Spell 002 | Harry Potter

[hero_complexed]

[ He can vaguely hear everyone in the stands cheering. He knows that each school is cheering on it's champion but for some reason he makes out the Cheers for Cedric Diggory the best. He ignores the horrible sinking feeling at the sound of that name and plunges on through the maze. ]

[ He recognizes this place easily and his heart gives a horrible jolt. He's back in the maze-the maze from last June. He moves along the high hedges, keeping an eye out for anything that might attack him as his hunts-not for the Triwizard cup but the exit. He doesn't want to be here-he know how it ends and it's something he absolutely refuses to relive. He can hear something on his heels and chances a look back to see he's been running through some kind of purple mist. While his attention is snagged he trips over something and pitches to the floor. ]

[ He lands with a thud and it somehow plants an idea into his head-Cedric isn't dead yet! He's overcome with a burst of hope as he realizes that if he can just find the Hufflepuff he can warn him about the cup! Tell him it's a portkey and Voldemort won't be able to come back to power! He scrambles to his feet and holds his wand out, hissing at it. ]

Point me!




(( ooc: Spoilers - He won't find Cedric >: Also, This probably has potential to get pretty dark. At the point Harry was taken from Cedric's death was only about three months ago so yes, his dreams are still plagued by it. ))

Comments

[waterfell]

Don't you think it's pointless to stick to the rules by now?

[The question is not quite as out of place as it seems. Ami glances towards the nearest part of the maze. She grins, and ice starts to form over it.

But when she follows up with the blast to shatter their way clear to the center... nothing happens. She pulls up short, visibly surprised and at more of a loss than she'd admit.

Of course. Of course there'd be spells here to prevent that sort of method. But they need to move.]

[hero_complexed]

Er... yeah... but the hedges are bewitched to prevent cheating so we've got to take the long way. [ He gestures off to the right. ]

[waterfell]

[Displeased at both their plight and her own failure, Ami is somewhat short-tempered as they go.]

Hurry. [She doesn't give Harry any more chance than that before she quickens her pace. She may not have been able to cut a shortcut for them, but she can keep her head clear and find the way.]

Keep up, too. We don't have time to wait for each other.

[hero_complexed]

Yeah..

[ Harry says vaguely before realizing he had at some point stopped walking. Immediately he picks up the pace in order to catch up, wand still firmly in his hand. ]

Better keep your guard up though-this is still the third task.

[waterfell]

I won't be caught.

[Technically, she shouldn't be here at all, help from outside. But that's who she's become: the simple catalyst that changes the status quo because she introduces the unexpected. Now that she is here, her presence is still something no opponent could have planned for.]

I'll follow you. You've been in this maze awhile already, haven't you?

[It's the first slight hint of awareness that this isn't the true first time Harry's ever been here.]

[hero_complexed]

Yeah... er... [ He falters, trying to decide if maybe he should tell her that he's been through the maze before but quickly decides against it. ]

I think it's this way. [ He decided to take a left instead and tried to think about his mission too much aside from the fact he had to warn Cedric. ]

[waterfell]

[She hurries at first, but it's Ami who's brought up short the moment a strange-looking creature appears out of nowhere, as if jumping down from the sky. It carries a weapon, which it wields menacingly. It looks closest to some sort of bizarre, living, chess piece.

For a second, she freezes. She knows what it is and she's the last person who should be threatened by it, but-]

Run. [She has a sudden, irrational fear.]

[hero_complexed]

[ Harry is not perturbed by the randomly appearing... whatever it is and merely brandishes his wand, firing off a stunning spell without warning since he really doesn't have time to fight magical creatures that he has no idea what the heck they are. ]

[waterfell]

[But more than the creature it is, the thing is now a creature of a nightmare. The spell doesn't seem to do anything to do it at all. It strikes out with its weapon at Harry.

The commotion draws Ami's attention. He should have listened and run. Her head snaps back to see what's happened, and she runs towards the boy and the beast.]

[hero_complexed]

[ Considering that Harry is on his guard he manages to narrowly dodge the weapon but as a price falls with a soft thud onto the grass. He doesn't let it stop him though and quickly fires another curse- ]

Petrificus Totalus!

[waterfell]

[He's right. She can't be afraid.

Even that thought alone is almost enough to jolt her out of the dream. Mercury, afraid? No; she will face this. She will face it like any other enemy. She doesn't hurry to put herself in position to guard Harry as she might have years ago, but she does her part.

A sphere of water forms in her hand.]

Dark Mirage!

[She releases the attack, and it snaps and pops on its way towards its target, explosive. The petrifying spell holds the youma still while the water breaks over the creature, freezes, and shatters - tearing the target to pieces with it. Ami, though she'd never admit it, visibly relaxes.]

Come on! [Now, finally, she hurries the short distance between them and holds out a hand to pull Harry up to his feet, with little gentleness but plenty of urgency.]

[hero_complexed]

[ Harry stares blankly at the place the enemy had just been. He's allow her to remain mysterious but now he was really curious as that was unlike any spell he's ever seen and she doesn't even have a wand! He'll let the thought slide of his focus for now though because they are wasting precious and valuable time. ]

[ He takes her hand and doesn't really notice the urgency if only because he's in such a hurry himself. ]

Right then.

[ And once he's on his feet he quickly sets off down the maze again. ]

[waterfell]

[Whatever keeps him interested and intrigued means he won't simply abandon her - as he easily could, in this dangerous place. She's aware of it. Perhaps she even half expects it. She is cynical by nature, and trained to be wary.

Ami drops Harry's hand once he's on his feet, and hurries after him, letting him lead again. Once, just once, she glances backward at the foe they've just beaten, and doesn't shudder. Then she picks up her pace to a run again.]

[hero_complexed]

[ Even if she didn't have the weird wandless magic thing he wouldn't just leave her in a place like that. He hasn't really let it click that it's a bit strange she's even here since he knows only campions should be in the maze but he has recognized she's definitely a friend and Harry would never leave anyone in any kind of danger-not even his worst enemy and certainly not a friend. ]

[ He takes a left and hurries down the narrow path trying to remember how he got to the center of the maze that last June. To do that he thought it best run through the creatures and things he remembered best-there was that silver mist that he really didn't care for, the boggart he had nearly been convinced was a real dementor, and Sphinx... The Sphinx he remembered, guarded the most direct path to the cup so if they could find her they could find Cedric. ]

It's this way, I think. [ He calls over his shoulder to show he hasn't forgotten his companion ]

[waterfell]

[As long as he's going that way, too, Harry clearly believes it's the right way. Ami decides to follow it. The mist holds no terror for her, the boggarts and dementors are no worse than the tender ministrations of the lemures: nightmares of the dead made flesh and real.

All that's left is the nagging pressure to find the way. Get there. Hurry. Quicker. Don't be lazy. Faster!]

What are you looking for as landmarks?

[hero_complexed]

Well... there's not really any landmarks... exactly. There should be a Sphinx though-somewhere near the center. That's where Cedric should be.

[waterfell]

[A sphinx would be hard to hide. Good; they're looking for something sizable and obvious. Now, where?]

What section of the maze does it inhabit?

[hero_complexed]

It's closest to the center-though.. I don't know how far we are into the maze though...

[waterfell]

Wait. We should be able to tell that.

[Ami reaches to touch her earring, and a thin VR visor slips into place across her eyes. She reaches to make a few adjustments, trying to zero in on the layout of the maze, despite her inner voice already warning her it may not work here.]

[hero_complexed]

U-um... will those work? Where did they come from? Hermione says anything electronic won't work around Hogwarts because of magical interference or something like that.

[waterfell]

This is also magic itself.

[Unfortunately, the part that is built on computer coding seems to be taking precedence, because she's having no luck. Irritably, she touches the earring again, and the device disappears as easily as it had come.]

[hero_complexed]

Um... right. [ Harry chooses not to comment and merely lifts his wand before lighting the tip and continuing on. He was starting to realize there were no short cuts to finding Cedric. He tried again to think of all the creatures he'd met in his trip through the maze but nothing aside from a few things really stood out. And really, he shouldn't be surprised considering what had happened after he got through the maze. He took another turn, to the right this time and came to a worse than dead end. ]

Oh no... [ He groaned as he suddenly struck by a clear memory as he looked up at the stinger of Hagrid's blast-ended Skrewt. ]

[waterfell]

[What the-? It looked like... something between a youma and one of the death busters' experiments. Ami took a readied fighting pose.]

What is it?

[hero_complexed]

[ Harry takes a few steps back, brandishing his wand.]

Th-they're Hagrid's blast-ended Skrewts and they're pretty ill tempered. The weak part is it's underside-otherwise spells just kind of rebound.

[ He explains as quickly as he can before the thing can attack. ]

[waterfell]

[Got it: focus on the underside. Ami takes a guarded stance and seeks out her opening before releasing a blast of energy from her palms, right towards the underside. She keeps Harry in her peripheral vision.]