I blearily awoke, and found myself in a snug couch surrounded by books stacked up by my couch and a couple in my lap. I yawned tiredly and rubbed my eyes- and then I froze.

Oh Merlin, what time is it!?

I felt something appear in my pocket. I hastily reached in and pulled out of my pocket a pocket watch, which indicated that the time was eight thirty- the time when Charms class began.

I groaned and dashed out of the room, throwing books here, there, and everywhere. I was about the farthest away from the Charms corridor as you could get, though luckily, I had brought my Charms book with me to practice and no homework was due today. On the other hand, I was dressed informally, in a jacket, shirt, jeans, and socks instead of my traditional school wear. Yeah, I didn't even have shoes.

I raced in the classroom, wheezing loudly. "Professor Flitwick, I'm sorry-!"

"Ah, yes, there she is," Flitwick squeaked and gave me a most stern look. For a moment, he seemed quite a lot taller than me.

"Yes, Kingsley, if you would please follow Mr. Jordan now," Flitwick said crisply, indicating besides him a boy whom I knew to be the Hufflepuff Seeker.

"Er-yeah, right," I said, thoroughly confused.

What is going on?

Jesse Jordan, who seemed to be trying hard to keep from laughing openly at me, began to lead the way out of the classroom. I turned, following him despite my bewilderment, when someone hissed my name.

"Ray! Raylynx!"

I looked to see someone hurl something heavy and black at me. It caught me in the head and I heard many people snigger at me. I grabbed it off my head to see that it was a Hogwarts robe.

I looked up in surprise to see Dorcas in her collared Gryffindor shirt, shooing me away, "Go, go!"

I trusted Dorcas fully. If she was yelling at me to do, I'd better go.

I dashed out of the room, bumping into the classroom doorway before making it through successfully. As I finally made my way out, I heard Jacob O'Leary, a Hufflepuff boy my year, mutter, "Some champion."

"Er… Could you tell me where we're going?" I asked Jesse.

"You've been called for by the Headmaster. Something for the Tournament, I think. Maybe pictures for the Daily Prophet?"

Great, I don't even have shoes on. Never mind the state of my hair...

The discomfort must have shown on my face because when we finally reached the right room Jesse turned to me and said, "Listen, I know people have been giving you a rough time lately, but… that's just because they don't know you. But I've versed you before, in Quidditch, and I don't think the Goblet chose wrong."

I looked up at him and felt my lips curve into smile. "Thanks, Jesse, that means a lot."

He turned to go when I called out to him, "Hey, Jesse!"

He looked back as I said, "I know you trained hard to verse me again. I'm sorry I didn't play Quidditch this year."

Jesse seemed to weigh my words for a minute before he smiled warmly and said, "No worries. Nothing's changed- I'm still rooting for you!"

He disappeared around the corner. I pulled on Dorcas' robe, tried to smooth back my hair, and took a deep, calming breath before I went in.

"You're late!" someone snapped while a bright flash of light blinded my eyes.

"Where were you?" an unforgiving voice whom I assumed belonged to McGonagall spoke, but I would have to wait until my vision returned to confirm.

"In Charms class," I said, half-honestly. I blinked rapidly to get my vision back.

"You overslept, didn't you?"

I looked up to see an irate Professor McGonagall.

I smiled guiltily, "Just a bit."

Now that my vision was back, I could see that I was in a fairly small classroom. Most of the desks had been pushed away to the corner of the room and in the large empty space in the middle were the Jared and Julian, looking every bit as handsome and sharp as their titles as champions called for.

However, in front of the blackboard lay three desks pushed together and draped with velvet. Behind those desks sat five people: at one end there were two Ministry representatives, one of whom I recognized as Mr. Crouch; at another end there a man holding an old-fashioned camera sitting beside a blonde, curly-haired witch who wore gaudy green robes and a pair of sparkling glasses to match. And sitting quietly in the very middle was Mr. Ollivander.

He must have felt my questioning gaze for his silver eyes snapped up to meet mine. For a moment, his eyebrows raised very high and he rather out of composure with astonishment. The next moment, though, it seemed he was working furiously to hide a smile from appearing on his lips.

"Oh, you're here! The third champion!" the wizard in Ministry robes whom I did not know jumped up excitedly and came over to me, "Hello, Ms. Kingsley, I'm Hamish MacFarlan, Head of Department of Magical Games and Sports. Overseeing this tournament. Glad to meet you."

"Pleasure, sir," I replied. "Er… what exactly…?"

"Oh, nothing much, just the wand weighing ceremony and perhaps a little interview."

"Wand weighing…?" I glanced over at Mr. Ollivander again, but he was now speaking with Dumbledore, who had just walked in with the other two Headmasters.

"Tournament regulations require us to check that your wands are fully functional as they are the most important and often, only, tools you will have in the three tasks ahead."

"Right," I said, my stomach dropping at the thought of the three tasks ahead. I must have read about hundreds of magical creatures and tried hundreds of spells, but remembered little and had mastered nothing as of yet.

"Please gather around so we may begin the ceremony," Mr. Crouch said, finally standing up. To my surprise, a small creature who had been hidden from view by the velvet-covered desks appeared from behind the desks with Mr. Crouch. I could tell that the creature was a house elf and I would hazard a guess that the elf was a female.

"Albus, if you would like to begin," said Mr. Crouch.

"Very well. Welcome, champions. Now, may I introduce Mr. Ollivander? He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."

"Mr. Kaius, if we could have you step forth, please?" Mr. Ollivander gestured in front of his table.

Jared stepped forth and held out his wand for Mr. Ollivander to take. Ollivander did, and then I saw him expertly go over the identification process I had practiced and had failed at so many times in his own shop. Every Friday evening, in fact.

"I see, this is a Castial one. He retired a few years ago, I heard. This must be one of the last ones he ever created."

Jared nodded stiffly.

"Silver lime wood? Yes, very handsome. They were in such high demand that I ran out of my silver lime wands in February though they were originally expected to last until at least August. Let's see… dragon heartstring core?"

"Yes, sir," Jared replied, eyeing Ollivander rather testily, as though he did not trust anyone with what was his.

"Thirteen and a quarter inches. Rather inflexible. Elegant and fiercely possessive. Attuned to stronger branches of magic, I think? Virga eybur!"

A cracking sound, like frozen ice breaking, came from one of the desks pushed to the back as it transformed into white ivory.

"Excellent condition," Ollivander appraised and handed it back to Jared. "Mr. Damocles, if you please?"

Julian crossed over and handed Ollivander his wand.

"Aha, this is one of my own, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir," Julian said, smiling brightly as Mr. Ollivander fondly examined it, turning it in his hands and holding it up to his eyes.

"Hazel and phoenix feather. Eleven and a half inches. Of perfect balance between flexible and inflexible. A very bright, creative, and sensitive combination. Suitable for most any magic you feel up to, I recall. Avis!"

Small white birds flew out of the wand and when Dumbledore twirled his hand towards the window, it opened to let the birds disappear into flight. Wandless magic, I thought, that's incredible."

"Yes, yes, very good… And Ms. Kingsley, if you would."

I walked over to Ollivander, blushing as I felt everyone's eyes on my striped socks present only due to the inappropriate absence of my shoes.

Ollivander gave me a sly smile when I handed my wand over to him. He had only had it in his hands for half a second before he recited, "Pine mixed with pink ivory, phoenix feather, twelve and a half inches. Poignant and illuminating. Subtle yet rich. Yes?"

"Yes, sir," I replied.

"Very well then. What spell shall we-? Oh yes, I know the perfect one. Arcesseret calceamentis!"

And suddenly, my striped socks were gone, obscured from vision by my shoes.

Ollivander handed me back my wand and I couldn't help but laugh silently as I said, smiling, "Thank you, Mr. Ollivander."

"All right, everybody, please line up beside the window there. Yes, excellent. We'll take a few photographs for the Daily Prophet, if you please."

Even on my best day, it would be difficult to feel truly confident beside the exuberant and undeniably attractive Julian, and silent, impressively handsome Jared, but on this particular day where I had not brushed my hair nor washed my face nor worn my own school robe, I felt like my every blemish was thrown into full daylight.

Apparently, the photographer thought so too because he kept insisting I stand in the back. I had half a mind to ask if I should just crouch down behind Dumbledore for all the photographs. But a-twenty-minutes-that-felt-like-an-entire-hour later and we had finished with the photographs. The photographer shot me quite a dirty look as he packed away his huge camera.

"Now, shall we finally start the interview?" The blonde witch came forward, clutching a garishly orange crocodile-skin handbag. "I'm Rita Skeeter, writer for the Daily Prophet. This is my very first interview and you three are the big news. So sit, sit!" Rita summoned four chairs with her wand and had us sit before her as she sat with a notebook and an overly decorated peacock feather quill. It drooped with the weight of the jewels embedded on the poor feather.

"All right," Rita said, "tell me about your delicious little selves. What made you decide to enter the TriWizard Tournament?"

We all sat there, rather uncomfortably, for one long silent moment before Julian spoke in a cheerful tone, "It's a way to get out of end-of-year exams, isn't it?"

Rita laughed and when Julian offered her a wink, she positively melted.

Jared looked somewhat revolted as he answered, "The honor, of course. For your school and your family."

"Naturally, naturally, wouldn't expect any less of an answer from a wizard with your bloodline," Rita said and swished her long quill against Jared's cheek.

Jared seemed to stiffen but he said nothing more as Rita turned to me.

Um… my best friend somewhat forced me to enter my name and I only let her do it because I thought I'd never been chosen?

Or what else did they leave me with? The money prize?

"Um, what they said," I said lamely.

Rita raised an eyebrow in my direction before turning back to her notepad and saying, "Very well, next question. How are your friends and parents, possibly siblings, feeling about you being the champion of your respective schools and possibly the champion of the TriWizard Cup?" Her lips smacked together at the end of the sentence and some of the bright red lipstick on her bottom lip smudged her liner on the top lip.

"My family and friends are all amazingly supportive, and I'm hoping I'll represent that at the tasks," Julian said, his blue eyes twinkling in the sunlight that now spilled across the classroom as the sun rose to closer and closer to its midday peak.

"And you?" Rita turned to Jared.

"I am grateful to everybody who is supportive and thankful to those who aren't."

"Aren't?" Rita asked pressingly.

"Yes, discouraging people provide me with the motivation to work harder," Jared said stoutly.

"And you, my dear?" Rita turned to me.

My family has literally been cursed out of the Wizarding World and even amongst the few friends I have, I haven't found a whole lot of 'support'.

"Same…" I said again.

Rita pursed her lips in dissatisfaction. "All right. This time we'll start with you, Raylynx. How do you feel about the upcoming tasks?"

Hysterical. Completely unprepared.

"Oh, um, nervous, I suppose. A bit… apprehensive," I managed to respond.

Rita clucked her tongue before she turned to Jared.

"I'm prepared," he answered firmly, "I have always done my best with any challenges present to me. I see no reason why that should change now."

"Perfect, and you?" Rita simpered at Julian.

"Can't wait to start winning," Julian grinned.

"A champion's answer," Rita said dreamily.


Lily's POV

I tracked down Potter after class besides the staircase and stopped directly in front of him, causing him to stutter mid-strut.

"Lily, my dear! Come looking for me, did you?"

Ignoring his stupid grin, I shoved my letter under his nose. "Fix it," I snapped.

"What? Oh, right. I was wondering when you'd notice that", James said, smirking at the letter, of which he'd charmed to be written in the language of Gobbledegook.

I didn't bother to reply but simply stood there, glaring at him and holding the paper up to him.

"We'll be in the Great Hall, Prongs," Remus said and he, Sirius, and Peter passed us by.

"You don't know how to read Gobbledegook? Are you telling me there's something even the Head Girl can't do?" James said teasingly.

"Potter, fix it," I said through gritted teeth.

"You also don't know how to counter a simple Illusion Charm. Of course, it isn't exactly simple, though is it Not after my modifications. Then again, Transfiguration tends to be my strong-"

"Potter, just take off the charm!" I said exasperatedly.

James studied me for a moment and said, "If I don't, are you going to hit me again? Slap me in the face like in the library?"

Despite myself, I flushed. I had er… slightly overreacted in the library, hadn't I?"

"Right, then. Here." James drew out his wand and tapped it against my letter.

"Oh, by the way, you never mentioned you had a boyfriend, Lily," he said to me. "Edmund Dantes? Your standards aren't very high, are they?"

I flushed again, though this time with anger and not embarrassment. Who was James Potter to stand there and judge me on my dating Edmund?

"No, perhaps they're not very high, but you still fall far below them," I retorted and began to turn away with my letter in hand.

"Wait, Lily."

I instinctively paused at my name.

"I didn't say it to insult you. I really think he's acting rather rude towards you, that's all."

I tensed. He was right, Edmund was being very rude to me and I was quite close to being done with him, but why would James Potter care? What, so he could use it as an excuse to continue embarrassing me at every opportunity he had?

I snorted. "If you think Edmund Dantes is rude to me, what does that make you, Potter?"

James' eyebrows furrowed together as my retort took him by surprise. I shot him another glare before I went off towards the Great Hall, leaving him in the hallway.

Had I been looking at him for just a second longer, I might have seen the real hurt that flashed across his face for a brief second.


Raylynx's POV

It took me a solid four hours to rediscover the room on the seventh floor, a room which I called in my mind as the Room of Requirement, for the room always brought forth exactly what I desired, save for food. For my further uses, the room provided me a very alarm clock that clang loudly at eleven at night and seven in the morning every day. Other than classes, it was straight to the kitchens for a pile of food and then here, where I spent hours and hours poring over books about magical creatures and riddles and practiced offensive and defensive spells over and over again. During my last practice, I'd finally managed a decent Water Shield and a solid Reductor Curse, which had diminished the bishop chess piece into mere dust.

It felt like an endless marathon of trying, failing, and eventually learning new spells. It was incredibly tiresome and despairing and the hours were fruitlessly long, and yet, the first task seemed to dawn upon me all too fast.

Sleepless with anxiety, I watched the daybreak of the first task from the window of my dorm while the others were fast asleep. As the golden rays whispered across our Gryffindor red bed curtains, I slipped quietly into my robes and left without waking the others. I headed down to the lower corridors, where I knew the Gray Lady was. She kept me silent company, her cold figure numbing me in a strangely calming way.

I'm not ready. What if I simply don't show up?

And yet I found myself heading down to the Great Hall and sitting at the breakfast table as though it were any other ordinary day. I had to attend two morning classes, but for the first time, the insults passed straight through me. I no longer heard them. I was too nervous, too much of a mess, for anything to stick in my mind. Classes ended at noon for the First Task and as I exited Defense Against the Dark Arts, I found a third-year Hufflepuff girl that I did not know waiting for me to tell me that I was supposed to go down onto the grounds now.

I nodded, my mouth quite dry, and began to head down the stairs.

Somebody rammed me in the shoulder in the courtyard, but I only kept moving, like a ghost, devoid of every feeling... save for complete and utter anxiety.

Finally, I climbed down the stone steps and into the brisk November air. I spotted a large gold and purple tent sparkling in the watery November sunlight down beside the Forbidden Forest.

Swallowing hard several times, I made my way down the grounds, slipping a bit on the still-dewy grass. I reached the entrance of the tent and ducked down into it.

Jared and Julian were both already there, sitting on separate chairs. Jared's eyes burned with a strange intensity and his jaw seemed clenched tight. Julian was as charming as ever, inclining his head towards me and offering a smile when he saw me, but even he couldn't hide the slight tremor in his voice when he greeted me hello.

Then Mr. Crouch and Mr. MacFarlan entered the tent, both sporting handsome dark blue robes. They were followed shortly by the three Headmasters.

"Welcome, welcome, champions, and good afternoon! I hope you are all feeling ready?" Mr. MacFarlan said excitedly, clapping his hands together.

Jared gave a sullen nod, Julian a stuttering laugh, and I simply looked at Mr. MacFarlan blankly.

"Right then, here are your instructions for the First Task. Now, listen carefully because the finer details are important if you want to score well with the judges. There are four stages to the first task. Think of the first task as a journey you will embark on. These four stages test your physical ability, your knowledge of magical creatures, your magical ability, and your ability to reason logically. But listen carefully now, you can only use each of these abilities once. Do you understand? Once you've cast a spell, you can only use magic for that stage of the task. The next task must be overcome with sheer physical ability, logical ability, or knowledge. Once you've used your logic to get you out of a stage, you cannot use logic again. Should you panic and resort to one of these four abilities more than once, points will be severely docked off. Does everybody understand?"

We all gave Mr. MacFarlan slow nods.

"Good. Then, in this bag are three numbers. Please come forth and pick one. Beginning with you, Ms. Kingsley."

I reached into a silk purple bag and pulled out a single piece of glowing parchment that had written on it in blue ink: 3.

"Three? Very well, and you, Mr. Sorentis."

"One? Excellent, and that leaves you, Ms. Kaius with- yes, two. Very well, please follow me outside, all of you."

Feeling as though I was purposefully entering a very, very fiendish nightmare, I followed Mr. MacFarlan and the others out into the grounds.

I blinked for a moment, my eyes adjusting to the noon-high sun after the softer light filtering through the tent. Suddenly, there was a loud shrieking sound from the forest. I turned just in time to see a puff of smoke rise from the Forbidden Forest. I swallowed hard again. My legs were feeling incredibly weak. What have I got to do?

"Does everybody see those four colored streams?" Mr. MacFarlan pointed down at the ground and indeed, a few yards away were four thin and differently colored streams, all seeming to have been carved into the ground. One appeared to be crystal clear water and it sang melodiously with every ripple. The second, to its left, looked as though crushed diamonds had been liquefied; it was a shimmering, sparkling stream that was soundless, but seemed to move quite quickly through the ground. The third was a slow-moving golden liquid that seemed to give off dancing sunspots that swirled just above its surface. Finally, the fourth was a liquid black and smooth as ink, running quite quickly. Each and every single one of these streams seemed to lead straight into the Forbidden Forest, albeit to slightly different areas.

Another tremendous roar sounded and the ground shook slightly below our feet.

"Mr. Sorentis, you are first. Please choose a stream, but don't take off quite yet."

Julian hesitated and took a deep, shuddering breath before he drew himself up to his full height and confidently strode over to the third liquid, the golden one with dancing sunspots.

"And you, Mr. Kaius?"

Despite his pale pallor, it was without a single change of expression that Jared decided upon the fourth, ink black stream.

"Ms. Kingsley?"

I paused. Is this some sort-of test?

Finally, my feet simply moved my numb, sleepless brain forward to the second stream that looked as though it had been made of crushed diamonds.

There we stood, the three of us, with Julian in the middle.

"Now, this stream acts as your guide. It will be on the ground to lead you to the end. Follow it at all times. When the stream flashes twice, it means you have begun a new stage. There are four, and each stage must utilize a single ability once. Very well… on the count of three, you may begin."

As though we were of one mind, all three of us stripped off our outer robes and dropped them onto the grounds. They were far too stifling for our nervous selves.

"And one… two… three! Begin!"

I immediately and almost unconsciously mirrored the others as we all walked forward, first hesitantly… then into long strides… faster… faster… and then all we once, we broke into sprints and took off down the sloping hill into the Forbidden Forest, each of us keeping to our individual streams.

Once in the Forest, our streams all slanted off at slightly different angles and I had only run a short way when I could no longer clearly see Julian and had lost all sight of Jared.

I kept sprinting full speed down into the Forbidden Forest, the late autumn foliage spiraling past me in all shades of fierce scarlet, blood orange, and a dead, crunchy brown.

Suddenly, with an earsplitting roar, a gigantic sharply-spiked tail smashed into the trunk just above my head, ripping off the entire tree top, and nearly killing me in one blow. I screamed and my legs gave out in terror, I dropped onto the floor and stared up, gaping like a mindless idiot resigned to her death at the monstrously huge, terrifically fearsome dragon in front of me.

Its glimmering, impenetrable scales were a very distinct blood-red, contrasting heavily to the sick yellow of its evil, rolling eyes were.

There's no chance. It's over. I can't do it.

Yes, you are, Raylynx! another voice in my head whispered fiercely, You will make it! Think of your friends, what would they tell you to do right now?

And an image of Alice arose in my mind, shouting, "Run! Run, Ray, run!"

I hastily and unsteadily got on my feet, only to see the dragon gulp in air- a second of silence- I knew what was coming.

"Duck, Ray! Get down!" Dorcas yelled, and I did, I ducked and rolled over just as the dragon released a great, scorching fireball that burnt down all that was left of the trunk into bits of black soot. I had just managed to get out of the way. Even so, I felt the searing heart of the dragon's fire with every nerve of my body.

"Ray, you've got to get on your feet and move forward! Move forward!" Lily cried.

I tried to get up and run, but tripped over a tree branch and landed on the ground hard and a pained, "oof!" escaped my lips. But I pushed myself up again with my bloody palms and took off deeper into the Forest, trying to find the stream.

ROAR!

The dragon bellowed loudly and clawed at me. I screamed, petrified, and threw myself on the ground, barely ducking the sharp talons of the dragon as it ripped out five or so trees in a single swipe. But as I found myself facing the foliage again, I realized I was also looking at the stream of crushed diamonds. So I was, miraculously, still on the right track.

"Come on, you're almost to the top of the hill, just get there , let the hill take you down, and you'll gain a few seconds on the dragon," Marlene was telling me.

I roughly pushed myself to my feet and started sprinting again, only to jump forward just in time over the top of the hill. I skidded and fell on the slippery leaves just as the dragon's fire shot over my head. I went tumbling head-over-heels down to the very bottom of the hills. I furiously got up yet again and threw myself behind a tree just as the dragon appeared at the top of the hill. It snorted and bellowed angrily as it could not see me, tucked away behind a tree trunk.

I have to get out of here, I have to…

But the dragon released another fireball that ripped through the trees and my heart leapt into my mouth. There is no way I can get past that dragon by running, not without magic, and I can't use magic except as a last resort. It's only the first task.

Knowing it was only a matter of time before the dragon spotted me, I growled in frustration , trying to think of ideas, ideas…

And then as I stared up at the foliage spiraling down towards me, it came to me.

I turned and faced the tree trunk and looked for the lowest branch. I grasped it and pulled myself up onto the branch, my feet slipping and skidding against the tree trunk.

I made my way up the branch as the dragon attempted to take flight but failed as the branches were too close together for its wingspan.

About midway to the top, I stood on top of a sturdier branch where I could spot sparks flying from farther down in the Forest, and shouts could be heard.

I then glanced down at the forest floor. To my utter horror, the dragon was just beneath my tree and when it spotted me, it wasted no time in letting out a stream of fire up my way.

My heart jumped into my mouth as I quickly ducked back, only to then feel the dragon swipe at my tree and slice the tree into halves. I grabbed onto the trunk as it first leaned one way, but when the tree began to fall in earnest, I knew I had to get out of where I was if I was to avoid getting smashed by the tree trunk.

Thus, once the tree began gathering momentum, I jumped before the tree hit the ground, yelling. When my feet slammed into the ground, it hurt immensely as shock waves literally jarred every bone in my body. For a moment I wondered if all the bones in my legs had shattered. But there was no time to consider it, I had landed on a downslope and the only way to stay on my feet was to move them-fast.

I tried to find the stream again as I sprinted down this hill and found it a little ways to my left.

The dragon was still trapped behind the fallen tree, giving me some time to half-fall, half-run my way down the hill following the stream. I finally burst out of the forest and the stream flashed brightly twice. At the same time, some ways away to my left, I spotted Julian sprint out of the trees and skid to a stop. He also looked a bit worse for the wear.

At that moment, the dragon managed to climb atop the huge tree it had swiped down. I looked up in horror as it prepared to jet another fireball at me. I was now out in the open on the bank of the lake with nothing to hide behind. With a feeling of dread, I began to draw out my wand when suddenly, eight witches and wizards Apparated, surrounding the dragon, and fired eight Stunners straight towards the dragon. The dragon seemed to struggle for a long moment fighting against invisible bonds before it finally whimpered and slouched over.

But now was not the time to be watching. The first stage was over. Despite my trembling legs, my eyes followed the glittering stream to see that it… led straight into the vast expanse of the lake.

I slowly waded out into the chilly water until it was nearly hip-high. The quiet water was far from comforting, but incredibly eerie in its silence, unrippling surface.

I kept to the diamond-colored stream present on the surface of the water and continued forward. The next few steps made the freezing water rise to my chest. However, it stayed at that height as I continued to pushed forward, feeling very nervous about the stillness…

Then, quite suddenly, a huge wave of thick, rolling fog descended upon me so that I couldn't see further than twenty feet in any direction. Even the glistening diamond stream couldn't be spotted afy more than twenty-five feet ahead. I gripped my wand tightly in my robe but simply kept moving forward.

Then I noticed, some ways away, a yellow light dangling in the fog. I hesitated, sure I was letting my eyes play tricks on me. After all, how could there simply be a light out here, in the middle of a giant Lake?

But as I continued on, the light seemed to follow, tauntingly dangling here and there in the fog, swooping through it and sometimes seeming to bob in the water… until I was sure it wasn't just a trick on the eyes.

So is that the mission? What if it's another dangerous creature, though? Should I go to it or let it come to me?

The latter seemed even more nerve-wracking than simply facing it, however, so I began to wade into deeper waters, following the light until the water was up to my chin.

Fighting underwater is not my strong suit, I thought and stopped right there. The light still bobbed over the water, luring me…

This isn't good, I thought, I should just follow the diamond stream.

Oh Merlin! I suddenly realized I had drifted from the stream while being lured by the…

Lured? Of course! It's a hinkypunk! A creature of the swamp that looks like a cloud of fog and lures unwary travelers to their deaths.

I hastened to get back to shallower waters, knowing that if the hinkypunk decided to come after me now, I would be most certainly forced to use magic.

I found the stream back in waist-high waters and shivering, followed it to what was mercifully, the end of the Lake. I fought my way through the reeds and got to the very end when something suddenly launched itself out of the water. I immediately ducked and raised an arm to defend myself. The long claws of the hinkypunk dug sharply into my arm but otherwise flew over me, leaving me to run, sopping wet and trembling from the cold, into the woodlands on the other side of the lake.

As soon as the stream flashed twice, indicating that I had entered the third stage, I felt myself in a very chilly, almost unnerving atmosphere. I could see my breath in the air and ice particles began to form on my clothes from the lake water. I felt a terrible sense of dread that was different from the nervousness I had felt so far. I swallowed hard and gripped my wand. Shivering, I made my way into the forest, where the stream led me.

The stream took me to the mouth of a rock cave. Gripping my wand tight in my hand, I stepped inside. Immediately, the darkness was so thick nothing could be seen. I thought I heard a long, rattling gasp of breath in front of me and suddenly, I felt as though I was paralyzed with fear. Memories of my parents being tortured, my brother lying still and pale as death in the hospital bed, my sister collapsing and crying…

Underneath a long hood was a face darker than darkness itself- a long, rattling breath sounded, echoed in the cave, and two skeleton-like hands rose from the ghastly figure and began to reach for my face.

Numbly, I accepted this as my fate, too lost in nightmarish memories, my wand pointing uselessly at the ground.

It was only when, from the very back of my mind, Seymour's voice whispered, "You know what a dementor is, creatures that suck out every happy memory within you, and possibly your soul, reveling in despair and decay. The most effective defense against them is-"

"The Patronus Charm."

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" I shouted, lifting my wand away from the floor with great effort.

A huge silver lynx burst out of the tip of my wand, driving away the dementor. I ran out of the cave, shaking like mad, but once back out into the daylight, I noticed the stream was now pointing away from the cave, past the cave.

I took a moment to steady myself, drawing in deep breaths, and then having used magic again, thought it couldn't hurt to use a bit more as long as I was in the third stage.

I pointed my wand at myself and murmured, "Calidus aer vestium."

My clothes became quite dry and then I stowed my wand away for good. There was only one task left and one ability- I would have to logic this one out.

I followed the stream, running to save time, though fairly certain both boys would have finished by now- I had taken far too long in the lake figuring out the hinkypunk and who knows how long I was in that dreaded cave- and broke out of the forest at the top of the hill, only to look down and see- the Gates of Hogwarts and students behind it, waving, cheering. However, the stream led down into the valley before it rose up to the Gates.

I made my way down to see Jared making his way up to the gates, having finished his final task. Julian was sitting beside… was it a garden snake? And speaking to it, as though it were a friend of his.

I blinked in confusion but instead turned to my own task, for the stream led me to-

My mouth dropped open. After all this, a sphinx?

The sphinx was laying down, it's great furry clawed lion paws crossed delicately in front of her. Its long tail, ending in a brown tuft, flickered behind it. And yet, its head was that of a woman's, with high, arching cheek-bones, thick eyebrows, and mysterious, nearly frightening almond-shaped brown eyes.

More than anything, I wanted my wand for safety, for protection, but I knew I could not use magic.

Logic, I thought, but how.

That question was answered when I finally came to a stop in front of the sphinx.

"Since you remain with the ability to use logic, I will present you with a riddle. Answer correctly in one and you may pass through to the Gates. Fail to do so- and I will attack."

My heart thudded frantically, but at least I had a chance with the riddle.

"All right. Let's have it then", I said as steadily as I could.

"In the language of the dead, if you take nine from the English six, ten from nine, fifty from forty, then you will leave six. How come?"

"I-what? Could I have that again, please?" I stammered.

The sphinx repeated the riddle.

I hadn't a clue what the answer was, but perhaps…

I hesitated, took a deep breath and then looked the sphinx straight in the eye.

Legilimens!

I found myself standing in the same layers of maze, but to my shock, they all moved and functioned in different ways, with different paces.

No!

I barely scurried in time before her mind smashed mine.

But I found myself in another corner and I was slowly being squeezed in. The left side of my brain was locked, stuck.

No, I can't die like this!

I forced the right side of my brain to pull on the left and finally I barely managed to escape the vortex of the unfathomable clutches of her mind.

I opened my eyes to find myself on the ground, face-down, with the grass pressing against my face.

I woozily stumbled onto my feet and shook my head and looked up to see that some time must have passed. Julian had clearly passed into the gates and everybody's faces were pressed to the gates, peering down curiously at me.

"What's she doing? How long's she going to take?" someone was saying.

I grabbed my head as a wave of pain crashed into it, but when I looked up at the sphinx, she simply blinked her large, deep eyes and smiled an enigmatic smile. "Your answer?" she asked.

Unable to stand any longer, I sat back down and said, "All right. All right. In the language of the dead… What's the language of the dead? Silence, but that's a dead end. Well, English here at Hogwarts, with the ghosts, but that's far too obvious."

I wracked my brains and suddenly recalled my answer to an Ancient Runes exam last year: The dead languages, which no longer have any native speakers, include Latin, Classical Greek, and Germanic in various forms.

And if we were dealing with numbers…

"Latin!" I cried aloud and then began to think hard about the numerical values.

I picked pieces of grasses and laid them down on the ground to spell out the Roman numerals of: six minus nine, nine minus ten, and forty minus fifty, and finally six.

But it was... the English six we were taking away from?

Okay, then:

SIX- 9(IX)

9 (IX) – 10 (X)

40 (XL) – 50 (L)

Wait, so… so…

"I've got it!" I shouted triumphantly.

The Sphinx looked down at me curiously, but it's eyes glinted like those of an animal's ready to pounce.

I looked up at her and said, "So, this is it:

SIX – IX is S.

IX –X is I.

XL- L is X.

That spells six."

The sphinx nodded her great head and got up and moved aside.

Feeling relief blossom in me, I passed her and finally reached the gleaming golden gates of Hogwarts, which creaked open for me. Students with varying degrees of relief and disgust lined up at the Headmaster's order to let me pass, but I had only just stepped foot inside the gates when someone shouted, "You were terrible, you were!"

"Yeah!" someone else yelled. "How could you take so long?"

The feeling of relief faded quite quickly into embarrassment and guilt.

"You made us look stupid!"

"You finished dead last!"

"Ms. Kingsley, please step into Madam Pomfrey's tent before you receive your score," Professor Dumbledore said to me kindly, gesturing towards the tent.

I nodded numbly and entered. Having stepped beyond the folds of the tent, the voices of the other students hurling insults at me vanished at once.