Disclaimer – I solemnly swear that JKR owns everything Harry Potter. Whether or not I am up to no good with her characters is for you to decide.

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Muggle-Raised Champion

Chapter 30 – The Task Fights Back

6:50pm

Saturday, 24 June 1995

Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

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Regardless of the fact that Harry knew the strategy that he was going to use for the Third Task of the TriWizard Tournament to combat the maze, its enchantments and the various magical creatures within it, and the fact that he had absolutely nothing to worry about, his nerves still got the better of him the closer the time came to the start of the Third Task.

This meant that, when it came to dinner, he was more inclined to push his food around his plate than to actually eat it. Sirius, though, with assistance from Daphne and Remus, would have none of that. Together, they managed to convince him to at least eat half of it. Truthfully, Harry wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not. He knew that going into the evening on an empty stomach wasn't a good thing, but by the same token the butterflies in there didn't seem to like having their space crowded with food.

"It is almost time for the Third Task to begin," Headmaster Dumbledore had announced from his podium, causing Harry to drop his fork. "If the Champions could make their way down to the quidditch pitch now. The rest of us will follow along shortly."

The four Champions had walked somewhat together. There was no talking between them, only looks of intense concentration on each face. Harry couldn't decide which one looked the most confident, all he could tell was that all three were in it to win it, which was fine by him.

Ludo Bagman and Bartemius Crouch had been waiting for them at the entrance to the pitch and escorted them the last dozen metres or so. Just before they entered the Champion's tent which was placed just inside and to the right of the entryway, Harry was able to get a brief look up into the stands.

Currently, with the school's population still to come down, it looked mostly empty, but there were quite a number of sections beginning to fill up with adults. A shock of recognisable red hair caught his attention, especially when the owner of said hair began pointing in his direction to the man sitting beside him. Harry returned Charlie Weasley's wave as well as the nod from the other man, who Harry could only guess was also connected to the Romanian Dragon Reserve.

Just as had been the case for the previous two Tasks, the inside of the tent had four small sections partitions sectioned off, one for each Champion, as well as a general area in the middle. Automatically, the four of the them began moving towards their area, only to be stopped by Mister Crouch.

"You will have a few minutes with your family and a select few friends, for them to wish you well before we get underway. We will then go through the rules, although you should all know them by now, while the audience is being informed of the same thing. And then the Third Task will begin. Take the next few minutes to prepare yourselves."

With that said, the two men disappeared, leaving the four to their own contemplations.

The heavy tread of hundreds of feet passing by the tent told the story of what was happening outside. At the sharp flap of canvas, Harry's head snapped up to see a flow of people coming in. Instantly, he focussed on the ones obviously for him.

"Good luck, Pup!" Sirius said, giving him a brief hug, while Remus clapped him on the shoulder. "No matter what happens out there, we're proud of you."

"If you get a chance, do you think you could get me a cutting of that hedge?" Neville asked. "Considering how quickly it grew, it's got to be magical."

"I'll see what I can do, Nev," Harry grinned.

"Seriously, though, good luck in there, Harry," Neville said.

"Good luck, Harry," Susan and Hermione said together, before looking at each other and laughing nervously.

That laughter was repeated when the two girls moved to give him a hug at the same time. In the end, the three-way hug was awkward, but brief.

"Are you going to tell me what you have planned, Harry?" Daphne asked, stepping forward.

"Surely you've worked it out by now," Harry replied with a wry smile.

"Prat!" she said, grinning and slapping his arm, exactly as she did every time that he'd refused to tell her his strategy. "Seriously, though, Harry, good luck in there and don't do anything stupid."

"Don't plan on it, Daph," Harry replied.

When Harry saw her move towards him, he expected a brief hug, just as the others had given him. Instead, Daphne reached up, cupped his face with her hands, leaned in and kissed him. It only lasted a few seconds or perhaps a lifetime. It was simple, sweet and tasted vaguely of strawberries. Somewhere along the way, Harry found that his hands were now resting on Daphne's hips. As the kiss ended, he opened his eyes to see her cerulean blue eyes shining with something unidentifiable.

"Friends and family of the Champions, it is time for you to take your seats in the stands," Mister Crouch called, breaking the spell and the moment between the two.

Without a word, Daphne stepped back, allowing Harry's hands to fall limply to his sides, then she turned, her long, silky, black hair swishing behind her as she joined the others in disappearing through the tent's flaps.

"Right then, gather round, everyone and we'll go through the rules one last time," Mister Crouch instructed. "Mister Potter? Harry? Come along, come along."

Almost independent of his own thoughts, Harry joined the others in the centre of the tent, but his mind was still trying to process exactly what had just happened. She'd kissed him. Daphne had kissed him. He wanted nothing more than to chase after her and to talk to her. To ask her why and, if he was honest with himself, to repeat the experience. His mind seemed to be stuck in a loop, remembering the feeling of her soft lips pressed against his and wondering why.

That really was the big question. Why now? This night was already due to be a long and very important one. There was the Task to get through and, with then the Dragon Reserve's offer to discuss and decide upon. A decision that had just become a hundred times more difficult and important.

"Are you listening, Mister Potter?" Mister Crouch asked and the slight hint of exasperation in the man's voice told Harry that that wasn't the first time that he'd been called.

"Sorry. What were you saying?" he asked sheepishly.

"Right. Now that all four of you are paying attention," Mister Crouch said, giving Harry a look of disapproval, "we can go through the rules for this Task. The Task is easy enough in principle: you simply make your way to the very centre of the maze and the first to touch the TriWizard Cup is the winner.

"If you get into any trouble in there that you can't handle on your own, simply send up red sparks and one of the professors who will be patrolling the outside of the maze will come in and get you. That will, of course, instantly disqualify you from the Task.

"Mister Krum will enter first; followed by Mister Diggory twelve seconds later; Miss Delacour forty-seven seconds after that; and lastly Mister Potter five minutes and three seconds after that.

"You are only allowed to take your wand in with you and summoning of objects from outside the maze is strictly forbidden and will instantly disqualify you."

This last part was said with Mister Crouch looking firmly at Harry. For his part, he simply gave a wry grin. He suspected that this wasn't one of the original rules, but since he had used a summoning charm to get what he needed in both of the other two Tasks, he couldn't exactly blame them for adding it in.

"I think that's everything. If there are no questions? Good. When you hear your name, you may enter the stadium."

With that, Mister Crouch left the tent, leaving the four Champions standing loosely in a circle, nervously eyeing each other. Thankfully, that only lasted for a moment before the sound of Ludo Bagman's amplified voice filtered in.

"Without further ado, I give you your TriWizard Champions!"

A great roar and the sound of hundreds of people clapping and cheering filled not only the stadium, but the tent, making it difficult to hear.

"REPRESENTING DURMSTRANG INSTITUTE OF MAGIC: VIKTOR KRUM!"

Harry didn't think it was possible, but somehow the cheers, screams and general roar doubled as the Bulgarian Champion and quidditch star emerged from the tent.

"OUR HOMEGROWN CHAMPION, REPRESENTING HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY: CEDRIC DIGGORY!"

If there was a difference in the cheers for the Viktor and Cedric, Harry certainly couldn't pick it.

"REPRESENTING BEAUXBATONS ACADEMIE OF MAGIC: FLEUR DELACOUR!"

As Fleur exited the tent to the cheers of the crowd, Harry readied himself, knowing that he'd be called next.

"AND LASTLY, OUR FOURTH CHAMPION, REPRESENTING STONEWALL HIGH, HARRY POTTER!"

As Harry emerged from the tent, it was to find that the sound in the tent was actually being muffled. Hundreds, no thousands of people were jammed into the stadium all of whom were on their feet clapping and cheering, whistling and stomping. Nervously, Harry raised his hand in acknowledgement. It was at that moment that a dozen bright flashes assaulted him from the reporters that he hadn't noticed before.

"Champions, if you would stand here," Mister Crouch directed.

Harry found himself lined up beside the other Champions facing the, as promised, now ten-foot high hedge maze. Deep shadows lined the area beside it and Harry could only guess how dark and gloomy it would be actually inside there. Directly across from where they were standing was a small gap, no larger than the width of an ordinary door – the only entrance to the maze.

"On the sound of the canon, the TriWizard Tournament shall begin," Ludo Bagman announced to the crowd.

BANG!

Instantly, Viktor took off in a sprint that would do an Olympic runner proud. Within seconds he'd disappeared inside the maze.

BANG!

This time it was Cedric's turn to dash into the maze. While he was nowhere near as fast as Viktor, he was no slouch either. There was only a slightly longer pause this time before …

BANG!

Fleur raced off to enter the maze behind her fellow competitors.

And then it was time for Harry to simply stand around and wait. He considered sitting, but thought that that might be giving the game away a smidgen too early. Idly, his gaze wandered around the stadium and it wasn't long before he found himself frowning.

There was absolutely nothing to enable any of the spectators to see what was happening inside the maze. The hedge walls were far too high to allow most of the people in the stands to see over them and of those that probably could, it'd be too dark to see anything. Oh, maybe some flashes of colour every now and then if and when a spell was used, but that wouldn't really tell anyone much.

Harry simply had to shake his head. Whoever had designed these Tasks seemed to have absolutely no regard for those watching. This was the second one now where the spectators couldn't see what was happening, having to simply wait until the end to find out who won. At least with the Second Task, Harry provided some entertainment. That wouldn't be the case this time.

BANG!

In his idle staring around and musing, Harry'd lost track of the time and had been startled at the unexpected sound. Gathering himself, he trotted off to the entrance of the maze. Passing through the opening, he found that it immediately branched off to either side. Choosing at random, Harry turned right and continued jogging for another couple of metres before stopping with a smile, looking around and promptly sitting down.

Inside the maze really was as dark and shadowy as he'd expected. In the dim light, it was near impossible to see any further than maybe five metres in any direction.

Originally, Harry'd planned to whittle while he waited. His small collection had grown to five so far – dragon, goblin, unicorn, merman and house elf – and he'd not long started on an abraxan, one of the winged horses that'd apparently pulled the Beauxbatons carriage from France to Hogwarts. This would have been an ideal time to get a lot further on in its creation.

Wiggling around to get himself comfortable (he really had no idea how long this was going to take and he wouldn't be surprised if it lasted an hour or two), Harry found himself leaning back into the hedges. The leaves and twigs were a bit sharp and pointy and scratchy in places, but by wiggling and shifting about, he eventually managed to find a position that he was certain that he could relax in for quite some time to come.

Deciding that it'd been a big day already and knowing that he'd be up quite late that night, Harry closed his eyes, intent on getting some rest.

The sudden tightening of something over various parts of his body snapped his eyes open bare moments before his world went absolutely crazy. But in those moments, Harry was able to recognise that something had grabbed hold of both his ankles, his thighs, arms, stomach and chest, holding him tightly and making it impossible for him to move in any direction.

And then he was dragged backwards into the hedge. Sharp twigs and branches jabbed into his body in every which way. His head was knocked from side to side even as his mouth was filled with leaves, preventing him from crying out in shock and fear. The world went pitch black and he could hear his clothes tearing, feel his skin being pierced and scratched. His glasses were knocked askew and were barely hanging on to one ear.

As quickly as it began, Harry was ejected from the hedge, the plant tendrils unwinding at such speed that he was sent spinning, rolling across the ground before he came to rest up against the opposite hedge wall.

Realising what the sharp and leafy object was against his side, sent Harry rolling back the way he came until he came to rest face down in the middle of the pathway.

With a groan, he lifted his head and righted his glasses. His body hurt in dozens of places from the brief passage through the hedge and it was all he could do to push himself to his hands and knees.

Wherever he was, it looked identical to where he'd just left – there was the same deep gloom and two identical hedges, no longer quite so innocent, lined either side of him.

Slowly he stood up, spitting the last of the leaves from his mouth and picking bits of twigs and other plant material from his clothes and even from where they'd pierced his skin. Blood oozed from a dozen places that he could see and his left foot felt a little tender to stand on, but overall, he decided that he was in one piece.

"Now where am I?" he muttered, absently sticking one of the larger bits of hedge into his pocket to give to Neville later.

His best guess was the next aisle over, making him marginally closer to the centre of the maze. Suspiciously, he looked back at the maze that he'd just come through, but right now, it was sitting idle, displaying no more signs of life than any other plant, well, apart from the whomping willow and some of those other plants that Neville had once shown him in Greenhouse Three.

Deciding that his best bet was to get back closer to the start of the maze, Harry started off to the left. He'd barely gone five metres when the hedges to either side of him and stretching down as far as he could see, began leaning inwards. Tendrils and branches shot across the pathway, linking up with their counterparts and entwining together to form an impenetrable wall blocking his path within moments.

"Right. Not that way, then," Harry said.

He knew that they'd been told that there'd be enchantments in the maze, but he never imagined that that would mean the hedges would work against them!

When he'd done nothing but take a couple of steps backwards, the maze must have decided that he needed an additional prompt, for it slowly began bringing its blockage forward, forcing him backwards at a faster and faster pace.

Harry's mind raced as he trotted down the path. Somewhere on the other side of the hedge to his left was the original path that he'd entered on and that, he knew, led to the outside world.

Finally, a corner appeared, but instead of to the left where he wanted to go, this one turned right, deeper into the maze.

Deciding that he'd had enough, Harry drew his wand and pointed it at the hedge. His mind flicked back to the lesson that he'd had with Professor Flitwick before he focussed fully on the task at hand.

"Incendio!"

Instantly, in the white-hot fire that he'd created, a hole in the hedge appeared, burnt straight through. But before Harry could take advantage of it, the hedge around the hole shot out tendrils and branches to seal the breach and to close the gap.

He glanced to the path behind him, but he had no intention whatsoever of going deeper into the maze – who knew what he'd find in there if the very plants were this dangerous. And unfortunately, he knew that if he stayed still too long, the hedges would get it into their … heads? that he needed some more prompting to get moving again.

"Well, if I can't go over it and I've got no idea how to get around it, that just leaves under or over," Harry mused. And then, after looking at the ground. "Right, over it it is."

The problem now was that the hedges were ten feet high, far too high to jump and he suspected that the hedges wouldn't like being climbed. Or stood upon, he decided.

"Time to get a little creative," Harry mused.

He paced backwards and forwards a few times, looking up at the hedge surrounding him. His mind whirled, trying to work out a way around his problem. If he only had a knife, at least that'd be something to work with. But if he was going to wish for something that he didn't have, then why not go full out and wish for his trunk. In there, in his workroom, was all the tools and materials he'd need to build or create anything that he'd need.

Suddenly, Harry froze mid-step. In there were exactly the things that he needed. Or at least the ideas of which he could use. His mind flittered about: wood, book, doll house. And a small smile appeared on his face.

Spinning around, Harry levelled his wand at the maze, took careful aim and cast the most powerful cutting spell he knew. It wasn't much, but a couple of twigs and a tendril dropped to the ground and Harry pounced on them.

Idly, he raised one hand and a ball of light appeared to hover up and away, bathing the area in a soft golden glow.

Then, bringing the pages of the book that Sirius had recently given him on magical woodworking to mind, he began to work.

The first thing that he had to do was enlarge the twigs and then reduce them into planks. Taking two, he used his wand to carve them into large ovals, nearly twice the size of his feet. They weren't pretty and looked horribly wrong, but for what he wanted them for, he knew that they'd do.

Each plank then had half a dozen holes bored through them and the tendrils threaded through the holes.

Three more quick cutting curses at the plant produced enough twigs for the next part of his plan.

These twigs were placed under a series of engorgios, some more than others. Using his wandless magic, Harry moved the now trunk-sized twigs into place, balancing some on top of others until he'd fashioned himself a rough staircase that reached as high as the hedge.

Grabbing up his oval planks, Harry scrambled up the 'staircase' to stand at the very top.

From here, he could see the maze stretching away into the distance. The lights from the stadium even lit up the tops of the hedges making it possible for him to plot a course deeper into the maze towards the centre. In a couple of places, Harry could see a shimmering golden mist and in others, the hint of movement, but whether from plant-life, creatures or Champions, was impossible to tell.

Having placed his oval planks on the top trunk/step, Harry stepped on to them and bent and worked at tying the tendrils around each foot as tightly as possible. Standing back up, he tested each one by lifting his foot and the plank that it was now attached to.

Satisfied, he nodded. He now had some 'snow-shoes', or more properly, 'hedge-shoes' to hopefully allow him to move about on top of the maze.

Hesitantly, Harry stepped out. The 'ground' felt very unstable, but he could stand on the hedge, however wobbly he was.

Deliberately turning his back on the centre of the maze, Harry plotted out his course and began walking. Each step was an adventure. Remembering to swing each leg wide so that the planks didn't catch on each other was essential.

But slowly, deliberately, Harry began making his way towards the outer wall of the maze. Twice he had to change directions when the maze before him decided to shift about. But finally, finally, he was there.

Looking down, Harry could see the ground. The crowd, he knew had been yelling and screaming for ages, but he'd deliberately not listened to a word that they were saying.

This, he knew, was going to hurt.

Nevertheless, Harry jumped, leaping from the maze and the competition.

For him, the TriWizard Tournament was over.