The Hidden One

the third task

Rose could barely see anything. The hedges blocked out what little light the sky provided and instead cast shadows that made it impossible to see. Harry and Rose quickly cast lumos. Cedric also cast the spell and the three teens walked in silence for about 40 yards before the hedges split.

"See you," Harry said to Cedric. Rose quickly gave Cedric another hug before following Harry to the left. Cedric went right.

The whistle blew a second and third time, signifying that Viktor and Fleur were both in the maze. Harry and Rose just walked faster every time the whistle blew. There hadn't been anything in their path so far and Rose allowed herself to relax some. Her hand stopped shaking in Harry's but she kept her wand out.

"Point me," Harry whispered as they came up to a fork in the path. The sky was almost completely black.

"Well that doesn't help much," Rose sighed when the wand pointed right into the hedge on the right. The wand was pointing north and they needed to go northwest to reach the cup.

"Left and then right?" Harry confirmed.

"Yep," Rose said. Harry nodded and the pair turned left.

"Is it kinda weird that we haven't had any obstacles?" Harry whispered to Rose.

"Kinda. Makes me nervous," Rose admitted. As she said this Cedric came out of a hedge on their right. Rose and Harry both pointed their wands at him but lowered them quickly. Cedric had singe marks on his shirt.

"Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts!" Cedric panted before continuing down the path.

"Not that way," Rose chuckled. Harry nodded with a small smile on his face and the pair hurried away. As soon as they turned the corner, two dementors appeared in front of them. Rose focused on one while Harry focused on the other.

Rose gasped and immediately racked her brain for her happiest memory. Her mind kept going back to when she kissed Harry, so she kept that thought in her mind, as well as the thought of her seeing her mum and godfather earlier that afternoon.

"Expecto Patronum!" Rose yelled. A bright light exited her wand as a silver doe pranced around. The dementor seemed to stumble and Rose quickly realized that it wasn't actually a dementor, but a boggart.

"Riddikulus!" Harry and Rose shouted at the same time. The boggart quickly disappeared with a pop. Rose and Harry stood there for a little bit before nodding to each other and walking on.

"You cast a patronus," Harry noted. "It was a doe."

"Yep..." Rose said, slightly embarrassed. She knew that Harry's patronus was a stag.

"I wonder why the boggart took the form of a dementor in front of you," Harry said.

"Hmm...I'm not sure. Maybe the boggart was just focused on you and not me," Rose shrugged. Harry nodded, but he was too busy thinking about her patronus.

The pair kept walking and using the point me spell every once in a while. They came up to a golden mist and hesitated. Harry sent a reductor curse into the mist, but it did nothing.

"What do we do?" Harry asked. Rose was about to respond when a yell echoed through the maze.

"Fleur?" Harry and Rose yelled at the same time. There was no response. Harry took a deep breath and ran into the mist.

"You idiot! What are you doing?" Rose yelled. "Harry!"

"It's ok!" Harry's voice shouted back from the other side. "You'll be upside down for a while but just pull your foot free and you'll be fine."