Chapter 9 – The Third Task
June 24th 1995
Beatrix woke up that morning with a foreboding tingling sensation under her skin, if she had to describe it, she would have said that it felt as if there was lightning in her blood and it wouldn't stop shocking her. The castle suddenly seemed suffocating, and Beatrix wanted nothing more that to run away from it all, but she knew she couldn't and so got up to face the day.
As she headed up to the Great Hall Beatrix passed Fleur Delacour and a group of Beauxbaton students. Fleur looked as Beatrix felt, her pale skin seemed sickly, her hair had lost its usual golden glow. The flash of understanding that flickered in their eyes was over in a moment as Beatrix moved on and Fleur was jostled by one of her peers.
Finally sitting at the Slytherin table, Beatrix tried to eat some breakfast, but found her appetite had left her. A few of the older Slytherin students looked at Beatrix with a mixture of pride and worry. They'd never say it, but a lot of the older years respected Beatrix, none of them could imagine what it must have been like, to be an adult and fairly confident in how the world worked to only be thrown in the deep end of a world that you had no knowledge of. That Beatrix had seemingly managed to take it all in her stride and was obviously trying to carve her own way through the world was something that they could only look up to.
While some people couldn't empathise with Beatrix, or even appreciate how well she was adapting to her situation, most of the students living in Hogwarts knew that it would be a loss if Beatrix Potter were to die during the final task.
Giving up on eating anything at that time Beatrix just sighed as she thought about what was ahead of her. Beatrix knew that she could die that day, she knew that she was the only thing standing in the way of her own demise, and she knew for a fact that if she didn't live to see tomorrow that her family would never know what happened to her. There was no glory for her here, no fortune to be found. There was only living or dying. Beatrix thought of the letter she had written, she had given it to Luna the day before, with the explicit agreement that if something were to happen to Beatrix during the final task Luna was to ensure that the letter found its way to Beatrix's mother in the future.
There was also a small will sat neatly on the bedside table in Beatrix's dorm. It basically said that all the money she had was to go to Luna Lovegood and her suspicions of that the Alastor Moody in Hogwarts wasn't who he said he was.
Trying to think no further of what the day may hold for her Beatrix moved to stand up, but was halted by the arrival of Professor Snape. Beatrix and Snape didn't interact outside of potions classes, Beatrix had made of point of enforcing her distance after she realised that the professor could and would verbally attack her at any chance and separated her from the Slytherin students she took her classes with.
"Miss Potter, for the final task a variety of people have been invited to Hogwarts' ground to watch the competition. As a special reward for making it thus far alive, the champions have been allowed to spend the day with their visiting families. You have been asked to come up to Headmaster's office to meet with them." Snape ordered, and with no further word he turned on the spot and left.
Beatrix blinked away her shock, and made her way to Dumbledore's office. While she had never been there before, Beatrix had made a point of knowing where all the main offices were in case of an emergency. Taking the various stairs and corridors from the Great Hall to the office in question, Beatrix found the other champions waiting outside the spiral staircase. Viktor looked around, but ever since the death of Barty Crouch Senior the Bulgarian champion had been avoiding both his schoolmates and the other champions. He walked around with a haunted look on his face, and flinched at sudden noised. Beatrix just hoped that Viktor got help sooner rather than later.
It seemed that Beatrix was the last to join and once she was with the others the gargoyle blocking the staircase moved to reveal the spiral stairway. At the top of the stair awaited Albus Dumbledore, he welcomed the Champions into his office where several adults were gathered. Fleur and Cedric immediately ran to their respective adults. Viktor was more sedate as he was pulled into a firm hug by who Beatrix assumed was his mother. Harry seemed to brighten up at the appearance of a small group of red-heads.
Beatrix was left standing on her own, looking at the other champions as they were embraced by their families, blood or otherwise, and all she could think was how she would likely never see or feel any of her family ever again. She wasn't even allowed to have Luna, the person that was considered precious to her, come see her. Before her depression could take hold, Harry waved Beatrix over to join him with his group.
"Beatrix. Come meet Mrs Weasley, she's great. She's Ron, Fred, George, Charlie, and Ginny's mum. And this is Bill, he's the oldest Weasley. Charlie is the one who was there with the dragons." Harry babbled excitedly as he led Beatrix over to the pair. Mrs Weasley seemed warm and homely, and Bill was tall, with beginnings of a ponytail growing, and a pierced ear.
"It's a pleasure to meet you dear," started Mrs Weasley, "Harry has told us all about you. It's such a shame that you got all caught up in this mess. All while trying to learn magic for the first time. Just how did you manage to get this far without knowing that you had magic?" Mrs Weasley didn't wait for a reply, "Never mind. We must show you around Hogwarts, tell you all the hints and tips we learnt, mustn't we Bill?" Mrs Weasley prompted; Bill looked amused at his mother.
Mrs Weasley led the four of them out of Dumbledores' office, not acknowledging that Cedric and his parents were following behind. Harry and Mrs Weasley were leading the group, Cedric and his parents were at the rear of the group, leaving Beatrix and Bill walking side-by-side in the middle of the group.
"So how have you been enjoying Hogwarts so far then Miss Potter?" Bill asked, humour flashing in his blue eyes.
"It's Bea, or Beatrix if you have to be polite. And to be perfectly honest, I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to really get to know Hogwarts, I've memorised all the important places, but I haven't had the chance to really get to know the castle well. I'm sure you know a lot more about Hogwarts than I do." Beatrix said, silently relishing in talking to someone her own age.
"Well, I got up to some adventures during my studies here, but I was also a prefect and Head-boy, Mum was very proud." Bill went on to talk about some of his adventures, and Beatrix frowned as she listened to what happened while Bill was in school. "Unfortunately, I don't know what happened to Jacob, or Rakepick. I can only hope that he's okay, I know that his sibling is currently working as a researcher. They have been hired by Gringotts a couple of times, but I haven't really heard from them in a while." Bill sounded sad at the loss of contact from his friends.
"I can't even imagine; how did you cope? And now? How are you with your life? What is it that you do? Harry never said." Beatrix sympathised, wondering how Dumbledore could just keep letting such dangerous things happen while he was supposed to be in charge.
"Oh, I work as a curse breaker at Gringotts, that why I know about Robin, that's Jacob sibling, doing odd jobs for the bank. It's interesting work, I get sent all over the world trying to make the world a better place." Bill joked, and Beatrix laughed a bit at the obvious joke. "But seriously, I mainly work in Egypt, the pyramids hold a range of work for me and the other curse-breakers, it can be dangerous if a muggle gets into a pyramid before we've had a chance to clear it of dangerous and deadly curses. It doesn't happen often, but it can be a serious problem for the magical world if it gets out of hand. The last time a muggle got into a tomb before us curse-breakers the whole world knew about it. I think it was about sixty years ago or so." Bill shrugged as he mentioned that situation.
"King Tut? In the early twenties, some British guy was believed to have been cursed after he disturbed the tomb of one of Egypt's youngest Pharaohs'. Are you telling me that he was actually cursed?" Beatrix looked to Bill with a certain amount of excitement. Bill looked at Beatrix with a mixture of amusement and interest.
They were interrupted from continuing their conversation as Mrs Weasley and Mister Diggory got into an argument, their voices got louder and louder as Harry and Cedric both looked like they wanted the floor to swallow them whole. Mrs Diggory was trying to keep her husband from continuing the argument and Bill moved to get involved with moving his mother on. Beatrix walked up to Cedric and Harry and took their arms in her and carried on down the corridor, waiting for the adults to realise that they had left them behind.
Cedric laughed as his father ran to catch the trio up, and Beatrix eyed Bill as he casually strolled up to the group. Harry made a face as he looked up at Beatrix. She simply rolled her eyes and laughed as she carried on.
Beatrix wasn't sure if she'd get to met the eldest Weasley brother again, but she was glad she had gotten to meet him at all.
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There was cheerful brass band music playing as the five champions stood at the entrance of the maze. There was bright lights and the general chat and cheer of a large crowd facing towards the hedges, and for a brief moment Beatrix wondered how the crowd would be watching the champions as there didn't seem to be any screens for them to view.
Beatrix looked over at the judges and the small group that surrounded them. Mister Crouch had been replaced by Minister Fudge, a rather weaselly looking man in a bowler hat. Alastor Moody stood to one side, a surprising self-satisfied look on his face. He also seemed entirely too focused on Harry, and Beatrix had to fight the urge to step in the way of his eye-line. She had decided, that if she survived the night Beatrix would confront Alastor about his behaviour. She had been reluctant to come forward with her theory earlier, just in case she was right. She feared what Alastor would do to her if he thought that she knew something was off with him.
Dumbledore broke Beatrix's train of thought as he stepped forward and signalled for the band to stop playing. The crowd quieten to a dull murmur as they looked at the Headmaster.
"Earlier today Professor Moody placed the tri-wizard cup deep within the maze. Only he knows its exact position. Now as Mister Diggory," the crowd cheered at hearing his name, "and Mister Potter tied for first position they will be the first to enter the maze. Followed by Mister Krum," a roar came from the Bulgarian delegation "then Miss Potter and finally Miss Delacour. The first person to touch the cup will be the winner. I've instructed the staff to patrol the perimeter, if at any point should a contestant wish to withdraw from the task, he or she need only send up red sparks with their wants." Dumbledore waved for the champions to join him.
"Contestants, gather round." Dumbledore began in a low voice, "In the maze you'll find not dragons or creatures of the deep. Instead you'll face something more challenging. You see, people change in the maze. Oh, find the cup if you can, but be very weary, you could just lose yourselves along the way." Dumbledore warned in an eerie tone that made Beatrix's hair stand on end.
"Champions!" Moody barked, "Prepare yourselves." He ordered.
Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor all hugged their parent's goodbye. Beatrix gave a sorrowful wave to Luna, which she replied with a lack lustre wave of her own.
"On the count of three… ONE…" Dumbledore started, but the cannon went off. Dumbledore groaned but waved Harry and Cedric into the maze.
Beatrix felt sick as she saw the hedge close up behind the boys. Five minutes later Viktor went into the maze. Beatrix looked to Fleur, and the pair nodded to each other, a non-verbal well wishing. Dumbledore then signalled for Beatrix to enter the maze.
With her legs feeling like they were made of lead, Beatrix walked forward into the maze, with one final, quick look over her shoulder, Beatrix mouthed 'goodbye' to Luna. As soon as she crossed the threshold of the maze the hedge closed up behind her and the joyful music was suddenly silenced. Beatrix was left in the gloom, and there was an uncharacteristic chill in the air. The light from the waiting area was gone, and Beatrix had no choice but to wander further into the darkness.
Every noise was a potential threat, Beatrix could feel her heart in her throat, and she almost desperately wanted to be sick, or faint, or be just anywhere but where she was. There were points where Beatrix thought that the hedges themselves might just swallow her whole. The rows of hedges seemed to have hands that grabbed at Beatrix, pushing and pulling her in certain directions. At one point she thought she saw Viktor, but before she could call out to him the hedge grew a wall that blocked her path.
Creatures made themselves known through various calls. Beatrix could hear the menacing giggles of the pixies hiding in the growth, but refused to acknowledge them. She had already wrestled her way past a troll, and narrowly avoided getting gutted by a bicorn. At one crossroad Beatrix was sure that she saw a Sphinx, but decided against facing the fearsome creature, she had no desire to be eaten that day.
Beatrix was sure that she had to be nearing the middle of the labyrinth, the paths became tighter, the hedges taller, the sky darker. Everything was telling Beatrix that she had to be near the most dangerous part of the maze by that point, that she should be near the point where she could end it all. The noises from earlier now seemed to be muted, there was only Beatrix and the sound of her own breath as she raced her way through the maze.
There was a scream nearby, Fleur, and then Beatrix could see some red sparks in the sky.
It felt like a stone settling in her stomach. Fleur wasn't a bad witch, she had shown an impressive amount of skill with her magic, but just seemed to be unlucky. And if a skilled witch like Fleur had fallen prey to the maze, what did that mean for an amateur like Beatrix.
Now running randomly through the twisting paths Beatrix tried to squash her panic, trying to convince herself that there was no way that any of the Headteachers would actually allow one of the champions to get seriously hurt. She thought about sending up a red flare, to declare defeat, but she had to admit she wasn't confident that they would come for her, that she wouldn't just announce her location to any creature that would wish her harm.
Then suddenly, straight ahead of her, Beatrix could see a faint glow, it had to be the cup, she thought. Desperate to get out of the maze, and to end the death tournament she had unwillingly entered, Beatrix sprinted towards the glow, her path had begun rustle under a breeze, encouraging Beatrix to run forward. The path she had been on merged with another, and in a moment, Beatrix was joined by Harry.
Following behind Harry had been Cedric, he was entangled in some vines, clawing at the ground trying to escape, his wand arm was pinned to his body, unable to reach for his wand to free himself. Beatrix and Harry both fired spells at the plants, trying to free the Hufflepuff, but to no avail, Cedric was pulled under the hedge, screaming.
"The plants, Cedric." Harry started, looking at Beatrix in distress. "Krum was bewitched." He gasped out. Beatrix looked but couldn't see anyone anymore, and she could only hope that Cedric had been safely retrieved by one of the professors on watch. The breeze had gotten stronger and was now making hard for Beatrix to look down the path without squinting her eyes.
"Let's just end it shall we?" Beatrix asked nervously, the wind had now picked up even more and Beatrix paled as she saw that the hedges were now merging together at an alarming rate, racing towards the pair. "Take it Harry. Get out safely." Beatrix urged, panic in her voice as the hedges slammed closer and closer.
"No! Together. You've helped me every way you can." Harry replied, looking desperate as he too stared at the encroaching shrubbery. "On three. One, two, three!" The pair grabbed the cup and the same time, just as the hedges slammed into each other where the pair once stood.
In an instant they disappeared. The hedges dropped and revealed that Harry and Beatrix Potter were nowhere to be seen.