Gossip {Sherlock Holmes/Harry Potter}

Chapter Forty Seven

"You know, Julius, if I don't make it out of the third task, I just wanted to let you know that you can have first claim over my stuff in here."

Julius looked up from where he sat on his bed across from Pierce, who was also sitting up on his bed, but looking out the window. The sun had barely been up for a few minutes, but Pierce had been long awake before sunrise. With the Third Task that day, Julius didn't sleep much either. He was terrified for Pierce, not sure of what awaited the boy when the champions entered the maze. 

Sherlock and John had failed to retrieve the answer in time to help disqualify Pierce from competing, leaving the boy stuck in the final task. It seemed Pierce wasn't feeling too confident in the recent days leading up to the task as everything that left the boy's mouth sounded like part of his will or his final words.

"What did I say about talking like that?" Julius said standing up from his bed and walking over to sit beside Pierce. "You're going to be fine. You're going to complete the third task and you might even win this thing entirely."

"I don't know about that." Pierce said but suddenly stopped as his face was grabbed in Julius' hand roughly.

"Stop." Julius told him. "You know damn well that you are more than capable of figuring this out and winning. Not because of who your dad is like everyone says, you've accomplished plenty back when you and your father weren't even on talking terms. You can do this. It's almost over. And when it is, even if you don't win, we'll celebrate. Did I make myself clear?"

Julius removed his hand from Pierce's face as Pierce nodded quietly.

"Good, now go get dressed, we're going to get you some breakfast, it's going to be a long day."

Sitting in the Great Hall, Pierce looked to where the other competitors were sitting enjoying their breakfasts, although none of them seemed to be eating much. He couldn't bring himself to eat much either knowing his nerves were probably going to make him throw it all up. But Julius was insistent that Pierce eat something as he waved a piece of toast in front of the boy for several minutes.

"I swear if you don't eat this in the next minute I'm going to shove it down your throat." Julius threatened him.

"Leave him alone, Julius." Nancy said sitting besides Pierce as she joined the table. "If he doesn't want to eat there's no sense in forcing him."

"Thank you-"

"Let him be an idiot. He'll regret it later." Nancy smiled.

Pierce rolled his eyes before looking down to the table.  "I'm not hungry, so there's no sense in me forcing myself to eat, because all it will do is make me sick.  But if that makes too much sense for you, I completely understand."

"I guess you're nervous." Nancy gave him a small sympathetic smile. "It's going to be alright, Pierce."

"I've already heard that, plenty of times today." he said looking in Julius direction.

"Well, until you believe it everyone is going to keep saying it." Julius said. "So start believing us if you want us to shut up."

Pierce snorted into his orange juice before looking away with a smile. 

"Alright, alright. I'll be just fine. Happy now?"

"You're going to sound a lot more convincing than that." Julius told him.

"I-"

"Wait, Pierce," Nancy cut the two boys off. "I need to ask you something. It's about your mum."

"We refer to her as Rita...or It." Pierce reminded her. "I prefer It."

"Fine, it's about...It." She said. "It's about how she gathers her information for the articles. You saw what she published this morning right?"

Pierce twiddled his thumbs on the table before looking up at Nancy.

"What do you want to know?"

"How does she get her information? You said something the other day...about...about stepping on her like the bug that she is. Care to elaborate?"

Pierce was not the fondest of his mother, however, she had been the one to actually take care of him during the years of neglect his father held. While she didn't nurture him as a mother would, she provided a roof over his head and food on the table. He knew of her secret on how she collected her information.

And it certainly wasn't legal, it would jeopardize her entire career if people that weren't supposed to know found out.

It could destroy her entire livelihood.

He motioned Nancy and Julius towards him. 

"Here's what you need to know.."

Standing in front of the maze entrance, Pierce looked at the other four competitors, completely drowning out the cheering in the stands. His gaze moved onto the stands searching for his parents. He couldn't find his father or John anywhere, which was unsettling to him. He knew they were still trying to find an answer but time had run out. He expected to find them in the stands, at least for a last minute talk.

His mother was nowhere to be seen either, but he wasn't surprised there. In fact, it only made him feel better about revealing her secret to Nancy and Julius.

Gripping his wand in his hand, Pierce finally found Julius, who was sitting near the front, his hands clasped together in front of his mouth with a nervous look. 

Pierce flashed him a reassuring smile, but it was obvious to both boys that they weren't feeling so confident in the moment.

He turned away not wanting to see Julius looking at him with his big worried eyes. He thought about the moments before he left to stand with the other Champions. The way Julius had grabbed him by the front of his shirt and kissed him the same way he had kissed him the first time when they were serving detention with McGonagall.

"Be careful." He whispered. "Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't, but I can't guarantee that the others won't do anything stupid."

The sound of the cannon startled Pierce to the point where he had missed out on everything Dumbledore had said. He knew he had to track down the cup to win, which was hidden somewhere in the maze. Positioning himself in front of the part where he was to enter the maze, he shot one last look towards Julius before disappearing inside.

Cautiously walking around with his wand out and in front, Pierce was waiting for something to pop out and try to spook him. His eyes and ears were open looking out for creatures that were planted inside or the other competitors, but as he rounded the corner, he was suddenly disarmed and launched back.

He landed roughly on his side, scraping his hands against the ground. He quickly went to reach for his wand, but his hand was crushed under a foot causing him to cry out.

He didn't understand how everything had unraveled so fast. Trying to pull his hand out, he screamed until the foot was removed, causing him to fall back.

Moving away with his wand in hand, Pierce looked up, ready to fight one of the other competitors but suddenly became frozen in place as he faced his attacker.

"Did you miss me?"