Did I Use Too Much Magic?

Chapter 25

Ron's POV

I was stood outside the maze on the Quidditch Pitch. The whole school was in the stands watching. My family had arrived at school that morning. The final task was about to begin.

Me and Malfoy would be entering the maze first and then Viktor and Gabrielle. Me and Malfoy were standing in the separate entryways to the maze waiting for Mr Filch to set off the cannon that would allow us to enter. I was in two minds: one was completely set on the task at hand and the other was about Hermione and Willow.

The cannon fired and the crowd roared with excitement. I started to walk slowly in to the maze and as I walked away the exit was covered by leaves and greenery and there was no way out. No one could exit until the cup had been found.

I had no urgency anymore. I could hear the thudding footsteps of my competitors running in to the maze, and past me, one by one and I didn't really care, I was so overwhelmed about what had happened last night.

I got to a fork in the maze and I used a spell that I'd learnt from Hermione, "Point Me,". This spell would show me which way was north. North-west was the middle of the maze so I had to go slightly off the way of North so I headed to my left.

As I was walking I remembered what Dumbledore had told us just before we entered the maze, so only the champions could hear, "You will be thrown in to a false sense of security. At the start no obstacles will come your way which is why you need to get in to the maze as far as you can before the obstacles appear. The closer you get to the centre of the maze, the more challenging the obstacles will become. But remember no matter what happens in their, no matter how dangerous it becomes, you will not be allowed out of the maze until someone has won and grabbed the cup. Some obstacles will appear at random and some of them can move, so be extremely cautious. Each of you has an equal chance of winning, good luck,"

As if on cue there was a bang from many areas of the maze and I heard Gabrielle scream. The obstacles had appeared.

I stood still trying to collect myself. I was so nervous I was struggling to breath, I decided I didn't want to die in here, I wanted to win and I will. But now I was at an unfair advantage, the other champions were miles ahead of me because they had run in front of the easy obstacles.

But you are building up your confidence by tackling the easy ones first, a voice in my head said and I agreed, before walking in to my worst nightmare.

I followed the course that I had chosen and in the next turning saw a sphinx blocking my path. Okay, a riddle, I can do that.

I stood in front of it and timidly said, "Hello,"

"If you answer me this riddle correctly, you may pass, if not you will be sent in a different direction that may cause you more pain and turmoil, would you like to hear it?"

"Yes please," I thought it would be best to be polite.

She took a sharp intake of breath and recited:

These are things that can be kept in your head

You can also discard them, if that's what you would prefer

They normally contain strong emotions such as happy, sad, angry or scared,

And it vaguely rhymes with countries

What are they?

At times like these you desperately need someone like Hermione.

The sphinx then repeated it again and smiled at me.

"Things that can be kept in your head," I decided to do my thinking out loud, "Your brain... Eyes, nose, mouth, ears... Let's start with brain and see whether it makes sense with the rest,"