Durmstrang's champion Natasha had just escaped the fire dragon and was leaning against the wall to catch her breath when she suddenly heard a rustling noise from the passage ahead.
Alert, she stood up and saw something that looked like a spider scuttling quickly along—carrying a golden egg.
Natasha froze for a moment, then swiftly fired an Impediment Jinx. But the light of the spell only grazed the spider magic doll's body and smashed into the stone wall beside it.
She was about to give chase when a furious voice roared:
"Stop! Incendio Maxima!"
A wave of fire-serpents swept across, and the spider magic doll exploded with a sharp crackle, sending the golden egg rolling away.
Immediately, Abby of Salem charged into view, her reddish-brown hair flying behind her. Without hesitation, she lunged toward the egg. Midway, her eyes met Natasha's. Startled, she instantly swung her wand around.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
"Incarcerous!"
The two spells collided in midair, scattering off in opposite directions.
In that very instant, a mantis magic doll suddenly shot out of the vines, snatched up the golden egg as it rolled toward the wall, and before Natasha could react, it had already darted into another passage holding the prize aloft.
"Wait—leave the egg!"
Neither girl could spare another thought for fighting each other. Both dashed after it.
The next moment, Salem's Samuel and Hope also came barreling out of the passage. Natasha immediately stopped short, pressed herself against the wall, and politely let the three of them rush past her.
Three against one—the odds of winning were far too low. Better to give up early.
…
"Diffindo!"
The mantis doll split cleanly in half, and the golden egg tumbled free once again. Then a locust doll dropped from above, latching directly onto Abby's face. She shrieked, blinded, and crashed headlong into the wall!
Hope ran forward, seized the locust by its lower half, and smashed it to the ground before crushing it underfoot.
Abby, who was actually terrified of insects, frantically slapped at her face and clothes in panic. Only after Hope hauled her to her feet did she see that Samuel had already destroyed another ant doll trying to steal the egg, snatching the egg for himself.
"That was far too close," Samuel muttered with a pale face shadowed with gloom. "That guy only used a handful of magic dolls, and we were already scrambling like fools. If we had to face him directly…"
"He brought dolls into the maze!" Abby scowled. "Why don't the judges count that as cheating?"
"Because his dolls must have been made here, on the spot." Hope crouched and nudged the remains of the locust construct. "See? All of this is just made from materials already in the passage."
Abby, who had still been a little angry, fell silent when she saw the jumble of dead leaves, vines, and twigs.
After a pause, she spoke with a mix of awe and respect: "His alchemy… is truly incredible."
Hope nodded silently in agreement.
The three instinctively did not want to run into Wade Grey again. They decided to head back together through the previous passage. Their silence matched their heavy, dragging footsteps.
After returning to the Golden Compass room, Abby and the others found several people already there—some had just arrived, while others, like Natasha, had passed through earlier.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at the other side of the passage. Samuel strode over quickly, and then his mouth also fell open.
At the entrance of the passage, a spider-shaped magic doll had woven a web out of vines.
Of course, such a powerless obstruction could easily be destroyed by anyone present. What caught their attention, however, was that several dolls clinging to the web were pulling fibers from their own bodies, forming a line of text—
[Thank you for your enthusiastic cooperation. All the remaining golden eggs are with me. —W.G.]
In truth, even without the signature, seeing the dolls was enough for everyone to know who was behind it.
"Flames ablaze!"
Mantra's Ganish cast a fire spell. A blast of especially fierce and overwhelming flame shot out, reducing the spider-web dolls to ashes.
He looked around at the others and said loudly: "I don't believe he took all the golden eggs by himself. Who's coming with me to check inside?"
The group fell silent. After a pause, Natasha finally said softly: "Ganish, you came late, so you didn't see… Just now, a doll carrying several golden eggs slipped right into that passage, right under our noses."
She pointed toward another passage.
Ganish followed her gesture, then turned back, frowning in disbelief as he asked:
"And you? You just stood there and watched the doll steal the eggs?"
His mind was a mess: Could the egg-stealing doll really be that powerful? The ones here are all fragile pushovers!
"It's mainly because it disguised itself too well." Zaid of Al-Qadim rubbed his nose awkwardly and muttered in defense: "That puppet looked exactly like a vine. If it hadn't accidentally dropped a golden egg at the last moment, even after entering the passage we might not have realized it."
Who could have imagined it? In the middle of a swarm of insect dolls, one had blended in as a plant. Other dolls were so rough they looked like beggars—nobody would pick them up even if they were thrown on the ground.
Yet that vine doll was so realistic it was hard to tell even up close, let alone in corridors already filled with vines.
"Accidentally?" Ganish rubbed his temples in frustration. "Have you ever seen a doll make a 'mistake'? It must have dropped the egg on purpose, to lure us over!"
Natasha sighed. "But could we really ignore it?"
After a long silence, Ganish, still unwilling to give up, went in to explore. The others, whatever they were thinking, followed him inside as well.
For a group like this, traps of this level posed little difficulty. They passed through smoothly, only to find—as expected—that every mechanism that once held golden eggs was now empty. They had no choice but to retreat the way they came.
"We were played." Samuel whispered to Abby: "If we hadn't been lured away, we might've noticed the mechanisms being tampered with… or at least spotted the suspicious vine puppet!"
Abby's face remained grim, saying nothing.
When the group returned to the chamber, they found yet another person had appeared—Olga Russ of Koldovstoretz.
His face was twisted with irritation, though his words remained polite enough: "Looks like something unexpected happened here?"
He swept his gaze across their expressions and asked.
After understanding the situation, Olga was just as decisive: "Then let's go. Since the competition requires golden eggs, and only Wade Grey has them, naturally we must go find him."
Before anyone could respond, he strode straight into the passage where Wade was.
Everyone else: "..."
Well… yes… that made sense, but—can't we at least discuss a plan first?
Hesitating for a moment, the others eventually followed one after another.
The three from Salem had hardly spoken all along. They deliberately slowed their pace, naturally falling to the back of the group.
Blocking the others' line of sight, Abby shifted slightly, and Samuel gave a casual flick of his arm. A golden egg dropped lightly into Hope's robe pocket.
Even though it wasn't made of solid gold, the egg was still quite heavy. The moment it fell into place, Hope felt it at once. Wide-eyed, she looked at the two of them in surprise.
"Don't say a word," Samuel whispered, his lips barely moving. "Take this golden egg and leave first."
Abby gave a small nod. "Exactly. Hope, this isn't for me or for you—it's for the honor of our school."
"Of the three of us, you're the one most likely to win the championship. You can't afford to fall here, on the very first trial," Samuel said softly. "While the others haven't noticed us, go quickly. Understand?"
Hope gripped the golden egg in her pocket, and nodded firmly as tears welled in her eyes.
"What are you crying for?" Abby teased lightly. "It's not like we're parting forever."
…
The seemingly frail girl touched the compass, and her figure vanished in an instant. As for the others, they had already disappeared deep into the passage.
Harry let out a breath of relief and turned to Cedric. "How are you feeling?"
At this moment, he was glad that after obtaining the golden egg, he had gone back to rescue Cedric. Otherwise, they would have run straight into that crowd earlier—not only losing the egg, but perhaps even suffering their anger.
Cedric, limp all over, dragged his two sack-like legs and gave a bitter smile. "Still alive."
Harry glanced at Cedric's legs with sympathy and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry. Just one night, and Madam Pomfrey will have you fixed."
"When did you learn such… such a dangerous spell?" Cedric asked in surprise.
Moments earlier, when Cedric had been trapped, both of them had been at a loss. Then Harry suddenly said he had an idea—it would cause a bit of harm to the body, and asked Cedric if he was willing to try.
If he didn't get out, Cedric would surely be eliminated, so of course he agreed. He hadn't expected Harry to fire off two spells in succession—pulling out all the bones from both of his legs!
Without bones, Cedric was easily dragged out of the trap by Harry. But now, with two floppy legs, he couldn't even "walk" without relying on Harry's Levitation Charm. He honestly didn't know what else he could do.
"Wade taught me," Harry said. Then, after pausing—realizing it was probably dark magic—he added, "Professor Gilderoy Lockhart once used this spell on me. Wade saw it, memorized it, and later taught it to me."
"How terrifying," Cedric sighed. "It feels like these legs aren't even mine anymore… You two shouldn't go learning every spell you come across!"
"We just thought it was interesting—we've never actually used it on anyone else."
When they reached the compass, Harry placed the golden egg that the doll had given him into Cedric's hands.
Cedric refused. "This is the golden egg you earned—I can't take it!"
"The students from Salem are right. The one with the better chance of winning should clear this task first. Besides, I still want to check on Wade… maybe I can help him a little."
Harry spoke earnestly, and with a wave of his wand, Cedric—floating despite his resistance—was helplessly pushed onto the compass, carrying that precious golden egg with him.
By the rules, whether or not he wanted to admit it, he had already cleared the challenge.
As Cedric's figure vanished from the compass, Harry fell into a daze.
He imagined himself walking away with the golden egg, lifting the trophy soon after, with countless people cheering for him, and Cho watching him the whole time with her eyes gleaming with a light he had never seen before and her face bright with a sweet smile.
Then the hero of the fantasy shifted—it was Cedric now. The girl Harry liked stood at Cedric's side and looked at him as she said: "Thank you, Harry, you've helped us so much…"
Harry couldn't help but regret his moment of noble selflessness. Then anger at himself followed, and he slapped both sides of his face hard.
The illusion vanished. In front of him was still the dimly lit chamber, now bearing far more traces of spells than before.
Harry gripped his wand and strode deeper into the passage.
…
"What a struggle! The third champion has successfully passed the task—oh, though not without trouble! Healers! Healers! Quickly, check Mr. Diggory's legs… Now let's turn to see what the rest of the champions are up to…"
Under Bagman's commentary, the Scottish Black Dragon was roaring in fury, stomping, and lashing its tail with all its might against the barrier that held it.
Just now, it had seen another figure appear at the tunnel's entrance—but then that wizard suddenly vanished!
The dragon had grown a bit more experienced. It knew that every time the entrance spat out a new wizard, it was in for another round of torment.
These wizards had done nothing but torment it—poking its eyes with spells, slicing open its belly, stripping off scales, and one had nearly blasted its rear to pieces!
The Scottish Black Dragon was almost driven insane. It spewed fire wildly across every inch of the ground, trying to burn the vanished wizard to ash, then beat its wings to rise a short distance before slamming down hard, stamping furiously!
If anyone had really been there, they'd have been roasted to cinders, then flattened into black dust.
With one eye still bleeding, the enraged dragon completely failed to notice a sand rat, looking very much like an ordinary rodent, leap onto its claw, scurry up its thigh, and boldly perch on its back!
As the dragon hopped and stomped, Jabari—the Uagadou student transformed into a sand rat—climbed a little higher, digging his claws firmly into a bony spike on the dragon's back, and gazed into the distance.
He couldn't hear the commentary, but in the stands, a Uagadou student suddenly raised a placard. Painted with glowing pigment, three large characters shone brightly: "Go! Go! Go!"
"Only three contestants have made it out?" Jabari muttered to himself. "Seems the competition inside is even more brutal than I thought… Are the judges really prepared for this outcome?"
Despite his words, his beady black eyes remained calm.
Seizing the moment when the dragon slammed back onto the ground, the sand rat slid down its tail, darted nimbly toward the compass, its four limbs working in a blur—like a rolling shadow skimming across the floor.
In no time, the sand rat leapt onto the compass. Looking at the last few contestants still struggling against the Fire Dragon, it blinked—and its field of vision shifted in an instant.
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