-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-

Quickly stepping out of the Beauxbatons carriage, Fleur Delacour hastily donned her grey fur cloak as the cool nighttime air caressed her bare arms. Shivering slightly, she pulled out her long navy blue Beauxbatons neck scarf and placed it tightly around her neck as she began her journey across the dark Hogwarts school grounds.

She wasn't surprised by how dark it was outside, she had purposely left her carriage when she knew it was late out. The sun had set, the air had cooled, and most people were sleeping. She however was a woman on a mission. Fleur found that she wasn't surprised in the slightest by the weird noises and obnoxious sounds she was hearing. Owls were hooting, birds chirping, dogs barking, hooves stomping…she had heard them all before. But some of the sounds she didn't recognize, some of them were so very unfamiliar to her, and they were all coming from the forest to the left of her carriage.

Fleur had been warned about the mysterious forest once before. She had found herself endeared with the creepy woods. Growing up in France, her father had bought a house or rather a mansion, out in the middle of the woods for privacy reasons after he had been promoted to head auror. She had hated the new home at first but slowly it wound its way into her heart and she had loved the woods and nature ever since. It was calming to her, and the soft breeze often soothed her during a trying day.

She had hoped that visiting the forest would have cured some of the homesickness she had been feeling since she had departed France but she now knew that she would never find out as Percy had made her all but swear to never head into the forest after she had inquired about it, she remembered, he had seemed completely serious when he had so she hadn't found a reason to question him. While she had promised, she had mainly done it to end his fears, and it had the opposite effect that he wanted, she imagined…because it had only made her more curious.

'But the forest isn't my goal right now', she reminded herself, 'I need to check on Percy.'

Her boyfriend had landed himself in the Hogwarts infirmary after his silly stunts in the second task, however daring they may have been. She had been furious with him at first, but she found that she couldn't stay mad at him for long and the fact that he fainted had all but erased her previous anger. Apparently he had "drained his magical core significantly," after using his water controlling rune to gain the upper hand.

Or, at least, that's what the school's healer Madam Pomfrey had deduced. Fleur, prior to the task, had thought that the rune sounded like a pretty good idea, but after witnessing the results firsthand she had to question it. Fleur was also very curious, her boyfriend was one of, if not the most powerful person she had ever met in her life, and there was no in the world that he had drained himself to the extent that the healer claimed, he was simply too strong mentally and physically.

Fleur deduced that his body simply had a negative reaction to being back in contact with such an impressive amount of water, after steering clear of it for so long. Percy had avoided large amounts of water for so long that he was most likely caught off guard. He had been consciously and unconsciously avoiding the substance for so long that he must have gone into some type of shock.

'He just didn't know what he was getting into,' she mused, 'he'll be better soon.'

Fleur gracefully crossed the Hogwarts grounds as she headed towards the school. Pulling out her wand she cast a quick disillusion charm on herself, to ward off unwanted eyes. She didn't need everyone watching her, and it would be best if no-one knew what she was doing, people weren't supposed to have visitors in the hospital wing this late at night, but she needed to talk to Percy.

And as she recalled from the incident earlier with the old healer woman Madam Pomfrey busting into the room every five minutes to cast diagnostic spells, her and Percy had decided to meet at night when she wouldn't be coming in as frequently. She didn't dislike the old healer, not in the slightest. She actually loved talking to the woman and exchanging experiences. Fleur had actually thought about becoming a healer herself when she graduated from Beauxbatons, it would be a career where she could help people. She stopped suddenly as she came upon the large castle doors that were blocking her way to her boyfriend.

'Be silent,' she thought, 'I cannot afford to make a lot of noise. Supposedly, this castle has eyes everywhere. I need to be on guard at all times. No mistakes.'

Percy had forewarned her about the prefects performing their nightly duty of patrolling the castle floors and he had also told her about the annoying squib caretaker Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris, and she didn't want to draw any attention to herself…being discovered out and about so late wouldn't be well at all for the reputation that she had worked so hard to gain for herself over the years.

Growing up she was raised to be strong and to never show fear. Her mother and grandmother had told her about all the prejudices that she would have to face since she was part vela, but she had believed that they were exaggerating…sometimes she felt that they were even lying to her.

In the beginning it had caused a rift in the family. After all, who would say and do such things? But she soon found out that they were honestly telling the complete truth and only trying to protect her, something she only wished that she realized sooner.

Soon after she came to understand the truth behind their words she changed, and she was sure everybody noticed. Fleur had started practicing dueling, she asked her father to show her all the spells he knew that he thought that she could learn. And he was more than happy to teach them to her, he was more worried about her safety than anyone. After some serious training she even got her father to enter her in a couple of well-known dueling tournaments when she wanted. She never won one, but she came close on several occasions, and even made it to the final round on one of the last ones she competed in.

But overall she became colder, much colder to those who weren't her family members and close friends. It wasn't that she liked being mean to people, deep down she was a very kind person, but she also knew that people often took advantage of nice people, and she refused to let that happen to her. She started getting more serious in her studies, her grades improved drastically, and she became first in her year. It helped that her father was head auror to the French Department of Magical Law Enforcement and taught her defensive and offensive spells that she wouldn't have learned otherwise.

She became more focused in school, determined to prove those people prejudiced against veela otherwise…she wanted to prove them all wrong for the idiotic and unsupported views that they had against her people, Fleur wanted to prove that she was still a smarter and stronger witch than most purebloods, and that she was that way despite her heritage.

This had caused a shortage of friends, and made her quite lonely sometimes. Her going through puberty certainly didn't help, her looks had changed, whereas before she had been cute, now she was 'beautiful', 'stunning', 'gorgeous'. Girls that had at one point been her friend, went to becoming her enemies, and boys that had been her friend wanted more from her.

Still, she found that she shouldn't complain. Sure she had it bad, but it could have been a lot worse. She couldn't imagine what it would have been like without her families support. But the fact of the matter was that she did have her grandmother, mother, father, and little sister. Her grandmother even came to visit from time to time, and would share stories of her mother's exploits from when she was younger.

She and her family were very close with one another. They did everything together, and they all told each other everything. Fleur blushed slightly when she recalled her family's reaction to reading about Percy in her letters. They had been shocked but glad to hear that he wasn't affected by her allure. And her family had been all but ecstatic to hear about what kind of person he was. When she had shared their relationship she had been nervous. She hadn't known how they would take it. They usually talked about everything, so she knew that it would come as a surprise.

Fleur hadn't had many relationships in her life. She wasn't a very trusting person and often suspected ulterior motives. The moment she met Percy, thought, they had clicked…and she couldn't help but to trust him. This is what had made her fall for him.

They were still just happy for her, though there were still mixed reactions. Her mother and grandmother were the happiest and they couldn't wait to meet him. Her father was a guarded sort of happy. He couldn't wait to meet Percy either but she sensed that he wanted to intimidate him more than he wanted to get to know him as a person.

Fleur now believed that coming to Hogwarts was the best decision she had ever made. Here her whole demeanor had changed, as she was often told. She had almost completely lost her cold and uncaring demeanor, replacing it with a rather warm and kind attitude, for the most part. That Annabeth girl still grated on her nerves with her constant attempts at stealing Percy from her.

Now she knew that she still wasn't perfect and had a lot to work on, but she also knew that she was steadily improving. Fleur knew that there was one person to thank for this change, she believed that none of it would have been possible if not for one person, the person she was currently going to see.

Taking a deep breath, she cautiously pulled on the large brass door handle that was lying across the large black castle doors. Fleur found herself cursing slightly in French when the big door squeaked slightly because of its movement. The hinges must have been rusty; she once again silently cursed the caretaker. Pointing her wand at the door before closing it she whispered a quick, "silencio," before moving along to her destination.

She started tiptoeing as softly as she could across the smooth tiles that made up the old castle floors, trying not to make the slightest bit of sound, less she draw attention to herself and bring other's down to investigate the cause of the noise. Fleur found herself turning a corner, and narrowly missing a tall fifth year Ravenclaw prefect who was quietly muttering to himself.

The prefect appeared not to have noticed her which mostly was due to the disillusionment charm that she had placed upon herself earlier on. Deciding that that was a closer call than she currently wanted, she cast a second disillusionment charm on herself to ensure its freshness. She had cast the previous one a few minutes prior and didn't want to risk it ending on her any time soon.

Fleur found the spiral staircase that led to the floor that the hospital wing was located on easily enough. She wasn't delusional enough to claim that she knew where everything was located at in the castle, but she was comfortable enough to say that she wouldn't get lost. She climbed up the steps one foot at a time, careful to ease her foot onto the wood; she recalled being told about a specific stairs that wood often give way when too much pressure was added onto it towards the top and bottom of the staircases, a prank that the older students often pulled on the first years.

She found it to be immature, but she would hold her tongue if asked. Apparently it was tradition.

After slowly but surely making it to the top of the spiral staircase she walked towards the end of the hall. She could see the hospital wing doors towards the very end of the hall. She had been there earlier, by her boyfriend's side, and wouldn't have left at all if the old healer wouldn't have insisted. She respected the woman too much to argue, but she wasn't exactly pleased.

She glided past the dark empty classrooms that lined up the walls to her left and right, as quietly as she could but stopped at a voice. She could barely hear it, the person was talking quietly, she would even go as far as to say that the person was whispering and if she wasn't a veela she probably wouldn't have heard it at all…but it just so happened that she was a veela, and she could hear the conversation clearly.

And what she heard interested her enough to make her break her graceful stride, and ease her way open to the slightly cracked door that just so happened to be the Defense of the Dark Arts classroom. Percy didn't go to class often, she knew. He had been sorted, but Dumbledore didn't make him go to class. Something that she knew upset the other students greatly by how much they complained.

Fleur found that she couldn't see inside the classroom, it was too dark, and her casting lumos would definitely give away her position.

"Yes master," she heard a voice inside whisper, "the boy is faring well, with my help he's gotten through the first two tasks with ease. I can't see the third task being a problem at all."

"Good," Another man hissed, "the boy surviving these tasks is what my plans count on. With him dead to soon all will fail. And, I would expect there to be no problems during the third task as well, or you will feel just how displeased I am." The man with what sounded like a hissing voice continued.

The other man made a sudden and sharp intake of breath, "Of course master, there will be no need for that. I shall not fail you; believe that, for I am your most loyal of followers. I am the most noble to your cause my lord."

"See that you don't, I would hate to have to replace you." Said the man with the snake-like voice in what sounded to Fleur like a not so subtle threat, "Now contact me later, it is getting late and I desire some rest. Be sure to switch the trophies out before the task or else."

"Of course, my lord. Have a pleasant rest."

Fleur didn't understand exactly what she had heard. It sounded like some evil scheming, and it definitely sounded like someone in the tournament had been getting help…but who? She couldn't believe that any of her friends would cheat like that. But the proof was there. On the other hand the men could have been lying. But again, why would they?

But one thing became abundantly clear; she needed to talk to Percy, and pronto.

Fleur practically ran down the hall to the infirmary, she went so fast that she forgot the one rule her father had preached to her above all others, "To be aware of your surroundings." Fleur forgot how long she had stood and eavesdropped, she forgot to refresh her disillusionment charm, and she definitely didn't notice one large swirling blue eye emerging from the Defense of the Dark Arts classroom following her to the infirmary.

When Fleur made it to the infirmary she saw her boyfriend, looking comfortable as ever in the infirmary bed. He was turned towards the entrance and she saw his sea-green eyes immediately light up when he saw her.

Fleur loved those eyes. They were so expressive, she felt like she could drown in them.

His messy hair was even messier from lying in bed all day, and his expression was one of extreme boredom though she could tell he was happy to see her.

She silently made her way towards his bed. She had found out the hard way earlier that Madam Pomfrey had an office in the back of the infirmary and often slept back there as well, so that she could check up on her patients throughout the night and monitor their progress.

"Hey," she whispered as she lifted her right hand up and started softly caressing her boyfriend's cheek in a soothing manner.

He smiled lovingly up at her, "hey yourself. It's good to see you, the company isn't as lively as I would have liked." He gestured towards a couple of the beds in the hospital wing that were occupied with students who were sleeping very heavily…and snoring very loudly.

Fleur found herself chuckling softly. She had missed her boyfriend's antics dearly these past few days. 'Him and his sense of humor,' she thought sullenly, "When are you getting out?"

Percy sighed heavily, "I don't know, I've been ready to leave since I woke up really, but Madam Pomfrey doesn't want me to leave until she's sure my magical core is up to standards. What she doesn't realize is that I'm not a wizard and don't really have a big magical core, demigod or not. But try telling her that."

Fleur nodded, she wished he could leave, but she wouldn't risk his health on it, though he looked fine to her. She cared too much for him to want him to leave if he was still hurt. He looked well rested, which was something that he was lacking before he came into the infirmary. He was always tired to her, though he would more times than not try not to appear that way.

He didn't realize that Fleur could read him like that yet, and she certainly wasn't going to tell him that she could. A girl needed to have some secrets to her advantage, after all.

She suddenly remembered the conversation that she had heard before coming into the hospital wing and her mood depressed greatly. She didn't want to ruin the moment she was having with Percy, she had waited up most of the night so that they could talk without interruptions but she also felt that he had a right to know. He was here for a specific reason, whether she liked it or not and keeping this information from him would be wrong and it could be vital to not only his quest, but Harry's health as well. And while they weren't best friends…she would still consider them to be friends.

She still didn't want to mention the subject to him. Turns out she didn't have to.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked her as he stretched his arm across the bed and grabbed her hand. Maybe she wasn't the only one who could read the other one so well.

Fleur found herself shaking her head, "It's nothing." 'Nothing I should concern you with,' she thought, 'especially not right now'.

But he insisted. "You may not know this yet Fleur. But I can tell when something is troubling you. I may not always say something, mainly because I don't want to intrude on your own personal thoughts but please don't mistake that as me not caring, because I do care, especially when it concerns you. If something happened that's got you this troubled than I want to know, I want to help."

She smiled slightly. She couldn't help it Percy was just so sweet, especially to her. She couldn't believe that Chase girl had given this up. It appeared that the girl was more book smart than she was knowledgeable in everyday areas, meaning she didn't have any common sense whatsoever.

"When I was coming hear I heard a conversation that I shouldn't have. The people were whispering to each other like they were talking about something top secret, so I eavesdropped," Fleur said as she sat down in the chair next to Percy's bed.

"Fleur," Percy sighed, "you know how I feel about respecting people's privacy."

Fleur nodded her head, "yeah, I do, and if it was something embarrassing or private I would have respected that enough to keep walking…but it wasn't it was, i-it w-was bad Percy, really bad."

"What was it?" Percy asked. He was starting to get concerned. He had never seen his girlfriend this shaken. Whatever she saw had clearly rattled her, and if there was one thing Percy hated it was seeing his strong girlfriend shaken.

"In the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom I heard voices talking. They were scheming about the tournament. They said someone was getting help making it through the tasks and that the third task wouldn't be any different. They sa-"

"Fleur," Percy interrupted, "The Triwizard tournament is known for the cheating that occurs. It doesn't surprise me to hear that someone's cheating. It does surprise me somewhat considering who's all competing this year, though if I had to guess I'd say it would be Victor."

"You don't understand, the cheating isn't what I really wanted to tell you about. It's something else. Something dealing with the reason why you're here." Fleur stated breathlessly, while she tried to explain to him what was so important. It was hard for her to talk to him about this for some reason. Maybe it was because things had been so peaceful and quiet lately that she just didn't want to ruin it.

"Why I'm here?" He gestured to the infirmary bed he was laying on. "You mean why I'm in here? Why I'm in the infirmary? Is it something about the water rune I used?"

"No, the reason why you're here at Hogwarts. The reason why you came to England." Fleur sighed heavily when she saw the blank stare she was receiving. She cared deeply for Percy but sometimes he was slow on the uptake. "The quest Percy."

His eyes lit up and she realized she had finally gotten through to him. Comprehension became quite obvious in his expressive eyes. "Is this about Harry?" He asked dreading the answer. He had come to see Harry as a brother figure. Sort of like a more mature version of his half-brother Tyson. He was certainly more of a brother than Theseus.

"I think it might be. One of the men I heard talking, he, he sounded like a snake." Fleur explained wanting Percy's opinion. He was way more experienced dealing with evil than she was.

"Voldemort?" Percy asked fearing the worst. That definitely wouldn't be good. He and Harry had been training hard every day, but Harry just wasn't ready to face the most dangerous dark lord of all time.

Fleur nodded, "I think it might have been. The person who he was talking to was calling him 'master' and 'my lord', and he seemed scared of him."

Percy frowned at the information, "this is getting bad. I'll need to talk to Dumbledore when I get out of here. We might need to change our plans, things are happening a lot faster than we thought." Percy shrugged, "so what else did the guys say?" He asked curiously, the more information he had to give Dumbledore the better.

Fleur adopted a thoughtful expression. "The man that sounded like a snake said that the third task would be the most important, and that the other one better not fail. Then they said that the trophies needed to be switched before the third task."

"Trophies?" Percy inquired.

"The trophy that the winner of the tournament will get I assume."

Percy nodded, "It makes sense. So we know that Voldemort, or who we assume to be Voldemort is scheming with somebody in the school. I would assume Snape, but I could be wrong…things are hardly ever as they seem. And we also know they're planning something with the trophy. I miss anything?"

"They want somebody to win the competition so they have been helping them get through." Fleur added.

Percy grabbed her hand, "you did well today, this information might be a game changer." Fleur smiled at the praise, she squeezed his hand lightly before standing up, "I better go, it's pretty late and I don't want anyone to notice I'm missing." She said before lightly pecking him on the lips.

"I'll see you later."

"Bye."

-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-

"Well, that is a problem." Albus Dumbledore stated as he stared across the desk in his office at the black haired young man sitting across from him. He had just been informed of the newest occurrences and couldn't say that he was very pleased with this new information. It was unsettling to say the least.

He was happy to see that Percy was out of the hospital wing. And when the young man had asked for a private audience he had readily agreed. He was curious as to what the meeting would entail but he believed that it had to be important. Percy hadn't really contacted him since the beginning of the school year when they had their earlier meetings, it appeared the young demigod liked to handle things on his own.

All the same he figured now was as good a time as any to update one another on some of the recent happenings of the wizarding world.

"I know, but I figured you should know. It sounds like a lot of scheming has been going on, and also one of the teachers at your school is involved." Percy said watching the headmaster, he was curious as to how the elderly man would handle the new information. This obviously wasn't a common occurrence.

"And I'm glad you told me. Now as I should have told you a while ago, I believe I have figured out what happened all those years ago on Halloween night. I believe I know how Voldemort is still alive." Dumbledore said watching the young man in front of him for his reaction; he had been pondering different situations and outcomes for several years now and had come up with the only logical conclusion.

Percy was shocked. Since he had been introduced into wizard society he had been curious of how his surrogate brother Harry had survived all those years ago. "So what do you think happened?" He found himself asking, his curiosity was peaked.

Dumbledore sighed heavily; this would probably take a minute. But it was vital to the young demigod's quest. He needed to know everything. "As you may or may not know Harry's parents attended Hogwarts maybe two decades ago."

Percy nodded, he had heard that before, but he didn't see how that mattered at all.

"But what you probably don't know is that they were both exemplary students. Their seventh year they were both named head boy and head girl and academically they outshined almost every other student so greatly that some would deem it unfair. Though both were great in all subjects they both surpassed everyone in one subject and one subject alone. For James it was Transfiguration and for Lily it was Runes."

"But what does this have to do with Harry surviving the killing curse?"

"I'm getting to that; this theory of mine shall require some patience on your part. It is my belief that Lily used a certain set of runes and wisely placed them together in Harry's bedroom to ensure his safety. I believe that after she placed several completely unrelated runes into the central formation they had the effects of saving not only his life but Voldemort's as well." Dumbledore finished.

"What type of runes?" Percy asked intrigued. This was all new information to him and he was eagerly eating it up.

Dumbledore shrugged. "I'm afraid runes were never my best subject. But if I had to guess I would say things along the lines of protection runes, basic healing runes, warding runes, maybe some deflective runes, I would even go as far as to say she placed some offensive magic deflective runes."

"Offensive magic deflective runes?"

Dumbledore shrugged again. "As I said before, I'm not really the person to talk to about runes. But from what I've read about offensive magic deflective runes they are placed in places like Gringotts and other large places with high security. They are very hard to detect and can foil attacks that are offensive in nature. Like someone trying to rob Gringotts wouldn't be able to cast certain spells."

"And you think that Harry's mom was knowledgeable enough to set up all those types of runes by herself?" Percy questioned curiously.

"Naturally, she was the brightest witch Hogwarts had ever seen."

Percy adopted a thoughtful expression. This was all new to him. He had been informed that Harry's mom was smart, but this, this was new. He surmised that Harry was pretty smart, if not a bit lazy, so it did kind of make sense. He would use this to his advantage though, if runes were this useful they might help his quest, if they were the reason Voldemort survived they would be the reason he perished.

He would study runes; he would get Harry to study runes. He would even get Fleur to study runes, the more the merrier. Time was winding down.

"You should go get some rest, it is getting late, and you have a big day tomorrow." Dumbledore said referring to the third task.

"Don't get so caught up that you forget what you're here for. You can assist Harry, but he needs to be the one to cast the final blow, it has been foreseen in a prophecy I believe," Dumbledore cautioned the young man in front of him.

-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-

Barty Crouch Jr. smiled slightly in satisfaction as he grabbed the golden cup and replaced it with the artificial one. The portkey was an exact replica and wouldn't draw suspicion at all. The same size and color, he could even see himself mixing them up.

To avoid that possible outcome he hurriedly shrunk the real cup and placed it in his coat pocket. He wasn't in a real hurry to get back inside of the large castle. He was so excited about the following day that he knew even if he was laying down he wouldn't have fell asleep, tomorrow he would be able to join his master as the most faithful of them all and together they would rid the world of the filthy trash that had tried to take over in his masters absence.

Barty wasn't overly concerned with being seen because he had purposefully waited until it was night out to switch the triwizard cups out. He looked around and frowned slightly, he wasn't exactly a fan of the dark, and his short time in Azkaban had only made it worse.

He found himself slowly heading back towards the castle, anxious for the big day tomorrow.

-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-

Four people stood across from the mysterious maze with varying expressions. Some were nervous, others were excited, some were frightened, and some displayed all of these expressions and more. They were all awaiting instructions, and had been for a few minutes. The judges thought that allowing them a few minutes to collect themselves would prove to be beneficial, but it had the opposite effect.

This little bit of time had allowing small amounts of self-doubt to creep into their consciousness. The crowd wasn't helping; it was hard to concentrate with hundreds of people excitedly yelling and chanting for their favorite champion to win.

Ludo Bagman broke the silence after he cast a quick Sonorus charm, "Ladies and Gentleman, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! The champions shall enter the maze with the leader in points going at my first whistle with all the other champions immediately following at my next few whistles in order of point totals. Now, don't forget that if you get into some trouble that you can't handle that you are allowed to shoot red sparks into the air and someone will come immediately. At the sound of my whistle Mr. Jackson shall proceed." After this declaration loud screaming occurred and Percy actually found himself momentarily flattered.

He had only been at the school for a short amount of time and never would he have guessed that he would have become as popular as he was with the school, it was a nice feeling.

Percy felt his adrenalin pumping as he heard the news, he was ready. He recalled the conversation that he had earlier in the week with Fleur and smiled grimly, he was ready for everything. Him and Harry had begun training even harder than before, working their bodies to breaking point, and then continuing even further.

He barely heard the whistle when Ludo Bagman blew it and he almost missed his chance for a head start. He quickly sprinted into the maze amidst the sound of loud cheers and a chorus of boos from the foreign schools that were I attendance. He found himself at a forked road as soon as he entered.

On his left was a very dark trail with weird noises coming from deeper inside, on his right the trail was light and silent, but it was also eerily quiet inside that part of the maze. It creeped him out; he could admit that.

Weighing his options Percy however wise it may have been chose the left trail and scurried along. Not soon after he heard the second whistle and quickened his pace he wanted to end this task quickly. Percy kept his wand trained out in front of him just in case some monster decided they wanted to jump out in front of him and block his path. He was sweating slightly already, as the maze was hot, despite the shade that the large hedges provided.

He kept moving forward stepping over a tripwire and dodging a fireball that had come through the side of the maze. 'Damn you Hagrid,' He thought angrily before continuing on his journey. 'This is way too easy,' he thought to himself, 'surely I should have met a creature by now.'

Apparently he had spoken to soon.

He heard a growl behind him, and it was becoming more prominent, like right behind him. Instincts kicking in he hurriedly dived ahead and turned around just in time to see a large paw swipe in the near vicinity of where he had just vacated.

Percy cursed silently. 'Hellhounds Really?'

He should have known better. Obviously, with his luck the wizards had got some monsters from his world as didn't have time to dwell on it as the beast charged at him again. He picked his wand up from the ground where it had fell when he dived earlier and pointed it at the beast, "Stupefy."

The red stunning spell shot out of his wand as fast as a bullet would have shot out of a gun, barreling straight towards the large beast that didn't appear unconcerned. It was too big to dodge out of the way of the incoming spell and just stood there helplessly as it was hit full on in the chest with the stunning spell.

Percy's victory didn't last long.

The spell made contact with the hellhound but didn't show any signs of having worked. If it did anything at all it just seemed to have pissed the monster off. Apparently the creature didn't like false alarms. Percy was in a precarious position, he knew some spells but they obviously wouldn't work. He needed riptide but these pants he had on didn't have any pockets and he had been forced to leave it in the dorm room despite his opinion on the matter.

He quickly thought about his training with Harry. What had they worked on that could help him here? He couldn't somehow transport to the Gryffindor dorm room, but maybe he could bring riptide to the maze.

"Accio Riptide!" He called out into the darkness of the maze. The hellhound watched him curiously before growling and charging his mouth was open and dripping with saliva as it's fangs gleamed dangerously in the night. Its blood-red eyes were glowing with determination as it eyed it's soon to be dinner.

Percy didn't know if the spell would work, he could summon things but this was quite a distance to try a summoning spell, but he did know one thing. With this distance it would indeed take a while and he didn't have that. He needed to stall, so he did what anybody would have did in his position.

He ran.

He ran straight past the hellhound and back to where he started at before going down the right side of the maze. He heard the hellhound following closely behind him but he didn't care he needed to stall for time. He had pushed his body to the limit before…this was nothing.

But he wasn't as fast as the demonic dog was. He could run forever, but could he run fast forever? At this pace? Probably not.

Percy turned around and cast another stunning spell just to keep the beast on it's toes before turning a sharp corner, and hitting something or someone with a thud.

"Oomph!"

Apparently someone else was running away from something in the maze.

"Percy?"

"Harry?"

They helped each other up. Percy looked at Harry, he looked a mess but he was grinning like it was the most fun he had ever had. "Hagrid's got a Blast-Ended Skrewt headed this way." Harry said explaining the reason behind his running.

"A Hellhound's coming fast from the left." Percy explained.

Percy thought about the situation before he grinned, he knew how this could play out. He leaned over to Harry and whispered his plan. He wasn't sure if the monsters could comprehend but he could always act it out. They both heard the beasts before they saw them.

The Blast-Ended Skrewt was hideous as the first one he saw in Percy's one was way bigger though, it had grown to be ten feet long, and it appeared to be incredibly dangerous (and probably quite lethal). The beast closely resembled a giant scorpion with long and sharp stingers curled over its back. The Skrewts shiny armor was a midnight black color that allowed it to blend in slightly to the nighttime color.

The monster looked angry, and the furious looking hellhound behind it didn't look much better, Percy suddenly hoped his pen would hurry up and get there. He also hoped Fleur was okay in the maze without any celestial bronze on hand.

He looked at Harry and simultaneously they both dropped their wands. It wasn't like they would help them any, both beasts proved to be pretty immune. Harry glanced at the two hungry beasts before explaining, "We've both decided to stop running. It's obvious that you two monsters are both way to powerful for us and way out of our league. Since we know that there is no reason to keep running we are surrendering ourselves to you great beasts. We both agree that if we had to be eaten we're glad that it would be you that would complete the honor." Here he paused and let the monsters digest this new situation.

Percy thought that Harry was laying it on pretty thick but decided not to interrupt. The monsters were preening in the praise and complements that Harry was laying on so he assumed it was working.

"The only problem," Harry continued, "is that we don't know out of you two which one of you deserves to eat the both of us. It wouldn't be fair to let one of you eat me and the other Percy; we'd like to be eaten by the same monster. So maybe you could do something to prove your worthiness like…"

Harry wasn't even finished talking before the hellhound charged at the Blast-Ended Skrewt. The monster didn't appear to want to share anything and wanted to take out its competition so that it could eat the weak and tasty looking creatures that had given themselves up. He would prove his worthiness.

As Percy and Harry watched they noticed one thing, the fight was completely one-sided. The Blast-Ended Skrewt didn't stand a chance. The hellhound swung a large claw at the beasts armored chest so hard the creatures armor shattered on impact. The hellhound thin started slicing the creatures newly exposed skin with the sharp claws it possessed before it greedily took a bite out of the dying creature before spitting it out in disgust.

Again, Percy had never seen something so one-sided. He looked to Harry and saw the same shock and disgust that he was sure he was expressing. He heard a noise above his head and saw something flying there way, he had never been more grateful for anything in his life. If his summoning charm hadn't worked he and Harry would have been eaten or worse he would have had to shot red sparks into the air, being a quitter was one thing he was not.

He snatched his pen out of the air as soon as the hellhound was finished decimating the skrewt. He uncapped his beautiful sword and smiled as he felt the familiar and comforting weight in his hands. The celestial bronze blade glowed brilliantly in the moonlit sky and drew the attention of Harry as well as the hellhound.

But Percy wasn't worried, with Riptide a hell hound would be a piece of cake. This time around, he charged the beast while shouting out a battle cry while Harry gathered their wands from off of the ground. The hellhound didn't have any chance of victory; he swung the sword in a practiced upward motion and swiped the creatures head clean off of its large and hairy body.

Harry ran up to him and clapped him on the back as he sighed in relief. Those two monstrosities were out of the way. But they would still face challenges, and another one presented itself as Percy's blood ran cold. He heard someone scream, but it wasn't just anyone, he heard a female scream, he sensed a certain sense of familiarity with the voice and Knew right away who it was…Fleur.

Without even looking back at Harry he plunged deeper into the maze desperate to find the girl that meant so much to him. The same person that helped him get over Annabeth when no one else could. She was the same person that gave him a reason to wake up in the morning every day with a smile on his face. The same person that fell for him with all his faults and baggage that he brought to the table, he couldn't…no, he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

He ran without worry for his own safety, he completely disregarded everything that didn't regard Fleur. He distinctly heard Harry running behind him trying to keep up but he didn't turn around, not even when he heard his name called.

His feet were hitting the ground hard as he ran, the sound could be heard throughout the maze, Harry was breathing hard as well and was succeeding in making a lot of noise. "Fleur!" Percy called out again as he ran, he turned a corner in the maze and kept on running. The only hope he had was that she hadn't shot red sparks into the air yet.

If she was in any real danger she would have shot sparks into the air for help, wouldn't she? His girlfriend was stubborn and sometimes overconfident, but she knew the limits to her abilities. Percy feet stopped him where his mind would not as a new foe appeared ahead in his vision. His eyes found a familiar face, one that he had hoped he'd seen the last of.

It had the body of a very big lion, huge claws and a long blonde tail that was swinging back and forth. But the creature had the face of a woman, and that woman was smiling amusedly in his direction.

"We meet again Percy Jackson."

By then Harry had arrived panting and examined the situation, "A sphinx?"

Percy nodded tiredly. He had to get to Fleur; he didn't have time for twenty questions. He needed to get to her now. "Look," he said drawing riptide, "either you get out of my way, or I make you get out of my way."

The sphinx laughed darkly, "So the little demigod's wants to play, well, have fun. But know this, if you kill me this passage in the maze will vanish along with me and you'll never get to your little girlfriend."

Harry glared at the monster, "you're lying."

"I'd swear an oath." The creature answered.

Percy shook his head, "unfortunately she's not. No monster I've ever met would blindly volunteer to take an oath, she must be telling the truth, as sad as it is."

The sphinx nodded. "You are getting wiser Perseus Jackson; it is nice to see a demigod with common sense. But do you have book smarts? Can you solve my riddle and pass? Or shall you leave your girlfriend to her fate?"

Percy frowned and grit his teeth, "What's the riddle?"

The sphinx pleased with the question stood a little taller, and as she straightened in pride recited:

"First think of the person who lives in disguise,

Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.

Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,

The middle of middle and end of the end?

And finally give me the sound often heard

During the search for a hard-to-find word.

Now string them together, and answer me this,

Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"

Percy and Harry gaped at her as she finished reciting the riddle. Neither of them would consider themselves dumb, but that riddle made both of them feel intellectually inferior. The length of it caught them both off guard. Weren't riddles supposed to be short? Concise?

Percy thought about the first few lines of the riddle. Those first few lines were after all what he had deemed important enough to remember, the sphinx didn't say that she wouldn't read it over again. 'A person who lives in disguise…who deals with secrets…and only tells lies. A traitor, maybe? They are basically living a lie, and they keep secrets and only tell lies. But would that fit? It just didn't seem just right though.'

"Is it a spy?" He heard a voice to his left ask the sphinx and was relieved when she nodded her head in agreement. Apparently Harry had only paid attention to the first few lines as well. Harry had gotten it right! Or part of it at least. They just needed to figure out the rest of it.

"Can you repeat the last few lines?" Percy asked the sphinx.

The sphinx did as asked and Percy mentally recited the words over and over again in his head as she (it) did so. He had already solved the second part the middle of middle; the end of end…the answer was the letter d that much was obvious. 'The sound often heard…when searching for a hard-to-find word. What could that be? What do I say when I'm stumped, when I can't think of something? I wonder, is it um…or uh? Spydum? Spyduh? Putting those words together doesn't make a word, though. Er…Er! That's it. It has to be. Spyder.'

"A Spider!" Percy yelled out in excitement. This had to be the answer. He watched with a baited breath as the Sphinx considered his answer and he became a little nervous. What if he had gotten it wrong? He glanced over at Harry who was smiling and released the breath he had been holding. Harry believed in him, he had to believe in himself now.

"Your answer is correct," the mythological creature assured them in a semi placating gesture before stepping aside, "you both have earned free passage now."

They both sped past the annoying riddle loving monster and ran. "Percy!" Someone yelled to their right and both turned and sprinted to the right. They dodged past a spell that came shooting their way and ducked another oncoming spell. Using their heads they followed the direction from which the spells were coming and found a bloody Fleur on the ground with a grinning Viktor Krum standing above her clutching two wands one of which was pointed at Fleur.

"Crucio!" Krum bellowed as he pointed his wand at the injured veela on the ground. Percy and Harry watched, furiously, as their friend was tortured before them. Fleur wriggled on the ground in agony and her scream probably scared most of the monsters in the maze away it was so loud.

It didn't take long for both of them to spring into action. "Expelliarmus," Harry cast at the grinning Krum who threw up a weak shield charm with what appeared to be Fleur's wand which blocked the disarming spell. But with his concentration broken his unforgivable curse was broken. Unlike Harry, Percy it seemed wasn't being as kind, "Relashio," he cast at the Durmstrang champion who tried to move out of the way a little too slowly.

His wand arm was slashed open by the cutting curse and he dropped both wands from his grip. As he tried to bend down and pick them both back up he was shocked to be kicked below his waist and in a very sensitive spot. Fleur Delacour had just proven that she was still a very capable witch, wand or not as she kicked Viktor Krum in the crotch. She proved why she was chosen as Beauxbatons champion.

Harry remembered a spell Percy had taught him earlier "Incarcerous," he bellowed aiming his wand at a struggling Viktor Krum. Hick white ropes shot out of his holly and phoenix feather wand straight at the international quidditch star. He didn't have time to move as he was enshrouded in them, his whole body was covered.

Percy nodded his thanks before rushing over to Fleur's side. "Are you alright?" He asked her gently. He grabbed her hand as he looked her over. She looked bad, she was bleeding, badly. Her hair was a mess, her clothes torn in some places. Her skin scratched and burned, and he still could honestly say he had never seen a sight so beautiful.

Yep…he had it bad.

"I'm fine," she muttered catching her breath, "I'm just a little sore."

"I can't believe Viktor would do something like that." Harry said still seemingly unconvinced of what had just occurred.

"Yeah well he did." Percy responded back to him seemingly angry about the betrayal.

"I'm not so sure," Fleur said trying to sit up alone before asking Percy for help. Percy bent down and easily scooped her up and into his arms, he did it as gentle as he could, not wanting to aggravate any of the wounds she had received in the tournament and especially this task.

"I can walk by myself," Fleur muttered, her pride getting the best of her.

"I'm sure you can. But we're not going to risk it, no matter what you say. I care to much about you to see you in that kind of pain."

Fleur sighed before resignedly snuggling closely into his embrace, he was too sweet sometimes.

"Now what do you mean you're still not sure Viktor did what he did?" Harry asked Fleur softly. He was honestly curious because originally he had a hard time believing it as well. He just didn't seem like the type.

"His eyes…they weren't their normal color, they looked glazed over like he was being possessed or controlled." Fleur said shuddering softly at the memory of her torture. Percy hugged her closer in his arms as he felt her shivering slightly.

"You mean the Imperius Curse?" Harry asked for confirmation.

Fleur nodded.

"So, say he didn't do it on purpose," Percy interrupted, before gesturing to the tied up Krum that was glaring at them all as he was tied up on the ground, "What do we with him?"

"I say we shoot some red sparks in the air and keep on moving," Harry said before looking Percy dead in the eye. He and Percy had had a long talk before the beginning of the third task, one in which Percy had told him everything. Percy told him about the person at Hogwarts that was also working for Voldemort, and he told him about how someone was planning on switching the cups out. At first when he had heard the news he had been frightened but now he was ready, ready to end it once and for all. "We have to finish it tonight." He said staring Percy down to see if they were on the same page, he was glad they were when he saw him nod back as if agreeing with his statement.

"You're ready," Percy said smiling slightly, "Voldemort won't know what hit him."

"Voldemort?" Fleur asked, "you know I'm coming with you right?"

Percy nodded he had figured as much. No matter what he said his girlfriend was simply too stubborn and headstrong not to go with them. He would simply have to try his hardest to keep her as safe as possible. He looked at Krum for a second weighing his options before taking his wand and shooting up some red sparks, they flew through the night sky and he knew someone would be there shortly.

As he was walking he felt a new weight on his back. He reached past his shoulders and felt a bag, reaching around he lifted the bag over his neck and shoulders and peered inside. He saw three bottles and a note. One was labeled, healing potion, another was labeled, blood replenishing potion, the last was labeled, pepper up potion.

The note read:

Dear Perseus,

To you our champion, we want to congratulate you for making it this far. These are the last gifts we shall be able to give you in the foreseeable future. We know what you are about to do and we both wish you the best of luck. We would like you to know that no matter what, we are both so very proud of you.

Sincerely,

Your patrons Hecate and Hestia

He read the note and got a kind of bittersweet feeling. His patrons had become such a huge part of his life, and in such a short time. He gave Fleur the healing, and he and Harry shared the pepper up. He help onto the blood replenishing, he had a feeling that they would need it.

After drinking the healing potion Fleur was able to walk on her own and she looked much better. The trio walked through the now quiet maze; apparently Fleur's screams had emptied the place. They eventually came upon the shining golden cup gleaming in the moonlight. The fake…they all knew it to be.

Looking at it and coming to a decision they all walked towards it and touched it at one, hoping against hope that they wouldn't regret that decision.

One way or another they all new that they were going to war then and there.

AN: Not much to say. Hopefully you liked the chapter. This is my longest yet at 9,000 + words without counting the authors note. Also, my birthday is in a few days time so a review would be wonderful right now. So yeah, REVIEW please.