Chapter Eight: Mazes.

The room settled into a blissful yet peculiar silence, each patron conversing with one another as a group of teachers shuffled in and out of the room, each teacher accompanied with a perplexed expression. The sea of snakes shuffled from side to side, some choosing to settle into the sparse chairs while others leaned against the peach walls. One thing was common amongst each of them, for each and every snake murmured in soft tones as they contemplated the exam's contents.

Cordelia was amongst one of the quieter students, choosing to instead gaze past her peers and meet a pair of twinkling eyes accompanied by half-moon glasses. His frame was clad in a deep, midnight blue cloak, the base of the garment being clad in a collection of golden stars. She presumed the lack of absurdity in his attire was due to the formality of the occasion, the formality reflecting off on the other professors. In fact, professor Merrythought had too favoured a deep red cloak, shying away from her usual collection of bright cloaks.

Her thoughts regarding her professors' attires were pushed to the back of her mind as Headmaster Dippet entered the room, his bodice clad in a rather unflattering deep green cloak.

"Now, now."

The room descended into a tranquil silence as the oblivious students noticed their Headmaster's presence, each of them straightening up with an air of formality.

"I am well aware of your excitement regarding the Triwizard Tournament, however, it would be optimal for you to keep your voices down."

The boisterous side of the sixth year Slytherins flushed a deep red as they apologized, Phyllis and Druella being the most prominent ones. Dippet merely nodded, choosing to continue his announcement with ease.

"The proceedings for the Slytherin assessment isn't complicated, and quite easy to memorize. Throughout the following week, your schedule will be cleared directly after lunch, allowing the lot of you to participate in the day's exam."

The pot-bellied man shifted, his gaze dwindling at the clock placed onto the wall behind the students' bodies.

"You will not be allowed any preparations for these tests, thus the order of the subjects is confidential and it will not do you well to question your influential parents regarding it."

A series of lightly concealed groans and soft whispers broke out amongst the snakes as they paid no heed to Dippet's last sentence, mulling over whom to contact regarding the subjects.

"Furthermore, only Professor Dumbledore and I are aware of the list."

The concealed groans were replaced by open wails of annoyance, causing Dippet to raise a single, almost nonexistent eyebrow before continuing on with his speech.

"The first subject you will be assessed upon happens to be DADA. This will be a physical test through which each student will have to overcome a series of magical beasts. A student will be positioned at the start of the glass maze wound around this room, and they will be required to obtain six keys through their venture within the glass maze."

Dippet's right hand fiddled with his wand as performed an incantation, allowing each student to view the creatures displayed through the now transparent walls. The maze started off from the right side of the room, stretching out from the other side of the classroom's door and curving around the room as an arc of sorts. But the arc only extended around three-fourths of the room, the glass passage ending as it was once again met with a steel door.

Cordelia rightfully presumed the creatures were hidden under a concealment charm, causing her gaze to dwindle through the 'maze' attempting to decipher the cracks in Dippet's spell that would allow her to gaze upon the six mystery creatures. A few hours prior to her current situation, Cordelia was certain two of the creatures happened to be a dementor and a werewolf.

However, one of Druella's revelations proved to be false news, leaving the room devoid of the werewolf the sixth year Slytherins had anticipated. Blue eyes flitted back towards the headmaster as Cordelia failed to see past the charms, eliciting an angry puff from the young pureblood.

"All six beasts will hold or obstruct a golden key. You will have to retrieve these keys and move onto the end of the maze, where a door with six keyholes will be presented. In order to succeed in this assessment, you must have all six keys and come out unscathed."

The older male's gaze scanned the crowd of students as he spoke his next lines, basking in their attention. "We expect great things from Slytherin purebloods such as yourselves, do not let us down."

It was quite queer to hear the headmaster openly express his racist ideologies in a room full of people. Cordelia didn't mind his clear dislike towards Mudbloods as she shared similar morals, however, she would've chosen to be more discreet about it when surrounded by the likes of Dumbledore. The latter sending the headmaster a disappointed frown, just as Cordelia expected.

"Did you know he was an open blood purist?"

Aurora's whispered query drew the Black heir's eyes to meet icy blue eyes and blonde hair, drawing a smirk as she responded.

"Of course, my father never fails to mention his approval of Dippet's ways. Regardless of the fact that our dear headmaster is a filthy half-blood."

Aurora frowned, surprise evident in her expression as she turned towards her red-headed boyfriend, relaying Cordelia's reply.

As the buried fact was passed around from one snake to another, Cordelia took the time to once again examine the maze, noticing something, or several things, that weren't there before. Dippet had chosen o divert the crowd's attention from his previous words by finally revealing the six creatures, drawing gasps from the crowd.

The creature or creatures in the first part of the maze happened to be a family of Billywigs. Saphire blue, inch-long insects fluttered around the minuscule room, one of them seeming larger than the rest. The room was devoid of any furniture, save for a pedestal upon which a pregnant Billywig lay, with several eggs surrounding her. Along with the pale blue eggs lay a golden key, one that the insects failed to notice.

Cordelia was well aware of how fatal a Billywig's bite could be, not to mention one who was afraid for their children. While Aurora and Druella squeaked out rapid theories to retrieve the first key, Cordelia contemplated a simple, yet a quite effective method. Thus, her gaze moved onto the second part of the glass tunnel, blue eyes meeting a queer sight.

There, in the middle of the slightly larger room, Blast-Ended Skrewt lay fast asleep. Cordelia sent a bemused smile at the creature's tail, a gold key hanging off the last snippet of its tail. She was aware of the limitations of certain creatures and knew Billywigs tended to have a protection charm across their nests, however, Blast Ended Skrewts didn't attain such abilities.

Once again blue eys moved on from the creature, skimming over the familiar Niffler's tiny figure as well as the Dementor lurking in the fourth room. The fifth room contained a Flesh-Eating Slug, its pincers evident as it prowled across the room, its body blocking the key laid onto the floor. Lastly, a dark wood cupboard stood at the end of the room, the shroud of darkness surrounding the wardrobe making it quite clear a Boggart lurked in there.

"You will all be called upon alphabetically, each student will be allowed to view and cheer on their peers undergoing the task. However, you are not allowed to interfere with their prowess, and any form of cheating will be immediately noticed, leading to disqualification."

Cordelia presumed as much, although a frown coated her face as she realized she was the second person due to undergo the task. A scowl coated her face as she drifted out in her own space, thinking up tactics to get through each creature with minimal damage while also reserving her energy for the more severe creatures.

"Black, Cordelia."

A sigh escaped the Black heir's body as she detached her back from the peach walls, eliciting a chorus of 'good luck' from her close friends. A nervous sweat formed near her brow as Cordelia examined the steel door leading into the first creature's room, giving Dumbledore a subtle nod and allowing the elderly male to let her into the room.

As soon as her black dragonhide boots crossed the threshold, the male Billywig came zooming towards her form, drawing a quick 'Stupefy' from the girl and allowing the insect to float to the floor. Cordelia ensured that the male had merely been hurt and not killed before facing the female bug flying towards her with an intimidating buzz.

Quick as the Flash, the Black heir swiftly dived to the left, causing the blue bug to move towards the right corner of the room, right above the door. Seeing an opportunity, Cordelia swiftly cast a bubble charm around the insect, drawing 'oohs' from the crowd of students. The bubble charm was a spell that surrounded the victim in a bubble that prevented them from moving out of the enchanted circle. This ensured that the female Billywig couldn't sting Cordelia.

The charm, although affective, didn't last for a long time, which was why Lia dashed for the nest, extracting the key carefully and proceeding to the next door. She opened up the new steel door, placing the first key back in her pocket right after as she recalled its requirement at the end of the maze.

"Ah, shit."

A large, red and black Blast Ended Skrewt prowled around the room, drawing forth its pincers as beady black orbs met oceanic blue. For a few seconds, Cordelia forgot her plans for this particular room, thus eliciting the previous curse. But the girl was thankfully broken from her stunned gaze as Phyllis cheered her on, auburn locks sifting through the air as her honey arms waved up and down.

A smile was sent towards the Parkinson heir as Cordelia reexamined her opponent, aware that she couldn't get out of the room unless she dealt with the creature. As the creature once again circled the key, its tail turning towards Cordelia, the pureblood witch moved towards the left of the room, yelling out a spell.

"Protego Maxima!"

The unforeseen spell caught the creature off guard, causing it to hit the glass wall on the other side of the room.

"Accio key."

The key soared through the air, flying towards Cordelia's frame and landing swiftly in her right palm. With a relieved sigh, the girl rushed across the room, an animalistic growl following after her as pale digits reached for the keyhole. For a second, she feared the animal would get to her and sink its tail pincer into her back. However, that trepidation vanished as the steel door clicked open, allowing her to push it open and slam the steel slab right into the creature's face.

A satisfied smile graced Cordelia's face as she walked into the next room, eliciting a whoop from the Slytherins as she examined the Niffler's dwellings. First, the pureblood's eyes drew towards the floor coated in hills of jewels and gold coins, some of them Galleons while the others were disks of gold with intricate engravings. Finally, her eyes landed on the Niffler, oceanic blue meeting deep brown pools.

She was sure to securely place her keys into her shirt's pocket before approaching the animal, recalling how Aldrich Avery was robbed, causing the Niffler to steal his keys and hide into piles of jewels. However, as Cordelia recalled her thoughts, she formulated a plan to trick the little trickster.

Pale palms reached forth for the blue-furred creature, digits interlocking around the young Niffler's back. She pretended not to notice as the creature sneakily reached forth towards her shirt pocket, playing oblivious as it held onto one of her keys. When its tiny arm was trailing back towards its pouch, Cordelia's eyes lit up in realization as she wandlessly muttered a spell.

"Perfitilus Totalus."

Her wandless magic happened to be weak enough to ensure the Niffler wouldn't get severely injured but strong enough to effectively seize the little trickster's movements. A smile stretched out across her face as her hand reached for the tiny thing's pouch, retrieving only the keys and leaving everything else untouched. The little creature seemed to appreciate this gesture, refusing to move even when Cordelia had lifted the curse.

As the pureblood witch walked towards the next door and pushed it open, the creature chose to receed further into its room, aware of the entity lurking in the next chamber. With a sigh Cordelia walked over the threshold, glancing back and giving the Niffler one last smile as it dove into a pile of jewels.

The brunette pureblood hadn't noticed how warm the room clad in jewels and gold was until she sealed the door behind her. The room itself felt as if someone had poured a bucket of ice onto Cordelia, the chilly atmosphere seeming almost too much to handle. Her attention, however, was directed to the cloaked figure at the side of the room as the Dementor drew closer.

As the Dementor swiftly moved forward, she realized that it quite perfectly fit the Muggles' definitions of a Grim Reaper's appearance, making her smile at the ironic name. While the Reaper reaped souls of the dead, a Dementor reaped the souls of convicted felons in the worst way possible, extracting their soul and every bit of happiness from them through the Dementor's Kiss.

She hadn't realized the demonic creature was drawing closer to her until the cold bite of the frosty atmosphere increased steadily.

Blue lids were covered by eyelids coated in black eyeliner as Cordelia sealed her vision, focusing solely on the happiest memory of her life. The one time her father truly expressed some sort of love towards her.

The girl remembered the moment clearly, reminiscing on how a young Cordelia ventured into her father's office, a silver pin with a snake and capital P nestled safely onto her robes. It took Arcturus Black a moment to realize the change in her appearance, and an even longer one to grasp onto his daughter's form and pull her into a deep embrace.

"I guess you're my daughter after all."

The words flashed into her mind's eye, that one sentence bringing forth a flash of memories with her favourite people.

"Expecto Patronum."

She merely whispered the spell, but its impact was evident as a silvery mist-like substance floated out of her wand, creating a Black Stallion that raced across the room, driving the cloaked figure away.

An elated smile danced across Cordelia's face as her friends whooped with joy, some of them ravelling at the fully-fledged Patronus they could only dream of forming. As the brunette clad in her school robes moved towards the next door, she was surprised to find the key was inserted into the steel slab, allowing her to twist and extract the substance before moving forward.

After the exertion caused by casting a Patronus, Cordelia didn't care enough to put on a show. Her wand merely lifted, casting a Stupefy followed by a Perfitilus Totalus. The Flesh-Eating Slug hit the glass wall with a thump, her moves too sudden to counter as the witch merely reached for the key and inserted it into the final door, awaiting her Boggart to leave the closet.

Cordelia was well aware of her Boggart and knew the secrecy involved behind it, thus she refused to acknowledge her audience's shock as they gazed upon Arcturus Black's figure clad in black robes.

"Riddickulus!"

The spell was almost forcibly sent out, causing it to fail in her first attempt as Cordelia's father opened his mouth, sneering out words.

"How dare you taint the Royal and Most Noble House of Black with-"

That was all it took, her urge to keep her direst secret hidden from the public eye was even greater than her father's reaction the day he had given her the exact same speech. Thus, Cordelia yelled out the spell once again, this time successfully dissolving her father's pristine boots into rollerblades, causing him to roll and slip as he attempted to steady his form.

Peals of laughter burst through the air as Cordelia collected the final key, opening the door and allowing herself to walk out of the test chamber. Her eyes flitted across the room as her brunette, yellow-eyed cousin crashed into her body, muttering praises for Cordelia's performance.

All seemed well as Theodore and Aurora joined Druella, the brunette male and blue-eyed blonde latching onto Cordelia's form. For a second, she presumed everyone had forgotten about her Boggart, however that thought was thrown out the window as her blue eyes met a set of hickory ones, a perplexed frown strewn across Tom's face as he gazed at her quizzically.

Regardless of the setbacks, and Riddle's avid curiosity, Cordelia settled down onto a seat beside her friends, awaiting Tom's turn to gauge out his Patronus's form. And buy herself time from his pestering questions.