Chapter 97 - 97. a maze ing (1/2)

The mood in the castle as they entered June became excited and tense again. Everyone was looking forward to the third task, which would take place a week before the end of term. Ryan was practicing hexes at every available moment. He felt more confident about this plan of his than either of the others. Difficult and dangerous though it would undoubtedly be, Moody was being tracked by his shadows right now it was hard to get them in without him noticing with that eye Ryan didn't know if it could work on the shadows so it was a gamble and he was proven right that they couldn't see them once in the shadow: Ryan had managed to find his way past monstrous creatures and enchanted barriers before now, and this time he had some notice, some chance to prepare himself for what lay ahead. He wouldn't be caught off guard like the troll incident. He learned from his mistake and made back up plans and back ups for his back up. he explained what was going to happen to the girls and got their advice including fleur they were curious about what Ryan was gunna do about the soul in Harry that wasn't part of him Ryan didn't tell them he was going to have Harry 'die' to fix it or they would be pretty upset. His basic plan would be like in the story except when he grabbed the portkey he would have his invisibility kick on and rush behind some Graves when he landed making Harry and them think he was alone. Ryan would then slip his shadows into the death eaters and old voldies shadow and wait for the show to play out til certain points before interfering and then getting out of there.

Exempt from the end-of-term tests as a Triwizard champion, Ryan had been sitting in the back of every exam class so far, planning for the third task. checking and double checking and having Cassie and Bella on standby for if shit went south. the question is go big or go stealthy he was torn but he mostly decided on stealth he needed to find out where the snake was and didn't want to alert anyone too much.

It was time today was the day for the maze.

Ludo Bagman and Cornelius Fudge had joined the staff table now. Bagman looked quite cheerful, Cornelius Fudge, was sitting next to Madame Maxime. As the enchanted ceiling overhead began to fade from blue to a dusky purple, Dumbledore rose to his feet at the staff table, and silence fell.

”Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now. ”

Ryan got up. The Gryffindors all along the table were applauding him; the Girls all wished him good luck, and he headed off out of the Great Hall with Harry, Fleur, and Viktor.

They walked onto the Quidditch field, which was now completely unrecognizable. A twenty-foot-high hedge ran all the way around the edge of it. There was a gap right in front of them: the entrance to the vast maze. The passage beyond it looked dark and creepy.

Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. The sky was a deep, clear blue now, and the first stars were starting to appear. Hagrid, Professor Moody, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick came walking into the stadium and approached Bagman and the champions. They were wearing large, red, luminous stars on their hats, all except Hagrid, who had his on the back of his moleskin vest.

”We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze,” said Professor McGonagall to the champions. ”If you get into difficulty, and wish to be rescued, send red sparks into the air, and one of us will come and get you, do you understand?”

The champions nodded.

”Off you go, then!” said Bagman brightly to the four patrollers and the four of them walked away in different directions, to station themselves around the maze. Bagman now pointed his wand at his throat, muttered, ”Sonorus,” and his magically magnified voice echoed into the stands. At this point in time Ryan acted his first shadow sprang up when moody was out of view grabbing him from behind dragging him into the kingdom prison where he was wrapped in chains and quickly stripped of all items including his wand wooden leg and eye by some elves and Bella he was then restrained in shackles and left stunned. the girls where all in the kingdom watching on multiple monitors with Cassie having some auto pilot gates ready to act in case of emergencies on either Fleur or Ryan. Ryan had a shadow hiding behind Viktor as well he couldn't have interruptions and fleur was in on the plan and would just take her time the only one out of the loop was Harry.

Back to bagman. ”Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each – Mr. Ryan Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!” The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky. ”In second place, with eighty points – Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!” More applause. ”And in third place – Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!” ”So. . . on my whistle, Harry and Ryan!” said Bagman. ”Three – two – one -”

He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry and Ryan hurried forward into the maze. Ryan activating his cloak behind Harry and stealthily following.The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and thick or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment they entered the maze. Ryan heard Bagman's whistle for the second time. Krum had entered the maze. Harry's chosen path seemed completely deserted. He turned right, and hurried on, holding his wand high over his head, trying to see as far ahead as possible. Still, there was nothing in sight. Ryan's shadow quickly popped up behind the unaware Viktor and with a swift Crack to the back of the head he was out. ”Always wanted to do that for some reason” he muttered before grabbing Krums wand and seding up sparks for the teachers to pick him up.

Bagman's whistle blew in the distance for the third time. Fleur had entered Ryan had his shadow appear and tell her what was going on and lead her along to help her out they had decided to see what monsters there were and maybe snag a few. Fleur was all to happy to help.

(Harry point of view)

Harry kept looking behind him. The old feeling that he was being watched was upon him. The maze was growing darker with every passing minute as the sky overhead deepened to navy. He reached a second fork.

”Point Me,” he whispered to his wand, holding it flat in his palm.

The wand spun around once and pointed toward his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and he knew that he needed to go northwest for the center of the maze. The best he could do was to take the left fork and go right again as soon as possible.

The path ahead was empty too, and when Harry reached a right turn and took it, he again found his way unblocked. Harry didn't know why, but the lack of obstacles was unnerving him. Surely he should have met something by now? It felt as though the maze were luring him into a false sense of security. Then he heard movement right behind him. He held out his wand, ready to attack, but its beam fell upon empty air. (Ryan had forgotten to silence his shoes)

Harry hurried off again. Then, as he turned a corner, he saw. . . a dementor gliding toward him. Twelve feet tall, its face hidden by its hood, its rotting, scabbed hands outstretched, it advanced, sensing its way blindly toward him. Harry could hear its rattling breath; he felt clammy coldness stealing over him, but knew what he had to do. . . .

He summoned the happiest thought he could, concentrated with all his might on the thought of getting out of the maze and celebrating with Ginny and His friends, raised his wand, and cried, ”Expecto Patronum!” A silver stag erupted from the end of Harry's wand and galloped toward the dementor, which fell back and tripped over the hem of its robes. . . . Harry had never seen a dementor stumble.

”Hang on!” he shouted, advancing in the wake of his silver Patronus, ”You're a boggart! Riddikulus!”

There was a loud crack, and the shape-shifter exploded in a wisp of smoke. The silver stag faded from sight. Harry wished it could have stayed, he could have used some company. . . but he moved on, quickly and quietly as possible, listening hard, his wand held high once more.

Left. . . right. . . left again. . . Twice he found himself facing dead ends. He did the Four-Point Spell again and found that he was going too far east. He turned back, took a right turn, and saw an odd golden mist floating ahead of him.

Harry approached it cautiously, pointing the wand's beam at it. This looked like some kind of enchantment. He wondered whether he might be able to blast it out of the way.

”Reducto!” he said.

The spell shot straight through the mist, leaving it intact. He supposed he should have known better; the Reductor Curse was for solid objects. What would happen if he walked through the mist? Was it worth chancing it, or should he double back?

He took a deep breath and ran through the enchanted mist.

The world turned upside down. Harry was hanging from the ground, with his hair on end, threatening to fall into the bottomless sky. He hung there, terrified. It felt as though his feet were glued to the grass, which had now become the ceiling. Below him the dark, star-spangled heavens stretched endlessly. He felt as though if he tried to move one of his feet, he would fall away from the earth completely.

Think, he told himself, as all the blood rushed to his head, think. . .

But not one of the spells he had practiced had been designed to combat a sudden reversal of ground and sky. Did he dare move his foot? He could hear the blood pounding in his ears. He had two choices – try and move, or send up red sparks, and get rescued and disqualified from the task.

He shut his eyes, so he wouldn't be able to see the view of endless space below him, and pulled his right foot as hard as he could away from the grassy ceiling.

Immediately, the world righted itself. Harry fell forward onto his knees onto the wonderfully solid ground. He felt temporarily limp with shock. He took a deep, steadying breath, then got up again and hurried forward, looking back over his shoulder as he ran away from the golden mist, which twinkled innocently at him in the moonlight. (Ryan at this point had practically fainted from terror his fear of heights barely holding up to this spell)

He met nothing for ten minutes, but kept running into dead ends. Twice he took the same wrong turning. Finally, he found a new route and started to jog along it, his wandlight waving, making his shadow flicker and distort on the hedge walls. Then he rounded another corner and found himself facing a Blast-Ended Skrewt. it was enormous. Ten feet long, it looked more like a giant scorpion than anything. Its long sting was curled over its back. Its thick armor glinted in the light from Harry's wand, which he pointed at it.