Declaration: I write for my own pleasure and not for profit. I do not own Harry Potter Universe.
With You by My Side
Chapter 52- Seeking those that were hidden!
Even though it was about 10 in the morning and after breakfast, the sun was beginning to finally make a dent in the mist in the air. Birds were chirping and the squawks of the hippogriffs and cries of other animals in the forbidden forest mingled with the excited voices of about a thousand witches and wizards congregated around the black lake even in the frigid temperatures.
"Good morning world," the amplified voice of the announcer shattered the serene atmosphere. "You heard that right folks, the first task was such a monumental hit that we at the WWN have received request from places like the USA, India, China, Japan, and the rest of Europe for live coverage. So for the first time in the history of magical games and sports, my voice is heard around the world."
Polite applause greeted that statement; there was no need to say that most of those applauding were those who did not hear about live broadcasts in the non-magical world. The half-bloods or the non-magical born were actually surprised that even the quidditch world cup was not broadcast worldwide.
"This is Thomas Jordan and welcome to the second task of the Triwizard tournament." This time the applause was thunderous. Students and the others who were invited to watch the tasks, were covered up and huddling together to try and hide from the brisk wind. The only hope to escape was to whip themselves up into a frenzy supporting their favourites and that is what they were doing.
Bagman came up to the dais with a spring in his step; the three champions were already there and he shook their hands with enthusiasm and a wide grin on his face. The tournament was certainly creating waves and he was basking in the glory of being one of those who contributed to the tasks. He conveniently forgot that the new tasks were almost entirely the brain child of the Hogwarts' professors and that he did not have any part to play in that. Bagman and almost all of the department of magical games and sports was of course involved in planning the initial tasks, but the word of Dumbledore carried a lot of weight, as much as his wand carried a threat.
Bagman eagerly snatched up the microphone that was enchanted to not only broadcast all over the world but also to those assembled around the black lake. Unlike the quidditch pitch, where seating was available all around the pitch, the black lake though big did not allow such a high number of spectators. Giant monitor screens did not make their appearance yet and so the seating was limited to two sides of the lake. The vastness of the lake meant that there was a lot more space for the task, but at the same time, the large area meant that most of the task would be away from those who were watching on the sidelines.
The solution was to earmark an area of roughly a square kilometer and the task would be confined to that area only. Seating was arranged on two of the banks which adjoined the area of the black lake that formed the arena. The area was warded only to restrict the champions to that area but not for any of the creatures which made the black lake their home to enter.
"The first task was more about excitement and surprises while this task is more about skill, ability to think on their feet, and of course magical ability," Bagman started to explain the rules of the task and the silence was palpable as no one wanted to miss what was entailed for the task, either that or they were saving their lungs for what was sure to come.
The battlefield for the task was not marked in anyway, if they were not told about the warding to prevent any of the champions leaving the area, they would not have known. Bagman explained all of this to the champions before coming to the pertinent point, "You all have a snitch from the first task and you were told that it is a clue. In this task, you will be getting the means to decipher the clue."
Bagman chuckled at the grumblings arising from most of the crowd after hearing his convoluted explanation. To set them straight he expanded on what was required, "In this task, there will be five flags dispersed randomly all around the area. Each champion will be marked with a specific colour. Black for Mr. Krum, bright blue for Miss Delacour, and Gryffindor scarlet for Mr. Potter…" he was interrupted by a wave of cheering by most of the spectators. Not only were they alumni of Hogwarts, they were immensely proud of the 'Boy-Who-Lived' and now it only increased after Harry's performance in the first task.
"Now, now…" the head of magical games and sports chided the crowd good naturedly. "Each flag has a rune etched on it and will form a runic array when assembled in their correct order. This runic array is need to open the snitch and get the clue."
'Wow!' Harry thought, 'It certainly is a test for our magical ability.'
If people thought that the first task was to Krum's advantage, then who knew him intimately would know that runes were never a good subject with the Bulgarian. In fact, Krum himself admitted that he took just the number of classes needed to be called a certified wizard and he worked just hard enough to pass his subjects. Most of them were with 'acceptable' and only transfiguration with 'exceeds expectation'. On the other hand, Harry was an expert in runes while Fleur was more than decent, she had to be as joining Gringotts was her career choice.
He was distracted from his musings when the flags appeared in their positions when Bagman gestured towards the cordoned off area. If they were in their exact positions as they were to be, something did not sit right with Harry. One hour to capture 5 flags? "What is the catch?" he asked.
Bagman chuckled, "The catch, Mr. Potter, is that you will have to traverse through this." With that he gestured again towards the lake and a shimmering caught their eyes; when the disillusionment charm dissipated, everyone could see that there were several solid fences all over the warded off area. The fences were about thigh high and were nearly indistinguishable against the water, but what caught Harry's eye was that the fences had a certain pattern to them rather than being haphazard.
"A maze," he asked incredulously.
Bagman beamed at Harry but cowered a little when faced with the glares of the other two champions. Fleur is a known veela and being on water was not so conducive to her magic, because of that her glare was on full power. As for Krum, he did not have an opinion on the field but the overly friendly attentions of the man was grating on his nerves and especially after losing so spectacularly in an aerial fight to a rookie, it would only take a similarly spectacular win to put a smile on his face.
"Well," the head of magical games and sports swallowed nervously before regaining his equilibrium. "Yes, you will have to traverse the maze and collect all the five flags. For Mr. Krum it will be six flags due to the demerit he obtained in the first task."
Looking at the scowl on the Bulgarian's face, Bagman rushed through the explanation. The fences though only about 2 to 3 feet high, were warded to prevent anyone from crossing over them. Thankfully the ward would only bounce them back rather than causing any discomfort, except for the discomfort of being bounced against their will, that is. Basically, the champions will have to either conjure, transfigure, or manually construct a vehicle of sorts to move around on the water. Once the champions have a means of transport, they may not change it except for making some repairs or slight modifications on the charms they might have cast on the vehicle.
"You will have one hour to collect the flags and reach the center of the maze where a 'prize' will wait for you…" Bagman continued.
Harry suddenly had a feeling as to what his prize was; he did not see her since the start of the day and she was not even there for breakfast. In a sense, Hermione was his prize. Harry wanted to protest and to give him a piece of his mind, but calmed himself as he knew that it was after the fact and nothing he would say would make any difference. He would just have to make sure to claim his prize. Besides, McGonagall would tear strips off their hides if anything happened to one of her surrogate grandchildren. Taking a deep breath, he focused on getting to understand the remaining rules.
"Be advised that you will have an hour to get the prize and you will be disqualified if you fail to…" that created a ripple among those assembled. Even the champions were a little taken aback at that statement. Would they not lose their magic if they failed to appear for a task? Then again, if they were to fail at a task and get removed from the tournament, maybe not. If that means, they may have to miss some of the flags, they would have to.
When Harry voiced the question, Bagman was quick to answer that if they miss any of the flags, they would be given demerits as to the number of flags they missed. The champions would have to take up a make-up task to reclaim their demerits and get all the flags needed to complete the runic array. The other rules were similar to what they had in the first task, no magic on their opponents or on their vehicles. They may fight any of the denizens of the lake but at their own risk; that warning was needed as Harry was sure that he was not brave enough to tangle with the giant squid unless in the direst of circumstances.
It certainly was an interesting competition which would test their magical ability in procuring the much needed vehicle, their speed in traversing the water body, and most importantly their skill in controlling the vehicle to the required destination.
The champions were given half an hour and some privacy to construct their vehicles. The privacy also meant that no one could help them, not that any of them needed the help.
The obvious vehicle for transport on water is a boat or any one of the several forms of a basic float. Harry thought of going with the basic rowboat seen in Hogwarts that is used to ferry the first years across the black lake, he even thought about summoning one for his use. Unfortunately, he did not know for sure if the boat would fit through the lanes formed by the fences. After a little under four years, he was not sure if his estimation of the boat size would hold true and so abandoned that line of thought. Instead he needed something easy to maneuver and at the same time quite fast.
Everyone was surprised when Harry came out of the privacy of his tent and went rummaging around in the wooded area a few meters away from the black lake. Thankfully, his hunt was not for long and Harry went back into the tent with two sturdy looking branches of about 2 to 3 feet long. Then it was just a matter of a few spells and Harry was ready.
A gong sounded the end of thirty minutes and the three champions arrived at the edge of the black lake again. They made an interesting spectacle as Krum was floating a rubber dingy in front of him and Fleur was doing the same except that it was a small boat, precisely like that found ferrying the first years it was only a little smaller in size. What surprised everyone was that Harry was carrying what looked like two planks. They were a little thinner than normal wooden plank and curved at the edges too. Only the children of non-magcial origins recognized them as skis. The only difference was that they were not as long as the normal snow skis and not as sleek but they would serve the purpose of travelling across snow if that was the intention.
Bagman looked at the contraptions in Harry's hand a little curiously before shrugging his shoulders. Instead he raised his hands towards the assembled crowd and bellowed, "Are you ready!" A chorus of "Yes!" came back. He really was enjoying this.
Bagman next turned to the judges and with a little more politeness enquired, "Are the honourable judges ready?"
None of the judges deigned to answer him verbally but their nods or hand gestures were taken as their acceptance and so Bagman finally turned to the champions.
"Now that you all are ready…" He gestured toward Fleur, "Miss Delacour, since you were the first to catch a snitch, you will be the first…"
He was interrupted by an impatient Fleur, "Harry here was the first to get the snitch."
Bagman was left sputtering and trying to extricate himself when Harry bailed him out, "It's alright Fleur, let's go with 'ladies first'."
Thankful for the way out, Bagman latched onto it, "Yes, Miss Delacour, you first." Fleur started to move but was stopped by Bagman's cheeky comment, "Oh! Beware of surprises…"
Fleur groaned thinking about the dangers they had to face during the first task, of course this task would not be easy too. As her boat was already in the water, Fleur carefully stepped into it, ensuring that it did not tip her into the water. She cautiously propelled her vehicle towards the opening of the maze and judging by the way the craft was handling, felt confident enough to venture into the maze. As soon as Fleur neared the maze, the fences near the opening moved quickly to give her three options to move ahead.
There was no way to say which was better and so shrugging her shoulder, Fleur directed her craft into the middle path. As soon as she entered the path, the fences rearranged themselves closing that particular fork in the path and her view was obscured by to everyone watching her progress.
"Nothing to worry folks," Thomas Jordan's voice made its presence known, "This is only temporary until the other champions also enter the maze. To prevent cheating you know," he added. Harry simply rolled his eyes at the dramatics of the announcer. He noticed that Lee Jordan was also in the commentator's box, probably to assist his brother as there were three champions and some of the action was missed during the first task.
Harry went next; everyone was curious to see what those short planks did. Those of non-magical origin were also curious to see how he would manage to use something that was made for snow on water.
Harry knew that the skis were too narrow for them to be of any real use on water. The surf board, or a water ski are usually much wider than what he had, but he had one trick up his sleeve that a normal water boarder does not have, magic. His only problem was not to allow the water to move away from under the skis when he was to propel himself forward.
There were many ways to do this, the easiest would be the hover charm, one which allows a witch or wizard to hover in the air and then with a very weak banishing charm can propel themselves. However, this charm would be of no use to Harry, as the rules stated that at least some part of the vehicle they were to use had to touch the water. That meant that the hover charm was out of question.
The other way was to try and keep him from sinking using a combination of 'wingardium leviosa' on himself and a weak banishing charm for propulsion. The levitation charm has to be cast with precision so that he would not sink in the water but at the same time have the skis touching the water. It was not impossible but it would keep him so occupied that Harry would be in no position to do anything else. So that option was also out.
Instead, Harry went for the easiest option. He inscribed a runic array on the soles of the skis, the final output of the skis was, one, to cast a quick freezing charm to freeze the water right below his skis and two, give out a very weak blast of air to keep him moving forward mostly for him to maintain balance rather than propulsion.
The water was cold enough for the freezing charm to hold long enough for Harry to glide on it. It was not exactly skiing on powder snow, and Harry was not a champion skier or a rollerblader, but he was the most athletic and would be the fastest on the water compared to both Fleur and Krum. A thunderous roar of applause greeted the sight of Harry skating his way, on two tracks of ice forming just below his improvised water skates, into the maze. The ice did not last long as it melted away once the freezing charm was removed, but it was long enough to hold the Hogwarts champion up. Harry chose the left fork and expected that Krum will be left with only the right fork to take.
As soon as he entered, Harry noticed that the outside sound was totally cut off. It was probably a way to prevent anyone from the outside giving directions to the champions.
Taking a deep breathe, Harry spread out his senses to feel the magic around him. He could see the pattern formed by the wards that were raised above the fences to prevent the contestants from crossing over them. Harry could also sense the gaps in the wards, easily giving him an outline of the paths within the maze. He recollected the image formed in his mind when the flags were revealed before they were lost to sight in the maze. Harry brought that image forward and tried to superimpose it over the magical field around him. He grinned broadly at the result, he not only had a clear view of the path he had to take in order to make it to the center of the maze, but also knew to an extent of certainty where the scarlet coloured flags were positioned along the paths.
He mentally mapped the shortest way for him to reach his target. Unfortunately, he realized that he would only be able to capture two of the flags if he was to follow the quickest route. Then again, that was the goal right, to get to his 'prize' before the time was up? Harry decided that he would at least get the two accessible flags first before making a decision about going after the three remaining flags. He could probably breeze through the maze and get to them, but somehow he felt that it would not be that easy. Would the fences keep changing?
'Well,' Harry thought, 'Gryffindors charge ahead. Time's a wasting.' The blast of air was keeping him moving forward slowly, it was manly to keep him from falling if he was not moving under his own power rather than speed him on the water. With his mind made up, Harry pushed down onto the ice with his left leg and propelled himself forward. With his hands swaying on either side, Harry sped forward like an Olympic racer on ice. Not as fast though, but enough to beat Fleur and Krum in a straight line speed test, by quite a margin.
There were two paths to the right that would take him into the maze, one right in front of him and the other a little further ahead. Any one in a position such as him would have instinctually taken the first path, but due to his near perfect recall as a result of his excellent occlumency, Harry knew that the first flag was just a few meters away from him and on the path which is the second one to his right.
Rushing forward, Harry was planning ahead as to the path he had to take and a small part of his mind was already plotting the route he was to take. His mode of transport was maneuverable enough that he need not slow down too much and so took the turn at a good speed and immediately his eyes widened and his mind snapped to full alert.
Harry could sense an enormous build up to his left a few feet in front of him. He realized with horror that at his current speed, he would be right in front of the burst of magic when it would be released into his path. Reacting instantly, Harry gave a harder than normal push and sat down on his haunches.
Just as he neared the region of the magic build up, a stubby pipe shot out from the fence and a burst of flame was released from it. The short burst of speed that he generated meant that Harry crossed the spot before the flame was released, but only barely. Thankfully he was bent down enough that the flame passed above him and behind him.
'Blood hell,' Harry cursed mentally as he turned around to look at the still smoking pipe, 'A flame thrower.' Though the flames missed him completely, the heat of the fire meant that he was sweating profusely. He hurriedly looked at his clothes and breathed a sigh of relief to see that he was essentially unharmed except for getting a good fright.
Getting his heart rate under control, Harry cursed the organizers and especially Bagman. "Damn that man and his surprises…" He did not know but the maze was charmed in such a way that even though no sound could be heard from the outside, the spectators could hear every sound made in the maze. They could also see everything, albeit from a very long distance, that was going on inside. If you were lucky and had an omniculars in your position, then the action would be a little closer to you. After all there was no point in sitting in the cold morning and watch the waters of the lake. A few chuckles greeted that statement as it was not only audible easily but was also picked up by the announcer and repeated with a few colourful statements added to it as heard from the mutterings of the other two champions.
Harry took a careful look at the spot the flamethrower was at and could see his first flag now resting right on top of the pipe. The flag was tacked to the fence but was right above the opening for the pipe. He could hazard a guess as to what would happen if he was to try and liberate the flag. Flattening himself along the fence, Harry stretched his hand and tried to snag the flag from behind. However, as soon as his hand neared the pipe, it retreated a short distance into the fence and another burst of flame was released.
His extreme dueling training kicked in and Harry threw himself backwards into the water. The cold water threatened to rob him off his breath but Harry was prepared and had enough sense to gulp in a good lungful of air. Unfortunately for him, his skis did not take a break and the surface was beginning to freeze right above where he was hanging upside down. Thinking quickly, Harry cancelled the sticking charm on the soles of his dragon hide boots and freed himself from the skis. Before he could regain his bearings though, he felt a sharp pain in his forearm forcing a yell out of him and causing him to lose precious oxygen. He kicked hard to rise to the surface for some much needed air and looked at what was causing the pain.
A Grindylow had its teeth firmly sunk into his arm. With a sigh, Harry made a show of transferring his wand to his left hand and cast a stunning spell at point blank range. With a quietly muttered healing spell, Harry closed the wound on his arm to prevent further blood loss.
Using the frozen block of ice as leverage, Harry pulled himself onto the fragile piece of ice and quickly regained his skis. It was not a moment too soon as the ice crumbled quickly and Harry had to cast the sticking charm once more to secure his skis firmly.
With a wave of his wand he began drying himself. "Damn," he sighed out loud, "I hope that Fleur and Krum had thought of adding flame protection to their crafts." As they were on water, Harry added a few water resistance spells, he did not think anything about fire and so was reasonably sure that his rivals would also not have done that. He was not in a flammable craft unlike them and so hoped fervently for the safety of his veela friend.
Shaking his head, Harry focused on the problem in front of him. He could not grab the flag without triggering the flamethrower, what was he to do? For a moment he thought of disconnecting the magical rune that was obviously drawing ambient magic to power the flames. That would mean exposing the true extent of his powers to the world and he did not want that, not with Voldemort still alive. So he had to do it the hard way.
Thinking for a few minutes, Harry snapped his fingers in a 'Eureka' moment. To his consternation, a shape began to form in the air in front of him, it was of course what he visualized in his mind. Harry quickly began to gesture with his wand that was still clutched in his off hand and hoped that this action was enough to cover his wandless conjuration. Though his family and dear friends chuckled at his blunder and his hurried efforts to cover his actions, the rest of the audience was amazed at Harry's prowess at conjuring something solid and that too using the minimal of wand movements.
The results of the conjuration was hovering in front of him and it was a hollow pipe made of steel. The pipe was bent at right angles with one end much shorter than the other. Harry carefully levitated the pipe over the flamethrower with the shorter end facing the opening and the longer end facing away from him. With deliberate actions, he began to lower the conjured pipe to try and fit it over the mouth of the flamethrower. As soon as the pipe came within its range, another gout of flame shot out. Harry quickly maneuvered his conjuration to fit the opening from where the flame was coming out.
It was not a tight fit and so Harry had to continue holding it in place. However, it served its purpose as the flames were now directed away from him. Harry quickly retrieved his first flag and retreated a few steps back before flicking his wand to vanish his conjuration. The dumbfounded crowd erupted in enthusiastic applause as the Hogwarts champion was the first to get one of his targets.
A few more minutes passed as Harry skied through the maze, he deliberately took a few wrong turns to throw off suspicion. As soon as he took the first wrong turn, he was faced with a dead end and to make it more believable, Harry tried to shift the fences to see if he could cut a path through, but the fences resisted all his attempts. His investigation told him that the fences were designed to be impregnable to all spells and even if someone managed to blast a hole through, the fences would mend again.
After another wrong turn, he was faced with a school of Grindylows. This time he did not even try to pass through, he simply turned around and took the correct path. He did see Fleur and Krum a few times during his running around but neither of the three tried to exchange words or try and take the path the other was on.
Harry's next major obstacle was a merman. The merman was submerged in the water up to his gills which are placed on either side of his neck. This ensured that he could still breathe but also ensured that the champions would know that there was a merman in the vicinity, and that is if they missed the wicked trident that was blocking most of the path.
Looking balefully at the gesturing going on from the merman, Harry knew what he had to, the merman blocking him had what he wanted. How to get it though was a problem. With a resigned sigh, Harry removed the sticking charm on the skis and dunked himself into the cold water.
The conversation was strictly one sided as Harry had no means of speaking mermish, but the gist of it was that Harry had to give something to the merman to appease him in order to trade for the flag he had. Incidentally, he had a flag for each champion and if all the three champions had to finish the task without further penalties, then they would have to pass the same merman.
With a flash of inspiration, Harry donned his skis again and dashed back to the place where he encountered the first flag and the Grindylow that bit into him. He knew that the young ones of the merpeople have the water demon as pets. With a grin he presented the still stunned beast to the merman.
The merman sighed deeply. On one hand, he was asked not to really create a problem for the champions, but a Grindylow, really? He did not have any young ones for crying out loud. What was he going to do with the beast now? He looked at the champion again, he heard a lot of good things about Harry Potter and the role that he played in the current era of peace. Sighing again, the merman had to acknowledge that if there would be a time in the future when all magical creatures would be accepted as equals, then it would be with the help of this young one. With a forced grin, he accepted the offering and allowed him to take the scarlet flag and pass through.
Harry raced away; he looked at his watch and realized that he had just about half an hour to reach the center of the maze. He was near to the goal too but he still had to get three more flags. He could not not try to retrieve at least two more before claiming his prize. Having three demerits to his name would be difficult to overcome. Still, he could not go back into the maze without at least knowing that no harm had come to his beloved.
He was thankful for his ability to map the magical pathways formed by the fences which allowed him to have a relatively safe journey through the task until now. Instead of going straight through, Harry took a cleverly disguised 'U turn' and was right in front of the opening in the fence that would allow him to reach his prize. The only obstacle before him was a stretch of bubbling and foaming water. Harry cautiously put his hand above the area only to pull it back quickly. The bubbling was indeed due to steam that was escaping from the water.
The steaming water covered quite a good stretch meaning that it was not a trivial challenge. He thought of jumping over the stretch but was not sure if it would be considered as a deviation from the requirement of having some part of the vehicle touching the surface of the water. He did not know if the judges just monitor the way they were progressing or if the magic of the tournament was the judge. If it was the later one, then Harry was sure that he was complying with the rules until now, as he was allowed to use his current method of travel by magic. If it was adjudged by the panel of judges, then he could always argue that the ice was made from the water of the lake itself.
Any way, he need not worry about crossing this stretch of boiling lake water right now, as he was only halfway in terms of the time allotted and had a long way to go in terms of getting all the flags.
The center of the maze was surprisingly quite big. It was nearly 15 feet by 15 feet and probably looked much larger to Harry after the confines of the narrow path that formed the maze. The water in the clearing was calm with an occasional breeze disturbing it. What caught Harry's attention though was the presence of three items that definitely were the 'prize' they were to capture.
Three big water walking balls were suspended a few inches from the water, probably to prevent them from moving around or from the inhabitants in those balls from wandering around the area or venture into the maze. It looked as if they were hovering in place. Harry could not place the man who was inside one of the balls but as he knew the other two, he could only guess that the man was related to Krum, probably his father.
The other two were fairly obvious, though he could not see clearly as the woman was facing away from him and the distance was great, he was in the company of the witch often enough to recognize her as Fleur's mum. Then there was Hermione in the final one, seeing her inside the water walking ball, Harry burst out laughing. While Fleur's mum and Krum's dad were twiddling their thumbs, his beloved was engrossed in a book. Even when she was in some kind of a peril, seeing that she was comfortable doing what she loved most brought a smile to Harry's face.
Harry sent a pulse of magic towards Hermione. Thankfully, the place was not warded and it probably did not have any more surprises. Sensing the pulse of magic that she was so familiar with, Hermione looked up and beamed at her betrothed. She looked at her watch and was pleasantly surprised that Harry was already there to 'rescue' her.
As much as Harry wanted to take Hermione out of the maze, he did not want to do that right away. He still was a little way away to have a leg up in the second task. He showed her the two flags he got and with much gesturing, Harry conveyed the message to Hermione that he had about 20 to 25 minutes and three more flags before he could take her out of the confines of the water walking ball. Hermione also reciprocated that she was quite comfortable with the book she had in her hand. With a blown kiss, Harry turned around and dashed off.
The spectators watching the task and those listening to the broadcast had no clue as to what was happening with Harry. They could all understand that he was about to retrieve his prize but then turned back. The judges and the commentator had a general map which had the tasks that the champions had to face specifically marked on it. Professor Flitwick was tasked to enchant the maps to project the progress of each champion and that was as close to live action as they could get. The listening charms placed all around the maze were the only source of knowing what the champions did to overcome their obstacle.
The progress of Krum and Fleur through the maze was more colourful in language when compared to Harry's. The two champions were very liberal in cursing everyone and everything around them starting with the tournament organizers to whoever designed the tasks before finally ending with the obstacle itself. Though it was mostly in Bulgarian and French, the few choice words in English provided a much better entertainment to the listeners rather than the actual progress of the champions.
Unlike the live action that the non-magicals were used to on television, the magical version of the live action turned out to be a big letdown. Overall, the task was proving to be boring to the spectators, but at least it was much better than watching the ripples in the lake.
Harry had a relatively easy time with the third flag. There were no traps or riddles or specific tasks to do except that it was camouflaged very well. Liberal application of disillusionment charms made it near impossible for him to identify it and even running his hands along the fence did not turn out to be helpful. Harry had to take a few moments to bring up his memory of the position of the flag and then a few moments to concentrate on the magic around that area. Harry was sure that it was only his ability to sense magic that actually got him that particular flag.
Skating through the maze, Harry came to a stop before a turn which had a high enough concentration of magic on the other side to make him wary. He was quite sure that there was another massive surprise waiting for him. He was also fairly certain the penultimate flag was somewhere in the vicinity of the magical entity. He debated about leaving it and going onto the next flag but then realized that he may not be able to make it to Hermione in time.
Centering himself, Harry turned the corner only to stop in surprise.
"Get out of my sight you freak," his uncle Vernon bellowed. The obese man's face was already turning purple with rage. Harry was wide eyed in shock, his relatives were not the warmest of people but his uncle was never abusive even if it was with words.
His logical side kicked in and he knew that it has to be an illusion as his non-magical uncle could never be inside Hogwarts unless the tournament officials had given him some sort of runic array to bypass the repelling wards. He might have believed that scenario if he was still facing his uncle, instead, now his aunt was doing a commendable impression of Professor Snape's impressive sneer. "You freak, you will just get blown up like my freak of a sister…"
Harry's eyes nearly popped out of his head hearing the tirade. His aunt never loved him but she accepted him as the only connection to her long lost family. All of this was not important to Harry at the moment, by now he knew what he was facing. With a defiant "Ha!" that sounded more like an exclamation than a laugh, Harry intoned, "Ridikulus!"
The boggart was banished with a burst of smoke after Harry's defiance. Harry had enough sense to admit to himself that he was shaken by the encounter. Intellectually he knew that his relatives did not utter those words or expressed such sentiments, but to someone who was never expecting such a vitriol, it was quite a shock. He came out of it very quickly though; he may have had such insecurities when he was a small child, but now he had people around him who loved him. He knew other 'freaks' like himself. Squaring his shoulders, Harry grabbed the flag that was revealed when the boggart was defeated and marched on.
Up in the stands, Sirius, Remus, and Harry's friends were shocked into silence. Did the confident young man they knew had such insecurities?
"Was that…" Remus stammered.
"Yep," Sirius answered equally dazed, "The Dursleys…"
Neville who was just on Sirius' side had to ask, "Do they really call him that…"
Sirius was momentarily surprised, he forgot that they were in a very public place and anyone can overhear their conversation. He had to make sure that there could be no repercussions on the Dursleys due to his comments, they did not deserve any ridicule or censure.
"No," Sirius refuted vehemently.
Beside him Remus added his own voice in support of his friend, "No. They are actually like any of our own relatives. They do not love him but they do not hate him too."
"I guess it was just a manifestation of Harry's fears when he was just a child," Luna agreed from Remus' other side.
The topic was dropped and thankfully the listeners in rows above or below their own also dropped that line of thought. They were quickly distracted from their musings as Harry began to move again. He was the only one who had the maximum number of flags at 4 followed by Krum who had 3 to his name.
Right at that moment, Fleur also got her third flag and was even with the Bulgarian champion.
Harry did not know anything about the status of his fellow competitors. For him, it was only one goal in his sights, to get out of the maze. He still had about 15 minutes to get the final flag and reach Hermione. He wanted to go after the last flag, really wanted to but after mentally mapping the route he had to take to reach the flag, he groaned. The route would take him all around the maze and it was in a place furthest from where he was and from the center of the maze too. It would mean that Harry would have to take a complete circuit of the outer edge of the maze and then he would have to traverse the same path he came through before.
That would take him a very long time, not to mention the obstacle he would have to face. Maybe the organizers planned it in that way, to force the champions to have at least one demerit coming out of the task. With that decision taken out of his hands, Harry proceeded to the center of the maze to 'rescue' his betrothed.
Harry had many ideas about getting past the steaming water that was guarding the entrance to the clearing in which Hermione and the others were held. The entire obstacle was about 6 feet on either side and framed by the fences on two sides. Harry's ideas ranged from conjuring a ramp that will allow him to jump over the area, or use a bunch of ice blocks that would be used as stepping stones to cross the obstacle, or conjure a 'bubblehead' over himself and dive underneath the area that held the boiling water. It would probably not be too deep and he was quite an adapt swimmer but at the same time he did not know how deep it would be and he did not have too long to try that.
Even with all these options at hand, Harry went for the spectacular. He decided to transport himself onto the other side using the technique that Hermione and he learnt in Peru. He would need to latch onto the ambient magic around him and follow the strands of magic to displace himself to his target. However, he could not let the general public know that he could do that and so he went for deception. Harry cut a small section of wood from one of his skates and began writing on it, actually he made a show of writing using his magic while he did nothing of that sort. The idea was to say that he, with Hermione's help, developed a homing device, which a witch or wizard could travel to, much like a portkey.
The two teens actually developed such a device, but the runic array on it was too complicated for Harry to replicate at the moment. Moreover, the runic array needed a constant source of magic so that it could be used to travel to. With the amount of ambient magic, it could have been easy but Harry was not sure if the wards over the fences all around them would still hold if there was another magical sink near them. That was something that the two teens had not tested yet and this was not the time for Harry to test their theory.
Harry threw the piece of wood as far as he could towards Hermione; it landed a good 4 to 5 feet away from her but to Harry, it was enough. Concentrating on the magic around him, Harry vanished from his spot and appeared nearly on top of the piece of wood bobbing gently on the surface of the water. For anyone looking at the spectacle, it would appear that Harry did indeed home onto the piece of wood. To make sure that no one could study the piece of wood later on and not find a runic as he would claim, Harry made sure to destroy it.
Sighing in relief after finding that he was the first into the clearing and also that he had about 10 more minutes, Harry moved towards his 'prize'. By now Hermione abandoned her reading and tucked the book into her enlarged pocket. The other two 'hostages' were also attentive at what was happening around them. Fleur's mum even waved at Harry with a bright smile on her face, which was returned by Harry. Not sensing any more traps, Harry quickly reached the water walking ball which housed his betrothed.
Giving Hermione a smile, Harry reached forward and touched the sphere. He had no idea how to get the two of them out of the maze, the organizers conveniently forgot to give that information to the champions. Harry hoped that touching the target would bring about some reaction and give him some clue as to what he was to do.
They did get a reaction but not anything either of the teens was expecting. As soon as Harry touched the inflated plastic ball, a horn blared signaling the end of the task for him and in front of their very eyes, the ball that entrapped Hermione disappeared committing her to the cold waters.
"Bloody hell," both the teens exclaimed after they recovered from the shock. Hermione managed to catch her breath but could not ward off the cold but she still managed to curse fluently enough, "Morons! Bloody bastards…"
The other two hostages were also watching bug-eyed, mentally shivering about their own fate. Harry meanwhile cast a warming charm on himself and on Hermione too. He ditched his wooden contraptions and plunged into the water. He swam the short distance and grabbed onto his girlfriend. As soon as they were both in contact, they felt a tug behind their navels and the next moment were deposited onto the platform the champions started from.
The chill in the wind and the gentle breeze that picked up caused Harry and Hermione to cling together trying to ward off the cold. Their soaked attire did not help, but even in such a condition, the two teens began to analyze what brought them from the middle of the maze onto the platform.
"I guess it was a portkey that is activated by magical signature…" Hermione rasped out through the chattering of her teeth.
Harry managed to control his shivering a little better, "Yeah, I guess it is activated only when the 'hostage' and the champion are united."
Their conversation was interrupted when they were quickly wrapped in thick blankets. Harry saw that it was Sirius and Remus who were tending to Hermione and him and so he relaxed. From the corner of his eyes he saw that the imposter Moody was also trudging towards the platform but he was not overly worried. He was surrounded by his family.
Harry was distracted from his musings when the announcer suddenly bellowed that Fleur reached her target and was in the process of rescuing her. Harry struggled to his feet and as the blanket was securely wrapped all around him he was on his own. Remus, Sirius, and Hermione also turned towards the center of the maze and were distracted by what was happening there. The thought that they would probably have to clear the platform also occurred and so all the four of them were preoccupied.
Harry meanwhile began untangling his arms in an effort to reach out for Hermione. He managed to free his arms but suddenly he felt another tug and he lost sight of his beloved.
