The ogre has found it's way,

to the place where no one dares to stay

In the Shrieking Shack, there it sleeps,

take him out before he sweeps

The School of Magic, on the eclipse

the big tree thrashes,

everything it smashes.

The one who all despises,

is anxious for the day it rises.

The first morning light of sunrise bathes my back as I stare at the words, my fingers curled painfully in my hair. Copies upon copies of the same couple of sentences litter the floors and mahogany desk. I scrape my heels absently on the hardwood floor, begging my brain to absorb anything at all.

I guess I'll have to fight an ogre.... At the shrieking shack. That part is pretty clear. It's the last paragraph I can't make sense of. Big Tree? The one who all despises?

I growl, and push the chair backward,standing. Slight snoring comes from the row of beds behind me, and I see the rise and fall of Angeline's shoulders in her bed. I'm the only one really awake, right now. Who would wake up with me, anyway?

Rubbing my shoulders, I pad to the window and peer out at the Hogwarts fields. fresh snow dots the grass, and shimmers like honey in the rising light. The only trace of life is a single, gigantic figure, pulling a cart filled with some form of glittering eggs. I watch it, perplexed, as it makes it's way to the forest. The dark trees spew fog, but the figure doesn't hesitate to trek into the blackness.

I don't have time for this. I need to figure out the riddle. Whatever the 'eclipse' is, it will mark the beginning and end of the second task.

Not bothering to really change, I slip my cloak over my pajamas, and tug on combat boots. Gathering a fistful of copies of the riddle, I glance at Angeline's sleeping form again. As if summoned, she turns so I can see her face, and her eyes open slightly. They fall onto me, and my heart sinks. I've never seen her eyes look so cold and dead of meaning. We stare at eachother for a moment, before she turns her back, and promptly falls back to sleep.

I sigh, and step out of the chambers.

~~

"Yup. The solar eclipse is bound to happen, today." The whispers of two Hogwarts students stop me in my tracks. I glance over my shoulder at them, perking my ears to hear more. A tall boy with dark, fawn skin and freckles is the one who spoke.

"Yeah, makes sense." A girl with similar skin and a mass of ringlety hair replies. she leans in closer. "Do you think it will have to do with the Triwizard Tournament?" she asks softly.

"Most definitely. You know the Headmasters would never let up a thing like this." The boy says. The girl nods.

"The task will probably have something t do with the Whomping Willow. You've heard the stories, surely, about how it reacts to the eclipse?"

"Yeah. Professor Rillin even told me to steer clear, tonight." "Er, excuse me?" I hear myself say, and feel my feet turn to face them. The jump when I approach, as if they didn't realize I was here. Who does? I try to smile as politely as I can. "Um, sorry to bother you, but do you have any idea where this um, 'Whomping Willow' is?"

The girl peers at me for a moment. "Hey, I know you. You're the champion from Durmstrang, right?" she asks. I try to keep the smile plastered to my face.

"That's right. Um, but about the Whomping Willow-"

"I'm Jem." The boy interrupts, thrusting out his broad hand to shake. I take it hesitantly, and open my mouth to ask my question again, when the girl cuts me off by thrusting her own hand out.

"Name's Lucy." she says. We shake. She stares at me harder, and a smile breaks her lips. "You're the champion who pushed somebody into the punch bowl, right?" I scowl. I had forgotten about that.

"Look, can you two direct me to the Whomping Willow?" I demand, more forceful than I anticipated.

"Oh, you don't want to go there." Jem says, shaking his head, "It's mad! It'll kill you, if you go tonight." Lucy elbows him hard in the ribs.

"Idiot! It's for the tournament!" she growls. She turns her excited eyes on me. "I'm right, aren't I?"

I sigh. "Yes. Yes, it is."

"Great! we'll take you there." Lucy chirps, and loops her arm with mine. She begins tugging me down the corridor, Jem following behind. Lucy continues to blabber as we walk. "You're accent is so funny! Durmstrang is in Bulgaria, so you're Bulgarian, right? What year are you in? I'm a fourth year, but you must be older, if you got into the tournament. Do you like Hogwarts? It's different than your school, right? I've never been outside of England before, but my mum says..."

I'm lead outside, onto the Hogwarts grounds. Jem is silent, and slightly ominous, and I sometimes catch him staring at me. He's so tall, the tip of my head barely reaches one of his broad shoulders. Lucy either is unaware of him, or just doesn't care. We walk deeper and deeper into the more shadowy part of the campus, and I try to nod to what Lucy is saying, despite not really listening.

We stop in front of a gnarled willow tree, that towers above us. The branches reach into the sky like claws, and the twisted knobs in the trunk remind me of warped faces. It seems harmless from a distance, but I notice the small twitches and creaks that emanate from it. I gulp.

"Here it is!" Lucy says.

"It's... huge." I sum up. I frown. Okay, so I've found the tree. But what does this have to do with the Shrieking Shack, or an Ogre?

"Um, what about the Shrieking Shack? Can we go see that?"

Lucy scoffs. "Wow, you're really serious!" she says, and shakes her head, "Well, the Shack is in Hogsmeade, and that's closed to students right now." My shoulders sag. Great.

"You know, there are rumors that there's a connection between the shack and this tree..." Jem says thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. He stares at the tree, as if searching it's fat trunk for a door. I frown. How could that work? Hogsmeade is a long ways away. Unless this tree is going to catapult me there, I don't have much faith in the 'connection.'

"When does the eclipse start?" I ask.

Lucy stares up at the sun, crawling steadily into the sky. "Like, in twenty minutes."

I groan through my clenched teeth. This is all wrong... Everything in the riddle is so strange... I sigh, and rub the bridge of my nose. Maybe it's better that I don't figure this one out. Can I really take on an Ogre, or whatever this riddle is talking about? It would be much easier to just quit... all this tournament has led to is trouble, at least for me. I don't think I have the energy or moral fibre to continue....

"We should look for clues!" Lucy says, splitting through my train of thought. She bundles her robes around her and scrambles forward, to the trunk of the tree.

"Lucy! Get away from there!" Jem growls in exasperation. The branches groan as she draws nearer and nearer to the roots.

"Hey, maybe you shouldn't-" I begin, but Lucy's squeal of excitement cuts me off.

"There are so many knobs, here! They could be, like, buttons to a secret passage!" she says.

"Lucy, enough. Let's go." Jem says. He shoots me a look. "Sorry we couldn't help more."

"No, thanks for showing me." I sigh. Jem shrugs.

"Look!" Lucy suddenly jabs her finger to the sky. I follow her gaze, and can't stop a gasp from bubbling over my lips. A black orb stalks toward the sun, growing closer and closer. The clouds have faded into shades of purple and pink, and the sun looks as if it's a ball of fire. "The eclipse is starting! We should-"

The willow suddenly roars, and it's branches begin to swing madly, spreading to their full length and thrashing at anything that moves. I scream and scramble back as a thick branch clamps down on the place where I had just been standing. Jem grabs me around the waist to steady me.

"Lucy!"

The only reply is Lucy's wail of terror, as the trunk spins to swat at the ground. Through the mass of branch limbs, I see her cling onto the wood at the center, her curly hair flying around her. Another branch swings toward Jem and I, and he forces me away. We land in a heap on the ground, my elbow in his face and his nose is in my hair.

"G-get up!" I screech, as another branch comes hurtling toward us.

"I am trying!" Jem growls, trying to entangle himself from me. The branch swings back, ready for impact. I close my eyes, and prepare myself for a lot of pain. Jem tenses beside me, and I think he says something over the roar of the groaning tree, before the air is suddenly split with silence.

The only sound is my own ragged breathing and heart beat, and I can feel beads of nervous sweat pooling down my forehead. Cautiously, I open my eyes.

The branch is suspended above us, barely a meter from our faces. It's leaves settle, and it's like it never moved to begin with. Shaking, I sit up, and scramble out from under the branch's shadow. Jem just wheezes on the grass. He stares at the tree in horror.

"I did it!" Lucy's shaking voice splits the silence, "I pressed a knob, and the tree froze!" I force my gaze away from the tree to stare at her. Her eyes are wide with excitement, despite her torn robes and twig-littered hair. "There's some sort of tunnel!"

"Can you stand?" I ask Jem. He manages a nod. I offer him my hand to help him up. He takes it gratefully. Still shaking, I pick my way towards Lucy. She's crouched delicately over a dark tunnel at the base of the tree's roots, peering into the blackness. When we approach, she looks up at Jem and I in anticipation.

"This must be the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack!" she says, "The rumors were true!" Before I can say anything, she drops into the tunnel, her robes and hair billowing around her.

"Lucy-" Jem manages to say. He looks as if he's about to drop unconscious.

"C'mon! The eclipse will be happening any second!" Lucy calls up to us. Jem and I exchange bedraggled glances, before I lead the way down into the darkness.

The pink light of Lucy's wand illuminates the tunnel when we fall down beside her. I peer into the depths of the tunnel, but all I can see is more darkness. A feeble, cool breeze buffets my face.

"Let's go." Lucy says, taking a step forward.

"Wait." I grab her arm. She turns to look at me, blinking. I swallow. "Look, maybe you shouldn't come with me. There's... Supposed to an ogre..."

"You can't be serious." Jem's voice from behind surprises me. I turn to look up at him. He looks exhausted, and blood is welling up from a scratch on his cheek. But his eyes are determined. "We're not leaving you to fight an ogre, or whatever."

I frown. "I'm not supposed to have help."

"At least let us come!" Lucy pleads, tugging on my sleeve. Her dark eyes are wide, like the eyes of a begging puppy. "I've never done something so exciting!"

I hesitate, but give a tiny nod. "Okay." I sigh. I know I shouldn't have help, but I also don't want to be alone, especially in this dark tunnel...

"Then let's go." Jem lights up his wand, and it's yellow light joins Lucy's pink light. I take out my own wand to enhance our way.

~~

"Do you hear that?" Lucy suddenly whispers. I sigh. Finally, a break from all of her chattering. We've been walking for about ten minutes, with no sign of any exit. Lucy hasn't lost her energy, and Jem has regained his stormy demeanor.

"Shhh." Jem hisses. I actually pay attention to what they're saying, and crane my ears. Sure enough, a low growl echoes from deeper into the tunnel. It sounds like... breathing. My stomach drops, like a cold stone. I want to turn back, to forget this whole thing. It would be that easy...

"Is that the ogre?" Lucy whispers to me.

"I-I don't know." I admit. Attempting to swallow my fear, I step forward, and force myself to walk further into the darkness. The scraping of Lucy and Jem's shoes behind me is both comforting and worrying. One of us could get seriously hurt, if I really have to fight an ogre. How did the headmasters even get a ogre into the shack to begin with?

I suddenly bump into an incline, and lower my wand to look at a clump of raggedy steps leading upward. I cautiously begin to climb, waving my wand to keep a look out for some form of door, or exit. The breathing grows steadily louder.

My wand suddenly scrapes against wood: a cellar-like door, in the ceiling of the tunnel. I run my hands across it's dusty edge until I find a lever. My fingers curl against the cool metal. I gulp, and look down at my feet. I don't know what I'm going to face, or how I'm going to get past it... Wands alive, I'm scared.

"Mia?" Lucy whispers. Her voice makes me jolt back into reality.

"I'm fine." I say. I turn to look at the two Hogwarts student, and manage a tiny smile. "Well, here I go."

With a heave, I wrench the door open. It gives way easier than I intended, and grey, dusty light bathes my face. I peer out at the room around me. It's old and destroyed: the wallpaper has been torn by what looks like animal scratches, and wood panels and nails barricade the floor. The few pieces of furniture have been brutally shredded. The breathing is an ominous roar. I crane to look at the source, and almost lose my lunch.

It definitely is an ogre. It's greenish, leathery back is all I can see, but it's as wide and as thick as an elephant. It's cone-like head is propped up against a torn couch, and it's snore seems to practically shake the entire building. And the stench... it is foul enough to knock out a herd of centaurs. It's shoulders are hunched, as if it's protecting something in it's massive, hairy arms, but I can't see.

Gulping, I ease my way out of the door, as quietly as possible, and close the door behind me. The ogre doesn't stir. I hold my wand tight, and pad to the ogre's side. The smell is so powerful I have to hold my sleeve over my nose and mouth. Carefully, I move to it's other side, so I can see what it's holding. My heart plummets, and terror shoots through me.

It's not the ogre's face, although that's enough to cause me to drop unconscious. No, it's the pale, snake-like face of what it cradles. I've heard stories of Voldemort since I was a baby. He's supposed to be dead... So why does it look so much like him? The thing opens it's red eyes, and stares at me weakly. Blood oozes from a blow on it's head. It whimpers like a child, and extends a shaky, translucent hand to me. "Save...me..."

I stagger backward, and shut my eyes tight. Not real, not real, not real, not real... I curl my hands into my scalp and double over. Not real, not real, not real...

"M-Mia?" the voice warps into a higher, girlish voice. A voice that is all to familiar. I force my eyes open. The Voldemort look-alike has been replaced with a blonde, slender girl, bleeding in the same spot on her head. Angeline's doll-like face crumples in pain as she stares at me, her blue eyes pleading. I clamp my hand over my mouth to keep back a sob of horror. How is this happening? How can this possibly be real?

I stumble, and the wood creaks beneath my boots. The ogre snorts, and opens it's yellow eyes slowly. I freeze in terror as it stares at me. It growls, revealing yellow stained teeth, and pulls Voldemort-Angeline closer to it. Angeline whimpers.

Letting out a blood-curdling roar, the ogre works it's way to it's feet, towering over me. I freeze. The ogre's smushed face curls in fury, and it swipes an arm out me. With a yelp, I duck under the sofa, barely escaping it's blow. The ogre pounds closer, snarling and trying to peer at me over it's bulkish weight. Voldemort-Angeline shifts in it's arm into a giant, wriggling snake, flashing it's fangs weakly as it tries to escape the ogre's grasp. I hear a wail of horror escape my lips.The ogre clenches it's hold on the snake, it's eyes set on me. He roars, and leans down to grab me around the waist.

I dart for cover, running around the ogre's feet. My blood pounds in my ears. What do I do, What do I do? The ogre turns slowly around to face me again. The giant snake shifts into the lifeless body of my uncle. I can't stop the scream as I stare at the flopping corse, blood oozing out of his mouth...

"Mia! It's a boggart!" Lucy's cry penetrates my panicking mind slowly. The ogre roars, and moves to attack me again, but I keep my eyes trained on the corpse in it's hands. A boggart?

"Look out!" Jem shouts, as the ogre's fist looms over me. I leap away just in time, tumbling on the ground. I cry out as I feel shards of glass pierce my back, and red spots cloud my vision. The ogre moves forward, and reaches down to pick me up...

"Mia!" I hear Lucy's scream as a dull throb in my mind. The boggart shifts into Angeline again, but she isn't bleeding, anymore. She glares down at me with fire in her eyes and madness in the lines of her face.

"You fool! Why didn't you save me? You let everyone down, Mia! You're a waste! I hope you die!" Boggart Angeline shrieks at me. My chin wobbles, and tears leak out of my eyes. "Stop pretending! You are nothing! Nobody cares!" "I'm... sorry..." I whimper.

"Mia, get up!" Jem cries, "Use your wand!"

My hands fumble over my wand by themselves. It's like I'm watching myself raise it, and point it between the ogre's eyes. The ogre gives another deafening roar, it's spittle falling on my face. Gritting my teeth, I gather the energy I need at the tip of my tongue.

"Avifors!" I wail. The spell shoots forward in a burst of blue light, hitting the ogre squarely in the face. It's face crumples, and it drops the boggart onto the ground. It's body suddenly begins to shake, and the massive ogre is lifted into the air. With a gigantic burst of light, the ogre is replaced with a tiny blue bird, fluttering feebly.

"Mia!" Lucy and Jem cry in unison. I allow myself a tiny smile, and the world tips back and shuts it's eyes.