A/N: Sorry for the long wait everyone! This chapter was really hard to write and I really struggled with it. I hope it at least came out half decent. The first task is the most boring out of the three. I really wanted it to be this way to build up to the harder stuff so please bear with me. Also thanks to Bucky5 for reminding me to hurry up and update. I do appreciate you not letting me be a slacker . Lots of Love XOXO Kash

Apologizing to Malfoy was nowhere near as simple as I thought it would be. He completely ignored my existence and had even started eating his meals with the Durmstrang champion Nikolai Kodjoe. Weeks went by, into October. Finally, in desperation, I wrote to Aries, begging for help with the eldest Malfoy. Aries promptly responded that he missed me very much, and that getting back in with his brother wouldn't be easy. He suggested I get him something for his birthday, October 24. I ordered a lovely red velvet cake as a peace offering. I left it at his door with a heartfelt note, only to find it in front of my own door the next day with the now shredded and still unopened letter; stubborn git.

There was one upside to my new found solitude however; my grades were higher than they had ever been. I have always been naturally gifted when it comes to wand work, but as far as everything else was concerned, I was absolutely dreadful. Now, for the first time, I felt a lot more confident in my schoolwork, but also a lot more lonely. I found myself often starting letters to my friends and family back home, but I would always end up throwing them away. I didn't want to go crying to home before the tournament had even started yet.

It was November 23, the night before the first task, and as I lay in my bed, all I could think was I wish I were home.

I woke early the next morning, having gotten hardly any sleep. I stood under the shower for a long time, trying to prepare myself for what I would be facing today. I cried and let the water wash away my tears. I needed to let it out now, so that I could put on a brave face in front of the rest of the wizarding world. I stepped out of the shower and looked carefully over the outfit I had been given for the tournament. By the looks of the tiny, tight fitting clothes, I assume either I would need to be as free as possible in my movements, or that they are trying to amp up the sex appeal to get more people watching. I dressed slowly in the black spandex shorts and green sports bra with the Hogwarts crest on it. I laced up the black hiking boots and secured my bun tightly to the crown of my head. I tried to steady my shaking hands as I applied my makeup, before leaving for the Café Hall.

As I walked into the hall there were cheers, shouts, and boos. I zipped up my green and silver hoodie, feeling very self conscious of my half naked figure. In the front of the hall, next to where the teachers sat, the other champions were all seated. I groaned, feeling frustrated that I was the last to arrive, and took the only open seat next to Jack.

"Bonjour Leely," Jack said turning to me with a flourish.

"Morning," I said dryly ordering my plate of bangers and bacon.

He laughed lightly, "Well aren't you cheerful 'zis morning."

I rolled my eyes at him replying, "I'm half naked, tired, and on my way to imminent death; not exactly in the mood to be chirper and perky right now."

"Zese outfits are quite small. Personally I 'zink 'zey are flattering 'zough," he said looking down at his light blue sleeveless muscle shirt, and dark blue spandex shorts.

I laughed loudly at his blatant attempt to ignore the rest of my negative statement. Unfortunately my laughter alerted the rest of the table to my presence.

"Hey guys, it looks like Princess decided to join us," Amelie sneered. Her short, dark hair was braided tightly to her scalp and pinned under, making her eyes look even more evil than usual.

Des scoffed looking even burlier than before in his red muscle shirt, "Might want to be careful there Malfoy, this arse Stuffer is chatting up your girl."

Malfoy and Nikolai just kept talking as if they hadn't heard anything.

Jack blew Des a kiss, "It ez wonderful how much you talk about me mon ami, but you're not really my type."

This dispelled a lot of the tension at the table as Des looked fuming and everyone else began to laugh.

Then Headmaster Krum stood at the podium and began quieting the room, "Al'vight every'vone, please head to the stadium 'vhere the tournament is being shown. Champions please come 'vith me."

We followed him out to where the quidditch pitch previously was, only to be swarmed with flashing cameras and journalists asking a million questions. Headmaster Krum pushed them away and ushered us into a red tent. Inside I was bombarded by my aunt Hermione and Teddy.

"Are you okay Lily?"

"Don't be nervous."

"You can do this."

"Did you eat enough this morning?"

"These uniforms are so sexist!"

My nerves couldn't take their tittering back and forth, "Guys! Calm down. I am fine."

My aunt hugged me close with tears in her eyes, "Oh honey, your father is so worried. I tried to reassure him this first one wasn't too bad, but his heart is just too close to this. Please be careful. I know you will do just wonderful."

She held me close as though I was her own daughter, and I admit I felt comforted. I looked around the room to see the other champions talking closely with their Headmasters, when Teddy announced that it was time to begin.

"I need all the champions to come here please!" he said loudly so that everyone could hear.

The other champions gathered around him as he began to explain the first task.

"Hello everyone. Today you will be facing your first task. This task was designed to test your physical strength. As a wizard, while this is something that is often overlooked, it is also very important to the art of dueling that you be strong, quick, and agile. So your task is to get through this obstacle course."

He waved his wand and in the middle of the group appeared a hologram of a large obstacle course suspended in air. It looked like trees arranged in the shape of a hexagon with an extremely large tree in the middle. It didn't look like a big deal, and I silently thanked Merlin it wasn't a dragon, but I knew he hadn't finished explaining.

"You will all start at different points in the maze, after drawing to decide in which order everyone begins. Your task is to obtain a scroll in the center of the course; although I should warn you there are only five. To move on to the next task you must have this scroll, as it will have the clue for the next task. You are not allowed to use magic to further yourself in the competition as this task is strictly to test your physical strength."

Everyone looked very tense at this idea, and I realized this is why Teddy wanted me to work on my gymnastics. I was less afraid by not being able to use magic, as I was by the fact that the maze was suspended in air.

"What if we fall?" I said out loud mostly to myself.

Teddy looked at me almost apologetically, "Well the maze is suspended over the field to the left of here and is 2,723 feet off of the ground. The rules of the game will not allow us to help you in any way so if you fall…"

"If we fall, we're dead?" I asked in barely a whisper, my throat feeling dry.

Teddy fidgeted looking uncomfortable, "Well not exactly, but you get the general idea I'm sure. Now let us begin. Champions, reach into the bag, without looking of course, and grab a scrap."

We all did as we were told.

"The number you drew, is the number you will be going into the competition."

I looked at my six and felt as though I might throw up. Of course, with my luck, I was going dead last.

"Number one, please follow me, leave your wand in the drop box just there, and remember this is going to be shown live via eye-wizcam, so if you could please keep any cursing to a minimum that would be brilliant." Teddy was saying to Des, who apparently had picked number one.

I tried to breathe with much difficulty. None of the champions were speaking, although the judges were chatting away excitedly. The possibility of falling to my death was bad enough, but the idea that it was going to be seen by my friends and family through wizcam was even worse. It made me long for those days before wizards had gotten hip to the newer technologies in the world. Eye-wizcam is the wizarding world's equivalent to a muggle film camera, except for our version doesn't have an actual device, but rather you sprinkle wizcam dust over the area you wish to record and then say the given incantation. That area will then be recorded and shown wherever you request. I remember Malfoy showing me how his ear-wizcam worked, which is similar to muggle cell phones. I felt sad thinking of my old friendship with Malfoy and looked over to where he was seated. My green eyes met his grey and we both looked away blushing furiously.

Teddy walked back into the tent, "Second champion please follow me."

LaRoux rose smirking in my direction. I gritted my teeth in sheer jealously. The world was clearly against me today. I sat there in my own zone trying to decide how I was going to get ahead. Although I was last, I did feel as though I had an advantage. LaRoux may act tough but I could see she relied heavily on wand work. The girl was all skin and bones, and from what I saw of the course, to get to the scrolls you would need strength to climb the tree like structure atop where they were held. While the boys all seemed relatively strong, they would have a harder time getting across the smaller twig like trees that lay like beams, I also spotted in the course. Hopefully all those things could give me a slight advantage; enough to not be last anyway.

I could hear the light sound of pitter-patters on the tent. I ignored it and continued thinking as I watched Teddy walk in and leave with the third champion; Malfoy. I tried not to panic as I looked at the time realizing 15minutes had gone by. My advantages might help me at least beat one of the other two left, but maybe that was just wishful thinking. Five minutes later Nic was gone as well, leaving just me and Jack left. Suddenly I heard hard taps against the tent, followed by a loud deep rumbling. It was storming; wonderful.

Jack left next and I began stretching and preparing myself. My heart was beating in my throat, I was so nervous. I barely heard a thing as I followed Teddy out onto a lift taking us up to the course. As he held an umbrella over our heads, I realized I had never been so high up in my life. We were so high, I felt like I might choke on a cloud. I chanced a look down and had to keep myself from throwing up; though it was raining so hard, clean up wouldn't have been an issue. Finally we reached the entrance to the course.

"Okay Lily, as soon as you step off the lift, you will be recorded. Good luck. Be brave. Love you flower." He hugged me tight and stepped back.

I stepped off the lift and he was gone. I couldn't see much in the rain, but I knew to get to the middle, I had to go straight. I breathed in through my nose, out through my mouth and took off running.

It was relatively dark to be so early in the day and I could barely see past my rain laden lashes. I shivered as the wind howled and whipped around me as though trying to prevent me from going further. When the sky lit up with lightning, I quickly tried to map out the things in front of me. The first beam that was coming up was large and thick. I ran across it quickly, but also conscious not to slip off and fall into the abyss. I came across a few more when I realized the further in I went, the thinner the trees I had to walk across became. I could hear a scream in the distance but it was too far away to determine who it might have been.

As I moved on, I was stopped by a large tree blocking my path. It was much taller than me and wider than even Hagrid. It was connected horizontally to two other massive trees making the structure look somewhat like a very large "H" I looked to each side trying to see if I could walk round it, but there was no way. The only way around it, would send me plummeting to my death. I looked down and saw there was a small opening where I could crawl underneath it. The little space that I could crawl through was muddy from the rain. I groaned as I lay on my stomach and proceeded to drag my body with my elbows through this muddy pit that was much deeper than I had realized. As I continued to crawl my way from under this tree I felt the tree begin to move lower, pushing me further down into the muddy pit. I realized that if I didn't move quickly enough I would be crushed and then drowned. I moved quickly realizing I was almost out. As the tree pushed down more my face was emerged into the mud and I could see nothing. I didn't stop though; I knew I was so close. Then almost out of nowhere I could feel the rain on my face again. I spit out a mouthful of mud as I pulled the rest of my body out.

"AIIIHHH!" I screamed as searing pain shot through my right foot. It was stuck, and being crushed by the large tree that was still moving slowly down. I tried not to panic, I was going to have to pull it out quickly or I was done. I quickly undid my boot, slipping it off. Then with all my strength I yanked my foot free.

It felt like fire was shooting through it as I attempted to stand and I was sure the bones in my foot and ankle were broken. But this was no time for tears. I had to move forward. I could not lose. I ripped the leg of my shorts and made a make shift bandage around my foot and ankle. I tried to stand again only to fall to the ground from the severity of the pain running up my leg. There was no way I could walk on it. I wanted to lay there and cry, but I couldn't give up now. I looked around and found a tree with many branches. I hopped to it and held on for balance before I broke off one of the longer, sturdier branches. I put it under my arm and used it as a makeshift crutch as I limped forward as quickly as I could trying not to disturb it. As the sky lit up again I could see I was almost at the center. I could see two figures crawling up the center tree to the scrolls, so I knew I had to hurry.

I ran as quickly as I could with my busted foot when I came to the longest and thinnest of the branches I had to walk across connecting to the massive tree in the center where the scrolls were. I tried not to panic, knowing I was not going to be able to limp across this thing. I heard someone cursing loudly and turned to my left where I had heard the sound coming from. Some thirty feet away I could see the blurry figure of Des, looking as though he had spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get across without slipping. I turned to my right to see if I could see anyone else and to my surprise I spotted the blue clad LaRoux scooting across the long branch, holding on with her arms and legs.

I knew I couldn't try her strategy. The moment my broken bones touched anything I would feel blinding pain and probably fall to my death. I looked over at Des who was now going across hanging on with just his hands like monkey bars. I had to hurry. Two people were already climbing the center and for all I knew another person could already be at the top, leaving me last with no scroll.

I looked at the tree again. It was really just a longer thinner balance beam. A balance beam! I knew what I had to do. I have been practicing these moves more than half my life; so much that I could do them even in my sleep. Even with my broken foot. Even in the rain.

To get the amount of momentum I needed for this flip, I would need a running start. I winced, thinking of the pain of my foot; but I couldn't lose. I couldn't go back as little Lily who had lost. So I put down the crutch, took a deep breath, and I ran.

As I completed my run, I hopped onto one foot, raising my dominant foot in the air, my arms over my head, keeping my shoulder angle open. Keeping my head position neutral, I quickly reached forward with my hands and watched the beam approach my face. Upside down now, I pushed my body away from the beam once my hands come in contact with the surface. I lifted my torso and head up as my legs flew over me. My dominant foot reached forward as it returned to the beam. I pushed off again as my body did a triple front hand flip leaving me at the end of the long beam.

I looked quickly at the other two to see they were almost all the way across themselves but had stopped to watch me in what looked like shock. I thanked Merlin I got across safely and now had the lead over them both. I came to the large tree like structure in the center and began climbing. As I pushed off the ground to reach the first branch, I slammed to the ground the pain was so intense in my foot. I had certainly made it worse. I was going to have to use upper body strength to climb this thing. I dragged my body up moving quicker than I knew was possible. I was climbing for a long time when I realized I was disappearing into mists of rain clouds. I was nervous as I continued to climb as I still hadn't come across anyone else.

Then out of nowhere, the tree started to move. It began slowly spinning and I held on tight knowing this wasn't all that was coming. Then as I predicted it started to spin faster. I was holding on tightly when two figures came flying down in a rainy blur. They both managed to grab on to a branch, although one was too far up for me to see, I knew from the red shirt and brown skin it could only be Nik and the other was almost directly across from me looking at me with terrified storm grey eyes his wet hair plastered to his head. We held on as the spinning began to slow. We stood there staring at each other for a moment in shock until we heard shouts from below.

I cursed myself for becoming distracted so easily and began dragging my body up again, trying to go quickly without hitting my foot. The rain slicked branches made it hard to grip but I held on like my life depended on it, because technically it did.

I climbed higher and could see a flat top; I was almost there. I looked over to see that Malfoy and Nik had passed me and would get there before I would. Part of me felt sour they were going to beat me, but at least I would still be in the competition if I came third. I watched as first Nik then Malfoy threw his legs over and disappeared having reached the top. I was almost there myself. I reached my hand up to the highest branch and prepared to lift myself when someone yanked hard on my broken foot.

I screamed out in pain. In an attempt to keep myself from crying I ground my teeth against my lower lip and felt blood seep into my mouth. The person yanked again and in one swift motion I had let go of the branch I was holding on to and began to fall.

As I was falling too strong arms grabbed my hand and yanked me upwards. We tumbled backwards and Malfoy was looking at me just as shocked as I was, as though he had been the one lifted into the air. I scrambled away from him to the table in the middle of the platform where I could see the scrolls and quickly scooped it up in my hand feeling triumphant.

As I sat on the muddy ground I felt irritated that Malfoy had helped me. My win would be overshadowed by his random hero crusade. I shook my head wondering what was supposed to happen next when I heard a blood curdling scream. I looked over the edge just in time to see Jack falling, arms reached out to LaRoux who looked horrified but had clearly made no moves to help. Des was throwing his burly body over looking pleased and I had to stifle a sob. I was panic stricken for Jack. Sweet Jack who was now falling to his death and all of us with no wands or magic to save him. I felt my stomach lurch and began throwing up on the muddy ground beneath me. LaRoux climbed over slowly; with Jack gone I suppose there was no need to rush. When she grabbed the last scroll all the scrolls began turning blue and the next thing I knew I was throwing up on carpet instead of dirt. I was shivering and afraid, but I had made it. I had made it past the first task.