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xvii. Holliday Lippincott (Pt.2)

       "Hi, Holly," says Cedric, and he smiles at her, just as Harry does the same. Holly finishes her Chocolate Frog. "What d'you reckon it's going to be? Fleur keeps going on about underground tunnels; she reckons we've got to find treasure."

       "That wouldn't be too bad," says Harry.

       Holly likes the idea of underground tunnels, of a task where there's shadows and darkness to hide and slip into, to dart past other competitors in search of treasure. In all honesty she likes the idea of anything where she's mostly reliant on being quick on her feet, and even the idea of having shadows to hide in sounds superb.

       They reach the Quidditch stadium after a couple minutes. Holly wonders if she'll be able to pull Harry to the side after this, to fill him in on what she's been theorising for the past few weeks. Moody's connected to Crouch, he has to be. Either he's Barty Crouch Jr. in disguise, or there's some other way he's involved, but he is. She just knows.

       "What've they done to it?" says Cedric, horrified. He's staring at the Quidditch field, and Holly catches up to him and Harry, who have already walked through a gap in the stands. She sees dark green (she likes this) plants growing across the Quidditch field, towering over them.

       "Hello there!" says Bagman, who's standing in the middle of the field, next to Viktor and Fleur. Holly smiles at Viktor as she reaches them, and he smiles back at her. "Well, what d'you think? Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid'll have them twenty feet high. Don't worry — you'll have you Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over!" Good, she thinks, because that's the next thing I want to do. "Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"

       "Maze," says Viktor.

       "That's right!" says Bagman, beaming. Holly places her hands on her hips, and glances around, as if to survey the area. A maze. That's seems easy enough. "A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the centre of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."

       "We simply have to get through the maze?" says Fleur.

       "There will be obstacles," says Bagman, looking like a kid on Christmas Eve. Holly nods. "Hagrid is providing a number of creatures... then there will be spells that must be broken... all that sort of thing, you know. Now, the champions who are leading on points will get a head start in the maze. First, Miss Lippincott." She gives a smug grin. "Then Mr Diggory and Mr Potter. Then Mr Krum will enter... then Miss Delacour. But you'll all be in with a fighting chance, depending how well you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?"

       OK. Creatures and spells to break. That should be fine. Over the course of the month she'll get her friends to test her on every creature they could possibly use, and she'll study different spells, and how to break them. It'll be fine. It's a maze, a labyrinth made with dark-green trees, attracting dark shadows, easy ways to dart past. She'll win this.

       "Very well... if you haven't got any questions, we'll go back up to the castle, shall we, it's a bit chilly..."

       Holly nods and turns on her heel, making her way back up to the castle to get started immediately. She'll run to the library and get every book even remotely useful, and she'll go to town with revision cards for Pansy to test her on. She wants to pass this with flying colours, she knows they allow parents to visit for this task, and she wants her dad to see her succeed, for him to see her and know his little Holly's victorious, in a strange world he doesn't particularly understand. (And neither does she, a lot of the time.)