The Final Trial P1
"Alright, like I said before, each of the champions will enter the maze based on their previous total scores, which will give a much bigger advantage to those who go in first. And our list goes like this; Harry Potter, first; Luciel Delacour, second; Fleur Delacour, third; Draco Malfoy, fourth; Viktor Krum, fifth; and lastly, Marton Kovac," Ludo said, guiding everyone toward the entrance in the hedges that opened up for them.
"One thing to clarify; even if the entrance is the same, the path will be different for each of you. Though that doesn't mean you won't run into each other inside the maze," he added, and even if he didn't say it directly, it felt like he was hinting at something more, which was pretty obvious.
"Alright, let's stop wasting time. I'll blow the whistle, and every time I do, you'll enter in the same order I just said," Ludo said, noticing the crowd was already getting impatient from waiting so long.
He immediately brought the whistle to his lips and blew it without any pause.
Then he nodded at Harry for him to go in.
Harry simply walked toward the entrance without rushing, not caring at all about the little time advantage he had over the other champions.
The moment he crossed the threshold made of ferns that formed the maze, he took a few steps and felt how, suddenly, the chaotic noise from the stands disappeared completely. Even the light from outside faded away, and when he looked up he could only see the stars, as if he had been separated into a different space.
Harry turned around for a moment and saw that the entrance behind him was already gone. At the same time, he could hear the ferns shifting slightly in that spot, probably preparing the entrance for another champion.
"Aaah…" he sighed softly, looking at the long dark corridor in front of him.
Without saying any spell, a small sphere of light floated ahead, illuminating his path, and Harry started walking calmly, just in time to hear the whistle again, signaling the next champion entering, which would be Luciel.
But that didn't make him speed up either. He kept walking at the same pace, looking around, until he reached a fork with two paths. He looked left, then right, and picked one at random before continuing forward. The next whistle sounded again, indicating Fleur's entrance, and still Harry kept walking without rushing.
…
Meanwhile, outside the maze, everyone in the stands watched the screens showing each champion as they entered. However, they all had the same confused expression, since every one of those who had gone in so far, Harry, Luciel, Fleur, and then Draco, seemed to just start walking calmly, even wasting the valuable time they had earned with their scores.
Even Ludo couldn't understand what these kids were doing. He looked completely nervous, especially staring at Harry's and Draco's screens, as if he were mentally yelling at them to hurry up, to the point he almost forgot to blow the whistle for Viktor to enter.
Luckily, Sirius caught his attention so he would do it, and Viktor was the next to go in, but just like the others, he began walking calmly, making many people lose part of their excitement, since this was starting to feel more like a contest of who could take it the slowest.
On his side, Sirius, sitting at the judges' table, had an amused smile before glancing at Marton for a moment. When Marton heard the whistle, he ran in, unlike the others, as if he didn't want to waste even a single second.
But the moment he stepped inside, it was like all the other champions realized at the same time.
And suddenly, as if they had all agreed without saying a word, they started running.
At the same time.
Now.
The real race had begun.
"Proud brats…" Sirius muttered as he watched the competitors. The time rule had been designed for three champions, so the difference wouldn't be that big, but with six, the last ones would be at a total disadvantage, and it seemed like all of them wanted to win the right way, competing at the same time for real.
…
Harry moved forward at a run, his gaze shifting from side to side, watching every corner. Suddenly, from the ground beneath his feet, he felt a slight vibration, and a metallic hand burst out trying to grab his foot, making Harry jump back lightly.
His eyes moved toward the walls of the maze, where, from between the ferns, metallic figures began to emerge.
Golems.
Wearing knight armor.
The same ones from the first trial.
And it was obvious they had been improved, since their weapons were faintly glowing with enchantments, just like their armor.
"Oh… nice. I was just in need of some materials," Harry said with a smile as he looked at the golems in front of him, at least a dozen of them already positioning themselves to block his path.
…
Meanwhile, Draco was looking at what he had to face with a slight expression of disgust, since they were creatures quite familiar to him; Blast-Ended Skrewts, which were releasing explosions from their stingers right in front of him. And the worst part… now they were huge, even taller than him.
"So these are the things they traded for the third trial," he said, with no real desire to get close to them; he'd already had more than enough of them during Rubeus Hagrid's classes.
…
"Look at the champions' first enemies! I wonder how they'll deal with them this time," Ludo Bagman said, fueling the crowd's excitement as he watched Harry and Draco about to face their opponents.
As always, Ludo knew how to draw the audience in, building up more hype. But his expression turned confused when he noticed the screen that was supposed to show Marton flicker off for a moment, so he quickly called for whoever was in charge to turn it back on immediately.
Luckily, the others were too distracted watching the other champions, eager to see what they would face.
…
Harry walked toward the nearest golem, which attacked him with a downward thrust. Harry shifted slightly, dodging with ease, while bringing his hand straight to the golem's chest and moving his fingers precisely over where the core should be.
That caused the golem to lose all its energy at once and shut down, freezing mid-attack.
In one smooth motion, Harry brought his hands to its metallic neck, twisted it without hesitation, and tore off its head before sticking his hand inside, as if searching inside it.
At the same time, another golem raised a spear and aimed straight for his chest. Of course, the attacks from these golems looked deadly, but they wouldn't actually kill the champions; still, they would hurt enough to force them to withdraw, since that was part of the program.
Harry pulled something cylindrical out from inside the golem just in time to dodge the spear from the attacker.
"Oh… I need that," he said as his gaze settled on one of the spear golem's eyes, which had no consciousness to begin with; it would've been interesting to see what expression it would make.
Harry moved his hand quickly, and before anyone could notice how, he already had the golem's eye in his hand. He attached it to the cylinder, then pulled out what looked like a metallic wire from seemingly nowhere and brought it to his mouth for a moment, linking it together with a quick, rough connection.
Then he smashed the eye with a quick hit, causing sparks to burst out, linked by that strange wire to the cylinder.
Harry shoved the eye inside the cylinder, pushing it in and breaking the other end as well so it would fit, and then the entire cylinder started shaking as cracks spread across it, just as the other golems charged toward him to attack.
Without worrying at all, Harry threw the cylinder toward the group, not before shoving the eyeless spear golem into the others, making them crash into each other.
"That's the problem with automatic golems without proper control," he said calmly. As a creator of battle golems himself, he knew perfectly well how far one could go without the right controller.
Suddenly, the cylinder exploded in a pulse of energy that sent the golems flying in different directions. They fell… and didn't get back up.
Harry paused for a moment, watching them before starting to collect some of their parts calmly.
But before approaching one of them, he suddenly heard something, which made him lift his head and turn.
Footsteps.
Approaching slowly.
From the fog, a figure began to appear, while the glow of a wand lit the way.
As soon as the figure fully stepped out of the mist, Harry couldn't help but let out a small smile when he saw it was none other than Fleur, who seemed to have been drawn in by the noise. And the moment she saw Harry's face, she frowned, a hint of annoyance showing.
"Hello," Harry said with a calm smile.
Which only seemed to irritate her more, as she raised her wand toward him without hesitation.
"Wow… they say time makes people miss each other. Maybe that saying was a bit off," he said with an amused smile, looking at the wand pointed at his face… and Fleur's clearly annoyed expression.
…
Meanwhile, on the other side of the maze…
Draco had just dealt with the Blast-Ended Skrewt, making sure not to damage it too much, knowing that would only make Hagrid upset.
But now his attention was elsewhere.
His gaze, slightly irritated, was fixed on the person standing in front of him.
Luciel Delacour.
He was watching him with a friendly smile.
But even with that smile… his excitement for the fight was obvious.
And the sword in his hand only confirmed it.