Hermione's POV:

This time, the tunnel didn't drag on so much, and soon we came to a gate. I saw another piece of paper on the wall.

"Look," I said, pointing to it.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Look, there on the wall, another piece of paper," I said.

"I'll get it," Annabeth said, reaching up and grabbing it. "There, got it."

"What does it say?" Ron asked.

"Um, It looks like proper instructions. 'You have two hours to complete the last stage, if you succeed, you get the prize, if you do not, and something terrible will happen to one of you, and then you will have to fight for the prize. But it won't be easy.'" Annabeth read.

"Okay, so we really need to get through the last stage or something terrible will happen to one of us. Come on, let's go through," I said, heaving the huge Iron Gate open. "Come on, a little help here?!" I asked impatiently. Percy walked over to me and helped me heave it open, and together we opened it. And now, before us was a huge maze.

The five of us walked through the gate, and now we stood at the entrance of a huge maze. I pulled my wand out of my jacket pocket. "Lumos," I whispered. The tip of my wand lit up, and cast a dim light over the stone floor of the maze. Harry and Ron did the same, and there were now three dim glows of light brightening our way. We twisted and turned through the maze of around an hour. We didn't find any way of getting out. Soon, the last stage time would be over and something terrible would happen to one of us.

"Is the last stage just a maze?" Ron asked. Before I could answer him, something happened. There was something watching us…

"I feel like we're being watched," I said.

"Me too," Harry replied.

"I can hear something too… like the sound of a cat breathing, like when crookshanks is about to catch a mouse…" Before I could finish, Percy spoke.

"I have a feeling I know what it is, but I hope it isn't."

"What?" I asked.

Before Percy said anything, the thing jumped out. It looked like a Lion, but its mane was like pure gold and its fur was too. It was Nemean lion from the myths I read. "Yup," Percy whispered. "Just as I thought."

It lunged, and we ran. Twisting through the maze, until suddenly, we were at a dead end. "What do we do now?" Ron whispered.

"I've got an idea," Harry said, pulling his sword from its sheath. "Hermione, Percy, you distract it by throwing stones at it, and Annabeth and Ron, try and distract it too. I'll sneak up from behind it and stab it with my sword."

We nodded, Percy and I walked to one corner of the dead end and Ron and Annabeth at the other. I picked up a stone, ready to throw it. Suddenly it came into sight. It was running towards us. I threw a stone at it, and it was about to lunge at me, when I heard load, of tune singing. It was Annabeth, trying to make it go away from me. It had its huge paw with razor sharp claws, just about to go into Annabeth's chest. Suddenly though, it fell to the ground, hopefully dead.

"Is it – dead?" I asked.

Harry nodded. "I think so. It isn't breathing anymore."

It crumbled to dust that second. It was dead. We stepped over the pile of dust and proceeded on through the maze. Soon, around forty minutes passed, and we still couldn't find the door.

"How have we got left?" Ron asked.

"Five minutes," I answered.

Ron gulped. "I bet we won't find the exit in five minutes."

We walked on, around four minutes passed, and we had one minute left. Suddenly I spotted the door. "Look," I said. "There's the door." I pointed ahead. "We need to run, now!"

We ran to it, suddenly we heard a horn. Before we could think, we'd run through the exit. I realized we were too late. By seconds. I looked around the room in which we'd just run into, it was large and seemed really cold. The walls were rock and the floor had rough wooden boards on it. All the furniture in it was a large dark throne, where a cloaked figure sat.

"You did not complete the stage in time," The figure said, and I recognised their voice as the voice we'd head that morning, announcing the test had begun. "You have failed, and one of you will pay."

I didn't know what was going to happen but, the figure stood up and pointed a gloved finger at Ron. "You," They said. "Come here."

My heart was in my throat, I didn't want anything to happen to one of my best friends. I tried to move forward, but my legs didn't seem to work. I tried to shout out but my voice didn't seem to work anymore. But suddenly I saw something terrible happen. Ron disappeared in a puff of smoke. My voice started working again and I screamed, "RON!" The others seemed too shocked for words. They just stood there, their mouths gaping open in shock.

"Now one of you has paid the price, you will have to fight for the prize." Their voice was so cold and evil; it chilled me to the bone even more than before. "Go through the door to begin. Go!"

We slowly walked towards the door everyone still shocked at what at happened to poor Ron. I hoped he wasn't dead, but deep down I knew he would be okay.

When we stepped through the door, what was in front of me chilled me to the bone. The Minotaur was standing before us, ready to make his kill. I readied my arrows and my wand. It lunged for Annabeth.

I wasn't going to lose another friend. "Hey!" I shouted. "Cow face, leave my friend alone!" I shot an arrow at the Minotaur, hitting it in the leg. It writhed in pain, and this made it even angrier. It charged at me, but I dodged to one side. Harry then tried to swing his sword, but missed by around an inch, unlucky. Percy tried and also missed by the same. Last to try was Annabeth, who stabbed it in the leg. "Mooaarggh!" It screamed out, it sounded like a moo and a human scream. But of course it didn't work out so well; it stumbled, almost landing on Percy, who quickly dodged to the side. It tried to get up, but the pain in its leg seemed too sore, and it lay there trying and trying.

This was our chance to finish it off. Annabeth quickly stabbed it, and it crumbled to dust. We had the prize, but we'd lost Ron. The cloaked figure appeared in front of us, holding some kind of scroll.

"You have done well, Demigods. Here is you're prize," The figure said, handing me the scroll. "Now go, before I change my mind!" We looked around for an exit, seeing a flight of stairs leading above ground. I took the scroll, and the four of us headed up. By the time we got to the top, it was already dark. We set up a camp, and I sat there, on my sleeping bag, thinking. I really hoped Ron would be okay. I wanted to find him. He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't. I drifted off into sleep, worrying about what would be ahead of us in the quest…

A/N: I'm sorry people who love Ron, but he will return. It was the longest chapter I've ever done with this story, so I'm really proud of myself. In the next chapter, Grover will come into the story. Please read and review. Bye!