Oh gosh, I am sooooooooooooooo sorry I haven't updated this sooner! I know, I know, there's no excuse good enough for abandoning this for so long, but I've just finished my AS modules (the first proper exams of A-Levels - the last exams I do at school and therefore they're the deciding grades for university...ahhhh!) and Christmas was rather filled with revision... The only exam that I think went awfully was Chemistry (the other two were okay). It's odd - I'm not really very superstitious, but last friday (friday 13th) was absoultely awful for me (but that could just be my typical bad luck). The chemistry exam was awful and then my bedroom door breaks so I'm stuck inside...

Anyway. I sincerely want to thank anyone still reading this for your patience with me! (Plus, I've just realised how many reviews I've got for this - it's over double what I used to think was my highest!) Hopefully I can make up for the long wait with a slightly-longer-than-normal chapter! I promise the next one will be up soon! I'm not entirely sure I did this justice to the way I envisioned it, though...

Please R&R!

Chapter Twenty

It was hard to look Aidan and Sishi in the eye the next morning at breakfast without bursting into tears, so Rai – with his sixth sense for knowing when I'm upset – squeezed my hand under the table, causing me to flush bright red instead.

I consulted Keiko about the task and together we combed through the library to find jinxes and charms that might be useful. Professor McGonagall lent us her classroom again and we spent a lot of our time in there, practicing. As exam week drew nearer it was just me and Rai, since we were exempt from the exams, though Keiko still gave up some of her precious study time to help search for more spells.

The task was to be the Saturday after the exams and so we spent the majority of exam week in the empty classroom or common room, practicing stunning – Sirius and Lupin's suggestion, for protection – along with a variety of defensive jinxes and helpful charms such as the four-point jinx, and the rest of our time was spent practicing Quidditch or sparring to ease nerves and tension as well as for some fun.

The last exam was on Friday and by then; Rai and I had perfected the spells and so decided to head down to dinner early. We had barely sat down at the table when Professor McGonagall approached us.

"The champions are congregating in the chamber off the hall now, if you two would care to join us."

"But Professor, the Task's not until tomorrow!"

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "I'm aware of that, Mr Pedrosa, but the champions' families are invited to watch the task, you know. This is your chance to greet your family."

She walked away again and I looked to Rai, who merely shrugged and stood up to follow her. She had said our family was here, singular. So why did both of us have to come? I suppose if it's tradition… I had no doubt that Rai's parents would be here, along with Alejandro, but papa's a muggle. He physically cannot come into Hogwarts. If he tried, he'd see old ruins and a sign informing him that it was unsafe. He wouldn't be able to resist the compulsion to leave.

I followed anyway; not really sure why I did.

As soon as I walked in the door I was knocked backwards into Rai as something flung itself around my legs. I heard Rai chuckling behind me as I ruffled Alejandro's hair, a little overwhelmed. He ran to me first. He was Rai's brother, not mine. Shouldn't he have hugged Rai first? I suppose he might've gone to me first as Rai was behind me, but still…

"What about me?" Rai asked, stepping up beside me, fighting a grin.

Alejandro pulled back enough to grin cheekily up at Rai. An expression learnt from him, I have no doubt. "Kimiko's nicer than you."

"Oi!" Rai crossed his arms and mock-glared at him before looking to me despairingly. "My own brother…" Alejandro stuck his tongue out at him.

When Alejandro finally released me to hug his brother, I noticed Rai's parents, and even Juan, slightly further into the room. "Hey Kimiko, how are you?"

"Fine." I replied, giggling as Rai glared at his other brother.

"Oh, Kimiko dear, it's so good to see you again." Carla pulled me into a tight hug. Antonio said hello too. Rai was gaping at them by this point.

"Oi! You lot are supposed to be my family!" He turned to me, looking indignant. "My own family like you better than me!"

I giggled again. "Ha."

"Oh, don't be silly, Raimundo dear." Carla insisted, pulling him into a hug too and fussing over him, to his chagrin.

"You asked for it, Raimundo." Juan muttered at the expression on Rai's face.

"I was just worried. After that article in the paper…"

"What article?" I asked, glancing at Rai again in confusion.

"Oh, didn't you see it? There was an article written in the Prophet about you – said you'd collapsed, screaming, seemingly in pain. Well, amongst other things…"

Antonio rolled his eyes at his wife and put his arm around her. "Look, Carla; she's fine. What did I tell you? You shouldn't believe what Rita Skeeter writes."

I turned wide-eyed to Rai again, to see a matching expression of astonished confusion. "How in Dashi's name did she know about that!"

"You mean it's true?" Carla gasped, pulling me into another hug. "Oh sweetheart, are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine." I assured her once she let me go. "I just fell asleep in the common room and had a nightmare the other day." She looked at me in concern for another moment before she was seemingly satisfied with my explanation.

As talk turned to what had been happening back at the Burrow, my concentration wandered a little. Don't get me wrong, I love the Pedrosas, I was just a little curious about the other champions' families. I saw the Durmstrangs in one corner, the Diggorys and the Changs over near the fireplace, and Fleur, Luc and their families in the other corner. I noticed that her attention had wandered from her conversation in rapid-fire French with her parents and followed her eye line to see her eyeing Juan, who was eyeing her right back. I caught Rai's gaze and grinned.

Soon it really was time for dinner and we made our way to the Gryffindor table to wait for the others to return from their exams. Antonio, Carla and Juan's gazes were roaming nostalgically around the hall, no doubt remembering their own student days. Alejandro too was eyeing the hall, but in wonderment. I grinned at his obvious delight at seeing Hogwarts again and offered to give him a tour later, delighting in the grin I received in return. After all, last time he was here, he wasn't able to look around much.

A while later, the others took up their places around the table and the hall began to chatter loudly. Maria was the last to slide into place beside me, after a quick hug from Alejandro, who was on my other side. "How'd the exam go?"

"Ugh. I had History of Magic. It was alright…ish." She shrugged. "I couldn't remember some of the goblin rebels' names, but I just made some of them up."

"Maria!" Carla admonished sternly.

Maria grinned. "It's alright. They're all called stuff like Bodrod the Bearded and Urg the Unclean. It wasn't hard." She repeated with a shrug.

We chatted while we ate our dinner and parted ways afterwards, Carla promising to show me the article in the morning.

"What was she talking about, Kimiko?"

"Rita Skeeter has changed her view on me." I informed him. "She's now writing about how I've gone insane."

They continued to look confused so Rai added, "She wrote about how Kimiko collapsed in the common room."

"What?" Keiko, Clay and Omi all looked astonished.

"How did she know?" Clay asked.

"Never mind how she knew!" Keiko snapped. "You collapsed!"

I shrugged, trying to calm her down. "I just had a bad dream, Keiko. Well…" I hesitated for a moment, unsure whether or not I should tell her. In the end, I decided to trust her. "I'm not entirely sure it was a dream. I've had another. During the summer."

"You mean, you think that what you saw really happened? You-Know-Who is planning something involving murdering you?" Clay asked, eyes wide.

"Makes sense, doesn't it." Rai added darkly. "The dreams and then somehow we're entered in this tournament…"

"And Master Fung's worried." I added. "He told us we shouldn't but it's clear he is."

"Ah! Kimiko! Raimundo!" We turned to see Mr Bagman heading towards us.

"You guys go on ahead; we'll meet you in the common room."

When Mr Bagman reached us he smiled brightly. "So, you ready for tomorrow evening?"

"Uh…yeah…" I was slightly confused.

"You sure?" He prodded. "You don't need any help?"

Now I was really confused. He's one of the judges. He's not supposed to be offering us help… "Uh…no. No, we're good." Rai answered after a raised eyebrow at me.

"Okay then. Well, see you tomorrow." I watched him leave, confused. Rai glanced at me, equally confused, before he shrugged and we headed back to the common room.

I spent the morning showing Alejandro around the school and practicing the jinxes with Rai. After lunch, we headed down to the mutilated Quidditch pitch. I felt a little more confident about this task than the others. It was to be a maze, an obstacle course of sorts. It was the sort of thing we trained with in Xiaolin training. If I just thought about it as another training session…

Master Fung announced the nature of the task to the gathered audience and told us that we were to enter the maze in terms of points. As the two Gryffindor teams were tied for first place, we went first, then the Durmstrangs, then Beauxbatons.

Cho still seemed to be angry at me for something, but Cedric was perfectly civil. At least to me. He and Rai seemed to be giving each other death glares. I had to resist the urge to cross my arms and pout. I hate being left in the dark.

We headed along the maze until we reached the first fork and split there. Rai seemed to cheer up considerably after that. "Like one of our training sessions, eh?" I grinned back and walked on with a spring in my step.

Not long later, we came across another fork, but after a quick 'point-me' spell, we were soon on our way. Another few turns and 'point-me' charms later, Cedric and Cho stumbled across our path again. Their Hogwarts t-shirts were a little singed and their hair a little messed. "Just ran into Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts. They're bloody massive!" Cedric panted before the two of them ran back off along the next fork.

As Rai and I continued to follow our 'point-me' spell and our instincts, I got to thinking. "Hey, Rai. Do you think it's odd that we haven't come across anything yet?"

"Maybe, but-"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off when we turned the corner to come face to face with a Dementor. I quickly cast my patronus, but then the Dementor did the strangest thing: it tripped. I laughed as I realised what it really was and quickly cast 'riddikulus' at the Boggart-Dementor.

It was like coming across that Boggart was the catalyst for the maze as after that we hardly had a spare moment. First there was an odd mist spread across the next turn. I eyed it, unsure. Rai reacted first. "Reducto!" Of course, the blast just went straight through it.

"Rai, that spell's for solid objects." He flushed slightly. "Well, I suppose there's nothing to do but go through it." We stepped forward and as soon as we were inside the mist, the world seemed to go upside down. I wasn't too freaked out, because I knew that if I fell, Rai would be able to stop it. So, I took a step forward and the world righted itself again. I shrugged and kept walking.

That was when we heard the scream. It was high-pitched – undoubtedly female – and was answered by a cry of "Fleur!" and then another scream of agony; male this time. It seemed that the Beauxbatons team were in serious trouble. That was when I first started to worry.

There was nothing we could do, as much as it pained us to admit, and so we kept going, and soon enough we came across one of Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts and dear Lord, was Cedric right. They were bloody massive! As soon as I saw it I began to back away, Rai at my side, shooting stunners at it. Getting desperate, I yelled "Impedimenta!" and as the Skrewt stalled, we ran for it!

The next thing I knew, we could hear Cedric shouting around the next corner. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" We turned the corner to see the two Durmstrangs pointing their wands at Cedric and Cho. However, one look in their eyes and you could tell they weren't in their right minds.

"Stupefy!" Rai and I called out in unison, each aiming for a different Durmstrang. The two collapsed to the floor and Cedric and Cho turned to see us.

"Thanks." Cedric panted. Cho still glared at me. What is her problem!

Rai and I raised our wands again, pointing them towards the sky this time.

"What are you doing?" Cho cut in.

"Sending up red sparks." I said with a raised eyebrow. Surely she remembered the rules – send up red sparks if in trouble.

"Why?" she scoffed.

"Uh…because they're hurt…" I said slowly, as if talking to a small child.

"Why bother? They attacked us."

I gaped at her. "Can't you tell they weren't in possession of their minds? Besides, we can't just leave them here!" I ignored all further protests and shot the sparks into the air.

"Did you hear Fleur and Luc earlier?" Cedric asked hesitantly and Cho reluctantly glanced at me.

"Yeah." I bit my lip worriedly.

"You don't think…"

"I don't know."

He nodded distractedly. "Well. I suppose we'd better get going. Some game this, eh?"

"Yeah…Rai muttered as we split again. "Some game…"

"Rai?"

"Hmmm?"

"Was it just me, or did Krum and Voskef look as if they'd been Imperiused?"

"Yeah…yeah, they did. But who…" He trailed off, unable to think of an answer. Nor could I.

My worries only increased the further into the maze we went, but we soon came upon a sphinx, and though I didn't forget, it distracted me for a while. I had always wanted to see a sphinx and I knew she would give us a riddle – something fun for us to work out.

"You wish to pass me?" she asked as we stopped before her. "You'll have to solve my riddle."

"Bring it on."

She smiled before reciting,

"First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this:
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"

Rai blinked. "Uh…right. Well, 'the person who lives in disguise, who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies' – that's a spy, right?"

"Yeah. Great. Now for the rest."

"Er…" Rai trailed off and looked at me expectantly.

"So…spy…'the middle of middle, the end of the end' – that's 'd'…"

"And the noise…er…"

"That's it! 'er'!"

"Spy-d-er!"

"Something you'd be unwilling to kiss – a spider!"

The sphinx smiled and let us through. Okay, I'll be honest; we did share a high-five as we did…

We followed our instincts this time and soon found ourselves at the end of a pathway leading straight to the cup. We started along the path, hardly able to believe it. We hadn't really thought too much about winning. We were just having fun trying to stay alive…

Cedric and Cho hurtled onto the path from the side and sprinted towards the cup – eyes only on it. That meant that they didn't notice the acromantula heading down another side path, that they were about to run into…

"Cedric! Cho! On your left!"

They saw it just in time and dove out of the way, tripping and dropping their wands in the process. The huge spider continued after them and I quickly pulled my wand from where it usually stayed, up my sleeve. "Stupefy!"

The stunner only bounced off the spider's massive hairy body and Rai and I ran towards it, splitting up to try to confuse it, sending stunners at it, even if just to confuse it long enough for Cedric and Cho to get their wands back.

The spider seemed to give up on Cedric and Cho and turning from them, caught sight of me instead. "Impedimenta! Stupefy!" I yelled as it hurtled towards me, still trying to distract it, if not harm it, but it was no use, and soon the giant spider was upon me.

Its pincer grabbed my leg and lifted me upside down in the air. I stifled a cry of pain as the pincer cut into my leg and excruciating pain erupted through the limb.

I could hear Cedric and Cho's voices adding to the fray as they too shot stunners at the acromantula, but they were having no effect. Getting desperate, I shouted the first spell that came to me. "Expelliarmus!" Probably not the best idea.

The disarming spell managed to make it drop me, but it was so unexpected that Rai had no time to slow the air around me, so I dropped the twelve-feet from the spider's pincers to the ground, landing on my already injured leg, which crumpled beneath me.

From my position on the ground, I noticed that the spider's body was not so well protected from the underside and I aimed my wand at it, and the others, seeing me do so, aimed theirs there too. "Stupefy!"The four combined stunners sent it sprawling into the hedge.

"Kimiko!" I heard Rai shout as he hurried over. "Are you alright? It didn't fall on you, did it?"

"No. I'm good." I called back, gritting my teeth as I tried to stand. This time, I wasn't able to suppress my whimper of pain as I gingerly put weight on my injured leg, only to have it crumple beneath me again and I crashed to the floor. Or, I would've if Rai hadn't caught me.

I glanced at my leg, which was bleeding heavily and covered in some thick gooey substance from the spider's pincers. It probably hadn't helped matters that I was wearing knee-length leggings and my leg straps with my Xiaolin pumps. But hey, they're comfortable and easy to run in. The wound was rather nasty and since I couldn't put any semblance of weight on it without crashing to the ground, I took it that it was probably sprained if not broken, and badly so.

"I don't think we should risk trying to heal that ourselves." I muttered to Rai, who winced and hissed as he saw the state of my leg.

"Yeah." He agreed, a strange strain to his voice. "Besides, we're almost done; Madame Pomfrey can look at it when this is over."

I glanced over at Cedric and Cho, who were hanging around. "What are you waiting for? The cup is yours – take it."

Both shook their heads, though Cho looked rather reluctant to do so. "You two should take it. That's twice you've saved our necks in here."

"That's not how it works." I huffed out a laugh as I tried to at least straighten up. "The ones who reach the cup first get the points. That's you two. I'm telling you; I won't be winning any races on this leg."

"Please." Scoffed Cho. "He could just carry you. Or you could do your flying thing."

"Well, that would still require moving my leg, so… Besides, you're already almost there. You were beating us before that thing. Go on; just take it."

Cedric shook his head. "No." He said simply, moving closer to us.

"Stop being noble." Rai snapped. "Just take it and then we can get out of here and Madame Pomfrey can heal Kimiko's leg!"

"You told us about the dragons." Cedric said, coming closer and ignoring Rai's words.

"Yeah." Cho agreed reluctantly. "We would've gone down in the first task if it wasn't for you; if you hadn't told us what was coming."

"Yeah, well, we had help on that too." Rai said shortly, trying to use some of the fabric of the oversized Hogwarts t-shirt I was wearing as I did my Xiaolin robes. "Besides, you helped us with the egg – we're square."

"We had help with the egg in the first place."

"We're still square."

"You should've got more points in the second task. You stayed behind to make sure all the hostages were safe. We should've done that."

"No, you shouldn't have." I told him, gritting my teeth as I moved so I was leaning against Rai, my injured leg slightly elevated. "It's a Xiaolin Dragon thing – irresistible urges to ensure all the humans are safe – especially when it's a little girl. Now, just take the cup – you actually entered the tournament!"

"No." They continued moving away from the cup.

"Fine." Rai snapped. "We'll take it at the same time. We'll tie for it and then we can get Kimiko's leg seen to."

Cedric and Cho exchanged glances. "I suppose…"

"It's still a Hogwarts victory."

I managed a – slightly-strained – smile and Rai helped me half-limp half-hop towards the cup. The four of us stopped before it. "You sure?"

"Yes! Just take it! On three, alright? One-two-three-"

We grabbed the cup, each team taking a handle each. As we did, the cup glowed blue and I felt the familiar jerk. Something wasn't right.

We were lifted off the ground and dumped again roughly, I whimpered as I hit the floor, the pain in my leg reigniting. I stared around as Rai helped me up and leant me against a headstone.

We were in an old graveyard in the countryside. It looked awfully familiar.

"Hey, guys!" Cedric called from where he was still crouched beside the cup. "The cup's a portkey! Do you think this is part of the task?"

"No…I…" I answered slowly, unable to place the feeling, but knowing something wasn't right. Then I realised. "I've been here before…"

"What?" Rai turned to stare at me from where he had been glancing around too.

"I've been here before! I've got a really bad feeling – I don't think we should be here…"

"Come on, Kimiko." Cho taunted from where she was flitting about, reading the different headstones. "You're a Gryffindor – where's your sense of adventure?"

"I'm serious, Cho! We shouldn't be here!" She laughed and ignored me, continuing her search.

"You said you've been here before, Kimiko? When?" Rai asked as he eased me into a sitting position, leaning against the headstone for support.

"In my dream…the first one…"

"Oh God…"

I turned my gaze to the large headstone I was leaning against, the one with a large reaper on the side. The names on the stone caught my eye. All of them were 'Riddle's…

"Rai…" I began hesitantly, almost afraid of the answer. "Wasn't 'Riddle' Wuya's name before she changed it?"

Rai's eyes widened in terror as he saw the names. "Great ghosts of Dashi…"

I struggled to stand, ignoring the pain through sheer terror. "Guys, we've got to get out of here! Right now!"

Cho laughed again, but Cedric looked concerned. "Kimiko? Raimundo? What's going on…?" He seemed to sense our terror and looked frightened himself.

"I've been here before…in a dream…" he seemed to relax when I mentioned it was a dream.

"It was just a dream…relax…" Cho taunted as she approached us again.

"No! You don't understand!" I was bordering on hysterical now and I could feel Rai supporting me and trying to calm me down. "I don't have normal dreams! I've been dreaming about Wuya and Chase and everything is happening as I dream them! I saw this graveyard and I heard – as clear as you hear me now – that they're plotting something! Something they need me for! They said they'd got an insider at Hogwarts and this is obviously their attempt to get me away from there for whatever the hell they need me for! We've got to get out of here! Now!"

Their eyes widened as they finally understood what I was trying to say, we turned to rush back to the cup… but it was too late.

A high, cold voice hissed through the air, clear as day to Rai and me at least. "Kill the spares!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

I screamed in both horror – mixed with terror – and pain as a sudden flash of green light burst through the graveyard. Cedric and Cho crumpled to the ground and I would've followed if it hadn't been for Rai. My scar felt as if it had split open – the pain even worse than in my leg. I knew something was wrong… I knew She'd be here… I knew we should've left…

But it was too late now.

I've been looking forward to this chapter and the following chapters since I started this story! I can't wait to write them! Please let me know what you thought, and if you're still reading this!