Shout out to iwilllovebooksforever: Thanks for helping me write this piece! Very much appreciated.
Also, many thanks to amal95 and f3y-chan for your support. And Mcurie, I thank you for the advice; I will definitely put it into practice. I hope this chapter is better.

Enjoy!

~x~

Chapter 4

Once more, Rose stared, shocked at her best and closest friend. But this time it was at his unconscious body as the officials levitated him out of the chamber, past the rows of students gawking in silence, and straight out of the dining hall. The silence didn't last long as every pupil got over his or her shock at the same time and the hall erupted in deafening noise.

The professors left in the dining hall tried to hush the students, but the best they could do in five minutes was a quiet mumble.

"Now students," started one of the oldest professors (who Rose had officially dubbed Old-y), "Do not be worried for your champions! They are being taken to where they will complete the task."

He waved his wand in a large arch. A big screen-type thing appeared in the air, twenty feet by thirty feet. On the apparition was a huge maze type thing with a tiny pair of blue feet labeled Malfoy. A ways away there were red and purple feet branded Belevich and Rancourt. There were also several sets of black footprints wondering about.

Old-y croaked out, "The footprints of your champions will grow brighter as they regain conciseness. Then they will race each other to get out of the maze. They will have to fight past many obstacles to get there."

Suddenly, Rose could see more than a few hindrances appear labeled on the map, like a six-foot chasm, as well as a lot of different shaped footprints and blotches that were titled with the names of different dark creatures such as boggart and blast-end skrewt. All the black foot prints disappeared.

"The first task for the Triwizard Tournament has begun!"

Everybody roared. Rose glued her eyes to the screen.

Then, the blue set of foot prints began to glow.

-0.O.o^o.O.0-

Scorpius moaned as he regained consciousness. His head started to throb. Managing to crack open his eyes, Scorpius just succeeded in getting more confused. Then it came to him.

He was upside down.

Wiggling around, he tried to figure out more about his condition. There was a thick chain wrapped around his ankles with a hook attaching it to the ceiling. There was also another chain that wrapped around his torso several times, pinning his arms to his body.

Scorpius could feel the blood rushing to his head. He needed to get out soon or he could pass out. He had no idea how long he had already been hanging there.

Squirming about a bit more, Scorpius was able to determine that his wand was in his pocket. He was quick to get it out and felt a lot more comfortable with it in his hand.

Then, something he probably should have done first, he looked down (or up?).

Below him was what looked like a pond in a dark enclosed brick room. The black waters churned menacingly, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was what was making the waters churn. Piranhas. Tons and tons of piranhas. They swarmed beneath him ready to sink their long hideous fangs into his body. The sight of them combined with Scorpius' already queasy stomach made him retch. He made a mental note to tell the rest of the world that throwing up while upside down is not desirable.

Having that taking care of he carefully used a cutting charm to free his arms form his torso. Then, as he was starting to get dizzy, he reached up and grasped the iron chaining his ankles and pulled himself up to stop the blood form rushing to his head. Scorpius had a new appreciation for all the training that Rose had made him do in the long weeks to the Tournament as well as quidditch practice. Cautiously he stripped off his robe (already it was weighing him down) revealing the T-shirt he had snuck on instead of his regulation dress shirt.

Scorpius looked around and spotted a small opening on the other side of the chamber and contemplated how he was going to get there. He obviously couldn't go through the piranhas so he decided to use the height at which he was to his advantage.

Gripping his wand tighter in his hand, he aimed at a spot in the ceiling about a half yard away. Using a carving charm, he engraved a small handhold. Scorpius then carved more handholds in the ceiling at the ½ yard intervals. Cutting as many as he could from where he was still hanging, he stole his nerve and grasped the nearest handhold as tight as he could. Scorpius then cut the chains around his ankles and his feet swung out wildly beneath him almost making him lose his grip.

Sticking his wand between his teeth, he used the handholds he just created as monkey bars and swung across the top of the cavern. When he got to the last hollow he carved more until he was close to the exit. But there he ran into more trouble.

There was no platform in front of the door. But after a few second of deliberating, it proved to be no trouble at all. He would just crave rungs like a ladder down to the door. But once he did that and put his foot on the first rung, it crumbled beneath his weight almost tossing him to the piranhas. With a short yelp between his teeth, he quickly recovered and backed up. The wall was no longer an option.

After an internal debate about any other possibilities, Scorpius settled on the quickest and most likely to succeed (even though it was still incredibly stupid, but his arms started to feel like they were falling out of their sockets).

Backing up two holds on the ceiling, he rocked himself back and forth, back and forth, back and when he swung forward the third time he launched his self hopefully into the door.

The two seconds he was falling through the air were terrifying. Scorpius could hear the piranhas jumping out of the water. And through he had aimed perfectly, the thought of missing the exit was heart-stopping. It was all he could do to not scream.

Then relief. Scorpius soared through the door. In midflight, he had turned over so his stomach was toward the floor so he was able to land on his toes and hands.

But as soon as he stopped skidding over the dusty floor, he turned around to see what challenges might await him next. Thankfully, though, Scorpius didn't see anything in the small chamber.

He got up, dusted himself off, and walked the quick few steps to the doorway on the other side of the room. But when he got to the doorway and tried to walk through, he couldn't. Scorpius just banged his head against some sort of force field and rebounded back, landing on his butt.

Getting back to his feet, Scorpius shoved at the shield. Nothing happened. He tried to use the destruction charm. Nothing again. He also attempted many different things, but all to no avail. Finally, he sighed, having basically given up. He leaned back against the force field.

And he barely caught himself when he passed right through. Looking back at the door way, Scorpius realized that the door would not let through something that was forceful, but only that which is gentle.

Sighing and turning away, Scorpius apprehended that he was in a corridor that branched to the left and right. Choosing the left, he once more hurried on.

He ran across a boggart and an extremely rude and violent gnome before reaching a doorway into a rather peculiar chamber. In the back of the chamber were three bricks in a clump that stood out from the rest. They seemed to be slightly larger and a bit darker than the others. But what really distinguished them was the fact that they each had a different school crest impressed on their faces.

They were the clues, Scorpius was sure.

The only dilemma was that there was a giant monster to get past. A Hydrentia. It was a hydra-plant with a diameter of about six feet and close to one hundred tentacles waving about wildly. Thorns bristled at the end of each tentacle and a gaping mouth, complete with thousands of teeth, waited impatiently for its meal.

But Scorpius knew that he needed the clue. It would help him exponentially. He made up his mind to go and try to get it.

At that moment, the tentacles were waving lazily around the center because they hadn't yet sensed Scorpius' presence. Though, as soon as he got closer, the sensors at the tip of each tentacle would pick up Scorpius and then they would try to snag him with their bristles and drag him to their mouth. He obviously couldn't let that happen.

Unfortunately though, Scorpius did not know the weakness of a Hydrentia. His best guess was to try to edge his way around it. He even got a full three steps.

But when he placed his foot down the third time, all the tentacles snapped toward him with the thorns raised like the hackles on a dog. After a frozen second, both parties lunged into movement; Scorpius to the door and the tentacles to Scorpius.

He managed to use severing charm to cut off the two closest tentacles and dashed through the doorway. Pressing himself against the wall in the corridor, he was barely able to escape the plants straining reach.

As he watched, the two tentacles he had cut off just before began to grow back, but they each slit in the middle so that there was four instead of two. Cut the plant to bits was now not an option.

But as Scorpius looked at the plant, he noted it had with tiny black spots getting more frequent as they get closer to the base which stood out against the slimy green color of the rest of the plant. This reminded him of a different plant whose weakness was fire. He decided why not try it.

Causing a plume of fire to shoot out of the tip of his wand, Scorpius aimed it at horror in front of him. As he hoped, at the first lick of flame the Hydrentia curled in on itself. Keeping the blaze focused on it, Scorpius edged around the plant to the clues.

Once he reached them, the brick with Hogwarts crest practically wiggled out of the wall and into his hand.

Then Scorpius ran out of the room and continued nonstop until he stumbled out of the exit. He only ran into a troll (which he sank in a pit of quicksand, an easy transfiguration) and a particularly nasty bunch of doxies, or biting fairies (he had to confound them into attacking the walls).

As soon as he ran tumbling out of the dark corridors he was deafened by a thunder of cheers coming from the group in front of him.

"Congratulations!" Mrs. Capernickle's voice boomed above the others. "You are the first champion to complete the first task!"

The Hogwarts students surged around Scorpius, but Rose beat them all to it and wrapped him in a hug. And for several moments Scorpius was in pure bliss.

~x~

Now I know this was a bit shorter than the other chapters, but I did get it out a lot sooner!
Please don't forget to review! It means sooo much to me! I welcome any questions, suggestions, and/or advise with wide open arms. :)

Also! I need to tell you that I'm going on a temporary hiatus, but I WILL NOT QUIT THIS STORY! I'm just super busy with family, school, church and other stuff as well as a different project that I'm super hyped up for. BUT I'M NOT QUITTING! THE TOURNAMENT SHALL BE CONTINUED!