Book Three: The Heir and The Champions

XXXV - The Tower (Part One)

Artemis, Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch

The Dinner in the castle was a loud and annoying affair, made better by sitting with her son and her hunters, even Zoë, who she knew took all her meals in her room even after being formally invited to eat at the high table with Albus and the other Professors had joined them. It seemed that the Table of the Lions was a good fit for her hunters when they weren't pointing wands at one of them, as her hunters chatted politely with a few of the more curious lions as Atalanta and Harry caught up with each other over dinner about what has happened to both of them over the year while they ate. Artemis herself didn't eat or drink anything because she didn't need to, her hunters had permission to eat their fill this night as well, whether they had hunted or not.

Artemis' eyes drifted one of two ways throughout the feast, either to her son, who's been calling her "mum" for most of the day, only stopping around the other students or others in the know, she didn't know she was smiling every time he did it until Cecilla pointed it out but even that didn't stop her from doing it. Then there was The Cup, it shined silver with a twisting nebula sitting in it and she wanted it, Harry was either going to win it for her, or she was going to steal it, Harry winning it would be the far simpler option, fewer questions asked then sending a hunter to steal it; But one way or another, Artemis was getting that cup, she even had the perfect place picked out in her temple to put it.

Before long Albus had called an end to dinner, asking the students and champions to head down to the Quidditch Pitch while holding the champions and the respective Judges behind, she sends her hunters except for Zoë down to the pitch with Harry's friends, Sirius and Remus telling them she would be joining them soon. As the champions and Judges gather near the entrance she, Zoë, and Harry walk over and join them, Albus greeting her with a slight bow of his head, and the other four judges eye her with confusion.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, but this is a meeting for the heads of the schools and the champions before the task if you wouldn't mind-" a man, Ludo Bagman, tries to tell her but is cut off by Albus.

"No need for that, Ludo, this woman is Lady Diana, Leader of the Hunters of Artemis, she has every right to be here as well," Albus says calmly while standing beside Angelina Johnson with his hands folded behind his back to the surprise to Ludo Bagman and the other judges.

"Oh! My apologies then Lady Diana," the man says with an apologetic look on his face to which Artemis just nods, accepting it as an honest mistake but saying nothing else.

"You are Diana Phaesporia," another man, Igor Kakaroff says with a frown, "From how your Lieutenant spoke of you, I'd thought you would be ten feet tall, but you do not look like much let alone a hunter of monsters," the man says with a scowl.

Zoë and Harry immediately step forward, both reaching for their respective weapons, "Stop," Artemis says softly, freezing both her son and oldest friend in their place before turning to the mortal who opened his mouth, "A word to the wise, Igor Kakaroff, one can never judge the difficulty of a hunt by the size of their prey alone, for you would not hunt a snake the same way one would hunt a lion," she says, looking the mortal in the eyes and watches him take a step back, "And if you speak to me in such a disrespectful tone again, you will find out just how I hunt monsters, all monsters, of all kinds," Artemis says in a hard tone as the Hunt leaks into the man as he begins to shake before she calmly looks away.

Albus coughs, catching everyone's shaken attention back on him, "Perhaps we should continue, we do not want to fall behind after all," He says, before Ludo Bagman nods his head and drives into some inane speech about how well each of the champions had done so far, and in her opinion, Harry had done the best out of all of them but Angelina Johnson coming in second. Ludo Bagman explains the task, it was rather simple, a simple Hedge maze each of the champions had to navigate through based on the Fae-Hedges of old English "Myth". There were plenty of charms, enchantments, and wards in the maze to add a bit of danger to the already-living maze but other than the champions, no other living things were going to be in the maze. The champions would be entering based on their total score with Angelina Johnson entering first, followed by Harry and Victor Krum five minutes after her, and finally the half-fae ten minutes after Angelina. The headmasters would have a few minutes to share some final words of encouragement and wisdom when they got down to the maze before they started officially.