Apples and Snakes

Something Wicked

Days passed, until a few weeks before the Third Task. All the champions were called down from dinner to come down to the Quidditch pitch. What greeted me was a massive, twisted thicket.

Bagman was waiting for us. He saw Cedric and Harry's looks of horror, and smirked. "Don't worry, your Quidditch pitch will be back to normal right after the Third Task. I'm amazed that we've gotten such results so quickly with the hedges."

Everyone kinda stared blankly at him. He coughed weakly. "Can any of you tell me what this is?"

"A maze." Krum grunted, after a second.

"Very good," Bagman said, and Blondie smirked, obviously thinking this to be easy. "But it's not just any maze. The Triwizard Cup will be in the center. The person who reaches it first will win. But there are magical obstacles, and Rubeus Hagrid has volunteered several magical creatures for the task."

I gulped. I'd never attended the class, but I hadn't exactly heard great things about what he provided for lessons. Well, that, the baby dragon in our first year, and the acromantula colony.

"Well, that's about it, so if you want to get going," Bagman said. Blondie and Cedric bolted. Krum went over to Harry.

"I vant to talk viff you, alone." He told Harry.

"Want me to wait here?" Bagman asked. I just leaned against a hedge and checked my fingernails I'd repainted a dark plum color nonchalantly, pretending that I didn't exist. It's a little scary how a scarred, purple-haired punk can hide in plain sight, isn't it?

Harry and Krum began talking about Hermia, when there was a rustling in the woods. I drew my wand, and we looked to see Mr. Crouch, who had been absent recently, and quite ill according to Percy Weasley, raving about his son and needing to see Dumbledore.

"I'll go get Dumbledore, just stay with him," Harry said to Crouch, and he ran off. There was another rustling, and I turned to shadow, and watched as someone invisible stunned Krum, and began towards Mr. Crouch.

"Please... No!" Mr. Crouch begged. "Please, spare me, son."

Son? I thought Mr. Crouch's son had died in Azkaban after torturing the Longbottoms into insanity- what? I dug around a little.

I turned solid again, and aimed a hex. "Umbra!" A wave of darkness shot from my wand, but the invisible person dodged, and aimed a Stunning Spell at me. I ducked, and sent one back, only for the invisible one to dodge.

Another Stunning Spell barely missed me, so I pretended to be out, and cracked open an eyelid as I watched him murder Mr. Crouch, transfigure him into a bone, and run away.

"Alice!" Severus yelled, upon seeing me lying there. I propped myself up on my elbows, and took his hand up. "What happened here?"

"Someone invisible attacked," I said. "Someone stunned Krum, and attacked me, so I pretended he'd stunned me, and watched him kill Mr. Crouch, who was just here, raving, and turned him into a bone! Please, you have to believe me!"

Severus placed his hands on my shoulder. "Calm down, Alice. I believe you."

I nodded, and he let go, and began searching. Mad-Eye Moody came down. "What happened down here?" He growled.

"Alice witnessed Mr. Crouch get murdered," Severus said coldly.

There was a trace of anger in Mad-Eye's face- or maybe that was the scars, but either way, it wasn't exactly friendly or welcoming.

"She's delusional. She's just the little demon child," Moody replied.

I frowned. "You don't believe me because you don't like me! You've never liked me, and you're letting it cloud your judgement!"

"Alice," Severus said in a warning tone. I backed off, but I still glared at Moody.

"Well, young lady, you've always acted like you're such an angel when you're a rude-"

"Ah-hem." Severus interrupted. That shut Moody up. "I will have Hagrid escort you and Harry up to the castle. I want you to stay inside and wait until tomorrow morning to do anything, understand?"

Harry, who was suddenly next to me, and I nodded rapidly. Hagrid came up. "I'll take yeh two back ter teh castle," Hagrid grunted.

Everything was quiet until we were back up in the castle. "Why did yeh have ter go with him? He's a Durmstrang champion, Harry!"

Harry looked embarrassed, and mumbled something about Hermia.

"Well, I'll be having a talk with Hermione. Foreigners ought not to be trusted." Hagrid growled.

"Isn't that the point of the Triwizard, though?" I asked.

"What were yeh doin' out there, Alice? Blimey, an' I thought yeh might have common sense," Hagrid said.

"I was trying to keep this idiot in line," I said.

"Yeah, and look were it got yeh ter. Teh murderer could be comin' after yeh next, Alice." Hagrid said.

"I'd like to see them try," I scoffed.

"Yeh might think that yer all that, but yer not. How do I know? That was a grown wizard, not some other kid!" Hagrid shouted.

"I don't expect any Gryffindor buddy of my parents' to ever understand," I said, folding my arms over my chest.

"Alice, yer a Potter. Always should've been in Gryffindor, in my opinion. Yeh've proven that yeh aren't like that." Hagrid said, his eyes crinkling. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Doesn't anyone think, that despite everything, I still want to be in Slytherin?

"Thanks," I replied instead. "But that's not as much of as a compliment as you mean it to be."

Harry shrugged. "She's just being stupid, Hagrid."

The rest of the walk to Gryffindor tower, then to the Slytherin dungeons. Hagrid left me alone at the wall right before the turn to dungeons. He stormed away, and I opened the door to the common room.

Something wicked this way comes.