Chapter 25
I sat on the bleachers in the Quidditch pitch, watching the Gryffindor practice. James was missing every chance to block the Quaffle from his spot as Keeper. At one point he got nailed right in the side by a Bludger. Ursula had been sitting down next to me when this happened and frowned deeply. "Confundus," she coughed. The Beater swung at a Bludger but missed and fell right off his broom from the amount of force he used when he was swinging.
"Classy," I remarked.
"Don't mess with my friends," Ursula responded coolly.
After the Quidditch practice Ursula went to go talk to James. I was walking back along the bleachers when I felt someone watching me. I turned to see Madeline, Tianna, and Estelle approaching me. I just watched them as they got closer, all three of them scowling. Madeline had her arms crossed, trying to look sassy. In my opinion, she just looked stupid.
"So, how's our little Beaxbaton champion doing?" she asked.
I rolled my eyes. Tianna and Estelle stepped forward.
"I asked you how you were doing."
"I thought it was rhetorical," I said.
"God, why couldn't we at least get a champion with half a brain?"
"The fact that you keep mentioning that I'm the champion proves how jealous you are."
Madeline glared at me. "It's not fair! Why should you get all the attention? All the glory?"
I could have laughed at her ignorance. "I don't want the attention, you can have it. And since when is watching someone almost die in a pool of their own blood glory?"
"You just want us to think you didn't put your name in."
"I didn't put my name in. Whoever did put my name in owes me big time for what they've done to me."
"Of course they do. You're just a filthy, orphaned tomboy who wants attention from everyone."
Estelle and Tianna both pushed me back so hard I landed on my butt. Madeline and her crew walked away cackling. I held my wand out, pointing it at them. "Stupefy," I whispered. All three fell to the ground, paralyzed. I stood up and brushed off my uniform. I began to walk away, humming. Someone would find them there. Eventually.
Madeline did not bother me at all again for the next couple weeks. She had been smart enough not to tell the teachers who had Stupefied her and her friends because she knew I could give her payback worse than hell. Ursula and I poured over books to try to find out what the diamond was supposed to mean. Ginny, Oscar, and I would talk sometimes but none of us were able to come up with anything.
I took out the Marauder's Map every night just to see the people's names as they moved around the castle. I was always hoping I would see Daniel's name somewhere but it never came up. I also spent the next two weeks practicing every spell I knew over and over again with Professor la Urque and Ursula. With Professor la Urque I mostly practiced my transition into my Animigus form. During the last practice, Headmaster McGonagall stopped by in her cat form. We both changed back to human form at the same time.
"I see you are doing well," she said. "I thought I would stop in on all the champions to see what they are doing to prepare. You are doing very well."
"Thank you," I said.
"Well, I wish you luck in the challenge tomorrow and I hope you do very well."
She nodded to me before asking Professor la Urque if she could have a word with him. That was the end of my last practice for the Triwizard Tournament. Tomorrow was the final challenge. I could hardly think of it because it made my stomach twist nervously. I pulled the diamond out of my pocket. It glittered in the sunlight, just as bright as it had been when I first found it. I spun it over and over again in my hand.
I froze when I thought I saw something in the gem. No, not on it, but in it. When I moved whatever I had seen was lost. I kept moving the diamond around, closer to my face, until I finally caught it again. I squinted to see it better but all I could really see was a bunch of lines. It was like one line that just went all over the place and criss-crossed itself. I squinted even more and realized that that was exactly what it was, just one line. I could barely tell where the beginning and the end were, or if they were even the beginning or end. It was almost like…a maze.