The whistle sounded, and the third task of the Triwizard Tournament officially began.
Eda was the first to enter the maze. The tall hedges were dark and dense, casting pitch-black shadows over the path. It was completely dark and unusually quiet inside the maze. Not a single sound from the noisy stands reached inside.
Drawing her wand, Eda lit its tip with a soft glow, illuminating the path beneath her feet. After walking roughly fifty meters forward, Eda reached the maze's first fork.
Since this was only the first fork, Eda did not take it too seriously. She did not use magic to determine her position, but simply turned left and continued forward.
As she walked, Eda estimated the time in her mind. By now, more or less all the champions should have entered the maze, and the competition for the championship had officially begun. It all depended on who could reach the center of the maze first.
Time passed second by second. The sky overhead turned a dark blue, and the maze grew increasingly dim. After passing two more forks in succession, Eda finally encountered one of the traps placed inside the maze. She encountered a Boggart.
The Boggart transformed into what Eda had looked like in her previous life, leaning on an IV stand and slowly approaching Eda step by step.
It was wearing blue-and-white striped hospital clothes, looking extremely frail, so thin that it seemed as though it could be lifted with one hand. Its hair had also become dry, yellow, and split at the ends.
"Riddikulus!" Eda held her wand level and cast the spell.
Bang!
The Boggart changed again. Instead of transforming into the muscular Barbie Eda had imagined, it became a corpse, George's corpse.
Even though she knew the corpse was fake and George was sitting perfectly fine in the stands at that very moment, Eda still felt as though all the air had suddenly been sucked out of her lungs, and a feeling of suffocation surged into her heart.
She waved her wand again.
Bang!
This time, the Boggart became Fred's corpse, lying limply there, his eyes empty and lifeless.
She waved her wand a third time, and the Boggart transformed again. This time it was Vinda, dead, with a large pool of bright red blood beneath her and even more blood gushing from her body.
Every time Eda waved her wand, the Boggart changed again, like an endless perpetual motion machine.
Professor McGonagall, the Weasleys, Angelina, and the others, as though the Boggart were the greatest demon in the world, as though it wanted to take away everything Eda possessed.
This was also what Eda had always feared most. If you had never possessed something, there would naturally be nothing to fear about losing it. But Eda possessed all these things now. These family members and friends were precisely what she was most afraid of losing.
She did not continue waving her wand. Eda opened her eyes, her emerald-like eyes fixed firmly on the Boggart. She wanted to face the fear within her heart. That was the best way to deal with fear.
The Boggart seemed to be thrown off by Eda's sudden calmness and began transforming continuously. Dumbledore and Grindelwald's corpses still looked somewhat believable, but what was the deal with old Tom from the Leaky Cauldron and Dave the amateur scientist?
Eda laughed. She laughed loudly, as though she had just heard the funniest joke in the entire world.
Eda raised her wand once again. She had laughed so hard that her spell came out in a stammer.
"Riddi... Riddikulus... Riddikulus..."
With a loud bang, the Boggart exploded into a wisp of blue smoke and dispersed into the evening breeze.
Wiping away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes, Eda composed herself and continued forward. Along the way, she used a directional spell twice to make sure she was heading northwest, toward the center of the maze.
As she walked, a sudden scream tore through the silence around her.
It was Fleur's voice!
Eda immediately changed direction and headed toward where the sound had come from.
On one hand, Eda wanted to see what had happened to Fleur and make sure she was all right. On the other hand, if Fleur had lost her ability to protect herself, Eda could not simply leave her in the maze. Who knew whether the big creatures Hagrid had put inside would eat people?
Tonight was not merely the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. This night was destined to be far from peaceful.
Following the direction from which the scream had come, Eda continued searching. Finally, after turning several corners, she saw Fleur lying on the ground.
The flower from France was curled up on the ground, her wand discarded beside her. There was no one else around.
Eda bent down and checked Fleur's condition. There were no external injuries on her body. She had simply been knocked unconscious, and there were no signs of a struggle nearby.
Considering the situation at the scene, Eda believed that either the opponent had been far stronger than Fleur and had taken her down instantly, or the opponent had caught Fleur off guard and launched a sneak attack.
Rapid footsteps sounded beside her.
Eda focused her attention, went on guard, and pointed her wand toward the direction of the approaching person.
"It's me! Don't attack!" It was Harry's voice. He walked out from the shadows of the maze with his hands spread open. Harry asked, "How is Fleur Delacour?"
"She's fine, just knocked unconscious." Eda looked at Fleur again. "She can't continue the competition unless we wake her up."
Harry walked over and glanced at the unconscious Fleur. He said, "There's no need. Even if she wakes up, she'll be attacked again. Next time, the opponent might actually decide to kill her."
"Actually decide to kill her?" Eda smiled. "He wouldn't dare. Before he gets you, he wouldn't dare do that. Don't forget, there are people patrolling outside!"
Harry shrugged and said nothing more. He picked up Fleur's wand from the ground and fired red sparks into the sky. He said, "All right, let's keep going. Be careful."
Hearing this, Eda looked at Harry without even blinking.
Harry raised both hands and said, "All right, I take that back. Pretend I never said it."
After confirming that nothing serious had happened to Fleur, Eda and Harry separated at the fork ahead. Each continued with tonight's competition, waiting for the moment darkness finally descended.
The night grew deeper, and visibility inside the maze dropped once again. Rustling sounds came from beside them, always enough to make one's nerves tighten. Eda continued heading northwest. She looked as though she was completely unguarded, but in reality, she was maintaining a state of outward relaxation and inward vigilance.
There were four champions, but the only possible target was Harry. Now that Fleur had already been taken down, the next one should be Krum or Eda herself.
After walking for a while longer, Eda did not encounter the real culprit behind everything. Instead, she was greeted by a sneak attack from behind by Krum.
"Crucio!" Krum's voice came from behind Eda, and the vicious Cruciatus Curse shot straight toward her back.
Eda raised her wand. A curtain of light appeared out of thin air, deflecting the Cruciatus Curse. The deflected curse struck the hedge beside her, blasting a hole through it.
When she heard Krum's voice, Eda was extremely surprised. She had never expected Krum to actually dare to come after her for revenge. The boy certainly had courage! Eda had even already thought of what line she would use: Welcome to the top lane.
But when Eda turned around and saw Krum, she knew she had been mistaken. Krum had not come looking for revenge. He was being controlled by someone.
Krum looked somewhat dazed, and his movements were also strange, completely different from his usual behavior.
After his first attack failed, Krum not only did not run away, but instead fired spells to cover himself while charging toward Eda, seemingly intending to knock her down through close-quarters combat.
Krum was a professional Quidditch player and an international star. The muscles on his body were enough to make the little girls at Hogwarts drool, so Eda certainly did not dare let such a powerhouse get close to her.
Waving her wand, Eda blocked all the spells Krum fired at her. But the distance between them was not far, and Krum took advantage of this opportunity to charge forward in one breath, throwing a straight punch toward Eda's cheek.
Eda did not sidestep. She could not even be bothered to tilt her head. With a light push of her left hand, Krum was instantly sent flying backward as if he had been hit by a truck, landing more than a dozen steps away from Eda.
The crisis was resolved, but Eda did not stop. She fired a Disarming Charm and a Stunning Spell in succession. Krum's wand immediately flew into Eda's hand, and Krum, who had struggled to get back up, stopped struggling and collapsed limply to the ground, unconscious.
Standing where she was, Eda waited for a while, but no one else appeared. It seemed that the other party intended to keep up the disguise until the very last moment.
Looking at the unconscious Krum in the distance, Eda really wanted to run over and give him a hospital-bound kick to the head. But after thinking about it, Eda gave up on the tempting idea.
She walked over to where Krum had fallen unconscious and used Krum's wand to fire red sparks into the sky, sending out a distress signal. After dropping Krum's wand, Eda continued forward.
Now, only two champions remained in the maze. The storm that had been brewing throughout the school year was slowly beginning to unfold.
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