Chapter Twenty-Nine: Of Sphinxes and Mazes
The first thing Harish did when he returned to the common room was write a letter to his father, before running up to the Owlry and sending it off. When he returned to the dungeons, the others were there as their classes had let out.
"Harish!" the twins called, waving him over.
"Why did you leave—"
"In the middle of class?"
"I had to speak to the Minister about what happened the other night…" and he told them about his most recent encounter with Dumbledore.
Finally Draco asked, "But, I don't understand…Why is this such a bad thing?"
"Because!" Harish exclaimed, hopping up and pacing up and down in front of the couch where the others were sitting. "If Dumbledore is having meetings with the Minister of Magic about these things…it means he knows, or at least suspects, that my father is returning to the Wizarding World."
No one said anything as this statement sunk in.
The mood in the castle became excited and tense as May turned into June. Everyone was looking forward to the third task, which would take place one week before the end of term. Harish was practicing hexes every day. He felt more confident about this task than either of the others. Difficult and dangerous though it would undoubtedly be, Harish knew that the twins were right about him excelling in the task's area, and not to mention the fact that he had time to prepare himself as well.
Tired of walking in on Harish and at least one of his friends all over school, McGonagall allowed them to use her classroom during lunchtime. Harish had soon mastered the Impediment Curse, the Reductor Curse, and the Four-Point Spell.
He was still sending messages to Sirius every day, and another message to his father and food to Sirius at least once a week. All of Sirius's replies were all about staying alert and reminding him that nothing mattered but the third task until that was over and done with.
Harish's nerves mounted as the twenty-fourth grew nearer, but this time it was more of an excitement than it was nervousness. One reason was that he felt that he had prepared himself for this one in every way he thought possible. Another reason was that he knew that this was the final hurdle, and however well he did, the tournament would at last be over.
This kind of saddened Harish, for he knew that it meant that he would have to do work again the next year, but he still felt some relief at knowing that he would no longer have to anticipate what was going to come next.
Breakfast was a rather noisy affair on the morning of the task as owls flew in, delivering the mail. Harish received a good luck card from Sirius that consisted of a single piece of parchment that had been folded in half and bore a muddy paw print. A screech owl arrived with the Daily Prophet and Daphne took the paper off again. She unfolded the paper, glanced at the front page, and spat out a mouthful of orange juice all over it.
"What is it?" Harish asked as Hermione siphoned the orange juice off.
Daphne tried to shove the paper under the table, saying, "Nothing."
Harish reached forward to grab it, but Draco, who was sitting beside her, snatched it out of his hands. He glanced down at it and said, "No way. Not today. That old cow."
"What?" Harish asked impatiently. "Rita Skeeter again?"
"No," Draco replied, attempting to push the paper out of sight. Hermione leaned around Daphne to get a look at it.
"It is about me, isn't it?" Harish asked.
"No," Draco responded unconvincingly.
Before Harish could demand to see the paper, Ron shouted across the Great Hall from the Gryffindor table.
"Oi, Blake! Blake! Why don't you go home to the Death Eaters where you belong? Sure you're not going to go mad on us?"
Beside him, a sandy haired boy was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet. Dean was on the other side of the boy from Ron and was looking both ashamed and angry at his fellow Gryffindor. Several students from all of the Houses were sniggering and twisting in their seats to see his reaction.
"Let me see it," Harish growled, leaning over the table and trying to wrestle it out of the blonde boy's hands. "Give it here."
Very reluctantly, Draco handed over the newspaper. Harish turned it over and found himself staring at his own picture, beneath the banner headline:
Harish Blake
"Disturbed and Dangerous"
A student at Hogwarts, and the school's champion in the Triwizard Tournament, Harish Blake, is unstable and possibly dangerous, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Alarming evidence has recently come to light about Harish Blake's strange behavior, which casts doubts upon his suitability to compete in an inter-school competition like the Triwizard Tournament, or even to attend Hogwarts school.
Blake, the Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal, is student who enjoys being in the spotlight. He seems to get into all sorts of trouble at Hogwarts, but no one can offer proof substantial enough to punish him. It is reported that in the boy's third year, he held an unusual interest in a very valuable object that was being kept within the school, which was later stolen. We still do not know for sure who stole it, but it does seem very questionable. The very next year, he was caught out of bounds rescuing a girl from the Chamber of Secrets himself, and held an unusual amount of influence over the monster within (see page two for more information), and the year after that he was found by a professor of the school near the fugitive, Sirius Black, after a dementor almost administered the Kiss.
The Daily Prophet, however, has unearthed worrying facts about Harish Blake that Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, has carefully concealed from the Wizarding public.
"Blake can speak Parseltongue," reveals Ron Weasley, a Hogwarts fourth year. "There were a lot of attacks on students a couple years ago, and most people thought Blake was behind them after they saw him lose his temper at a dueling club and set a snake of another boy. It was all hushed up, though. But he's made friends with a bunch of Death Eaters too. We think he'd do anything for power."
Parseltongue, the ability to converse with snakes, has long been considered a Dark Art. Indeed, the most famous Parselmouth of our times is none other than You-Know-Who himself. A member of the Dark Force Defense League, who wished to remain unnamed, stated that he would regard any wizard who could speak Parseltongue "as worthy of investigation. Personally, I would be highly suspicious of anyone who could converse with snakes, as serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark Magic, and are historically associated with evildoers." Similarly, "anyone who seeks out the company of Death Eaters and dark creatures would appear to have a fondness for violence."
It is true that Blake and his two friends, the Weasley twins, have been terrorizing the school since their first year with horrible "pranks". Albus Dumbledore should surely consider whether a boy such as this should be allowed to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. Some fear that Blake might resort to the Dark Arts in his desperation to win the tournament, the third task of which takes place this evening.
Harish didn't know how to react to this article. While most of the information inside hadn't been proven, and most of it everyone inside the school already knew, but Harish knew that almost everyone in the Wizarding World read the Daily Prophet and would know the information before the end of the day.
"How is she getting all of this information?" Daphne mused. "I thought she wasn't allowed on the grounds anymore."
"I would say she's using some sort of bugging, but electronics don't work in the castle. The magic interferes with it."
"Bugging?" all of the pureblood wizards asked in confusion.
"Muggles have devices that they can talk to people over distances. Like the floo, but a lot smaller and easier to take everywhere."
"Hermione—bugging!" Daphne exclaimed. The two girls shared a look before dashing away.
All of the guys in their group looked confused and mildly concerned.
"They've finally gone mad," George muttered with a grin, earning glares from Harish and Fred.
"She must really hate that Skeeter woman though," Draco finally added after a moment of silence where they all continued to stare at the doors to the Great Hall. "If she's willing to risk missing the beginning of our Charms exam."
"Speaking of," the twins said. "What're you going to do during our exam. Read again?"
"I suppose," Harish replied, but just then Professor McGonagall came walking alongside the Slytherin table toward him.
"Blake, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast," she said.
"But the task is not until tonight!" Harish exclaimed, accidently dropping eggs off of his fork, although he did not notice.
"I'm aware of that, Blake," 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 and Harish nodded, standing up and looking around the room. Fleur was already striding away from the Ravenclaw table toward the chamber. Krum slouched off shortly afterward. Harish jogged to catch up with them.
When he walked into the chamber, Krum was 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. Her little sister, Gabrielle, was holding her mother's hand. Then, he saw his father and Bellatrix standing in front of the fire. A smile split his face and he had to resist the urge to laugh when he saw a large black dog standing beside his father, panting. He was wearing a spiked collar that had a leash attached to it, which Voldemort was holding.
"Here's the champion," Voldemort said with a smile. Harish let his father hug him before stepping back. Padfoot licked his hand.
Harish looked down at the dog and grinned.
"Hello Snuffles," he said quietly.
The dog wagged its tail.
"You have no idea how he pestered me and pestered me to come," Voldemort said with a grin. "Didn't want to be left out."
Harish laughed as the dog wagged its tail.
"How are you?" Bellatrix asked.
"I'm well," Harish replied simply. "Did either of you see the Prophet this morning?"
Voldemort's expression grew dark.
"Oh, I saw it all right," he replied in a low voice.
Bellatrix put a hand on his arm and looked at him in concern. Voldemort looked into her eyes before sighing.
"You are right," he said quiet enough to where the others in the room couldn't hear. "I cannot go and hex that Weasley boy, however much I want to."
Obviously wishing to change the subject, Bellatrix turned to Harish and asked, "Why don't you show us around? I haven't been inside Hogwarts since the day I left."
Harish nodded and led them out of the chamber. Luckily exams had started for the day, for Harish was sure that there were some people that would have gotten nervous at the sight of Bellatrix Lestrange.
"Is the picture of that mad old knight still around? Sir Cadogan?" Bellatrix asked as they left the building and began walking towards the lake.
"Oh yeah," Harish replied with a grin. "He hasn't bothered me much since I threatened to burn his portrait."
Bellatrix laughed, Sirius barked and wagged his tail again, and Voldemort smiled. Harish showed them the Beauxbatons carriage as they passed it and led them over to the Durmstrang ship for them to admire. This was what Harish enjoyed. The rare moments when his family seemed normal. He petted Sirius's head as he walked and talked happily with his "parents" about almost everything. They all laughed (or rather Harish laughed and Voldemort grimaced) as they watched Sirius romp around, barking at birds and chasing his tail every few paces.
They returned to the castle for lunch, leaving Sirius outside.
Everyone stared at Bellatrix and whispered. Although she was never sentenced to Azkaban, it was still rumored that she had been a Death Eater. Not to mention the fact that no one really knew of her divorcing Rodolphus Lestrange, so they were confused when they saw her with Harish's father.
Harish introduced all of his friends to the two of them. He also introduced Hermione as Hermione Black, knowing how big Bellatrix was into blood purity. Bella had been intrigued when she heard Black, and he and Hermione had hastily explained that Sirius was her father. At this, Bella spent the rest of lunch picking out the features of Sirius's that Hermione had gained from the potion she took.
Harish, his father, Bellatrix, and Padfoot spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the castle, and then returned to the Great Hall for the evening feast (save for Sirius, of course). Ludo Bagman and Cornelius Fudge had joined the staff table by then. Bagman looked quite cheerful, but Fudge, who was sitting next to Madame Maxime, looked stern and was not talking. Madame Maxime was too busy concentrating on her plate anyway, and Harish thought that her eyes looked a little red. Then, he noticed that Hagrid kept glancing along the table at her.
There were more courses than usual, but Harish hardly seemed to notice as he was beginning to feel nervous. As the enchanted ceiling overheard began to fade from a 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."
Harish got up. All of the Slytherins, plus his friends in the other Houses, began applauding him. Voldemort, Bellatrix, and his friends all wished him luck and he head off out of the Great Hall with the other two champions.
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 tight gap right in front of them: the entrance to the vast maze. The passage beyond it looked dark and eerie.
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," McGonagall informed the champions. "If you get into difficulty and wish you be rescued, send red sparks into the air, and one of us will come and get you, do you understand?"
The three teens nodded.
"Off you go, then!" Bagman said brightly to the four patrollers.
Bagman watched as the adults disappeared around the edge of the hedge, pointed his wand at his throat, and muttered "Sonorous," and his magically enhanced 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 how the points currently stand! In first place, with eighty five points, is Harish Blake 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!"
Harish could just make out his father and Bellatrix, surrounded by his friends, applauding politely. Sirius barked from beside Voldemort. Harish waved at them and they waved back. Padfoot moved a paw up in down and Voldemort grabbed the paw, stuffing it down where it couldn't be seen. He hissed words that Harish couldn't hear, but Harish laughed, knowing that he was reprimanding Sirius for acting too human.
"So…on my whistle, Harish," Bagman said. "Three—two—one—"
He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harish hurried forward into the maze.
The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and think or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment they entered the maze. Harish almost felt as though he were underwater again. He pulled out his wand and muttered, "Lumos."
After about fifty yards, he reached a fork. Harish looked both ways, and clenched his wand tightly in his hand. Taking a gamble, Harish went left.
The teen heard Bagman's whistle for the second time. Krum had entered the maze. Harish sped up. His 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.
Bagman's whistle blew for the third time. All of the champions were now inside, and Harish had yet to come across any obstacles. It unnerved him slightly, and he 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 a navy color. He reached a second fork.
"Point me," he whispered to his wand, holding it flat in his hand.
The wand spun around once and pointed to his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and he knew 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 Harish reached a right turn and took it, he again found his way unblocked. Harish didn't know why, but the last of obstacles was now really unnerving him. Surely he should have met something by now? It felt as though the maze was lulling 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 only fell upon Krum, who had just hurried out of a path on the right hand side. He looked slightly shaken and he sleeve of his robe was smoking.
"There are some beasts back there," he hissed. "They're enormous—shoot fire—I only just got away!"
He shook his head and dove out of sight, along another path. Keen to put plenty of distance between himself and the creatures, Harish hurried off again. Then, as he turned a corner, he saw…his father. The man was ragged and looked as though he were dying. He staggered forward, whispering, "You were too late…they're all gone…" he started coughing really hard and fell to his knees. Harish stopped, staring in fear. Then, he raised his wand and said, "Riddikulus!"
There was a loud crack and the boggart vanished from sight. Harish breathed in a shaky breath before raising his wand high above his head once more and setting forward.
Left…right…left again…Twice he found himself facing dead ends. The teen 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.
Harish approached it cautiously, pointing the wand's beam at it. It looked like some kind of enchantment. The wizard 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.
Harish was still hesitating when a scream shattered the silence.
"Fleur?" Harish yelled.
There was no response. The teen stared all around him. What had happened to her? Her scream seemed to have come from somewhere ahead. He took a deep breath and stepped into the mist.
The world turned upside down. Harish was hanging from the ground, his hair on end. The teen hung for a moment in shock. His feet seemed to be 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 foot, he would fall away from the earth completely.
Think, he told himself as all of the blood rushed to his head, think…
He was certain he didn't know a spell that would help him. Well, he couldn't stand there all night. Harish squeezed his eyes shut and tried to convince himself he was still upright, then he wrenched a foot off the ground and stepped forward.
Harish opened his eyes and saw that the world had right itself. He stood in shock for a long moment before hurrying forward, looking back at the golden mist as he exited it.
He paused at the junction of two paths and looked around. There was no sign of Fleur and he couldn't help but think, One champion down…He did the Four-Point Spell once more and took the right fork.
The Cup was somewhere and it seemed as though Fleur was no longer in the running. As he realized that he Krum were the only two left, he once again envisioned himself holding up the Triwizard Cup, splitting the thousand Galleon prize between himself and the twins, using it to buy a joke shop…
He met nothing for ten minutes, but kept running into dead ends. Twice, he took the same wrong turn. Finally, he found a new route and started to jog along it, his wand-light waving, making his shadow flicker and distort on the hedge walls. The he rounded another corner and found himself facing an enormous creature.
It was ten feet long, looking like an odd sort of scorpion. Its long sting was curled over its back. Its thick armor glinted silver in Harish's wand-light. As Harish stopped, the creature was shooting fire out its end at the hedges around it. Somehow, Harish knew that this was the creature Krum was talking about.
"Stupefy!" Harish shouted.
The spell hit the creatures armor and rebounded.
"Protego!" Harish exclaimed hastily and a shield popped up and absorbed the reflected spell. The skrewt turned towards him, or at least Harish guessed so, and scuttled bizarrely towards him. It shot a blast of fire out of its end again, and this time the fire headed straight for the champion. Harish darted out of the way of the fire, but it singed his leg slightly.
"Impedimenta!" the teen yelled. The spell hit the creature's armor and once again ricocheted off. Harish staggered backwards a few paces and fell over. "Impedimenta!"
The skrewt was inches from him when it froze—he had managed to hit its fleshy, shell-less underside. Panting, Harish pushed himself up and ran hard in the opposite direction—the Impediment Curse was not permanent, meaning that the creature would regain the use of its legs in only a minute or so.
He took a left path and hit a dead end, a right, and hit another; forcing himself to stop, the wizard performed the Four-Point Spell again, backtracked, and chose a path that would take him northwest.
Harish had been hurrying along the new path for a few minutes when he heard footsteps behind him. The teen turned to see Krum behind him. His wand was out, pointed straight at Harish. As he advanced, Harish could see that something about Krum was off. There was something absent behind his eyes, like he wasn't really in control of what he was doing. The two stared at each other long enough for Harish to realize that the other champion was Imperiused, and then Krum shouted, "Crucio!"
Harish ducked under the spell and rolled.
Then, he shouted, "Impedimenta!" Not looking back to see if his spell had struck home, Harish turned to the hedge and exclaimed, "Reducto!"
It wasn't very effective, but it burned a small hole in the hedge which Harish was able to put a leg through, kicking at brambles and branches until they broke and made an opening; he struggled through it, tearing his robes as he heard the Impediment Curse Wear off of Krum. Harish fell through the hedge and looked through the hole he had made to see Krum pointing his wand at Harish once again, through the hedge.
"Stupefy!" Harish exclaimed, scrambling backwards.
Before Krum had the chance to shoot another spell off at Harish, he had been stunned, sprawled on his back. Harish sat there, panting for a moment. Then, when he had regained his breath, he shakily stood up and continued on. Harish took a left and used the Four-Point Spell to make sure he was going to right direction. As he walked on, he knew that he was the very last champion; he was guaranteed to win.
Every so often, Harish would hit dead ends, but he felt that he must be nearing the center of the maze as it grew darker and darker. Then, as he strode along his path, he saw movement once again. Raising his wand, he saw an extraordinary creature that he had seen once before—in his Care of Magical Creatures textbook.
It was a sphinx. It had the body of an overly large lion: great clawed paws and a long tail ending in a brown tuft. Its head, however, was that of a woman. She turned her long, almond shaped eyes upon Harish as he approached. He raised his wand, hesitating. She was crouched as if to spring, nor was she sitting at all. Rather, she was pacing from side to side of the path, blocking his progress. Then, she spoke in a deep voice.
"You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me."
"What do I have to do to get past?" Harish asked.
The sphinx smiled.
"You must answer my riddle," she responded. "Answer on your first guess—I let you pass. Answer wrongly—I attack. Remain silent—I will let you walk away unscathed."
"What's the riddle?"
The sphinx sat in the middle of the path and recited:
"First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last the to mend,
The middle of middle and end of end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this:
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"
"So, I have to solve each part of the riddle to name which creature I wouldn't want to kiss," Harish murmured, pacing back and forth. Then, he stopped and turned back to the sphinx. "Could you give me the first few lines again?"
She blinked at him, smiled, and repeated the first line or so.
"A person in disguise," he muttered, staring at the ground, "who lies…that would be an imposter. No, that's not my guess! A—a spy…I'll come back to that…Could you give me the next clue, please?"
She repeated the next lines of the poem.
"The last thing to mend?" Harish repeated. He was still looking down and placed his hand on his chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm…I have no idea about that one… 'middle of middle'…" he thought for a second, before looking up at her in realization. "Middle of middle! That's the letter d! M, I, D, D, L, E. There's two d's in the middle of the word middle! Could I have the last bit?"
She gave him the last four lines.
"'The sound often heard during the search for a hard-to-find-word'," Harish repeated, thinking again. "Er…that would be…er…hang on—er! 'Er' is a sound!"
The sphinx smiled at him.
"Spy, D, er…Spied…Spider!" Harish stopped pacing and smiled at the sphinx. "A creature I wouldn't want to kiss would be a spider."
The sphinx smiled even broader. She got up, stretched her front legs, and then moved aside for him to pass.
"Thanks," Harish muttered, sparing her one last glance before walking past her into the path beyond.
Harish knew that he was very close. He whispered, "Point me!" and his wand spun to point directly in front of him. The pathway curved, and then split into a fork once again. Harish did the Four-Point Spell one last time, breaking into a run as he took the right fork.
The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards ahead of him. Harish sped up, running with all of his might. Now that the Cup was in sight, Harish felt a grin spread across his face. Then, something tripped him.
The teen fell hard, skidding on his face. Harish was sure it was bleeding as he scrambled up, clutching a hand to it. He turned around to see a spider behind him. It was at least ten feet tall. The only time Harish had seen one that was bigger was when he and the twins had snuck out to the forest in their fourth year and spoken to a giant spider that had to have been at least twenty feet tall.
Harish backed away from it, crying, "Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!"
But it was no use—the spider was either so large, or so magical, that the spells were doing nothing more than aggravating it. Harish looked behind him to see that another spider had come out of the path that was across from his. Harish turned back around, and had one horrifying glimpse of the spider's enormous pinchers before it was upon him.
He was lifted into the air in its front legs. Struggling madly, he tried to kick at it. His free leg connected with the pincers that were holding his other leg, and the next moment he felt excruciating pain. As the spider bit down on his leg harder, he raised his wand and cried, "Expelliarmus!"
The Disarming Spell made the spider drop the Slytherin. Unfortunately for Harish, there was a twelve feet drop beneath him, and he fell on his already bleeding leg. Harish crab walked backwards and felt his head connect with something hard. Blinking the black spots from his sight and rubbing the back of his head, Harish turned to see that his head had hit the plinth that the Cup was sitting atop of. The teen saw the spider advancing upon him, and in one last moment of desperation, Harish cried, "Accio Cup!"
The Triwizard Cup zoomed into Harish's open arms and the next moment he knew, he was lying on his back on the edge of the field.