Chapter 14: Score Correction
Liane placed Yvette down on the floor beside the altar, placing her bundled up jumper under Yvette's head.
"Should someone stay with her?" Mitchell asked.
Liane frowned. "I'm not sure; we may need all the help we can get going down the eastern path. Close those doors and seal them, and lets hope that it's enough to keep out anyone else coming by," she said. Mitchell nodded and moved over to the doors, pushing them shut.
"Colloportus," he cast, and the doors sealed up.
"Right, let's go," Remy said, and Liane and Mitchell followed them to the eastern door.
The door led out into a courtyard garden, the walls covered in flowering creeping vines, a heady scent hanging in the air.
"So, this challenge is something about 'silken midnight', whatever that means," Remy said.
"Maybe it's a lethifold," Liane said with a laugh.
There was a flicker of movement at the back of the garden, and everyone froze. Liane turned to Remy, a stunned look on her face.
"They wouldn't," she said, and Remy shot up, growing to match Liane's enlarged height as they drew their wand.
"Spread out; keep everyone else in sight. Yell out if you get into trouble," Liane said, drawing her sword into her free hand.
The three of them moved apart, their eyes roving back and forth across the garden, trying to see what was going to happen next.
"I thought this was supposed to be about puzzles," Remy muttered, "this is the second fight we've walked into."
"Well, to be fair, we don't know if this is actually a fight," Mitchell replied.
"And there was a puzzle element to the last one as well, remember; I wasn't going to win that fight toe-to-toe, Mitchell had to hit it in the back," Liane added.
Remy shrugged. "So where's the puzzle here?" they asked.
There was a flurry of movement, and all three raised their wands in time to see a curtain falling across the sky, surrounding all three of them and plunging them into darkness. Liane slashed out with her sword but there was nothing for it to gain purchase on; the darkness that surrounded them was not normal.
"Remy! Mitchell!" Liane cried out.
"I'm here," Remy's voice called from the dark.
"Me too," Mitchell chimed in.
Liane carefully sheathed her sword before lighting up her wand. The ground beneath her feet had changed from the garden grass to a flat black plane, faintly reflecting her from below. Liane took a tentative step forward, waving her wand back and forth. A moment later she saw another light appear off to one side, and then another further along, tiny dots of light in the darkness. Moving towards the nearer one, she found Mitchell waving his light back and forth, and Remy appeared shortly from the other side.
"What was that?" Mitchell asked.
"No idea, but I have a feeling we're not merely surrounded by thick cloth; look at the ground," Liane said, and the other two lowered their wands to look.
"So what, pocket universe?" Mitchell asked.
"I don't know; sci-fi's never been my thing," Liane replied.
"So what do we do now?" Remy asked, "I figure this is the challenge, find our way out of here."
Liane shrugged. "I suppose we'll have to find some kind of clue," she said, gesturing with her wand in a random direction.
"Lead on mon capitaine," Remy said, "your direction is as good as any other."
Liane shrugged, walking forward, Remy and Mitchell following as she followed the endless expanse of black, seeing nothing but the light from each of their wands.
They walked on in silence, their eyes roving across the darkness for any sign of movement. After a few minutes, Liane began to get frustrated.
"What are we meant to do?" she growled, "there's nothing here."
"It's too dark to see anything, even if there was," Remy said.
Liane turned back to face the others.
"Remy, you look out that way, Mitchell, you look that way," Liane said, pointing away from the light.
"What are you going to do?" Remy asked, half-turning.
"Hoping there's not another wyrmling. Nox," Liane said, extinguishing her wand. Turning away from the others, she held her wand up in the air.
"Lumos Solem," she cast, and light flooded the area. For a brief moment, Liane could see all of the area they had been moved to; it was large, square and unadorned, save for large square blocks of various sizes littered all around. Just as the light was fading, she looked up, and there she saw it; a trap door set in the ceiling.
"I've worked out the puzzle," Liane said as the light shrunk back to the pale glow from Remy and Mitchell's wands.
"What is it?" Mitchell asked.
"Trap door in the ceiling; we're going to have to move those blocks over underneath."
"What's so hard about that?" Remy asked.
"Well, at first, nothing," Liane replied, "just tedious. Think about it, Remy; those blocks are massive, it's going to take all three of us to levitate them into place. And if we're all levitating the block, who's lighting the way?"
"Oh," Remy said, "well that's fantastic."
"Look, the sooner we start, the sooner we get up there; come on, the big one is over there," Mitchell said, pointing his wand off in the direction he'd been looking.
"Hold on; I can at least make the first couple quick," Liane said, and she started to cast private lights into the air, where they hung like small fairy lights.
"They don't cast much light and if you get out of their range they vanish entirely from view, but it means we can orient the block properly without putting it down over and over," Liane said, and the others nodded. Striking off in the direction Mitchell had pointed, they walked across the dark room until a faint glimmer of reflection told them they had found the block. Liane lit one more private light to mark the direction, and then all three turned to the block.
"Wingardium Leviosa," they cast, and slowly the block lifted into the air, precariously balancing on three invisible streams of magic. Carefully and cautiously, they drew the block up into the air, over their heads, and carried it back towards the ring of lights in the centre of the room.
Back and forth they went, collecting blocks; the second and third went straight down on top of the first, then after that they ordered them out onto the ground so that they could stack them without having to stumble around. When they were ready to start situating the fourth, Liane was starting work up a sweat.
"Here's me thinking 'Oh, I'll leave Yvette's wand with her in case she wakes up'; I could be lifting with one hand and lighting with the other," Liane complained.
"Can you do that?" Mitchell asked.
"I don't see why not; I've seen wizards carrying wands and staves before, why not two wands?" Remy replied, "old Moody used to do it all the time."
"Mad-Eye Moody? You're comparing Liane to Mad-Eye Moody?" Mitchell asked with a snigger.
"What, you can't see the resemblance? You can't picture her yelling 'Constant Vigilance' at a bunch of terrified first-year Aurors?" Remy asked as Mitchell cackled.
Liane flicked pinching hex at Remy.
"Hey guys, Muggle-born here, sorta; who?" she asked.
"You've got to know who Mad-Eye is; you must have read half the library by now," Remy asked.
"Firstly, no, I've only managed one complete shelf so far. And secondly, no; the only Moody I know is Alastor Moody from the Potter biography," Liane said. Remy nodded.
"Yeah, that's the one; the bio cleans it up a bit, but Moody was a crazy old super-Auror, carried a staff and a wand and had a fake eye that could see through walls," Remy replied, before frowning as Liane perked up, "no! Now shut up and lift."
Liane clambered up to the block second from the top and extinguished her wand. When she had a grip on the block, the others extinguished their lights and took hold, lifting the block into the air. Liane worked mostly by feel, drawing the block close to her so that she could place her hand on the side, guiding it around into its position at the top.
When it was in place, Liane cut her connection to the block and fired another sunlight blast into the air, letting Mitchell and Remy know to cut off their own spells, and helped her see how much closer they were to the trap door.
"We're nearly there," Liane called down.
"Just two more blocks to go," Remy yelled back.
The other two lit up their wands and moved over to the next block, setting up to raise it up to Liane's reach as she clambered up the next step. When they were in position, the two down on the floor raised the next one up on their own, as it was smaller and lighter than the ones before, and Liane was able to position it without issue. When the final one was in place, Liane stepped up on top of it and found the trap door in the ceiling.
"We did it! I'm going to push the trap door open," she yelled down, before placing both hands on the trap door and pushing.
Liane felt dizzy, unsteady on her feet, and she took a step backwards, her heart leaping to her throat as she expected to fall off the pyramid of blocks. Instead, she found her foot coming down onto grass, and she looked up to see the late afternoon sunlight streaming down into the garden. Across her shoulders, the hood up over her head, Liane found a silk cloak, the colour of darkest blue. As she reached up to push the hood back off her head, Remy and Mitchell tumbled to the ground in front of her, coming out from under the cloak.
"The hell was that," Remy said, squeezing their eyes shut and rubbing their head as they lay on their back in the grass.
"We did it; we passed the challenge," Mitchell replied, looking up at Liane.
"Yeah; silken midnight bound us, and silken midnight looks good," Liane said, swishing the cloak, "I sure hope we get to keep this stuff after the qualifiers are over. How much time did we waste?" she asked.
Remy checked the time on their wand. "Huh, not much time at all; we've still got twenty minutes left to get the last two tokens and finish the challenge before we have to leave."
"Right," Mitchell said, getting up, "then let's go."
Crossing to the next door, the three of them moved on, finding another section of the gardens, this time with a fountain in the middle. A sweet singing captured the air, and Mitchell's eyes glazed over, as he stepped forward onto the paving stones around the fountain.
"What's going on?" Liane asked. Remy waved a hand in front of Mitchell's face.
"I dunno; he's in a trance of some kind. It must be the singing," Remy replied.
"What, like a siren? That seems bizarre," Liane said, looking around, "if it only affects guys what would they do when girls come through here?"
"We have that covered," came a voice, and Liane and Remy turned to look as a figure made of water stepped out from the fountain. More figures rose from the water's surface and joined the singing.
Liane felt her mind grow heavy and clouded, like it was sitting in warm cotton wool. Her eyes began to droop, and her thoughts struggled to move through her brain. All she felt was calm, serenity, a sense of-
The feeling shuddered to a halt as Liane's ears were assaulted by a piercing, screaming hiss, and she came to to see wet trails leading off in all directions, a cloud of steam hanging in the air, and Remy standing, wand out, a fierce expression on their face and a large belt draped over their shoulder.
"What happened?" Mitchell asked.
"Merlin damn you sons of-" Remy mumbled, stomping forward, "come on, I don't want to talk about it."
Liane looked around at the remains of the fountain, now bone dry and warm to the touch, and decided that for her own safety she didn't want to ask about it.
The final area was a stepped garden that looked out over a wide ravine, the same one that cut through the Hogwarts grounds to the north. From the door, the stepped features made it look as though the garden dropped straight off the side of the cliff, although as they walked forward they could see the lower levels.
"Careful," Liane said, "the last room on the western side was a tough battle, there's no telling what's out here."
"There's a statue," Remy said, pointing. Liane looked and sure enough, there at the bottom of the garden, looking out over the ravine, was a statue of a woman in flowing robes.
The three of them made their way down and found the statue stood in front of a wide deck, lined in stone. Beneath the statue was an inscription, and beneath that inscription was a black space.
Liane read the inscription.
"Mens mea supra modum thesaurum," she read aloud, "what does that mean?"
"It's latin; I know a little," Mitchell said, "although this is more Yvette's thing. Modus...is measuring, and thesaurum is treasure; oh I get it, it's Ravenclaw's motto: wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."
"Hold on; doesn't mea mean my or me? So, shouldn't it be: my mind, for mens, my mind beyond measure is my greatest treasure?" Remy asked.
"Huh, you're right. But, what's the riddle?" Mitchell asked.
Liane looked up at the statue, carefully looking all around it for any sign, when she saw it.
"Look at her hand; the statue is wearing a real ring," she said, pointing it out to the others.
"That must be the final token; so how do we get it?" Remy asked. Liane looked back at the statue.
"For some reason, I think it would be a bad idea to try and blow our way through this one. Let's think this through; what does the motto tell us?" Liane asked.
"That she was fond of her intelligence?" Mitchell asked.
"Not merely that, that she thought intelligence, and not just intelligence but creativity and curiosity too, were the best things in humanity," Remy added.
"So...so what if we're meant to add something?" Liane asked, "there's a space here to put another inscription, maybe this isn't to test our problem solving, but to test our regard for the values of Ravenclaw."
"Too bad we're two Slytherins and a Gryffindor," Remy replied.
"Well, so what; those values can apply to a Slytherin as much as to a Ravenclaw," Liane said, "the difference is we use curiosity as a means to an end, not as an end in itself."
Liane turned to the statue and took in a breath. "We don't have a lot of time, but I have an idea," she said, raising her wand.
As Liane carved, the other two craned to see, but she did not move back to reveal the finished product until the end. In hasty, angular lettering, the new inscription read:
It is the duty of all those with knowledge to share it.
There was a gust of wind that nearly knocked Liane back, and she covered her face with her arms to protect herself, stepping back. Remy and Mitchell fell to the ground, and their gasps of shock told Liane something else had happened. When she looked up, the statue had changed; it wore a long cloak, a helmet, a belt, a pendant and held a staff in its hand. In its other hand, held gently between two fingers, was the ring. Liane reached up and took the ring from the statue, and even though the helmet covered her face, Liane was sure Ravenclaw was smiling.
"That's everything; come on, let's go," Liane said, slipping the ring on her finger.
As they made it back to the door that had originally led out into the garden, Liane heard voices on the other side.
"Mitchell, I thought you sealed the doors?" Liane asked. Mitchell shrugged.
"I did, but it's not like alohomora is especially difficult to learn," he replied in a whisper. Liane cracked open the door and peeked outside.
In the middle of the room beyond, around the altar, Liane saw Peter Lysander, Freddy Dodgson and the Pascalls.
"So good of Langford to knock out her own teammate for us," Wesley said, leaning against the altar and looking down at Yvette.
"Get away from there Wes, stop being a creep," Erica called back, reading through the parchment. Wesley straightened up and looked over at Peter and Freddy.
"Hey, you two; how much longer until Langford shows up with the rest of the stuff?" he called out.
"Can it, Pascall," Peter replied, "it shouldn't be long now. Just make sure you've got everything ready for when they get here."
"Yeah, yeah, we're up for it," Wesley replied, "I want to get some revenge on Langford."
"Consider yourself lucky we didn't leave you two to be picked up by the refs," Freddy shot back, "or else you'd be sitting in the stands back at the Quidditch pitch by now."
Liane looked back at Mitchell and Remy, and gave them a nod, before drawing her shield and wand. Remy and Mitchell took position either side of her, and Mitchell raise his wand first.
"Bombarda," he cast, and a second later Remy followed up.
"Flipendo," they added, and the door blew of its hinges and then launched across the room, knocking Lysander and Dodgson off their feet. Liane charged through, firing a sleeper at Erica before the other girl could drop the scroll to reach for her wand, holding the shield between herself and Wesley.
"Liane!" Wesley roared, lifting his wand, firing off a sleep spell that splashed harmlessly across Liane's shield. Liane didn't slow down, and as Wesley finally realised something was wrong, that Liane was not the size she normally was, Liane had already smashed into him, throwing him back onto the ground. Liane span, firing another sleeper into Wesley in the same movement she put the shield between herself and the other two boys, who had flipped the door up and were firing over it at Liane and at the doorway, where Remy was already exiting surrounded by a prism shield, Mitchell following them and firing around the shield at Peter. Liane hunkered down behind her shield, raising her wand over her head.
"Reducto," she fired, and the door collapsed into ashes.
Peter immediately stood up, his hands in the air.
"Don't shoot, don't shoot," he yelled, throwing his wand on the floor. Freddy followed suit.
"We surrender," Freddy added.
Liane straightened up as Remy moved over to check on Yvette. Once they'd confirmed she was unhurt, Liane turned back to the others.
"You guys are good, but teaming up with the Pascalls? Way to put rotten eggs in the basket? Who else is here, Jessica Price?" Liane asked.
"We thought if we revived them and brought them back into the competition we could get them to do as we say," Peter said.
"Well, get comfy," Mitchell said, "because there is no way we're letting you walk out."
"Wait; if you have us at wand point when we send up red sparks, you get extra points," Freddy said, "no sleepers, everybody wins."
Liane looked at Remy and Yvette as the other girl started to come around, and turned back to the two boys.
"Okay, Duellers code. Come on," she said, and she and Mitchell escorted the two of them outside to be collected by referees.
Once that was done, they returned to the altar to find Yvette sitting up, having a drink of water from a bottle she'd had ferreted away in one of the many pockets on her suit.
"You guys made it, and in good time, too," Yvette said, smiling. Liane nodded.
"Yeah, not good enough I'm afraid; it's a quarter passed five, we're never going to make it back now," she said glumly.
"Well, might as well see what all the fuss was about," Yvette said with a shrug.
As Yvette stood, Liane walked over and carefully placed the ring, the belt and the cloak down next to the pendant, the staff and the helmet.
Nothing happened.
"Wow, I'm so amazed," Remy said in a dry monotone.
"This can't be it," Yvette said, frowning.
"Wait," Mitchell said, "Liane, why don't you try dressing like that statue back there?"
"What? Why?" Liane asked.
"It can't hurt; the statue made a point of showing us all the pieces together like that, and nothing's happening with them all on the altar like this. Why not?" Mitchell asked.
"Can't argue with that," Liane said, and put the pieces on one by one; first the pendant around her neck, then the staff in her hand, then the helmet on her head. It was tricky putting the cloak and belt on whilst holding the staff, but she managed it, and finally, she placed the ring on her finger.
Once all the pieces were in place, the scroll once more lifted into the air and unfurled.
"Rowena Ravenclaw; speak your command, and open the way to the tower," the scroll boomed. There was a pause as Yvette, Remy and Mitchell looked at Liane, who turned and looked back at them from behind the cold slits of the helmet.
"Uh, open?" she said nervously, and there was a searing light as the scroll unfurled all the way to the floor and widened, becoming an archway behind the altar. Inside the arch was nothing but white light, which after a moment lowered in intensity, allowing them all to look at it.
"Well, we may as well," Liane said, and she walked forward. The altar dropped into the floor, and Liane was able to walk straight through the arch, Yvette, Remy and Mitchell following behind.
When the light faded from Liane's view, she was standing back on the Quidditch pitch. In addition, she was once more her proper size, and she was no longer dressed as Rowena Ravenclaw, although she was still wearing her sword and shield slung across her back. Looking around, she saw Remy and Mitchell off to one side of her, and Yvette on the other.
"And with that spectacular if unexpected entrance, the time has run out, meaning the teams of Liane Langford and Yvette Delacroix and Mitchell Monroe and Remy Scofield have got their points in just under the wire," came Lion's voice, and Liane looked up to see the scoreboards hanging in the middle of the pitch, showing the top names. When the boards updated, Liane looked for her name.
"Rose Weasley, 280, Albus Potter, 262, Scorpius Malfoy, 260, Bertie Macmillan, 244, Gabrielle Lorde, 240… Liane Langford, 239," she read, crestfallen, "I came sixth, there was one point in it and I came sixth."
"Hey, you still beat us," Remy said, "Remy Scofield, 236, Mitchell Monroe, 220, and there's Yvette at ninth place with 204."
"Hey, top ten though," Liane said with a weak smile, but her heart wasn't in it.
"Come on, let's get some food; we've been running around for ten hours, we deserve it," Remy said, and Liane began to follow him out when Lion started speaking again.
"We're still tracking down which students busted through the supposedly magic-proof barrier and took on an unscored challenge that was meant for the fourth years, so keep an eye out folks," he said. The four of them stopped in their tracks, turning and looking at one another.
"No," Remy began.
"Do you think?" Mitchell added.
"It couldn't be," Liane stammered.
Yvette drew her wand. "Liane, picture that fight with the wyrmling," she said.
"I've been trying not to," Liane replied.
"Just do it!"
"Okay, okay; fine," Liane said, closing her eyes, "I'm thinking of it."
"Apperiator Dormia," Yvette cast, and the burst of silver light shot through Liane's head and up into the stands. The entire audience gasped as they were met with the first-person vision of Liane's memory as a wyrmling hurled itself at her while she desperately launched a stunning spell down its throat. As the cloud vanished, Professor Longbottom's voice rang out through the pitch.
"Langford, Monroe, Scofield, Delacroix, in the medhall. Now!"
Liane shot a nervous glance at the others as they moved across the pitch to the tent set up out the front of the team B changing rooms. Once inside, they were directed to a private area by Madam Pomfrey, and a short time later Professor Longbottom appeared, ordered Mitchell to follow him and then led the boy off behind a screen. When he returned about five minutes later to do the same with Yvette, and then Remy, Liane was left alone and feeling very nervous.
When he returned once more, Professor Longbottom gestured to Liane and she jumped to her feet, following him out passed the partition.
"Okay, Liane," Professor Longbottom said, moving aside to show Professors McGonagall, Slughorn and Flitwick were also all in attendance, "just explain, in your own words, what happened."
Liane felt all the adrenaline, nervousness and exhaustion overtake her mouth as she launched into a long, rambling and detailed rendition of cutting through the thorn bush with the sword, lighting up the cavern, fighting the wyrmling and eventually stunning it. When they didn't stop her, she continued on, telling the assembled professors all about the fort and the challenges they'd faced and the sense of power she'd felt coming off the helmet and the bright light that had teleported them all to the pitch and the forty-five minutes that Liane couldn't seem to place.
At the end, Professor Longbottom thanked her for her time, and asked her to leave. Liane stepped out into the rest of the medhall, was quickly given a once over by Madam Pomfrey and given a salve for her many bruises and burns and a pepper-up potion for her exhaustion, and then directed across the pitch to the food tent that was supplying savory pastries and pumpkin juice to the returning contestants. When Liane was almost to the food tent, Lion's voice rang out once more.
"Ladies and gentlemen, some last minute points have been awarded, resulting in a stunning upset. Please turn your attention to the scoreboards for your top five," he said. Liane turned and looked up, her eyes on the five slots that had turned blank.
"In fifth place, with 254 points, Remy Scofield! In fourth place, with 260 points, Scorpius Malfoy! In third place, with 262 points, Albus Potter! In second place, with 280 points, Rose Weasley!" Lion announced, rounds of cheers roaring through the crowd. Liane looked at the final blank space with wide eyes, her whole body thrumming with anticipation.
"And, your champion, with a whopping 312 points; the Most Dangerous Witch in Hogwarts, ladies and gentlemen Liane Langford!" Lion announced, and Liane's name appeared in the top space. The crowd cheered, and the students from the food tent poured out to gather around Liane, lifting her into the air. Liane saw Bertie, clapping away like a madman even though he'd been knocked from the team, and saw Albus and Scorpius standing together, whooping and hollering as they cheered for her. When the crowd put her down again, Liane found Cassandra hurling herself at her, almost bowling Liane over as she hugged her best friend.
"You did it! I can't believe it, Liane, you did it!" she was crying, and Liane pulled her tight. When she broke away again, Cassandra looked around.
"James is throwing a party for the champions tonight, celebrating Albus' win, before he competes tomorrow night. Everyone will be there," she said, and Liane grinned.
"Like the Gryffindors need an excuse. I'll tell Remy," Liane replied.
"Oh, they probably already know," Yvette said, appearing at Liane's shoulder.
The crowd held on for a couple of minutes before it started to dissolve, everyone splitting off to tell their own stories of the event. Despite all the people clamouring around her for information on the wyrmling, Liane took Yvette and Cassandra around to find the rest of their group.
"Liane! Congratulations!" Bertie said, swooping in to pat her on what little of her back he could reach behind her shield.
"Hey, you too; I'm sorry about all that, you getting knocked off the end like that," Liane replied.
"Oh, I'm fine; Gabriella's a bit sour, but she'll get over it," he said, waving noncommittally.
"And you two; congratulations," Liane said, turning to Albus and Scorpius, "I guess you finally worked out how to work together?"
The two boys shared a brief glance, before turning back to Liane.
"Yeah, I guess we did," Albus replied, and Liane raised an eyebrow.
"Don't think I'm not going to ask what that was about, but come on; your brother is throwing a party and I fully plan on eating my way through an entire table of food," Liane said, "after I drop this," she patted the shield on her back, "off in my room and have a long shower."
The party was hosted in a disused classroom, ringed with quieting charms, as there was a noticeably larger teacher presence patrolling the sixth floor. Liane's suspicions that the party was tacitly approved of by the teachers was partially confirmed when Longbottom broke it up at about one in the morning and didn't hand out any detentions or even deduct any points.
The rest of the week was endless excitement; Liane went down every morning to watch the events from the stands at the Quidditch pitch, cheering on James and her other friends from older years as they competed. The surprise upset was the fifth year team comprising of Jeremy Price, the favourite, and all four Slytherin prefects, creating a team that was overwhelmingly geared towards one house, compared with the years two through four which were mostly spread about.
"That's two teams with high Slytherin turnout; even if we have no-one in second year competing that's thirty-six percent, way more than a quarter," Scorpius said smugly as the fifth years were announced.
"Ravenclaw and Gryffindor aren't too far behind though," Liane added, "the poor Hufflepuffs are taking a beating though."
"They had a champion in the last one though," Bertie said, and Liane shrugged.
"So did Gryffindor; and just wait, I bet there's three of them in the seventh-year team," she replied.
As if fate had listened to them speak, the sixth-year team was comprised of three Ravenclaws and two Gryffindors, bringing the Ravenclaw numbers up to the same amount as Slytherin.
The entire school came out for what was to be the big event, the seventh-year qualifiers. Lion and Tania were teamed together, as were Mietta and Donovan, and the two teams seemed to join forces immediately. All four turned their wands on themselves, their robes clinging to their bodies as they rose into the air, and then turned invisible. The scoreboards came down after the siren blasted, and in seconds there was already points on the board as a great swathe of other players collapsed under stunners that came from nowhere.
"Gee, this is exciting," Liane said dryly, "they're all invisible!"
"Hold on, I think Professor Delacroix is adjusting the view screens," Cassandra said, and sure enough there was Yvette's mother casting something on the large floating screens hanging in the air above the spectators. As the image adjusted, fuzzy, translucent images of the four Duellers appeared, watching them zoom through the forest. Liane shuddered when she saw the wyrmling appear once again, then watched on in stunned surprise as Lion met it head on, grabbing its teeth in his hands and forcing its jaw open.
"How is he doing that?" Yvette asked.
"His spellcraft spell," Liane explained, "Rudzani told me; it's like the standard shield spell but it adheres to your skin. He's invulnerable as long as the spell holds out."
"Handy," Bertie said, impressed, watching as Donovan dropped a stunner down the wyrmling's throat.
"Indeed. Aren't these challenges meant to be harder?" Remy asked, "even the fifth-years were able to take that thing on in teams of two."
"They are; look," Albus pointed out as two more beasts, larger and more vicious, appeared from deeper into the cave.
"That thing was a baby?" Liane yelped, watching as the four Duellers took on the angry parents of the beast that still haunted Liane's nightmares.
"Seems so," Remy said, looking equally as pale.
Content that the top four places were basically secure, Liane checked the scoreboard to see who was working their way into the coveted fifth spot.
"Who is Shae Clifford?" Liane asked.
"The Ancient Runes STA; why?" Albus asked.
"Because she just picked up a hundred points in one go," Liane said, pointing at the name leaping up the scoreboard into seventh place. Remy pulled out a running sheet that listed the team match-ups for the spectators.
"She's teamed with Kain Winslet, the Potions STA; another strong team, but they got overlooked in the excitement of the Lion/Tania, Mietta/Donovan match-ups," Remy explained.
"Where did she get all those points from?" Scorpius asked.
Liane leaned forward to Booker, who was looking on the event through a smaller, personal viewscreen.
"Hey, could we borrow that for a moment?" she asked.
Booker looked up nervously. "What do you want it for?" he asked.
"We're wanting to see what Winslet and Clifford are up to," Liane explained. Booker nodded, and he and Molly turned in their seats to show the screen to the crowd of first years behind them, changing the stream over to the image of Kain and Shae.
They were at the fort at the bottom of the forest already, and Kain was pouring liquid from a large flask out on the threshold of the fort.
"What is that?" Yvette asked.
"No idea, but if Winslet made it I'm not sure I would want to be the one to find out," Booker replied.
Kain Winslet was a short boy with middle-eastern features, possibly Israeli, although his skin was slightly more pallid then looked healthy. He didn't wear robes, but instead coveralls covered in pockets and a heavy leather apron and gloves; Liane couldn't even see where he kept his wand.
Shae Clifford, on the other hand, was a taller girl, a touch on the plump side but still with a cinched waist that meant she was more likely to be described as "curvy" then fat. She had a heart-shaped face and large blue eyes that made her quite attractive, but certainly looked like someone far more at home sitting at a desk then traipsing through the forest.
"She might actually have a shot," Liane said, "if she's able to solve the puzzles herself and not share the points with another team, she'll rake them in."
As they watched,Shae walked over to the two grotesques, engaging them in a quiet exchange. After a moment, the two statues vanished and the doors opened, five stars appearing in the walk between the doors and the altar.
"Wait, were they always there?" Liane asked.
Yvette turned a glare towards her friend. "Probably," she said coolly.
Liane cringed. "Sorry," she muttered.
They watched on as Shae and Kain progressed through the challenges swiftly, milking every last point out of the puzzles that they could. As the one primarily involved with the puzzle solving, Shae was picking up points faster than anyone else in the field, closing the gap between herself and the student in sixth place before she had even passed the staff chamber. Kain, on the other hand, seemed to have sabotaged himself; every potion he used barely made a dent in his points.
"What's up with Winslet's points?" Bertie asked.
"He made all of those potions beforehand, so the points aren't for ingenuity or tactical skill, he's just hitting stuff with tools he brought into the competition," Molly explained.
"Ow, I bet he's disappointed about that," Mitchell replied.
"He will be," Booker said, "when he finds out. Meanwhile, Clifford is nudging fifth."
The rest of the competition passed without any other upsets; Lion, Donovan, Mietta and Tania cleaned up the forest, while Shae and Kain cleared out the fort, no other group able to pass through Kain's barrier at the door. In the end Shae Clifford had taken out the fifth placing, putting her on a squad with the four Duellers.
"That's it," Remy said as the final scores were announced, "Hogwarts has its thirty-five competitors."
"Ten from Gryffindor, nine each from Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and seven Hufflepuffs. Not quite as unbalanced as it looked at first," Booker added.
"Well, we'd best practice hard," Liane said with a smile, "what do you think, Booker; any chance Jeremy and Donovan can come up with another event before the first task?"
"I think they'll be able to come up with something," Booker said, returning the smile, "something we haven't looked at yet."
"I look forward to it," Liane replied.
That night, to close the festivities, another feast was thrown at dinner. Once dinner had ended, before the desserts arrived, Professor Longbottom stood up.
"At the closing of the Hogwarts Qualifying tournament, I would like once more to recognise the winning teams. If the students called out could come to the front of the Hall, we can thank them properly.
"From first year; Slytherin's Liane Langford, Slytherin's Scorpius Malfoy, Gryffindor's Albus Potter, Slytherin's Remy Scofield and Ravenclaw's Rose Weasley. From second year; Gryffindor's Fantine Ayers, Ravenclaw's George Dover, Gryffindor's James Potter, Ravenclaw's Wyatt Tonkin and Hufflepuff's Petra Van Kaampf. From third year; Slytherin's Quinn Baxter, Gryffindor's Rhett Carver, Hufflepuff's Harvey Gordon, Hufflepuff's Isobel Reiner and Ravenclaw's Marina Watkins. From fourth year; Ravenclaw's Justine Hayward, Gryffindor's Farrah Mandelay, Slytherin's Danielle May, Hufflepuff's Susanna Rosenberg and Hufflepuff's Nigel Van Kaampf. From fifth year; Slytherin's Booker Fauchelevent, Slytherin's Rudzani Mandini, Slytherin's Wanda Mi, Hufflepuff's Jeremy Price and Slytherin's Molly Shepard. From sixth year, Gryffindor's Ben Carver, Ravenclaw's Clarissa Planchard, Ravenclaw's Angelica Watkins, Ravenclaw's Sarah Westlake and Gryffindor's Tyrion Wilder. And lastly, from seventh year; Hufflepuff's Shae Clifford, Gryffindor's Alastor Donovan, Gryffindor's Tania Hayward, Gryffindor's Peter Lyman and Ravenclaw's Mietta Scalieri."
Liane, her name called first, took to the front and watched as the long list of names was called out, looking closely at each person who stood up. These were the brightest students, the toughest, the bravest, the most loyal to their team members; everything that was valued by any Hogwarts house went into the making of the students who stood up to join her. Liane looked down the line, catching the eyes of her friends in the other years and smiling, while the whole of the Great Hall applauded them.
"These students have not only shown their ability, but their drive for success at any odds, and their conscientious acknowledgement of each others abilities. For this we are proud to have these thirty-five students representing Hogwarts. Please give them all a huge round of applause," Professor Longbottom said, and the applause doubled in volume. When it died down, the competitors returned to their seats, all except for Donovan and Jeremy, who had moved over to the podium Professor Longbottom stood at and were whispering to him. After a moment the Professor stood down and Donovan took his spot.
"Congratulations once again to all the competitors; it is a great honour to be amongst you. As many of you are no doubt aware, membership in Duellers is very strict, but we are pleased to see a huge percentage of our number in the competitor list. Which is why we have decided that, on October twenty-third, just under a week from now, we will be hosting an event that will be open to both Duellers members and competitors, as a pre-season warm up before the first event on November fifth. This event will be by sign up only, and the sheet will be in the entrance hall until the twenty-second. Thank you all," Alastor said, and Liane perked up; Donovan must have been thinking the same thing as she had, to have gotten this all prepared so soon after she'd spoken to Booker.
"What do you think it's going to be?" Remy asked.
Liane shrugged. "Well, everything we've done so far has been indirect competition; teams going after the same neutral goal. If this is going to be different either it won't be competitive at all, or we'll be pitted against one another in a direct challenge."
"And given that it's a Duellers event, you're thinking more likely the latter than the former?" Remy asked, and Liane gave a nod.
"I can't imagine it would be totally non-competitive. Still, Booker said they'd try and go for something totally different, so who knows?" Liane replied.
"I'm just interested in finding out what's going to happen at Christmas," Remy replied. Liane raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, the Olympiad is based on the Triwizard; will there still be a Yule Ball this year? And if there is, will competitors still be required to open it?" Remy asked.
Liane's eyes widened. "A ball? I don't...no, come to mention it, I do remember something about a Yule Ball. I'd completely forgotten about it," she replied.
"Well, if it happened, who would you take?" Remy asked with a grin, "Albus? Scorpius? Mitchell or Bertie?"
Liane blushed. "I...don't think I'd go with any of them. They're...not really my type," she replied.
"Oh? So who is?" Remy asked.
"I'd really rather not talk about this, certainly not at the dinner table," Liane said, her face getting redder.
"Well, now I'm very intrigued," Remy said, their grin widening.
"What about you?" Liane asked, trying to change the topic, "who would you take?"
"Ideally, I'd have James Potter on one arm and Quinn Baxter on the other," Remy replied, and Liane let out a laugh.
"I wouldn't put that passed you," she replied.
"Well, can't help but try," Remy said with a shrug, "the best looking guy of second-year and the best looking girl in third; I'd shoot myself if I didn't at least ask."
"You wouldn't ask anyone in first-year?" Liane asked.
"Nah; all the good looking ones are already friends, and I have a rule about not asking out people I see every day," Remy replied.
"And James doesn't count?" Liane asked, and Remy merely grinned again.
After dinner, when everyone else had gone back to their various common rooms for the night, Liane signed her name on the sign-up sheet in the Entrance Hall and then, instead of heading down to the dungeons, went outside and walked down to the tree by the lake, sitting down with her wand and a book. She had intended to read by wandlight until curfew, but first she sat with her back to the tree trunk and looked out over the lake, shimmering in the moonlight.
As she looked out, Liane heard the sounds of muffled conversation coming from the doors to the castle, and looking over she saw a number of figures; Lion, Rudzani and James she recognised, the others she didn't know. After a moment, James left, then the ones Liane didn't know, leaving Rudzani and Lion together. Once the doors swung shut again, the two boys started walking down the path towards the forest. Intrigued, Liane got up and stashed her book inside her back in a hollow under a root, and slipped down to the path beside the lake, creeping around to follow the boys from a distance. When the two of them broke off the path and headed over the lawns around to the Herbology greenhouses, Liane swung around behind them, and followed them to the edge of the forest behind greenhouse four. When Liane got to the corner of the greenhouse and peeked around, the two boys were gone.
"What are you doing?" she muttered, drawing her wand. There was a broken branch lying nearby, and when Liane investigated she found it had snapped off a bush that had been torn free at the root and placed across a gap in the treeline, hiding a small pathway in through the thick underbrush. Liane had to stoop slightly to fit through, and she cast the night sight charm to see where she was going as she crawled into the forest.
After she'd gone a short way, Liane tripped on a loose stone and fell to the ground. Holding her tongue so-as not to swear out loud, she paused and listened for any clue that she'd been heard. The forest was silent, so Liane moved to push herself to her feet, but stopped when she saw something odd on the ground; a footprint, not of a human shoe, but of an animal paw.
Liane got up into a crouch, her wand held out in front of her. The forest all around her was silent, but she still started crawling backwards, her eyes roving from side to side. There was a cracking of dry branches under her foot, and a rustling of leaves from up ahead. Liane turned and ran, and behind her there was a sharp, barking noise, followed by a low, rumbling roar. When she broke through the treeline, Liane sped across the lawns back to her tree, grabbed her bag, and headed back inside. Once back in the Entrance Hall, she took several deep breaths, wiped the fine layer of sweat from her brow, and then headed down to the dungeons, not saying anything to anyone of where she'd been.