Although no movement had been made to attack Harry since his name had come out of that Goblet, that didn't mean Harry hadn't found himself in numerous curious situations since. Most recently, his experience with Mr Crouch suddenly appearing before him in the forest, raving like a lunatic before then disappearing on the evening we were all informed about the third task, when Harry and Viktor had walked off to talk together. After that, there was the incident with his scar hurting him again with another vision of Voldemort, then Harry's conversation with Dumbledore.
He talked to me about it in private, and I think he might have even told me more than he'd said to either Ron or Hermione, the both of us whispering with a muffling charm around us so that no one else could hear. "So you really do have a connection to Voldemort. I can't say I'm surprised, there was no other explanation for it really." I sighed heavily as I started to rack my brains for answers I didn't have.
"Wait, you mean you had a theory on this all along? Why didn't you tell me?" Harry looked at me, slightly hurt that I'd kept my thoughts from him so I gave a sad smile.
"I didn't want you to worry, and there was no way for me to prove it so I wasn't even sure I was right. If Dumbledore says it's that, however, I'm afraid there's no denying it anymore." Looking alarmed, I quickly tried to reassure him. "But don't worry, Harry. He can't hurt you, remember when you told me about what happened in your first year, how Quirrell and Voldemort couldn't touch you? I'm pretty sure you're safe from him for the time being, what worries me most is the person who's working for him here in Hogwarts. We should proceed with the assumption that Voldemort is involved, and he wants to get his power back, and revenge on you. You know what this means, Harry?"
"Um…"
"It means that you and I are going to have to stick together in the third task. I don't care about the rules or winning, all that matters is that we all get out of there alive, because this is the final chance that person has to do something to you before the tournament is over." Frowning further, I tugged my fingers through my hair as if taking the weight off my brain was going to help me think somehow. "There has to be some kind of endgame here, we just don't know what, and I'll bet anything that this is all connected somehow. Bertha Jorkins, the visions, Crouch, everything. Ugh, it's infuriating not knowing! How do you stand it?" Harry just looked at me blankly so I gave a wry grin, deciding that there was no use in making him worry and quickly brushed all that aside. "But enough about what we don't know, let's focus on what we do know, and that's the third task. We should get you trained up so you can hold your own in there."
So we began practicing, Ron and Hermione also lending a hand since I couldn't be caught giving Harry help. I pointed them in the right directions, giving hints on what kind of spells they should practice whilst also researching the kind of creatures that could end up in the maze, though it was anyone's guess at this point. I had a sickening feeling that a few of Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts would end up in there, so I had the delightful job of studying them and trying to figure out their weakness. It was not pleasant, and several times I got singed and burned from getting too close to their rear ends.
I felt a great deal calmer about the third task, feeling like it was going to be a piece of cake and had no reason to worry other than the fact I still didn't know exactly who was trying to kill Harry and that they were likely going to try in the middle of the task itself to make it look like an accident. Seeing as Harry was focused on learning everything he could before the task, I did my best to give him any other reasons to worry, maintaining my confident exterior whilst watching over him closely. On the morning of the final task, however, another delightful article appeared in the Daily Prophet and this time, it was about Harry and the incident with his scar during his Divination class, labelling him 'disturbed and dangerous'.
Of course the moment I saw the headline, I stood up and waved my wand with a dignified swish, causing every single paper to erupt into flames which of course, caused a great deal of alarm but once they'd all burned to ash, no one could finish reading whatever lies Rita Skeeter had written about Harry. Not even McGonagall scolded me this time, merely kept her head conveniently turned away so that she didn't see what happened despite the commotion and fuss the burning newspapers caused.
She simply continued with her breakfast before coming over to inform Harry and I that our families had arrived to see us so that they could watch the final task, so I eagerly finished my food then dragged Harry with me. "But Mia, I don't have family, and it's not like the Dursleys would choose to come here unless it was with a promise I was going to be killed." He said to me as I continued to pull him by his arm.
"Don't be daft, Harry, of course you have family. If nothing else, you've got me, haven't you? We're god-siblings." Giving him a smile, I pulled him down to the side chamber of the Great Hall then let go of him in order to spring forwards. "Mum! Dad!" My mother and step-father were both there, smiling and waiting for me as I rushed into their arms to relish in their closeness, whilst Harry was greeted by Mrs Weasley and Bill who had come to see him. "Are you excited to watch the third task?"
"Excited? More like terrified! I have no idea how you can be so fearless, Mia." Mum fussed over me as I beamed at her. Out the corner of my eye I could see that both Fleur and Viktor had their own families here as well, making me smile before I eagerly talked to my parents about how I was feeling and that I was confident everything was going to go well. We took off to walk around the castle and grounds together, talking quickly and quietly until it was time for lunch, where we joined Harry and the Weasleys until everyone else came to sit with us too having finished their exams. Hermione and Ginny sat beside and opposite me, and although Molly was cold at first towards Hermione, she quickly changed her tune after Harry assured her that everything Rita Skeeter had written had been complete and utter nonsense.
The day passed peacefully until dusk after the grand feast where the champions were invited to follow Ludo Bagman. The maze, as had been promised, was now comprised of hedges over twenty feet high, completely covering our quidditch field with a low mist also flowing over the ground. We each changed into our uniform robes, the same as the ones we'd worn for the first task, before we were given instructions to send up red sparks if we were in trouble so that one of the patrolling professors could come and rescue us.
Unfortunately this meant that now, Harry and I had to split up in order to stand at different entry points, so I quickly whispered to him to focus on finding me first and to let me worry about everything else. I was now starting to feel a little anxious, no longer smiling as Bagman began the commentary for the audience who were now settling themselves in the stands. He began with the points, Harry and I currently tying for first and second place with Viktor in third place and Fleur in fourth. He wasted no time in getting things started, as upon his whistle, Harry and I moved straight into the maze which then closed off behind us.
"Alright Harry?" I called out loudly, facing the hedge where I knew he was on the other side.
"Yeah, I'll meet you at the next turning!" He yelled back so we both ran forwards, but then I found myself with no option but to turn left whilst Harry sounded like he was getting further and further away from me. Growling in frustration, I dropped into a lion and used my nose to catch a scent, allowing me to track him down more effectively however each time I came upon an obstacle, I had to stand back up again in order to deal with it.
The first one was a giant spider, an acromantula. It gave a horrible sounding screech and came scuttling towards me with huge hairy legs so I blasted it with a few spells, shrinking it into an ordinary sized tarantula before then sending it flying through the air and over several hedges. That dealt with that one. Next there was a section of the pathway between the hedges that had a sort of pearlescent sheen over it, so I poked it with my wand to test what it was. When I walked through it, I started getting visions in my head of the most strange and random things, throwing me off for a while until I managed to cast a spell to set my mind straight, and once I was out the other side I looked back.
"Definitely Professor Flitwick. Must be getting me back for all those times I charmed his classroom to flip upside down." Shaking it off, I continued. As I went, I marked off the areas I had been, continuing to search for Harry though it seemed the most direct route towards him was the most heavily guarded, which was infuriating to say the least. I got myself tangled in Devil's Snare which I fought off with light and fire, found myself facing a banshee who came floating towards me with floor length ebony hair and her shrivelled, greenish face contorting as she opened her mouth to scream. Not allowing myself to panic, I reasoned that they wouldn't put a malevolent banshee in the maze, so her scream wouldn't kill me, but it would still hurt and could possibly knock me out.
I cast a silencing charm on her, making her voice vanish before I then banished her with bright and powerful blasts from my wand, allowing me to race past her as a lion and continue tracking Harry's scent. After the banshee, I fell into a pit of quicksand, almost had my wand stolen by a bunch of Cornish pixies, battled a mountain troll who nearly knocked me out from a wild swing of his club, had to brew a potion from the ingredients provided in order to walk through cursed fire, then found myself face to face with Viktor Krum. "Oh good, you're alright. Listen have you seen Harry around? I'm worried about him, did he pass you at all?" I asked him, having rounded the corner to find him standing there, blocking my way. Something was off. "Viktor? Everything okay?"
But then Viktor raised his wand and pointed it straight at me, so I lifted the light at the tip of my wand to get a proper look at his face and saw that his eyes were glazed over and unfocused, like he had no comprehension of what he was doing, the vaccant expression sending unbidden shivers down my spine as a knot in my stomach formed to indicate instinctively that something was very wrong. Now, having had Moody for a professor all year, I could immediately tell the signs for a person under the Imperius Curse, which gave me enough time to react as Viktor then aimed the Cruciatus Curse at me. "Crucio!"
"Impedimenta!" Our spells collided and went wild, cancelling each other out as I yelled. "Viktor snap out of it! Viktor? Viktor Krum you ARSE! Stupefy!" We parried blows with one another and I quickly learned that despite the fact that he was being forced to do this, Viktor was still a very good wizard and excellent at duelling. Booms and bright bursts showered around us as our spells continued to deflect off course, my focus so entirely on Viktor that I didn't notice Harry pushing his way through the hedge until the last moment, where he sent a stunning spell at the back of Viktor's head and knocked him out. "Harry! Thank Circe, he was being really stubborn."
"Are you alright? Why did he attack you? I thought you two got on fine together." Harry worried over me as I doubled over and took a moment to catch my breath.
"He was under the Imperius Curse, someone made him do it." I informed him, making Harry start suddenly.
"Earlier I heard Fleur scream. He must have gone after her first then went looking for you." He realised as I straightened up, shaking out my hair before looking down at Viktor sadly.
"Clearly someone wants you to be the only one walking around in here. Come on, the sooner we finish this, the sooner it'll all be over." Harry and I agreed to send up red sparks over Viktor so that someone could come and get him, my wand pointing to the sky in order to release the red shower before Harry and I walked ahead together, now united. "You know what this means though, right? It's a Hogwarts win, a Gryffindor win. We have equal points anyway, so if we finish at the same time we'll both be champions."
"I suppose so, though I had a lot more help than you did. Ron and Hermione…even you. If anyone should win it should be you. I wouldn't have even got through the second task if it weren't for Dobby giving me the gillyweed." He said but I just waved it off as unnecessary details. The point was that Harry had made it this far, which was more than what could have been expected of any other fourteen year old. This seemed to make him feel a little better, so we took off once more in search of the centre of the maze and the Triwizard Cup, hoping to seal the victory for Hogwarts.
Before long, we came across a rather magnificent sphinx which blocked the way by passing back and forth, though when we approached it cautiously, she turned to look at us with her feminine face whilst the rest of her body was that of a lion. I couldn't help but grin, dropping onto all fours in order to purr at her which she returned with a rather amused look on her face before she spoke. "You are very near your goal, the quickest way is past me."
"So…will you move, please?" Harry requested hesitantly as I stood back up. The sphinx blinked slowly at us.
"No. 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."
"Not a bad deal. Alright then, let's have it." I decided, curious to hear the riddle. She smiled then spoke it slowly for the both of us as we both listened. It was rather structured, which was good, giving us clues as to what to think of first, second and finally before then telling us to string the words we came up with to answer the question: which creature would you be unwilling to kiss? "Hm, that's a good one, very interesting…well. Off you go then Harry." He looked at me sharply, jaw dropping in bewildered surprise.
"What? I thought you were going to figure it out."
"Me? Oh no, I want to see you give it a try. Think of it as character building. You can know all the spells in the world, but if you can't use your head for even the simplest of problems, then what's the point? Go on, at least give it a try. Just tell the sphinx clearly once you reach your final answer." I encouraged him so Harry gave it a go, asking for the riddle again. He puzzled through it, muttering aloud to himself as to better organise his thoughts until he finally had figured it out, a spider. He beamed when the sphinx moved aside and I clapped him on the back to congratulate him before we moved on ahead.
When we were faced with a choice of two paths, Harry used the Point Me spell to have his wand show us the way north, and it pointed us to the right, so we took it with trudging feet, both of us feeling rather tired and more than a little fed up with this entire affair. What I wanted more than anything else right now was to be feasting in celebration in the great hall with the promise of my warm, soft bed waiting for me up in the dorms. The thoughts made my stomach rumble, causing Harry to grin at me as I rolled my eyes and sighed, intending to make a dry comment until suddenly, a glimpse of light caught our attention. There we saw it, the light of something shining in the distance which brought an immediate surge of hope and delight, so with an eager grin at one another, we both took off. Before we'd even made it halfway, however, another gigantic spider cut across us, leaping over the hedge and I had to grab Harry by the scruff of his robes in order to drag him back out of the way as I pointed my wand. "For heavens' sake! I already dealt with one of you!" We both showered it with stunning spells, making it dizzy but it continued forwards, magic having a considerably lesser impact on this one than it had on the first.
No surprise there really, it was at least twice the size of the one I had fought earlier. Harry and I dove out of the way in opposite directions as the spider launched itself at us, screeching with pincers clicking at us, salivating hungrily as I quickly rolled back onto my feet, shifted into a lion and launched myself forwards with a roar. My powerful hindquarters threw me up onto the spider's back where I bit down into it, making it squeal and writhe in a bid to throw me off as I slashed with my claws, trying to keep it focused on me as Harry continued to try and use various spells to either stun it or slow it down.
I was thrown off and I changed once more in mid-air, landing on my feet with a slide, wand in hand. "Harry! Down!" He dove for the ground, covering his head with his hands as I thrust my wand forwards and blasted the spider with a powerful explosion to knock it onto its back, legs scrambling frantically before I then turned it to stone. The effect was immediate, the spider screeching one last time as a smooth grey finish appeared across it's body, the legs being the final part to change as they continued to lash out until they were frozen in place, cracks appearing from the shifting rock until finally, it was over.
"You know…you really are terrifying sometimes." Harry said to me tartly as he pulled himself up onto his feet and dusted himself off, staring at the rock solid spider. "Hagrid isn't going to be happy with you about this."
"Well, I'm sure I can make him feel better by finding him a new monster pet." Also dusting myself down, I looked over Harry's shoulder to the Triwizard Cup which was gleaming brightly, like glowing blue crystal. The fight had brought us much closer to it now, so it was only a few inches away. "Well, shall we?" Blinking, Harry looked behind him to also look at the Cup.
"Guess so. Like you said, a Hogwarts victory." He agreed so we both approached the podium more slowly now, glancing around to make sure no more monsters were going to jump out at us. "Together on three?" Holding our hands out towards a handle each, I clasped Harry's shoulder with a bright smile, covered from head to foot in dirt, dust, grime and I'm pretty sure some troll snot from where it had sneezed on me, but feeling utterly euphoric.
"Together on three." I agreed, glad that this was all over with. "One." I began, starting the countdown as we both moved our hands closer, getting ready to grab the Cup's handles at the same time.
"Two." Harry continued, both of us sharing a look. I don't know who between us was the more relieved that this was all over. It had been a challenge like I'd hoped, but I was in no hurry to be facing something like this again anytime soon.
"Three." At the same time, we both grabbed hold of the Triwizard Cup but before either of us knew what was happening, I felt the ground rush out from underneath my feet as Harry and I were dragged away from the centre of the maze and into the unknown, where I had a sudden plummeting feeling in my gut as realisation dawned on me.
We had played right into their hands.