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Harry Potter and the Hunger Games
Chapter 7
Into the Arena
My interview, compared to Nym's, was uninteresting. Caesar reiterated how extraordinary it is for a 12 year old to be scored a 10 but otherwise he treated me like a child. Then he asked if I thought my parents, two talented Victors, would be proud of me. For the audience I said yes, but quite honestly I doubt it. I know they loved me - Sirius has told me so plenty of times - but what have I done in my 12 years to be proud of? Getting arrested over and over for a wide variety of petty crimes? I'm not even proud of myself, so how could my parents be? They were both brilliant in their own fields while I'm not smart, talented, or even skilled in anything useful. I'm even less proud now as I stand in the launch tube, preparing to kill as soon as the count down ends.
Malkin is seeing me off after having fussed over my arena outfit, which I know will just get torn, dirty, and probably bloody. The outfits we're all wearing this year are made up of green slacks, a thin white shirt, and a snug reddish brown jacket with a pair of yellow stripes down each sleeve. The stripes are highly reflective. I can only imagine we're supposed to choose between staying warm and staying hidden.
Malkin tries to make smalltalk as I wait for my platform to rise up the tube. I'm not pay her any attention though. My stomach is twisting madly as the tension starts becoming unbearable.
"Ten seconds to launch," a Gamemaker's voice announces overhead. I count them down in my head and finally I'm rising. The first thing I see of the arena is the golden cornucopia directly ahead. In the mouth of the cornucopia sit all the weapons. That is where the bloodbath will happen. Alastor has warned me to stay away from the bloodbath and wait for the Careers to being their hunt before trying to snag a weapon. He's forgetting one thing though. I'm fast. Very fast.
Peppered around the ground between here and the cornucopia are various supplies. I spot a green backpack between me and the weapons. I'll scoop it up as I make a dash for a dagger or a knife. There is no way I'm grabbing a sword for a real fight.
Having my plan set for now, I take a look around at the rest of the arena. We're in a large round clearing surrounded by 15 foot tall hedges. There are a multitude of gaps in the hedges leading to different paths, all of them veering off in different directions. There is nothing to indicate which path is the most favorable. All of them are identical but for the direction in which they twist. Despite never having encountered one, this being only a concept left over from before the Dark Days of the Rebellion, it's unmistakable where we are. We're in the heart of a labyrinth.
The countdown has reached ten so I quickly turn my attention ahead. Nym's is three platforms away but I'll focus on finding her again later. Now that I know what she intends, I'm confident that she is perfectly capable of holding her own while I collect a weapon. I firmly plant my feet and bend my knees, ready to vault forward at full speed.
3… 2… 1… The buzzer sounds and I'm off the platform in a flash. Out of the corner of my eye I see many of the other tributes heading in the same direction but, as I predicted, I'm pulling ahead of all of them. Without stopping I bend my torso lower, loop one arm through the strap of my target backpack, and swing it squarely onto my back. I just finish threading my other arm through the second strap as I come up to the mouth of the cornucopia. Picking up the backpack slowed me more than I thought it would, and Cho, the girl from Five, is already upon me. I had wanted a knife, something light that I could move easily with, instead my hand grasps the nearest handle I can reach. It's a rapier. Thin and long, but thankfully not heavy like the swords in the training center.
Cho dances around me, twirling out of reach to get to the weapons racks. I stand on guard, ready for her to attack any moment. She twirls again, this time bring a spear around with her. Predictably time slows to a crawl. The spear is heading right for my face, and ever so slowly I sidestep it. While I was busy dodging, my hand had other ideas. It brings the rapier's tip down, lining up with Cho's heart. Her own momentum carries her forward into the blade. I barely feel the pressure of her body slamming into it. It slices straight through her like she's made of paper.
I'm frozen in horror as our eyes meet. The look of shock, pain and finally sadness flashes through her eyes, before the light in them begins to dim. I've made the first kill of the 69th Hunger Games. I feel sick to my stomach and want to throw up my breakfast. I suddenly spot the boy from from 8, Michael, charging at me with a machete he must have taken from one of the other racks. I don't even know how much time has elapsed since my rapier impaled the girl. My body wants to yank my sword free of Cho's body and bring it to bear, but my mind won't allow it. The guilt of taking her life is so all encompassing that I can't muster the desire to defend myself. I don't deserve it. He bring his machete up to slash it down upon my head when a javelin strikes him in the back.
As his body sinks to the ground I find Nym standing behind him, her arm outstretched elegantly.
"You didn't think I was really going to give up did you?" she asks playfully, as if the act of killing a boy had not phased her in the slightest. I'm still frozen in place so she grabs hold of my hand and pulls me off in the direction of the hedges. This jerks me out of my stupor. I can mourn the loss of my humanity later. Right now I need to survive, so that Nym can survive. There's fighting all around us, blades clashing, screams of pain. Nym snatches up a spear as we escape the cornucopia. Between us and our escape is Adrian, Cho's district partner, weaponless but ready to wrestle if need be. My legs find strength again and I rush ahead of Nym, putting myself between her and danger. His fist is ready to fly out at me but I surprise him as I get within his reach. I drop to the ground and slide in between his spread legs. Spinning around quickly I slash at the back of his knees. He tumbles forward with a cry. Nym catches up and spears him in the neck to finish him. Withdrawing the spear from his neck she motions me to continue forward.
We race into the maze, leaving the sounds of fighting behind us. We turn several corners before we reach the first fork in the path. I hesitate but Nym takes the left one without pause. I follow behind her. We make several more turns and quick decisions before we finally slow down. The sounds of the bloodbath have faded and all we can hear is the slight breeze rustling the surface of the hedge walls, and our own panting breaths.
The cannons that signal the death of a tribute begin to sound. Normally they sound at the instant of death but they usually wait until after the bloodbath to sound the first cannon. 9 shots boom out across the arena. We're only minutes into the Games and already 9 of us are dead. Nym and I are responsible for 3 of those. This time I can't fight being sick. With a gurgle my stomach empties onto the floor. Nym rubs my back gently while I try to regain my breath.
I swallow the tears that threaten to spill. I have yet more people to kill so I can't afford to lose my edge now. Especially not on camera. Crying can wait for the end, when I say goodbye to Nym.
We take a moment, while we catch our breath, to take inventory of what my backpack contains. She didn't have time to grab one because she was trying to get to me first. My pack contains a small medkit, nothing fancy but it will allow us to disinfect, stitch, and bandage wounds. There is also a sleeping bag, some nutrient bars, and an empty water canteen.
At her insistence we quickly start moving forward again. We walk for what I'm sure is miles in silence, though with all the twists and turns, and the hedge walls all looking the same, there is no way to really tell how far we've gone or how long we've traveled. Especially because there is no sun in the sky. I noticed this a while back and pointed it out to Nym. The sky is a soft blue, providing even lighting over the labyrinth, but giving no indication of the time.
Just as I start to think we must be going in circles the scenery changes. The green leaves on the hedges are slowly dwindling until they're bare like a tree in winter. The tangle of branches within them is too thick to see through so I still can't tell whats on the other side. White frost covers the ground, making it crunch beneath our feet, and I instinctively rub my arms as the crisp wind picks up bitingly. The further we trudge the colder it gets. The temperature is dropping so rapidly it's unnatural. Of course it isn't natural. We're in an arena. I should have known the maze itself wouldn't be the only obstacle.
Ice starts to cover the dead hedges and I can see it forming before my eyes. I stop abruptly. Nym glances at me, confused. I look back the way we came and I see the ice spreading to cover more and more of the walls in that direction. We're not walking into the cold. It's moving towards us.
I grab hold of Nym's hand and pull her back the way we came. I can see my breath puff in the freezing air. I hear crackling behind us and spare a quick look back. A coat of ice is forming on the ground and even at our speed it's gaining on us. We turn corner after corner, hoping the freeze will decide to follow a different path. Previously we'd managed to remember which turns we made to get here from the cornucopia, but now we're completely lost and the freeze isn't letting up. Suddenly it's upon us, or below us rather, and we slip on the ice, both of us tumbling to the ground, sliding along. I'm struggling to get purchase on the slippery surface when I hear another sound. It's like the crackling ice but followed closely by a crashing sound and then a splash. I almost don't dare look but I have to.
There behind us the ice on the ground cracks before a gigantic and sharp block of solid ice shoots out from below it, spearing the air, before falling back into the ground. Only where there was ground before there is only water. Dark freezing water. I try to pull Nym up to run again but she slips and falls on her behind. We've never seen ice in Six except on television so she's way out of her element. Any acrobatic ability she possesses is next to useless here. What's worse is that even if by some miracle we don't get killed by the ice spike, there is than the freezing water to deal with.
We can't outrun the ice and we can't survive the water, so I turn to the only other possible escape route. The hedge walls. They're covered in ice and they're so thick I can't see through them, but I think I just might be able to do it. I take my sword into both hands, rising it up above my head. I take a deep breath and hope for that slowing sensation. As I exhale the puff of steam that escapes me wisps into the air like a shifting fog. For the first time since I noticed this ability of mine, I'm glad. I put all my strength in bringing the sword down in front of me. The resistance I feel against the blade is a testament to the sturdiness of these hedges, but they don't stop me. I slice a vertical line into the wall and, before time can return and the extraordinary strength leaves my body, I free one hand from my sword, take up Nym's hand, and charge straight through the hedge.
The cut I made is not nearly as helpful as I thought it might be. The branches are stiff and the sliced edges scratch into my skin as I pass through, but my body pushes them aside to make way for Nym. We tumble out the other side and I turn to make sure we've escaped the ice spike. In the hedge there is a person sized hole. Through it I can see the ice on the other side. I watch in fascination as the hedge knits itself back together and becomes whole again, preventing the ice from passing through. On this side of the wall the hedges are still green.
Time finally returns to its usual pace and the sensations of my body become more acute. I'm covered in deep scratches from the branches and the stinging make me wince. There are bits of the hedge scattered around us from the force of me barreling through, and I'm pretty sure I feel a few small branches actually stuck in my flesh. I try to sit up to assess the damage when a sharp pain in my stomach makes me gasp.
"Oh shit, Harry!" Nym cries out in shock and I turn to look at her. Her face is mostly fine, with several thin scratches along her ears and cheeks, but her eyes are wide in fear and she's looking down at my belly. I follow her gaze and discover a gnarly broken branch sticking out of my abdomen.
"Crap," I wheeze, before passing out.
Thanks for reading. I'll stop here for now. I still want to edit the later chapters a little before posting them. This is the halfway mark btw.
