A few days later, Jade shivered outside, awaiting her mark to run
into the Third Task hedge maze. It was late May, but there was a thick
fog rolling in over the hills, and everything was blanketed in grey. She
had dressed simply enough, in stretchy black pixie pants and a green
blouse made from flowing, gauzy fabric borrowed from Alana, but now she
was wishing that she'd opted for a sweater instead.
The other
Champions stood with her, stretching or preparing for the task. Cedric
walked over to Jade, rising softly from the push-ups he'd been
attempting.
"Hey," he said, flashing a charming smile that put Jade instantly at ease. "You're nervous?"

Even
though the boy put the question into his voice, it was less of a
question and more of a statement. Jade stared down at her hands, which
fiddled with the light swirls on her wand. Her fingernails were covered
in chipping black polish, borrowed from Hannah Abbott, and a silver ring
(that had been a ringworm before last week's Transfiguration lesson)
encircled her pinky finger.

"Very," she admitted, her hair
falling in her face. "I mean...I'm just fourteen! I can't cope with all
of this stress and whoops-you-could-die-good-luck-now-children." Her
voice lowered. "Besides, my confidence has kind of been on the fritz
lately."
Cedric took her hands in his, not as a romantic gesture,
but as one of reassurance. "You're going to be awesome. I wouldn't be
surprised if you won this whole thing. You need a little extra reminder
that you're only as strong as you think you can be. You can choose to be
weak, or you can choose to shoulder the world. It's up to you."
"Champions, to your marks!" The voice of Ludo Bagman, the announcer for the tournament, rang out across the morning.

Cedric hopped to his feet, brushing grass from his yellow and black athletic uniform. "Remember what I said, Jade."
"Thank
you," she called, reaching on default into her pocket and running the
pad of her thumb across the Compass of Right. Its engravings reminded
her of the note- the note that she still hadn't told her best friends
about.

An explosive sound shook the sky, and the other
Champions took off running, already inside the maze by the time Jade
clambered to her feet and took her first step inside the maze.
The
maze itself wasn't terribly frightening, just thick walls of hedge
leading in every imaginable direction. The scary part was the hedge
itself. When Jade placed a hand on the right wall, to give herself a
guide, the ivy wrapped around her fingers and started to tug. The hedges
were alive.

Jade took two left turns, until she was
sure no one else was there, and then reached into her pocket and opened
the compass. Its new shine astounded her, but she found her favorite
dent, right under the catch, and rubbed it three times for good luck
before she popped it open.
The glittering symbols glowed blue,
runes and Zodiac signs, and the three needles spun in all directions.
The shortest one stopped to point directly towards where she had come.
The medium, fat needle pointed to the right fork in the path. The long,
dagger-like needle landed to point to the left, resting on a rune the
shape of a 'P'- Wunjo, the rune of correct application of will.

Laughing
a little, Jade took the left turn. When she encountered no resistance,
she proceeded to the next fork and watched the needles spin and rings
click until she was pointed straight ahead.

A voice, female and cool, echoed from the shadows. "Answer correctly and pass."
Jade raised her wand and called, "Lumos," into the darkness. Her wand released a thin beam of light into the thick, inky blackness, revealing a woman.
She
was beautiful of face, with eyes of piercing blue. Her skin was pale
and her brows dark. A lock of long obsidian hair curled onto her
shoulder from where it was tucked behind a feline ear. The woman's body
was that of a lion, lithe and muscular, every hair bristling. Her hands
were disturbing, like paws with long fingers, and each claw was long and
glinting in the faint light.

"You're a- a-" Jade thought for
a moment, wracking her brains for the answer. "I studied you in Care of
Magical Creatures. You must be..."
"A sphinx, darling," the woman purred, examining a long claw. "I used to guard the tombs in Egypt, protecting ancient secrets and enchanted treasures. But those-" she curled her lip- "wizards with their superior intelligence are good at one thing, and that thing is solving my riddles."

"I'm sorry," Jade said, trying to keep the light of her wand from glinting off the woman's feral-looking teeth. "May I have my riddle, please?"

The woman closed her eyes and began to speak. "What has an eye yet cannot see, brings forth destruction and destiny?"

Jade blinked for a moment. "A needle has an eye but can't see, but I don't see how a needle could bring destruction. A poisoned one, I suppose, though maybe not, now that I think about it. Potatoes have eyes, but potatoes can't bring destruction either."

"Time moves forward," the sphinx drawled in a rather bored voice.

"I know, I'm sorry. An oracle? They're blind in all the stories. No, I suppose not. The only answer would be..." Jade turned to face the sphinx. "Is it...A hurricane?"

The woman smiled, her sharp teeth flashing. "You are correct. Go forth, my child, and know that you have bested one of the greatest riddle-tellers that the world has known- THE SPHINX!"

Jade turned the corner of the maze and crashed into someone- a red-clad figure with messy hair. It was Harry Potter, the other underage contestant in the tournament.

"Sorry," they said at the same time, both blushing. Jade looked down at her booted feet and began to run, full-tilt, forward and past Harry.

*******************************************************************************************

Jade took several wrong turns, not paying attention to her compass. She encountered a large spider and some lobster-like creature blowing fireballs out of its back end, both subdued. A last blast of flame set the hem of her pants on fire, and she had to douse it with her wand.

Finally, she heard voices ahead and saw Harry and Cedric deep in conversation. Relieved to see someone familiar, she raced up to them, overhearing bits of their argument.

"Go ahead and take it, Harry."

"No! You were here before me, and you should get it. Go for it, Ced."

Jade interrupted. "What if we all go for whatever this thing is at once? Take it together. I assume you're talking about the Triwizard Cup?" Both boys nodded. "Then we all grab it on the count of three and split the prize money."

Cedric thought for a moment. "She's right. That's actually a good idea. Well done!"

Harry brushed a bit of hair out of his face. "On the count of three, then?"

The three stepped forward and readied themselves.

"One," Cedric said, setting himself in a running stance.

"Two," Harry added, cleaning his glasses off.

"Three!" Jade shouted, and the three of them took off into the center of the maze.

The Triwizard Cup was beautiful. The base was solid silver, as were the handles, carved to look like dragons. The cup itself was full of smoke, giving it a diaphanous aura.

Each of them grabbed a handle and squeezed it tight.

And then the world turned upside down.