Author's Note: Dai5ycake - The dream wasn't cut off; it was left there intentionally. I didn't want to reveal too much since this chapter deals with the Third Task and Buffy faces Voldemort in the next. On Voldemort knowing she's a Slayer, yes, he knows. He even makes mention of that in the next chapter. On Dawn, she knows Buffy will never stop fighting, that it's in her nature to protect those she loves. That doesn't mean she wouldn't love for Buffy to be done especially now after the last two years. You have to remember this chapter takes place just over a year after Joyce's death. Then there had been Glory and now Voldemort. Dawn would love for Buffy to finally be done so that her sister can lead the life she always dreamed of but never could have because of being the Slayer. On Harry he probably would feel guilty that Buffy took his place, but he probably also felt relieved as well given what has happened to him in the last three years. And yes he might be scared of losing Buffy after all Buffy and Dawn are the first people he has actually ever felt genuine love from and for.
Kittyranma – I have to agree that it probably would make more sense for the Yule Ball to be at the end of the school year, like a normal prom would be. I think the best place for it might have been just before the third task.
Chapter 17: The Third Task
"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore said. "Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now."
Buffy got up.
"Good luck, Buffy," Dawn said as she stood and hugged her sister.
Behind the sisters the Gryffindors all along the table were applauding Buffy; the Gryffindors had come in the span of the year Buffy and Dawn had been at Hogwarts to consider Buffy one of them since she always dined with them, even if she hadn't officially been sorted into their house.
Harry stood and hugged Buffy. "Good luck," he said.
The Weasleys and Hermione all wished Buffy good luck, and Buffy headed off out of the Great Hall with Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor.
"Feeling all right, Buffy?" Bagman asked as they went down the stone steps onto the grounds. "Confident?"
"Yeah," Buffy said.
They walked onto the Quidditch field, which was now completely unrecognizable. A twenty-foot-high hedge ran all the way around the edge of it. There was a gap right in front of them: the entrance to the vast maze. The passage beyond it looked dark and creepy.
Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. The sky was a deep, clear blue now, and the first stars were starting to appear. Hagrid, Professor Moody, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick came walking into the stadium and approached Bagman and the champions. They were wearing large, red, luminous stars on their hats, all except Hagrid, who had his on the back of his moleskin vest.
"We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze," said Professor McGonagall to the champions. "If you get into difficulty, and wish to be rescued, send red sparks into the air, and one of us will come and get you, do you understand?"
As the champions nodded, Buffy knew the instruction on the red sparks was more for the others than herself. But she memorized it none the less. Especially when she knew if something, she couldn't handle got loose the other champions could be in deadly peril.
"Off you go, then!" said Bagman brightly to the four patrollers.
"Good luck, Buffy," Hagrid whispered, and the four of them walked away in different directions, to station themselves around the maze. Bagman now pointed his wand at his throat, muttered, "Sonorus," and his magically magnified voice echoed into the stands.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each—Mr. Cedric Diggory and Ms. Buffy Potter, both of Hogwarts School!" The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky. "In second place, with eighty points—Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!" More applause. "And in third place—Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!"
"So… on my whistle, Buffy and Cedric!" said Bagman. "Three—two—one—"
He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Buffy and Cedric hurried forward into the maze.
The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and thick or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment they entered the maze. Buffy pulled out her wand, muttered, "Lumos," and heard Cedric do the same just behind her.
After about fifty yards, they reached a fork. They looked at each other.
"See you," Cedric said, and he took the right one, while Buffy took the left.
Buffy heard Bagman's whistle for the second time. Krum had entered the maze. She poured in a little of the speed given to her as the Slayer and sped forward down her chosen path. Her senses were wide open and so far, were telling her nothing. She turned right, and hurried on, holding her wand high over her head, trying to see as far ahead as possible. While she could see better than the average human it was still unbelievably dark even for her.
Bagman's whistle blew in the distance for the third time. All of the champions were now inside.
It was at that moment that Buffy's senses started pinging at her. She was almost sure she was being watched. She reached a second fork. She took the left fork. Despite the fact her Slayer senses were telling her she was being watched, she saw nothing ahead. When Buffy was forced to turn right, she found her way unblocked. She found it puzzling that there had been nothing so far to impede her.
She knew she should have met something by now. Then she heard movement right behind her. She held out her wand, ready to attack, but its beam fell only upon Cedric, who had just hurried out of a path on the right-hand side. Cedric looked severely shaken. The sleeve of his robe was smoking.
"Are you okay?" Buffy asked as she walked over to Cedric to check his arm.
"Yeah, Buffy, I'm okay. Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts! They're enormous—I only just got away!"
"Be careful," Buffy said. "And just so you know if you send up red sparks. I will get to you probably faster than the others will."
"Thanks," Cedric said as he dove out of sight, along another path.
Buffy hurried off again. Then, as she turned a corner, she saw… a dementor gliding toward her.
Twelve feet tall, its face hidden by its hood, its rotting, scabbed hands outstretched, it advanced, sensing its way blindly toward her.
Buffy remembered the description of the dementors from what Harry had told her and knew that was what she was seeing. Thankfully her little brother had decided to teach her and Dawn the spell to defend themselves himself instead of them learning it from Dumbledore or McGonagall.
"Expecto Patronum!" Buffy called out.
A silver tiger erupted from the end of Buffy's wand and ran toward the dementor chasing it away.
Buffy sighed. They said the obstacles in her path would be something challenging for her. If it had gotten closer it would definitely had been as she was sure the memory it would make her relive was the day, she found her mother dead.
In the stands Dawn and Harry had seen the dementor and applauded as Buffy used the Patronus to chase it away.
"Was that a tiger she conjured?" Ginny asked.
"Yes," Harry said. "Sirius said mum's nickname in school was Tigerlily. Mum must have been an Animagus also. And Buffy's Patronus must have done like mine and taken the form of our parents' Animagus forms. Mine's a stag and dad's Animagus form was that of a stag."
In the maze Buffy moved on, quickly and quietly as possible, listening hard, her wand held high once more.
Left… right… left again… Twice she found herself facing dead ends.
She turned back, took a right turn just as a scream pierced the air from somewhere ahead of her.
"Fleur?" Buffy yelled.
There was silence.
Buffy hurried forward looking around for some sign of Fleur. Buffy glanced skyward to see if there were red sparks, but there were none. She hoped that she had simply missed them and someone else had gotten to Fleur. Or that Fleur was alright. She couldn't waste time searching not because this was a competition but because of what lay out there between her and the center of the maze. She already had to face one thing, what else was out there that would be a challenge for a Slayer?
She met nothing for ten minutes, but kept running into dead ends. Finally, she found a new route and started to jog along it, her wandlight waving, making her shadow flicker and distort on the hedge walls. Then she rounded another corner and found herself facing a queller demon. She recognized it from the last time she fought one, when it was going after her mother. She reached under her robes and pulled out a dagger out of the garter at her thigh. She rushed forward as the demon scurried toward her. Without stopping she plunged the dagger into the demon killing it.
"Bad move guys," Buffy said. "It's one thing to send something only I can deal with. But if that had gotten loose."
She took a left path and hit a dead end, a right, and hit another. She was hurrying along a new path a few minutes later, when she heard something in the path running parallel to hers own that made her stop dead.
"What are you doing?" yelled Cedric's voice. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?"
And then Buffy heard Krum's voice. "Crucio!"
Buffy looked at the hedge and judged whether she could jump it. It was after all twenty feet tall. She backed up and then took a running leap and cleared the hedge. She landed with a roll and brought up her wand. "Stupefy," she said and Krum stopped dead in his tracks, fell forward, and lay motionless, face down in the grass.
Buffy dashed over to Cedric, who had stopped twitching and was lying there panting, his hands over his face. "Are you all right?" she said.
"Yeah," panted Cedric. "Yeah… I don't believe it… he crept up behind me… I heard him, I turned around, and he had his wand on me…" He got up, still shaking. He and Buffy looked down at Krum.
"Did you hear Fleur scream earlier?" said Buffy.
"Yeah," said Cedric. "You don't think Krum got her too?"
"I don't know," said Buffy slowly. "And as a Slayer that has me worried."
"Your instincts tell you to try and save everyone don't they?" Cedric asked remembering the second task and Buffy's determination to save all the hostages not only her own.
"Yes," Buffy said.
"Should we leave him here?" Cedric asked as he looked back at Krum.
"No," Buffy said. "After all he has to answer for what he did." She raised her wand and shot off red sparks into the air, which hovered high above Krum, marking the spot where he lay.
Buffy and Cedric stood there in the darkness for a moment, looking around them. Then Cedric said, "Well… I s'pose we'd better go on…"
"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "I have to admit I will be glad when this is over."
"Me too," Cedric agreed as they parted ways.
Every so often Buffy hit more dead ends, but the increasing darkness made her feel sure she was getting near the heart of the maze. Then, as she strode down a long, straight path, she saw movement once again, and her beam of wandlight hit an extraordinary creature, one which he had only seen in picture form, in one of Giles books.
It was a sphinx. It had the body of an over-large lion: great clawed paws and a long yellowish tail ending in a brown tuft. Its head, however, was that of a woman. She turned her long, almond-shaped eyes upon Buffy as the she approached.
The sphinx was not crouching as if to spring, but pacing from side to side of the path, blocking Buffy's progress. Then the sphinx spoke, in a deep, hoarse voice. "You are very near your goal, Slayer. The quickest way is past me."
Buffy had never been good about research but when she had spotted the sphinx in Giles' books, she had read up on it out of curiosity. "Ask me your riddle."
"A well-informed Slayer," the sphinx said, continuing to pace. "Answer on your first guess—I let you pass. Answer wrongly—I attack. Remain silent—I will let you walk away from me unscathed."
"Alright," Buffy said. "Continue."
"First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"
"A person in disguise," Buffy said, "could refer to me as I was in disguise for the first task and half of the second task. But I'm sure it's not that simple. 'The last thing to mend,' … 'middle of middle' 'The sound often heard during the search for a hard-to-find word,'" She paused to mull it over and then smiled. "A spider!"
The sphinx smiled broadly. She got up, stretched her front legs, and then moved aside for Buffy to pass.
"I must say you are the fastest I have known to solve one of my riddles," the sphinx said. "I must thank Hagrid for allowing me to be pitted against you."
"And I thank you," Buffy said as she ran past the sphinx. She dashed up and saw light ahead.
The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. Suddenly Cedric hurtled out onto the path in front of Buffy. He was going to get there first. He was sprinting as fast as he could toward the cup. Buffy was tempted to let Cedric get the cup. Then Buffy saw something immense over a hedge to her left, moving quickly along a path that intersected with her own; it was moving so fast Cedric was about to run into it, and Cedric, his eyes on the cup, had not seen it.
Buffy poured on the speed given to her as the Slayer. She reached Cedric barely in time and knocked him to the side as she spun on a gigantic hairy black spider.
Cedric looked up and saw the spider and why she had knocked him to the side. "Stupefy!" he yelled, but his spell rebounded off.
Buffy thought of something as the spider was beginning to lunge at them. "At the same time."
Cedric looked up at Buffy and then nodded in understanding as they both raised their wands. "Stupefy!" they yelled at the same time
The two spells combined did what one alone had not: The spider keeled over sideways, flattening a nearby hedge, and strewing the path with a tangle of hairy legs.
"Are you alright?" Cedric asked as he stood up.
"Yeah," Buffy said. "Shall we end this?"
"Together?" asked Cedric confused. Buffy deserved it more than him. If not for her saving him twice now she would have already reached the cup.
"Would seem fitting," Buffy admitted.
"No," Cedric said. "Harry told me about the dragons. I would've gone down in the first task if he hadn't told me what was coming. Then there were the hostages in the second task. You stayed behind to get all the hostages. I should've done that."
"I'm a Slayer," Buffy reminded Cedric. "That's what I do. Together. That way you can bring prestige to your school and I can finally say this over."
"You—you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure," Buffy said.
For a moment, Cedric looked as though he couldn't believe his ears; then his face split in a grin. "You're on," he said.
Buffy and Cedric stepped up to the cup side by side.
"On three," said Cedric. "One—two—three—"
Buffy and Cedric both grasped a handle.
Instantly, Buffy felt the familiar sensation of a portkey as she felt the jerk somewhere behind her navel. She knew this was wrong the moment her feet left the ground.