Chapter Fifty
June 24th
Albus rolled his emerald eyes, folding his arms over his chest as his eyebrows pinched together in irritation, his father bubbling over with joyful laughter, drawing his rounded glasses from his defined face to wipe them along the hem of his woollen sweater. His mother stood beside his father, her arm threaded through his as her rose lips folded into a smirk whilst she continued to embarrass Albus, retelling stories of his youth to the wide-eyed Tuesday.
"And then Al went through his naked phase-"Ginerva continued as Tuesday smirked widely, arching an eyebrow at Albus as he groaned with ferocity.
"Okay, everyone go now." He snapped with a scowl, attempting to hide his furious embarrassment. "Be gone."
"That's alright, dear." His mother chimed, kissing him on the top of the head as he glanced at her with a deadpan expression before she leant towards Tuesday with a toothy grin. "We can discuss him later."
"That sounds wonderful." Tuesday returned with a wider smirk, folding her arms over her chest as Albus glared at her judgementally, his parents bidding him farewell and wishing him good luck before exiting the tent. "Congratulations on your N.E.W.T. scores once more."
"Well you have to face it; I am not too shabby a boyfriend." Albus murmured whilst combing his fingers through Tuesday's dark tumbles, his hot breath tickling over her as the gap between them closed. "Aren't you going to wish me luck before I go?"
"Just..." She shook her head, pushing away from him with a wide, playful grin. "Just try not to lose too badly to those other champions, I mean the Durmstrang boy already surpasses you by far in the looks department."
"Oh ha-ha, you are so very funny." He muttered with a scowl, folding his arms over his slim torso which was encased in padded sports robes.
"Good luck and be careful." She murmured before pressing her lips to his briefly, his scowl vanishing instantaneously.
With one last squeeze of his hand for support, Tuesday swept from the tent, scurrying towards the various stands that rimmed the oval Quidditch pitch, no doubt searching for her fellow Slytherins who were eager for the event to begin. Albus took one last deep breath before striding from his tent, entering into the opening stone chamber where the other champions stood.
"Welcome one and all to the final event." Headmaster Frampton's voice boomed about the pitch that had been transformed into a labyrinth of winding stone corridors. "All champions will enter the labyrinth at once despite their scores, only armed with their wands, and each will be pursued by their own deadly beast. Be warned, only when you find the Triwizard Cup hidden within the labyrinth will it be subdued and your beast will not be the only creature lingering within."
With a brief word from the headmaster of Durmstrang and the headmistress of Beauxbatons, Headmaster Frampton announced the beginning of the event, warning the champions that their beasts would be released mere seconds after they entered. Albus gulped nervously, whipping his wand from his pocket before scrambling into the labyrinth, darting down the winding corridor to his left whilst the remaining champions throttled off in separate directions.
The hallways were littered in murderous, overgrown hordes of Devil's Snare that snatched out at Albus as he passed by, rimmed by Aconite plants with furiously toxic leaves. The floor was encased in clusters of Venemous Tentacula plants that snapped their toothed limbs at him, its bite highly poisonous as it expelled well-aimed venom from its shoots. A sliver of venom whipped passed Albus' face, mere millimetres from his flesh as he skidded to a stop, blocked by a towering wall, a dead end.
"Finally you have reached a dead end; all this running was truly tedious." A dark growling voice erupted from behind him, sending his heart dropping into his stomach nervously as he turned around to face the beast that emerged from the shadows.
The creature had the face of a human male with a cerebral structure akin to a human, its eyes a dark golden and narrowed hungrily as its features were framed by a bright auburn mane that extended down into its golden lion body, its charcoal black claws scraping over the hardened floor. A glossy, ebony scorpion's tail swayed about behind it, its stinger erect and lethal. Albus wished to back into the wall behind him to increase the distance between him and the beast, but he knew Devil's Snare awaited excitedly.
A Manticore's skin repels all known charms and has very violent tendencies. Professor Piece's voice echoed through his mind as he attempted to search a route of escape. It is definitely hard to subdue with magic and is an immensely rare, deadly creature.
"Come now, just hold still and this will all be over." The male Manticore hissed, baring its sharpened canines at him darkly. He pointed the end of his wand towards the creature and it simply chuckled darkly, continuing in its stalking stride. "I think we both know that little stick is useless against me."
"Perhaps not..." Albus muttered before darting his wand towards the horde of Venomous Tentacula to his right. "Locomotor Venomous Tentacula!"
The mass of vicious mortal plants darted towards the Manticore at Albus' will, tackling it to the ground, sinking their teethed limbs into its flesh as it attempted to tear them to shreds. Albus quickly scrambled passed the creature, jumping over it as its stinger whipped about furiously in an attempt to slice over him. He scurried through the maze, glancing over his shoulder nervously as he rounded each corner, running deeper and deeper into the labyrinth, narrowing avoiding several collisions with the deadly vegetation sprinkled about the stone corridors.
Suddenly he felt his heart stop in his chest, his sparkling emerald eyes widening in disbelief at the shining cup that stood upon the pedestal before him. His eyes shifted about suspiciously as he scurried towards the cup, the sound of claws against the stone flooring close behind him, the roar of the Manticore echoing through the maze darkly. As his fingers curled around the edge of the cup, a blast of light rippled through him, erupting about the arena, paralysing the beasts as they stalked their prey. The piercing, deafening sound of applauding snapped Albus from his daze as the Manticore lay tamed mere centimetres from him, moaning to itself, its eyes fixated on the glistening Triwizard Cup that rested in Albus' tight grasp.
Albus shovelled mashed potatoes into his mouth hungrily, his body aching from the overwhelming amount of running he had done under his rush of adrenaline that led him to find the Triwizard Cup. Tuesday sat at his side, nibbling along the edge of a Yorkshire pudding as she grinned at her comrades, Lorcan and Mackenzie who sat across from the pair, entangled in one another's arms.
"Hungry?" Tuesday teased, nudging the dark-haired seventh year with her elbow as he glanced up at her from his plate, his mouth stuffed to the brim with perfectly roasted beef.
"I think you would be if you were in my position." He replied once he had gulped down his meal, smiling at her gently as she returned to her nibbling, her uneven, well-layered mop of raven hair shadowing her pallid, heart-shaped face.
"Good evening!" Headmaster Frampton interrupted the chatter that hummed about the Great Hall abruptly, his lips curled into a wide smile. "Welcome to the final feast of the year, I trust everything is to your liking. I would like to take this chance to thank you all for being very hospitable to our guests and to thank them for their charming presence, the Triwizard Tournament as been truly brilliant, quite the nail-biter–I believe that is what the word is.
"And now, before I allow you to continue the remains of your meal, my fellow headmasters and I would like to announce the true champion of the Triwizard Tournament." All students leaned in with excitement, whispering amongst themselves whilst gazes darted from one champion to another, each student attempting to guess who would win.
Tuesday grasped Albus' hand, squeezing it tightly as she threaded her fingers through his. Her deep violet eyes glanced up at him supportively as her pale, shapely lips moulded into a small, nervous smile as Albus' emerald gaze returned to Headmaster Frampton who grinned at the suspense.
"The winner, if you please, of the Triwizard Tournament is," He paused, his voice sharp as the students hung off of his every word, resisting the urge to groan at his purposeful pause. "The Hogwarts Champion, Albus Potter!"
