Hogwarts || Cake Hoodings ✔ [ Completed ]

20

Luke stood in the sandy arena in front of a heavy silver door. It seemed to lead nowhere, like the door would open and he would just be able to see the other side of the arena. Just a door, nothing more. But Luke knew there was probably something behind it, unseen by the outside world until you set foot over the threshold.

„Alright champions, the only thing you'll have to do is to get back through this door once it's closed behind you. Whoever comes back first will win," the Minister of Magic, Stanley Stanburry, said. Sophie and Luke shared a look, both trying to encourage the other one with a weak smile that they would be okay.

„Ready?," Stanburry shouted. Luke looked at Calum who had curled up in his seat next to McGonagall, his knees pressed tightly to his chest. Luke mouthed one last 'I love you' before Stanburry shouted „Go!".

Luke reached his hand out and hesitantly placed it on the door handle. It felt cold and smooth under his palm. In the corner of his eyes he saw that Sophie had already vanished through her door, but Luke didn't feel the need to rush. He wasn't keen on winning this Tournament, he'd rather take it slow and survive than risk his life for a stupid trophy.

Taking a last deep breath, he pushed the door open. A deep darkness stretched out in front of him, not even the light of the arena strong enough to lighten the shadow. It was as if a huge pitch black wall was looming in front of him right behind the door frame. But when he reached his hand out, there was nothing solid there. So he set his right foot though the door. And fell.

Luke was falling and falling, tumbling, losing all sense of orientation. He could hear nothing but the rushing of air in his ears before all the air was knocked out of his lungs.

And then, suddenly, everything stopped spinning and he was thrown to the ground. His knees hit the grass and he split his palms on the tiny stones littering the ground.

Luke took a sharp breath and then sat back on his knees. He took in his surroundings.

The door had been a port key and Luke was disappointed in himself that he hadn't been expecting it. He should've.

Now he was kneeling in high grass that stretched out over a wide bumpy landscape. It was burned and yellow in some places and heavy fog hung low above the ground. His view was limited by a circle of thick high trees surrounding the clearing he was kneeling on. He slowly got up and brushed off his pants. He could feel his clothes dampen while they slowly soaked up the fog around him and the cold started seeping into his bones. He guessed it was either the break of dusk or dawn, the light was low and the sky full of heavy dark clouds that looked ready to spill monsoon-like rain any second.

Luke considered his options for a second. He doubted that his task would be to roam the dark woods surrounding the clearing so he guessed there would be something further in the center of the field, maybe still hidden by the fog. Luke scanned the clearing with his eyes but couldn't make out anything particularly unusual. But then again, the clearing was the size of about 5 quidditch fields so there was no way he could possibly see everything from his point of view. Luke decided to move forward to the center of the clearing to see if he would be able to find something there.

He took hesitant steps forward, growing more and more confident with every step he took. After a while, he stopped dead in his tracks when he thought he spotted a movement out of the corner of his eye. He squinted at the border of the forest but couldn't make out any more movements so he decided to drop it and continued his walk to the center of the clearing. His knees were shaking and his lungs hurt, he was way too lightly dressed for this kind of weather.

He stopped abruptly when he finally noticed a translucent figure walking in the same direction as him some distance away at the side of the clearing. Luke held his breath and watched the figure slowly turning to face him and then hesitantly walk towards him, becoming more and more solid the closer they were to Luke.