"I'm screwed. Totally and completely fucked." Clarke rambled as she walked down to the greenhouses with Octavia and Raven. "I'm going to die."
"You aren't going to die," Raven rolled her eyes at the Slytherin's dramatics.
"No, I am." Clarke ran her hand through her already mused blond hair. "If I can't figure out any of the riddles there is no way I'm going to pass the next challenge."
"Well, if you do die can I have your tie? Mines is still singed from when someone blew up our potion." Octavia glared over at Raven, who at least had the decency to look sheepish.
"You blow something up once and you never live it down." The Ravenclaw sighed.
"Fifth time." Octavia corrected. "That was the fifth time."
"Then you really should've known better than to stand that close."
"It's nice to know you both don't give a damn if your best friend dies." Clarke snapped.
"Bellamy is dying?" Raven teased, laughing when Clarke huffed, yanking the door to the greenhouse open and stormed inside.
"It's your own fault, Clarke." Octavia laughed, sitting down in between Clarke and Raven. "You are the one who put your name in the goblet."
"I didn't think I was going to get chosen." Clarke huffed, thumping her elbow down on the table and resting her chin on her fist.
Her eyes traveled to the Ravenclaw girl sitting directly across from her. Lexa Woods, the cleverest wizard Clarke knew.
She didn't talk to maybe people, she would rarely ever speak to anyone oupside her friend group. Clarke rarely ever got to speak to Lexa, but every time they did they seemed to get along well.
Oh, and Clarke may have been crushing on her for the past four years.
Clarke startled when Octavia kicked her foot, arching her eyebrows knowingly.
It was about halfway through the herbology class that Clarke got the idea.
She found Lexa in the library after dinner that night.
Lexa glanced up at her when she sat down, doing a double take and almost dropping her quill when she realised it was Clarke.
"Oh, hello, Clarke." Lexa pulled a smile onto her lips. "Congratulations on the tournament, you are doing really well."
"Thank you," Clarke smiled, resting her arms on the table. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Oh?"
"I'm guessing you've heard about the riddles this year, and how no one can solve them?"
"I have," Lexa nodded once.
"Have you heard any of them?"
"No, I haven't."
"Could you, maybe, help me out?" Clarke asked unsurely. "I can't figure them out, I'm not going to get through Saturdays task of I don't figure them out."
"You-" Lexa's eyebrows furrowed. "You want my help? Why?"
"You are the cleverest witch I know, probably the cleverest in the school. I can't think of anyone in this school who will be able to figure this out other than you." Clarke rummaged around in her bag, pulling out a roll of parchment. "I know we aren't friends, hell, we've said less than ten words to each other over the past four years, but I really need your help here. Please, Lexa."
Lexa eyed the roll of parchment, nodded her head slowly. "Ok, let me have a look."
Clarke grinned, rounding the table to sit down beside Lexa, unrolling the parchment to reveal five riddles.
"Ok, the first two are easy." Lexa pointed at the top two riddles.
'When is a man drowning but not wet?'
'Feed me and I live, yet make me drink and I die?'
"First is quicksand, second is fire."
"Quicksand and fire?" Clarke frowned.
"Saturday's challenge is a maze," Lexa started. "This doesn't tell us in what capacity these will be used but you have to learn spells to deal with both of them."
Clarke hummed, nodding along with Lexa. "I know. I know a spell that can solidify quicksand and extinguished fire, they shouldn't be to difficult."
"I don't know any of the other ones, not right now, anyway." Lexa ran her fingers through her hair, obviously agitated that she couldn't figure out the other three. "I'm sorry, Clarke. I can keep thinking but, right now, I can't figure them out."
"It's ok, Lexa." Clarke assured, resting her hand on Lexa's arm. "If we don't figure them out I can wing it, that's how I got this far in the tournament."
Clarke flashed Lexa a crooked little grin when the Ravenclaw looked up at her, pulling a quiet little chuckle from her. "That doesn't seem like a good idea, considering the tournament you are in and the fact there will be fire and quicksand."
"Fair point." Clarke chuckled, averting her eyes from Lexa to the parchment in front of them. "These ones can't be that important, if we just figure out the first two what that should be fine."
"Maybe, but I'm going to copy these down, that way I can keep looking over them."
"You don't have to, Lexa."
"I don't mind. Besides, I want you to win, I want to help you win." Lexa shrugged, scribbling down the riddles on a few piece of parchment.
"What were you studying before I can over?"
"Herbology," Lexa sighed. "I absolutely suck at it."
"I'm sure that's not true,"
"No, it is. This is the one subject I can't figure out."
"I could help you," Clarke offered, "I'm pretty good at herbology."
"I can't ask you to do that, Clarke. You have enough on your plate with the tournament."
"You aren't asking, plus I don't have anything to do for the tournament other than sit and stew for three days waiting for it to come." Clarke laughed. "It's driving me crazy, The only thing that's been keeping me busy is Quidditch practice but even then I'm not allowed to practice properly in case I get hurt." Clarke rolled her eyes. "So, really, you would be doing me a favor letting me tutor
you."
"Ok, how about tonight after dinner?"
"It's a date," Clarke winked at Lexa as she stood up, grabbing the parchment with the riddles on it as she went. Lexa seemed to blush at the comment, though Clarke couldn't see her clearly in the dim light of the library, she still had a bashful little smile on her face and that made Clarke grin as she left.
"What's got you all smiley?" Octavia asked, drawing everyone else's attention to Clarke.
Clarke glanced around at her friends, all of them obviously interested in what Had Clarke zoning out throughout dinner.
"Nothing, I'm thinking about the riddles."
"Then why are you smiling like a crazy person?" Bellamy inquired.
"I know the answers to the first two," Clarke shrugged. "Lexa helped me."
"There it is," Raven all but cheered. "How did you end up with Lexa 'the-girl-you've-been-crushing-on-forever' Woods' help?"
"I went and asked her," Clarke said simply, "She's the smartest person I know, if anyone could help it would be here."
"Mhm," Octavia hummed, grinning smugly.
"Oh, shut up." Clarke huffed, rolling her eyes at her friends. "I have to go, in tutoring Lexa."
A chorus of 'oh's' came from her friends but Clarke ignored them, walking briskly toward the library.
When she got there Lexa was at the exact same table, hunched over the exact same book.
"Have you even left this seat?" Clarke asked, startling Lexa out of her little daze.
"Oh, Clarke, is it that time already?"
"Have you had anything to eat?"
"No, I've been preoccupied with those riddles."
"Ok, you're done." Clarke closed over the book, throwing it on the general direction of the book stands. The book stopped mid flight and began floating toward where it was stored. "Come on, you need to eat."
"I need to study."
"You can't study on an empty stomach. Come on, let go get you something to eat when we can head back to studying."
Thankfully, Clarke's friends were gone when they entered the great hall. In fact, it was almost empty, the only remaining food was the scraps that people didn't want.
"What made you enter the tournament?" Lexa asked as they sat at the Ravenclaw table. "People die in this tournament."
"I know." Clarke hummed. "I just wanted some kind of excitement. My life has been the same old thing for the last God knows how long. Then the tournament came here and I was old enough to enter." She shrugged. Honestly, she didn't really know the answer herself. She had been search for something that didn't make her feel dead inside ever since her father had died. Her friends sometimes helped her, and she had had this crush on Lexa since before her fathers accident, so she just needed something else.
"There are other ways of getting an adrenaline rush that don't include putting your life in the line."
"Sure," Clarke agreed, picking one of the grapes from the bowl and popping it into her mouth, flashing Lexa a little grin. "But where's the fun in that?"
Lexa rolled her eyes at that, but Clarke didn't miss the way her lips curled up into a little smile.
"Why don't you go to Quidditch games? I've never seen you there when Ravenclaw play."
"You actively seek me out?" Lexa asked, sounding a mixture between curious and teasing.
"I mean- Well, as a chaser, I'm always entirely focused on the game."
Lexa laughed at Clarke's rambling. "I'm joking Clarke, relax." Lexa took a bite of her chicken. "I'm liking that I managed to make a Slytherin flustered, though."
"I'm not flustered," Clarke scoffed, "I just wasn't expecting the sudden question."
"Ok," Lexa hummed unconvinced. "It's nothing to do with Quidditch, I enjoy the game, I'm just always busy with homework and stuff."
"You're a true Ravenclaw." Clarke chuckled, shaking her head. "You should come along one day, watch me run circles around your team."
"We'll see."
"I might even let you wear one of my spare jerseys." Clarke offered with a coy little grin.
"Green isn't really my colour." Lexa played along, resting her chin on her fist and fluttering her eyelashes at Clarke.
"I think every colour is your colour."
"I'm more of a blue kind of girl," Lexa's eyes didn't stray from Clarke's eyes and Clarke could feel her composure begin to crumble. She had always been a good flirt, at least with everyone but Lexa. Lexa had this way of unintentionally getting under her skin, of turning her from a cocky Slytherin to a blundering mess. "But not Ravenclaw blue, I always liked a lighter shade of blue, sky blue."
She was talking about her eyes, that much was obvious to Clarke, and it was driving her crazy. "Is that right? I think you'd look especially good in Slytherin green."
"We will have to test out that theory sometime." Lexa drained the last of her drink before standing up. "Are you still up for tutoring me?"
"Of course, yeah." Clarke scrambled to her feet, cursing herself for how desperate she must have looked. "It's only fair, since you helped me out."
They studied until ten minutes before curfew and Lexa walked Clarke down to the dungeon entrance, since it was her night on prefect duty.
"I'm not in the least bit surprised you're a prefect."
"I'm going to take that as a compliment." Lexa cocked an eyebrow at Clarke. "I'll keep thinking about this riddles, I'll figure them one before you go into that maze."
"Thanks, Lexa. This really does mean a lot."
"Don't worry about it," Lexa smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow for studying?"
"For sure, I'm busy on Saturday, though." Clarke joked.
"That's an understatement. I'll see you tomorrow, Clarke."
"Goodnight, prefect Lexa." Clarke called in a singsong voice.
"Bite me, Clarke Griffin." Lexa called back in the same tone of voice, not even looking back as she scaled the stone steps out of the dungeon.
Clarke grinned to herself as she entered the dungeon, narrowing her eyes at Octavia and Raven who were sitting innocently -far too innocently- on the sofa.
"Where have you been?"
"Like you both don't already know." Clarke rolled her eyes. "Don't have sex against the windows again, hm?" Clarke said as she walked toward her room. "You riled up the mermen the last time."
"No promises," Raven called and Octavia merely laughed.
The first time Clarke saw Lexa the next day was in potions class. Lexa was already in her seat when Clarke entered with Octavia and Raven.
Lexa looked up at the sound of Raven's laugh, her eyes landing on Clarke. Her lips instantly hooked up into a smile at the sight of the blonde girl, her hand lifting in a small greeting.
Clarke grinned, sitting down in her seat beside Murphy.
She saw her again at dinner. Lexa didn't see her at first, she was busy chatting with her friends but, after about ten minutes of Clarke periodically staring at her, she caught Clarke's eye.
That had Clarke distracted for the rest of dinner until she left to tutor Lexa.
"Are you worried?" Lexa asked as she and Clarke answered a few of the questions they had been given.
"Hm?" Clarke hummed, her eyes not leaving the parchment she was writing on.
"Tomorrow, are you worried?"
Clarke lifted her eyes to Lexa, pouting thoughtfully before shaking her head. "No."
"But you could get hurt, or worse."
"If that happens it happens." Clarke shrugged. "I'm not afraid of dying."
"That's kind of selfish, what about the people who care about you?"
Clarke shrugged, nodding toward the roll of parchment in front of Lexa. "Are you done with those?"
"Almost but it's almost curfew, we should head to our common rooms."
Clarke ended up walking Lexa to Ravenclaw tower -regardless of how much Lexa protested- their arms grazing against one and others.
"I know I should be afraid." Clarke admitted when they reached the entrance. "I know it's dangerous. People get hurt and killed, I know I should feel some kind of fear or worry."
"But you don't?"
Clarke shook her head solemnly. "I don't know why."
"Maybe it's a good thing, if you were scared tomorrow it might have thrown you off."
"It's not normal though, is it? To just not feel anything."
Lexa shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Maybe you just need to address the reason why you feel that way." Lexa gently squeezed Clarke's upper arm. "And if you want to talk, you can always talk to me."
"Thanks, Lexa." Clarke smiled thankfully. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Get some sleep, you'll need it for tomorrow."
"Clarke, I-" Clarke peered over the back of the sofa to look at Lexa who was looking around the dungeon in aw. "Wow, this is not what I expected this place to look like." She commented, looking from the high ceilings to the window that looked into the lake. "Wow,"
"Did you just come here to see the dungeon or did you want to see me?" Clarke teased, grinning over at Lexa.
"Right, yeah." Lexa walked briskly over to the sofa Clarke was sitting on, falling down beside her and placing the parchment filled with scribbles on the table in front of them. "I figured it out." She grinned.
"Really? That's what I'm working on now, I kinda need to figure them out considering I need to be at the maze entrance in two hours." Clarke laughed nervously.
"'When my first is a task to a young girl of spirit, And my second confines her to finish the piece. How hard is her fate! But how great is her merit. If by taking my whole she effects her release'." Lexa looked up at Clarke expectantly. "Hem-lock. The answer is hem-lock. Now, that worried me, I was scared they would try and poison you with hem-lock but then-" Lexa trailed off, flicking through the book in her hand, setting it on the table when she reached her desired page. "Socrates."
Clarke frowned and shook her head when Lexa looked at her questioningly, silently asking her if she understood.
"He was poisoned by hem-lock. That seemed like a huge jump at first then I remembered his paradox." Lexa explained and, God, Clarke knows she should be listening but she has never been so attracted to this girl. "'ipse se nihil scire id unum sciat'."
Ok, scratch that, now she has never been more attracted to Lexa.
"'I know that I know nothing'. Now, to me, that phrase signifies that, no matter how much someone knows they don't have the answers to the big questions. I know that I know nothing. Fundamentally, we don't. We don't know for sure how the universe came to be, or the meaning of life, or how the universe will cease to be. We know things but not the core things. This riddle links in with this one," Lexa pointed to the fourth riddle ('imagine you are in a dark room. How do you get out?'). "Stop imagining."
Clarke felt herself just staring at Lexa in aw. This girl really was ridiculously clever.
"It is telling you to clear your mind, forget everything you think you know because when you get in that maze all bets are off." Lexa was almost gushing, Clarke figured she probably would be if her life wasn't on the line here. "And look at the this, the fifth riddle is in bold, it's telling us that this is the most important one. The first one, quicksand, you can't drown in quicksand, you just get stuck. That is signifying you being stuck in the maze. Fire, that symbolises the goblet, you know? The whole reason you are in there. Three and four, those are telling you to clear your mind before not only before you enter he maze but before you tackle the last riddle. Which I did." Lexa pause, probably for dramatic effect.
Clarke took the opportunity to read over the final riddle.
'Two girls ate dinner together. They both ordered ice tea. One girl drank them very fast and drank five of them in the time it took the other to drink one. The girl who drank one died while the other survived. All of the drinks were poisoned.
Why did the girl that drank more ice tea survive?'
"The answer is it is in the middle of the ice. So, whatever happens tonight, go to the middle of the ice."
"You're a genius." Clarke gushed, grinning over at Lexa. "You are a literal fucking genius, Lexa."
"I'm not a genius," Lexa muttered bashfully, startling when Clarke pulled her in for a hug.
"No one else has figured this out, Lexa. You are a genius, thank you."
Lexa shrugged, smiling as Clarke pulled back. "This is the last challenge, right? You do this and you've won?"
"Yeah, but I'm up against a boy from Castelobruxo he is one of the best wizards in the school."
"Don't sell yourself short, Clarke. You are a wonderful witch, you can do this." Lexa squeezed Clarke's upper arm. "Anyway, I thought you Slytherin's didn't accept defeat?"
Lexa was grinning cheekily over at Clarke and, God, Clarke really tried to refrain from kissing her.
She didn't manage to stop herself as she leant over and pressed a lingering kiss to the Ravenclaw's lips. When she pulled back Lexa's eyes had fallen closed and her mouth was unhinged, obviously surprised by the display off affection.
"For good luck." Clarke whispered and Lexa slowly opened her eyes, her lips hooking up into a little smile.
"You can do this," Lexa said softly, skimming her fingertip down Clarke's forearm. "Just please be careful. Someone always ends up hurt in these things, I don't want it to be you."
"I'll be fine, what's the worst that can happen?" Lexa gave Clarke an unimpressed look. "Ok, yeah, let's not go there."
"Can I hang out here until you have to go?"
"Yeah, of course." Clarke smiled, playing with the hair on the back of Lexa's neck. "I need a distraction."
"A distraction, huh?" Lexa smiled, allowing Clarke to pull her closer.
"Clarke, you need to had down to the courtyard, they-" Octavia trained off when she noticed the two girls on the sofa, her lips spreading into a grin. "I cannot wait to tell Raven about this."
"What do you want?"
"You're wanted down at the courtyard, they are sending you both into the maze early."
"Ok, I will be there in a second."
Octavia smirked at Clarke, giving her an over exaggeration wink before turning and heading out.
"Remember your offer of one of your Quidditch Jersey? I think I'll take you up on it." Lexa said, sounding somewhat nervous.
"Ok, I'll just go get the jersey and you can get changed and come along when you're ready."
Clarke was just about to touch the portkey when Lexa finally showed up on the crowed, dressed in Clarke's Slytherin jersey.
Clarke flashed her a reassuring smile before wrapping her hand around the key. She stumbled when she landed, lifting her head to look around when she got her bearings.
She was definitely in a maze, that's for sure. The huge, hedge walls went up so far that she couldn't even see where they ended. She thought about standing here for a while and pulling herself together but then she felt something tickle at her shin.
"Reducto," she managed to get the vine off before it got to far up her leg but when she looked up she noticed the whole maze was beginning to move.
She decided it was time to run then.
It didn't take long until she ran into the first thing that wanted to seriously maim her.
She turned the first corner, almost falling over as she tried to stumble backwards away from the creature.
Now, Clarke had dealt with a few blast ended shrewts in her time but they had all be children. This one, this one was at least ten feet long.
It seemed to notice her then, it's stinger pointing at her as it advanced on her. It only managed to hit her with a bit of acid before Clarke put it to sleep.
She ignored the searing pain in her lower arm and side and pushed on, knowing if she stopped the maze would begin closing in on her again.
After that there was huge spiders, a chimera (which almost tore her throat out but, thankfully, she managed to jump back, only suffering a few scratches to the cheek), a cockatrice, a swarm of doxies, a -thankfully small- Swedish short-snout dragon, a couple of Jarveies (that, somehow, knew to mimic not only Octavia and Raven but Lexa too. It distracted her for a while before she realised they wouldn't really be in trouble and that it was just a trick) and a few lethifold (which was fine, Clarke knew how to cast a patronis charm).
She made it through with countless scratches all over her body, a couple of burns, a sprained ankle and what definitely felt like a couple of broken ribs considering she couldn't really breathe properly, but she made it, the end was in sight and she was about to run for it. Before she could a creature stepped out of the shadows, one Clarke herself was terrified of.
An Erumpent.
A rhino-like beast that was extremely aggressive and also had a charm proof head.
Clarke started to limp backwards, her wand quivering in hand and, for the first time, she felt the fear course through her in waves. She had to get behind this animal, an animal that took up almost all of the space in the small section of the maze.
The beast charged before Clarke was even close to being ready, it's horn penetrating Clarke's lower left arm as she tried to jump out of the way. It also threw her off her feet, sending her to the ground with a thump. Her ribs were definitely broke now, and maybe poking through her lung.
Clarke waiting for the injected liquid to explode but she figured the animal had had its venom sac removed when nothing happened. Wouldn't want it to be dangerous.
She watched the creature advance on her as she tried to catch her breath. She considered appertaining back to the grounds, just giving up all together.
But she didn't want to be known as the girl who gave up right at the end. She was going to finish this, even if she didn't win.
She got to her feet, running towards the opening. She could hear, feel, the Erumpent thundering behind her.
Her ribs were aching, her legs felt like they were about to collapse and she was pretty sure it had torn through her tendons in her arm but she powered through, hoping she could make it to the clearing before the beast trampled over her.
She dived out of the way just as the beast rocketed past her, readying her wand. "Stupefy,"
The beast froze in place, Clarke may hate them but they were endangered, she wasn't about to kill it.
Once she was sure it was stunned she walked to the edge of the clearing, really taking in the rest of the arena for the first time.
There was a lake and on the opposite side of the lake there was three little islands. A forest, an icy environment and a desert environment.
Either her competitor had won or was still in the maze. At this point she didn't really care which.
She thought back to the riddles. One of the answers was sand, so maybe it was the sand environment she should go for.
She trusted Lexa, she trusted how clever Lexa was so without a second thought she dove into the icy waters, kicking her tired legs and using her only good arm to propel her through the water.
She thought she was there, she was going to be ok, she could almost feel the ice on her fingertips.
It wasn't until she felt something wrap around her foot that she remembered grindylows. She almost wanted to give up then, just let it drag her under and have someone come rescue her.
She knew there was no breaking this things grip now that it had ahold of her, she was done for, there was no real point in fighting. It's tentacles wrapped further around her legs, making their way up her body until one of then was wrapped around her neck, putting enough pressure on to leave a bruise. It was over, she wasn't getting out of this.
So why couldn't she stop thinking of ways to get out of it? She knew they hated hot water but she couldn't boil this water, she would cook herself.
Then it hit her, the revulsion jinx. Underwater it would shoot a hot stream of boiling water.
She managed to mumble 'Relashio', getting a minuscule about of water in her mouth, and pointed her wand at what she now realised was three grindylows, sending them flying backwards and propelling her through the water to the surface.
She gasped for air when her head broke the surface, her good hand gripping onto the ice and she tried to pull herself up.
She struggled but got up eventually. The last thing she remembered was getting onto the ice and her fingers touching cool metal before she blacked out completely.
When she woke up she was warm, dry and seemingly out of danger.
Her entire body was aching but she didn't care because someone was clutching onto her hand. When she glanced over she saw Lexa sitting there holding onto her hand. Raven and Octavia were there too, perched on one of the empty beds beside her.
"Hey," Lexa said softly, smiling at Lexa. "How you feeling?"
"Sore. What happened?"
"You won, God knows how, you were under that water for almost three minutes. The other kid apparated out not long in." Lexa explained. "You broke your ribs and tore open your arm but Jackson has fixed you up. You could be good as new in a few days."
"How long have I been out?"
"Two days." Raven answered.
"Jackson wanted to keep you out so you didn't feel the pain of your tendons and bones healing themselves." Octavia added.
"I'm really glad you are ok," Lexa whispered, bringing Clarke's knuckles up to her lips.
"I almost gave up,"
"What made you keep fighting?"
"I was scared. For the first time I felt something, for some reason that made me fight." Clarke shrugged, groaning when her entire body ached.
"Yeah, you got tossed around pretty roughly, I wouldn't move to quickly." Lexa laid a hand on Clarke's thigh, calmingly stroking the blanket covered skin. "I'm glad you made it out."
"I kind of had to, I made a promise to someone that I would."
Lexa laughed, her head bowing bashfully.
"I couldn't have done it without you, Lexa." Clarke whispered, thankful that her two best friends were preoccupied with each other than to pay them any mind.
"I didn't do anything, I just told you were to find the key, you were the one who fought through all those creatures."
"I would've went for the sandy island, not the ice. That means I would've had to go in that water more than once, the grindylows almost drowned me."
"More than that," Lexa sighed, skimming her fingertips around Clarke neck, where, Clarke assured, a bruise had formed. "We kind of make a good team, huh?"
"I've always been told that a Slytherin-Ravenclaw relationship was a force to be reckoned with." Clarke commented. "Ravenclaw's are notoriously clever, Slytherin's are notoriously cunning, we could take over the world."
"Spoken like a true Slytherin." Lexa laughed. "Were you scared?"
"I wasn't, until I came to the Erumpent, those things terrify me." Clarke huffed. "Why? You think that makes me weak?"
"Not at all. I would've been worried if you hadn't been afraid at some point, honestly."
"Ok, girls. You have been here long enough. Clarke has to rest."
"Come on, Jackson, she just woke up." Octavia all but whined.
"I don't care, we all saw what she went through." Jackson said definitively.
Lexa sighed as she stood up, giving Clarke's hand a little squeeze as she bent down to press a lingering kiss to Clarke's lip. "I will sneak in once he is gone."
Clarke grinned. "I think my Slytherin ways are rubbing off on you."
Lexa laughed, kissing Clarke's forehead before straightening.
They left Clarke alone after that, leaving the blonde girl to assess what had really happened.
She was triwizard champion and she had kissing the girl she had been desperately crushing on for years.
Maybe her life was really looking up.