they carefully helped Moody out of the chest, a firecracker went off, followed by a scream that tore through the night with force.

"My son!!!"

The panicked screams of the students didn't help—something bad had clearly happened.

Dumbledore and Barnaby rushed back while Snape stayed behind to administer a couple of potions to stabilize Moody's condition with the help of the Ministry official.

With Harry sobbing, "He's back!" over and over again to Dumbledore while Cedric's lifeless body lay on the ground, Barnaby made a bold guess about what had transpired. But before anything else, he approached Cedric's body to inspect it.

"He was hit by the Killing Curse, but something feels off..." Barnaby frowned as his green eyes glowed in sync with the Qilin's eyes on his staff.

He lowered his gaze, noticing a faint thread connecting Cedric's body to... Harry's wand?

Hmm, twin wands?

This reminded him of something he'd learned years ago with Ollivander, knowledge that was practically lost. What was it again?

Connection, memories, soul...

"Maybe..." Barnaby approached the distraught champion, placing a serious hand on his shoulder. "Harry, give me your wand, quickly!"

"Huh?" Harry looked at him, still crying, his face smeared with tears and snot.

Barnaby held out his hand urgently, and Harry, without thinking, handed it over. Barnaby examined it closely, his eyes widening as he suddenly ran over to Amos Diggory, who was devastated by Cedric's death.

"Mr. Diggory, I don't think your son is dead!" Barnaby declared. "At least not completely!"

Amos froze, as did Cho and everyone else nearby, turning to stare at Barnaby in disbelief.

"Harry, how long has Cedric been like this?" Barnaby shouted. "It's important!"

"I-I don't know!" Harry stammered, still confused but trying to keep up with the situation. After thinking for a moment, he answered honestly, "A few minutes, no more than five, I think."

"Then there's still time," Barnaby muttered. "Everyone, clear out! Move back at least ten meters from Cedric, now! Quickly! Quickly!"

"What are you going to do?" Amos asked, still clinging to his son.

"Perform CPR!" Barnaby told him as he moved Amos aside and made sure everyone was a safe distance away. "A slightly intense one!"

He raised Harry's wand, and the qilin's head on his staff came to life, inhaling the connection thread from Cedric. He then held the staff like a javelin and hurled it into the sky, where storm clouds quickly gathered.

"Ramuh!"

To the astonishment of everyone, a figure resembling Dumbledore (but much cooler) emerged from the clouds, grasping the enlarged staff in his hand and gathering lightning at its tip as he aimed it at Cedric on the ground.

"Everyone, cover your ears and close your eyes!" Barnaby shouted, doing exactly that himself.

Everyone rushed to follow suit, and the next thing they knew, the ground shook, the air vibrated, and a powerful flash of light pierced even through their closed eyelids.

When they recovered, they saw the earth around Cedric had been scorched, but Cedric suddenly shot upright, gasping for air!

"Cedric!" Amos mimicked Tonks, throwing himself at his son like a meteor, squeezing the hard-earned breath right out of Cedric's lungs as he hugged him with the force of a wine press.

"Cough, cough," Cedric sputtered, coughing up black smoke. "Why does it smell like something's burning?"

"Phew, it worked," Barnaby said, retrieving the now ash-covered staff and cleaning it with a cloth.

"Barnaby, did you just bring someone back to life after they were killed by the Killing Curse?" Dumbledore asked, incredulity evident in his voice as his glasses fell off.

"What? No, that would be impossible!" Barnaby quickly denied, knowing that kind of news would cause him all sorts of trouble. "I told you, Cedric wasn't dead! At least, not completely..."

"I was dead?!" Cedric, still confused and with foggy memories, didn't even remember asking Harry to bring his body back to his parents.

"You were not dead!" Barnaby yelled, a vein bulging in his neck. "Merlin, are you all deaf? Dead people don't come back to life!"

"Then, what just..." Cho looked at Cedric, utterly confused, not knowing how to feel after so many emotional ups and downs.

"Do you know what cardiac arrest is? Cedric had something like that," Barnaby explained in a very simplified and incomplete way. "Only in his case, it was magical, and it was his soul that stopped. I just jump-started it again with a shock, like restarting a heart. I just used a bit more voltage."

A bit more voltage?

Everyone recalled the colossal figure that wielded lightning at Barnaby's command, raining down the wrath of the heavens upon Cedric, and they felt like the redhead was mocking their intelligence.

That was several levels above "a bit more," alright?

In fact, seeing the destruction around Cedric, it was impressive that he hadn't been reduced to a pile of ash scattered by the wind.

"Thank you!" Amos cried out, not letting go of his son as he wept tears of joy this time. "We will never forget this debt!"