Hadley Potter-Stark

Chapter 14

The first thing hadley took notice of when she entered the maze was how blocked off from light it was. As soon as she stepped in vines sealed up the entrance and threw her into the darkness. Feeling uneasy, hadley wrapped her arms around herself for a moment before shaking it off and moving along.

She hadnt been walking long when she came across the first creature shed have to face. Luckily it was a blast-ended-skrewt that she was able to move past rather quickly. The next one was not so simple. The sphinx lay ahead of hadley, blocking off the path she had to follow.

The sphinx raised its head, catching sight of the girl and speaking "what has 13 hearts but no lungs or brain?". Hadley paused to ponder for a few seconds before the answer came to her. "A deck of cards!" The sphinx slowly nodded and stood to allow her to pass on through.

After that interaction, her path had remained unbothered for quite some time, though it hadnt lasted forever. Hadley had just turned a corner when her ankle was grabbed by something. It pulled her down hard enough, she almost smashed her face into the ground in addition to dropping her wand.

Fortunately for hadley, she always has self defense tools on her, so she was able to quickly cut herself free with a pocket knife. She stood, grabbed her wand, and shook the leaves out of her hair before moving to continue. In a show of awful timing, she was immediately faced with a giant acromantula.

Thankfully hermione had made sure her sister would be well prepared, and hadley aimed a 'reducto' that sent it flying into the sentient vines of the maze. The plant engulfed and caged in the creature in seconds. Hadley gave a heavy sigh and finally managed to keep moving.

Soon enough, she found herself in the center of the maze, the triwizard cup glowing an ominous blue. Taking a look around and finding no one the girl shrugged and reached for the trophy, wanting to finally put an end to the stupid tournament. The very moment her fingertips touched the item, there was a rush of cold air and a harsh, dizzying, tug in her gut.

When the feeling stopped, hadley found herself falling to ground, landing heavily on her ankle and letting out a sharp cry of pain. Breathing shakily, she sat up on her elbows, looking around herself in confusion. She was no longer in the heart of the maze, but what seemed to be an old graveyard.

Shivering in a mix of the cold, pain, and now fear, hadley shoved herself up and carefully avoided setting any weight on her injured foot. She was attempting to carefully bend to pick up the cup when she heard a noise nearby. Upon nervously looking around, she was greeted by the sight of a blonde man holding something wrapped in cloth.

The next 20 minutes were the scariest in her life as she was tied down and forced to watch as the blonde man -draco's sperm donor bio dad- brought out a horrifying shriveled thing (that turned out to be ol' moldie shorts himself) and used magic to bring the man (?) back into being.

Said man (again ?, he looked more serpent-like) then forced her to feet and into an attempt at a duel. Then the strangest thing happened. He tried to send a spell at her but it missed completely, and then what looked to be two ghosts emerged from the end of his wand.

She was shocked to realize she recognized them immediately. Lily and james potter floated to her with smiles across their faces. As they got closer, james grabbed her face in his hands, as lily wrapped her arms around her shoulders from behind. The only part of which she felt was a strange warmth where they touched.

"Hi baby. You look so beautiful, im sorry we missed out on your life, but we are so very proud of how you've turned out." james spoke, barely above a whisper. "I know it seems impossible, but you can do this. You just need to get to the cup and get back to where your safe. We'll distract him for you."

Lily pressed a kiss to her temple and spoke in the same volume as her husband. "On our signal sweetheart, we love you so much, forever and always." The ghostly couple let go, floating back to their murderer with hands outstretched. The serpentine man flinched back, bringing his arms up to shield his face.

Hadley leaped into motion, sprinting faster than she ever had despite the pain of her ankle and jumped for the cup. That same cold, dizzying, tugging feeling came back before hadley landed on the ground yet again. This time on her back, knocking the breath from her lungs.

Hadley layed still, trembling as she gasped desperately for the air that had been stolen away. Within mere minutes, her family surrounded her, worried and trying to help as best they could. Remus was quick to make sure she didnt have any head injuries, while sirius coached her through a breathing technique.

Hermione and luna each grasped one of her hands, while lyra ran her fingers through her hair in comfort. Jace, parker, and draco worked to form a barrier around them to block out the prying eyes of the hundreds of spectators around them. Once they had assured that hadley was breathing normal and mostly ok, they started moving.

Sirius carefully picked her up in his arms, being mindful of her ankle and started heading in the direction of madam pomphery. Remus walked ahead of his husband, making sure he had a clear pathway, while the elite followed close behind, worried for their friend and leader.

*

After being healed up, hadley told her family about everything that had happened since she entered the maze. Remus and sirius teared up at the recounting of their old friends ghostly forms coming to protect their daughter from the afterlife. They all rushed to provide comfort to the girl in the form of hugs.

Little did they know, the minister for magic had been eavesdropping and he was not about to allow the wizarding world to know it was true. He quickly devised a plan to make sure he could keep an eye on the savior and make sure she didnt cause any unnecessary panic.