Disclaimer: I hold no rights over the Harry Potter series or the Danny Phantom series. Any and all direct quotes and texts belong to J. K. Rowling and are used for entertainment purposes only and not for profit or any additional benefits.

ΔOl

Chapter Thirty-One: The Third Task V

The Tetrawizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. Harry struggled to quicken his pace, his breath coming out in short, sharp painful bursts as he shoved himself forward, further away from where the sphinx had let him pass. Suddenly a dark figure hurtled out onto the path in front of him – dressed in black and yellow was the burlier figure of the other Hogwarts champion careening towards the plinth.

Cedric was going to get there first. Cedric was sprinting as fast as he could toward the cup, and Harry knew he would never catch up, Cedric was much taller, had much longer legs—

Then Harry saw something immense over a hedge to his left, moving quickly along a path that intersected with his own; it was moving so fast Cedric was about to run into it, and Cedric, his eyes on the cup, had not seen it—

"Cedric!" Harry bellowed, "On your left!"

Cedric looked around just in time to hurl himself past the thing, narrowly avoiding being impaled by one of its large, spindly, hairy legs – but in his haste, he tripped.

"Stupefy!" Harry roared. The spell hit the spider's gigantic furry body, but it was about as effective as tossing a rock at it; the spider jerked, scuttled around and ran at Harry instead.

"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!"

It was useless – the spider was either so large, or so magical, that the spells were doing no more than aggravating it. Harry had one horrifying glimpse of eight shining black eyes and razor-sharp pincers before it was upon him.

Its front legs lifted him high into the air; struggling madly. He tried to kick it; his leg connecting with the deadly pincers and next moment he was in excruciating pain. He could hear Cedric yelling "Stupefy!" too, but the spell was no more powerful than Harry's, making it stomp its remaining legs, piercing the craggy earth. Cedric fell onto his back with a shout, his wand flying from his hand and out of sight.

Harry raised his wand as the spider opened its pincers once more and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

It worked – the Disarming Spell made the spider drop him, but that meant that Harry fell twelve feet onto his already injured leg, which crumpled beneath him. Without pausing to think, he aimed high at the spider's underbelly, as he had done with the skrewt, and shouted, "Stupefy!" The spider reeled back with a high-pitched clicking noise, stumbling on its legs before charging at Harry again.

"Get out of the way!" a voice called.

A beam of green light flew at the spider, colliding with it and sending it flying into a nearby hedge with a screech, legs flailed weakly, the ones closest to Harry threatening to nick (or decapitate) him before they reluctantly curled into its body, dead.

Harry looked down the path leading to the cup to see Danny rushing towards him, "Harry!"

"Harry!" he heard Cedric shout, "Are you all right? Did it fall on you?"

"No," Harry looked down at his leg. It was bleeding freely. He could see some sort of thick, gluey secretion from the spider's pincers on his torn robes. He tried to get up, but his leg was shaking badly and did not want to support his full weight. Danny tossed an arm across his shoulder and Cedric, who had seemed to find his wand, took his other side and helped him to his feet.

"Where's your wand? I don't know any healing spells," Cedric told Danny, sounding winded.

Danny grimaced, "I lost it to a chimaera a while back."

"So that was wandless magic just then?" Cedric asked incredulously.

Danny's ears burned a deep red before he mumbled something undiscernible.

Leaning heavily on Cedric, Harry looked around. Danny was standing feet from the Tetrawizard Cup, which was gleaming behind him.

"Take it, then," Harry panted to Danny, "Go on, take it. You're there."

But Danny didn't move. He just stood there, looking at Harry. Then he turned to stare at a despondent Cedric, then the spider, and then the cup – Harry saw his longing expression in its golden light. Danny looked at Harry again, who was now grasping at the hedge Cedric had leaned him on like a lifeline. Danny took a deep breath.

"One of you should take it. You guys were here before me."

"That's not how it's supposed to work!" Harry said in a strained voice. He was angry; his leg was very painful, he was aching all over from trying to throw off the spider, and after all his efforts, both Danny and Cedric had beaten him to it, just as Cedric had beaten Harry to asking Cho to the ball. Just as Danny had beaten Harry with having the family he had always dreamed of, "The one who reaches the cup first gets the points. That's you. If you hadn't helped me and Cedric with the spider, you would have won. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on this leg, so it's between you and him."

Danny took a few paces nearer to the dead spider, away from the cup, shaking his head. Cedric did the same.

"No," they said in unison.

"Stop being noble," said Harry irritably, "Just one of you take it, then we can get out of here."

Danny and Cedric watched Harry steady himself, holding tight to the hedge.

"You told me about the dragons," Cedric 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," Harry snapped, trying to mop up his bloody leg with his robes, "You helped me with the egg – we're square."

"I had help on the egg in the first place," said Cedric.

"Let Danny have it then!" Harry yelled.

"It's not mine. I've… well, I wouldn't say it's 'cheating', but… Anyway, I didn't even want to be in the tournament in the first place," Danny pointed out.

"You should've got more points on the second task," Cedric continued telling Harry mulishly, "You stayed behind to get all the hostages. I should've done that."

"I was the only one who was thick enough to take that song seriously!" said Harry bitterly, "Just one of you take the cup!"

"No," they said again.

Cedric stepped over the spider's tangled legs to join Harry, who stared at him. Cedric was serious. He was walking away from the sort of glory Hufflepuff House hadn't had in centuries. Danny came to a stop beside him, his face just as stony – the ability to prove that muggleborns were just as magically capable as the rest of the wizarding community was slipping right through his stubborn ash-inked fingers.

"Go on," Cedric urged. He looked as though this was costing him every ounce of resolution he had, but his face was set, his arms were folded, he seemed decided.

Danny, for all his talk of not wanting to have competed seemed to be suffering just as much as Cedric, copying his pose, thought his mottled arm twitched.

Harry looked from the two of them to the cup. For one shining moment, he saw himself emerging from the maze, holding it. He saw himself holding the Tetrawizard Cup aloft, heard the roar of the crowd, saw Cho's face shining with admiration, more clearly than he had ever seen it before... and then the pictures faded, and he found himself staring at Cedric and Danny's shadowy, stubborn faces.

"The three of us," Harry proposed.

"What?"

"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it. Oh, and Casper."

Danny stared at Harry. He unfolded his arms, "You— you sure?"

"Yeah," Harry said boldly, "Yeah, we've all helped each other out a lot, haven't we? We all got here. Let's just take it together."

For a moment, Cedric looked as though he couldn't believe his ears; then his face split in a grin, "It used to be called the Triwizard Cup, after all – what better way to end it than with a three-way tie, eh?"

Danny grinned back, "You're on," he said, "Come here."

Together, Cedric and Danny were able to pull Harry to his feet. Looping each of his arms around their shoulders, they helped Harry limp toward the plinth where the cup stood.

When they reached it, they each held a hand out over the cup's gleaming handles.

"On three, right?" told Harry, "One, two, three—"

He, Cedric and Danny grasped a handle.

Instantly, Harry felt a jerk somewhere behind his navel. His feet left the ground. He could not unclench his hand holding the Tetrawizard Cup; it was pulling him onward in a howl of wind and swirling colour, Cedric and Danny at his side.

ΔOl

A lot of people were not only trying to guess the answer to my riddle but also Harry's. I'm assuming that these people either haven't read the books or can't quite remember the answer so I'll break it down:

—

First think of the person who lives in disguise,

Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.

—

The answer to this part of the riddle is a 'spy'.

—

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

The middle of middle and end of end?

—

This is a literal clue, the middle letter of the word 'middle' is 'd', same with 'end' and 'mend' finishing with 'd'.

—

And finally give me the sound often heard,

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

—

This could have been an array of sounds, but J. K. Rowling's most commonly used onomatopoeia is 'er'.

—

Now string them together, and answer me this,

Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?

—

In result we get the word 'spider'.

For Danny's riddle I'll do the same:

—

First think of something that is near never seen,

To describe something small, to the eye just a glean.

—

For something that is near never seen, it describes something miniscule, something baring on microscopic, or something small in the distance, otherwise known as a 'spec'.

—

Next tell me a letter with which none of the five have flowed,

It does not mark the spot, merely forms the crossroad.

—

As Danny figured out from 'the five have flowed' the letter is a consonant. A letter similar to the letter 'x' is the letter 't', which looked at on an alternate perspective can be seen in a crossroad.

—

And finally; does the cent make sense when it is not in the centre?

It is the search towards the end with which people flounder.

—

This one is pretty obvious, as it follows a similar pattern to J. K. Rowling's; if you literally take the word 'cent' out of centre, you are left with the letters 're'.

—

Now line them up, and the answer you make,

Will tell you; which creature can death not take?"

—

Placed all together the answer to Danny's riddle is the word 'spectre'. Congratulations for everyone who guessed correctly (ShadowPillow, AnonymousAndrea, Jaakusan, The Alien of Pluto, Angela and MermaidHorse). Good tries from everyone else, got a range including ghosts, halfas, phoenix (very intelligent guess) and for one strange reason someone answered Skulker…

Review, you all know what is coming next… maybe. x