A/N: And here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Godzilla. I only own my original ideas.
Chapter 57: The Maze and the Ritual
The fallout of the second task left Dumbledore in hot water. The discovery that he'd personally been responsible from stunning and kidnapping the hostages for the tasks severely damaged his power base. There were calls for him to be removed from his positions as Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump, as well as replace him as Headmaster. However, it wouldn't be so simple, as even with his actions he still had his loyalists who worshipped the ground he walked on.
As the weeks wore on, all the students could see what was planned for the third task: the Quidditch Pitch was being converted into a hedge maze. As the days passed, Harry ended up sharing more information about his life with McGonagall. She was equal parts amazed and horrified by what her student had been through. All the same, she wished she'd pushed harder in the first place to avoid placing him with the Dursleys. But, the past couldn't be undone. All she could do would be to aid him in the future.
Eventually the day came, and the champions were called down to their final trial. The four of them stood at the entrance of the maze, ready to begin. Somehow, despite the scandal he'd been at the center of, Dumbledore was still at the judges' table.
"Welcome to the third and Final task of the Triwizard Tournament!" called Bagman, "our champions will enter the maze in order of their score, In first place, Cedric Diggory! In second place, Fleur Delecour! In third place, Harry Potter! And last but not least: in fourth place, Victor Krum! In the center of the maze is the trophy of the Triwizard Tournament. Your task is to be the first to reach it. Begin on our signal".
After a short delay, a cannon fired, and Cedric made his way into the maze. Fleur entered shortly after that, followed by Harry and Victor. The magic woven over this maze quickly confused Harry's sense of direction, meaning he couldn't rely on a simple mental map to navigate. As he turned a corner, he came upon a strange creature resembling a giant scorpion. It raised its tail, and Harry dodged away, watching at the spot its tail struck exploded. He hurried away from the creature (which, he supposed, was one of those Blast-Ended Skrewts Hagrid had mentioned), and watched as a red beam of light shot into the air: the signal that one of the champions was in trouble and was forfeiting. He continued to follow the winding passages of the maze as they made a series of physically impossible turns. Eventually he ran into someone else: Victor Krum. However, his eyes were glassy, his expression flat: he was Imperiused. Krum moved forwards, raising his wand with hostile intent. Harry quickly fired off an stunner, knocking him out. Harry fired off a beam so that Krum could be recovered, and moved deeper into the maze
Harry continued through maze evading more treats both in the form of traps and dangerous creatures, and then came to a path blocked by a Sphinx. The woman's head surmounted a large lion's body, and looked down at him.
"Greetings," said the Sphinx, "I see what you are within, but whether I wanted to or not, rules are rules. If you answer my riddle correctly, you may take the path behind me. If you stay silent, you may choose a different path, but if you answer wrong, then I will be ready to fight. What do you choose?"
"I will attempt your riddle," said Harry.
"Excellent! Here it is: 'I last forever, and you may have too much or too little of me. Either way, you'll run out of me eventually. What am I?'" asked the Sphinx.
After a moment of thought, Harry had his answer.
"Time," said Harry.
"Good answer," said the Sphinx, "may your path lead you to a better future for all".
The Sphinx moved aside, and allowed him to pass. Several twist and turns later, Harry arrived at the center of the maze, just as Cedric arrived from the opposite side.
"Harry? What's going on?" asked Cedric, "I saw Krum attack Fleur!"
"I ran into him too," said Harry, "it looked like he was under the Imperius. I stunned him and sent up sparks".
"Good thinking," said Cedric, "now what? We got here at the same time".
Something didn't seem quite right to Harry, and decided to be cautious.
"I think we should take the cup at the same time," said Harry, "you're the real champion anyway. However, something tells me this won't be that simple. Keep your wand at the ready in case of any surprises".
"You think someone might have hexed the trophy?" asked Cedric.
"After someone hexed the Goblet to get me into this tournament in the first place, having to face down nesting mother dragons, and rescue a kidnapped student from the bottom of the Black Lake? I wouldn't doubt it".
"Fair point," said Cedric, "On a count of 3: 1… 2… 3!"
"Both of them grabbed the trophy, and felt something pull them away: a portkey. The trophy was a portkey! They were unceremoniously dumped out from their translocation, and Harry quickly took in his surroundings: and old, somewhat overgrown cemetery.
"Kill the spare," hissed a unfamiliar voice.
Harry tackled Cedric, and a lance of green light passed through the space they were before. A moment later, something struck Harry, knocking him out.
The next thing Harry knew, he was waking up tied to a tombstone, and nearby was an unfortunately familiar face (He saw in the newspaper after his arrest): Peter Pettegrew, as well as another man who could only be Crouch Jr. He glared at the one who'd betrayed his family. Right in front of him was a bubbling cauldron.
"Pettegrew," snarled Harry, "now how did you get out of Azkaban?"
"The same way Sirius did: the Dementors tend to ignore animals," said Peter, "my master required me, required us!"
"Last I heard your master nothing but a wraith," said Harry.
"You are wrong," hissed that voice. It was coming from the bundle in Pettigrew's arms.
"Master, you must conserve your strength!" said Pettegrew.
"I have the strength for this," hissed the voice.
Pettgrew moved the blanket aside, revealing a twisted parody of an infant. It was very pale with crimson eyes and no nose… is sort of reminded him of that thing he destroyed when he first became a kaiju.
"See what I have been reduced to?" hissed Voldemort, "barely alive and needing to rely on others. Once this ritual is done, your master Dumbledore will bow to me!"
"Dumbledore is no master of mine," said Harry, "and neither are you! Ithnari told me how you misused her. But I also know more about you than you might realize, Tom".
"W…what did you call me!?" hissed Voldemort, "And who is Ithnari?"
"Your real name," said Harry, "you were born Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr., and attended Hogwarts around the same time as Professor McGonagall. Also, you used Ithnari, the basilisk Salazar Slytherin left to protect the school, for your own dark purposes and you never bothered to ask her name? How rude of you".
"Enough! You will pay for your insolence with your life!" hissed Voldemort, "Pwttewgrew! The ritual!"
"Wormtail placed the creature that was apparently Voldemort into the cauldron, and began the ritual in question.
"Bone of the father, unknowingly taken," intoned Peter as he added a femur to the cauldron. The caldron roiled worse.
"Are you sure you know what your doing?" asked Harry.
"F-flesh of the servant willing given," intoned Peter as he chopped off his own hand. The roiling grew even more severe.
"Is that potion supposed to be brown?" asked Harry.
"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken," intoned Peter as he cut into Harry's arm, causing some of his blood to run into the cauldron.
The fluid inside the cauldron flared brightly, and the roiling began extremely violent.
"You really shouldn't have done that," warned Harry.
He knew he needed out of here now. He partially released his true power, and bit through the ropes, rushing towards Cedric. The light from the cauldron flared sickly shades of orange, blue, and green as Harry reached Cedric. The Hufflepuff champion was just regaining consciousness, and saw what was going on.
"Harry?" asked Cedric.
"Stay down, it's going to blow!" shouted Harry
Harry knew this wasn't the time for subtlety. He could take this blast: Cedric couldn't. He released his limiter, and hunkered down, shielding Cedric under his wing. The cauldron exploded in a massive burst of nuclear fire, washing over Asulmagus without causing any major damage. After the blast cleared, Asulmagus stepped over to examine the damage: Pettegrew and Crouch Jr. were dead from severe radiation burns, and the thing that claimed to be Voldemort was nowhere to be found. He sensed the residual energies, and found they were not the same as those that led to his transformation. Good, at least this probably meant that Riddle wasn't a kaiju.
"Harry? Is that really you?" asked Cedric.
Ah, he sort of did reveal himself, didn't he? He nodded and transformed back.
"Yes, please don't tell anyone," asked Harry, "I'm sure you know how certain people in power would react to me being… that".
Cedric thought it over for a moment, and then smiled.
"I understand," said Cedric, "you can tell me more later, look for the cup and we should be able to use it to return to Hogwarts".
They searched the area, as well as picking up the bodies of Pettegrew and Crouch Jr. They soon found the goblet.
"Before we head back, let's make sure we've got everything straight," said Harry, "someone hexed the cup into a Portkey, and we were captured by these people claiming to be followers of Voldemort. They tried to brew some sort of potion as part of a ritual, and it literally blew up in their faces. It's more or less the truth".
"You don't know if they really were serving You-Know-Who?" asked Cedric.
"Honesty, I know they were followers of his," said Harry, "this one here, he betrayed my parents and led Voldemort right to them. The thing is, I've never met Voldemort, except when I was infant, so I can't expect to recognize him, can I?"
Cedric nodded again, and after gathering the bodies of the fallen death eaters, they grabbed the cup, returning to Hogwarts.
A/N: And there we go! Now, I'm sure that people are going to ask 'Why didn't Harry break out of the ropes earlier?' Several reasons: first, he had two Death Eaters holding him at wandpoint. If he broke loose while they were paying attention, they might try and kill him. second, he was busy with banter, taunting them and attempting to get them to five up any information they might have.
In any case, next time: it's time to head home once more see you then!