Disclaimer: I do not own anything concerning Harry Potter or Naruto.
I hope you enjoy this chapter!!!
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Part 2
Harry quickly ran through the maze, trying to keep a mental note of how many times he turned and how many pathways he skipped over. His heartbeat pulsed loudly in his ears as he ran, his only light at the tip of his wand. The air amongst the thick vegetation was heavy and cold, his muscles ached and begged for release. However, he would not dare to stop running.
He met nothing for ten minutes, the lack of obstacles was unnerving to him. Surely he should have run into something by now. It felt as though the maze had a mind of its own, purposely luring him into a false sense of security. He hoped that he would find the Cup soon, or that Kakashi would show up around the corner. Then he heard movement behind him, Harry held out his wand, ready to attack. About a yard away from him was the largest Blast-Ended Skrewt he had ever seen. The creature was pale and slimy, the image and odor was repugnant. Before the Skrewt took notice of him, Harry ran as quickly as he could around the corner running into a boggart. The boggart saw him, immediately transforming into a dementor. The demons face was covered by its hood, it's rotting, scabbed hands outstretched, advancing blindly towards him.
Harry felt clammy coldness come over him, his center felt empty inside, but he knew what he had to do. He summoned the happiest thought he could, thinking of getting out of the maze alive and celebrating with Ron, Hermione and Kakashi. Harry raised his wand and cried out the incantation "Expecto Patronum!"
A silver stag erupted from his wand, advancing towards the vile creature, disbanding it. Harry watched as the stag faded from sight, wishing it could have stayed. The hopeful energy and light being a comfort to him in the dark and dreary maze. Nevertheless, he carried on, resuming to run through the hedge. He continued to count his turns and remember all the dead ends and monster filled paths, intercepting a few more dangerous creatures along the way.
As he ran down a long narrow path, he heard a blood curtailing scream. The voice of which he instantly recognized as Fleur Delacour. Harry quickly hastened towards the direction of the scream, fearing for the worst but hoping for the best. He rounded a corner, finding himself in a dead end, with Fleur lying unresponsive on the gravel.
"Fleur?" Harry asked worridly as he kneeled down to check for a pulse. Relieved when he found one, he tried to wake her up but to no avail. Fleur was out cold, however, luckily she didn't seem to have suffered any great injury. Harry stood up and pointed his wand up towards the sky.
"Perriculum!" He shouted as he watched the red sparks dance across the night sky. Reassured that she would be recovered safely by the staff, Harry resumed his search for the Triwizard cup.
Harry panicked as he passed familiar looking turns and pathways, concerned that he was officially lost. He tried to convince himself that it was just the maze trying to confuse him, but that still didn't help much. He also had the sinking feeling in his stomach that he was being followed. Harry was positive that it wasn't Kakashi, his guard would have shown himself long ago. He hoped deep down that Kakashi's heightened senses would aid him in finding him soon. Harry stopped in his tracks to listen to see if anyone or anything was following him. He heard loud, heavy footsteps running on the path parallel to his own.
"What are you doing?" Harry heard Cedric yell, "What the Hell do you think your doing!?"
"Crucio!"
Harry suddenly heard the air fill with the sound of Cedrics screams. He began sprinting up his path, trying to find a way into Cedrics. To his suprise, the thick green hedge suddenly opened up, reveiling a way into Cedrics pathway. He looked to the left to see Cedric jerking and twitching on the ground, with Krum standing over him. Harry pulled himself out of his fear and shock, raising his wand up at the built Bulgarian.
"Stupify!" Harry yelled, hitting Victor square in the chest. Krum fell forward and lay motionless, his face to the ground. Cedric instantly stopped spasming, sitting up to catch his breath.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked, grabbing Cedric's arm to help pull him up.
"Yeah, I don't believe it... He crept up on me.... I turned around to see what it was... and he had his wand on me..." Cedric said panting in between sentences. Harry looked down on Krum, a frown setting on his features.
"I can't believe it either.... I thought he was alright." Harry said upset.
"So did I.... do you recon that he got Fleur too, I heard her scream earlier. I was going to find her before I ran into him."
"I found her after she screamed, she should be alright now, I shot up red sparks for her." Harry reassured. Cedric looked releived, glad that she was ok.
"Have you seen Kakashi anywhere?" Cedric asked.
"No." Harry answered upset, "But I recon he's alright. There is no way Krum could have beaten him." Harry said laughing quietly, Cedric also smiled. They both stood there in the darkness for a while, enjoying the company.
"Well... I suppose we'd better get on...?" Cedric said awkwardly.
Harry nodded his head, preparing to start running before the hedge opened up again, reveiling a soft blue glow. Harry and Cedric instantly recognized it as the Triwizard Cup. Harry was taken back when Cedric pushed him roughly on the shoulder, bounding up ahead towards the Cup. Harry quickly recovered, running as fast as he could towards the Cup as well.
Fame, glory and riches were just barely out of reach, all he had to do was touch the Cup. As he caught up to Cedric, Harry shoved the tall teen towards the hedge, causing branches to break off and cut Cedric in several areas. The two boys ran headfirst as fast as they could before they both felt something licking at their feet. Harry looked down to see thick vines attempting to trip them, he quickened his pace, causing his legs and lungs to burn. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cedric collapse hard onto the ground due to the vicious plants.
"Help me Harry!" He heard Cedric cry out in desperation. He stopped dead in his tracks, sparing a look behind him. He saw the vines wrap around Cedric tightly, squeezing the air out of his lungs. The teens struggles lessened as the vines advanced. Harry's gut twisted unnaturally, the sight was excruciating to watch. Unable to bear the scene in front of him, Harry raised his wand.
"Reducto!" Harry shouted, the vines surrounding Cedric instantly disintegrating. Cedric stood up quickly, shaking off remnants of the deadly plant.
"Th-thanks..." Cedric said, his voice quivering.
"No problem."
"For a moment, I thought you were going to let it get me." Cedric said uneasily.
"So did I." Harry replied honestly, catching Cedric off guard.
The light of the Triwizard Cup shined brighter, catching the attention of the two teens. However, neither boy moved even though the relic was only just inches away.
"You should take it." Harry said, regretting his hesitation to help Cedric.
"No, you saved me, you take it." Cedric argued back.
"No, I can't. I almost left you for dead!" Harry almost yelled.
"Look it doesn't matter who takes it!" Cedric said, "By the looks of things Hogwarts will win ether way because Durmstrang and Beauxbatons is out of the Tournament and I don't see Kakashi anywhere!" Cedric reasoned.
"How about we both take it then and share the winnings?" Harry suggested, Cedric grinned widely.
"On three then?" Cedric said, he and Harry preparing to grab it at the same time.
"One... two... three..." they counted down in unison, reaching out to grab the blue trophy. For a split second, Harry thought that he saw something black fly across his vision as he and Cedric were pulled by an unknown force into a dark and unknown abbis.
LineBreakLinebreakLinebreakLinebreak...
Kakashi internally cursed as he made his way through the maze. The moment he made his first turn towards the north, (where he felt he would have a better chance at finding Harry) a large whord of Cornish Pixies descended upon him. The blue devils flying after him, catching the attention of many other dangerous Dark Creatures. Kakashi knew that Hagrid had a soft spot for all magical creatues, so he hoped that during the Tournament he wouldn't have to harm any of them. However, as the number of Pixies, Blast-Ended Skrewts, gnomes and black looking ghosts increased, he felt he had to use whatever means necessary to rid himself of the stampede that chased after him. Kakashi expertly formed the necessary hand seals for the jutsu, turning around to execute it onto the Dark Creatures.
"Chidori!" Kakashi yelled as blood filled his vision. His ANBU instincts kicking in as he shredded through the mass of magical beasts. This continued on for a good amount of time. Kakashi felt that the maze was purposefully throwing whatever it had at him, as though it had a conscious; deliberately preventing him from reaching Harry.
The maze even seemed to possess no scent. Kakashi couldn't smell the hedge, the blood from the beasts or the sweat on his brow. This unsettled him greatly. Whoever had put Harry's name into the Cup must have also helped to design the maze and cast certain enchantments over it to ensure he wouldn't be able to track down Harry. Kakashi wouldn't bother to summon his dogs to test the theory, he didn't want them to get hurt considering the amount of beasts present.
The only way to successfully find Harry then was to search the whole maze. Without waisting anymore time, he bounded off at an inhumane speed, easily keeping track of his own whereabouts. He spread his senses out to look for Chakra natures, also being able to get a sense of the size of the place. He guessed that he was a third of the way done with scouting the maze, he would run into Harry soon enough.
Kakashi felt an unnaturally powerful chakra nature just around the corner; currious, he eased his way around, catching sight of an amazing looking beast. It had the body of an over-large lion, with sharp claws and long tail, it's head however was that of a woman. Good thing Hermione had insisted on him learning everything that could possibly pose a threat, sphinxes being one of them.
"Greetings." She said, "Answer my riddle on the first guess and I shall let you pass. Answer wrongly, I shall attack. Remain silent, I will let you walk away from me unscathed."
"Fair enough, can I hear the riddle?" Kakashi said calmly, his laid back attitude confusing her. She sat down on her hind legs in the middle of the path.
"First think of the person who lives in disguise, who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always last thing to mend, the middle of middle and end of end?
And finnaly give me the sound often heard. During the search for hard-to-find word.
Now string together, and answer me this, which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"
Kakashi had to hand it to her, that was a pretty complex riddle. However, he would still have an easy time with deciphering it.
"Someone who deals in secrets and tells lies is a spy... The middle of middle and the end of end is the letter D.... The sound for something hard is er, that's it er! Now, string that all together to get Spi...d...er. Which is a creature I would not want to kiss. The answer is spider." Kakashi said confidantly, the sphinx looking surprised by his quick answer.
"Correct!" She said as she gracefully moved aside to let him pass.
"Thank you." He said as he went passed her, proud of his brilliance.
After he had passed the sphinx, he noticed that their were less beasts, if none at all. The enemy must have deliberately placed him at the edge where all the monsters were to detain him. Fleur, Cedric and Victor posed no threat to whoever wanted Harry dead, so they would be over on this side.
He had to be getting closer to either Harry or the Cup, he was almost finished with running through the entire maze. He felt a harsh breeze blow towards the north, causing the hedges to shift and move at their own accord. Kakashi saw a faint blue light in the far distance, the energy radiating off of it was menacing and vile. Through the light he saw two people standing right by it, taking the form of Harry and Cedric. He wasn't worried that Cedric would try to hurt Harry, however, the dangerous aura comming from the Triwizard Cup unsettled him. Kakashi knew at that moment that the enemy had tampered with the trophy, intending to harm Harry through it.
Kakashi raced in the direction of the two wizards, his Sharingan seeing through the magic reveiling a dark field covered in headstones... a graveyard. Kakashi watched in horror as Harry and Cedric simultaneously reached for the cup. Before either of them could touch it though, Kakashi used the Flying Thunder God technique to propel himself towards them, hoping that he would make it in time. He reached his hand out in an attempt to swipe the relic away from Harry, but as he touched it he felt the same sensation he experienced when he and Minato Sensei used the sock to travel to the Leaky Cauldron. The Triwizard Cup was a portkey!
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Bom bom bom!!!!
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