Prepare on Time
Someone had grown hedges on the Quidditch pitch! The book 'Hogwarts: A History' stated that the pristine grass had been cultivated over the course of three centuries. The grass on the pitch could have inflamed envy in every English men – given the opportunity to look at it.
Hermione tried to hide her shock: "So they changed the rules of Quidditch? Starting the coming season it will include a maze?"
"Quidditch rules have not been changed since 1692!" Harry argued instantly. He only noticed the vehemence of his words once he had spoken them.
"I know. The Statue of Secrecy made some changes necessary." Hermione sighed. "It was a joke"
"Quidditch is no joking matter." Harry said in a dramatic voice.
Hermione missed that it was meant in a mocking way. She sniffed: "Lets agree, that we disagree on that one." She fixed the maze disapprovingly. "This is going to be the Third Task."
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Bagman said so."
"Has he said anything else?" was only the first question of Hermione's bombardment. "Is this going to be a race? How much time do you have to finish? What are the rules? Are tools allowed?"
Harry stared wide eyed at his girlfriend. Neither he nor the other champions had thought of asking even a single question. "He said nothing about rules or what we'll have to do."
"He said nothing?" Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Well..." Harry licked his lips. He tried to remember the details of the boyish ministerial worker's speech. "There was something... Bagman said: The first to get hold of the Triwizard Cup will be the winner of the tournament."
Hermione furrowed her brow. "That sounds like a race."
"Yep, it does." Harry confirmed Hermione's theory.
"Finding a route through a maze sounds a bit unspectacular." Hermione gnawed on her bottom lip. "This is a labyrinth. Maybe they will place a minotaur inside of it?"
Harry turned his head to look at his girlfriend. His brows had vanished behind his bangs.
Hermione already came up with her next theory: "An obstacle race!" She craned her neck looking left and right along the hedges of the maze. "The narrow paths are perfect for placing traps and chaining magical beasts to certain places. One would have to get past them to reach the Triwizard Cup."
Harry could not stop himself from giving a frustrated sigh. "That sounds very likely."
"Has Bagman said something else?" Hermione requested in a businesslike tone.
Harry shook is head in denial. "Not that I can remember."
"So there is definitely no rule against summoning your broom?" Hermione asked curiously.
"He said nothing like that." A smile crept onto Harry's face. "Just the first one wins."
"You are sure about that?"
"Definitely." Harry was grinning very wide by now.
Hermione once more chewed absentmindedly on her bottom lip. "Or you could just summon the Triwizard Cup...?" She made a noise somewhere between a grumble and a sigh. It was a telltale of her annoyance. "No, that will not be possible. To unspectacular! This is the grand final of the Ministries yearlong attempt at boosting their prestige. They want a huge show. Therefore they will ward the whole area against summoning charms."
Harry felt his hope crumble. "That sounds likely too."
Hermione looked at the stands around the Quidditch pitch. "We should not waste any time. Lets make a map of the maze."
"Don't you think that would be cheating?"
Hermione answered without delay: "No."
Harry waited in vain for a long monologue. "No?" He asked finally gaping at the witch. "That is all you have to say about this? No explanation at all?"
Hermione thought her monosyllabic answer over for a moment before she shrugged her shoulders. "Indeed."
Harry took hold of Hermione's hand. He turned to climb the stand. The witch holding his hand did not tag along. She remained rooted to the spot. Harry looked confusedly at her. "Let's go and find a high position from where we can see more of the maze." He pulled softly on Hermione's hand.
"There is something I have to tell you." Hermione said in a low voice.
"Is there?" Harry cooked his head curiously.
"Yes, there is." Hermione stared past Harry. She took a deep breath held it for a long while and finally announced: "I do not like heights."
Harry had not expected that. Maybe he gaped a little bit at his girlfriend.
"I know it is ridiculous and illogical." Hermione huffed in her usual annoyance. "Nevertheless, I can't do anything about it. I really dislike being high above the ground."
"You fear heights?" Harry repeated dumbly.
Hermione snapped right back: "I have not said fear!"
Harry felt his fingers getting crushed. "Sorry, so you don't 'like heights'?"
Hermione's grip relaxed once she noticed, what she was doing. She muttered: "Kind of."
Once Harry was beyond the initial surprise, he found what he felt would have been the right words to begin this little revelation-thing: "That is nothing to be ashamed of." He additionally shrugged his shoulders when he found nothing else to say.
Hermione shuffled from on foot to the other and back before saying hesitantly: "You remember the flying lessons?"
Harry gulped. "Sure I do. You were not able to get your broom to fly. No matter which one you tried. They were only floating up to three feet height." Harry pulled a guilty face. "Everyone made fun of you..." His voice held desperation when he assured Hermione: "I'm so sorry for that. I really am!"
Hermione gave him a casual nod: "Apology accepted."
"Thank you," Harry hurriedly spoke: "but I really want you to know that I thought about apologizing before. In first year actually but..." Harry trailed off.
"... but I hexed you." Hermione completed the sentence.
"Yep. And I totally earned that!" Harry said nodding his head in approval over his own words. "I reasoned we were even when you cursed me."
Hermione nodded briefly. "I considered us even as well."
"I have thought a few times about apologizing since you and I became... friends. But I thought everything was going so nicely and... and..."
Hermione completed Harry's line of thought: "... and you did not want to disturb that by stirring up old stories."
"Exactly!" Harry sighed in relief. Yet, he found himself unable to stop apologizing: "You know? I got bullied a lot before Hogwarts. I should have known what it was like for you. I should have known better from the very start. At one point I realized what I was doing and I was ashamed of myself. I really wanted to apologize then but in the end I never did. I was kind of scared of offending Ron and the other boys and... and..."
"... and you were scared of me." Hermione added with a smirk.
Harry mumbled: "I guess, I'm not a very good Gryffindor."
"It is fine." Hermione said curtly. She was once more becoming annoyed.
Harry ignored it. "I would like to apologize now. Properly." He took hold of both of Hermione's hands and looked straight into her brown eyes. "I am sorry for making fun of you."
"I am willing to accept your apology." Hermione felt Harry's sincerity. She even saw it shinning behind his glasses and beyond his marvelous green eyes. "However I will not excuse for hexing you. Frankly said: You deserved what you got."
Harry grinned lopsidedly: "Just what I'm saying."
They smiled shyly at each other for a long moment. Harry was about to lean in for a kiss, when Hermione said: "I would like to make one last note at the matter."
Harry's confusion was painted very obviously across his face. "Sure, I am listening."
"The brooms were doing exactly, what I wanted them to do. No matter how loud I said up, I always wanted them to stay close to the ground. I never wanted one of them to actually fly. I only intended for them to barely float."
Harry chuckled mirthfully. "I think you are the only person that has ever exceeded in not exceeding."
Hermione had never thought of it that way. She frowned. It was weird but somehow it sounded quite nice if Harry said it like that.
"So you want me to go up there and make a map?" Harry nodded in direction of the stands. "You could wait for me in the library."
It was a tempting offer. Hermione shook her head in denial. "No. I will tag along. But no running or jumping around. We will hold onto the handrail while on the stairs. We will keep a distance to the edge once we are on the stands. You will make no comments about the height. And..." Hermione squeezed Harry's hand.
Harry squeezed back. He could not stop himself from grinning. "You are quite the cutie."
Hermione glared at Harry, who could not stop himself from chuckling.
Once at the top of the tower-like stands they took seats at a distance to the edge. Harry looked worriedly at Hermione: "Are you okay?"
"I am fine." Hermione pulled a parchment out of a pocket of her uniform.
Harry stared. A very small pocket. A pocket that was only there for decorative purposes. "You do that all the time!" He complained. "How do all these things fit in way to small pockets?"
"Magic." Hermione answered with a wicked grin.
Harry felt his lip twitch once but otherwise he managed to stare disapprovingly at the witch.
Hermione finally sighed: "Undetectable Extension Charm."
"Can you teach me, how to cast one?" Harry asked eagerly.
Hermione hesitated. "I would rather enchant your pockets. It is a useful charm. But it is hard to learn. And I do not think it is a good idea for you to spend time on learning it, since you have to prepare for the Final Task."
"I will come back to that offer." Harry promised.
Hermione handed quill and parchment over. "We draw the paths."
"Um... should we not draw the hedges? They are really there." Harry disagreed mildly.
Hermione shook her head in disapproval. "Do you draw the houses surrounding the streets on a road map?"
"No? The road?" Harry said obvious to Hermione's sarcasm. "The road is actually there. It gets build just like the houses. But it gets also build across fields and so on."
Hermione's nose twitched. "Draw the paths. They are like streets."
They spend around ten minutes of drawing lines, which represented the paths through the maze and not the hedges who were the maze. Harry had started at the clearing where they would obviously place the Triwizard Cup. He had marked the small pedestal which was supposed to hold it with a cross. Meanwhile Hermione had started drawing at the entry into the maze.
Harry stopped. He leaned forward. He checked his glasses. He checked his map. His gaze went back and forth. "I think the maze is changing."
"Excuse me?" Hermione stared intensely at the hedges for a few seconds before training her eyes at Harry. "It is not."
"I am sure, the maze has changed. Look at my sketch." Harry pushed his parchment underneath Hermione's nose. "It does not fit the structure of the maze. Some paths shifted."
"Or you made a mistake." Hermione mumbled. She took a closer look at Harry's map. "... or a dozen mistakes?"
Harry had craned his neck to take a look at Hermione's half of the map. He was satisfied to point out: "Your sketch is not correct either."
Hermione frowned but she compared her drawn map to the actual maze. Against all odds she found Harry to be right.
"There, it is changing right now!" Harry pointed his finger at a section of the maze.
Hermione gaped. The hedges were relocating!
Harry sighed: "I guess, that is the reason, they are not hiding the maze."
Hermione could not fault that logic. "Lets watch the maze for a while. Maybe there is a pattern for its shifting."
They had watched the hedges shift for barely five minutes, when Harry spoke up: "I have a magical map of the inside of the castle. It is showing all people in Hogwarts and even the moving staircases."
Hermione faced Harry. "That would solve the problem! All we have to do is to expand or copy it! I would like to see it right now."
"It is hidden in my trunk." Harry held his hand out to Hermione. She in turn held it hostage until they reached the ground level.
"Let us take a closer look at the hedges!" Hermione urged and dragged her boyfriend over to said plants. They could not get into arms reach of the plants. Something like an age line held them back. They stared at the hedge for a while.
"Do you know which species of plant this is?" Harry mused. "Maybe it is like that algae at the bottom of the Great Lake! Those were moving on there own too."
Hermione shook her head in the negative. "I do not know. We will have to look this up in the library."
Harry hid his smile. If someone gave him a galleon for every time Hermione said that sentence!
A brisk walk led them back to the castle. They were already on the second floor, when they ran across a group of students. Neither them or the couple said anything.
Hermione felt Harry grab her hand harder. She saw small red letters flashing on a badge. They read: "Harry Potter stinks!"
Once they were alone Harry grumbled. "Damn badges."
"They are called badgers." Hermione corrected her boyfriend.
"I was not talking about the Hufflepuffs."
"You were staring at them though."
"I was not staring at them but their badges."
"There is an easy solution for that." Hermione smiled sweetly.
"No, I will ignore them! That is the solution." Harry said full of determination. "They are just trying to irritate me. Anything I do, is playing into their hands."
"That is correct in principle." Hermione nodded. "But you have to work on your poker face. You give them exactly what you want if you grind your teeth. And by the way: Stop grinding your teeth!"
Harry stared at his girlfriend. "You are one to talk! It is so obvious, whenever you are irritated!"
Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "I am not the one claiming that keeping calm is the solution to getting bullied."
"I am sure Malfoy makes those badges." Harry mused aloud.
Hermione rolled her eyes at the absurdity: "Do you really think, Draco sits down every afternoon and enchants a dozens badges?"
"Okay, you got a point there." However Harry was not one to get derailed easily. "I guess someone else is making them for him."
Hermione nodded in mock-confirmation: "So he only goes around and distributes them to everyone."
"Well I doubt that." Harry's conviction was slowly cracking.
Hermione smiled sweetly. "So everyone is coming to Draco. All those little first years and all the students he has insulted or threatened over the years now seek him out and ask politely for a badge. And he graciously hands them out."
"Okay, I get it. Someone else is making the badges and handing them out." Harry stubbornly said: "But I am sure it was Draco's idea."
"Do your really think he is clever enough for that?" Hermione asked smiling widely. "And if you think he is creative enough for such an idea, how do you explain him and his two cronies disguising as dementors last year? That was about the dumbest thing I ever overheard."
Harry huffed: "You think he has nothing to do with it?"
"No." Hermione shook her bushy hair in denial. "It was a group of Hufflepuffs." Her tone left no space for arguments. "One of them had the idea. He either told his friends about his idea or made one badge to show them. Out of loyality to him or Cedric or even both his friends helped him make a huge number of badges. Once they were done, they distributed the badges, thus making it impossible to single them out."
"That sounds reasonable... and hufflepuffish." Harry faltered.
Half an hour later Harry wore a pleased expression. He had been sulking once Hermione had unleashed her reasoning on him. However watching her poke and prod the Marauder's Map with her wand had lifted his spirits. Her enthusiasm was kind of cute.
The witch had been mumbling detection spells and the word "Fascinating!" in short alternation for quite some time when Harry asked: "What do you think?"
"I think it is some sort of Protean Charm." Hermione was barely able to drag her eyes away from the item in question. "The map mimics the castle. Its floor to be more precise."
"That would explain, why you see someones feet but nothing else." Harry nodded in understanding. "And how does it work that the map shows the name of everybody?"
"I do not know yet." Hermione glanced at the parchment. "Have you tested if you are visible on the map if you are sitting on your broom?"
Harry cocked his head. "No, I never thought of that. Wait for me! I will go and fetch my Firebolt."
Harry returned a few minutes later with the broom on his shoulder. Hermione said without looking up: "You could have summoned it."
"Oh..."
It turned out that Harry was still visible when he sat on his broom.
"I guess the magic is more complex." Hermione waved her wand once more. "Where did you get this map? I have never heard of such an item."
"I got it from Fred and George." Harry revealed. "They said I was in bigger need of it than them."
"Really?" Hermione asked in surprise. "Do you know where they got the map from?"
Harry nodded. "They found it in Filch's office."
"It belonged to Filch?" Hermione queried in a disbelieving tone.
"He had confiscated it from someone. It was not working at the time."
Hermione fell silent. She flicked her wand absentmindedly at the map. "That is an odd title." Hermione pointed at the head of the map where Marauder's Map was written in calligraphy. "You do not happen to know who made this?"
Harry had been waiting for this question. "I do."
Hermione asked eagerly: "Who made it?"
"My father and his friends. They were still students back then."
Hermione turned the map back and forth in search of details she may have missed. "How do you know?"
Harry liked being the one with the answers. "Remus told me."
"You are talking about Professor Lupin?"
"He is Moony." Harry pointed at the line above the title. "My father's nickname was Prongs. Sirius Black my godfather was called Padfoot. And Wormtail is Peter Pettigrew. He is a Death Eater and he betrayed my parents to Voldemort."
Harry watched his girlfriend while he told her about the four men that had once been best friends. She barely batted an eye at the name of Sirius Black or the fact that Peter Pettigrew was a Death Eater. She frowned at Harry when he said Voldemort's name but she did not shriek, shudder or flinch.
"I would like to examine the map thoroughly. Find out how the spells are linked and..." Hermione's voice faded slowly while her attention shifted to the map. "...stuff.""
"You will handle it carefully – won't you?" Harry asked just to be sure.
Hermione's hair shifted when she nodded. "Yes, I will."
"Okay, you can keep it for the time being."
"You should write to Professor Lupin and Mr. Black and tell them about the shifting labyrinth. Explain to them that you would like to use this map or another one for navigating through it. Maybe they can safe us a lot of effort."
