Disclaimer: Harry Potter isnt mine…But Shawn and Salem and everything you don't know about are…Chapter title attributed to The Bobby Fuller Four, which was then covered by the Clash...title is "I fought the Law"

Chapter 9: I Guess My Race is Run

Last Time:

"They will then climb up the rope grid and attach their harnesses at the plank. They will then loop their hands through the rope and climb up the poles. You must find a way to remove the rope before you conjure a line to attach both sides. You will then go across the wire you conjure, land on the other side, and find a safe way down to the ground where you will find the rest of your team. Any questions before we start?" He glared at Alex again before smirking.

"No questions?" We all shook our heads.

"Great…Then let the games begin." We split off into our teams with deadly glares.


"Alright, here's the plan." I said as we huddled into our groups, "Troy, you've got a really strong upper body, which is basically what the first section depends on. And you've got to be one of the best wand-handlers I know, so I think you should take the first section."

"I agree, and I think Shawn's better suited for the last, because she was the only one who was in healing for two years, and also, she's an awesome conjurer." Troy nodded his head as Mason chimed in.

"Okay, and Mason, you've got the highest grade in weaponry, so it's obvious that you'll take the second." Troy said sternly. We all nodded.

"Okay, now we've got about two more minutes to discuss this, so Troy, let's go for you first. The easiest way to get by the pit is to conjure up a really long hook and pull in the rope." Mason said. He had been the leader in the pit for the past four years, so he knew what he was talking about.

"Yeah, and for getting across the gorge, it's probably better for you to climb across it as you would monkey bars, because then it'll be easier for your feet to touch the ground." I added as he surveyed the course.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Mason, going under the barb wire, all I can say is keep your chin down and eyes up. Use your elbows to dig into the ground and pull your body forwards, not upwards." Troy said looking Mason in the eye.

"And for the rock wall, don't look down, and just keep your eyes on the baton. Also, last year, I found it a lot easier when I conjured up fingerless gloves. They give you a really good grip on the rocks, but still keep your hands from tensing up." I said.

"And Shawn, the most important thing that you have to focus on is using your legs to get you up that pole; it'll be the hardest thing for you." Troy was right; the pole was always my downfall.

"Once you get up there, take a few seconds to calm yourself, and I don't have to tell you how to conjure a line and some carabineers." Mason continued.

"Alright, there's nothing we can really do about the knowledge part of it, so let's do this." We stuck our hands in the middle and did a small cheer on three.

"GO!"

I watched from my perch on the rock wall as Troy began to answer the questions on dueling. After he got all five I saw him conjure a hook. It took him a couple of times to get the rope, but I saw that Alex was still answering his questions, so we were in the lead. He pushed the tire across the distance and I saw him stop at the gorge. See, Troy is afraid of heights, and unfortunately, all three of the challenges involve some sort of height issue, so he was basically screwed from the start. I crossed my fingers as I saw him swing his body across the 15 ft. rope and onto the ground safely.

"Thank Merlin." I sighed. I watched Mason grab the baton and answer his five questions easily. This kid knows his weapons so well, that I'm actually afraid of him sometimes. No lie.

He crawled under the barbed wire with relative ease, though he got stuck long enough for Kevin to catch up with him. I waited as he climbed up the rock wall, and the closer he got to the top, the more nervous I got.

See, every year, I always get stuck with the zip line part of the course, and it scares me to no ends. First off, I have upper body strength, but not to the extent you need to climb 175ft of a wooden pole. Second off, yes I can conjure wires perfectly, but to get it secure from a distance of over 200ft, is a feat all in its own. But, I've done it before, so what's to say that I can't do it again?

"Good luck Shawn!" I heard Mason say as he stuck the baton in my hand. I nodded my head at him and repelled off the side of the wall. I had conjured up fingerless gloves a while ago and used them to slide myself down the wire that I was harnessed to. I looked up to see Nick also making his way down the wall.

I felt my feet hit the ground and I immediately detached the chord and left it on the ground, turning to face my questions.

On the chalkboard was a drawing of the human body and on the right arm was an arrow that I had to fill in.

"What goes here?" The Ulna…duh.

I quickly filled in the answer and saw the bored erase and rewrite itself.

"Three of your squadron mates have appeared at your HQ, injured. One has a broken arm, but is unconscious. One is bleeding from a relatively serious wound on the leg, but has stabilized breathing and is conscious, and one is twitching violently with minor bleeding coming from the temple. Which do you attend to first and why?" I picked up the chalk in thought.

Well, the first guy is unconscious for whatever reason, so you should try and revive him first. I thought. But then again, this last guy is twitching, so you should probably take care of the Cruciatous curse first because that could have the most lasting affects.

And that's what I wrote.

Of course, I'm Shawn Black, so everything I write is right.

Next question: "Under a cruciatous spell, which is the first system to go?"

Easy--Nervous system.

Two more to go.

"How often should a 5-dose blood-replenishing potion be administered?"

Getting tricky…

Five times, you do five times in 2 days, 5 goes into 48 hours how many times…I thought. Five goes into 48 9.3 times. So you would administer it every 9 hours and 15 minutes approximately.

One more question…

"List the five properties of a muscle enhancer potion."

Muscle enhancers…they use Lacewing.

I wrote it down quickly.

Wormwood and Belladonna.

Check. Check.

Acotone and….oh jeez, what is it? It starts with a D…Darphing? No. Damster? No. Dander flies? No…Uhh…Crushed Dragon Scale!

I wrote down my last two answers. The board erased itself and moved aside.

I was free to go.

I sprinted my way over to the rope grid, latching onto it as I pulled myself up. I turned around as I reached the wooden plank to see Nick half-way through the grid…I had to hurry.

Sprinting across the deck, I looped my arms through the rope lying at the bottom of the pole, attached my harness to the rope hanging down, and hiked the rope around my wrist up to my full height. I slowly began to pull myself upwards.

25 ft…not tired yet.

50 ft...I'm starting to break a sweat.

75 ft…I have to take a rest; I've got a cramp in my arm.

100 ft…Over half-way there; keep it up Shawn.

125 ft…I don't know if I can keep going, my upper body strength sucks.

I supported myself against the pole as I stopped to catch my breath.

"Pick up the pace Shawn! Else I'm gonna win like I always do!" Nick screamed from across the distance as he attempted to catch his way up to me.

"Bull shit Nick! I'll beat you fair and square this year." I growled.

"Let's see you move it then eh?!" He screamed. A fire was lit in me as I tore my way up the pole.

150 ft…there's no way I'm losing to that jerk.

175 ft…In 200 ft I will have officially beaten him. I pulled myself up on the wooden plank and pulled my wand out of my pocket with some difficulty. I severed the ropes, narrowly avoiding my wrist (I'm careless at times…) before stopping to catch my breath. Summoning all my energy and courage I shot out a thick 20" piece of wire from my wand and latched onto the pole as I leaned forward over the plank. I tied a small lasso towards the end of it; wide enough to go over the other pole, and then pulled my hand behind my head. In one fluid whipping motion, I shot the wire from my wand and watched it stretch across the 200 ft. distance easily. The trick to this is to shoot it with enough momentum so that it can get far enough. I pulled tight against the lasso and then tied my end around the pole I was hanging onto before attaching it with a perma-stick charm. I launched one at the other end and conjured some carabineers. I attached them to my harness and to the wire, before looping around a summoned rope to hang onto. I quickly turned to my left to see Nick still fumbling with his wire. He looked up, feeling my eyes on him, I sent him the one-finger salute, and took off.

Now, I'm not afraid of heights, but when you're 175 ft. high in the air, only hanging on by a couple of carabineers, it tends to get to you.

"ARGHHH!!!!!!!!!!" I let out my man-like scream as I tore through the line at Merlin knows what speed. I crashed into the wooden plank with a small thud and groaned in pain.

"I've always needed to work on the landings." I sighed as I stepped onto the plank and quickly cut off all the caribeeners.

As I pulled the ropes around my wrist again to lower myself down to the ground, I saw Nick sliding with ease onto the plank.

"Shit!" I said quietly as I lowered myself to the ground, basically free-falling with a bit of pressure on my wrists.

I touched down to the ground with ease and ran to meet up with my teammates 10 ft. ahead.

"Congrats Shawn, you guys have beaten the challenges, and now you have to answer this question in five minutes. What are the ingredients, in order, of the advanced pepper-up potion?"

"Advanced pepper-up?" Mason said questioningly as we gathered around in a circle.

"It does in fact, exist." I said with a groan. Advanced pepper-up was an extremely complex potion.

"First ingredient is Belladonna, then lacewing." Troy said as he scribbled it down on a piece of paper. By now, Nick's group had finally caught up, and they were also thinking as well.

"Forksfly eyes too." Mason piped in, finally remembering something he's learned in his past six years of schooling.

"Wormwood and aconite." I chimed in. Troy scribbled furiously as Nick's group whispered on.

"Feather of a barn owl--" Mason started.

"No, it's an eagle owl, I remember." Troy corrected. I nodded in agreement.

"Asphodel root?" I questioned.

"Asphodel stem." Troy corrected. Troy is a super-potions wiz, if you hadn't noticed.

"There's like, two more ingredients." I said quietly.

"One of them is lemon zest." Mason grinned.

"That's last." I groaned.

"Okay, we need one more guys, let's think." Troy said, biting his lower lip.

"It starts with an 'S'." I said quietly.

"Sneezewort?" Mason asked.

"No, that's beffudlement drafts." Troy shook his head.

"Scurvy-grass?" I asked hopefully.

"Same effects as sneezewort." He shook his head once again.

"Beetles?" Mason asked looking down curiously.

"No, it starts with an S." I shook my head.

"No, there's a beetle." He said distractedly.

"THAT'S IT!" Troy shouted, before quieting down quickly as everyone turned to look at him.

"Scarab beetles!" He whispered excitedly. He scribbled it down and sprinted to give it to coach.

"Nick! Your time is almost up!" Coach Shand boomed out loudly.

"We're done coach!" He said back with a grin and a smirk to me. I glared back fiercely.

"Shawn's group, you guys got everything done and in the right order, so if they get it right, we go into sudden death." Coach said. I hated this rule, even though we finished first, if the other team got the potion right, we still had to go to sudden death.

"Nick, you guys look fine…" Nick whooped with joy.

"Except…the second to last ingredient is just scarab beetles…not crushed scarab beetles." He said mournfully. I'm not gonna lie, I think Coach Shand hates me, and likes to see me in pain.

"YES!" Troy shouted out. Wait a second…WE WON!!!!

"BOOH-YAH!" Mason screamed as he and Troy shared a high-five. I jumped up and down as Troy pulled me into a hug.

"Nick, Alex, Kevin…out to the track, the rest of you guys have the day off, congratulations." Coach Shand said begrudgingly. I turned away from Troy to see Nick standing there with the fiercest glare I had ever seen. It was obvious he wouldn't forgive or forget this for a while. I shook it off, who cared? WE WON!


A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long, but it's out, and it's relatively short…so my bad guys. The next chapter brings the crew to Hogwarts!!!!! I'm so excited! After they get to Hogwarts, the chapters should start rolling out, because I have so many ideas for it.

Thanks for the reviews (even if there were only 2) I appreciate it, and I would love it if you would review again!

-Shawn