First to rush into the maze, the Salem team could pick their direction without any influence of teams before them. They were leading the way.

The towering hedges seemed to be so close together it was impossible not to rush down the passageways without branches clawing at faces, shoulders and tugging at hair. They were so thick and enchanted that the sound of the crowd in the stands was swallowed, and was replaced by a suffocating silence apart from the sound of the teams and their own feet.

---

Cooperate with your fellow writer to post in open order to ensure the thread continues.

When a Salem writer needs to pick a square from the maze grid (anywhere on the grid which hasn't been picked before) and once a square has been selected, what the group has encountered will be revealed by the AO account. When the Tetra cup square is picked, the team will encounter and seize the cup for victory!

The Salem team rounded a bend, keeping their eyes peeled for trouble while trying to keep up the pace to prevent the other teams from catching up. The din of the crowd was very faint now, and the sunlight seemed to be sapping away what with the cloud and the tall hedges either side of them. It was just miles of branches and greenery and a cornucopia of perils, but so far, they had encountered nothing.

Without warning, as they travelled onwards, the hedges began to grow in height rapidly, along with the grass, and the width of the path seemed to widen at a rate of knots. The sky seemed to be disappearing upwards, while the light became ever darker. In their alarm, and on turning to each other, the Salem champions discovered that it was not their surroundings growing larger and broader, but they who were shrinking to the height of a quill amongst the grass!

Taryn had taken point heading into the maze, figuring that her size would provide a useful bit of cover for Migs and the three Juniors just behind. She was already on-edge from the loss of the crowd and the eerie nature of the maze, so when she first felt the head-rushing shift of perspective it brought her up short with a swear.

"Aw, hell."

She slid to a stop, wand raised like that could help when they'd clearly already been hit. One hand caught a nearby hege keep her up-right; the sudden loss of several feet of height left her dizzy with vertigo. Still, the spell -- whatever it was -- had a less dramatic effect on the half-giant than her four companions, who were already doll-sized. They all shrank, but Taryn had further to go and did so more slowly, only now dipping into a "normal" height of under six feet. Her skin prickled with irritation of outside magic.[1]

She shook her head to clear it and moved on her first instinct, which was to scoop her the nearest of her suddenly-tiny teammates up out of the grass before she stepped on them. She snagged two of them -- a pair of Juniors -- and held on as they shrank to quill-sized and she shriveled down to five foot. "Ya'll okay? Shit, we're going down fast...We need to keep moving."

1.	Half-giant spell resistance coming into play here, slowing but not canceling the magic.

It took a couple seconds more for Migs to notice the spell's effects then it had for Taryn.  As a result, he'd had to plant his feet in a harder stop then intended to avoid running into the other senior's back.  He'd found himself ungracefully flailing his arms to the side, trying to salvage his balance.  The gesture had been insufficient.  He'd reached out to put a hand on Taryn's shoulders to avoid toppling over only to find the half-giant's shoulder moving steadily away from his hand. 

"Alright.  Who gave the Taryn the growing cakes.  She doesn't need them."  When Migs looked down towards his other classmates, Alejandro and Cam were both staring at the blades of grass quickly shooting up around them.  Brooke was still staring dumbly at Taryn.  Migs looked back up, straight into the palm of a massive hand reaching towards them.  Reflexively, he ducked, as did Alejandro next to him. 

Migs jerked his head, gesturing for Alejandro to follow him as he dashed towards the edge of the pathway.  He grasped the highest shrubbery branch he could reach and started climbing up out of the grass, trying to get level with the now quarter-giant.  "Are you thinking the spells connected with the spot?  That the effects will lift once we get out of reach?  I'm sure it's not that simple." 

"Think we can crawl through the hedge?" Alejandro asked, glancing over his shoulder into the shadows at the center of the hedge. 

"We could try," Migs suggested, glancing at the others, waiting for "yay" or "neigh" votes. 

And so on pushed the Salem champions, and their surroundings began to shrink as their bodies once again reached normal size. It would have taken them quite a while longer to get out of the way had they all been shrunk to the size of quills, but thank goodness for giant heritage which sped the team on in Taryn's grasp.

Choosing a direction at the next fork which took them in the direction of the centre of the quidditch pitch and the maze, and surely to victory, the team progressed with speed, prepared for interruptions, but one of their number was a little jumpy, and an innocent crow bursting out of the hedge above them as they passed, led to a stunning spell searing the top branches. On realising it was just a bird, and not one of the maze's challenges, the Americans were able to ever so slightly relax, until they looked ahead and realised the crow couldn't have come at a worse time.

Across the path and climbing the hedge and presumably some sort of structure below, was a plant that grew like blackberries, and clung like ivy with red vines. Quite docile if they had left, but probably none too happy if they had trampled it in their route, it was rather less pleased for the stunning spell which had shot nearby to it, and the vines were reaching towards them at a rate of knots.

'Through the hedge' it was -- the other three chimed in their assent, because it wasn't like they had time for a better plan. Hell, when there was even a hole right there, barely three feet up, though the aggressive hedge kept threatening to close it. Taryn knelt, passed Brooke and Cam into one hand and dug the other into the branches, yanking them open again. The leaves curled angrily around her fingers.

"Right. In yeh get." She flattened her hand in front of the hole, turning it into a platform for the others to hop through. It -- and she -- lost inches every minute as Cam and Brooke hurried through, tiny spells flashing to clear branches as they ran. Taryn held onto the plant for Migs and Alejandro, and then again for the few minutes it took before she shrank just enough to swing into the branches and dash through. The hole closed behind her just as she dropped to the other side.

---

The spell wore off almost instantly, the five Champions quickly returning to their proper heights. They moved before it had completely finished, the hedges apparently closing further and further in as they jogged ahead. It got claustrophobic fast and set them all on edge. When the dark shadow appeared, nearly all of them jumped.

"Stupefy!"

Taryn yelped and ducked, the Stunner passing so close that it caught the tip of her ponytail. She came back up cursing as the crow went cawing into the distance. "Dammit Cam! Watch where yer shootin'!"

"Sorry."

Little shit at least had the decency to look embarrassed by the scare. Brooke giggled into her palm and Alejandro snickered, breaking up a bit of the tension. Taryn huffed and batted at her newly-singed hair. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up chuckleheads. At least we ain't got anything serious to worry...about..."

A rustling from behind cut her off, growing louder and louder. Hairs prickling the back of her neck, Taryn turned to face the roiling vines and stumbled back just before they could grasp her ankles. "What in tarnation?"

"Baybarb!" cried Brooke. That was all the warning they got before the fake blackberries attacked.

Taryn scrambled back, seizing Cam's belt when he stumbled and hauling him with her. "Herbology, why'd it have to be frickin' Herbology?" she swore, and slashed at the vines with a reflexive Diffindo when they got too close. If they'd been a creature, they would have shrieked,surging after the pair even more aggressively. Shoving Cam behind her, Taryn crossed her arms in front of her face and took the brunt of the blow, sharp thorns ripping through skin and cloth. Wouldn't be near enough to take her down, but damn if it didn't hurt.

Once the Salem champions were clear of the clinging, tearing branches of the bayarb, they caught their breath and steadied their nerves as best they could, even though the plant had clawed at every inch. They had to press onwards, unrelenting, to find the cup and raise it to victory - there would be time to rest only then.

For two corners the Salem team trod onwards as quickly as they could, carefully looking out for danger, strange changes in the hedge that might indicate another 'friendly' plant, changes in the turf to indicate dangers beneath their feet. The maze was perhaps lulling them into a false sense of security, no peril and they were heading closer to the middle with every turn.

Pausing to decide which way at the third, they chose their direction wisely but on rounding the bend came across the path ahead and came to a halt in surprise.

The path ahead was jam packed full of furniture, as if someone had emptied a junk shop into the path ahead. A mountain of furniture fifteen foot high and several feet deep at a guess - certainly they couldn't see through it all to the other side. A check of the direction again confirmed that this was their best option, the other had been a dead end. Well, they would have to clamber over it all, but it did seem a bit odd, considering.

On approaching the furniture, something, perhaps the patchwork armchair that could be seen poking out of the middle at eye height, gave a mischievous cackle. It was so utterly pleased with itself it near hiccupped as it tittered. The furniture gave a lurch, and from the top of the pile burst a squat little man dressed in loud, outlandish clothes with orange bow tie - topped by a bell-covered hat. He was brandishing a cauldron in one hand and had a rather unsettling grin.

"Chaaaaaaaampions! Ha! Looooooooooosers!"

And while reciting a crude rhyme about Salem - one that Peeves had been perfecting and extending all year - the poltergeist began to fling items of furniture unrelentingly at the five champions.

Scratching at a scrape left by a particularly vicious bramble, Migs slid to a stop a few strides in front of the furniture pile.  He cast a quizzical glance back at his teammates and was about to crack a joke when a taunting voice drew his attention back towards the faux yard sale pile. 

"Take cover!" he called out, belatedly aware how much more difficult such a task would be fore Taryn.  He pulled a cushion off the closest couch and tossed it towards the Taryn and the others before taking a second to use as his own shield.  A few charms helped beef up the cushion's protective capabilities as a Labor Day home furnishings sale rained down around them. 

As a settee whizzed by dangerously close to Cam's head, Alejandro peaked over his cushion at the poltergeist.  Immediately, an ottoman came hurling in his direction. 

"I'm starting to regret keeping pillow fort building low on my list of skills to brush up on for the tournament," Migs admitted as he grinned, again, at his teammates. 

"Dude!" Alejandro suddenly piped up, nudging his nearest teammate with a corner of his cushion shield.  "Do you remember, our third year - the year's pranking fad -"  Alejandro shook his head.  They didn't exactly have time to walk down memory lane.  "Ricochato!" he cast on the cushions, gesturing for his classmates to do the same. 

Migs quickly followed suit.  He glanced, again, over the side of his cushion and ducked back again as a chair flew in his direction.  The chair hit the cushion but, rather than tumble to one side, the chair bounced off the cushion and went flying back towards its starting point. 

"Strike him!  Strike him!" Migs cried, reaching his own wand around the cushion to fire spells at the distracted poltergeist. 

On top of everything fantastic that had happened today, Taryn was apparently allergic to baybarb. They were barely clear of the grasping plant before the numerous cuts it'd given her flared up in an angry red rash that blistered on the edges like poison ivy.

So her good mood was not at all improved by the sudden barrage of furniture and swearing from the poltergeist. She matched her teammates' spells on her own pillow-shield and half-crouched over Brooke to provide extra cover while the junior fired off stunning spells. Deflecting a heavy storage cabinet burst several blisters and reopened one of the cuts on her arm. Taryn swore to match their foul-mouthed fiend.

"Motherfu---! To hell with this!"

Ignoring a startled yelp from Brooke, Taryn tossed her pillow away and lurched to her feet. Cackling Peeves took it as the challenge it was, flinging a full-sized leather couch right at her. Taryn caught it, two-handed, one grabbing the wooden supports underneath while the other dug into the upholstery like claws. The force sent her sliding back several feet, tearing up greenery and nearly running down Cam.

Still, Taryn didn't let it touch the ground. She switched her grip, hoisted the couch over her head, and bellowed, "SCREW YOU!" loud enough to send every bird in the maze flying for cover.

With all the force that half-giant strength could offer, she returned fire. Peeves squeaked in disbelief right before the couch hit its bulls-eye right in the center of his chest. Being partially incorporeal, it passed straight through him and shattered against the furniture mountain, causing an avalanche of cheap and broken appliances that send the dizzy Peeves tumbling down.

The three Juniors followed up with a volley of spells before the poltergeist could get his wits about him. Between their whole group, Peeves couldn't get a second to breathe, continually buried under stunners and the dying remains of a dozen bad yardsales.

Migs cast a glance towards Taryn that was at the same time sympathetic and wary.  His classmate didn't seem to be enjoying her booby-trap filled tromp through the twisting, turning maze.  He couldn't blame her, though.  The meddling poltergeist was getting on everyone's nerves, even if he'd avoided the baybarb turning him into an itchy welt. 

Alejandro jumped back from Cam as the other junior tried to scramble away from Taryn-turned Hulk.  "You go, girl!" Migs cried, thumping his wand hand against his cushion like rapping a sword hand against a shield.  As the three juniors launched hex after hex at the poltergeist, Migs tossed his cushion to the side and started edging his way around the debris to where he could get a clear, open shot of the distracted poltergeist. 

Once on the opposite side of the rubble from his teammates, Migs joined in the hexing onslaught, taking over distracted the poltergeist as he gestured for the others to follow. "Once we're all over here, we'll make a break for the corner!" he called as he lobbed an open woven hamper in the spirit's direction. 

Generations of Hogwarts students would have paid good money to watch the Salem Champions dispense of Peeves, or even to have had the chance of throwing a junk shop at the poltergeist. He had long been a source of irritation, bullying and the odd spark of redeeming humour for students and staff alike.

Furniture flung, chair legs chucked, and mountain manoeuvred, the Salem Champions emerged the other side and pressed on, determined to find the very elusive cup. As yet there had been no pomp and circumstance of a team having found it, so there was all to play for still - hopefully. The champions trotted onwards in their various states of blemishes, allergies, bumps and bruises. Their battle scars from their journey so far did not slow them down.

Eyes peeled for danger, the ground suddenly gave way beneath their feet. The grass path rigged or bewitched  in an illusion perhaps - it was hard to tell when you were falling. The landing was however soft, and they were perhaps only six feet down in the pit, so at first the optimism was that they would get to their feet and climb out. But then their soft landing moved, and in an instant their arms and legs were snared by springy tendrils, which began to apply pressure like a plant quicksand, pulling them down and tighter still as they struggled.

For the first few corners, Migs moved slowly and cautiously with his teammates.  He knew it was unwise to be lulled into a false sense of security - and 'sense of security' was far from what he was feeling - but at the same time, too much time had elapsed.  Better safe then sorry didn't really fly here.  Either they got to the cup first or they lost.  That was it.  No one was going to pat them on the back for being careful if the other champions beat them to the cup.  All of the schools wanted to win, of course.  It was the Tournament Cup.  But, they had something to prove.  For Salem.  They had to prove to the other schools that it had been right to include them in the tournament. 

He quickened his pace, breaking into a trot though he kept his wand at the ready.  They passed a corner and another and moved down a straightaway.  There was a spring in his step for one stride, his momentum carrying him across the unsupported greener until suddenly, crash. 

"Watch out!" he called out to his classmates as soon as he felt the ground give way.  Branches and twigs snapped around him but, otherwise, broke his fall.  He reached out to grab a handful of vine in the hopes of pulling himself back upright but the vine responded in kind and coiled around his arm.  "Damn it!  Devil's Snare!"  He immediately stopped struggling and tried to force himself to relax.  With a sheepish grin towards Taryn, Migs pointed his wand at the plant.

"Taryn, my dear.  If we blast this plant with a few watts, would you be so kind as to chuck us back out?" 

"Watch out!"

Taryn was reeling before Migs even finished his cry, limbs flailing as the ground gave way beneath them. She caught a fist-full of nearby hedge, which kept her up-right even as her feet hit the soft, undulating coils of the Devil's Snare. A lucky catch to be sure -- if she'd fallen over, she'd have landed on Brooke, and that would've made their escape quite a bit messier.

Not that it wasn't messy already. The Snare latched onto them almost instantly, coiling around waists, arms, torsos, legs...it climbed Taryn like the wall of a fancy restaurant, further irritating her baybarb rash.

"Vines! Thank goodness. Lord only knows we needed more vines in this adventure."

She grit her teeth and brandished her wand at the Snare. At ten-foot-three, Taryn stuck a full head and shoulders out of the pit, and even more than that with her arms free. So, of course, the next suggestion from Migs made perfect sense. Taryn returned her fellow senior's grin.

"Yeah, sure. No problem. Hold on. Vermillious!"

She aimed down, blasting the Snare at her waist with green sparks and searing heat. Momentarily free, she moved her wand between her teeth and dug into the hedge with both hands, using the higher foliage to drag herself first to the edge of the pit and then up to its lip. Climbing had never been her strong suit even without a clingy plant dragging her down, so she settled for hooking her elbows over the edge and spitting her wand onto the path.

"Whumph. Okay. Blast away. Ally-oop."

”More Vines!" Alejandro barked with a laugh, fist pumping the air as if it had become a new slogan.   Migs could see how it would become an inside joke.  If they managed to come away victorious, More Vines would become a temporary new school slogan. 

Migs started to laugh at the absurdity of it but the vine seemed to take it personally.  A branch coiled out, breaking free from the mass of vegetation and looped around his torso.  The coil around his wrist also tightened, starting to twist his wrist backwards in a wholly unnatural direction. 

Around him, Alejandro, Brooke and Cam were starting to light their wands and wave the light over the squirming, now retreating vines.

“Ack, ack!”  Migs groaned as, in the course of it’s slow retreat, the vine snapped something in Migs’ wrist.  “Mother of a flying lizard’s turd!  Expecto Patronum!”  A massive white bison erupted from the end of his wand, almost filling the pit and flooding the plant with light.  Like a wave pulling quickly back from the shore, the vine rapidly retreated deeper into the hole. 

Their erstwhile combative surface was quickly falling away, drawing them further from the top of the pit. 

“Now, now!”  Migs yelled, reaching up for Taryn’s hand with his good hand and quickly scrambled to his feet once he’d landed over the edge.  He quickly retrieved Taryn’s wand, just in case that poltergeist decided to follow them and turned to help his teammates scramble out of the pit. 

“Thank you, my lady!” Migs offered, bowing as he returned Taryn’s wand to her.  “Shall we go get this thing?"

Well it certainly seemed like the Salem champions were getting more than their fair share of herbology related challenges as they traversed the maze in their own route. Undoubtedly they'd all be happy for a bath later to scrub away their rashes and grazes from branches, vines and roots that had clawed at them as they had scrambled and blasted apart their challenges. What lay ahead was surely the end, the cup had to be around here somewhere? It felt so very close! The champions pressed on, although weary, they were determined, the pick of the crop.

They rallied along, but the temperature began to drop, as if winter had suddenly begun to set in, and there was a feeling of despair creeping into them, as if they'd been at this for hours and they were last team to finish. This task seemed impossible, and certy quickly it began to escalate into something deeper and darker before the cause dropped down before them, looming over the next junction. The wraith-like figure hung in midair, its long, skeletal hand extending towards them, and behind it, another.

The champions might well have thought to send up red sparks, as with recent events sweeping Britain, the Salem champions might be right to assume that the task had gone horribly wrong...