Harry Potter: Don't touch

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Harry had been looking for Justin for a long time. In his search for his friend, Potter had to carefully scour a rather vast area of the maze, with many challenges and enemies. Potter met two leprechauns who were trying to buy his wand. They offered three hundred galleons and Harry couldn't refuse, however the coins disappeared as soon as they touched his fingers and the leprechauns used his own wand to attack him. However, the green men had not considered the possibility of Potter having a spare wand, and for their shortsightedness each received a stun spell in the face.

Harry met a hippogriff in one passage, but he preferred not to mess with it and successfully bypassed it with a spell of vegetation destruction. Potter passed through a forest filled with ghouls who, because he had a piece of copper with him, ran away from him in a panic. From the ferocious red-capped dwarfs, Harry blocked off the wall he had built, and while it held under the onslaught, fled from their habitat. As he passed the peaceful lawn, Potter heard the ringing cries of the attacking doxies, and the cry of Basel Francois, who seemed to be losing the battle.

Justin Potter found Justin fighting the dendroid. The overgrown tree was trying to snag Finch-Fletchley with its branches, and the latter was dodging them, firing fire at his opponent.

- Nulus Venificum Ager! - Harry sent a spell he had grown to love and dubbed 'plant killer' at the dendroid.

This spell did not fail this time either, the branches of the dendroid shook, fell off, and then it collapsed into many branches. The human-tree was more plant than magical creature, or the spell wouldn't have worked.

- Harry! At last!' Finch-Fletchley was so pleased at Potter's arrival that he fell to the ground in relief. - This is just awful! I'd have died here without you! It's a bloody menagerie, I can't even decide who's pissed me off more! Phoenixes are fucking impossible to hit, dendroids are lurking everywhere. You'd think it'd be a maze wall, but it's not! It's wood that'll smash your head in when you get close! Acromantulas don't care about the spiders' repelling charms, and you can't even run away from them normally, those bastards can climb through walls! A three-headed mutant bear that would have killed everyone here if he hadn't fallen asleep when Babushka played the balalaika for him. The sphinxes were also very bad, they made me calculate sines, so I had to go round, and there was some kind of sight-disabling spell hanging on the passage and a troll wandering around. Lucky for me, he was reasonable and I was able to persuade him not to touch me, but to eat the acromantula that had been chasing me the whole time!

Finch-Fletchley's story was like a horror film. How lucky Potter was to have the card. Was it the reason he had successfully skipped enemies and easily avoided obstacles? How was it that he didn't break into the lead? With such difficult trials, knowing how to bypass them was invaluable. And even Granny, who started later, managed to somehow get ahead of him. Harry was probably moving sideways rather than forwards from the boggarts, and it's hard to explain it any other way.

- I'm glad you got through the trouble, but this is no time to lie down, the passage to the final platform will open when there are five contestants left! Right now there are seven of us, although Basel from Beauxbaton may have dropped out, he's been roughed up by doxy, I don't know how much. It's quite possible that right now the aisle is open and we need to hurry!

- What's that? Can we do that again? Just slow down, Finch-Fletchley didn't even think about getting up.

- All right, let me explain, but on the way. We can't run, and we don't want to, someone might ambush us, so keep your eyes open.

* * *

- Finch-Fletchley listened to Harry's story. - But I have a couple of questions. First, why five men? What kind of a number is that? The original plan was for three people, so make it three. Or you could've just left the aisle open instead of playing hunger games.

- I have no idea. I'm not the organiser. Didn't Bagman say anything about it, or-- No, he did! He said caution is more important than speed. Anyway, I don't know. Let me ask you another question, reporter.

- So he's been helping you consistently? I thought he was just giving me a little hint in the second round. Well, there you go. The great correr, commentator and organiser of the Tournament is breaking... The law? Or what? Tournament rules? So are we. Why didn't he tell me, by the way?

- Well, he told me not to tell anyone,' Harry blushed a little. It hadn't even occurred to him to help Justin with the test. - I'd already messed it up, I'd told Black and then Dumbledore, accidentally or on purpose, I don't know, but Ludo was going to be in a lot of trouble. And I didn't know he had anything to do with Quidditch until now, he didn't talk about it. Said he bet a huge amount of money on me.

- That's cool. I should have put a huge bet on you, too. Well, never mind. Let's move on to the next question. What makes you think what Evette Rue told you wasn't bullshit? You had her at gunpoint, she could have told you some bullshit story to get you to let her go. I take it you didn't check her story yourself?

- Well...' Harry thought for a moment. - No, I don't think so. She was right about your location, and in a crisis it's easier to describe the real situation than to tell a made-up story. Plus, I've seen Adrian Roux fight Granny, and I don't see any obvious reason to take out the competition so openly; it's one thing to attack stealthily, but it's another to attack openly. And another thing, I remember, Bagman before that phrase, he had also emphasised that point, mentioned that I should be careful because the other champions might attack me... Or something like that. I don't remember anything.

- Okay, let's say what Evette said is true. Then I don't understand the point of the first two trials. If they affect the time it takes you to enter the maze, then once the passage is closed, time is irrelevant. The very first champion, it turns out, purely theoretically can't complete the trial until the tenth champion has started. Which means that the start time doesn't matter at all, agree?

- I don't agree. Whoever entered the maze first is likely to be the first to reach the closed passage and the first to know its rule. That is, he'll be the only one who knows that other champions need to be eliminated, which means he can ambush and team up like Ru's brother and sister did. Now, imagine if you didn't know what I've told you and you met... Let's say Diggory. Would you attack him? I don't think so. But he, knowing the rule, would. So whoever learns the five-champion rule first has a huge advantage. And all those who are late starters will think that time is of the essence and rush, falling into simple traps. Which, by the way, is what happened to Juliette. But for those who are constantly vigilant, this disadvantage will not be a big problem, and they will be able to prove with their skills that the poor result in the first two trials is just an unfortunate accident. A perfect system.

Justin was silent for a while, processing the information.

- So there are six of us now: Otto, Krum, Delacourt, one of the twins, and the two of us. Am I getting this right? - he asked.

- Maybe seven, I only heard Basel screaming. Purely theoretically, he could very well be on his feet. And shouting something like 'I'll crush you!', not 'Help!'.

- Well seven, one way or another, our students are outnumbered, which means Hogwarts is the best school! The tournament proved it!

- I don't remember you loving Hogwarts so much when you were planning to go to Beauxbaton. What is this selective patriotism?

- I was joking. I don't like a lot of things about Hogwarts, but I'm all for it!

- Well, let's talk after the Tournament and look around now.

Harry led them along the cleared path, so that for a long time their walk was peaceful, but when they reached the passage where Evette Roux had been lying some time ago - she was no longer here, apparently taken by the maze keepers - they encountered obstacles.

They spotted the phoenixes from afar and bypassed them, but the pixies attacked unexpectedly and almost ended their journey. Finch-Fletchley's most powerful spell, Architect, only dealt with three creatures per use, and Harry tried to target the tiny Feys one at a time. They couldn't cope with the attacks of the blue, like Granny after a binge, crumbs and lost their personal items. A Fey snatched a magic wand from Justin and flung it over the wall, sending it deep into the maze. Harry tossed his spare wand to his friend, causing him to be briefly distracted and lose sight of a group of Feys, one of whom managed to steal a bag of goatskin from his sock.

This incident made Potter very angry, which was very bad for the health of the fairies. The pixie who had snatched the bag of donkey skin was chopped in half and the next few seconds her friends were blasted by a Bombard that hit other creatures as well, Harry then summoned a flock of birds and set them upon their enemies. After the birds were defeated, he transfigured a club, took it and began to crumble all the Feys who had not had time to retreat from the outraged Potter. The victory was left to the Puffenduys. They regained their personal belongings and moved on.

Of the magical creatures with the ability to think and perceive information, no one else came out to meet them. Well, except for the snot-tail. But they're allowed to do that. Snot-tails have no instinct for self-preservation.

- Architect! - exclaimed Justin

Three purple orbs hit the unprotected point of the snot-tail's belly, and it was knocked out.

- Not bad. But next time hit the head, it's their weak spot. Hagrid told me.

- Thank you. I should go and see the forest ranger after the Tournament, it's been a long time since I've spoken to him,' Finch-Fletchley tucked his wand into his pocket and walked around the unconscious Snottail.

- I haven't really, either, apart from that brief conversation I had with him... Hmm... You wouldn't believe it, I can't even remember the last time I had a proper conversation with him. It was, like, third year. He let me take care of some killer fish. It's no good, really, cos no-one ever goes to see him. Dumbledore got permission from the Ministry for Hagrid to teach an elective on magical creatures, but no one goes to it, everyone's at Grubbly-Derg's. We'll have to pay him a visit sometime.

- Yeah, we will, but don't tell him about the mass extermination of magical creatures in the labyrinth. Now let's go! - Justin waved his hand. - You're the one who was talking about not having enough time.

* * *

- I take it we've arrived, don't you think?

- Probably,' Potter agreed, looking at the shimmering stone wall that blocked the way ahead.

There was writing on the wall in gold ink. Paint? Chalk?

This passage leads to the final stage of the maze. It will only open when the number of participants reaches five. Current number of participants: 6.

Fred Weasley. Hogwarts. The starting number is 1.

Victor Krum. Durmstrang. Starting number is 2.

Fleur Delacourt. Beauxbaton. Start number - 6.

Johan Otto. Durmstrang. Start number 7.

Harry Potter. Hogwarts. Start number 10.

Justin Finch. Hogwarts. Starting number. - 13.

The inscription was duplicated in six different languages. Surprisingly, the inscription in the sixth language consisted entirely of the words 'Bitch' and 'Fuck', obviously it was Russian.

- Fred Weasley, start number one. What the hell is that? - Justin wondered.

- Fred and George switched places again and started instead of each other,' Harry explained. - You must remember that little scene at the maze. I thought no one but me and the twins knew about it. Oh, well, Dumbledore too. Never mind. How does the wall know this information? It was obviously here before the trial even started.

- It's enchanted, obviously. Do you think there's any way to breach the wall? What about bypassing it?

- I don't think there's any way round it, it's got to be all the way round. Blow it up, too. I'd try an upgraded Bombard, but it's unlikely the organisers would make a mistake like that. Trying to blow it up would only give away our location. I'd rather rely on good organisation and not try to bend the rules again.

- Then tell me, what do we do until the door opens? It's your choice, I'll join you. We can wait for someone to eliminate their opponent, or we can go hunting and try to take someone out together. We could also look for Fred. If we find him and team up, we'll definitely take them all down. Do you need time to think about it?

- No. It's too risky to leave here. While we're wandering around, the passageway could open up and we wouldn't know it, and we'd be miles away. We wait.

Potter cast a disillusionment spell on both of them and they waited.