These must have been the sounds of Hell. The pounding of a heart against ribs. The strangled breathing. And...the screams.
Rose felt she wasn't sitting in a tent. She was sitting in the Judgement Room. This Task would write the answer. Had Vladimir passed through unscathed? Was Scorpius going to his death?
...Was she?
No matter how hard she tried to force the thought out of her mind, it shoved its way back after mutating and expanding grotesquely. Her pulse was deafening - some brutal form of torture invented to drive her insane.
Every time she tried to swallow, a lump constricted her throat with vindictive pleasure. Her hands clawed at her pockets for her wand, for safety, but she remembered she'd had to leave it behind. She was helpless.
It took a minute before she realised everything had gone silent. Scorpius had finished.
Seconds seemed to drag on into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into...well, yeah, the wait was long! She heaved a deep breath, which hitched in her throat as she heard it. The blast of the cannon. It was her turn.
The tent had been erected a slight walk away from the stadiums, from where cheers rose so loud they would have scared the clouds away, if clouds had feelings. Rose wasn't sure how she made it from the tent to the stadium, but her legs took charge and before she could realise, she stood beside the Head Boy. Wait...the Head Boy?
"Good luck." Albus pushed the door open, not quite meeting her eyes. She bit her lip and entered.
Was what she saw next what she imagined? Not really. There was...nothing. In a circle around her rose the seats, causing a suffocating claustrophobia, but between them...just space. Well, it looked like some sort of obstacle course. But hardly a terrifying test of one's courage!
She walked forward, barely noticing the thunder of applause as her heart leapt into her throat and nearly choked her. Surely...this wasn't right...
As she staggered up a hill, slipping slightly on the uneven rocks, she felt the tension mounting. The crowd knew what was going to happen...but she didn't.
Before her, a plane of rubble stretched out, yet strangely, wooden planks had been laid across it. As she lifted her foot to place it on the first beam, the crowd took a deep breath. She paused...then heard the ticking of a clock. She was being timed. If she didn't move now, she would lose.
Mustering all her strength, she stepped onto the planks...and the ground fell away. Taken by surprise, she lurched sideways, her body preparing to plummet to the abyss below. But her foot wound round one of the ropes that interlinked the wooden bars, the ropes she hadn't seen that connected...the bridge.
She felt the blood rush to her head and tried to pull herself back up...but then she saw what was below her.
Fire.
Scorching flames that devoured the rock around it, its merciless tongues clawing upwards...towards her.
A yell escaped her mouth as she felt the heat crawling over her skin. With a great heave, she grabbed hold of the bridge and pulled herself onto it.
Exhausted, she rolled onto the beams, panting, with sweat cascading over her forehead. She couldn't go on. But then she saw something that made her realise she had to.
The blaze was growing. Its hissing spirit was on the hunt for her. Then she realised something even worse. Wood and fire didn't mix.
She scrambled to her feet as the bridge behind her started to fall away. She kicked off in a run, desperately trying not to fall between the gaps and plunge to her death. Behind her, raging and desecrating, the fire ploughed through mercilessly.
The end was in sight, if she could just reach it...
She could feel the leather of her shoes singing, but didn't dare look round and see the rearing head of the flames inches from her.
Suddenly, the bridge gave in. She'd been too slow. It succumbed as victim to the inferno. But she wouldn't let herself be taken. She lunged forward and grabbed hold of the beam before her, which still clung onto the other end of the bridge for dear life. Now, she was clinging onto it for dear life.
The fire wouldn't ever let her escape. It was hot on her heels, both figuratively and literally, as she clambered up the newly formed ladder.
"Come on." She gritted her teeth, pulling with all her might, kicking at the wall of rock before her to propel herself. "Argh!" She winced as her hand caught a shard of wood, splintering her skin.
Two more planks...one more plank...
She was free.
Rose crashed to the ground, coughing heavily from the smoke that engulfed her lungs. But she hadn't done it yet. There was a clue...she had to get the clue! Before her, a path stretched into the unknown. Yet not in the direction she hoped. It spiralled down...into the heart of the fire.
"In the name of Merlin's dirtiest underwear, you have got to be kidding me!" She screeched, stumbling to her feet. The crowd had fallen silent, watching her in awe as she lay motionless on the floor. However, they now let out a rousing ovation, willing her on.
"Come on. If Scorpius can do it, anyone can!" She clenched her hands into fists and began the descent. Surely that was no ordinary fire...
As the path steepened, she nearly found herself falling headfirst into the fire. But she managed to regain her footing, her heels bent painfully at an angle away from her toes. There must be something she could do to get past the conflagration.
If she hadn't been prepared before, nothing, nothing, could have prepared her for this. From the depths of the flames rose her worst nightmares.
A blazing Chimaera sprung free, raising its head to the sky and roaring. It was a sound that would have frozen her bones, had she not been burning alive.
Worse was yet to come. With a ground-shaking snarl, a behemoth unfurled its wings and opened its mouth, revealing a set of spear-like teeth. The dragon let out a jet of molten flame, and Rose only managed to dive aside within a split-second of her life.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she lay flat against the ground, paralyzed with fear. What was she supposed to do? How could she get past?
Summoning every last drop of courage, or something that felt like courage, she rose one final time to her feet, meeting the dragon's eye with a steely glare. "I'm not afraid of you!" It growled and lashed out; its tail collided with her leg and she felt her balance give, falling into the flames.
She waited for the burn as her flesh was consumed, torn from her bones with a burning agony. But it never came.
The fire had disappeared. She spun around, her breath catching as she wondered if something was waiting, hidden, ready to strike. Yet, a buzz of noise issued from the spectators, growing rapidly, as they voiced their confusion. Hadn't this happened before?
Her eye fell on something a little way away. It was a silver box. She reached out, but as her skin touched the metal she pulled away, staring at the burn on her finger. It was red-hot. She forced her sleeve over her hand, wincing as she slowly lifted off the lid. She could feel it scalding beneath the fabric, but at least she could touch it. Inside was a crumpled piece of paper. Was this her clue?
She got to her feet, but next thing, an oppressing tidal-wave of exhaustion hit her and the last thing she felt was her knees giving way, before all turned black.
Scorpius' whole body was stiff from sitting in the same position for hours. His head lolled and he jerked awake. His gaze fell Rose's body beside him. This felt too familiar. A flash of a memory darted before his eyes. The young girl, lying motionless and bloody. Dead.
Suddenly, he looked around, realising he was no longer alone. He made to leap to his feet, but something pulled him back. He looked round and saw he was holding Rose's hand. With a yell, he wrenched himself free.
"Mr Malfoy." Professor Neville Longbottom nodded curtly at him. He flushed, trying (and failing) to look nonchalant.
"I thought someone should sit with her." He attempted his usual drawl.
"That was thoughtful." Neville narrowed his eyes, watching Draco Malfoy's son with suspicion. How would Ron feel if he found out Scorpius had been holding Rose's hand? "I was asked to check on her."
"Well, as you can see, she's up and about." Scorpius laughed, then stopped when Professor Longbottom didn't.
"Do you think this is funny? She could have been killed! I don't understand!"
"What do you mean, she could have been killed? By the non-existent fire?"
"If it was non-existent, how do you explain these?" The Professor gestured to the burns that were scorched on Rose's skin.
Scorpius took a sharp breath. "It makes no sense, sir."
At that moment, the girl on the bed shifted. Her eyes fluttered open, and she sat up, looking around curiously. This expression quickly changed into one of excruciating pain and she fell back against the mattress, gasping. Scorpius was by her side in a second, yelling for Madam Pomfrey.
"Scorpius, I don't think-"
"Professor, you're not getting rid of me!" His voice was sharp. His eyes locked with Rose's and she swallowed hard.
Madam Pomfrey hurried over, her face haggard. "Miss Weasley, this may sting."
"Wha-AAH!" She instinctively grabbed hold of the closest thing, which happened to be Scorpius. He felt himself pulled forward suffocatingly by his jumper. Her burns flared as a thick paste was daubed over them. "I don't even remember getting these!"
"Well, it's just as well these are the only ones. Now, lie still." Madam Pomfrey gave a curt nod to Scorpius and bustled over to the next bed, where Vladimir lay bleeding.
"Is he-?"
"He's fine, Rose. Fell over." Scorpius prized her fingers from his clothes.
"Did you get any burns?" She raked her eyes over his body.
"No, Rose...there wasn't any fire."
She stared at him for a moment, then gave a nervous laugh. "Yes, there was...what do you think burnt me, air?"
"No, there was fire...but it was imaginary. A trick of the mind. It was to test our logic."
"You're wrong." Her voice shook. There had definitely been fire. Real fire.
Scorpius said nothing, bending down and lifting her cardigan off the floor. As he did so, something fell out the pocket. "What's this?" He held up the ball of paper.
"Oh, my clue!" She snatched it off him, unfolding it.
He gave a derisive laugh. "Oh, you may as well get rid of it. It makes no sense."
Before she could question him, a voice interrupted them. "Rose, the judges need to see you." She glanced up to see Professor Longbottom watching her.
"I'm sure it can wait, Professor." Madam Pomfrey ventured, looking over her shoulder.
"No, it can't." He sighed.
Scorpius held out a hand to help her to her feet. Rose suddenly snapped "I can walk, thanks." He recoiled, retracting his arm slowly. She slid her legs off the bed, pushing herself onto her soles. She gasped slightly as she did so, but showed no signs of needing help.
Neville led her out of the makeshift medical room, out into the stadium. The crowd had dispersed, and only six people remained, in a box slightly jutting out from the stands.
"Rose Weasley?" A booming voice called. She started slightly.
"Y-yes?" Professor Longbottom surreptitiously sidled away as she gazed up at the judges.
"I am Aeron Boneman, otherwise known as Mr A, Head of the Department of Magical Sports and Games." That was one hell of a name! Rose wondered how they fitted it on his birth-certificate. "There is evidence of some sort of foul play involving your task. Whether it was by your hand, that is still to be decided."
Her mouth dropped open. "I didn't cheat! I swear! I don't know what happened!"
"Well, our secret scan confirmed you didn't have your wand on you. However, some wizards and witches are capable of channelling magic through their hands."
She laughed out loud. "I may be top of my class, but I'm not good enough for that!"
"Hmph. That is yet to be seen. This Task was supposed to involve you being faced by imaginary Fiendfyre, a vicious type of magical fire, but completely harmless when only part of your mind. However, you have ended up burnt, and the fire disappeared. Have you got an explanation?"
"No! I said, I don't know what happened! If I did, I would tell you!"
"Enough. We have decided there is only one option to deal with this. Until further study, you are awarded zero points."
She nearly stumbled back in surprise. Zero points?! "B-but...I nearly died!" She turned imploringly to the Minister, who had been a great friend to her since she was a baby. He merely nodded and looked away. "This isn't fair!"
"I'm afraid there is no choice." Professor Lycon growled. "This is our decision. Sorry."
Rose felt anger boiling inside her. It was all she could do not to raise her finger in an obscene gesture and start cursing her head off. But the repercussions of that could only be all the worse for her. Dejected, she turned and slumped back to the medical room.
Scorpius was waiting for her. "I heard what they said. Rose, I-"
"Don't." She dropped onto the bed, her voice dead. Taking steady breaths, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the clue.
Sunken below lies where city,
Lying answer find first you'll in your tow,
Stride the currents not let your deter,
Rushing ever tide beneath.
Answer is the hidden second,
Beasts green and foul is where ridden.
Where fear tread to others search,
Special dead ends lest someone up.