Once outside Harry saw a group of people standing around talking. The group included all of the other Triwizard Champions, their headmasters (except Karkaroff of course), and Ludo Bagman. Viktor Krum was even there, a surprising fact considering he had returned to Durmstrang after Igor Karkaroff's disappearance. Harry was the last to arrive and apparently the others had been waiting on him.
"Harry! Great to see you again." Bagman said once he saw Harry approaching. Harry did not particularly feel like being nice to the annoying man and said nothing, though Bagman did not seem to notice anything out of the ordinary with Harry's response. "Looks like we're all here then doesn't it?"
"Get on with it, Bagman." Madam Maxine said in her heavy French accent. Harry couldn't help but chuckle at her attitude towards Bagman.
"Very well." Bagman replied with a small frown. "There will be no clues for the third task, instead I will show you." Bagman motioned to one of his assistants who banished the magical barrier with a wave of his wand. As it fell Harry saw that huge bushes had been planted on the Quidditch fields. They were at least twenty feet tall and so thick that it would be impossible to walk through them. It appeared that the bushs had been used to create an enormous wall, although there was a small gap where you could get past it.
"You are looking at the entrance to a great maze." Bagman informed them. "Inside you will face a number of challenges including moving walls, beasts of all kinds, puzzles that must be solved. It will take a combination of intelligence and strength to make it through the maze to the end. Your goal will be the Triwizard Cup and the winner will be the first one to grab it."
None of the champions spoke following Bagman's statement, though they all looked deep in thought. Harry doubted he could get close enough to the Triwizard Cup to cast the tracking spell, and the fact that walls would move made any map he might make irrelevant. It seemed like he was going to have to rely on his own strength rather than elaborate preparations to win the tournament, a fact that might have made him nervous earlier in the year but he was quite satisfied with now.
"When you enter the maze will depend on how you have done in the tournament so far." Bagman continued. "Meaning that you, Mr Potter, will enter first." Bagman smiled at him as Harry nodded. Bagman seemed to have some unexplainable interest in him and how he did in the tournament, but Harry didn't think he had any malicious intent. "Well then, I will see you all on June 24. Good luck to you." Bagman walked away from the champions and began talking to Dumbledore who was slightly more polite than Madam Maxine.
"Harry, vere is Hermione?" Krum asked. Harry was quite impressed that Krum had learned to correctly pronounce his friend's name. "I vould like to see her before I leave."
"She was going to lunch, so she should be in the Great Hall." Harry told him.
"Thank you." he replied and quickly walked away. Harry smiled at Krum's eagerness to see Hermione, although he wondered if Hermione was as eager to see Krum as he was to see her. He thought she liked the Bulgarian, but perhaps not as much as he liked her. The fact that he lived in another country probably didn't help. His thoughts on Hermione's love life were interrupted when his fellow Hogwarts champion came up to talk to him.
"Hey there Harry." Cedric said. "What do you think about the maze?"
"Sounds interesting." Harry answered as they began their walk back to Hogwarts. "I'm glad that the winner won't be picked by a bunch of judges scoring our performance though."
"That is probably for the best." Cedric agreed. "You know you're lucky you aren't a seventh year. Trying to study for my NEWTs and this is killing me."
"I haven't even taken the OWLs yet, don't try and make me worry about the NEWTs too." Harry said with a laugh. "So what are you going to do to get ready for the last task?"
"I can't think of anything that would really help." Cedric answered honestly. "But I might have a great idea on how to beat the maze and am just saying that to throw you off."
"Sure you do." Harry replied skeptically. "I feel the same way." Cedric laughed as they reached the main entrance to the castle.
"Good luck, Harry" Cedric said as a good-bye and then walked off towards the part of the castle where Harry knew the Hufflepuff dorms were. Harry waved and began walking in the other direction. Suddenly the idea that he only had one more thing to do in the tournament before it was over struck him and Harry found himself quite happy with that. He was having fun in it so far and it had been good for him but he still hated how he was forced into it. Harry wondered if he would miss the tournament when it was over, but he doubted he would. Even if he won the tournament he knew "Winner of the Triwizard Tournament" would never be what people remembered him for. He still had to wait almost two months for the next task, he realized, so even though there was only one more it be a while before it was finished.
'I better start getting ready for it, I guess.' Harry thought as his mind drifted towards what he had planned for later in the day. If it went as he planned he would have three people instead of two training with him. Now he just had to find Neville…
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