Chapter 45: The Living Hedge and the Leather Liquidation part- 1
Harry looked at me. He didn't blush this time. He just smirked.
"Aerodynamic," Harry said. "Very aerodynamic."
I laughed. The corruption was complete.
The Third Task was next week. The Maze.
I had Fabric Manipulation. I had Pheromone Control. I had Poltergeist Proxy.
And I had two friends who were practically ready to jump each other at the slightest provocation.
The Maze wasn't going to be a challenge for the Cup. It was going to be a honeymoon.
I sat down by the fire and opened the System Shop.
New Item: The Fog of Desire (600 points).Description: A dense, magical fog that obscures vision but heightens touch sensitivity by 200%.
(Purchase,) I thought immediately.
The Maze was going to be foggy. Very, very foggy.
"Ron," Hermione said, sitting down next to me, still wrapped in the cloak. "I have a favor to ask."
"Anything, Hermione."
"For the Third Task," she said seriously. "Can you cast a Permanent Sticking Charm on my clothes? But... like... really permanent? Welded to my skin?"
"I can try," I lied. "But magic is unpredictable in the Maze, Hermione. The Dark Arts interfere with defensive charms."
She sighed, putting her head in her hands. "I am going to end up fighting Voldemort in my knickers, aren't I?"
"If he is lucky," I quipped.
She threw a cushion at me. But she was smiling.
The stage was set. The players were ready.
Let the games begin.
The Quidditch pitch was unrecognizable. Gone was the smooth grass and the towering goal hoops. In their place stood a dark, brooding monolith of vegetation—a hedge maze twenty feet high, stretching as far as the eye could see. The air around it crackled with ancient, unstable magic and a thick mist clung to the base of the walls.
The atmosphere in the stadium was electric. The band was playing, flags were waving and the excitement was palpable.
I sat in the front row, right next to the entrance of the maze, flanked by Neville and Ginny. My eyes, however, were fixed on the champions' enclosure a few yards away.
Harry Potter stood bouncing on the balls of his feet, looking pale but determined. Beside him stood Hermione Granger, who was gripping his arm as if she were trying to anchor him to the earth.
Hermione had escalated her wardrobe defense to a level that was frankly impressive. She was wearing a full suit of dragon-hide leather armor. It was dark maroon, stiff and covered in buckles. It looked like something a vampire hunter would wear.
"Dragon-hide," she had told me earlier, tapping the chest plate. "Impervious to spells. Fireproof. Thorn-proof. And I have used a Locking Charm on every buckle that is keyed to my magical signature. It cannot open unless I want it to."
(Impressive,) I thought, activating my Omniscope Eye to get a better look. (But dragon-hide has a weakness. It is organic skin. And organic skin reacts to... biological manipulation.)
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Ludo Bagman's voice boomed. "The Third and Final Task!"
The cannon blasted.
Harry squeezed Hermione's hand one last time.
"I will see you on the other side," Harry said.
"Just come back in one piece," Hermione whispered. "And don't look back."
Harry turned and sprinted into the dark opening of the maze. The hedge seemed to swallow him whole.
The crowd cheered. The other champions followed in intervals.
Now, usually, the families and friends sit in the stands and wait. But I had other plans.
(System check.)
Current Status:Name: Ron WeasleyActive Skills: Fabric Manipulation (Advanced), Pheromone Control (Minor), Poltergeist Proxy, Telekinesis, Mist Generation.New Item: The Fog of Desire (Deployed).
I watched Hermione. She was standing right at the edge of the barrier rope, staring into the dark tunnel where Harry had vanished. She looked terrified.
(Time to reunite the lovebirds,) I decided.
I focused my attention on the massive hedge wall right next to Hermione.
(Poltergeist Proxy: Agitate the roots.) (Telekinesis: Push.)
The ground beneath Hermione's feet rumbled.
"What the—?" she gasped, looking down.
Suddenly, a thick, gnarled root burst from the earth like a tentacle. It wrapped around Hermione's ankle.
"Help!" she screamed.
But the noise of the cheering crowd drowned her out.
The root retracted violently. It dragged Hermione under the barrier rope and pulled her straight into the thick, thorny wall of the maze.
"Hermione!" Neville shouted, pointing.
But she was gone. The hedge seemed to ripple and close up behind her, swallowing her into the labyrinth.
Inside the maze, Harry was jogging down a long, foggy corridor, wand lit.
SCREAM.
Harry skidded to a halt. "Hermione?"
He recognized that scream. He had heard it when she fell off a broom, when she slipped in oil and when her dress fell off at the Yule Ball. It was the specific pitch of Hermione Granger in distress.
"Hermione!" Harry yelled, turning left and blasting a hole through a hedge with a Reductor Curse. "I am coming!"
He scrambled through the hole.
He found her in a small clearing a few paths away. She was fighting.
The hedge was alive. Vines and branches were wrapping around her limbs, holding her suspended in the air like a fly in a web.
"Harry! Get me down!" she yelled, struggling against the vines. "My armor is holding, but they are squeezing me!"
Harry raised his wand. "Diffindo!"
He severed a vine holding her arm.
(Now,) I thought, watching through my Omniscope. (Let us deploy the fog.)
(Activate Item: The Fog of Desire.)
A dense, pinkish-grey mist began to seep out of the ground. It swirled around Harry and Hermione, obscuring the rest of the maze. The fog was thick, warm and smelled of heavy musk and vanilla.
"I cannot see!" Harry coughed. "The fog is too thick!"
"Just cut me down!" Hermione begged.
Harry moved closer. He had to get right next to her to cut the vines without hurting her.
Now for the Fabric Manipulation.
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