--SPECIAL A/N-- Every time I write a chapter, I tend to take a break for a day or two to read other fan fiction. As I read and enjoy the other pieces of work, it helps me to appreciate my own and invigorates me to pound away at the keyboard and deliver my own plots and dreams to paper, or in this case, hypertext.

As I worked on chapter 9 and the culmination of the Grand Merlin Maze, I came across a fan fic, the likes I have never seen before. It's called "Harry Potter and the Wastelands of Time". It's located on .

I kid you not, when I say this is probably the greatest piece of fan fiction, my starved eyes, have ever laid on. I devoured the work in progress eagerly and didn't stop for an entire day, till I was finished, even skipping dinner. (Or rather forgetting to eat as I read the chapters.)

The author is gifted beyond anyone I have seen, and is only matched (maybe) by Aspen in the Sunlight. I urge everyone who has not done so already to visit this story and enjoy it as I have. It is the culmination of mixture of every genre of HP fan fiction that I know. Romance, Mystery, Action, Angst.

It has a super powered Harry, but yet limited by his actions to not reveal his powers, except for select few times. It has Time-Travel as both a hope and a curse. The world the author has created is just outstanding and it draws you in. Again, go read this story, you won't be disappointed. Oh and leave him a review please. The site he posted on doesn't get as many readers as fanfiction .net does, so every single review is treasured there. Here is the site.

www . patronuscharm . net/s/76/1/

(remove the spaces)

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Chapter 9

To The Victor, Goes the Spoils

Seven Years. For seven years Harry Potter wandered the Magical World. Like a ghost. An echo of a dream. The whispered awe of legend that comes from the mouths of those, for whom, the celebrity and hero, are items for their own curiosity, rather than people who may just wish to take a pleasant stroll down the street.

For seven years he drifted from place to place, with the little child Lily. He absorbed knowledge from the 'Amplitudo Arcus Veneficus', the Grand Archive of Magic. He had studied spells at the knees of old, dusty, wizards. He partook in rituals in the jungle-hidden temples of Tibet, and he dabbled in the modern forms of magic from the American Ministry. He was learned, he was powerful, and he was even a bit worldly. He was rash, he was impulsive, and had not a whit of patience in his rather expansive mind.

All this was why it was quite out of character for him to stand dumbfounded as the egg sailed through the air. Against his instincts he watched as his Ginny (she would always be his Ginny in a way) chirped out that little phrase 'catch', and threw the fated oval at the Shiva. To his credit he wasn't the only member of the motley crew to stand as watch the arching path of the Chimera's off spring. To watch with wide eyes as its flimsy shell cracked and shattered against the dangerous creature's body. The Shiva understood what had happened, however. She understood, what the disaster meant for her. Even if she said not a word, the horror filled eyes and the shocked body spoke in volumes that words couldn't explain.

The Chimera, its maternal instinct raging in full, didn't care who had thrown its egg. It didn't care who had stolen it. At that moment all it cared about was that its unborn child, resting unknowingly in its protective shell, died against the body of the Shiva.

All Hell Broke Loose.

Harry had stood straight and tall as he watched the Killing Curse bear down on him from the tip of Voldemort's wand. He had flown on the winds of Hogwarts as a dragon chased him relentlessly. He had braved the tunnels of Gringotts, to steal an artifact from its protected vaults. Through all of that he had never made the sound he did when he saw the bulk of the Chimera, pounding like a tumbling mountain, rampage towards him, to reach the 'Snake-bitch', as Ginny so cleverly put it.

"Eeep!" Harry managed to squeak out in surprise. He summoned every muscle in his legs and dove to the side. Even then he was not fast enough as the jaws of the dragon head latched around his fleeing leg. Thankfully, one of his wards was still in force and prevented his leg from finding a new home in the beast's belly. The wards didn't prevent the pain from his joints though, as the head shook him like a doll and flung him away, before continuing its charge.

The two great mythical creatures clashed, like the legendary Titans of old. In roars of anger and shrieks of pain, the two dissolved into a jumble of arms, claws, swords, and scales. Viciously tearing into each other in the age-old bid for survival.

Harry however, didn't give a knut for the fortune, or misfortune, of the two. All he knew, or cared about, was that something large and hard stopped his flight with a mind-numbing jolt. He rested dazed for a moment against the cool surface, but only for a moment. When he felt the wet, sickly, mass of foliage wrap around him in a deadly coil he had a panicked moment of realization that it was none other than the Blood Tree that had saved him temporarily.

"Harry!" he dimly heard Ginny's sweet and horrified voice over the raging of the two monsters. His skin burned and itched in a frightful manner as the tree's poisonous vines ate at his protections, eager to begin the quick, but tortuous, process of death and digestion. However, when he had made his impromptu appearance earlier, the Ministry had not thought to ask him to remove any of his magical creations that they had banned from the Tournament. He had, nestle close to his skin, one of the very necklaces that he had conspired to give to Ginny. Of its many protections against spells and curses, its most useful function at the moment, was immunity against poisons and disease. As such the Blood Tree's vines did little more than burn and bruise his body.

Ginny didn't know this though. All she knew was that her clever little ploy to get the Chimera off her tail had just killed, Harry Potter. With an agonized cry of fury, denial, and despair, she slashed her wand again and again. Several Sectum-Semra spells tore through the vines holding Harry in the distance, dropping him, unceremoniously, to the ground.

She started to rush forward, ignoring the dangers around her to get to Harry, when a hand grabbed her hair and yanked her back. She gave a cry of pain as she felt a good chunk of the red strands pulled from her scalp. She blinked and realized that she was sitting on the ground with one of her fellow contestants leering down at her.

"Now, now, Miss. Weasley," the leering man said, "No need to play the heroine. Potter's already dead. No one lives, once the vines of a Blood Tree touch you." Ginny shivered at the words, and knew them to be true. She looked past the man to see Harry twitching on the ground by the roots. Already more vines, were descending towards the scared, green eyed man, to gain nourishment from his body.

"We still might be able to save him!" she pleaded in denial. "There's always a chance!" The large man chuckled and leveled his wand. She briefly noted that it was rather longer than most wands in circulation. Length tends to add that extra 'oomph' to spells.

"Now why would we want that, when it's you, we are here for?" Ginny understood now. The men were partners with Templeton and Kneveson. Her fists clenched in the damp grass and dirt under her, and her expression grew frosty.

"Not bloody likely," she muttered and brought her foot up with a nasty kick to the groin. Wizard or Muggle, kicks in such places humbled the best of men. His eyes bulged and he dropped to his knees, his wand falling silently to the grass. Ginny rolled to the side and came up with her wand ready.

"Stupefy!" a jet of red light struck another one of the wizards, who was chuckling at his accomplice's situation. The other three wasted no time in their counter attack. Ginny had to throw up her Caeles shield to block the powerful barrage. She rolled again and came up on her feet, dodging a second round of spells. She ran towards Harry, pausing momentarily to kick the large man, whom she had just neutered, in the face. Her legs were strong from her daily running routine, and from she feel of the kick, she had broken his nose and put the man out of the fight for a bit.

She continued to run towards the Blood Tree, not giving a damn about the dangers it posed. The men behind her took the time to revive their stunned partner and sent another wave of spells at the fleeing red head. The spells were blocked, however, by battle between the Chimera and the Shiva, which had moved too close to the group, and the assailants were forced to scatter as the fight blocked their aim of Ginny.

She couldn't seem to get in close enough to pull Harry from the Tree's grasp though. Those alien, decayed, fetid tentacles writhed in the air to try and grab her as well. It was luck that she slipped trying to avoid them, for if she hadn't one of them would have found her and ended her life.

"Harry!" she screamed. "Please answer me!" She prayed with every syllable uttered that he was somehow, miraculously, okay. Her prayers were answered as she saw him lift his arms to try and pry the predatory things from around his torso and neck.

"Ginny…" he gasped out. "Cut me loose." Ginny gave a sob of relief and even laughed a bit, blinking away the tears in her eyes. A second later she had Harry down and was about to summon him away from the Tree when something slammed into the back of her shoulder. She screamed as she felt the bones in her arm shatter and crumble under the strength of the spell. She fell to the ground in pain, the fall avoiding another Bone breaking charm that would have literally, caved in the back of her skull.

She looked back to see the four wizards striding towards her, with fury written all over their faces. She couldn't seem to focus on a spell as the pain from her broken shoulder seemed every ounce of concentration from her.

"Nice run, Weasley," one of them snarled as they got closer. "But it's over. Enough games. We win."

"Oi! No you don't! The Eggs mine!" a voice called far to the left. Everyone turned to see three other contestant running flat out towards the five and Ginny. She would have laughed if the situation wasn't so dire. The regular Maze participants had arrived. They wouldn't let anyone else steal their glory without a fight. The glum grassy field lit up in a rainbow of spells as the three new comers launched their attack. None too soon, the entire area was a battlefield. Between the three newcomers, the five assassins, and the Chimera and Shiva ripping away at each other, no one noticed, broken little Ginny, once more cut Harry free and summon him to her side.

"Harry?" she asked softly, brushing the hair out of his eyes and cradling her arm.

"I'm ok," he rasped, his throat, soar and bruised from the vines. He struggled to sit up and pushed his glasses further up his nose.

"Ginny, you're arm!" he exclaimed and reached out to touch her shoulder. She winced away and grit her teeth from the fresh wave of pain.

"It's broken. One of those spell-hurling dung-bats caught me when I wasn't looking. I'll be alright. The real question is how are you ok? The poison should have killed you." Harry patted his chest.

"Necklace. The same one that Hermione had you wear, before they made you take it off. It protects against almost all poisons." Ginny blinked.

"Oh…you cheated!" she accused, looking rather indignant. Harry blinked and then scowled.

"It's a good thing I did, or I'd be dead right now thrice over! Anyways," he said looking over her shoulder at the confusion of the battle. "We really need to get out of here Ginny. Those men are paid to kill you. They don't care about winning. We should go."

He looked so serious and concerned, but Ginny wasn't ready to forgive him and she wasn't about to give up on the Maze, just cause things got harder and more complicated.

"The only way I am leaving the Maze is apperating out with the three wands. Damn, the dangers. I spent countless hours preparing for this thing. I'm not giving up!" Her eyes blazed with resolve. Her stubborn mind firmly rooted in place. Harry knew that look all too well. He saw it every time his eyes closed. Every day of his self imposed exile. He remembered thinking one time, while lying in his house in America, that he'd fight Voldemort all over again, to see her look at him like that.

"Well if it isn't Voldemort, then I guess it will be this Bloody Tree," he muttered, pun intended. Ginny looked at him in confusion.

"What?" she asked.

"Never mind, inside joke." he then stood up and brushed himself off. "First thing to do is make sure you can't get hurt climbing the thing. If you want to do this, then you do it. I'll tell you how to go about it, but you gotta do it on your own."

Ginny gave up a bit of her anger at him to favor him with a grateful smile. He understood that she was doing this not for the reward, but to prove to friends and family, and the Wizarding World in general, that she was a witch to be reckoned with and respected.

"Thank you, Harry," she whispered. He nodded and flicked his wand, blocking a stray spell that was sent their way.

"Here," he said and tapped her shoulder lightly with his wand. She felt a soothing warmth flow from the spot he touched down to her fingertips. He then waved his wand again and a splint and sling was holding her arm steady and in place.

"I've numbed the pain and stopped the broken bones from grinding against each other. They aren't fixed and you'll have to see a real healer-" he paused to block another spell. "When you get done."

"Ok, what do I do?" she asked him, cutting to the chase.

"First, there is a fruit that the Tree has. It only blooms in the top most branches, where the leaves are red. You can't get up the tree without the fruit. Keep firing blasting and bashing charms at the top till you knock a couple down. Once you have the fruit, eat as much as you can. It has a coppery taste and is kind of bitter, but make sure you eat a good portion of it including the…juice." His mouth twisted when he said 'juice'. Ginny wondered about that, but didn't interrupt.

Then you have to make your way up the tree. Don't use fire spells. The worst you will do is attract more of its attention. Stick to cutting curses and jinxes. I don't know if you have a way to levitate or fly without a broom, but if you don't use the spider climb charm to get up there. It's your safest bet with that shoulder."

"Spider climb charm?" Ginny frowned.

"Errrr, you don't know that spell?" she shook her head. "Hmmm, well it's an easy charm. It's not from base Latin and the Pantheon Era. It's Egyptian. The incantation is 'Alyshi Hasseem'. No mental preparation needed. Got it?"

"Yeah. Alyshe Hasseem"

"No, Alyshi, strong 'i'."

"Ok, lets do this…what…what are you going to do Harry?"

"Me?" he grinned. "I'm gonna make sure everyone is paying attention to me and ignoring you."

"Ummm, Harry, don't do anything stupid. You don't need to make a scene." She had a rather queasy feeling in her gut.

"Ah, come on Gin! You know me! I hate making a scene." For a brief second she wanted to kiss him. Then she saw his grin grow wider and wanted to slap it off his annoying, arrogant, face.

"Fine then Potter, do whatever you want." her voice took on an indifferent tone, pulling away from the casual concerned tone she had just used. Harry's face fell and he gave an uncertain nod.

'Women,' he thought, 'can't keep a straight emotion for more than a minute.' He wasn't stupid enough to say that out loud. His memory living as a cow was still too fresh in his mind. He made a note to speak to her about that later on.

"Ok, then. Remember, get the fruit, eat it all, and use cutting or banishing curses. No fire. Got it?" Ginny gave a nod and stood up with some aid from the bespectacled man.

"Be careful, Harry," she pinned him in place with one of her 'looks'. "Don't die. We have 'things' to discuss."

Harry flinched and looked to the ground, giving her a submissive nod. When she felt he was suitably put down she turned towards the tree to begin her task of gaining the fruit.

Harry looked up and watched her fondly for a moment, before turning back towards the battle. His eyes sought the Shiva and Chimera, both in bloody, heaving strips, circling each other. He then heard Ginny shouting 'Reducto', behind him and analyzed the Wizarding battle. In all the time Ginny and him had been speaking, no one had been 'put out of commission', so to speak. Ineptitude at its finest.

"Honestly," he muttered, "Doesn't anyone know how to duel?" He gripped his wand tightly and started to wade into the battle. "I guess class is in session."

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"I can't believe the nerve of that girl!" Molly raged as the family watched Ginny throw the egg at the Shiva. The Maze was even more eventful than anyone had ever thought possible. It was a battle of power and ingenuity that was for certain. Hermione had no clue, what had possessed Ginny to steal the Chimera egg and run for the Tree. It was suicidal and only luck kept her alive.

Ron was beside himself in a mixture of fright and mirth. Ron, Charlie and George had collapsed in gales of laughter when she threw the Egg at the Shiva. Molly turned her wrath on her three laughing sons and just folded her arms, glaring down the length of her nose. Bill prudently elbowed the three of them and coughed discreetly. The three boys noticed their mother's look and promptly settled down. Everyone turned from the amusing sight of the three chastised men as the crowd screamed in fear.

What Hermione saw made her leap to her feet with a cry, and cover her mouth in horror. Harry was entangled in the poisonous vines of the tree, something that meant sure death unless treated within a minute. No one could get to him in time. Molly started to scream and flew into the embrace of her husband. Ron however looked slightly amused and shook Hermione out of her terrified shock. He leaned over to whisper in her ear and she looked between her husband and Harry in amazement.

"But-the rules-they took-Oh!" she suddenly realized. She placed a shaking hand over her racing heard and breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's ok mum," she heard Ron tell his mother. "Harry's ok, the poison wont hurt him."

"How can you be sure Ron?" Molly tearfully asked. He just winked at her and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Oh I'm sure the man who makes all sorts of nifty things for Aurors, would be bound to have a few items to protect him." Molly didn't look entirely convinced, but calmed down to anxiously watch the fight play out.

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Ginny did her best to ignore the battle raging behind her as she flung spell after spell into the far reaches of the Blood Tree. The cacophony of incantations and the haze of smoke however, were doing a fine job in distracting her. The fact that the fruit she needed couldn't be seen in the towering top just added to her annoyance. She didn't have much time and she could spend hours trying to knock the little pieces of victory down. So she paused in her spells to think of a solution.

She couldn't use fire to get rid of the leaves blocking her view and she was wasting time and energy trying to hit something with a blasting or banishing curse. So how could she knock some of the fruit down? She would need something big that packed a punch. She did a quick run down of her magical arsenal and realized that she didn't have anything to get the job done. She stamped her foot in frustration and blew a bang out of her eyes. This was impossible. She took a look behind her and blinked as she saw Harry whistling while throwing around bits of chaos of everything. She thought she saw what even looked like an ostrich or two running around in circles, just to cause confusion. She shook the image out of her head and tried to refocus on the task at hand. Harry doing some silly transfiguration wasn't her concern right now.

Her eyes popped open. Transfiguration. Of course. She didn't have a weapon big enough, but that wasn't to say she couldn't make one. It was a rather simple piece of magic that most people learned in their third year at Hogwarts. Inanimate to Inanimate transfiguration was a cinch. She gave a cheek grin as her resolve and confidence was bolstered anew. First she needed something to work with.

She took a stock of the area, searching for something with suitable mass and size. There was nothing. Twisting her lips in a wry frown, she guessed there was only one thing to do. Tear a good chuck of wood from the devilish plant in front of her. Oh course calling the Tree a plant was akin to calling a blast-end-skewert a cricket. Totally inappropriate. She really didn't care though.

"Hope you're ready. This is really going to hurt." She gave another smirk and jabbed her wand forward. A thin orange beam connected with the trunk and the Tree went crazy. The vines flailed around like a mad man waving his arms franticly. The leaves, both grin, orange and red shuddered and swayed. It didn't take long for Ginny to get the reaction she was hoping for. The ground in front of her started to buckle upwards in a path straight towards her.

"There we go," she muttered and jumped out of the way as a thick root shot up from the damp earth, where she had just been standing. Ginny wasted no time and used the strongest severing curse she knew.

"Infindus!" a jet of white-hot spell fire lanced through the iron hard bark like a knife through butter. A thick chunk, about the size of her fell to the grass with a thud. The root that had tried to attack her quivered and slunk away. Well, she supposed, forcing the thing into retreat was a small victory in into.

With a wave of that powerful tool, that Witches and Wizards had dubbed, the wand, the thick severed piece of root morphed into a large heavy boulder. Something that size and heavy was bound to have some success. She swished her wand and gave a casual flick in the air and the rock rose a couple feet off the ground.

"Ha! Eat that, Felicity Kitridge!" she cried, referring to an annoying Ravenclaw in her first year who had given the class all sorts of hell when learning their first spell. With some deft wand twisting and some concentration the obscenely large rock flew threw the air and into the dimly red shade of the Blood Tree. She put on a little extra speed and then waved her arm in wide and strong sweeps. The boulder shook the branches as it crashed repeatedly against them from her unplanned movement.

She was sweating from the effort of holding that much weigh aloft, but a few moments later she saw not one, but four pieces of fruit bouncing from branch to branch like a ball down a set of stairs. She sighed in relief and sent the Boulder off into the distance and let it drop, where it wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Accio Fruit," she uttered softly, too tired to put the effort into a silent summon. One zoomed into her outstretched hand. It had a curious feeling to it. The fruit was a deep red and very soft. Almost like a pillow, but heavy as well. She ran her hands over the smooth texture and liked the feel. It was as smooth as a baby's skin. With a rueful glance at the waiting tree she lifted it to her lips.

"Cheers." she said and bit into the fruit. The inside was as soft as the outside and extremely juicy. Like Harry said, it had a coppery, but was sweet and yet bitter. Oh and it was thick and rich. Very thick and rich. Wasting no more time, she swallowed and took another bite, and then another. In less than a minute the large red thing was devoured and Ginny tossed the core away, an odd light red thing with several tubes that extended from it into the fruit.

She could feel the warm fuzzy feeling in her stomach, but it still made her a bit nauseous and her vision swam a little. She willed away the lingering effects and tapped herself on the head.

"Alyshi Hasseem" she incanted and felt the added effects of the spider climb charm on herself. It was good thing that she had strong leg and stomach muscles, because this was going to be a long and tortuous process. She readied herself and began to walk up the tree, cutting away the few vines that reached out to ensnare her. A few more minutes and she would finish the Grand Merlin Maze.

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As Harry waded into the battle, he decided to have some fun. He's had his share of battles, but usually they had his life on the line. He knew no one would dare even try to kill him in view of so many Ministries. Regardless if they could make it look like an accident, he knew his status would put their head on a pole.

First, to set up some distractions and a bit of chaos he conjured some chairs and transfigured them into a variety of odd animals, ordering them to run around. Such oddities would always distract someone at the wrong time and were a favorite tactic of his. He then turned on his 'stern father look', as Lily would always tell him when he got angry. The gloves were off for him. These men had threatened Ginny, and he was going to make an example of them to whoever was watching. Most likely that strange gathering of wizards he had glimpsed when they tried to use a dark identity spell on him.

That particular incident had almost caused him to blow himself up, as he was in a critical part of a potion when they had attacked. The potion was ruined, wasting two weeks of work, but he was alive at least. Now these, assassins, were after Ginny and he wanted to give them a little pay back.

"Ilum'hi Shaunti!" he pointed his wand at the large man, who now sported a broken nose. No one had noticed his entrance into the battle until then, as several golden rings were conjured around the man, stripping him of his magic. It was an old spell of ancient Babylonian make, one that could break through most barriers, and when they touched a magic user, that person couldn't so much as levitate a feather for a day in addition to binding and silencing them. With a stunned expression he fell to the ground and everyone paused to look at the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Get 'em!" one of the men yelled. Oh, Harry had expected everyone to gang up on him. Maybe a few, but not all of them. Not good. He took advantage of the momentary indecision on all their faces and threw up a shield and sent an army of stunning spells at the assassins. He would ignore the three unknowns for now. Chances were they were just regular old blokes in the wrong place. One of the other men was hit by his poorly aimed stunners dropping the total to deal with to three.

One of the three newcomers it turned out was an animagus. The man had morphed into a large tiger of all things before bounded across the way, roaring his challenge. Fortunately, Harry could care less when someone turned into an animal as they were then susceptible to certain spells. In fact it was an advantage for him this time rather than a nuisance.

"Advertum Homeno!" he incanted and the charging tiger suddenly turned in direction and pounced on one of the assassins, much to the man's painful surprise. He heard the sickening crunch of an arm being bit into and the body flung away by the powerful jaws of the animagus form. Four more to deal with, including the newcomers.

Harry threw up another shield as a couple of incendiary spells were hurled at him. He noted that the two assassins left were focusing their attention on the morphed tiger now. That left the two new comers. Well they wanted his attention and a crack at the killer of Voldemort, so they would get it. Harry started to weave his wand in a huge circular pattern in front of him. The first pass created a ring of red fire in the air. The second turned the ring a dazzling yellow and the third into a blazing, scorching blue. Clenching his wand hand into a fist, he punched at the air in the center of the fiery ring.

The ring bulleted through the space between him and the two newcomers and then split into three. They hit the ground in front of the wizards and a line of discordant fire exploded, lighting up the night with various hues. The raging wall of fire flared and grew larger. Harry pointed his wand at it and cupped his hard towards it, as if to hold something illusionary in his hand. He then rolled his wand over and over in a tight spiral to point towards the two assassins and the tiger, in the midst of their battle. The tiger animagus wasn't doing to well, as it was trying to run away. At his direction the spelled fire churned and rolled through the air, the tendrils of flame licking and reaching out like the heads of a hydra as Harry directed its path. The two assassins looked on in shocked fear as the wave of multi-hued fire fell upon them. Harry let them feel a couple of seconds of burning pain before he dispelled it, leaving them blistered and writhing along the ground. The tiger animagus was no where to be found.

Harry smiled in satisfaction as the battlefield was clear of other wizards. He took a glance at the shadowed pathways to see if anyone else was lurking in the corners. He let himself have a deep sigh. It was finally over. Soon Ginny would have the final wand and the Maze would be over.

A 'whooshing' sound caused him to instinctively leap aside. A quaking thud of something landing heavily behind him almost knocked him on his feet. He turned around to see what had almost hit him and saw the bloody and dead Chimera left in tattered rags on the ground. 'Oh great.' he thought with resignation. He looked across the torn battlefield to the Shiva. She wasn't in much better shape that the Chimera she had killed, that was for sure. She was missing two arms on her left side and her skin was a mess of bleeding furrows and holes from the teeth and claws of her adversary.

"Oh come on!" Harry yelled at her. "You can't really mean to fight me in that condition! Don't throw your life away!" The Naga Queen just slithered slowly towards him, her eyes lit with pain and insanity. The battle must have broken her and sent her into a berserker rage. Harry closed his eyes, with what he had to do. He hadn't killed anything in a long time. Maybe he could just incapacitate the Shiva. She was close to dead anyways. Opening his eyes again he pointed towards the ground

"Serpensortia!" Three large snakes erupted from the tip of his wand, landing on the ground with an angry slither. The Shiva took this as the beginnings of an attack and moved faster. Her large, thick tail straining to move her along with the pain of her wounds. She wasn't nearly as fast as she normally was and gave Harry time to prepare his defense.

"Engorgio." he said again and the three snakes swelled in size to almost twelve feet long each. Harry looked at the snakes and drew on a power he rarely used and often hated. Parseltongue.

"Defend me." he told the conjured serpents. The three hissed and threw their heads around from the command, but quickly fell to Harry's domination. They rose and coiled to meet the Shiva head on. The old beast of muggle myth halted in her advance and swung a sword quickly as the snakes struck out. Harry grimaced as a head went tumbling away and one of his defenders faded into nothingness. She wasn't quick enough to stop the other two however and she hissed as powerful jaws clamped down on an arm. She tried to fling it away, but quick as lightning the second struck as well pinning another arm and its long powerful body quickly coiled around her.

The Shiva gasped as a breath was squeezed out of her from a powerful contraction. The first followed the second's example and coiled around her neck. Splatters of blood flew everywhere as she flung her body back and forth in a vain attempt to free herself, but she lacked the strength. Harry watched in sadness as her flailing began to slow and her pale skin began to turn blue from lack of oxygen and the stress from the snakes.

He hated to take away such a majestic and ancient beings pride away like this, but it was between his life and hers. He wouldn't kill her, but he doubted she would thank him for the mercy. Things such as she never took defeat well and often considered death a better recourse. Eventually her eyes fluttered and rolled into the back of her head, bulged and red with blood and pressure. She raised a single free hand into the air, almost imploringly towards something unseen and then toppled to the side. Harry quickly banished his conjurations and strode to the Shiva warily.

Normally the spell he was about to perform would be no use on her if she was awake and in her prime, but unconscious and injured, her mental defenses were almost non existent.

"Totalum Sopor," he whispered. The spell sent the creature into a deep coma, to rest and heal from her injuries. The same spell that Ginny had used on Kneveson. "Rest well and awake back home. Maybe you'll think it was just a bad dream." He hoped that, but doubted it.

He took a last survey of the field and decided that the Maze was all but done with. He turned and looked up at the Tree to see the tiny form of Ginny, almost at the top.

"Well done Gin," he whispered with a smile. A feeling of pride for his once girl-friend swelling in his chest.

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Ginny ached in every muscle of her body. This would have been much easier if she had use of both her arms. Fate however, decided that was not to be her lot in life and made this more difficult than it already was. Holding your body straight as you walked vertically up a tree was an extreme test of muscle strength. If she had not kept in such good shape from her Quidditch, she doubted she would have been able to do it.

At the moment she was resting on a thick branch, absently cutting away the few vines that were this high into its branches. Every now and then she would have to move or pull herself away from the Tree. The truck itself would become malleable and try to pull her inside to be digested. When it first tried that, it was one of the most unsettling and strangest feelings she had ever had. It was like hard rock softening and sliding through her. Needless to say, it wasn't an experience she would ever wish to go through again.

Time was against her. She had maybe ten or fifteen minutes left to finish and she was almost there. She could see the shining light of the final wand floating in some sort of bubble in the center of the high foliage. Just twenty more feet and she would be able to walk along the thick mass and grab it.

She took a few deep breaths and struggled to her feet. If anyone had ever tried to stand on an uneven surface with one arm, they would know that it was pretty awkward. She recast the spider climb charm and placed a foot on the trunk. It was now or never. She began the last arduous steps towards victory and rest.

Her limbs shook with the strain and she almost fell backwards and down to the ground, but sheer will power kept her from doing so. She took a few more steps and had to bat away a branch that seemed to move and shift to block her way. A few more steps and a fierce wind buffeted around her. Thorny leaves broke away and scratched at her skin, burning with their poison. She growled and cast a light shielding charm to protect her and took some more steps. Sweat poured down her face like a broken damn and she whimpered from the pain in her calves. Five feet. Just five miserable feet and she could right herself for the last time. She took two more steps. Three feet. Another step. Two feet. She leaned up and grasped the final thick platform. The final step.

With a cry of relief and pleasure she pulled herself over the edge and collapsed on her stomach. She had made it. She had reached the top. Against her better judgment she glanced over the side and looked down. She was hundreds of feet up and the ground looked like a green mosaic blotched with brown craters. She began to laugh, almost hysterically. Her gave turned to the sides and in the distance she could see the stands surrounding the maze. They looked like a wall of moving ants seen from a distance, and the floating white glows of the monitors looked like tiny fireflies bouncing in the air. Taking some deep breaths she struggled to her feet.

The hum of the bubble, guarding the wand, was a song to her ears. She took a moment to admire the fine craftsmanship of the object. Like the other wands this one was wrought in gold, but wrapped in silvery strands. A beautiful piece. She reached for the wand, and felt the tingle as her hand passed through the spell field. Her fingers wrapped around the delicate object and pulled it out. She glanced around warily, half expecting some new menace or curse, or worse yet, the tree to crumble beneath her. Everything was fine however, and it seemed the damned creators of the Maze figured just reaching the top was enough. She closed her eyes and smiled.

"I win." she whispered and twisted her body quickly. Her body squeezed though a hole in space the size of a key hole. With a loud crack she was pulled away and appeared in the goal, surrounded by Aurors and medical staff.

"I present to you the winner of the Grand Merlin Maze. Ginny Weasley!" the voice of the minister, magically amplified, shouted to the crowd. The roar that followed caused her to flinch, but still keep a beaming and proud smile on her face. She didn't notice the Aurors apperating away and bringing back the rest of the surviving contestants, or the bustle of the healers trying to lead her away to get medical attention. Like a tree falling slowly she crumbled to her knees and fell face first into the ground. Her vision dimming as she passed out. She could finally rest.

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A/N - There you go, the end of the Maze. I hope people were impressed and delighted over the idea. I've read many stories with dueling compititions, but nothing like an advanced for the the Tri-Wizard Tournament. I've always thought the final challenge to seem rather simple and wanted to explore a real deadly challenge. This was it. Of course I had loads of other stuff in there and plenty of ideas, but couldnt fit everything in without making the chapters too wordy and long. There is only so many challenges, creatures and things someone can read about before becoming bored with the stuff, so I had to narrow it down. Plus, between you and me, I didn''t want to use all my ideas about the wonders of a magical world just yet.

Until next chapter,

Umpy

Oh, AND READ THAT STORY I TOLD YOU ABOUT! YOU'LL LIKE IT!!