Raylynx's POV

It was June the twenty-third and the sun shone bright on Hogwarts.

I entered the Great Hall at noon with Julian and Jared and to our great surprise, parents were there. Or in my case, very good friends and guardians were there.

Mrs. Potter rushed over to me with outstretched arms and wrapped me up in a huge embrace. Mr. Potter stood behind her, chuckling at the sight of Mrs. Potter slowly squeezing all the air out of me. They had aged quite a bit, but their grace and kindness had only grown more beautiful and gentle.

"Let her go, darling. She needs to breathe," Mr. Potter said, smiling.

Behind him, Andromeda and Ted stood together patiently. I hugged Mr. Potter before I walked over to them. Andromeda's arms held a bundle of blankets.

"Nymphadora?" I said, peering down into the blanket.

"Yeah, she fell asleep on the way here," Andromeda smiled and gently pushed aside the bit of pink blanket covering the baby's face.

She was sleeping peacefully, a perfect picture of content serenity, save for-

Besides me, Mrs. Potter let out a gasp, "Ted, what did you do to her hair?"

Ted pretended to be serious as he said casually, "We dyed it."

Mrs. Potter looked at him in shock. Mr. Potter laughed. Andromeda nudged him fiercely and laughed nervously, "No, we would never..." I smothered a laugh.

"No, no, don't worry, Mrs. Potter," Ted added quickly, shaking his head, "I'm joking. She's a Metamorphagus, our baby. Her hair changes every ten minutes. It was turquoise when we got here and electric pink now. I'm guessing it'll be bright orange by the time we leave."

"Oh, that's incredible. I'm told Metamorphagi are incredibly, incredibly rare," Mr. Potter said warmly.

I looked down into Andromeda's arms again. "Nymphadora", her name was, and yet she was such a small thing, much smaller than her own name.

"She's so pretty," I smiled, looking down at her.

Then two irritatingly excited voices broke into our group.

"Mum? Dad?"

"Andromeda? You didn't say you were coming!"

We all turned to see James and Sirius running up to us excitedly, with Remus and Peter walking up just behind.

There were lots of hugs and kisses and happy murmuring when Sirius laughed and said, "Merlin, so she's a Metamorphagus? Moony, Wormtail, come look."

Remus and Peter shuffled forward awkwardly to come look at Nymphadora.

"Oh," Remus said, witnessing Nymphadora's hair turn to a bright blue, "wow."

On my other side, James was getting teased rather badly.

"So where is this Ms. Evans, eh?" Mr. Potter was saying, poking his son in the shoulder and laughing.

"Yes, your father and I are very excited to see this girl who pitied you enough to be with you," Mrs. Potter added.

James scowled, "She does not pity me. She likes me. A lot."

We all had lunch together and I also shook hands with Julian's parents and Jared's mother. I looked upon Jared's mother in awe, knowing that this was the woman who so generously took Alexis under her protection.

It was a merry lunch and Andromeda informed me that my brother and sister wished the best for me, though they couldn't be here themselves. They all four left shortly after lunch to work and the Potters didn't get to see Lily Evans.

"Next time," James promised them, looking a little relieved it hadn't happened right then and there, in the Great Hall and everything.

It was lovely but after lunch, the nerves hit me again. It starts with a slight anxiety, a slight tingling of the senses, if you like, where your reactions are just a little quicker to everything- to a teacher calling your name in class to catching your quill just before it rolls off the desk. By dinnertime, you really think you must've swallowed butterflies for lunch and any further eating could only be a terrible mistake. By nightfall, you just can't think straight and your mind is filled with horrors of what the coming day might bring. But through all this- just before I headed to bed I still asked, "Where's Lily? I haven't seen her all day."

"You know how she gets," Marlene rolled her eyes as she towel-dried her hair, wet from the shower she'd just took. "It's finals week. She's probably arguing with Madam Pince to extend library hours or something."

She yawned and stretched, dropping the towel on her chair, "Merlin, I'm tired from all this studying."

"Marlene, what exam do you have first?"

"Herbology," she answered, drying her hair with steaming air from her wand.

"How is it?" I asked curiously. I'd given up Herbology ages ago.

"Terrible," Marlene said, rolling her eyes, "Sprout still treats us like we're first years. Yesterday, we learned about Devil's Snare again. You remember that from first year?"

I shrugged, recalling that terribly disgusting plant that liked to wrap itself around you. It'd caught a bit of my hair and yanked it out. Needless to say, I was not particularly fond of said plant. "Vaguely," I replied, "doesn't it try to kill you when you touch it? Like eighty percent of the material in Herbology…the other ten try only to severely maim you and the rest are revolting things you've got to squeeze the pus out of…"

"Expect this time we had to do all sorts of testing for characteristics on it," Marlene continued. "You know what her advice was to us for N.E.W.T. testing?"

Without waiting for me to respond, Marlene recited in a sarcastically childlike voice, "Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare, it's loads of good fun, but it'll sulk in the sun!"

There was a moment of stunned, hold-your-breath, what-did-you-just-say silence and then we both burst out laughing.

"That's great. That's brilliant," I said, still laughing a bit a minute later.

Marlene sighed. "I know you have the Third Task and that's harder than anything, but you are lucky you don't have to take exams," Marlene commented. "Do you feel prepared?"

"No," I answered honestly, feeling the nerves kick up again.

"But you've been in the library so much these past few weeks, maybe even more than Lily." Marlene finished drying her hair and got into bed.

That was true. But I hadn't been reading up on the Third Task at all. I'd been-

"Oh, by the way, Rayly, my father sent me a letter yesterday. He wanted to wish you the best of luck."

I smiled into my pillow. "That's so wonderful to hear, Marlene. Thank you, and tell him thanks," I said.

A few minutes later, Marlene was fast asleep. I could hear the slow tempo of her breathing and trying to lose myself in that rhythm, I entered a short nap as well.


I woke up abruptly, my heart beating uncomfortably loud. Maybe it was because Marlene had mentioned her father but I had dreamt about my own father that night; how his familiar scent had turned into the sharp, metallic taste of blood and how his eyes had slowly turned lifeless…

I buried my face in my hands and took deep breaths, as quiet as I could make them. When I'd managed to fight my breathing back to normal, I looked around the dorm. The hourglass the Potters had given me told me it was four thirty in the morning. The task would start in four and a half hours. Marlene was still sleeping peacefully and so was Alice, besides me. I could make out Dorcas' outline under her mass of blankets.

But then my eyes landed on Lily's bed and it was-empty.

Had she fallen asleep in the library? No, Madam Pince would have woken her up before shoving her out. Then where was she? Was she with James? I hesitated. There was only one way to check. I pulled on a jacket, shoes, and sneakers before I quietly grabbed my wand and left the dormitory.

"Lumos." The tip of my wand lit up.

I snuck up the stairs to the boys' dormitory and feeling rather pathetic and nervous, slowly opened the door to the room of the Marauders and Riley.

Remus, evidently, was a very light sleeper. He almost immediately woke up and noticed the light coming from my wand.

"Who's there?" he murmured.

"Sorry, Lupin," I said, turning to James' bed.

He was sleeping, glasses off, curled on his side, and he was alone.

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach that had nothing to do with the upcoming task.

I reached out and touched James' shoulder.

"James. James."

"Raylynx?" Remus said tiredly, sitting up in his bed.

James moaned a little and shifted away from me.

"James!" I hissed and reached out and shook his shoulder.

"Leave me aloneee," James groaned and pulled the covers up to over his face.

Meanwhile, Sirius had woken in his bed besides James'.

"What's going on? Bloody hell, Kingsley! What are you doing here?"

"James!" I said again and shoved him, hard.

This time he really woke up.

"What is it? Have I overslept? What time is it?"

Rubbing his eyes and reaching for his glasses, he stared up at me blearily.

"Who is-?"

He shoved on his glasses. "Ray? What the hell are you doing here? What time is it?"

Peter gave a great snore and rolled over.

"It's four thirty in the morning," Remus informed us in a neutral voice. "Raylynx, is something wrong?"

"James," I said again, "have you seen Lily at all today?"

"No," he answered, "but she always sends me away when she's got exams coming up. Why?"

"She's not in bed," I said. "I haven't got a clue where she is."

James looked at me nervously. "You don't think… you don't think anything's happened to her?"

"How could it?" Remus said reassuringly. "We're in Hogwarts."

"But Lily isn't like this," I argued. "She never stays out, especially during exam nights."

Riley shifted in his sleep and Henry coughed slightly. I lowered my voice, "I'm going to go look for her."

James nodded and got up. "I'm coming with you."

I waited for him to pull on his shoes and a jacket and we started to turn away when Sirius hissed, "Wait for us."

He and Remus came along as well.

Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, James muttered, "Here, everybody get under this."

He pulled out his Invisibility Cloak and with great difficulty, the four of us barely managed to squeeze under it.

"Prongs, this is a hell of a tight fit," Sirius said.

"Too bad we haven't got the Map, either," James commented. "Damn Filch."

"And whose fault is that?" Sirius grumbled.

"Where do we look first?" Remus asked, swiftly cutting off any further talk of the Map. I'd forgotten I wasn't supposed to know about the map; that only James knew that I knew about the map.

"On the way to the library, I suppose," I said uneasily. It seemed a stupid answer, but it was the most obvious. We set off down the hall, stepping on each other's toes and bumping hands a lot. Remus was walking behind me and when we skidded to a sudden halt as Mrs. Norris mewed in front of us, I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. I fought hard not to break away from him, ignoring my instincts of self-preservation, but nothing happened and when Mrs. Norris had passed ("What I wouldn't give to give her a good kick," Sirius muttered), we pressed forth.

She wasn't at the library nor in any of the passageways besides it. She wasn't at any of her favorite study spots, besides little windows and fireplaces where she often studied or read. She wasn't down at the kitchens or in either of the Towers.

We were all out of breath and our fingers and faces were freezing cold. The morning sun had already half-risen and the time on James' watch read seven forty-five.

"You need to get back and get dressed and ready for the Task," James reminded me as we checked the window seat at the end of the second floor.

"But James, where the hell is she?" I said, frustrated.

"I don't know," James said, shaking his head. "But we'll keep searching for her."

I hesitated.

Then I said, "Okay. You have to search for her, you hear me? Don't come to the Task. And I'll wake up the others: Dorcas, Alice, Marlene. Have them look for her too."

James nodded firmly. We headed back up to Gryffindor Tower. I dressed and woke the others and they returned with me down to the Gryffindor common room where the boys were warming their hands at the fireplace.

"Rayly, good luck. Don't worry about this, we'll take care of it," Marlene reassured me.

Dorcas nodded and patted my back while Alice gently touched my hand and squeezed it with both her own.

"Good luck," Remus said to me warmly. "I'll await you with chocolate again."

Despite my anxiety bubbling over from the Third Task and the disappearance of Lily, I couldn't help but half-smile at Remus. I nodded at the others and then left, hurrying down the castle and out to the grounds where the Task was to take place.


"Ah, Champions, very good, gather around me. And yes, if the Headmasters and family members would wait just behind me."

Mr. MacFarlan smiled down at us as we gathered around him one last time, but my eyes were looking past him, at Professor McGonagall, who could only be substituting for Professor Dumbledore.

A pang of unease ran through me. I didn't know what, but something just wasn't right here.

"Very well. So. The Ministry has been working hard to construct this final task in complete secret, here on the Hogwarts grounds."

"So now, I am very proud to present to you the setting of the last task! Revelio castellum!"

He drew out his wand and pointed it at the huge rockside cliff just besides the Whomping Willow.

Then, as though somebody had poured a bucket of paint over an invisible statute, an entire building began to appear before our eyes.

The audience gasped and I looked in amazement as color spilled from the very roof of some sort-of decrepit house all the way down to the very floor.

It was a many-leveled house, almost a miniature castle, made of rickety wood, and hanging, it seemed, nearly off the edge of the cliff down into the abyss.

This was where our Third Task was to take place.

"Your task is to get to the very middle of the house and touch the TriWizard Cup. First one to do so, wins. You'll all start in different places, of course. And since Mr. Sorentis is leading in points, he will start closest to the Cup, followed by Mr. Kaius, followed by Ms. Kingsley. Good luck to you all."

"And remember," Mr. MacFarlan warned us, "magic goes beyond the senses."

Our Headmasters and in Julian's case, parents and Lorraine and in Jared's, his mother and Alexis, were allowed to spend a few seconds with us to wish us luck.

Professor McGonagall came to me. She opened her mouth to say something but instead, I spoke first, "Professor, where is the Headmaster?"

McGonagall hesitated before answering crisply, "Well, not that it's any of your concern, Raylynx, but he is has been called on urgent business to the Ministry."

The way she answered indicated that there was far more to the story, but Mr. MacFarlan was hurrying to finish up now. McGonagall placed a hand on my shoulder and said earnestly, "Do take care of yourself, Raylynx."

Then, Mr. MacFarlan blindfolded each of us and called out, "Volunteers! Step forth please. Now hand them their respective Portkeys."

I felt something cold and hard touch my hand and I felt myself begin to whirl and my world spun with me.

I managed to land on my feet and immediately ripped off my blindfold.

I was standing in a normal, if not dusty, room. There was a large window to my left which was simply a hole cut in the middle of the wooden wall. Directly across from me was a door. I raced across the room and reached to turn the doorknob only-

I paused in surprise.

My fingers went right through the 'doorknob' and hit what felt like a stone wall rather than the wooden door in front of my very keys.

I pressed my hand flat on the 'door' only to find that is indeed a flat and smooth stone wall. There was no separation between a 'wall' and a 'door', no outline of the door. In other words, the door wasn't a door. I stepped back and gazed at it. It certainly looked like a door.

I put both my hands against the 'door' and shoved. It didn't budge.

So then, this was what Mr. MacFarlan meant by 'magic beyond the senses'. What I saw wasn't real.

I ran my hands all alongside the wall to find nothing there and continued onto the next wall where the window was. At one point, my hand was on the windowsill when it slipped out of the window into the air outside- only it met something hard and solid, rather than air.

I paused, then reached far out only to feel my palm meet something in which looked to be absolutely nothing.

"Conjurus globula."

A shimmering small ball came to my hand.

I rolled it along the windowsill then pushed it off.

I watched in shock as it tumbled and bounced down what was unmistakably a staircase except for the fact that the staircase could not be seen. It looked like a straight drop out the window into the endless abyss below.

I swallowed. If I was wrong, there was no cushioning or stopping the fall. I would fall to my death.

I stashed away my wand and climbed onto the windowsill, gripping it tightly with both hands. I peered down into that abyss falling away down the cliffside. I tried to find its bottom, but it trailed away into blackness. Trembling hard, I placed a foot down. It didn't give way. The second step was even scarier and then, by the fourth step, I had to let go of the windowsill. I stood there shaking for a good minute or so before I could work up the courage to let go.

Finally, I did. I went down carefully step by step, every moment convinced I was going to fall to a most painful death. I was literally walking on nothing but air and if there was a missing step or anything of the sort- I would most certainly meet my death somewhere in that terrifying blackness below. I was so high up in the sky and yet I didn't dare stop looking down at my feet. Lift one, feel for the step before placing it down, and pause. Lift another one, feel for the step… then place it down.

Then, suddenly, the 'staircase' beneath me gave way and I was falling, tumbling in the ground.

I screamed as I fell down the mountainside, barely missing some of the rocks jutting out from the side of the cliff. I closed my eyes, certain I was going to die.

"Oof!"

I landed hard; though the ground was soft, I had been falling at a fast rate for such a long time.

I got up onto my feet quickly, drawing my wand with a shaking hand. I felt dizzy and light-headed and my throat was already dry from screaming so loud.

I looked around- but there was nothing to look around at. I was in utter darkness.

"Lumos."

As soon as my wand tip lighted, so did two rows of flaming lanterns. They came to life on the two walls that made up the sides of a long passageway.

I stepped forward with the intention of running down this passageway to make up for the time I'd spent lingering on the stupid staircase.

Unfortunately, I was so intent on running as quickly as possible that I didn't realize the lantern's flame suddenly flaring out at me until it was pretty much in my face.

There wasn't even time for a defensive spell. I ducked as quickly as I could, but when the scent in the air told me my hair was singed. There wasn't time to panic, the fire of the lanterns were rapidly attacking me by flaring out at me or tossing fireballs my direction.

"Aguamentis Protegus!"

A huge water shield expanded from the end of my wand, dousing whatever fire happened my way.

I couldn't sustain it for very long though. My mind was already becoming exhausted. My concentration slipped and the shield evaporated with the next fireball. The last lantern's flare caught me in the shoulder. I shouted in pain as it seared away my clothing and the first layer of skin. I gritted my teeth and held up my wand but the lanterns stopped attacking me and only twinkled brightly.

Still, it was with much more caution that I carried forward. I had only gone a little ways when the stone passageway became covered with a thin layer of rubbery rocks that were rather difficult to walk on.

I stepped onto them and realized that they constituted a sort-of river bank, holding back a small pool of water that extended itself all the way to the end of the tunnel. I couldn't get across without stepping into the water.

I knelt down very warily and peered at the water. It was completely still and jet black.

I pointed my wand at it.

"Laconum inflamare."

A ball of blue flames shot out from the end of my wand. The moment they touched the dark water, it disappeared with a loud hissing sound as a spiral of thick black smoke.

So then this liquid was toxic. Was it a standard poison or a component of complicated poisons?

"Aguamenti."

Water flowed from the end of my wand and streamed into the liquid. Upon contact, it turned into a ghastly vivid green. So it was a standard poison, but a deadly one.

Damn. How do I get across this pool of poison?

I stood there, crouched down, thinking hard, when my vision dropped onto the rocks I was sitting on.

Of course. Rubbery texture, to the point that they're difficult to walk on…

I picked up the small, rubbery rock and tossed it into the river. I braced myself and held my wand in front of me, wondering if the potion would backlash.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the stone seemed to absorb the blackness into itself and spit back out sparkling clear water.

These are bezoar stones. Taken from the stomach of a goat, they're a common antidote to most poisons. That's it!

I got on my feet and waved my wand. "Locomotor Stones!"

All the bezoar stones at the sides of the pool leapt into the jet black water. A few moments later, the pool had turned crystal clear.

I darted across, splashing through what was now perfectly harmless water.

It was only a minute or so of running when the water finally stopped and I was at the very end of the tunnel. It split off into two different tunnels.

I hesitated then placed the wand in my palm and said, "Deferre centrum."

The wand slowly spun to my right, so I grasped it again and headed right.

At that moment, I heard a loud shout from somewhere above me.

"WHAT'RE YOU DOING? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

I knew that voice. It was Julian.

There was a loud blast followed by the sounds of a scuffle and another loud shout. Dust fell from the ceiling. I covered my face with my hand.

"Julian!?" I shouted, but there was no answer.

Heart racing, I wrenched open the next door, hoping there would be a set of stairs to lead me up to him. Instead, I stepped through only to be jerked up around the waist by something completely invisible. I screamed out the spell, "Relashio!"

I fell onto what looked to be a pile of roots. The minute I'd landed, the snakelike tendrils began to twist along my ankles. I gasped and tried to get onto my feet, but another tendril reached up and began to coil itself around my waist.

"Relashio!" I shouted. "Relashio!"

But it only coiled onto me tighter.

What the hell is this!?

Another tendril crept up my back. I squirmed in revulsion and fear as it slowly wrapped itself around my chest, threatening to suffocate me.

Merlin, I should've taken Herbology, I thought numbly as the plant began to wrap itself around my neck.

Herbology… Herbology? Wait…

"Marlene, what exam do you have first?"

"Herbology," she answered, drying her hair with steaming air from her wand.

This is Devil's Snare!

And Marlene's hilariously sarcastic voice echoed in my head, "Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare, it's loads of good fun, but it'll sulk in the sun!"

"Lumos Solem!" I whispered, and thought I couldn't move my arm due to the plant firmly anchoring itself to it, a bolt of golden light burst out of the end of my wand. The plant instantly recoiled from me and I felt myself once again, dropping down through the air.

I'll have to thank Sprout for that one, I thought grimly as I fell.

This time, though, I slowed before I hit the ground and I was able to land lightly on my feet.

I blinked and then my breath caught- that was me. And behind me- a door.

I whirled around to see yet another me and yet another door.

I looked to my right to see a long tunnel, reflecting back a hundred more reflections and doors.

This was a tunnel of mirrors. Above, below, left, right, everywhere I was closed in by my own self, each standing in front of a door. But where was the actual door out?

I took a cautious step forward as I couldn't actually tell what was wall and what was air. Immediately, I thought I heard something stir behind me. There was a slight hissing sound very close to me. I gripped my wand tightly and stepped backwards. That horrifying stirring sound rose again, slithering its way towards me.

I started to jog and the sound rose like a hundred clinking shards of glass coming straight for me.

Terror gripped me and I stared to sprint headlong into the tunnel, every so often running smack into the hard glass walls. A wretched gasp escaped my throat and to my horror, the sound seemed to rise in response. I looked over my shoulder quickly, trying to catch a glimpse of what I imagined to be some sort-of horrendous glass snake come hissing in with sharp fangs intended to pierce and cut my flesh.

I couldn't see anything, I turned back around and screamed loudly.

I slammed in to another glass wall. The force with which I ran into it made it shatter. Blood trickled down my stinging left arm. My own reflection had frightened me and now, when I was stuck against the wall, I heard just behind me, a thousand layered hisses, all coming straight for me.

Fear pumped up my adrenaline and I reacted purely on instinct.

"Lacero!" I shouted, pointing my wand anywhere and everywhere. "Lacero! Lacero! Lacero!"

All the mirrors shattered with great crashes and glass came raining down on me. The cuts from the glass didn't matter; I just had to hit this disgusting, terrifying animal.

"Lacero!" My last spell flew down what I could now see had been a diagonal tunnel and shattered all the mirrors in the room I'd started in.

I stood there, breathing heavily, glass shards raining down all around me, some nicking at my arms and shoulders and face.

Then, I could see the stone walls that hid behind all the mirrors- the configuration of the tunnel became clear to me and I could see- not too far from me- a door!

I raced to it, pulled it open, and entered, shutting the door quickly behind me and hoping the deadly creature was confined to that hallway only.

I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself, tried to stop my heart from pounding right out of its chest…

Finally, after several moments had passed, I straightened up and opened my eyes.

I was in a large circular room. It was absolutely beautiful, its white marble walls were ornately carved and the ceiling was so high up and opened up to the heavens, it seemed. Even the air here was different; it was dusky purple haze stringing along pale yellow stars that twinkled in the light. And in the middle of the white marble floor was a large silver fountain- only… only the top of the fountain had been smashed to pieces so that the angel's bow was broken in two and one of his silver wings was lying on the floor.

I hesitated. So the others had already been here. Was this where Julian was shouting? What happened to him I should hurry…

But why? Another voice in my mind said. This is such a pretty place.

It really was. It smelled of everything I loved.

It was so intoxicating and I felt myself slip into a very content slumber. I really could stay in here forever. I took a seat by the fountain and looked up at the fallen angel's face…

Something about it was just a little jarring. A little out of place…

My eyes started to slip shut. My head suddenly dropped onto my chest and I nearly fell into the water. That sudden jerk was what saved me- what work me up.

"Borrirre caput!"

The Bubble-Head Charm worked; I essentially looked like I had an upside-down goldfish bowl on my head. But it gave me fresh air and suddenly, I could think again.

I am such a fool. How could I have been so easily seduced?

I leapt up from what I now realized was a fountain of Amortentia. I hesitated, my eyes, no longer deluded by the effects of Amortentia, fully took in the destroyed scene. There was dust sifting down from a cracked ceiling and the statute on top of the fountain had been fully split in half. Amortentia was slowly flooding the floor.

What exactly was Julian fighting in here? I should try to find him and help him, but it seems he's far ahead of me. Still, I've got to try to catch up, in case he's injured.

I raced across the circular room and up a narrow flight of creaky stairs at the end.

There was another flight of rickety wooden stairs after that, and then another- and another. The space was so narrow it seemed like the staircase was going to bend back on itself.

Suddenly, something burst through the wall and went for my head. I shrieked and ducked. Just in time, too. It crashed through the hand rail and through the other wall, raining bits of wood and plaster on me. I scampered up the stairs as fast as I could when it surprised me yet again by crashing in through the wall. I only barely dodged it by throwing myself aside and then I jumped as it attempted to knock me off my feet.

It instead opted to slam through the floor and disappeared somewhere underneath me. I nervously started to run up the stairs again when a whistling sound made me aware that it was coming for me again. I turned and saw it zooming back up the stairs my way.

"Bombarda Maxima!"

My spell hit it straight-on and it burst into a millions pieces. Only after I had destroyed it did I fully realize what it was- a Quidditch Bludger.

I raced up the rest of the steps and came to another door; one that was painted black and gold.

I was starting to feel hopeless. There was no end to this wretched magic house!

I put the wand on my palm again and whispered desperately, "Deferre centrum."

Generally, it would turn left or right but not directly point to a nearby passage, which would indicate that I was still not quite at the center and that I had a ways to go even after the next room.

But to my amazement, this time it pointed quickly and directly at the black and gold door.

I hurriedly opened the door and stepped inside.

I recognized it immediately. The frame with the engraved words, the slightly glistening surface… the Mirror of Erised.

I stepped in front of it, knowing what would hit me.

Indeed, that same vision of my family, whole and happy, appeared. I reached out to stroke my mother's face, only to touch glass again.

But that was all right. I was prepared for this. I suspected that this was Dumbledore's work and I by now had a very vague sense of how Dumbledore's mind worked. That is, I knew how what kind of challenges he liked to present to his students as he had confronted me with several riddles when I was his Occulumency student.

"What I want most… is for you to show me the way out," I whispered.

My family faded away before my very eyes and then the mirror showed me a mahogany door that came closer and closer and closer until it filled up the entire mirror. I reached out and touched the door knob- then I turned it. It opened and I stepped through into a dark room with a spotlight on- the TriWizard Cup.

It was there. I'd done it.

It did seem a little strange that neither of the boys had beaten me, but that feeling alone was nothing compared to the utter joy I felt at seeing the TriWizard Cup. More than anything it meant I could get out of this house of illusions that was slowly but surely driving me mad.

I slowly reached out and grasped one of its handles.

When that sensation of transportation gripped me once again, I felt relief wash through my body and my mind. It was done with. It was over. Finally.

I landed on the floor with an unceremonious thump! The TriWizard Cup flew out of my hand, tumbling away.