The mood in the castle as they entered June became excited and tense again. Everyone was looking forward to the third task, which would occur a week before the end of term. The champions were practicing hexes at every available moment, and with every moving day, their confidence rose about the task. But as June the twenty-fourth drew closer, they started to get nervous — they were not as bad as those they had felt before the first and second tasks. For one thing, he was confident that, this time, he had done everything in his power to prepare for the task. For another, this was the final hurdle, and however well or poorly they did, the tournament would, at last, be over, which would be an enormous relief.
Breakfast on the day of the third task was a boisterous affair at the house tables on the morning of the third task. The post owls appeared, bringing the champions good-luck cards from well-wishers and screeching owls carrying Daily Prophets with another story from Rita Skeeter attacking Dumbledore and any decision he made.
Which made the Slytherin table chuckle and snicker while Gryffindor would glare at them — saying that it was only two particular groups fighting.
Exempt from the end-of-term tests as a Triwizard champion, Harry had been sitting in the back of every exam class so far, looking up new hexes for the third task. Right now, he was crouched over his seat, looking up fresh charms for the third task.
Being the son of Auror had its perks, as in being master in the Impediment Curse, a spell to slow down and obstruct attackers; the Reductor Curse, which would enable him to blast solid objects out of his way; and the Four-Point Spell, a valuable discovery of his that would make his wand point due north, therefore enabling him to check whether he was going in the right direction within the maze. He was especially good with the Shield Charm; a temporary, invisible wall around himself that deflected minor curses; Hermione, Ivy, and Ron had only been able to shatter it with their coordinated attacks.
"Potter, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast," said McGonagall.
"But the task's not till tonight!" said Harry, accidentally spilling scrambled eggs down his front, afraid he had mistaken the time.
"I'm aware of that, Potter," she said. "The champions' families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them."
She moved away. Harry gaped after her. "Oh my god. She almost snatched my heart out of my chest."
Harry finished his breakfast in the emptying Great Hall. He saw Fleur Delacour get up from the Ravenclaw table and join Cedric as he crossed to the side chamber and entered. Krum slouched off to join them shortly afterward. He got up and followed after them.
Cedric and his parents were just inside the door. Viktor Krum was over in a corner, conversing with his dark-haired mother and father in rapid Bulgarian. He had inherited his father's hooked nose. On the other side of the room, Fleur was jabbering away in French to her mother. Fleur's little sister, Gabrielle, was holding her mother's hand. Then he saw his mother and father, Lily and James Potter, standing there, smiling towards him.
"Surprise!" James Potter said as he smiled broadly and walked over to him. "Thought we'd come and watch you, Harry!" He enveloped Harry in a big ol' hug.
"It's great being back here," continued James, looking around the chamber (Violet, the Fat Lady's friend, winked at him from her frame). "Haven't seen this place for so many years. Is that picture of the mad knight still around? Sir Cadogan?"
James had attended the quidditch tournament a couple of times, but he wasn't allowed to enter the castle just like everyone else. And unlike the other professors' Lily Potter didn't have a personal chamber as her accommodation as she went back to her house every evening to spend time with him. When he had come last year, James had gone straight to the hospital wing, then took the shortest path to the headmasters' office and back again to the hospital wing before returning to headmasters' office to floo out of Hogwarts.
"Oh yeah," said Harry, who had met Sir Cadogan the previous year.
"And the Fat Lady?" asked James, "She was here in my time. She gave me such a telling off one night when I got back to the dormitory at four in the morning —"
"What were you doing out of your dormitory at four in the morning?"
"Your mother and I had been for a nighttime stroll," grinned James, sneakily winking to his wife, "I got caught by Apollyon Pringle — he was the caretaker in those days." He looked at Harry and asked, "Fancy giving us a tour, Harry?"
Before Harry could reply, Lily stepped forward, "Not me. I've classes to teach, so you boys go ahead and remember to behave."
"Yeah, okay," grinned Harry, and they made their way back toward the door into the Great Hall. As they passed Amos Diggory, the man looked around.
"There you are, are you?" he said, looking Harry up and down. "Bet you're feeling quite as full of yourself now, aren't you. But don't be so proud, Cedric's will you beat you soundly."
"What?" said Harry.
"Ignore him," said Cedric in a low voice to Harry, frowning after his father. "He's been angry ever since Rita Skeeter's article about the Triwizard Tournament — you know when she made out you were the only Hogwarts champion."
"Didn't bother to correct her, though, did he?" said Amos Diggory, loudly, "you'll show him, Ced. Beaten him once before, haven't you?" He was talking about the dueling club during the Lockhart year where Harry had gotten a little cocky and challenged Cedric just to be beaten soundly.
Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and looked behind to see his father smiling broadly, "Oh ho, Amos, never knew you had such a tongue on you."
Amos Diggory looked as though he would say something angry, but he stopped when he saw James Potter. He gulped — James Potter was a Senior Auror and a prominent member of the Wizengamot — not something he could afford to offend. He felt his wife lay a hand on his arm, and he took the chance to merely shrugged and turned away, pretending that it was because of her that he was stopping.
Harry had a delightful morning walking over the sunny grounds with his parents, showing his father the Beauxbatons carriage and the Durmstrang ship. They even went to the kitchens to grab a snack to eat while going around the castle.
They went back to Great Hall for lunch.
"Harry — Dad!" said Ivy looking stunned, as they joined the Gryffindor table. "What're you doing here?"
"Come to watch Harry in the last task!" said James brightly. "I must say, it makes a lovely change, not having to eat the ministry food for lunch. How was your exam — no wait, don't tell me," he put on an inquisitive look before smiling, "it went great, didn't it."
"You bet!" beamed Ivy, hugging her father.
James looked to the side and asked, "How about you, Ron?"
"Uhm," said Ron, "Couldn't remember all the goblin rebels' names, so I invented a few. It's all right," he said, helping himself to a Cornish pasty," they're all called stuff like Bodrod the Bearded and Urg the Unclean; it wasn't hard."
James laughed loudly as he sat down on the table. He turned to the Weasley children, who had also sat down opposite to them asked, "So, twins, how are your plans for that business of yours going?"
"Good" "Very good." "Excellent." "Exceeding Expectation." "Outstanding."
"Really?" said James.
"Yeah, just very recently—" "— we got ourselves an investor."
"An investor, you say?" said James, "boys, are you sure this is legit? Money matters can be complicated. Be careful who you trust."
"Thank you, but—" "you don't need to worry about us." "Our investor is one reliable guy—" "— and we trust him with a lot, so no need to worry."
"Who is it?"
"Sorry, can't tell." "We're keeping this on the down-low." "Also, this conversation never happened."
They turned to Ron and spoke.
""You listen, Ron?" We never spoke about this." "
"Huh, wha'?" Ron looked up, the corner of his mouth stained with sauce.
" "Nothing." "
James looked around and saw a familiar face. "Hello Hermione," he greeted as the girl arrived with her head buried in a book.
"Hello, Mr. Potter," said Hermione, a little surprised to see James Potter sitting between Ivy and Harry. She turned to Harry and asked, "Are you ready for the task? Anything left you to want to learn or practice, we still have a little, we can go to the room and do some last-minute revision."
Tired of walking in on Harry, Ivy, Hermione, and Ron all over the school, Professor McGonagall had given them permission to use the empty Transfiguration classroom when they were free.
"Yeah, if you want to, we can go over some things — I can help you out," said James, shooting a couple of detection spells at his food — he didn't do this usually, but he could feel the eye of his mentor Alister "Constant Vigilance" Moody digging into his back.
"I-I would like that," said Harry, sighing out of relief.
After lunch, they went to the empty classroom and practiced for a few hours till they were satisfied, and after that, the group (Harry, Ivy, Hermione, Ron, and James) went back to roaming Hogwarts.
"Hey, isn't that Quinn West," said James, pointing at Quinn walking by while reading a thin stack of papers in his hands, "where's he going? That part of the castle never had any classes; did they start classes there?"
"No," answered Ivy, "I don't think so.. . ."
"We should follow him," smiled James, "I made some good bets in the tournament — I have to thank him." Without waiting for a response, he walked ahead. Ivy tried to stop him, but James continued to walk, and thus they had no choice but to follow him.
They turned the corner just to find that Quinn wasn't there anymore.
"Where did he go?" said James. He turned to Harry and asked, "Harry can you give me the map?"
"Hmm? Sure," said Harry and handed the map to James — it had initially been his after all.
Ivy and Hermione watched the map exchange hands, and it took them a beat to comprehend the situation — a beat too late; their eyes widened, but it was already too late as James had already activated it. All they could do was stomp on Harry's feet and pinch him hard.
"Let's see.. .. where's the hidden passage," said James, and indeed there was one in the corridor, "let's go, we'll use the same one." While a limited number of passages went out of Hogwarts, around a hundred internal passages connected different parts of Hogwarts.
They kicked a brick in the wall twice, which opened a hidden staircase into the wall.
"This goes to the west corridor on the fifth floor," said James with his wand tip lit, "what's there? I don't think there was anything in that part of the castle."
"He has an office there," said Ron.
"An office? Why does he have an office?"
"It's a long story," said Ivy, "one for another time." She didn't want James to know that the map had been tampered with.
"Wait a minute, I can't see Quinn's name on here."
And it was out.
James turned to the children. "Why can't I see Quinn's name on here?"
All dodged his eyes until they couldn't endure the gaze of the Senior Auror.
"He removed his name from the map," said Ivy, relenting.
"He.. . He removed his name from the Marauders' Map?!"
".. .. Yeah."
"When?!"
"Two years ago."
"Two years ago!" James stared at them, "how?"
Ivy and Hermione didn't want to answer that, and fortunately for them, they didn't have to.
"You guys should be quiet if you want to tail somebody," they heard and turned to saw Quinn a couple of steps above them, staring down at them, "especially in closed spaces like this — the sound really echos in here."
"You removed your name from the map?" asked James bluntly, raising the charmed parchments.
"Yeah, I did," answered Quinn.
".. .. how and why?"
"How? It was easy enough, but I can't tell you because that would put my name back on the map. Why? I don't want my name on there — I like my privacy," answered Quinn, "I know it's your map and all, but I hope you don't mind; if it's any consolation, it works the same — just think of it as if I never existed. Simple, right?"
James stared at Quinn and then at the map in his hand.
".. .. I can respect that," shrugged James, "and if you're able to erase your name in a way that Ivy and Hermione can't reverse it, you deserve to be off the map."
"That's good to hear," said Quinn, "now, why are you guys tailing me? There's no need to follow me; you can approach me directly."
"Ah, about that," said James, "I just wanted to congratulate you for the tournament. You did an excellent job and an even outstanding job on the betting."
"Oh, thank you," smiled Quinn.
"And you rejected to be my daughter's date."
Everyone in the staircase except James froze for a good second. Ivy sighed deeply, hiding her embarrassment.
"Uhm."
James climbed up the steps and patted Quinn on the shoulder, "It's not a bad thing. I would've been fine if you took her, but it was even better when she went alone," he turned to Ron, "no offense Ron."
"Eh, ah, huh?" muttered the Weasley.
"Now, as much as I would continue this conversation," said Quinn, "I have an event to prepare for, so I will take my leave," he looked at James, "let's talk sometime later, Mr. Potter. I'll love to hear some of your stories."
"Of course, don't let us keep you waiting."
When Quinn left, and the Gryffindor group got out of the staircase, James turned to the group and said, "Look, I like that guy a lot, but he needs to get pranked."
"I tried," said Harry, "but he's too sharp."
Ivy and Hermione nodded. Even though they didn't try to prank Quinn, they knew how sharp the guy was.
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
The Gryffindor group whiled away the afternoon with a long walk around the castle and then returned to the Great Hall for the evening feast. Ludo Bagman and Cornelius Fudge had joined the staff table now. Bagman looked quite cheerful, but Cornelius Fudge, sitting next to Madame Maxime, looked stern and was not talking. Madame Maxime was concentrating on her plate, and Quinn thought her eyes looked red. Hagrid kept glancing along with the table at her.
There were more courses than usual, but the champions, who were really nervous now, didn't eat much. 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, 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. West down to the stadium now."
The champions got up with the entire hall clapping for them. With Quinn in the lead, 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 walked into the stadium and approached Quinn 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.
"Well, before we get started," said Quinn, "I wish all of you the best of luck. Face whatever challenges in there with bravery and intelligence, and I hope that you guys put on a terrific show tonight," as he talked, Quinn approached every champion, he shook their hands and patted them firmly on their shoulder.
The champions looked at Quinn with half-appreciative and half-confused looks, but Quinn now pointed his fake wand at his throat, muttered, "Sonorus," and his magically magnified voice echoed into the stands.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you that the scores from the previous tasks were tabulated, and this is how the current champions stand — In the first place, Harry Potter of Hogwarts School!" The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky. "In the second place, Victor Krum from Durmstrang Institute," more applause, "followed by Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons Academy!" A lot of male cheers. "And in the last place — Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts School!"
"Now, the champions will go inside according to their ranks with a three-minute interval between each champion," he continued, "now, let's not waste any more time. So. .. on my whistle, Harry," Harry nodded, "three — two — one —"
He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry and hurried forward into the maze. One by one, all champions went into the tunnel, and when Cedric went into the labyrinth, Quinn looked at his hand and then at the maze.
The clock had started.
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
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Quinn West - MC - Tik-tok-tik-tok.
James Potter - Senior Auror - I'm a daddy. So, it's in my character.
Ron Weasley - Gryffindor - Feels like there's something wrong, but can't tell.. . .
