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NINETEEN IN COLD BLOOD
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AND HOLLY BOLTS into the maze, the second that she hears the whistle go. The cheering is silenced the second that she gets into the maze, dark-emerald hedges towering over her. She sets off down the only path, and she reaches a fork in the hedges, slowing her pace down as she places her wand flat on her hand.
"Point Me," she says, and her wand spins and points to her right, where a hedge is. Holly gives her wand an odd look, but she runs into the path closest to that direction, bearing in mind that she needs to go north-west. She'll be able to come across a path that goes right. She'll be able to find a way in that direction, she'll be able to get herself to the Cup, and she'll be able to get her hands on the Triwizard Cup before the others can even say, Point Me.
She picks up her pace, making her way down another path, as she keeps an eye on which direction she's moving. Holly doesn't even think about grabbing onto her necklace to get Susannah's help — she doesn't want Susannah's help. She can navigate this maze on her, she can win fair-and-square.
Holly skids around a corner, as she hears the next whistle go. Harry and Cedric are in the maze, she needs to hurry up. But, she hears movement in the next path, and she slows down, holding tightly onto her wand as she inches around the corner.
And she sees Karkaroff.
Holly freezes. She watches Karkaroff step closer and she begins to panic. She feels like she's hurtled back to that last detention, where her eyes looked down at the first year girl.
"Perform Cruciatus," she hears the Dark Arts professor say. Karkaroff's somewhere to the side, he sometimes likes to watch. Sometimes he likes to lurk by the side and watch the children hurt the others, the ones that misbehave.
Holly looks at the little first year, and her brows furrow. She remembers when she saw the girl, around April, struggle to brush her hair after having to walk outside to get to one lesson, and one of the braver older girls helped her, soothingly muttering a spell to help the knots out of the girl's hair. She remembers seeing the tears in the girl's eyes, as she attempted to get the brush through her dark brown hair...
... She remembers walking into the library to finish homework, and making her way through the cold labyrinth to find a book on the Dark Arts, for an essay due the next week. She remembers walking past the little girl sitting in a little alcove, and she doesn't think much of it, the library is a place of refuge for many students. The place is so winding and difficult to navigate that many hide here, let their tears fall onto the stone floor.
She remembers walking back, past the little girl, and seeing the girl being comforted by a girl older than Holly. She remembers the little girl being cradled by the older girl as if she was her mother.
