Obliviate My Heart {Book 2}

33. The Third Task

I shot off into the dark labyrinth, hedges raising up around me. I could no longer hear the cheers of the ground, just an eerie silence. I reached a fork in the path, and paused. Which way should I go?

Another whistle went off. All the champions were in the maze.

I couldn't waste time now. I wanted to get out of here as soon as I could without having to be disqualified. "Wingardium leviosa!" I whispered.

My body lifted into the air slowly but steadily. With a flick of my wand, I made sure I was safely observing both paths. The left one was a dead end, but the right one was free.

I flicked my wand quickly, and I fell to the ground with a resounding crunch. Groaning slightly, I got to my feet, and began to pick up speed going through my path.

I reached a second fork in the maze. Not wanting a repeat of before, I just took the right. And before I knew what was happening, I was knocked off my feet.

Blinking slightly, I rolled onto my side to confront my attacker. I wished I'd pushed Hagrid harder about what he put in the maze.

It was a blast-ended skrewt. Ten feet long, it looked more like a giant scorpion than anything. Its long sting was curled over its back. 

"Stupefy!"

The spell hit the skrewt's armor and rebounded; I ducked just in time, but could smell burning hair it had singed the top of my head. The skrewt issued a blast of fire from its end and flew forward toward him.

"AGH!" something flew into my side, shielding my from the skrewt.

"Impedimenta!" my saviour yelled. I turned my head to see Cedric, his hair singed and fingers burnt. The spell hit the skrewt's armor again and ricocheted off; he staggered back a few paces and fell over. "IMPEDIMENTA!"

The skrewt was inches from him when it froze - he had managed to hit it on its fleshy, shell-less underside.

"C'mon!" Cedric grabbed my hand, and we sprinted away from the skrewt.

We stopped in the middle of another empty path, both stopping to catch our breaths. "T-Thanks Cedric." I wheezed, bending over. "I could have been a goner."

"S'okay." Cedric grinned weakly. "What are friends for?"

A light shone onto us, and I raised my wand. It was only Harry, looking annoyingly uninjured.

"You two okay?" Harry asked.

"Skrewts." Cedric explained. "We just got away now."

"We'd best split off now." I said. "It's fairer."

The boys nodded, and we all went our separate ways. Keen to put plenty of distance between myself and the skrewts, I hurried off again. Then, as I turned a corner, he saw ... a white spell drifting lazily towards me.

Obliviate. My breath hitched up in my chest. Where was the caster? Then it struck me--it was a boggart.

"Riddikulas!" I cried. With a snap of my wand, the spell turned into Draco pulling a stupid face. With a laugh, the boggart disappeared into nothing.

Left ... right... left again . . . Twice I found myself facing dead ends. I paused for breath, just as a scream pierced the air.

Fleur.

"Fleur?" I shouted. "Where are you?"

I couldn't let her be hurt, I owed her that much. I followed the sound of her voice, until I found her in an empty part of the maze. Vines were tied around her legs and arms--I strongly suspected it was devil's snare.