Chapter 35
The Third Task
KIARA
"Ma reckons She-You-Know's getting stronger again?" Chris whispered.
Everything I had seen in the Pensieve, nearly everything Crighton had shown and told me afterwards, I had shared with Chris, Sian and Chrissie - and, of course, with my parents and grandmothers, to whom I had sent an owl to each the moment I had left Crighton's office. Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I sat up late once again in the common room that night, talking it all over until my mind was reeling, until I understood what Crighton had meant about a head being too full of thoughts that it would have been a relief to siphon them off.
Chris and Chrissie were staring into the common room fire. I thought I saw them shiver slightly, even though the evening was warm.
"And she trusts Triphorm?" Chrissie said. "She really trusts Triphorm, even though she used to be a Love Destroyer?"
"Yes," I said.
Sian had not spoken for ten minutes. She was sitting with her forehead in her hands, staring at her knees. I thought that she, too, could have done with a Pensieve.
"Peter Meter," she said finally.
"How can you be worrying about him now?" said Chris, in disbelief.
"I'm not worrying about him," Sian said to her knees. "I'm just thinking ... remember what he said to Chris in the Flying Owls? "I know things about Lynn Baxter that will make your hair curl." This is what he meant, isn't it? He reported her trial, he knew she'd passed information to the Love Destroyers. And Blinky, too, remember ... "Miss Baxter is a bad witch." Mrs Clutch would have been furious she got off, she would have talked about it at home."
"Yeah, but Baxter didn't pass information on purpose, did she?"
Sian shrugged.
"And Sweets reckons Monsieur Legrand attacked Clutch?" Chrissie said, turning back to me.
"Yeah," I said, "but she's only saying that because Clutch disappeared near the Beauxbatons carriage."
"We never thought of him, did we?" said Chrissie slowly. "Mind you, he's definitely got giant blood, and he doesn't want to admit it - "
"Of course he doesn't," said Sian sharply, looking up. "Look at what happened to Mina when Peter Meter found out about her father. Look at Sweets, jumping to conclusions about him, just because he's part-giant. Who needs that sort of prejudice? I'd probably say I had big bones if I knew that's what I get for telling the truth."
Sian looked at her watch.
"We haven't done any practicing!" she said, looking shocked. "We were going to do the Impediment Jinx! We'll have to really get down to it tomorrow! Come on, Kiara, you need to get some sleep."
Sian, Chrissie and I went slowly upstairs to our dormitory. As I pulled on my nightgown and got into bed, I thought over all that Crighton had told me about Nikita. True to my word to Crighton, I had not told Chris, Sian and Chrissie about Nikita's parents. I tried to ignore how it must feel to have parents still living, but unable to recognise you. I often got sympathy from strangers about being split from my parents at such a young age, and as I listened to Chrissie's snores, I thought that Nikita deserved it more than I did. Lying in the darkness, I felt a rush of anger and hate towards the people who had tortured Mr and Mrs Bore ... I remembered the jeers of the crowd as Clutch's daughter and her companions had been dragged from the court by the Dementors ... I understood how they felt ... then I remembered the milk-white face of the screaming girl, and I realised with a jolt that she had died a year later ...
I was jerked out of my thoughts by a particularly loud snore from Chrissie, which made me think about Crighton's words about Sian. I wondered what had happened to Sian as a child, and what on Earth Katalina Outsider could have done to her. I remembered the look on Crighton's face, her eyes so full of sadness and regret, which was perfectly portrayed in her words. For the first time since I had known her, I felt sorry for Sian, for whatever Outsider had done, it must have been terrible. I had also kept this secret from Chris, Sian and Chrissie, too, and had continued to do so until some time after the war ended. I should also point out here that I hid my sadness for Sian away from her as best I could, and it worked. The only reason I know this is because when I told Sian about it, she said that she never guessed for a moment that her mother had let anything slip about her to me.
Anyhoo, it was Zira, I thought, as I stared up at the canopy of my bed in the darkness, it all came back to Zira ... she was the one who had torn many families apart, and who had ruined many lives, along with the help of her followers ...
0000
Chris, Sian and Chrissie were supposed to be revising for their exams, which finished on the day of the third task, but they were putting most of their efforts into helping me prepare.
"Don't worry about it," Sian said shortly, when I pointed this out to them, and said I didn't mind practicing on my own for a while. "At least we'll get top marks in Defence Against the Dark Arts, we'd never have found out about all these hexes in class."
"Good training for when we're all Aurors," said Chris excitedly, attempting the Impediment Jinx on a wasp that had buzzed into the room, making it stop dead in mid-air.
The mood in the castle as we entered June became excited and tense again. Everyone was looking forward to the third task, which took place a week before the end of term. I practiced hexes in every available moment. I felt more confident about that task than the other two before it. Difficult and dangerous though it was (and more dangerous than I had indeed imagined at the end of the task), Grumpy was right: I had managed to find my way past monstrous creatures and enchanted barriers before then, and that time I had some notice, some chance to prepare myself for what lay ahead (but I wasn't prepared for quite everything that came my way in the third task, and I doubt I would have been if someone had tried to help me beforehand, either. Don't worry, you'll find out what this means later).
Tired of walking in on us all over the school, Professor Darbus had given me permission to use the empty Transfiguration classroom at lunchtimes. I had soon mastered the Impediment Jinx, a spell to slow down and obstruct attackers, the Reductor curse, which would enable me to blast solid objects out of my way, and the Four-Point Spell, a useful discovery of Sian's which would make my wand point due north, therefore enabling me to check whether I was going in the right direction within the maze. I was still having trouble with the Shield Charm, though. It's purpose is to cast a temporary, invisible wall around the caster that deflects minor curses; Sian managed to shatter it with a well placed Jelly-Legs Jinx. I wobbled around the room for ten minutes afterwards before she had looked up the counter-jinx.
"You're still doing really well, though," Sian said encouragingly, looking down her list, and crossing off those spells we had already learnt. "Some of these are bound to come in handy."
"Come and look at this," said Chrissie, who was standing by the window. She was staring down into the grounds. "What's Malty doing?"
Chris, Sian and I went to see. Malty, Crate, Gabber and Rea-Bradley were standing in the shadow of a tree below. Crate, Gabber and Rea-Bradley were keeping lookout, though the latter looked rather reluctant about it; Crate and Gabber were smirking, whereas Rea-Bradley looked as though she wanted to be somewhere else. Malty was holding her hand up to her mouth, and speaking into it.
"She looks like she's using a walkie-talkie," I said curiously.
"She can't be," said Sian, "I've told you, those sort of things don't work around Dragon Mort. Come on, Kiara," she added briskly, turning away from the window and moving back into the middle of the room, "let's try that Shield Charm again."
0000
My parents were sending me daily owls by this point. Like Sian, they seemed to want to concentrate on getting me through the last task, before we concerned ourselves with anything else. They reminded me in every letter that whatever might be going on outside the walls of Dragon Mort was not my responsibility, nor was it within my power to influence it.
If Zira is really getting strong again (my father wrote), then my priority, and your mother's, is to ensure your safety. Zira cannot hope to lay her hands on you while you are under Crighton's protection, but all the same, take no risks: concentrate on getting through that maze safely, and then we can concentrate on other matters.
And for those of you who are wondering, Grandmother Sarabi said something along those lines, too.
My nerves mounted as June the twenty-fourth drew closer, but they were not as bad as those I had had before the first and second tasks. For one thing, I was confident that, this time, I had done everything in my power to prepare for the task (except to prepare my mind for what was going to happen). For another, this was the final hurdle, and however well or badly I did, the Tournament would at last be over, which was (presumably) an enormous belief (or so I thought).
0000
Breakfast was a very noisy affair on the morning of the third task. The post owls appeared, bringing me a good-luck card from my parents. It was only a piece of parchment, folded over and bearing two muddy paw prints on its front, but I appreciated it all the same. A screech owl arrived for Sian, carrying her morning copy of the Daily Squabbler as usual. She unfolded the paper, glanced at the front page, and spat out a mouthful of pumpkin juice all over it.
"What?" Chris, Chrissie and I said together.
"Nothing," said Sian quickly, trying to shove the paper out of sight, but Chrissie grabbed it.
She gazed at the headline, her expression turning from normal to shock to infuriated in less than ten seconds, before she shoved it into Chris' hands without a word.
Chris stared at the headline and said, "No way. Not today. That old git."
"What?" I said. "Peter Meter again?"
"No," said Chris, and just like Sian, he attempted to push the paper out of sight.
"It's about me, isn't it?" I said.
"No," said Chris, in an entirely unconvincing tone.
But before I could demand to see the paper, Dani Malty shouted across the Great Hall from the Snake-Eyes table.
"Hey, Pride-Lander! Pride-Lander! How's your head? You feeling all right? Sure you're not going to go berserk on us?"
Malty was holding a copy of the Daily Squabbler, too. Snake-Eyes up and down the table were sniggering, twisting in their seats to see my reaction.
"Let me see it," I said to Chris. "Give it here."
Very reluctantly, Chris handed over the newspaper. I turned it over, and found myself staring at my own picture, beneath a banner headline:
KIARA PRIDE-LANDER "DISTURBED AND DANGEROUS"
The girl who defeated She Who Must Not Be Named is unstable and possibly dangerous, writes Peter Meter, Special Correspondent. Alarming evidence has recently come to light about Kiara Pride-Lander's strange behaviour, which cast doubts upon her suitability to compete in a demanding competition like the Triwizard Tournament, or even to attend Dragon Mort school.
Pride-Lander, the Daily Squabbler can exclusively reveal, regularly collapses at school, and is often heard to complain of pain in the scar on her forehead (relic of the curse which She-You-Know attempted to kill her). On Monday last, midway through a divination lesson, your Daily Squabbler reporter witnessed Pride-Lander storming from the class, claiming that her scar was hurting too badly to continue studying.
It is possible, say top experts at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, that Pride-Lander's brain was affected by the attack inflicted upon her by She-You-Know, and that her insistence that her scar is still hurting is an expression of her deep-seated confusion.
"She might even be pretending," said one specialist, "this could be a plea for attention."
The Daily Squabbler, however, has unearthed worrying facts about Kiara Pride-Lander that Susan Crighton, Headmistress of Dragon Mort, has carefully concealed from the wizarding public.
"Pride-Lander can speak Parshydamouth," said Danielle Malty, a Dragon Mort fourth-year. "There were a lot of attacks on students a couple of years ago, and most people thought Pride-Lander was behind them after they saw her lose her temper at a Duelling club and set a snake on another girl. It was all hushed up, though. But she's made friends with werewolves and giants too. We think she'd do anything for a bit of power."
Parshydamouth, the ability to converse with snakes and other reptiles, has long been considered a Dark Art, which was made famous by She-You-Know herself. Parseltongue, the ability to talk to snakes, is a part of the group, for which Lord Voldemort and the Boy Who Lived were famous for, although some say that that power went away when Potter defeated the Dark Lord; yet this reporter wonders whether "a good person can do the Dark Arts" thing is just a one-time only thing, or whether it is just pure coincidence. Anyway, a member of the Dark Force Defence League, who wished to remain unnamed, stated that he would regard any wizard who could speak Parseltongue as well as Parshydamouth "as worthy of Investigation. Personally, I would be highly suspicious of anybody who could converse with snakes, as serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark magic, and are historically associated with evil-doers". Similarly, "anyone who seeks out the company of such vicious creatures as werewolves and giants would appear to have a fondness for violence".
Susan Crighton should surely consider whether a girl such as this should be allowed to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. Some fear that Pride-Lander might resort to the Dark Arts in desperation to win the Tournament, the third task of which takes place this evening.
"Gone off me a bit, hasn't he?" I said lightly, folding up the paper.
Over at the Snake-Eyes table, Malty, Crate and Gabber were laughing at me, tapping their heads with their fingers, pulling grotesquely mad faces and waggling their tongues like snakes, whereas Rea-Bradley sat at the end of the table, not laughing at all. It was clear that she was apart from her fellow Snake-Eyes students now, for she was looking at them all disdainfully. She looked lost and alone, like she didn't belong there anymore.
"How did he know your scar hurt in Divination?" Chrissie said. "There's no way he was there, there's no way he could've heard - "
"The window was open," I said. "I opened it to breathe."
"You were at the top of North Tower!" Sian said. "You voice couldn't have carried all the way down to the grounds!"
"Well, you're the one who's supposed to be researching magical methods of bugging!" I said. "You tell me how he did it!"
"I've been trying!" said Sian. "But I ... but ..."
An odd, dreamy expression suddenly came over Sian's face. she slowly raised a hand, and ran her fingers through her hair.
"Are you all right?" said Chris, frowning at her.
"Yes," said Sian breathlessly. She ran her fingers through her hair again, and then held up her hand to her mouth, as though speaking into an invisible walkie-talkie. Chris, Chrissie and I stared at each other.
"I've had an idea," said Sian, gazing into space. "I think I know ... because then no one would be able to see ... even Grumpy ... and he'd have been able to get onto the window-ledge ... but he's not allowed ... he's definitely not allowed ... I think we've got him! Just give me two seconds in the library - just to make sure!"
With that, Sian seized her schoolbag, and dashed out of the Great Hall.
"Oi!" Chrissie called after her. "We've got our History of Magic exam in ten minutes! Blimey," she said, turning back to me, "she must really hate that Meter man to risk missing the start of an exam. "What're you going to do in Yawn's class - read again?"
Exempt from the end-of-term tests as a Triwizard Champion, I had been sitting at the back of every exam class so far, looking up fresh hexes for the third task.
"S'pose so," I said to Chris and Chrissie; but just then Professor Darbus came walking along the Lion-Heart table towards me.
"Pride-Lander, the Champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast," she said.
"But the task's not 'til tonight!" I said, accidentally spilling scrambled eggs down my front, afraid that I had mistaken the time.
"I'm aware of that, Pride-Lander," she said. "The Champions' families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them."
She moved away. I gaped after her.
"I know I'm not close with them, but she doesn't expect the Smiths to turn up, does she?" I asked Chris and Chrissie blankly.
"Dunno," said Chris, "but if they're here, they're here. Listen, Kiara, me and Chrissie'd better hurry up, for we're going to be late for Yawn if we're sat around here for much longer. We'll see you later."
I finished my breakfast in the emptying Great Hall. I saw Ferdinand Desjardin get up from the Raven-Wings table and joined Georgia as she crossed to the side chamber and entered. Outsider strode off to join them shortly afterwards, with Kopa walking quickly behind him. I stayed where I was. I didn't really want to go into the chamber. I didn't want the Smiths to be there (and I know that most of you are thinking that I am stupid for not thinking of my grandmothers, but truth be told, I was in a bit of shock, thinking that the time of the task had been changed). I was just getting up, thinking that I might as well go up to the library and do a spot more hex revision, when the door of the side chamber opened, and Georgia stuck her head out.
"Kiara, come on, they're waiting for you!"
Utterly perplexed, I got up, hoping against hope that the Smiths weren't there. I walked across the Hall and opened the door into the chamber.
Georgia and her parents were just inside the door. Kovu Outsider and his brother, Kopa, were over in a corner, conversing with their dark haired mother, father and sister (by the looks and the height of the girl, who reached just below her mother's chest, she looked about fourteen, and she had bright, quick, intelligent blue eyes). Kovu had inherited his father's long nose. On the other side of the room, Ferdinand was jabbering away in French to his father. Ferdinand's little brother, Simon, was holding his mother's hand. He waved at me, and I waved back. Then I saw Grandmother Sarabi and Sam Fang, Tanya and Geri's elder sister, who were standing in front of the fireplace and were both beaming at me.
"Surprise!" Grandmother Sarabi said excitedly, as I smiled broadly, and walked over to them. "Thought we'd come and watch you, sweetheart!" She bent down and kissed me on the cheek.
"You all right?" said Sam, grinning at me and hugging me quickly. "Kat and Uncle Matt wanted to come, but neither of them could take time off. Kat said you were incredible against that Horntail."
Ferdinand Desjardin, I noticed, was eyeing Sam with great interest over his shoulder. I could tell he had no objection whatsoever to her short hair or nose piercings.
"This is really nice of you, Grandmother," I said to Grandmother Sarabi. "You know, for a moment, I thought that the Smiths - "
"Oh, Kiara," Grandmother Sarabi chuckled, "the Smiths can't get in here! No one can!"
"Why not?" I asked, looking confused.
"Why, because of the Muggle-Repelling Charms the surround Dragon Mort, that's why! You see, if a Muggle gets too close to the premises, they remember they have something else to do, and they move away. If this Charm wasn't around the place, I would've brought Sarafina with me. She sends you her love and her luck for tonight, by the way."
"It's great being back here," said Sam, looking around the chamber (Victor, the Fat Lord's friend, winked at her from his frame). "Haven't seen this place for five years. Is that picture of the mad knight still around? Knightress?"
"Oh, yeah," I said. I had met Knightress in my third year.
"And the Fat Lord?" said Sam.
"Yeah, he's still here, too," I said.
"So, fancy giving us a tour, Kiara?" Grandmother Sarabi said. "I'll admit, I haven't been here before. My school training was all done in Africa."
"So, how come I'm - ?"
"Crighton's doing, Kiara," Grandmother Sarabi answered simply. "So, that tour?"
"Yeah, OK," I said, and we made our way back towards the door into the Great Hall.
As we passed Alesha Diggs, she looked around. "There you are, are you?" she said, looking me up and down. "Bet you're not feeling quite as full of yourself now Georgia's caught you up on points, are you?"
"What?" I said.
"Ignore her," said Georgia in a low voice to me, frowning after her mother. "She's been angry ever since Peyer Meter's article about the Triwizard Tournament - you know, when he made out you were the only Dragon Mort Champion."
"Didn't bother to correct him, though, did she?" said Alesha Diggs, loudly enough for me to hear as I made to walk out of the door with Grandmother Sarabi and Sam. "Still ... you'll show her, Georgie. Beaten her once before, haven't you?"
"Peter Meter goes out of his way to cause trouble from what I've heard, Alesha!" Grandmother Sarabi said angrily. "I would have thought you'd know that, working at the Ministry!"
Mrs Diggs looked as though she was going to say something angry, but her husband lay a hand on her arm, and she merely shrugged and turned away.
I had a very enjoyable morning walking over the sunny grounds with Sam and my Grandmother Sarabi that day, showing them the Beauxbatons carriage and the Uagadou sub. Grandmother Sarabi was intrigued by the Bashing Tree, for she had never seen one before.
"How's Perdy?" I asked, as we walked around the greenhouses.
"Not good," said Sam, lowering her voice and looking around. "She's very upset at the moment. You see, Kiara, the Ministry want to keep Mrs Clutch's disappearance quiet, but Perdy's been hauled in for questioning about the instructions Mrs Clutch has been sending in. They seem to think there's a chance they weren't genuinely written by her. Perdy's been under a lot of strain. They're not letting her fill in for Mrs Clutch as the fifth judge tonight. Cornelia Sweets is going to be doing it."
We returned to the castle for lunch.
"Sarabi - Sam!" said Chrissie, looking stunned, as she joined us at the Lion-Heart table. "What're you doing here!"
"Come to watch Kiara in the last task!" said Grandmother Sarabi brightly. "I must say, it makes a lovely change, not having to cook. How was your exam, Chrissie?"
"Oh ... it was OK, I guess," said Chrissie. "Couldn't remember all the faun rebel's names, so I invented a few. It's all right," she said, helping herself to a Cornish pasty, while Grandmother Sarabi looked stern, "they're all called stuff like Bogrod the Beautiful and Ulruk the Unclear, it wasn't hard."
"Well, at least some of us actually studied hard, Chrissie, and didn't have to make anything up at all," Sian said suddenly, as she came over to join us. Chrissie said nothing, but kept on taking angry bites out of her pasty, and all the other things she ate, until lunch was over.
Anyhoo, when Sian turned up, I remembered that she had had a brainwave about Peter Meter.
"Are you going to tell us - ?"
Sian shook her head warningly, and glanced at Grandmother Sarabi. I took the hint and dropped it for later.
"Hello, Sian," Grandmother Sarabi said brightly to her. "I'm glad to see that one of you at least is taking your exams seriously."
"Thank you, Sarabi. I am, too," Sian said, as Chrissie took her anger out on another pasty. It was then that I saw Grandmother Sarabi's eyes narrow at the doorway. I looked over to where she was looking, and I saw Chris, who was carefully avoiding her eyes.
I immediately caught on to what was going on, so I said, "Grandmother Sarabi, you don't believe what rubbish Peter Meter has written in Wizard Weekly, do you? Because Chris isn't my boyfriend."
"And I'm not going out with him either, just so you know," said Sian, shrugging. Grandmother Sarabi, Sam, Chris and I looked at Sian strangely - even Chrissie looked at Sian strangely. At our looks, Sian said, "I just wanted to point it out there."
After the shock of Sian's words had worn off, Grandmother Sarabi looked surprised by what she had heard, but she became considerably warmer towards Chris after that.
Beth, Kestrel, Merida, Joe, Jack, Ben, Dave, and Tanya and Geri came to sit next to us, too, and I was having such a good time that I felt almost as though I was back at Dawson Manor again (I know Grandmother Sarabi wasn't there, but still); I had forgotten about that evening's task, and I was grateful that Grandmother Sarabi was there.
After lunch, Grandmother Sarabi, Sam and I whiled away the afternoon with a long walk around the castle, and then returned to the Great Hall for the evening feast. Lynn Baxter and Cornelia Sweets had joined the staff table. Baxter looked quite cheerful, but Cornelia Sweets, who was sat next to Monsieur Legrand, looked stern and was not talking. Monsieur Legrand was concentrating on his plate, and I thought his eyes looked red. Mina kept glancing along the table at him.
There were more courses than usual that night, but as I was feeling very nervous, I didn't eat much. As the enchanted ceiling overhead began to fade from blue to a dusky purple, Crighton rose to her feet at the staff table, and silence fell.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch pitch for the final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the Champions please follow Miss Baxter down to the stadium now."
I got up. The Lion-Hearts all along the table were applauding me; the Dawsons, Kat, Tanya, Geri and Grandmother Sarabi all wished me good luck, and I headed off out of the Great Hall, with Georgia, Ferdinand and Outsider.
"Feeling all right, Kiara?" Baxter asked, as we went down the stone steps into the grounds. "Confident?"
"I'm OK," I said. "It was sort of true; I was nervous, but I kept running over all the hexes abd spells I had been practicing in my mind as we walked, and the knowledge that I could remember them all made me feel better.
We walked out onto the Quidditch pitch, which was now completely unrecognisable. A twenty-foot-high hedge ran all the way around the edge of it. There was a gap right in front of us; the entrance to the vast maze. The passage beyond it looked dark and creepy.
Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. The sky was a deep, clear blue now, and the first stars were starting to appear. Mina, Professor Grumpy, Professor Darbus and Professor Winds came walking into the stadium and approached Baxter and we Champions. They were wearing large, red, luminous stars on their hats, all except Mina, who had hers on the back of her blouse.
"We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze," said Professor Darbus to we Champions. "If you get into difficulty, and wished to be rescued, send red sparks into the air, and one of us will come and get you, do you understand?"
We Champions nodded.
"Off you go, then!" said Baxter brightly to the four patrollers.
"Good luck, Kiara," Mina whispered, and the four of them walked away in different directions, to station themselves around the maze. Baxter now pointed her wand at her throat, muttered "Sonorus", and her magically magnified voice echoed into the stands.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you of how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, on eighty-five points each - Miss Georgia Diggs and Miss Kiara Pride-Lander, both of Dragon Mort school!" The cheers and applause sent birds from the Black Forest fluttering into the darkening sky. "In second place, on eighty points - Mr Kovu Outsider, of Uagadou School of Magic!" More applause. "And in third place - Mr Ferdinand Desjardin, of Beauxbatons Academy!"
I could just make out Grandmother Sarabi, Sam, Chris, Sian and Chrissie applauding Ferdinand politely, halfway up in the stands. I waved up at them, and they waved back, beaming at me.
"So ... on my whistle, Kiara and Georgia!" said Baxter. "Three - two - one - "
She gave a short blast on her whistle, and Georgia and I hurried forwards into the maze.
The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and thick, or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment we entered the maze. I felt almost as though I was underwater again. I pulled out my wand, muttered "Lumos", and I heard Georgia do the same just behind me.
After about fifty yards, we reached a fork. We looked at each other.
"See you," I said, and I took the left one, while Georgia took the right.
I heard Baxter's whistle for the second time. Outsider had entered the maze. I sped up. My chosen path seemed completely deserted. I turned right, and hurried on, holding my wand high over my head, trying to see as far ahead as possible. Still there was nothing in sight.
I kept looking behind me. The old feeling that I was being watched was upon me. The maze was growing darker with every passing minute as the sky overhead deepened to navy. I reached a second fork.
"Point me," I whispered to my wand, holding it flat in my palm.
The wand spun around once, and pointed towards my right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and I knew that I needed to go north-west for the centre of the maze. The best I could do was to take the left fork, and go right again as soon as possible.
The path ahead was empty, too, and when I reached a right turn I took it, I again found my way unblocked. I didn't know why, but I found the lack of obstacles rather unnerving. I mean, surely I must have met something by this point, shouldn't I? I felt as though the maze was leading me into a false sense of security. Then I heard movement right behind me. I held out my wand, ready to attack, but its beam only fell upon Georgia, who had just hurried out of a path on the right-hand side. Georgia looked severely shaken. The sleeve of her robes was smoking.
"Mina's Shudder-Ended Crabs!" she hissed. "They're enormous - I only just got away!"
She shook her head, and dived out of sight, along another path. Keen to put plenty of distance between myself and the Crabs, I hurried off again. Then, as I turned a corner, I saw -
A Stinger was gliding towards me. Twelve feet tall, its face hidden by its hood, except for one large, blood-red eye, glinting menacingly in the twilight, as its rotting, scabbed hands were outstretched, as it advanced, its eye fixed directly on me. I could hear its rattling breath, which, combined with its droning, deadly sounding buzzing, made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up; I felt clammy coldness stealing over me, but I knew what I had to do ...
I summoned the happiest thought I could, concentrated with all my might on Chris, Sian, Chrissie and Grandmother Sarabi, raised my wand and cried, "Expecto Patronum!"
A silver lioness erupted from the end of my wand and ran towards the Stinger, which fell back, and tripped over the hem of its robes ... I had never seen a Stinger stumble before or since that night.
"Hang on!" I shouted, advancing in the wake of my silver Patronus. "You're a Boggart! Riddikulus!"
There was a loud crack, and the shape-shifter exploded in a wisp of smoke. The silver lioness faded from sight. I wished it could have stayed, I could have used some company ... but I moved on as quickly and quietly as possible, listening hard, my wand held high once more.
Left ... right ... left again ... twice I found myself facing dead ends. I did the Four-Point Spell again, and found that I was going too far east. I turned back, took a right turn, and saw an odd golden mist floating ahead of me. I wondered whether I might be able to blast it out of the way.
"Reducto!" I said.
The spell shot straight through the mist, leaving it intact. I supposed I should have known better; the Reductor curse was for solid objects. I wondered what would happen if I walked right through the mist, whilst also wondering if it was worth chancing, or whether I should double back.
I was still hesitating, when a scream shattered the silence.
"Ferdinand?" I yelled.
There was silence. I stared all around me. I wondered what had happened to him. His scream seemed to have come from somewhere ahead. I took a deep breath, and ran through the enchanted mist.
The world turned upside-down. I was hanging from the ground, with my hair on end, as I hung there, terrified. It felt as though my feet were glued to the grass, which had now become the ceiling. Below me the dark, star-spangled heavens stretched endlessly. I felt as though if I tried to move one of my feet, that I would fall away from the earth completely.
Think, I told myself, as all the blood rushed to my head, think ...
But not one of the spells I had practiced had been designed to combat a sudden reversal of ground and sky. I wondered whether I should move my foot or not. I could hear the blood pounding in my ears. I had two choices - try and move, or else send up red sparks, and get rescued and disqualified from the task.
I shut my eyes, so I wouldn't be able to see the view of endless space below me, and pulled my right foot as hard as I could, away from the grassy ceiling.
Immediately, the world righted itself. I fell forwards onto my knees on the wonderfully solid ground. I felt temporarily limp with shock. I took a deep, steadying breath, then got up again, and hurried forwards, looking back over my shoulder as I ran out of the golden mist, which twinkled innocently at me in the moonlight.
I paused at a junction of two paths and looked around for some sign of Ferdinand. I was sure it had been he who had screamed. What had he met? Was he all right? There was no sign of red sparks - did that mean he had got himself out of trouble, or was he in such trouble that he couldn't reach his wand, I wondered. I took the right fork with a feeling of increasing unease ... but at the same time, I couldn't help thinking, one Champion down ...
The Cup was somewhere close by, and it sounded as though Ferdinand was no longer in the running. I'd gotten this far, hadn't I? And then it hit me: what if I actually managed to win? Fleetingly, and for the first time since I'd found myself Champion, I saw again that image of myself, raising the Triwizard Cup in front of the rest of the school ...
I met nothing for ten minutes, except dead ends. Twice I took the same wrong turning. Finally I found a new route, and started to jog along it, my wand-light waving, making my shadow flicker and distort on the hedge walls. Then I rounded another corner, and found myself facing a Shudder-Ended Crab.
Georgia was right - it was enormous. Ten feet long, it looked more like a giant scorpion than a crab. It's muscle of a tail was banging hard on the ground now, making everything around it quake, and with each bang it made, a jet of fire shot out of the end. Its thick armour glinted in the light from my wand, which I pointed at it.
"Stupefy!"
The spell hit the Crab's armour, and rebounded; I ducked just in time, but I could smell burning hair; it had singed the ends of my hair. The Crab ran towards me, its muscle raised, and shot a jet of fire at me.
"Impedimenta!" I yelled. The spell hit the Crab's armour again and ricocheted off; I staggered back a few paces and fell over. "IMPEDIMENTA!"
The Crab was inches from me when it froze - I had managed to hit it on its fleshy, shell-less underside. Panting, I pushed myself away from it and ran, hard, in the opposite direction - the Impediment Jinx was not permanent, the Crab would be regaining the use of its legs at any moment.
I took a left path, and hit a dead end, a right, and hit another: forcing myself to stop, with my heart hammering, I performed the Four-Point Spell again, backtracked, and chose a path that took me north-west.
I had been hurrying along the new path for a few minutes, when I heard something in the path running parallel to my own, which made me stop dead.
"What the hell are you doing?" yelled Georgia's voice. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?"
And then I heard Outsider's voice.
"Crucio!"
The air was suddenly full of Georgia's screams. Horrified, I began sprinting up my path, trying to find a way into Georgia's. When none appeared, I tried the Reductor curse again. It wasn't very effective, but it burnt a small hole in the hedge, through which I forced my leg, kicking at the thick brambles and branches until they broke and made an opening; I struggled through it, tearing my robes and, looking to my right, I saw Georgia jerking and twitching on the ground, Outsider standing over her.
I pulled myself up and pointed my wand at Outsider just as Outsider looked up. Outsider turned and began to run.
"Stupefy!" I yelled.
The spell hit Outsider in the back; he stopped dead in his tracks, fell forwards and lay motionless, face down in the grass. I dashed over to Georgia, who had stopped twitching, and was lying there panting, her hands over her face.
"Are you all right?" I said roughly, grabbing Georgia's arm.
"Yeah," panted Georgia. "Yeah ... I don't believe it ... he crept up behind me ... I heard him, turned round, and he had his wand on me ..."
Georgia got up. She was still shaking. She and I both looked down at Outsider.
"I can't believe this ... I thought he was all right," I said, staring at Outsider.
"So did I," said Georgia.
"Did you hear Ferdinand scream earlier?" I said.
"Yeah," said Georgia. "You don't think Outsider got him, too, do you?"
"I don't know," I said slowly.
"Should we leave him here?" Georgia muttered.
"No," I said. "I reckon we should send up red sparks. Someone'll come and collect him ... otherwise he'll probably be eaten by a Crab."
"He'd deserve it," Georgia muttered, but all the same, she raised her wand and shot a shower of red sparks into the air, which hovered high above Outsider, marking the spot where he lay.
Georgia and I stood there in the darkness for a moment, looking around us. Then Georgia said, "Well ... I s'pose we'd better go on ..."
"What?" I said. "Oh ... yeah ... right ..."
It was an odd moment for us; Georgia and I had been briefly united against Outsider - and now the fact that we were opponents came back to us both. We proceeded up the dark path without speaking, then I turned left, and Georgia right. Georgia's footsteps soon died away.
I moved on, continuing to use the Four-Point Spell, to ensure that I was still moving in the right direction. It was between Georgia and I now. My desire to reach the Cup first was now burning stronger than ever, but I could hardly believe what I had seen Outsider do. The use of an Unforgivable Curse on a fellow human being meant a life term in Azkaban, that was what Grumpy had told us. Outsider surely couldn't have wanted the Triwizard Cup that badly ... I sped up.
Every so often, I hit more dead ends, but the increasing darkness made me feel sure I was getting near the heart of the maze. Then, as I strode down a long, straight path, I saw movement once again, and my beam of wand-light hit an extraordinary creature, one which I had only seen in picture form, in my Monster Book of Monsters.
It was a sphinx. It had the head body of an overlarge lion; great clawed paws, and a long yellowish tail ending in a brown tuft. Its head, however, was that of a woman. She turned her long, almond-shaped eyes upon me as I approached. I raised my wand, hesitating. She was not crouched as if to spring, but pacing from side to side of the path, blocking my progress.
Then she spoke, in a deep, hoarse voice. "You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me."
"So ... so will you move, please?" I said, knowing what the answer was going to be.
"No," she said, continuing to pace. "Not unless you can answer my riddle. Answer on your first guess - I let you pass. Answer wrongly - I attack. Remain silent - I will let you walk away from me, unscathed."
My stomach slipped several notches. It's Sian who is great at this sort of thing, after all, not me. I then weighed my chances. If this riddle was too hard, I could keep silent, get away from her unarmed, and try and find an alternative route to the centre.
"OK," I said. "Can I hear the riddle?"
The sphinx sat down upon her hind legs, in the very centre of the path, and recited:
"First, think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what 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?"
I gaped at her.
"Could I have it again ... more slowly?" I asked tentatively.
She blinked at me, smiled, and repeated the poem.
"All the clues add up to a creature I wouldn't want to kiss?" I asked.
She merely smiled her mysterious smile. I took that for a "yes". I cast my mind around. There were plenty of animals I wouldn't want to kiss; my immediate thought was a Shudder-Ended Crab, but something told me that wasn't the answer. I'd have to try and work out the clues ...
"A person in disguise," I muttered, staring at her, "who lies ... er ... that'd be a - an imposter! No, that's not my guess! A - a spy? I'll come back to that ... could you give me the next clue again, please?"
She repeated the next lines of the poem.
"The last thing to mend," I repeated. "Er ... no idea ... middle of middle ... could I have the last bit again?"
She gave me the last four lines.
"A sound often heard in the search for a hard-to-find word," I said. "Er ... that'd be ... er ... hang on - "er"! "Er"'s a sound!"
The sphinx smiled at me.
"Spy ... er ... spy ... er ..." I paced up and down myself. "A creature I wouldn't want to kiss ... a spider!"
The sphinx smiled more broadly. She got up, stretched her four legs, and moved aside for me to pass.
"Thanks!" I said, and, amazed at my own brilliance, I dashed forwards.
I had to be close now, I just had to be ... my wand was telling me I was bang on course; as long as I didn't meet anything too horrible. I might be in with a chance (foolish thinking, really, looking back now) ...
I had a choice of paths up ahead. "Point me!" I whispered again to my wand, and it spun around and pointed me to the right-hand one. I dashed up that one, and saw a light ahead.
The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. I had just broken into a run, when a dark figure hurtled out onto the path in front of me.
Georgia was going to get there first. Georgia was sprinting as fast as she could towards the Cup, and I knew that I would never have caught up, even though I was tall, Georgia was a few years my senior, and therefore had longer legs -
Then I saw something immense over a hedge to my left, moving quickly along a path that intersected with her own; it was moving so fast Georgia was about to run into it, and Georgia, her eyes on the Cup, had not seen it -
"Georgia!" I bellowed. "On your left!"
Georgia looked around just in time to hurl herself past the thing and avoid colliding with it but, in her haste, she tripped. I saw Georgia's wand fly out of her hand, as a gigantic spider stepped into the path, and began to bear down upon Georgia.
"Syupefy!" I yelled again; the spell hit the spider's gigantic, hairy black body but, for all the good it did, I might as well have thrown a stone at it; the spider jerked, scuttled around, and ran at me instead.
"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!"
But it was no use - the spider was either so large, or so magical, that the spells were doing no more than aggravating it - I had one horrifying glimpse of eight shining black eyes, and razor-sharp pincers, before it was upon me.
I was lifted into the air in its front legs; struggling madly, I tried to kick it; my leg connected with the pincers and next moment I was in excruciating pain - I could hear Georgia yelling "Stupefy!" too, but her spell had no more effect than mine - I raised my wand as the spider opened its pincers once more, and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
It worked - the Disarming spell made the spider drop me, but that meant that I fell twelve feet onto my already injured leg, which crumpled beneath me. Without pausing to think, I aimed at the spider's underbelly, as I had done with the Crab, and shouted "Stupefy!" just as Georgia yelled the same thing.
The two spells combined did what one alone had not - the spider keeled over sideways, flattening a nearby hedge, and strewing the path with a tangle of hairy legs.
"Kiara!" I heard Georgia shouting. "You all right? Did it fall on you?"
"No," I called back, panting. I looked down at my leg. It was bleeding badly. I could see some sort of thick, gluey secretion from the spider's pincers on my torn robes. I tried to get up, but my leg was shaking badly and did not want to support my weight. I leant against the hedge, gasping for breath, and looked around.
Georgia was standing feet from the Triwizard Cup, which was gleaming behind her.
"Take it, then," I panted to Georgia. "Go on, take it. You're there."
But Georgia didn't move. She merely stood there, looking at me. Then she turned to stare at the Cup. I saw the longing expression on her face in its golden light. Georgia looked around at me again, as I held onto the hedge to support myself.
Georgia took a deep breath. "You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck in here."
"That's not how it's supposed to work," I said. I felt angry; my leg was very painful, I was aching all over from trying to throw off the spider, and after all my efforts, Georgia had beaten me to it, just as she had been Khan's first choice to the ball. "The one who reaches the Cup first gets the points. That's you. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on this leg."
Georgia took a few paces nearer to the Stunned spider, away from the Cup, shaking her head.
"No," she said.
"Stop being noble," I said irritably. "Just take it, then we can get out of here."
Georgia watched me steadying myself, holding tight to the hedge.
"You told me about the dragons," Georgia said. "I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming."
"I had help on that, too," I snapped, trying to mop up my bloody leg with my robes. "You helped me with the egg - we're square."
"I had help on the egg in the first place," said Georgia.
"We're still square," I said, testing my leg gingerly; it shook violently as I put weight on it; I had sprained my ankle when the spider had dropped me.
"You should've got more points on the second task," said Georgia mulishly. "You stayed behind to try and get all the hostages. I should've done that."
"I was the only one who was thick enough to take that song seriously!" I said bitterly. "Just take the Cup!"
"No," said Georgia.
She stepped over the spider's tangled legs to join me. I just stared at her. Georgia was serious. She was walking away from the sort of glory Badger-Stripes house hadn't had in centuries.
"Go on," Georgia said. She looked as though this was costing her every ounce of resolution she had, but her face was set, her arms were folded, she seemed decided.
I looked from Georgia to the Cup. For one shining moment, I saw myself emerging from the maze, holding it. I saw myself holding the Triwizard Cup aloft, heard the roar of the crowd, saw Khan's face shining with admiration, more clearly than I had ever seen it before that moment ... and then the picture faded, and I found myself staring at Georgia's shadowy, stubborn face.
"Both of us," I said.
"What?"
"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Dragon Mort victory. We'll tie for it."
Georgia stared at me. She unfolded her arms. "You - you sure?"
"Yeah," I said. "Yeah ... we've helped each other out, haven't we? We both got here. Let's just take it together."
For a moment, Georgia looked as though she couldn't believe her ears; then her face split in a grin.
"You're on," she said. "Come here."
She grabbed my arm below the shoulder, and helped me limp towards the plinth where the Cup stood. When we reached it, we both held out a hand over one of the Cup's gleaming handles.
"On three, right?" I said. "One - two - three - "
Georgia and I both grasped a handle.
Instantly, I felt a jerk somewhere behind my navel. My feet had left the ground. I could not unclench the hand holding the Triwizard Cup; it was pulling me onwards, in a howl of wind and swirling colour, with Georgia at my side. Little did I know at that moment, that when my feet hit the ground a few seconds later, that my life would change for ever, and things would slowly be going downhill from that point on, or, as Sian would later say, "things are going to go from bad, to worse, to horribly wrong, before they start to get better again" ...