Third Task

From UnknowableWiki

The third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is a labyrinth especially built for the purpose over the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch. The champions were entered in an order based on how many points they had; the more points, the more time. Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory entered first, followed by Viktor Krum, and finally Fleur Delacour.

Contents 1 The maze 1.1 The Sphinx 2 Mishaps 3 Outcome

The maze

In addition to the complexity of the maze itself, Hagrid put magical creatures, such as a Sphinx, Blast-Ended Skrewts, and a Boggart, in the maze. Several spells were also around the place, with effects such as turning one's perspective of up and down backwards.

The Sphinx

Main article: The Spinx's riddle

The riddle Harry solved was:

First think of the person who lives in disguise
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.

The answer to this is 'spy'.

Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend, 
The middle of middle and end of the end?

The answer is the letter 'd'.

And finally give me the sound often heard 
During the search for a hard-to-find word.

The answer is 'er,' which is actually a sound Harry often uses in this scene, but not in the series before this.

Now string them together, and answer me this, 
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?

The previous three words joined spell 'spy-d-er' = 'spider'.

Mishaps

There were a few mishaps during the third task: during his questioning after the tournament, the impostor Moody (Bartemius Crouch, Jr.) admitted to Stunning Fleur during the task and putting the Imperius Curse on Krum, and then ordering him to cast the Cruciatus Curse on Cedric. Barty Crouch, Jr., according to Lord Voldemort's instructions, did all this to help Harry get to the end of the labyrinth without incident (GF35).

Outcome

Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter tied to get the Triwizard Cup, and after going back and forth about who should win, decided to touch it together: unbeknownst to them, the Cup had been transformed into a Portkey by Bartemius Crouch, Jr., and it transported the two champions to the Little Hangleton graveyard. There, Diggory was murdered, and a complex dark potion allowed Lord Voldemort to obtain a corporeal form (GF32).

Voldemort summoned his servants and around twenty-eight of them show up. He questioned their loyalty, and punished Avery after the Death Eater asked for forgiviness. He also gave Wormtail a new silver hand. He praised Lucius Malfoy for not giving up his old manners, but also told him off for running away from the Dark Mark at the Quidditch World Cup (GF9).

He mentioned the missing Death Eaters, and told Crabbe, Goyle and Nott that he would be expecting better services this time. Voldemort talked about the time he spent without a body, and how he regained it (GF33). After the Dark Lord ended his story, he invited Harry for a duel, during which the Priori Incantatem effect occurred (GF34).

The form of Cedric that emerged from his wand asked Harry to take his body back to his parents. Harry effectively Summoned the Cup, and returned to Hogwarts with the corpse.