Magic? || Years 1-5

Mazes: Year 4

"Yes, well, there are some dangerous things in there, right?" Hermione replied in an attempt to reassure her.

"I guess..."

There was a sudden blast of cold wind, and Amisty shoved her hands in her pockets.

She winced as fingers pricked against something, and withdrew her hand, staring at the pinprick of blood on her finger.

Eyes narrowed slightly, she pulled out the source.

A single, yellow rose tied with a scarlet ribbon.

No note. Not even a signature.

But she knew who it was from.

Her green gaze flickered up toward the Slytherin side of the stadium. Malfoy was sitting beside Blaise, separated by Pansy through Crabbe, Goyle, Theodore Nott, Millicent Bulstrode, and Daphne Greengrass.

She stared longer, looking away the second his own grey eyes met hers. She didn't miss the faint smile on his face, though.

A flash of red flew back from its target, soon followed by two turquoise ones, the second of which seeming to make its mark.

There was silence for a while, and then a shocking spark of blood red.

The color only one of the three Unforgivable Curses could create.

"Okay," She hissed. "Do not tell me I was the only one who saw that!"

"See what -- "

But Ron was cut off as the maze suddenly let out a loud stream of shouts of pain.

"No," Amisty shook her head furiously. "No, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening, no one could be using an Unforgivable here."

"Sure sounded like it," Bill murmured darkly, his brown eyes narrowed.

A flash of red -- this time for a Stunning Spell -- and the shouts subsided into nothing.

Amisty didn't realize she was clutching Hermione's hand until the brunette nudged her with her shoulder.

"I'm sure it was nothing," Mrs. Weasley reassured, though she didn't sound very certain of herself. "Must've just mistaken the color, my dear, could have just been a Disarming Spell."

A shower of red sparks shot up into the sky, twinkling as it marked a champion needing help. And then the two lights of Cedric and Harry's wands broke off yet again.

Harry's paused halfway through one of the hedges while Cedric's continued off at a steady pace in the vague direction of the middle.

If Harry didn't win, at least Cedric would be the one to take the Cup.

Harry seemed to have overpassed whatever obstacle he had encountered, and his light was moving once again. But so was Cedric's, the two of them dangerously close to the Cup.

Until Cedric's flew away... as if he had dropped it.

Red. Red again. Turquoise. Red.

Harry's light went high up into the air.

Red.

And then the real scarlet of the Disarming Spell. Harry's light fell back to normal level, and there were two blazing blasts of red that seemed to break through whatever had been attacked Harry and Cedric.

A hedge was flattened, the shadowy form of a... massive spider crawling off into the depths of the maze once again. The two beads of light hang low, right in front of each other, as if the two champions were speaking.