THE EIGHTH YEAR

CHAPTER 7

The Trial

By: hermioneeeeeee

The Trial was today and all of the eighth years were nervous. It started in the afternoon and ended early the next morning. They were all outside of the Forbidden Forest, waiting to enter the Forest.

"Ready? Steady? Go!" Professor Allando yelled and the twelve of them set off, ready to battle. The course was divided into six trails, one for each pair and all of them had different obstacles to make it interesting but all of the same level of difficulty to make it fair. Also, there were invisible walls that blocked out the sound from other pairs so they couldn't cheat by hearing someone else use a certain spell. Hermione and Draco were the first to encounter a creature (Professor Allando had also acted as a Care of Magical Creatures teacher because he warned them about coming face to face with dangerous magical creatures.). They had to jump into the pond and defeat all of the grindylows in side of it. They each cast a bubble-head charm and dived in. The water was freezing cold. Hermione shivered and the two were immediately ambushed by grindylows. The creatures pulled and pinched and scratched. Hermione and Draco cast 'Reducto' and 'Stupefy' and then all of them were still. They climbed out and cast a drying spell. They hurried on.

Ginny and Harry were battling some Doxys (which are also known as 'Biting Fairies').

"Stupefy!"

"Immobulus!"

"Evanesco!"

With that, the Doxys were gone and Harry and Ginny ran past the obstacle.

Astoria and Ernie were looking at a Flesh-Eating Slug. Astoria screamed. She had a fear of slugs and particularly ones that could eat your skin.

"Glacius!" she squeaked and the slug turned to ice.

"Bombarda!" Ernie yelled and the slug blasted into pieces. They smiled and went on to the next obstacle.

Terry and Anthony were staring at a wardrobe.

"What do we need to?" Terry asked.

"Maybe it's a Boggart." Anthony suggested. They climbed in, worried to see what the two of their worst fears combined were. The Boggart had taken the shape of a Basilisk and Acromantula. It hissed at them and crawled at them. They both screamed.

"RIDDIKULUS!" they shouted and the Boggart changed to Peeves pranking the teachers. They laughed and moved on.

Blaise and Justin were currently working on defeating an Imp that was trying to steal from their pockets. It kept distracting them and they weren't working very well with it.

"Use a spell!"

"I don't know what to do!"

"Incarcerous!"

The Imp went limp in the ropes that bound it. They ran to the next obstacle.

Luna and Neville were trying to stop a Niffler from taking all of the shiny things that it was allowed to steal for the obstacle.

"Brachiabindo!" Luna cried. The Niffler went still and was trapped in invisible ropes. It let go of all of the items and let them pass through. Obstacle cleared.

Hermione and Draco were in a Boggart chest together. They held hands, wondering what their fears would be. The Boggart took shape. Draco's fear was a dead Hermione and a dead Mrs. Malfoy. Hermione's was a strong Voldemort killing Draco and all of her friends. The Voldemort then aimed at her with the Killing Curse. Unable to cope with the sight, Draco started to cry onto the chest's floor. Hermione felt dead even though it was only a Boggart. It knocked her onto the floor and she tried to utter Riddikulus.

"Riddikulus." she whispered. The Boggart changed into a smiling Pygmy Puff and the two got blasted out of the chest. Draco's eyes were still leaking with tears.

"I'm sorry. It's just-" he started.

"Shhhhh. It's okay. It's only a Boggart." Hermione whispered gently. She kissed the top of his head and his lips met hers. They kissed until Draco wasn't crying anymore. They held hands as they went on to the next obstacle.

The eighth years were doing well. Obstacle after obstacle was cleared. Just when they thought that the Forbidden Forest couldn't get much darker, they all stumbled upon a sign which read: CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE FINISHED THIS PART OF THE COURSE. YOU ARE REQUIRED TO STAY HERE IN THE FOREST UNTIL YOU HAVE SLEPT TO YOUR COMFORT. The pairs relaxed and began to make a camp. Hermione stood up and walked around, saying spells that would protect her and Draco.

"Salvio hexia. Protego Maximum. Fianto Duri. Repello Inimicum. Cave inimicum." Hermione said. There were now protective barriers around Hermione and Draco. Having Muggle parents, Hermione had wisely chosen to bring a small pack with food in it and they ate the dinner quietly.

"I'm glad I chose to be partners with you. The smart one." Draco said. Hermione sat next to him and put her head on his shoulder. Draco rubbed her back. They both laid down on the now less dirty forest floor and fell asleep.

Harry went around and muttered different protective charms that he remembered Hermione using when they were searching for Horcruxes last year. Ginny seemed impressed with how much he could remember. He relaxed and laid down with Ginny. They fell asleep rather quickly, not even caring about not having any dinner.

Astoria and Ernie were doing their best to remember the spells that they'd studied from the books. They walked in a circle and made a protected area. They smiled and fell asleep soon after.

Terry and Anthony were hungry. Anthony tried to summon some food but, of course there was none. Maybe that's what Hermione had brought in her bag: food. She was clever, why wasn't she in Ravenclaw? he wondered. The boys set up some charms to protect them and then promptly fell asleep.

Blaise and Justin made a protective square of enchantments that could keep them alive throughout the night and then made a fire.

"I wish we had food. I'm hungry." Justin said.

"Well, Finch-Fletchley, that is what food is for. To make you not hungry." Blaise said. Justin rolled his eyes and went to sleep. Blaise did soon after.

Neville and Luna had had fun with making their enclosure. Luna had insisted to include some spells that would protect them from wrackspurts. Neville happily obliged and the two made an extra layer that would keep out wrackspurts. They smiled and fell asleep.

It was morning. All that was left to do was run through the finish line! All pairs ran as fast as they could. Except for Blaise and Justin. Blaise had slept in and now they were very far behind. They ran and ran until they saw all of the other pairs waiting for them at the finish. Justin made an accusing face at Blaise as they ran past the finish line.

"Unlucky, boys." Professor Allando said, smiling.

"I'll give you all the results next class. Thankk you and I hoped you all had fun!" he said and everybody walked back to the castle.

It was the end of class and, as Professor Allando had said, it was time for results. Everybody bubbled with excitement.

"The moment you've been waiting for! Results!" Professor Allando said, waving his wand through the air and revealed the results.

Pairs:

Hermione & Draco

Ginny & Harry

Neville & Luna

Anthony & Terry

Astoria & Ernie

Blaise & Justin

Individual:

Hermione

Ginny

Harry

Draco

Luna

Neville

Astoria

Ernie

Anthony

Justin

Terry

Blaise

Blaise seemed mad that he was last in both categories. However, he wasn't that surprised. He hadn't helped Justin a lot and had mostly been a bad teammate. Both of them argued more than they agreed. He shrugged off his pride and clapped for his friends.

"Well done to all of you! I'm glad that you got to do this. Now, you are dismissed!" Professor Allando said and let the eighth years go.