94 hp Diagon Alley

He only saw pictures of it in the "Monster Book of Monsters".

It's the Sphinx.Its body resembles that of a terrifyingly large lion: huge claws, a long yellow tail, and a tuft of hairs at the tip.But it has the head of a woman.She turned her long almond eyes to him as Harry approached.He raised his wand, hesitated.She didn't squat down to pounce, but just walked up and down to get in his way.Then she spoke, her voice low and hoarse.

"You're very close to your goal. The quickest way is to get past me."

"Then... can you please let me go?" said Harry, who knew what the answer was.

"No," she continued walking, "unless you can answer my riddle. One guess—I'll let you go. No guess—I'll pounce. No answer—I'll let you go. You go away without hurting you."

Harry's heart sank a little.It was Hermione's forte, but not his.He weighed it, and if the riddle was too difficult, he could not answer it, the Sphinx would not hurt him, and he could find another way to the center of the maze.

"Okay," he said, "can I hear the riddle?"

The sphinx sat on her hind legs, in the middle of the road, and read:

First think about who always wears a mask,

The actions are secretive, and the lies are repeated.

And tell me something is always mended,

The middle of the middle, the tail of the tail?

Finally tell me when I can't think of words

Which word is often spoken.

Now put them together and answer me,

What's an animal you don't want to kiss?

Harry stared at her dumbfounded.

Harry tried to think of himself as Hermione, using her thoughts to clear up the clues of the mystery over and over again, and finally almost had a flash of inspiration

"spy...er...spy...er..." Harry paced. "The animal I don't want to kiss... is a spider! Spider!"

The sphinx smiled more affectionately.She stood up, straightened her front legs, and stepped aside.

"Thank you!" Harry was surprised by his cleverness and rushed over.

Harry ran away, and there was a fork in the road. "Show me the way!" he said to the wand again, which turned and pointed to a path to the right.He ran along the road and saw the light ahead.

The Tri-Wind Cup shone seductively on the base 100 meters away.Suddenly a dark figure rushed into the road ahead of him.

Cedric took the lead, and he was sprinting for the trophy at full speed.Harry knew he couldn't catch up anyway.Cedric was much taller and had longer legs than he—

Then Harry saw something huge over the hedge on the left, moving so fast this way along a crossing of roads, that Cedric was about to crash into it, but Cedric was so focused on the trophy that he didn't see it. ——

"Cedric!" Harry yelled, "watch out to the left!"

Cedric turned and saw it, dodged hastily, and avoided colliding with the thing, but the movement was so violent that he fell.Harry saw Cedric's wand fly out, and a huge spider crawled over and bent down on Cedric.

"Dizzy! Obstacles! Stupid!" Harry shouted.

It didn't work - maybe the spider was too big, or its magic was so strong that the spell didn't work on it, but irritated it even more.Harry saw in horror the eight gleaming black eyes and sharp pincers, and the spider had already swooped on him.

The spider lifted him into the air with its front legs, and he struggled desperately.He tried to kick it with his foot, but his legs touched its pincers, and there was a sharp pain immediately.Without thinking, he pointed his wand at the spider's underbelly, and yelled "Swollen!" as he had done to the snails; Cedric uttered the same incantation.The combination of the two spells did what the one spell couldn't: the spider fell sideways, crushing a hedge, its long, hairy legs sprawled across the ground.

"Harry!" he heard Cedric cry, "are you all right? It didn't fall on you?"

"No." Harry called out breathlessly.He looked down at his leg, bleeding profusely.There was something sticky on the torn robe, which was secreted from the spider's pincers.He tried to stand up, but his legs shook so badly that he couldn't support the weight of his body.He leaned against the hedge, panting, and looked around.

Cedric stood just a foot away from the Triwizard Cup, the trophy gleaming behind him.

"Take it," Harry gasped to Cedric, "take it, you've arrived."

Cedric didn't move.He stood there looking at Harry, then back at the trophy, and Harry could see the longing look on Cedric's face in the golden light of the trophy.Cedric looked back at Harry, who was barely standing up against the hedge.Cedric took a deep breath.

"You take it, you deserved to win. You saved my life twice."

"That's not the rule," said Harry.He was annoyed, his leg was hurting so badly, and now he was hurting all over trying to get rid of the spider, and after so much effort, he lost to Cedric again, like that time when he asked Cho to dance. "Whoever comes first scores, you go first. I'm telling the truth, I can't run a race with this leg."

Cedric took a few steps towards the unconscious spider, away from the trophy.He shook his head.

"Do not."

"Stop being in style," said Harry impatiently, "take it, we can get out."

"You told me about the dragons," said Cedric, "and if you hadn't warned me, I would have been knocked out of the first event."

"That's when I got help first," said Harry irritably, trying to wipe the blood from his legs with his robes. "You told me the secret of the golden egg - we're even."

"It was also someone who helped me first," Cedric said.

"We're still even." Harry carefully tested his injured leg, which shook violently as soon as he put the weight on it, and he sprained his ankle when he was thrown by the spider.

"You should have scored higher on the second item," Cedric said stubbornly. "You stayed behind and rescued all the hostages. I should have done that, too."

"I'm the only one who was stupid enough to take that song seriously!" Harry said angrily, "Get the trophy!"

"No," said Cedric.He stepped over the tangled spider legs to Harry's side.Harry glared at him.Cedric is serious.He was giving up an honor that Hufflepuff House had not received for centuries.

"Go ahead," said Cedric.It looked like it took all his willpower to say that.But his expression was firm, and he folded his arms, as if he had made up his mind.

Harry's eyes moved to the trophy.In the light of the trophy, he was in a trance for a moment, as if he saw himself walking out of the maze holding it.He raised the Triwizard Cup aloft, hearing the cheers of the crowd; he saw Qiu's face filled with admiration, more clearly than ever... Then the illusion disappeared, and he saw Cedric's stubborn face in the dim .

"Let's go together," said Harry.

"what?"

"Two people take it at the same time, and Hogwarts still wins. We are tied for the championship."

Cedric glared at Harry and let go of his arms.

"You—really want to?"

"Of course," said Harry, "of course... we helped each other get through it, didn't we? The two of us got here together, let's go get it together."

For a moment Cedric seemed unable to believe his ears, then he broke into a smile.

"Listen to you, come on."

He grabbed Harry's arm and helped Harry limp toward the trophy.When they got there, the two each raised their hands above a shiny handle.

"Count to three, will you?" Harry said, "One-two-three-"

He and Cedric each grabbed a handle.

Suddenly Harry felt as though he had been pulled at the back of his navel.His legs were off the ground, but he couldn't let go of the Triwizard Cup, which dragged him forward amid howling winds and swirling colors, Cedric beside him.

Off the court, at the moment when the two warriors met in the Triwizard Cup, although Gwen didn't see anything, she was almost passed out from the pain in her temples, and George put his arms around her back. Gwen didn't slide out of the seat.

"What's wrong!" he shouted anxiously.

"I don't know," said Gwen, in a daze, her eyes out of focus, nothing but fog.The excruciating feeling didn't subside after a minute, and she instinctively said, "For Merlin's sake, Harry must make good use of his invisibility cloak."

Harry felt his feet hit the ground, his injured leg gave way, and he fell to the ground, finally letting go of the Triwizard Cup.He looks up.

"Where are we?" he asked.

Cedric shook his head.He stood up and pulled Harry up, and the two of them looked around.

It was completely outside the boundaries of Hogwarts, and they had apparently flown miles—perhaps hundreds, because not even the hills surrounding the castle had disappeared.They stood in a dark, overgrown cemetery and could see the black silhouette of a small church behind a tall yew tree to the right.On the left is a hill.Harry could make out a fine old house on the hillside.

Cedric looked down at the Triwizard Cup, then up at Harry.

"Did anyone ever tell you that the trophy was a portkey?" he asked.

"No," said Harry.He looked at the cemetery, surrounded by dark