Harry Potter And The Champion's Champion

The third task and ending

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any characters in the HPverse

Right after dinner, Harry and Hermione, along with the rest of the school, made their way down to the Quidditch pitch. Twenty-foot hedges were crisscrossing the field. As they started for the stands, Mad-Eye Moody came up and put his hand on Harry's shoulder, causing Harry to flinch.

"Well, Mister Potter," the DADA teacher started. "Ready to watch your friend?"

"Yeah I guess," Harry replied as tried to get away from the ex-Auror. The smell of Firewhisky had been permeating the classroom lately and it was lingering around Moody now.

"He's not as good as you," Moody continued. "Better stay close. You might have to go save him."

"He'll be fine," Harry replied and finally managed to pull free before hurrying on with Hermione. If the two of them had looked back, they would have seen Professor Moody carefully holding a single black hair between his fingers.

'In case I need plan B,' the polyjuiced impostor thought as he took out a small glass vial and put the hair into it.

As Harry and Hermione found the best seats they could, they realized the stadium seats were only twenty feet high as well. So, standing they could actually see over the hedges but couldn't see anything going on in the maze.

Hermione quickly grasp the meaning of the hedges. "It's going to be a maze!" She exclaimed. "So if all they have to do is run through the hedges, then maybe Ron will be alright," At that moment, a sound they both recognized as a blast-ended skrewt propelling itself came from inside the maze, followed by a roar from some other unidentified creature. Hermione looked nervously at Harry. "Or maybe not."

"Is there anything we can do to help him?" Harry asked.

Hermione's bottom lip disappeared into her mouth and it was all Harry could do not to entice the lip back out with a few nibbles and kisses. A look of inspiration passed over her face and she dug into her bag. "I think I still have it with me," she muttered and, after a few seconds, she pulled out the ragged parchment Ron had signed all those months ago. She looked around to make sure no one was looking and, after canceling the previous overlapping jinx, she mutter a few words and waved her wand over the parchment.

"What did you do?" Harry asked.

"I set the spell up to switch the air to a place about twenty feet in front of him. It'll last the next two hours," Hermione explained. "I thought that if he comes across something that threatens him, he might be jealous of us being safe and, well…" She shrugged. "I can't think of anything else that might help him."

Harry wondered what would happen to a dementor if it had to cross into such a barrier. 'It might be an interesting experiment at some point in time,' Harry thought. With his school grades almost equaling his girlfriend's now, he found himself thinking theoretically on occasion, willing to explore new ideas. That willingness had caused many great hours between Harry and Hermione in the Room of Requirements.

"I hope this doesn't take long," Hermione said.

Harry agreed. His mind was quickly leaving the Triwizard Tournament and returning to the Room of Requirements. Hermione had earlier shown him page eighty-seven of the book and he still wasn't quite sure how that particular position was possible, but he was really interested in finding out.

Hermione was still looking out over the maze. "So once again, we wait for who knows how long and still not be able to see anything? Who in Merlin's name came up with these events?"

"Ministry, I do believe."

Hermione put her hand to her head. "I was thinking of going to work there when I graduated," She said with a sigh. "But if people like Percy Weasley and whoever the idiot was who thought up these events work there, I'll find employment elsewhere. I'd probably end up killing too many stupid people."