Eagle's Flight // Frarry

Year 4.19

I solemnly swear that I do not deliberately leave my chapters on cliffhangers... with a few exceptions

The first fifty yards or so were in a straight line, then diverged. Harry went to the left. He had his wand on him, but so far nothing attacked. That couldn't be right, he thought anxiously.

Just as he was thinking this, a Dementor appeared. "Expecto patronum!" he shouted.

A silver shield erupted from the end of Harry's wand and advanced toward the Dementor, which fell back and tripped over the hem of its robes. "Riddikulus!"

With a loud crack, the Dementor-Boggart was gone.

"Point me!" Harry said and headed in a direction.

He came across a golden mist and paused. What was this? None of the spells that came to mind seemed to fit this predicament.

A scream suddenly pierced the air. "Fleur?"

He turned and headed away from the mist. For ten minutes, he met nothing, just hit dead ends that forced him to double back.

A Blast-Ended Skrewt— a full-grown one— blocked his path when he came around a corner.

Harry waited for a moment, then aimed at its belly. "Impedimenta!"

While it was distracted, Harry turned away. He found a path and began running down it, only to stop when he heard a voice.

"What are you doing?" It was Cedric. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?"

And then Harry heard Krum's voice.

"Crucio!"

"Reducto!" Harry shouted. A hole appeared in the hedge and after a few more Reductor Curses, he made it big enough to get through.

Cedric was on the ground, writhing in pain, with Krum standing over him. Krum took one look at Harry and ran.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted, and Krum fell down unconscious.

"Are you alright?" Harry demanded.

"Yeah," panted Cedric. "Yeah... I don't believe it... he crept up behind me... I heard him, I turned around, and he had his wand on me..."

"Right. Did you hear Fleur?"

"Yeah, do you think Krum got to her, too?"

"I don't know." Harry sent up red sparks for Krum. "There. Someone should be here soon."

Cedric gave Krum's body a disdainful look. "Well... I s'pose we'd better go on..."

"Yeah."

A sphinx blocked Harry's path next. "You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me."

"All right, so how do I get past?"

"You must answer my riddle. Answer on your first guess— I let you pass. Answer wrongly— I attack. Remain silent— I will let you walk away from me unscathed."

"Okay," Harry said. "Can I hear the riddle?"

"First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"

"A spider," Harry answered after a few minutes of thinking out loud.

The sphinx smiled and moved aside. He moved past her and took off running.