Third into the maze behind Durmstrang and Salem, the Hogwarts team hurried, selecting their first direction.

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 writers to post in open order to ensure the thread continues.

When a Hogwarts 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!

Houses united, the five Hogwarts Champions bounded into the maze ready to take their school to glory as hosts. The Quidditch pitch was their stomping ground and no Hogwarts student was unfamiliar with a bit of hedge or the forbidden wander into the edge of the forest that stretched out from the grounds. Hurrah, they were going to ace this task! This would be easy! If they cast aside thoughts of Potter's Triwizard Tournament, that was...

But on reaching their first decision on which way to go, the bright energy from the start of the task was strangely ebbing away. The maze seemed to be getting bigger, and darker, and more unfathomable by the second, and their limbs felt rather weary like they had been on their feet for hours, not minutes. The task was starting to feel like a chore, like an incredibly long essay on the development of cauldron thickness regulations. Tedious, tiring, and then altogether pointless.

They were in third place, they'd never win, what on earth was the whole reason for tramping round a maze, fighting off things? They were only going to end up with injuries, and Salem was undoubtedly already bouncing towards the cup with victory given their head start. Daresay they all began to feel like they could cry, and lament about the whole sorry situation. What to do!

As the team tried to muster some energy or enthusiasm to pick a direction, at least one of their number noticed some large pebble-like rocks on the paths in each direction of the junction. Looking back a moment later, was it their imagination, or had one of them... moved...?

Atticus and his fellow champions - a dream team of Hogwart's finest that fate put together - bounded into the maze as they headed towards what they hoped would be the cup. After a few moments he felt an incredible, unnatural level of fatigue hit his body. He knew he wasn't in absolute peak physical conditioning but it seemed strange that he would tire so quickly. Turning his head to look at the other champions, Atticus saw they too were feeling the unnatural fatigue. He searched his mind for what type of magic would cause such bodily distress and initially came up with nothing. He cursed under his breath as he and his companions ran deeper and deeper into the maze.

His eyes scanned the dimly lit and ominous maze as they traveled through it, searching for some sort of sign of the challenge at hand. It was the final task so there was bound to be some craziness coming at them any minute now. As he looked around he noticed some large pebble-like rocks off to the side of the path and initially took no concern over it. He felt the hairs on his neck stand a little as they passed, causing Atticus to halt in his steps and turn around. "Wait." He said, motioning the other champions to him. "What... did that thing move?" He asked aloud, narrowing his eyes at the stone from a dozen feet away. He twirled his wand in his hand, unsure of what to do for a moment before looking at his companions. What were their thoughts?

There it went again.

Gracie jerked back, eyes wide. She hadn’t been seeing things!

But that begged the question, then, of what it was. Something about it struck her as familiar. Small, gray, rock-like in appearance, despair—a word perched itself at the very tip of her tongue, gleeful and stubbornly silent. Something that started with an E, maybe. Or was it a P? Peh, pent... por–

Recognition hit, and it was enough to shake off the last cobwebs of gloom and push her into action. Without waiting another moment Gracie drew her wand and cast, the movement whip-quick and silent:

Heliofors!

The nearest rock-like thing abruptly shifted into a cheery, red balloon.

Immediately feeling the better for it, Gracie cracked a grin. Amusement lanced through her like a sharp breath of fresh air. “Pogrebin!” she announced, lowering her wand as she turned back to the others. “They’re pogrebins!”

At least, she was pretty sure they were. Regardless, the Slytherin turned around again, turning another one into a balloon, and watched, delighted, as it floated upwards, disappearing into the sky.

It was, she rather fancied, like spotting a bit of sun peeking through.

As the Hogwarts team entered the maze there seemed to be a great expectation upon their shoulders from faculty and students alike.  It was a dream team that had come out of the goblet of fire, one that many argued couldn’t lose!  Rossi, Roark and Slant were there to throw around curses and hexes if they encountered any trouble, with Clarencieux and Hughes the designated thinkers/strategists of the group.

The very uncharacteristic silence that Paolo had displayed in the antechamber during the wand weigh in seemed to have carried over to the actual task and whilst many of his friends cheered his name and waved lion emblazoned flags in his direction, the young man didn’t even so much as wave before he followed Gracie and Atticus into the maze.  Instinctively he moved to draw his wand from the inside of his long black school robes and as they trudged deeper into the huge expanse of twisting pathways laid out before them, he found himself twirling it between his fingers, much like Atticus’s own mannerisms.  Rossi was definitely feeling the nerves at this early stage; he needed to blow something away with a curse just to settle himself down, the sooner the better.

Five or so minutes later Rossi’s mood had deteriorated considerably, nerves being replaced with a sinking feeling that he could not quite understand.  Shaking his head to himself he forced himself to continue down their choosen path.  Whose idea was it to go this way anyways?  They should have taken that left turn they had seen a couple of moments earlier, there was nothing down this way.  Paolo emitted a sigh but was cut short in his moping by Roark who exclaimed that he had seen something move.

"What... did that thing move?"

“Just your imagination Roark come on, we’re so far behind just now it isn’t even funny.”  Paolo moaned.  The Gryfindor made to continue but as he did so Gracie, very correctly, pointed out that Atticus was not in fact imagining things but alert to a very real threat that was tailing them.

“They’re pogrebins!”

Rossi swung around and knowing what he was looking for was able to spot the Pogrebins almost instantaneously.  Their stealthy disguise blown, they were sitting ducks for the champions who rounded upon them.  Paolo’s eyes narrowed before he lined up his target and unleashed a bombarda spell.  There was a brief flash followed by a small explosion that obliterated a couple of the pogrebins who let out a shrill shriek before scattering themselves across the path.  It was perhaps a little bit over the top but much like Gracie, Paolo found himself feeling considerably better with every passing second.  A flash of a smirk appeared at the corners of his lips when Gracie turned around and their eyes locked.  “Pogrebins, well identified....” he said, before turning his back on her so as to move to the head of the team “shall we proceed?”  Paolo finished, his tone considerably more jovial than earlier.

Now in considerably better spirits after vanquishing those pesky pogrebins and the downturn in morale that they had brought with them, the Hogwarts team were once again ready to tackle the maze. Hopefully their loss of confidence while the creatures had their effect would not have put them too far behind the other teams, who hopefully were meeting equally bad foes as they went along.

After they chose their next turning at a fork, the path widened and the ground became rather wet and marshy. A series of stepping stones stretched out twenty feet ahead of them, though the stones were further apart in places than could easily be hopped on two feet by the champions. Amongst the marshy waters were long reeds, and quite a few logs it appeared, which could potentially be used to jump from one stone to the next and pass easily.

But Hogwarts champions knew that nothing in this maze was ever quite what it seemed. The waters were moving ever so gently, and although the stones were definitely stones this time, there was something odd about the logs, one at the far side seemed to glide through the water.

A levitation spell perhaps? But it was not to be, the clever soul who set this foe amongst the hedges had ruled that out, as the champions found their feet only lifted them two inches, despite their efforts.

Perhaps they would have to risk their ankles, and venture across the stones...

Gracie– who had run ahead, feeling recklessly high on their easy success with the pogrebins –came to a sudden, lurching stop at the sight of the marsh. The coast was clear– wet, maybe, but quiet –but this was the Tournament maze. Nothing was ever what it seemed.

“Wait!” she threw out an arm, when someone suggested treading the water. Venturing a step forward– and then another, and another, until she was at the very edge –she peered into the reeds with suspicious eyes. It looked, by all appearances, your normal marsh: murky water, slushy ground, reedy reeds. Nothing stood out, at first glance. It was a marsh.

But if their path continued on the other side of it, then it was their obstacle. Or rather, their obstacle was in it. “Give me a sec,” she said, stepping back. “I want to try something.”

The only things in it that were really of any note, she thought, were the logs. (And the stones, but that was just the lesson from their first obstacle speaking. And they wouldn’t try the same trick more than once… Would they?) There weren’t many of them, she saw– in fact, there appeared to be just enough of them to traverse between the stones– but there was just something about them…

Gracie raised her wand. “Glacius Duo!”[1] And a wide path appeared before them, spreading across the marsh in rapidly blooming fractals of ice.

The logs that hadn’t been caught in the frost violently recoiled, hissing viciously at the cold. They glided away from it as swiftly as any ghost, but in a second–

Dull, yellow eyes turned on her, them, like heat-seeking missiles. And like heat-seeking missiles, they began to converge, heading towards the water’s edge.

“Dugbogs,” she told the others, as she cast herself a fine pair of skates– made of ice. “Cover, please!” And then she was skating across the path – jumping off the ramp she had inadvertently made – and murmuring a swift “finite!” before somersaulting into a graceful crouch.

Straightening, Gracie dusted off her knees. “Hurry up,” she grinned at them from across the marsh.

1.	Freezing Spell, level two.

Though fear still had Elysia in its tight embrace, the young witch was starting to feel as if the Hogwarts students finally had a chance. The five champions chosen were a perfect mixture – a representation of all Hogwarts houses, and in this area Elysia knew she could excel. Like any badger, teamwork was her forte and she was sure that they would traverse this accursed maze with more finesse than any of the other teams could hope to manage – if they could only overtake the timing handicap.

As they entered the maze and made their first turn, Elysia started to feel as if she was unable to go on. Thoughts raced through her head of shooting up red sparks and just quitting, as there would be no way the team could win. Hadn’t she proven herself incapable when Slant had defeated her so dramatically in the dueling tournament?[1] What made her think she could compete with much stronger opponents? Even if the others had a chance, wouldn’t she simply be holding everyone else back?

Numerous times the young witch reached for her wand, but something always stayed her hand – perhaps the sheer determination that she would not lose again. When it finally was time to reach for her wand, it was for a much different purpose. A short bark of a spell came from Elysia’s mouth as she joined Gracie in transfiguring the pogrebins into interesting balloon creatures. One flick of her wand showed an intricate dragon balloon, whereas the second produced a cute and cuddly kitten.

The Hufflepuff glared at Rossi for destroying the creatures – a feat she thought unnecessary, but held her tongue. Untransfiguring things might be difficult, but it was possible. Unkilling things was completely impossible… and illegal. And so she worked on in silence with the rest of the team, dispelling the crowd of rock-like creatures one by one. When the task was complete, Elysia set off at a bit of a rush – eager to make up for lost time.

Elysia was content with letting others make the decisions and sitting back, simply because she understood that most of the others were much stronger spellcasters than she was. So as Gracie released her freezing spell, Elysia didn’t hesitate to back her up. “They’re Dugbogs,” She said, repeating Gracie, as the witch had just taken off. “Stupefy!” She called, hitting one of the creatures as it opened its mouth to attack the Slytherin. The creature froze as the spell hit, and slowly sank back under the surface of the marsh. “You guys follow Slant, we’ll hold them off from either side,”

Then she locked eyes with Gracie, hoping the snake would understand and help keep the rest of their team safe as they traversed the swamp.

1.	Discussed with Sly

Elysia’s cold stare was not lost on Paolo and he gave the hufflepuff one of his own in return as he watched her copy Slant, transfiguring the pogrebin’s into balloons as opposed to disposing of them properly.  A typical girl, he thought to himself, didn’t she understand these were class 3 beasts they were dealing with?  This wasn’t Defence class where Professor Storm was always on hand to ensure nothing went wrong, this was the Tetrawizard tournament, people died in these events.  Pogrebins cared not for the helpless victims that they devoured and killed so why should they?  Rossi opted not to voice his beliefs, knowing a lost cause when he saw one.  Instead the young man continued down the pathways, his wand held loosely between the fingers of his right hand.  There would be no mercy for anything in this maze, Paolo wasn’t going to get himself knocked off because some stupid little girl wasn’t brave enough to use proper curses on creatures the ministry themselves deemed dangerous “beasts”.

When the group stumbled across the marsh, once again Gracie was quick to point out the dangers floating upon the surface.  They had studied Dugbogs in class, either last year or the year before, Paolo was unsure nevertheless like the pogrebins he knew the danger that they posed, especially when they congregated and attacked in groups.  After allowing himself a brief moment to admire Slant’s wand work and ingenuity he turned to Atticus and Deborah “You two make your way across together, I’ll stay on this side with Hughes and cover your flank before coming along myself.  Quickly as you can Roark, then you can cover us from the other side” he finished, with a curt nod of his head. 

Without waiting for either Ravenclaw or Slytherin to take his advice, Rossi had already raised his wand eager to blast a path through the swamp in order to aid their flight across the marsh.  The first dugbog he targeted became the victim of a burning hex, obviously strong and well-cast for it retreated back to the edge of the marsh with a shriek leaving the stones that it had positioned itself near safe to use.  Rossi watched how it skulked out of sight, clearly unwilling to risk taking another hex from the wizards that it meant to make its dinner.  Its behaviour caused some hesitancy amongst the other dugbogs but lacking any real intelligence they eventually opted to try and attack the champions again.

The group quickly handled the first part of the challenge - pogrebins - with varying solutions. He was rather amused at Gracie's balloons but knew that whatever quickly handled a challenge was a good solution. The pogrebins proved to be little more than a hinderance for the Hogwarts group as they moved deeper and deeper into maze. After about a minute they reached an open swampy area. Atticus' eyes scanned his surroundings, taking note of the various opportunities presented to them to allow them to cross the marsh. He gathered through common sense and his understanding of how the tournement worked that nothing was what it seemed, therefore either the stones, logs, or reeds were going to present danger to them in some manner.

“You two make your way across together, I’ll stay on this side with Hughes and cover your flank before coming along myself.  Quickly as you can Roark, then you can cover us from the other side”

He watched Gracie cast an advanced ice spell to reveal the hidden threats and skate across to the other side. Immedietely, Paolo and Elysia began to attack the now-found dugbogs in their own away. Lookig back at Paolo as he readied and pointed his wand to the ground, he nodded and grinned. The inherent advantage of being a duellist was that it helped trained one to think and react quickly in situations that required such tenacity. The Hogwarts team consisted of both the President and Vice President of the Dueling Club as well as Atticus who was also considered one of the best duelists in the school. These conditions met with such raw talent could only mean success. It was Atticus' turn to act.

He jumped and blasted the ground with his propulsion spell, hurling himself forward and high up into the air as he began to cross the marsh. He trained his eyes and reoriented his body towards one of the stones, about third thirds of the way across the marsh. As he flew through the air he looked down and pointed his wand at the center of the marsh. He thought CONCUSSO! loudly and a violent shockwave began from the center of the marsh and emenated outward, tossing some dugbogs up in the air while stunning the others. He turned his head back towards the rock and landed hard, coming down for a moment on all fours before jumping hard again as he pointed his wand back at the ground and propelled himself back into the air. This aerial movement was much less dramatic, amounting to more of a great leap as he flew to the other side of the marsh and landed hard again on his heels.

Two champions had made it past and now it was time to help Paolo and Elysia make it over. "One of you maintain crowd control and stun or kill any of the Dugbogs that recover - the others get over here now!" He commanded as he raised his wand and began to wordlessly send off as many hexes and curses as he could muster - which was a lot given that he didn't have to spend extra time speaking each word. Suppressive fire was something he'd read about in muggle war books when he was younger - he simply hadn't been provided the opportunity to try it out until now.

As she stood next to Atticus it suddenly dawned on her that so far, not a single word has fallen from her lips. That wasn’t very typical - or was it? The moment that Paolo gave his order, Deborah immediately made her move, following Roark to the other side. Had there been enough time, she would’ve applauded his performance - ever brilliant, that friend of hers - but there wasn’t, and so her wand had to endure being flicked this way and that, held reminiscent of the times she was in Russia. Like the others, Flo wasn’t hesitant to get rid of the creatures - except that she was being merciful ‘enough’ to them. It wasn’t until a nearby one grabbed her by the ankle and almost came close to injuring it that the younger Clarencieux saw red. Now she had a ruined stocking to deal with - and a scratch. No one dares scratch a calm Clarencieux. They really shouldn't. A loud INFLIGO PROTEREX! pierced through the air, followed by a nonverbal hex. The prefect huffed in satisfaction as the remains of the creature dispersed into her surroundings. 'Never again,' she muttered. Now, her mind was in perfect sync with its physical vessel.

Somehow she found herself wishing that they were allowed to use far more lethal spells - she's heard from her grandfather's boasting that they were allowed to do so in other magickal schools. But this was Hogwarts, and Hogwarts simply ran alongside the rules stiffly. She wouldn't be surprised if she'd find herself shipped all the way back to the Manor if she did something stupid - which would also mean the loss of her badge. Not that she'd mind, of course. There were far more interesting things to do with her not-so-stereotypical-life. Biting the inside of her cheek, she assisted Atticus with his task and this time, began to thread carefully. One more Dugbog that dares grab her foot and she'd set the entire place on fire, she mused delightedly.

"This way! Come now!" she called out, not really wasting her efforts on her hopes so that they may not be crushed. Simple things will do her good on the long run, or so she told herself.

The dugbogs really hadn't seen the Hogwarts champions coming, if they had, they might have left the marshes in the maze in advance, and posted 'gone fishing' out front. They were certainly smarting from that attack.

Now safely across in their variety of ways, the Hogwarts crew pressed on. Although they had not met any of the other teams, they did get the feeling they were all close by and that potentially at any turn they might chance upon them, or catch a glimpse of fleeting ankles disappearing round a bend. Checking their direction once more, they headed on. Perhaps they were not far! Although some of their turns had forced them in a different direction to the one they desired, they were soon back on track, more or less.

In close formation, a loud noise up ahead caught their combined attention. Eyes peeled ahead for danger, it was quite by surprise when the hedge they had just passed snapped out green, spiky vines, wrapping around limbs - legs, arms, waists - reaching up for necks, hair - whatever it could reach.

It certainly didn't want a cuddle, more a nibble. Or perhaps a bite to eat, and Champion was the special on the menu.

Catching Elysia’s look, Gracie felt hers morph into a grin of understanding. Cover; she could do that. “Stupefy!” she hurled, and another–

Her grin dimmed as Paolo slapped the creature with a burning hex, its high-pitched shriek sounding pained even to her ears, and it faded all the more as Roark and Clarencieux followed suit; dugbogs might be Class-3, but so were crups and pixies. Billywigs. And they were destroying her bridge! Even now it cracked, splintering with every hex.

But they had to move on.

Still, she waited until the last of them left the clearing. Now devoid of human presence, the marsh was no longer quiet so much as desolate, laid to waste. “Finite,” she murmured quietly, and as the ice melted (–or what remained of it), it felt like an apology.


Then she, too, disappeared into the maze.

---

Much more subdued– and yet, determined– than before, Gracie ran, her long, toned legs easily bringing her to the front of the group again. Alert for anything out of the ordinary, the Slytherin kept a lookout, the necessity of having them all in one piece always at the forefront of her mind. As they moved on, she continuously glanced back, occasionally at Elysia to see her do the same…

Just in time to see the hedge attack, vines shooting towards them with intent.

Swallowing a swear – and shoving all impending sense of panic down – Gracie whipped out her wand. She had way too many memories made in Herbology for her not to get this one instantly. “Tentacula!”[1] she barked. “Wands!”

The next breath– “Diffindo!” she cried, neatly severing a vine. Shhhk!

But merely cutting it– Stunning it– would be no easy task, as she was quickly proven; the Tentacula was obviously large, much larger than any of the ones from the castle, and surely just as sturdier. It would be just like snipping away at a very large, violent tree. But simply burning it was out of the question, too—not if someone wanted to set fire to everyone else.

Unless…

It was stupid. Worse, it was reckless, almost Gryffindor-ly so, and probably even needless, too. But– “Elysia! Rossi!” She threw the Hufflepuff girl an urgent look…

And, casting a quick Adfirmo[2] on herself, threw herself into the vines.

With more speed, more agility than she’d ever displayed in front of anyone– except, of course, her grandfather and closest friends –Gracie dove between the vines, snaking beneath them, over them, past them—not like the wind, but as if she was the wind—elusive, transient. One aimed for her neck; she sliced it before it could. Another struck for her ankle; it missed.

She hadn’t been all that far from the plant, not really, but with all those twists and turns and U-turn-shaped detours it sure felt like it. Still, she was almost– there–

Taking a breath, Gracie dove into a roll, towards the very foot of the hedge. Immediately vines converged on her, throwing their spiky embrace around her with a palpable sense of triumph; if it hadn’t been for Adfirmo, she would have been pulpy, poisoned meat, completely helpless in their grasp. “Viveflore,”[3] she snarled, shoving her wand into the ground, at its roots. You bloody plant!

The tentacula burst into bloom. And like any carnivorous plant, tired out—visibly, significantly weakening.[4]

Gracie saw her chance and took it. The vines slackening around her, she shoved them off, yanking at them until she was free.

“Right, then,” she said, shaking the last one off of her leg, and swatted a wispy tendril of hair from her face. She beamed at them all, terrifyingly casual, “carry on!”

1.	Venomous Tentacula
2.	Flesh-Fortifying Spell
3.	Blooming Spell. Used by herbologists and similar professions to safely wrangle violent flora, it induces them to spontaneously flower, leaving them alive but wiped out. Derived from Latin vita (“to live”) and florere (“to bloom”).
4.	Based on basic Venus Flytrap care.

(OOC: If you are still to post in response to round 3, go ahead, and then react to round 4 in the same post)


Surely they were getting close to that elusive Tetrawizard Cup now? It certainly felt as if they had battled their way through enough miles of hedges and weird and wonderful foes. It was frustrating, exhilarating and challenging in a way they'd hoped and feared. The Hogwarts Champions were working together in their own way. They might not be half dressed like the Beauxbatons team, or quite as ferocious as Durmstrang, or as uniquely proportioned as Salem but they were Hogwarts, and that Hogwarts were going to win! Well, they could continue dreaming as they rushed along, couldn't they?

Suddenly the path ahead expanded from the narrow hedge lined path to a clearing which brought them to a steady pause in the opening. Space in a maze could mean glory, or they were rushing into headlong danger. Certainly the clearing was very dark, and it looked ... dusty?

Then what was that strange clicking noise, a bit like someone knitting? Did something move over there on the right? And the left, and up there? Was that dust? It was ... sticky, long strands. Were those eyes? Lots and lots of eyes?

Those were definitely legs. Really long legs, and none of the Hogwarts champions would like to find these in their bath. It'd use up all the bathwater and be wearing a showercap at this size!

The further they ventured into the clearing, the more Gracie wanted to stop. It wasn’t just the look of it (although that was certainly unsettling enough), nor was it the creepy quietness of it all (although it was definitely that, too), but rather… the sheer emptiness, or appearance of it, because if there was a lesson to be learned today (and Merlin knew it was being hammered home) it was that nothing was ever what it seemed, and that there were different kinds of quiet, which were to be carefully evaluated, especially in regards to lesson one.

And this one– with its barren, dusty ground and great stretches of webbing –was one such perfect example. Even without the webbing.

Dust floated up into the air in small puffs of clouds, even at the more tentative of steps. Gracie watched them with a sinking feeling. No matter how one looked at it, rationalized the what’s and why’s and so what’s– they all led to the same, awful implications. And those led to only one conclusion:

Acromantulas.

“Okay,” she started, pensively staring at one particularly large tract of strands before letting her gaze roam ahead. Running her fingers through hair, she began to turn around. “I don’t know about you guys, but–”

She stared, frozen, as someone curiously touched the stuff. And then the clicking started.

Gracie squeezed her eyes shut. Planting that hand on her hip, she scrubbed her face with the other– silently asking every deity she knew for patience –and sighed. Loudly.

There was no time to cry over spilled milk, though, and it was with that thought the Slytherin braced herself. Right then, she thought—and quickly spun around, wand raised and spell-ready, Epoximise![1]

To the right, an Acromantula found itself virtually glued to the ground, its tapered feet thoroughly bonded to it. And without its ability to rise on its hind leg, there’d be no web-shooting from it, either.

It positively screeched with anger. Lip curling with satisfaction, Gracie turned around again—and felt her eyes widen with alarm; another prepared to leap. “Duck!” she lurched forward, grabbing an arm and tugging it past her, and flung a curse, haste fueled by adrenaline and urgency; Infligo proterex!

It flung back, landing on the ground with a meaty smack. Quick as a wink, Gracie Epoximised that one, too. And another. And another, and another…

But there were too many. More were scuttling from the shadows, pressing closer—similarly sized and smaller, but it would only be time, she knew, before the bigger ones would appear. And the web– all that bloody web– Her foot caught in a snatch of it. Insides seizing with minute panic, Gracie tugged and stumbled, crap, shit, fuck– “Diffindo!” she slashed at it, and staggered free.

At least now she had an idea, though.

Turning on the nearest swathe almost manically, Gracie narrowed her eyes into a cold, chilly look of determination—and slashed. LACERO!

A personal favorite of hers, of all the spells she had painstakingly created on her own time (–and possibly, maybe, one of the most dangerous–), this one did not just sever, but slashed and scored—rending through cloth and similar things like a giant set of claws—leaving deep gouges even in stone. Inspired by her animagus form, it was a vicious curse, ruthless and animalistic, and now she ripped through the web as though it were her own paw hand. 

Violently the web shredded, until there was nothing left but limp, sticky ribbons. A grin creeping onto her features, the unregistered Animagus spun around, slashing again and again, cutting for the team a wide berth.

Acromantulas scuttled back, wary. But there were more, and so they quickly grew bold again, encouraged by the lack of harming on her part. Which… was quite perfect, actually.

Wisps of dark, smoky hair falling from the braid wrapped around her head, Gracie swept her wand at the tattered remains around them, turning them into chains.[2]

“Oppugno,”[3] she uttered softly, and they leapt, wrapping themselves around whatever dark, spindly legs they could—tightening until their owners gave in.

1.	Epoximise
2.	Incarcifors. From the Latin word carcer (“jail”) and the traditional Transfiguring suffix -fors. Unlike its Conjuring counterpart, this spell transfigures its target into chains, rather than create some from thin air.
3.	Oppugno Jinx