The final event of the Triwizard Tournament was a maze.
Pomona was the maze's designer, and its blueprint lay on the desk in her office.
"Don't look."
She spun toward him as if dancing, using her body to block the plans on the desk.
Severus focused his attention on her.
"What else is there that I haven't seen?" he said somewhat flirtatiously, naturally wrapping an arm around her waist.
The petite woman with blue eyes and silver-thread-like hair looked up at him.
"Do you remember the last time we went to XZ?" she said softly.
"Of course," he answered absentmindedly, taking her hand and kissing her wrist.
She had learned this from a magazine: perfume should be applied more often behind the ears, on the wrists, and in places like that.
He smelled the evening primrose fragrance on her wrist and felt a powerful appetite stir within him. He no longer remembered most of what she had said then, but there was one term he remembered—Qimen Dunjia.
Pomona did not intend to use this ancient Eastern art against a group of underage children, so the maze she designed was the opposite of true Qimen Dunjia. Likewise, only one path led to the Gate of Life, but that path was filled with all sorts of obstacles. The other, incorrect paths held no danger at all, whereas in Qimen Dunjia, the Gate of Life had no obstacles, while every other gate contained traps of every kind.
Take the wrong path and enter the Gate of Death or the Gate of Injury, and one would either die or be wounded. Hogwarts's maze had no "roof," so anyone in danger could send up a signal for help.
Simply put, if someone who had stumbled into a grand formation stayed in one place without moving,