Ah-ha, finally to the tasks!

Chapter Seventeen

Maze

There was a sound, rather like the wind and then it stopped. Nothing seemed to have happened really.

"Lumos!" Arabella and her wand tip lighted its self. Glancing about the group saw walls all around them, but one side.

"Shall we go on then?" Lily asked, gesturing towards the darkness that loomed ahead.

"I guess so." Karrie said nervously. Nodding the group moved forward slightly.

After walking for about a minute they came to a whole in the wall to their right. Lily looked forward and down the new place for them to go through.

"What are we supposed to do?" Peter asked.

"Does anyone have any string?" Lily asked.

"No." Arabella said, looking to the rest who were all shaking their heads.

"What's that rope spell we learned in Dark Arts?" Lily asked.

"Seil." James replied, looking slightly confused.

"Seil." Lily muttered attaching the end of the thin line that appeared out of the tip of her wand. "I'll be back soon." She said and moved off into the darkness.

Arabella shook her head and ran to catch up with her friend. "You really need to stay here!" she called back to the rest of the group. "Light your wands, Lily just needs light and can't do two spells at once."

Lily rolled her eyes but didn't complain that she now had some light to work with. "What do you think this is Bell?"

"I dunno." Arabella replied as the continued down the hall.

"I think it's a maze." Lily said with a small smile.

"Really?"

"Really, just have to get through it and then we'll be at the next task." Lily said.

"We don't know how hard this maze is." Arabella reminded Lily. They had come to another hole in the wall. Lily moved down the passage.

"Nope, but I think will this spell we can get through it." Lily flashed a smile at her friend. "After all, I am one of the brightest witches at Hogwarts."

Arabella hit Lily.

"Oy." Lily said, looking highly offended. She cracked a smile again as they turned a corner. "Think this is a maze Bell?"

"I believe so."

"Well then, we better get back to the rest of them." Lily said, finding her cord and following it back to what appeared to be the main passage. They saw a small light at the end and moved towards it.

"So, what was that about?" James asked expectantly.

"We're in a maze." Lily announced.

"Well then it's a good thing we know the rope spell." Remus said.

"But of course." Lily replied. "Let's start trying to find our way around."

the group divided into pairs, with Peter staying behind at the first interval. "This is home base." He announced and sat down with one of the books. "All lines attach here." He added.

Lily nodded and all of them attached their lines to something. James and Sirius were going down the first right, Arabella and Karrie the second and Remus and Lily were going beyond the interval.

The light at 'home base' got dimmer and dimmer as Remus and Lily walked past the second interval, where they said goodbye to Arabella and Karrie. "Hmm, it looks so dark out here Remus." Lily said.

"You scared?" Remus asked.

"Not a chance." Lily replied with a grin. She pulled the line from her wand tighter. "Just would be better if we could have some light."

"I think it could help." Remus admitted.

"But what can we do?" Lily asked, sighing.

It took a while for the group to realize that their wonderings around the maze wasn't working. They were all at 'home base' and moaning over the fact that they all had come up with dead ends.

"I wish we had a map." Karrie said.

Lily frowned. "I wish we could map without having complete knowledge of the place." James said.

Lily sat up. "Peter, give me a piece of parchment." Peter handed Lily a sheet and watched in curiosity as she laid it flat.

"Alright-" Lily looked at the group. "Listen, I think I might be able to work this charm so that I don't have to have full knowledge of the place, but I do have to know some things. Along the main passage there are how many branches off of it?"

"Seven." Remus sighed.

"Alright," quickly writing the number down, Lily tapped the parchment with her wand. "Mapa hacienda." She muttered. A main passage way with seven branches in the correct positions appeared.

Licking her lips, Lily looked at her friends, tears building themselves in her green eyes. "I'm not sure I can do this." she whispered.

"You can Lily." Remus said.

Lily nodded and looked down at the paper, "Samen boek." She said tapping the map. Suddenly dots appeared on her paper labeled in spidery writing, "Lily Evans, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Karrie Petigrew, Peter Petigrew and Sirius Black."

Glared at the map, Lily got up. "Well, now we have to go around and this should move along with us, revealing what the shape of the maze is."

Remus nodded and got up. "You stay here for a while, so we can see if this works." He said quietly.

Lily looked at him gratefully. "Just in case." She whispered and connected her wand to the first wall.

Moving slowly, their dots moving with them, they went through the first interval marked on the map. Remus held up his wand, lighting the passageway they were going down. After walking quietly for a while, they turned a corner and then Lily looked down at the map.

"Remus!" she squealed. "IT WORKED!" He words echoed off the walls.

Remus grinned at her and they went back, the tiny black dots stepping with them.

Lily growled at the map. They had mapped out almost all of the maze, but it now Lily couldn't find her way out of it. Throwing the paper down Lily looked up. "I CAN'T STAND MAZES!" She shouted.

Arabella rolled her eyes and walked over to Lily. "Then let me try." Picking up the parchment Arabella knelt by her friend and traced lines with her fingers. She frowned and held out a hand. "I need a pencil." She said. Lily scrabbled around and found one. it was a Muggle pencil, with a number 2 stamped on the side, and it comforted Lily for some reason.

Tracing lines through the maze Arabella smiled slightly. "Call everyone back here." She said as her line reached an undefined area. "We seemed to miss the section that will let us out.

Lily licked her lips and then yelled at the top of her lungs "COME BACK!" she yelled, the words echoed back to her.

James and Sirius were the first to appear. "Nice trick Lils." Sirius said, ruffling Lily's hair. She slapped at him.

"Do you know a communication spell?" Lily asked.

Sirius went red and shook his head. Then he bellowed, "COME BACK!"

Karrie and Peter were the next to return, Karrie looking annoyed with her cousin. "Peter," Karrie was saying, "I told you they called!"

"Well, you might have been wrong, and I felt we were so close—" Arabella looked down at the map and slapped her forehead.

"Pete, you were." Arabella said. more of the pathway had been revealed. "Didn't think of that."

"Hmph." Peter said, sniffing at his cousin. "I am sometimes right."

Remus turned up soon after.

"So, you now the way through?" he asked.

"As much as we've explored, yes." Arabella said. "We're going now."

The group picked up their books and parchment and headed down the third interval.

After what felt like forever, they came to a small round door in a wall.

Lily whooped with Sirius and James. They had completed the first task.

Hey Tom Girl, quick question, can you tell me what this story needs?