The Golden Wand [Harry Potter/Percy Jackson]

Chapter 55: The Ninth Trial

The canon exploded. 

Percy and Annabeth were the first up the great stone stairs. At the top step, Annabeth reached for Percy's hand and muttered something in his ear - he nodded, raised his wand and, as if coming out of the stone archway of the door, a tremendous waterfall appeared before the competitors. The water came cascading down the stairs at such a force that each and every competitor was sent sprawling onto the floor and painfully downwards, back to the start line. Annabeth and Percy seemed immune to the waterfall's power and, hand-in-hand, they entered the building and ran out of sight from the others. 

 "Starting very strong - taking out seven other competitors - Percy Jackson earns 21 points!" Cedric announces to the crowd and the TV cameras. The cheering can be heard even inside the castle. "That puts him at joint third with Annabeth Chase!"

Buried within the crowd outside, Sally, Paul and Estelle cheer louder than the rest. 

Hazel's the first up from the steps. She's fallen against the stairs badly and has a graze against her right arm, but she's already healing the wound before she's even halfway up the stairs, and she's too focused to notice the pain. Hermione and Harry are on her heels - she doesn't care; she reaches the top step, wand raised at the stone archway where water still flows, yells "BOMBARDA!" and the structure collapses. The doorway caves in on itself and giant, deadly boulders of stone fall down around Hazel's head. She sprints through the archway unscathed, as (narrowly) does Hermione - but Harry has to dive backwards to save himself. When he looks up, the doorway is completely blocked off by the fallen debris, and Hazel and Hermione have made it inside the castle without him. 

"Smart play by Hazel Levesque! 5 points for blocking off the entrance!" Cedric announces, flashing a disgustingly cheery grin at the cameras. Many wizards and witches from around the globe swoon as their unmoving eyes watch live coverage of the trial on their TVs. 

Harry, standing at the top of the stairs, hears the sound of an approaching spell just in time. He turns to face Fleur, standing at the bottom of the stairs, and blocks her spell with his own wand. They face each other and shout a second spell at the same time - jets of light escape their wands and meet halfway, and the world around them both seems to crackle with electricity. Harry smiles - this is a feeling he knows only too well - and adjusts his grip on his wand. Fleur's eyes widen when she sees that his jet of light is brighter, longer, stronger. It reaches her wand with an explosion and she is thrown off her feet. Harry runs down the steps, jumps over Fleurs body and disappears around the side of the castle, out of view from the other competitors. He doesn't hear Cedric awarding him 3 points. 

Inside the castle, Hazel is sprinting down a pitch-black corridor. Everyone else inside the castle is lost - thrown off guard by the fact that the castle's interior has completely changed - but Hazel can sense that she's going the right way. She can sense everything around her. She turns right without even seeing the turn, she just knows that she needed to take a turn so she did it. She's sure she'll reach the tower first. What she doesn't know - what she can't sense - is that up ahead, hidden well under the cover of darkness, her brother waits for her to approach. He apparated inside the castle, something that none of the other competitors could achieve, and he's planning on getting a few points. When Hazel comes, sprinting as fast as she can, he raises his arm and her chest slams against it. She falls heavily on her back, instinctively rolls to the right to avoid another possible attack... but Nico knows her too well. 

"Petrificus Totalus!" Nico whispers, pointing his wand at Hazel, who still can't see him. She freezes up and he runs away, leaving her alone in the dark. Cedric announces that Nico's earned 3 points. 

Two floors below them, Percy and Annabeth run still hand-in-hand. They're lost, running up a set of stairs they've already run up three times before. The castle is moving, making it impossible to navigate. They think they hear an explosion from somewhere far off but they ignore it and keep on running.