I would heal Frank and Alice Longbottom. I mean, to me, Neville's story is even sadder than Harry's. He still has his parents, but they don't know him and never will. That would be so awful, and Neville is my baby, so I would heal Frank and Alice.

Merry Christmas (Eve)! Praying God blesses you all with an amazing next few days, whether you celebrate Christmas or not!

~~~~

Professor Patil hurried me to the area in front of the maze, where the other champions were gathered. Étienne was already at the mouth of the maze, and as I approached, a cannon went off, apparently signaling for him to enter.

I looked up into the stands. Wren and Albus were searching for a teacher, racing down the aisles. I didn't see anyone who could help near them. My family was on the front row, waving and cheering. I pretended I didn't see them, because right now I just wanted to throw up.

Mr. Potter was several meters away from me, talking with some of his top aurors. I started towards them, but Kirsten stepped in front of me.

"Vhere are you going?" she asked curiously. "You are about to start."

"Astra! Come on!" I turned around to see Faith standing at the entrance, staring up at the hedges nervously. "We're about to go in!"

I didn't have a choice. An auror prodded me towards the entrance. I would just have to face whatever was waiting for me in there. Just stay on my guard. It would all be okay.

The cannon sounded, and Faith and I started into the maze together.

Almost as soon as we'd stepped through, the noise cut off. I could look back and see the crowds cheering, but it was like watching a silent film. Faith and I walked forward, side by side, for a few moments, until the maze branched off into two directions.

"Left or right?" Faith asked me, holding her lit wand high.

I shrugged. It didn't matter to me. On second thought, though, the hole in the maze had been to the right. "Left," I said, and Faith nodded.

"I think you missed it, but shoot up red sparks if you need help. They'll come get you out."

I nodded. "Thanks."

"Good luck, Astra."

"You too."

We parted, and I'd never felt more alone.

Walking through the dark with nothing but my wand to light the way was extremely creepy. The hedges towered over me, blocking out what little light was left of the dying day. I raised my wand as high as I could, but the circle of light didn't seem to extend very far. It was as if the darkness was too dark to bow to the light.

It wasn't silent, exactly. There were lots of noises. Creepy noises. I could have sworn I heard a scream once, though whether it was human or not, I didn't know. I didn't try to investigate. A few times, small creatures scurried across my path, taking refuge under the hedges as I passed.

Once I saw a glimmer of light ahead of me. I ducked, not sure whether it was another champion or a trick. The light passed on, into a different path, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I didn't know where I was going, but I had an instinct to keep moving. Keep moving, or... Or something would happen. Something bad. The hedges almost seemed to move as I passed by. I was constantly glancing over my shoulder. It seemed like there was something just beyond the circle of light my wand made.

Suddenly, my skin prickled. There was something in front of me. A person, it looked like. I raised my wand higher, and saw the outline of a tall woman with long, dark hair. What on earth was she doing in the maze? The woman slowly started to turn, and as she did, I realized she wasn't actually a woman at all.

The banshee had gray, dead skin. Her face looked like the face of a corpse, and her hair hung down like something from a muggle horror movie. I clapped my hands over my ears just before she opened her mouth to wail, but the deafening sound still made me dizzy. Chills went down my spine. I stumbled back a step, my hands firmly clamped over my ears, as the wail rose up a scale, ending in a note that I hadn't believed possible for anything on this earth to reach until that moment.

Banshee screams can be fatal! Red alarm bells were going off in my head, but I was too stunned to move. The banshee was coming closer. I had to take her out before she screamed again.

I did not remember covering this in any of my classes. How do you take down a banshee? "Stupefy!" I tried, but it had no effect. More drastic measures, then.

"Bombarda Maxima!"

My spell hit the banshee, and the effect was as if she'd swallowed a live grenade. She burst, pieces of banshee raining down everywhere. I involuntarily screamed and backed away, covering my head with my arms. Bits of banshee still hit me, which was incredibly disgusting and almost brought out my gag reflex. For several seconds I could only think about frantically wiping banshee guts off of me.

When I'd finally calmed down, I froze. In my panic, I'd completely forgotten to be wary. Was there anything nearby? A quick spin told me I was still alone. Well, I didn't really want to walk through the main blast sight, where most of the mutilated body lay (surrounded by strangely untouched hedges), so I started back the way I'd come and took the first path to the right that I found.

There were deadly things in this maze. I was lucky I hadn't been knocked unconscious, at the very least, by that banshee. I was seriously considering sending up red sparks right now. I wasn't really in danger, but I didn't want to stay in this maze. I didn't care about winning. And I knew that, somewhere, Alistair Hellion was also in this maze, for reasons unknown, but most likely looking for me. I stopping, looking down at my wand. Maybe it would be best if I just sent up red sparks now.

But wouldn't that show Alistair Hellion where you are? my braid argued. What if he's counting on that? Shooting red sparks up wouldn't just show the aurors where I was. It would show anyone else who ates to look.

As I was considering this, I became aware of a high pitched buzzing sound coming from behind me. Slowly, I turned to look over my shoulder, just in time to be blinded by a blue wave. Not of water, but of pixies. They pulled at my hair and clothes, jabbering loudly in very high voices that would have been painful to hear if I hadn't just heard a banshee. The swarm flew on after a few moments of me batting them away. More of an annoyance than a hindrance, really, though one did bite me. I held my hand up in the light of my wand and saw minuscule teeth marks. It had drawn about a drop of blood. I wiped it on my jacket, ignoring the stinging, and walked on.

For another ten minutes, I walked through the maze. I hit dead ends a few times. I was getting seriously turned around, too. More than once, when I was backtracking, I could have sworn the path had turned off at a certain place. Either my memory was bad, or the hedges were moving.

Or something was blocking me in.

I would not put it past anyone who worked with the Predatels to slowly block me in a smaller and smaller area as I tried to get through the maze. Toy with me. Terrify me. Make me question my own mind.

Like I was doing right then. Snap out of it, Astra. This paranoia was not going to get me anywhere.

I hadn't heard any unusual sounds for a good ten minutes. No sign of my fellow champions. No obstacles. Not even the small animals scurrying across the path that I'd encountered earlier. I'd started to get an eerie feeling that I was being watched, but I didn't see or hear anything, and chalked that up to the paranoia speaking.

There is something completely terrifying about being alone in a maze in the dark. I'm sure it's bad enough for people with nothing to fear, but every second I expected to turn the corner and see another banshee, or something much worse. Honestly, though, seeing anything at all would have made me less tense. It had been fifteen minutes since the pixie storm, and I hadn't seen sign of anything, alive or otherwise.

I turned a corner to find a tall hedge blocking the way. Yet another dead end. I sighed and turned back. I would take the fork I'd just passed. I knew that one was there. I'd been paying attention to that stuff recently.

I walked down the way I'd come, scanning the bushes to my left for the opening. I walked for a full minute, then stopped. It should have already been there. Maybe I'd simply been looking the wrong way...

With serious doubts, I turned and started back once again, watching both sides for any sign of an opening that should have been there. I'd seen it. I'd even taken a few steps into it to assure it was real, in case I did come up on a dead end soon. What on earth was going on?

A twig snapped, and I froze in place.

"Who's there?" I called, fighting to keep my voice steady. Surely, if it was one of the other champions, they would show themselves. However, no one appeared from the darkness. No friendly voice called out in answer. The eerie feeling that I was being watched came back, and I was growing more uncomfortable by the minute.

It's just a boggart or something, I told myself, holding my wand up to make the circle of light extend as far as possible. Something was behind me. I couldn't hear anything, but I could feel the presence of something there. Before I could turn, the something, or better, the someone, had grabbed my arm.

I was sucked into blackness before I could scream.

~~~~

Short chapter. Oh well. Things are always shorter when it's closer to the climax!

Question of the Day: What do you think would happen if a ghost flew through the veil in the Ministry of Magic?

Vote and comment!

~Ellie