The Golden Wand [Harry Potter/Percy Jackson]

Chapter 58: The Final Trial

Percy POV:

The scoreboard didn't matter anymore. Regardless of how many points we had won previously, the four of us entered this trials as equals. And as equals we fought.

As Cedric explained - much to our confusion - the objective was to "stay on the arena". At some point during the trial, the Golden Wand would appear and the winner would be whoever grabbed it first. But the way Cedric put it, it sounded like we were in for a few more surprises along the way.

In a Hunger-Games-style arrangement, I stood on a small podium in the centre of the arena. Harry stood on a similar podium to my left, Hermione was to my right, and Annabeth stood opposite me. It was one of the few instances when I couldn't read Annabeth - was that eye-contact a sign of her saying "good luck" or "you're next"? 

I looked up into the arena. It was huge - bigger than it had been during the trial against the monsters. And the crowd was twice as big; not only was it packed full with every student in Hogwarts, but all of Goode, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons had been invited, as well as the press and any witch or wizard that had paid for a ticket. It surely must have been the biggest wizard gathering ever since the last Quidditch World Cup. I even caught sight of the Minister of Magic - Aberforth Dumbledore - sat in his own private box. 

Finally, I spotted Grover in the crowd. He gave me a thumbs up, I returned this with a nervous smile. At this moment I wanted nothing more than to bring Grover into the arena with me to help me out - I always felt more confident when he was around. But that would have been unfair on him, as I'm pretty sure he was so scared for me right now that he was shitting himself just sat in the audience. It would be best that I kept him away from the action. 

"... SO, IT IS WITH GREAT PLEASURE THAT I FINALLY ANNOUNCE THE FINAL TRIAL OF THE GOLDEN TOURNAMENT!" Cedric announced finally, after giving a lengthy speech about honour and fame and glory and himself. I braced myself for what was to come. "LET THE CROWD CHEER ONCE MORE FOR OUR FINAL FOUR COMPETITORS - ANNABETH CHASE FROM GOODE, HERMIONE GRANGER FROM HOGWARTS, PERCY JACKSON FROM GOODE AND HARRY POTTER FROM HOGWARTS!"

There was a deafening uproar from the crowd. Behind the stadium, fireworks exploded into the morning sky. I had to hold my hands up to my ears to protect them from how loud it was. It took Cedric a long time to settle everyone down.

"WELL THEN, LET'S NOT DELAY THIS ANY LONGER! COMPETITORS, I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK. FIGHT FAIRLY... OR NOT - THAT IS UP TO YOU. REMEMBER, THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE WINNER! 

"THREE..." The crowd joined in.

"TWO..." The counting got louder.

"ONE..." My head went dizzy from the noise.

"BEGIN!" 

In a stroke of absolute genius from me (if I do say so myself), I did the one thing the other competitors wouldn't have expected - I attacked Annabeth first. My girlfriend had turned immediately to Harry, and Hermione had turned to me. So after diving off my podium I pointed my wand at Hermione, watched her brace herself for my attack, but it never came - my spell went straight towards Annabeth, and she flew 20 feet backwards before she could even work out who had hit her. 

I'm almost positive I heard my friends laughing from the stands. 

Hermione was still interested in me, and Harry had now turned his attention towards her. In an odd three-way-duel unlike any I had ever fought, we attempted as best we could to keep track of what was going on. Harry blocked a stunning spell from Hermione, I sent a volley of unsuccessful jinxes to Hermione, and then Harry attempted to open up the ground beneath my feet. I fell through the gap in the floor he had created and only just grabbing on to the ledge. I hoisted myself up, and by the time I had completely risen Annabeth had returned to the fight and had created a circular ring of fire around Harry.