Stringbean

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“Ladies and Gentlemen!” Ludo Bagman’s voice echoed throughout the Quidditch Pitch, “The third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to commence!”

The crowd roared in Luz’s ear as Mr. Bagman announced, the noise was not helping her nerves.

“Let me remind you how the points currently stand!” He continued, “Tied in first place, on a hundred-and-one points each, Mister Cedric Diggory and Mister Harry Potter, both from Hogwarts!” The cheers were so loud for them that Luz figured you could hear it in Gravesfield. “In second place, at ninety-eight points, is Miss Luz Noceda of Hexside School!” More applause, “In third place, at ninety-six points, is Mister Viktor Krum from Durmstrang Institute! And last, but certainly not least, at seventy-five points, is Miss Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons Academy!”

“Harry and Cedric will lead the way into the maze, followed by the rest of our competitors in order. The first champion to reach the Triwizard Cup will receive a full sixty points, the second closest to the cup gets fifty points, the third gets forty, the fourth gets thirty, and the fifth gets twenty points.” Mister Bagman explained.

“On your marks, get set,”

A short whistle went off, and the two Hogwarts Champions sprinted into the maze—the towering hedges closing behind them.

Time passed so slowly as Luz waited for her turn. She was told it was only one minute, but it felt like thirty. With every second that passed, Luz felt further and further from the cup.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the whistle blew again, and it was Luz’s turn to enter the maze.

It was dark in the maze. The hedges towered over her like skyscrapers. She felt like she hardly had space to breathe, much less draw a spell circle.

“Hey Stringbean, could you lend me some light?” She asked. The adorable little guy gladly complied, and Luz raced forward to try to catch up with Harry and Cedric.

Right, right, left, right, left, right, dead end, left, right, left, right, left, straight, right, dead end, left.

Luz was getting lost.

“Guess the little mazes on the back of kids menus aren’t very helpful when you’re doing the real thing,” Luz said sarcastically.

Before Luz could get any more lost, she came face to face with what she could only describe as a monster. Ten feet long, with shiny armor and a scorpion tail, it vaguely resembled a scorpion mixed with a crab. But it was as gray as an elephant.

A random shot of sparks shot forth, and it got a lot closer to her.

Luz panicked for a second, then tried to cast a fire spell at it. The spell seemed to do nothing but anger it.

“Well then, why don’t you cool down?” Luz said confidently, using an ice spell to freeze the beast in place. Luz ran past the thing before it had time to thaw.

Left, left, right, dead end, left, right, left, left. Luz felt like she was getting nowhere. She knew the cup was in the center of the maze, and that she had started in the southeast corner, but she had gone so far that she had no idea where she was now.

Luz wanted to just hop on Stringbean and fly over the hedges, just to get a feel for where she was, but she had a sneaking suspicion that something like that would probably get her disqualified.

But Luz still needed some way to figure out where she was, or this maze would be impossible.

That was when she got an idea. Use plant magic to get a map of the maze from feeling where the hedges were. That wouldn’t help her much in figuring out where she was, but it was a start.

She sat there for a good while, just trying to remember her steps, and wishing she had thought of this sooner.

“Okay,” She finally concluded, “I must be somewhere around there, so I think I need to go…” She pointed to her left, “That way!”

Luz rushed into the maze with newfound confidence.

Before Luz could get moving too far, she heard a voice scream. It sounded like Fleur. Was she alright?

“Fleur?” She called out, “Are you okay?”

No response.

“Fleur!” She called again. With the same dead silence.

Instead of going towards the cup, Luz started running to where she heard the scream.

She saw Fleur laying limp on the ground.

“Fleur?” She asked, “Are you okay?”

No response.

Luz checked her breathing.

“Phew, that’s good, she’s still alive,” Luz said.

Luz drew a spell circle and sent red sparks into the sky, telling the professors to come grab Fleur.

With that deed done, Luz ran towards the cup.

Left, right, right, straight, left. They came much easier now that Luz had obtained a map.

But Luz was soon stopped by yet another roadblock. Literally, in this case, Luz, who had been running, suddenly went flying backward, despite there not seeming to be anything there.

Luz approached the same spot more cautiously, and it seemed that there was an invisible wall of some sort.

Luz couldn’t exactly avoid it, as, assuming her map was correct, the closest detour around this spot would have her walking for ages. So, rather than doing all that, she drew a spell circle to try to reveal anything of note on the wall.

It seemed to be nothing more than a shield charm, so some brute force should do the trick.

Luz threw a fire spell at it. Which seemed to do quite a bit to the shield. Unfortunately, it did even more to the hedges around the shield. As both walls around the shield caught fire.

“Dang it!” Luz said as she drew spell circles with Stringbean and put out the flames with water, “Why did I use fire while in a hedge maze?”

There was an upside to the burn, she could now squeeze between the shield and the now-charred hedge to sneak past.

Luz heard screams of pain and tried to run towards them, but before she got there, she saw red sparks.

After a few more turns, Luz bumped into a familiar face.

“Harry?” She said, a bit surprised to bump into someone else.

“Luz?” He replied, “Why do you smell like fire?”

“I might’ve accidentally burned a bit of the maze,” She admitted sheepishly.

“Have you bumped into anyone else?”

“Yeah, Fleur, after she screamed,”

“Yeah, ran into Cedric earlier, and Krum. Something was wrong with Krum, he must’ve snapped or something, he was using the Cruciatus Curse on Cedric.”

“The what now?”

“Torture curse,” Harry replied, “It’s highly illegal,”

Their conversation was cut short, however, because a lion-like beast with a human head appeared.

“Let me guess, a sphinx?” Luz said.

“You are correct, I am a sphinx,” It replied, “But you won’t get past me so easily. You must answer me these questions three, ere the other side ye see,”

“Three? I thought you were supposed to only give one?” Harry asked.

“Well, there’s two of you, and you can’t rhyme two with anything! So I made it three!” The sphinx defended.

“Let’s try not to piss off the sphinx, so we don’t have to answer her riddles four,” Luz said.

“The first is this: I'm not clothes but I cover your body; The more I'm used, the thinner I grow. What am I?”

Luz thought for a moment.

“What else do you put on your body other than clothes? Makeup? No that doesn’t work,”

“A towel?” Harry thought, “It’s not technically clothing, and it gets thinner as it gets worn out, I guess,”

The sphinx shook its head.

“Soap?” Luz thought aloud, “You put it on your body, and it gets thinner as you use it,”

“That is correct,” The sphinx said, “Next is this: What comes once a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?”

They both thought for a moment.

“Well, it’s obviously not something physical, maybe it has something to do with the names?” Harry said.

“Well, how do you spell them?” Luz said, “M-i-n-u-t-e, m-o-m-e-n-t, t-h-o-u-s-a-n-d y-e-a-r-s,” She spelled.

“Is it a letter?” Harry said. A moment later, he had an answer, “It’s the letter M” He concluded.

“Correct,” The sphinx said. “Your final riddle is as follows: Only one color, but not one size, Stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies. Present in sun, but not in rain, Doing no harm, and feeling no pain. What is it?”

“Oh, I know this one!” Luz said enthusiastically, “It’s a shadow!”

The sphinx nodded and allowed the two champions passage.

“We did it!” Luz said.

“You did most of the work,” He replied.

“You still helped,”

In front of them was a small clearing, with the Triwizard Cup sitting in the center.

“There it is!” Luz exclaimed.

They both started sprinting towards the cup when a dark figure also quickly started gaining on it. Luz concluded that it must be Cedric. Something else was coming too, something huge. And Cedric was about to run into it.

“Cedric!” Harry bellowed, “On your left!”

Cedric looked around just in time to hurl himself past the figure and avoid colliding with it. In his haste, however, he tripped, causing his wand to fly out of his hand.

The figure stepped into the light and revealed itself to be a gigantic spider. It soon began to bear down on Cedric.

“Stupefy!” Harry shouted. The spell hit the spider’s gigantic hairy black body but, for all the good it did, he might as well have thrown a pebble at it. The spider turned and attacked Harry.

The spider caught Harry and lifted him into the air.

“Expelliarmus!” Cedric shouted, having grabbed his wand.

Luz, realizing a direct attack on the thing would only piss it off, twirled Stringbean into a circle and cast green vines that wrapped around the spider, trapping it.

Luz noticed that Harry’s leg had been gashed rather severely by the spider.

“Are you okay?” She asked, rushing over to him, “I can try a healing spell, but these wounds look pretty bad. I’m not that good of a healer, but-”

“Luz,” Harry interrupted, “Quit talking and cast the spell,”

“Right, right, sorry,” Luz said, casting a light blue circle into the air above Harry’s leg.

As Luz healed Harry, she noticed that Cedric wasn’t grabbing the cup.

“Go on,” She said, “Grab it, you deserve it,”

But Cedric didn’t move. He merely stood there, watching the two underage champions. Then he turned once again to the cup. Luz saw the longing expression on his face in its golden light. Cedric turned once again to the duo. Luz had mostly healed Harry’s leg by this point. Or, it was at least as good as it was going to get.

“I’m gonna stop there, before I accidentally give your leg an eye,” Luz stated, halting the spell.

The giant spider screamed rather loudly as it struggled in its floral trap.

“Let’s get out of here before mister big and hairy over there breaks free,” Luz said, “Can you walk?” She added, turning back to Harry.

“I should be fine,” Harry groaned as he stood up.

“Why haven’t you taken it yet?” Harry asked.

“I don’t deserve it, that’s twice now I’ve had my life saved in here,” Cedric replied.

“Stop being so noble,” Harry spat, “I want to get out of here, just take the darn thing,”

“You warned me about the dragons,” Cedric said, “I would’ve been out in the first round if it weren’t for you,”

“I had help on that,” Harry replied, “And you helped me with the egg, so we’re square,”

A vine broke. Then another.

“Let’s all grab it on three!” Luz shouted, trying to get out of there before the spider was free.

“One! Two! Three!” They all said in unison, each grabbing some part of the handle.

Instantly, Luz felt a jerk somewhere inside her core. Her feet left the ground. She couldn’t unclench the Triwizard Cup. In a howl of wind and color, they were swept away.

“On your marks, get set,”

A short whistle went off, and the two Hogwarts Champions sprinted into the maze—the towering hedges closing behind them.

The towering hedges cast black shadows on the ground, making it seem like night, despite sunset not being for several more hours. The sound of the crowd was also silenced the instant the hedge closed behind them.

Harry pulled out his wand and muttered “Lumos” Cedric did the same.

After about fifty meters, they reached a fork.

“See you,” Harry said, taking the left fork, while Cedric took the left.

Cedric heard Bagman’s whistle again, meaning Luz had just entered the maze. Cedric sped up a bit. The path ahead seemed deserted, at least for now.

Bagman’s whistle blew again, then again. Now all champions were in the maze.

“Point me,” Cedric said, holding his wand flat in his palm.

The wand spun and pointed to his right. That way was north, and Ceric knew the center of the maze was to the northwest.

Before he could strategize too much, he was attacked by a massive scorpion-like creature.

“Stupefy!” Cedric shouted. But the spell bounced harmlessly off of its shell and landed in the hedges.

“Impedimenta!” He shouted. The spell merely ricocheted off.

Fire blasted out from the Skrewt, igniting his sleeve.

Cedric fell on his back. The Skrewt got closer and closer, eventually standing on its back legs to presumably try to eat him.

“Petrificus Totalus!” Cedric shouted, aiming for the Skrewt’s vulnerable underbelly.

It finally worked, and Cedric was able to progress.

Just as Cedric was putting out the small fire on his sleeve, he bumped into Harry again.

“Hagrid’s Blast-Ended Skrewts!” He warned, “They’re enormous, I only just got away!”

Harry shook his head and Cedric ran past Harry, keen to get as far as he could from that God-forsaken beast.

Cedric did the Point Me charm again and headed to his left.

Minutes went by where nothing happened, and the worst of Cedric’s worries were dead ends. He could tell he was getting closer though.

Cedric heard a scream, and it sounded like Fleur.

“Fleur?” He called.

There was silence. But before he could worry about Fleur too much, red sparks flew into the sky. She was okay, but out of the running.

Cedric was a bit sorry for Fleur, she had done so poorly across the board in the tournament. But still, some part of him couldn’t help but think “One down”

Cedric didn’t go very long until he met another obstacle. This time the area around Cedric quickly became very dark and very cold. He couldn’t see a thing, and he was freezing.

“M-Mannus Flamma” He shivered, creating a small, handheld flame to keep him warm and light his way.

Cedric slowly kept walking, holding the flame close to his chest to warm him.

Almost as suddenly as the freezing darkness appeared, it disappeared. Except now he had other problems, someone, or something was behind him. Cedric turned and was face to face with Krum; there was something that seemed off about his eyes, though Cedric couldn’t quite tell what.

Krum aimed his wand at Cedric.

“What are you doing?” He yelled, “The heck do you think you’re doing?!”

Krum opened his mouth, uttering a word he had hoped to never hear outside of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

“Crucio!”

Cedric felt as though he was being stabbed by burning hot knives on every square inch of skin on his body. He screamed in pain. But no amount of screams could convey the level of pain he was experiencing. To say it was the worst pain of his life was a vast understatement.

The torture seemed to last forever. But it suddenly ended. When Cedric came to, Krum had been stunned, and Harry was there.

“You alright?” Harry asked, grabbing Cedric’s arm and helping him up.

“Yeah,” He panted, the pain fading, “I-I can’t believe it… he snuck up on me… I heard him. But by the time I turned around, he had his wand on me,”

“I can’t believe it either… I thought he was alright,” Harry replied, staring at Krum’s stunned body.

“So did I”

“Did you hear Fleur scream earlier?”

“Yeah. You don’t think Krum got her too?”

“I don’t know,”

“We can’t just leave him here,”“No,” Harry muttered, “I reckon we should send up red sparks. Someone’ll come get him. Otherwise, he’ll probably be eaten by a Skrewt,”

Cedric shot red sparks above Viktor’s helpless body.

“Well, I suppose we’d better get going,” Cedric said, offering his hand to shake, “Good luck,”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Harry said, shaking Cedric’s hand awkwardly.

Cedric moved on, continuing to use the Point Me spell to find his way to the center of the maze. It was between him, Harry, and Luz now. His desire to reach the cup was stronger than ever now, but he could hardly believe what Krum had just done. The use of an Unforgivable Curse on a fellow Human being meant a life sentence in Azkaban. Krum couldn’t have wanted the Cup that badly.

Left, right, straight, left, right, left, left, straight.

After enough twists and turns, Cedric finally saw it, the Triwizard Cup. He started sprinting as fast as he could. He saw in the corner of his eye that Harry and Luz were also running, but Cedric was closer, he was going to make it.

“Cedric!” Harry bellowed, “On your left!”

Cedric turned his head and saw a massive arachnid approaching. He dove forward just in time, but he tripped and dropped his wand.

The Acromantula approached Cedric, but just before it attacked him, Harry cast Stupefy on it, drawing its attention to Harry.

The spider caught Harry and lifted him into the air.

Cedric crawled on the ground until he grabbed his wand again.

“Expelliarmus!” Cedric shouted, causing the Acromantula to drop Harry.

Green vines appeared from the hedges, wrapping around the spider until it was unable to move. Cedric turned and saw that Luz had drawn a large green circle in the air.

Cedric got up and saw that Harry had been hurt, but clearly, Luz had noticed first, as she was already tending to his wounds.

“Are you okay?” She asked, rushing over to him, “I can try a healing spell, but these wounds look pretty bad. I’m not that good of a healer, but-”

“Luz,” Harry interrupted, “Quit talking and cast the spell,”

“Right, right, sorry,” Luz said, casting a light blue circle into the air above Harry’s leg.

Cedric didn’t grab the cup, even though there was a huge part of him that wanted to.

“Go on,” She said, “Grab it, you deserve it,”

But Cedric didn’t move. He merely stood there, watching the two underage champions. Then he turned once again to the cup. He wanted to grab it, but he didn’t deserve it, Harry did. Cedric turned once again to the duo. Luz had mostly healed Harry’s leg by this point.

“I’m gonna stop there, before I accidentally give your leg an eye,” Luz stated, halting the spell.

The giant spider screamed rather loudly as it struggled in its floral trap.

“Let’s get out of here before mister big and hairy over there breaks free,” Luz said, “Can you walk?” She added, turning back to Harry.

“I should be fine,” Harry groaned as he stood up. He didn’t see that fine, but Cedric decided against bringing that up.

“Why haven’t you taken it yet?” Harry asked.

“I don’t deserve it, that’s twice now I’ve had my life saved in here,” Cedric replied.

“Stop being so noble,” Harry spat, “I want to get out of here, just take the darn thing,”

“You warned me about the dragons,” Cedric said, “I would’ve been out in the first round if it weren’t for you,”

“I had help on that,” Harry replied, “And you helped me with the egg, so we’re square,”

A vine broke. Then another.

“Let’s all grab it on three!” Luz shouted, trying to get out of there before the spider was free.

“One! Two! Three!” They all said in unison, each grabbing some part of the handle.

Instantly, Cedric felt a jerk somewhere inside his core. His feet left the ground. He couldn’t unclench the Triwizard Cup. Someone had turned the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey.