The Maze
He sat in the common room looking over his list of possible creatures and the defences trying to go through the wand movements in his head as he waited for his friends to come down from the dorm to join him for breakfast. He was on his second last spell when he heard a knock at the entrance, so he got up to get it.
“Hey Harry, we were wondering if you wanted to come have some fun with us today, we have spent the last 6 weeks stressing and studying I think we need a day to relax before the tournament tomorrow.” Fleur asked, Krum and Cedric standing behind her.
“I would love to, but what about classes, they are cancelled for everyone tomorrow, but I thought we were still expected to go today?”
“I am just skipping it, their professors are letting them out of studying today, I think we should get the same curtesy.” Cedric said pointing to the other two.
“Fair enough, not like we need to worry about the assessments coming up because we have been ruled out of them. Let me go tell my friends the plan and get one of them to tell Severus in potions first period. You can wait in here if you want so you aren’t just loitering in the corridors and I will be right back.”
He allowed the three champions in before running up the stairs and into the dorm where his three dormmates were in various states of dressing. “Hey guys, me and the other three champions are going to have a fun day today to de-stress for tomorrow, can you let Severus know where I am when you go to potions?”
“Yeah of course, do you know what you are going to be doing?” Draco asked around a toothbrush.
“Not sure, they didn’t say. We probably won’t be too late getting back tonight because we have to be up early, maybe we should all have a sleepover in here, get the girls and Hermione in to try and take my mind off tomorrow.”
“We will mention it to the girls, and tell Severus where you are going, you go have some fun and relax.” Draco smiled kissing his cheek before pushing him out the dorm and back downstairs to the other champions.
“Got that sorted, where are we off to?”
“Kitchens first, we need a picnic.” Cedric announced and they all happily followed after the Hufflepuff, making their way through the castle and to the kitchens were the elves looked at them expectantly.
“Could we get a large picnic for the four of us with drinks please?” He asked the elf closest to him who simply smiled and nodded at him before going off to do the task. After receiving their picnic they made their way outside into the warm summer air and down towards the lake edge.
The elf had added a large, checked picnic blanket as well which they lay out and sat down on spreading the food around them.
“What do you guys want to be once you have finished school? I think I would like to be a translator, or maybe something to do with architecture.” Fleur asked randomly after a moment of silence.
“I want to continue Quidditch professionally for as long as I can then I will probably go into coaching.” Krum answered the obvious.
“ I want to make some sort of difference in the world, put a stop to some of the hatred in the magical work as well as bridge the gap between muggleborns and pure-bloods. Whether that be working with the ministry or outside it that’s what I want to do.” Cedric said.
“Wow, our goals don’t seem as good anymore.” Fleur joked with Krum making Cedric blush. “What about you Harry?”
“To be honest I have no idea, maybe something to do with potions or defence since they are my favourite subjects, but I have a lot of time for that to change.”
“Yeah, you are a bit young to be thinking about after Hogwarts, you do still have 3 years left. Although experience wise you are more ready than any of us.”
For the rest of the day, they just sat at the lake chatting with each other, fully getting to know what the other liked. It was nice, although their original plan was to do more stuff, he actually preferred just getting to sit and talk with the others since after tomorrow the foreign schools would be leaving soon.
He learned a lot about the other champions like how Cedric and his dad were super close and were planning to go on a big camping trip in the summer before Cedric moved out and got a job. He learned that Krum likes to go on long hikes after a Quidditch match to have quiet time to replay his performance and think of what he could do better next time. He learned that Fleur and her family went on a 2 week private cruise ship holiday every year to spend time together without distractions from their normal life’s. He loved just listening to their stories and learning about what they were like separate from the tournament. He was happy sitting in silence, just observing the others, but then Krum brought the conversation round to him.
“You have been awful quiet Harry, what do your family do for the summer?”
“Well summers are normally a bit strange because Voldemort always decides to turn up at the end of the school year so I’m normally recovering from that.”
“What about before Hogwarts then?” Fleur asked.
“I didn’t have a family before Hogwarts, not really.” He smiled ruefully at all of them. “But let’s not let my depressing past mess up today. We are having fun before the task so let’s change the topic to, I don’t know, your dream house.”
Thankfully, the others played along with his topic diversion and he could keep all of his memories of life before Hogwarts safely locked away in his mind and prevent any unwanted dwelling.
At the end of the day once they were all ready to turn in, Cedric walked him back to his common room, not wanting to make him walk back alone at this time of night. They walked in comfortable silence until they reached the dungeons where Cedric spoke.
“Good luck tomorrow, I know we are technically competing against each other and as much as I want to win, I am also rooting for you. You have definitely earned the title more than any of the rest of us.”
“I would think you guys earned it more than me considered I didn’t even enter in the first place.”
“That is why you deserve it more, despite not entering, despite being younger and less experienced you have kept up with us and excelled. Seriously, the two of us are tied for highest points right now, you have done amazing.”
“I have just done what had to be done, that’s all I have done over the years. My bad luck gets me into these situations, but I have surprisingly good luck to get me through them.”
“Well let’s hope this luck works for all of us tomorrow, let us all survive the final challenge.”
“I will make sure to pass it around.” He teased. “I am rooting for you as well, as much as I like the others, we need a Hogwarts champion, so it is between us.”
“May the odds be in our favours.” Cedric shook his hand jokingly as they reached the entrance to the common room. “I better get back to my common room and get some rest, I will see you bright and early in the morning.”
“See you in the morning.” He waved goodbye to Cedric and once the older boy was down the corridor a bit he whispered the password and entered into the silent snakes den.
He headed up to his dorm quickly where mattresses and blankets were spread everywhere with all his friends sitting on the floor.
“Get into your PJs and join the circle. We put all the mattresses on the floor so we could all be close to each other, team support and all.” Pansy smiled noticing him first. He got his PJs and headed into the bathroom, still not comfortable changing in front of anyone, then got his teeth brushed and came back out to join everyone.
“We are a mattress short so it looks like you need to share with me.” Draco grinned, spreading his arms to invite him over.
“Hmm I might just go and join Theo.” He said jokingly pretending to think.
“Sorry but I value my life otherwise you would be very welcome in my bed.” Theo grinned, hands raised in surrender at Draco’s possessive glance.
“You will do no such thing, come here. You have left me all day, so you need to make up for it tonight.” Draco pouted catching his leg and dragging him down onto the mattress. “See that wasn’t so hard, now curl up and get a good night’s sleep to prepare for tomorrow.”
“Bossy much.”
“You know I’m right, we are all ready to go to sleep anyway so you won’t miss anything.”
He lay down and let Draco’s hands stroking through his hair relax him and fell asleep, his dreams full of mazes and strange creatures.
***
The morning arrived and he woke up full of nerves. He tried to hide it from his friends, although he knew Draco could see straight through him, as they walked up to breakfast. He was struggling to swallow some toast when he felt a gentle hand come to rest on his shoulder.
“The champions are all to go into the room through the staff exit before you head down for the challenge. Don’t worry it isn’t anything bad.” Severus added the last bit at the look of dread that had come over his face at the mention of anything else being added today. He got up of the bench saying goodbye to his friends before following Severus to the room he had went to when all this madness started.
As soon as he entered the door someone was hugging him so tightly, he could barely breath but as soon as he recognised who it was, he relaxed and hugged back even tighter.
“Good luck, I know you can do this.” Narcissa whispered into his ear still hugging him. “You are more than capable of completing this task.”
“I’m scared.” He admitted.
“I know you are darling, but its nearly over, you are nearly done.” Narcissa squeezed him once last time before letting go so he could see Lucius, Remus and Sirius also waiting in front of him, the other champions and their visitors spread around the room.
“We are all here for you Harry, we are all supporting you.” Severus said bringing him into another hug, before he was passed round the rest of the group, everyone giving him words of encouragement. “Remember if at any time you need help send up red sparks and you will be brought out as fast as possible and it will all be over. I am not allowed to patrol the edges because you are in it, but I will be in the stands, we will all be in the stands waiting for you.”
“You are brilliant at defence; you have all the necessary skills, and you are strong enough to face anything that may be hidden in there.” Remus added.
“Champions, it is time to head down.” Dumbledore announced standing at the door with the other two judges, Ludo Bagman and Minister Fudge (who was brought in after the unfortunate death of Barty Crouch).
He started trembling with nerves at the announcement and Severus, who was standing closest, picked up on it pulling him into one last hug before he was quite literally shepherded out the room. He looked back at everyone one last time before Fleur wrapped her arm around his shoulder and turned him round.
“You will see them soon and this will all be over; we just need to keep looking forward for now and leave them behind so we can focus.” He nodded, not trusting his voice would work and just let her lead the way down to the front of the maze, the quidditch stands, which seem to have been lowered, around it already filling up. The hedges were now over 30 feet tall, too high for the crowd to see into the maze, but even if they had been able to see in, the thick mist would have blocked their view. There were 4 openings in the maze, and they were all positioned in front of one as Dumbledore cast a sonorous charm.
“Welcome everyone to the final task of the Triwizard tournament. “The champions are going to have to make their way through the maze in order to be the first to reach the Triwizard cup and be crowned the Triwizard champion. The cup is protected against any sort of tracking spells so the champions will just have to follow their gut instinct to find their way to the centre. The champions shall enter the maze in order of points, so Cedric Diggory.” Cheers erupted around the crowd. “And Harry Potter will enter the maze first.” More cheers went up at his name, but mainly from the green section and the foreign school’s sides. “Then Viktor Krum and finally Fleur Delacour.” Cheers sounded from all over the stands. “The task will start in around 5 minutes once we have checked everything over one last time for everyone’s safety and the champions get changed into their checked clothing.”
They were all handed a bundle of clothes and shown into one of the Quidditch changing rooms where they all were able to have separate cubicles. They were all silent getting into the clothes which consisted of black joggers and a t-shirt in each of their house or school colours with their names written on the back. Once changed they all wished each other good luck before returning back to their positions in front of the maze waiting for the canon which would signify their time to enter.
“Good luck to you all.” Dumbledore called and then the first canon went off and he walked into the maze.
As soon as he had walked a few paces into his pathway the entrance behind him closed over leaving him in the pitch black, the hedges towering above him. He lit his wand up and slowly made his way to the end of his starting passage and to a crossroads. He pointed his wand in both directions but couldn’t see far enough into either passageway to make an informed decision so picked left and stuck with it. He walked cautiously, his wand light only reaching about a foot in front of him and he didn’t want to get caught by surprise. Silence seemed to envelope the maze and he was getting more and more uneasy with every step he took but he tried to breath calmly and just keep going forward.
He managed to come to another crossroads without running into any sort of creature, he chose right this time but only made it a couple of metres into the path when he encountered his first obstacle, a strange gold mist that he had never seen before. He decided to just cast a shield charm around himself and make his way through it instead of going back and choosing the other direction. As soon as he made his first step into the mist, the world turned upside down, he cautiously stepped forward and seeing there was no adverse reaction to that he moved faster through the mist until finally he reached the end, and the world was righted once more. He took a second to recentre himself and then proceeded onward, clutching his wand harder now he knew he was going to start having to interact with stuff. He took a few more turns in quick succession before he ran into the next obstacle, it looked horrifying. It was large, about 10 feet long, with legs sticking out everywhere, shiny silver armour with a long stinger and it didn’t look to have a head. He recognised it as something Hermione and Draco had been complaining about, it was something that Hagrid had been breeding in Care of Magical Creatures, although he couldn’t remember the name, something to do with a skrewt. He remembered his friends mentioning something about it shooting fire so he stepped back a few feet and thought of a spell he could send at it. He decided on just sending a simple stunning spell at the creature’s underside which was free from the silver armour and thankfully the creature fell to the ground knocked out cold. He didn’t have long to celebrate his win though because he heard a loud shout of fear from just around the next corner so he ran to see if he could be of any help.
As soon as he rounded the corner, he stopped watching the scene in front of him shocked. Cedric was lying on the ground wand raised with Krum towering over, a wild look in the older boy’s eyes. He quickly sent a stunning jinx at Krum, who collapsed to the floor, before rushing to help Cedric up.
“Thank you, I don’t know what he would have done if you hadn’t intervened.”
“What even happened?”
“I don’t know, I was walking out from where you just came from, that bloody blast-ended skrewt had taken more energy than I would have liked, and he caught me off guard. Nearly hit me with a cruciatus curse before tackling me. He didn’t manage to cast anything else though.”
“They did say the maze could make you go mad; we better move before the stunner wears off.”
“We should probably branch off though, don’t want to end up in a weird battle if we reach the cup together. Although apparently we were already going the same way with you not too far behind me, if it wasn’t for the weird bloody mist obscuring our sight I would say you were following me.” Cedric joked.
“Well, the other end of this path looks to have multiple ways to go, we can split there and I promise I won’t follow you again.” Together they walked to the end of the current path. “Good luck.”
“You too.”
With that they split, he went right, and Cedric went straight ahead, Viktor left behind them. He regretted his decision to turn right quickly when he came across his next obstacle. It was a large creature with the head of a woman and the body of a lion. He recognised it as a sphinx from his research over the past few weeks and knew this could go either really well or dangerously wrong. Gripping his wand tighter he moved forward towards the sphinx.
“I wouldn’t rely on that stick; it won’t help you against me.” The sphinx spoke. “You have a choice here; I will give you a riddle, but you don’t have to answer it, if you choose this then you may walk back and take another path to the cup. If you decide to answer it and get it wrong, then I will eliminate you but if you get it right you can pass by me freely. Are you ready for the riddle?”
“Yes I’m ready.”
"First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard,
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"
He thought over the riddle carefully, a person who lives in disguise could mean spy. The middle of middle and the end of end is the letter ‘d’ and when someone is searching for a word they say -er. Spy-d-er, Spider. He would be pretty unwilling to a kiss a spider definitely.
“So, are you going to stay quiet and walk away unscathed or do you wish to answer?”
“The answer is Spider.” He said confidently.
“Well done, you may pass me and continue on with your task.”
He thanked the sphinx and kept going, he could feel it within him that he was nearly there. That the end of this tournament was close. He took another turn and in front of him lay bodies. He walked slowly forward but when he saw the face of the first body he froze. Severus was staring vacantly up at the sky, Remus, Hermione, and Draco next and then Narcissa, Lucius and Sirius and after them was the rest of his friends. Above them stood Vernon and Voldemort smirking at him.
“Guess you are alone once again Harry, if you had joined me then none of this would have happened.” Voldemort hissed.
“If you weren’t such a freak then you could have done something.” Vernon added.
“You, you aren’t real.” He stuttered. “You are a boggart, you aren’t real, none of this is real.” He was trying to convince himself, trying to block out the two people standing in front of him. He avoided looking down, not able to look at all his family and friends lifeless, not able to stand the thought of losing anyone else and being left alone. He raised his wand and shouted ‘ridiculous’ the scene in front of him changing. Suddenly everyone on the floor jumped up shouting surprise and the two people who had been standing had birthday hats on looking terrified at the group in front, he laughed loudly, partly from hysteria and partly from the image he had conjured but it worked. The boggart went back into the box it had come from freeing his path forward.
He kept travelling forward when he heard another shout, this one female, from further back in the maze and when he turned to look, he saw red sparks raise into the sky. He knew he was too far away to help so he forced himself to keep going, knowing Fleur would be helped by a professor and that if he managed to end this then it would be over for them all. When he turned his next corner, he stopped and stared. There was a huge acromantula in front of him, but that wasn’t what he was focused on. What he was truly looking at was what lay behind the spider, it was the cup, glowing brightly on a pedestal. He moved forward wand raised ready to send a spell when the creature ran for him, he tried to dive out the way but wasn’t fast enough to avoid a pincer painfully digging into his thigh causing blood to rush out the wound.
“Arania Exumi.” He called sending the spider flying into the nearest hedge allowing him to get up and limp slowly towards the cup. He was nearly there, just a few more steps, but then he heard the spider getting back up and a shout of surprise. He turned to see Cedric being dragged by the spider, straight towards its pincers. He looked between the cup and Cedric before making a decision and limping back towards the two sending the same spell again and sending the spider flying once more. Cedric jumped up immediately turning around to the spider but after seeing it unconscious the boy turned towards him catching sight of the cup and then his leg which was beginning to fail on him.
Cedric came over and supported him with an arm around his shoulder and slowly brought him over to stand in front of the cup. “Take it, you saved me twice today, you are the rightful champion.” The older boy insisted.
“No, you would have made it here before me if you hadn’t helped me over, you take it.”
“I never would have made it this far if you hadn’t stopped Krum or that spider.”
“What about if we took it together, we could tie?” He tried to find a solution knowing the argument would get nowhere.
“Together, why didn’t I think of that. Two Hogwarts champions would be cool I guess.”
“On three then.” He offered.
“On three, then we can both see our family and know that this is over for good.” Cedric grinned.
“1..2..3” They called together, each grasping a handle. He felt a tug and then the world started spinning and then they were slammed into the ground, the cup flying away from them.