PRONGSLET AND THE OLYMPIAN ALLIANCE

Chapter Fifty-Five

[55]

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With no other choice but to compete, Milo lit the end of his wand and started making his way through the maze, in hopes that he would find the cup or that someone would find the cup quickly. He could hear the other competitors around him and he could hear movement all over the place that left him nearly feeling dizzy in the poor lighting. To get the cup, he needed to find the centre of the maze and he had to head north in order to find it. He reached a fork in the maze and stopped, looking from side to side, but as he turned to his left, he let out a screech and jumped back. 

The smell of rotten fish filled his nostrils, a clear sign of what was to come. 

Seconds later, bright sparks filled up the pathway before him as he remained on the ground shielding himself.

Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts.

He should have known that they would be part of the maze, Hagrid prided himself over the creatures and they were just the right amount of danger to get things off to an exciting start. But he knew he couldn't just sit on the ground as the skrewt was probably headed straight towards him and from what he had witnessed, they had certainly grown plenty since he had last seen them. Quickly, Milo pushed himself up and began to climb the hedge to reach the other side, but it wasn't the easiest to climb as the hedges weren't making it easy for him. His feet slipped and parts of the hedge would retract leaving him with little grip. 

He was just reaching the top when the skrewt spotted him and unleashed fire his way, catching Milo's leg. The boy cried out and toppled over to the other side to escape, but only ahead of them was a dead end. 

The slimy shell-less looking lobster of a creature was gone, leaving Milo to fall on his back and remain there for a few minutes to collect himself. The legs of his trousers were burnt and he could smell the stench of some of the burnt skin. He could feel it too and it was nowhere near pleasant as he grimaced and turned on his side. 

But he knew he couldn't remain still for long, that was just asking for trouble. Pushing himself up through the pain, Milo grabbed his wand and pointed it at his leg, wondering what healing spell would work best. To clear the blood away, he muttered "tergeo" under his breath and then figured "episkey" would at least help some of the first layered burned skin heal.

"Alright, Milo, we can do this, let's go," he told himself as he pushed himself up.

"Riddikulus!" He heard come from the other end of the path, only to see a silver light at the end. He squinted his eyes, only to see Angelina run past, looking over her shoulder. There must have been a boggart at the other end, leaving Milo to swallow roughly. He did not need to see the scene of his little brother dead, before him while in the maze, that would mess with his mind far too much.