Chapter 97
Exempt from the end-of-term tests as a Triwizard champion, Ryan had been sitting in the back of every exam cla.s.s so far, planning for the third task. checking and double checking and having Ca.s.sie and Bella on standby for if s.h.i.+t went south. the question is go big or go stealthy he was torn but he mostly decided on stealth he needed to find out where the snake was and didn't want to alert anyone too much.
It was time today was the day for the maze.
Ludo Bagman and Cornelius Fudge had joined the staff table now. Bagman looked quite cheerful, Cornelius Fudge, was sitting next to Madame Maxime. As the enchanted ceiling overhead began to fade from blue to a dusky purple, Dumbledore rose to his feet at the staff table, and silence fell.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now. "
Ryan got up. The Gryffindors all along the table were applauding him; the Girls all wished him good luck, and he headed off out of the Great Hall with Harry, Fleur, and Viktor.
They walked onto the Quidditch field, which was now completely unrecognizable. A twenty-foot-high hedge ran all the way around the edge of it. There was a gap right in front of them: the entrance to the vast maze. The pa.s.sage beyond it looked dark and creepy.
Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. The sky was a deep, clear blue now, and the first stars were starting to appear. Hagrid, Professor Moody, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick came walking into the stadium and approached Bagman and the champions. They were wearing large, red, luminous stars on their hats, all except Hagrid, who had his on the back of his moleskin vest.
"We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze," said Professor McGonagall to the champions. "If you get into difficulty, and wish to be rescued, send red sparks into the air, and one of us will come and get you, do you understand?"
The champions nodded.
"Off you go, then!" said Bagman brightly to the four patrollers and the four of them walked away in different directions, to station themselves around the maze. Bagman now pointed his wand at his throat, muttered, "Sonorus," and his magically magnified voice echoed into the stands. At this point in time Ryan acted his first shadow sprang up when moody was out of view grabbing him from behind dragging him into the kingdom prison where he was wrapped in chains and quickly stripped of all items including his wand wooden leg and eye by some elves and Bella he was then restrained in shackles and left stunned. the girls where all in the kingdom watching on multiple monitors with Ca.s.sie having some auto pilot gates ready to act in case of emergencies on either Fleur or Ryan. Ryan had a shadow hiding behind Viktor as well he couldn't have interruptions and fleur was in on the plan and would just take her time the only one out of the loop was Harry.
Back to bagman. "Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each – Mr. Ryan Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!" The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky. "In second place, with eighty points – Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Inst.i.tute!" More applause. "And in third place – Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!" "So... on my whistle, Harry and Ryan!" said Bagman. "Three – two – one -"
He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry and Ryan hurried forward into
Bagman's whistle blew in the distance for the third time. Fleur had entered Ryan had his shadow appear and tell her what was going on and lead her along to help her out they had decided to see what monsters there were and maybe snag a few. Fleur was all to happy to help.
(Harry point of view)
Harry kept looking behind him. The old feeling that he was being watched was upon him. The maze was growing darker with every pa.s.sing minute as the sky overhead deepened to navy. He reached a second fork.
"Point Me," he whispered to his wand, holding it flat in his palm.
The wand spun around once and pointed toward his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and he knew that he needed to go northwest for the center of the maze. The best he could do was to take the left fork and go right again as soon as possible.
The path ahead was empty too, and when Harry reached a right turn and took it, he again found his way unblocked. Harry didn't know why, but the lack of obstacles was unnerving him. Surely he should have met something by now? It felt as though the maze were luring him into a false sense of security. Then he heard movement right behind him. He held out his wand, ready to attack, but its beam fell upon empty air. (Ryan had forgotten to silence his shoes)
Harry hurried off again. Then, as he turned a corner, he saw... a dementor gliding toward him. Twelve feet tall, its face hidden by its hood, its rotting, scabbed hands outstretched, it advanced, sensing its way blindly toward him. Harry could hear its rattling breath; he felt clammy coldness stealing over him, but knew what he had to do....
He summoned the happiest thought he could, concentrated with all his might on the thought of getting out of the maze and celebrating with Ginny and His friends, raised his wand, and cried, "Expecto Patronum!" A silver stag erupted from the end of Harry's wand and galloped toward the dementor, which fell back and tripped over the hem of its robes.... Harry had never seen a dementor stumble.
"Hang on!" he shouted, advancing in the wake of his silver Patronus, "You're a boggart! Riddikulus!"
There was a loud crack, and the shape-s.h.i.+fter exploded in a wisp of smoke. The silver stag faded from sight. Harry wished it could have stayed, he could have used some company... but he moved on, quickly and quietly as possible, listening hard, his wand held high once more.
Left... right... left again... Twice he found himself facing dead ends. He did the Four-Point Spell again and found that he was going too far east. He turned back, took a right turn, and saw an odd golden mist floating ahead of him.
Harry approached it cautiously, pointing the wand's beam at it. This looked like some kind of enchantment. He wondered whether he might be able to blast it out of the way.
"Reducto!" he said.
The spell shot straight through the mist, leaving it intact. He supposed he should have known better; the Reductor Curse was for solid objects. What would happen if he walked through the mist? Was it worth chancing it, or should he double back?
He took a deep breath and ran through the enchanted mist.
The world turned upside down. Harry was hanging from the ground, with his hair on end, threatening to fall into the bottomless sky. He hung there, terrified. It felt as though his feet were glued to the gra.s.s, which had now become the ceiling. Below him the dark, star-spangled heavens stretched endlessly. He felt as though if he tried to move one of his feet, he would fall away from the earth completely.
Think, he told himself, as all the blood rushed to his head, think...
But not one of the spells he had practiced had been designed to combat a sudden reversal of ground and sky. Did he dare move his foot? He could hear the blood pounding in his ears. He had two choices – try and move, or send up red sparks, and get rescued and disqualified from the task.
He shut his eyes, so he wouldn't be able to see the view of endless s.p.a.ce below him, and pulled his right foot as hard as he could away from the gra.s.sy ceiling.
Immediately, the world righted itself. Harry fell forward onto his knees onto the wonderfully solid ground. He felt temporarily limp with shock. He took a deep, steadying breath, then got up again and hurried forward, looking back over his shoulder as he ran away from the golden mist, which twinkled innocently at him in the moonlight. (Ryan at this point had practically fainted from terror his fear of heights barely holding up to this spell)
He met nothing for ten minutes, but kept running into dead ends. Twice he took the same wrong turning. Finally, he found a new route and started to jog along it, his wandlight waving, making his shadow flicker and distort on the hedge walls. Then he rounded another corner and found himself facing a Blast-Ended Skrewt. it was enormous. Ten feet long, it looked more like a giant scorpion than anything. Its long sting was curled over its back. Its thick armor glinted in the light from Harry's wand, which he pointed at it.
"Stupefy!"
The spell hit the skrewt's armor and rebounded; Harry ducked just in time, but could smell burning hair; it had singed the top of his head. The skrewt issued a blast of fire from its end and flew forward toward him.
"Impedimenta!" Harry yelled. The spell hit the skrewt's armor again and ricocheted off; Harry staggered back a few paces and fell over. "IMPEDIMENTA!"
The skrewt was inches from him when it froze – he had managed to hit it on its fleshy, sh.e.l.l-less underside. Panting, Harry pushed himself away from it and ran, hard, in the opposite direction – the Impediment Curse was not permanent; the skrewt would be regaining the use of its legs at any moment.
He took a left path and hit a dead end, a right, and hit another; forcing himself to stop, heart hammering, he performed the Four-Point Spell again, backtracked, and chose a path that would take him northwest.
He had been hurrying along the new path for a few minutes.Every so often he hit more dead ends, but the increasing darkness made him feel sure he was getting near the heart of the maze. Then, as he strode down a long, straight path, he saw movement once again, and his beam of wandlight hit an extraordinary creature, one which he had only seen in picture form, in his Monster Book of Monsters.
It was a sphinx. It had the body of an over-large lion: great clawed paws and a long yellowish tail ending in a brown tuft. Its head, however, was that of a woman. She turned her long, almond-shaped eyes upon Harry as he approached. He raised his wand, hesitating. She was not crouching as if to spring, but pacing from side to side of the path, blocking his progress. Then she spoke, in a deep, hoa.r.s.e voice.
"You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me. "
"So... so will you move, please?" said Harry, knowing what the answer was going to be.
"No," she said, continuing to pace. "Not unless you can answer my riddle. Answer on your first guess – I let you pa.s.s. Answer wrongly – I attack. Remain silent – I will let you walk away from me unscathed. "
Harry's stomach slipped several notches. It was Hermione who was good at this sort of thing, not him. He weighed his chances. If the riddle was too hard, he could keep silent, get away from the sphinx unharmed, and try and find an alternative route to the center.
"Okay," he said. "Can I hear the riddle?"
The sphinx sat down upon her hind legs, in the very middle of the path, and recited:
"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?"
Harry gaped at her.
"Could I have it again... more slowly?" he asked tentatively. She blinked at him, smiled, and repeated the poem. "All the clues add up to a creature I wouldn't want to kiss?" Harry asked.
She merely smiled her mysterious smile. Harry took that for a "yes. " Harry cast his mind around. There were plenty of animals he wouldn't want to kiss; his immediate thought was a Blast-Ended Skrewt, but something told him that wasn't the answer. He'd have to try and work out the clues....
"A person in disguise," Harry muttered, staring at her, "who lies... er... that'd be a – an impostor. No, that's not my guess! A – a spy? I'll come back to that... could you give me the next clue again, please?"
She repeated the next lines of the poem.
"'The last thing to mend,'" Harry repeated. "Er... no idea... 'middle of middle'... could I have the last bit again?"
She gave him the last four lines.
"'The sound often heard during the search for a hard-to-find word,'" said Harry. "Er... that'd be... er... hang on – 'er'! Er's a sound!"
The sphinx smiled at him.
"Spy... er... spy... er... " said Harry, pacing up and down. "A creature I wouldn't want to kiss... a spider!"
The sphinx smiled more broadly. She got up, stretched her front legs, and then moved aside for him to pa.s.s.
"Thanks!" said Harry, and, amazed at his own brilliance, he dashed forward. (Ryan had snuck up and stored the Sphinx he would chat more with it later.)Harry broke into a run. He had a choice of paths up ahead. "Point Me!" he whispered again to his wand, and it spun around and pointed him to the right-hand one. He dashed up this one and saw light ahead.
The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. Harry sprinted towards it and right as he was about to grab it Ryan grabbed it aswell then they were ripped off their feet by the portkey Ryan still invisible.