The Maze

Disclaimer: I'm not Rowling.

"Vandyll!" yelled Kitty, "Hey Van, wait up! Listen, I have to talk to you." Vandyll turned around. "What?" he asked. "Listen, I have decided to wear Harry's Invisibilty Cloak and follow Harry into the maze tonight." Vandyll goggled at her incredulously.

"You can't do that. Moody will see you. And what do you think? Harry stands a better chance of winning, just because you'll be there with him? He probably won't even let you come."

"No, I've talked to Harry and I've only just managed to convince him. As for Moody, he was the one that offered Harry help on the first task. He gave him the idea of getting past the dragon on the broom. He won't stop me."

"But Kitty, if you get caught, Harry might even be disqualified!"

"I won't get caught, I swear. I'll be under the cloak. Look, I need to be with Harry. I won't even be able to see him from the stands once he enters the maze."

Vandyll, looking disconcerted, finally threw up his hands in surrender and said, "Fine whatever, just don't get caught."

At about half past six, Kitty took the cloak and left with the rest of the students, towards the Quidditch pitch. 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. Kitty disappeared under the cloak, and made her way towards the champions, who were standing before the twenty foot high hedge maze.

"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?"

The champions nodded. Kitty, standing beside Harry, felt a chill run down her spine. "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 Mr. Harry 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!"

Moody was looking straight at the spot where Kitty was standing. Dumbledore too seemed to be looking at Kitty, as though he could see her, but he said nothing."So...on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" said Bagman. "Three - two - one -"

He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry, Kitty and Cedric hurried forward into the maze. "Kat, you're here, aren't you?" asked Harry softly. Kitty slipped her hand into Harry's to let him know. Cedric was nowhere to be seen.

Harry and Kitty heard Bagman's whistle for the second time. Krum had entered the maze. Harry sped up, Kitty following him. His chosen path seemed completely deserted. They turned right, and hurried on, holding his wand high over his head, trying to see as far ahead as possible. Still, there was nothing in sight. Bagman's whistle blew in the distance for the third time. All of the champions were now inside.

"Point me," said Harry to his wand, and held it flat on his palm. The wand spun around once and pointed toward his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and they knew that they needed to go northwest for the center of the maze. The best they could do was to take the left fork and go right again as soon as possible.

The path ahead was empty too, and when they reached a right turn and took it, they again found his way unblocked. Harry didn't know why, but the lack of obstacles was unnerving him. Surely he should have met something by now? It felt as though the maze were luring him into a false sense of security. Then he heard movement right behind him. He held out his 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. He shook his head and disappeared into the maze again.

Then, as they turned a corner, they saw...a dementor gliding toward them. Twelve feet tall, its face hidden by its hood, its rotting, scabbed hands outstretched, it advanced, sensing its way blindly toward him. Harry could hear its rattling breath; he felt clammy coldness stealing over him, but knew what he had to do...

He summoned the happiest thought he could, concentrated with all his might on the thought of getting out of the maze and celebrating with Ron, Kitty and Hermione, raised his wand, and cried, "Expecto Patronum!"

A silver stag erupted from the end of Harry's wand and galloped toward the dementor, which fell back and tripped over the hem of its robes...Harry had never seen a dementor stumble.

"Hang on!" he shouted, advancing in the wake of his silver Patronus, "You're a boggart! Riddikulus!" There was a loud crack, and the shape-shifter exploded in a wisp of smoke. "You okay?" he said, turning to his right, where he knew Kitty was standing. "Yes," she whispered, "Let's move on."

Left...right...left again...Twice they found themselves facing dead ends. Harry did the Four-Point Spell again and found that he was going too far east. They turned back, took a right turn, and saw an odd golden mist floating ahead of them.

Harry approached it cautiously, pointing the wand's beam at it. What would happen if they walked through the mist? Was it worth chancing it, or should they double back?

They were still hesitating when a scream shattered the silence. "Fleur?" Harry yelled. "I think she's up ahead," said Kitty. They took a deep breath and ran through the enchanted mist.

The world turned upside down. Harry was hanging from the ground, with his hair on end, his glasses dangling off his nose, threatening to fall into the bottomless sky. He clutched them to the end of his nose and hung there, terrified. It felt as though his feet were glued to the grass, which had now become the ceiling. Below him the dark, star-spangled heavens stretched endlessly. He felt as though if he tried to move one of his feet, he would fall away from the earth completely.

Kitty was clutching the cloak in her hand, which had fallen off. She looked quite peculiar, with her dark red hair, falling over her face. Harry took a deep breath and pulled his foot away from the grassy ceiling. Immediately, the world righted itself. Harry fell forward onto his knees onto the wonderfully solid ground. A second later, Kitty fell on top on him. "You, okay?" asked Harry as he pulled her to her feet. She nodded, and threw the cloak over her again.

They met nothing for ten minutes, but kept running into dead ends. Twice they took the same wrong turning. Finally, they found a new route and started to jog along it, Harry's wandlight waving, making their shadow flicker and distort on the hedge walls. Then they rounded another corner and found themselves facing a Blast-Ended Skrewt. It was enormous.

"Stupefy!"

The spell hit the skrewt's armor and rebounded; Kitty ducked just in time, but could smell burning hair; it had singed the top of Harry's head. The skrewt issued a blast of fire from its end and flew forward toward them.

"Impedimenta!" Harry yelled. The spell hit the skrewt's armor again and ricocheted off; Harry staggered back a few paces and fell over. "IMPEDIMENTA!"

The skrewt was inches from him when it froze - he had managed to hit it on its fleshy, shell-less underside. Panting, Harry pushed himself away from it and ran, hard, Kitty at his heels - the Impediment Curse was not permanent; the skrewt would be regaining the use of its legs at any moment.

"What are you doing?" yelled Cedric's voice, suddenly. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?"

And then they heard Krum's voice. "Crucio!" The air was suddenly full of Cedric's yells. "You stay here!" Harry said to Kitty, and began sprinting up his path, trying to find a way into Cedric's. Kitty waited, for about ten minutes. When Harry did not return, she took a step in the direction Harry had gone. She walked ahead and found a hole in the hedge, where she supposed Harry had gone through to Cedric.

She looked around and then climbed through the hole, the bramble scratching her arms as she did so. Harry was nowhere to be seen. She heard a noise in the hedge somewhere to her left and whipped out her wand immediately.

Moving in the direction of the noise, she called out, "Harry!" There was no answer. She went ahead and turned right, hoping to find her brother. But he was nowhere in sight. Nor were the other champions. It was only then that she realized that she was desperately lost.

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