stardust ⋮ george weasley

forty-three :

F O R T Y - T H R E E

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Adeline had never liked mazes.

Sure, she had never been in too many in the past. But the few times she had been into mazes, Adeline had been sent into a near panic attack as she attempted to find her way around. Adeline wasn't entirely sure why she hated them so much. Maybe it was just because of not having any sort of clear rhyme or reason to then, or that Adeline just didn't like going into a situation that she didn't have at least some sort of idea how to get out of.

All Adeline knew was that she did not like mazes, so to have to wander around an enchanted dark maze for the final Triwizard Task was not something she enjoyed very much.

Encountering the various dark creatures were strangely a relief to Adeline. At least she knew how to fight them. It gave her something to focus on for a brief moment before she had to take off running again down the hedge-covered pathway, trying her best to navigate around with the Four-Point Spell she had learnt during the months of preparation leading up to the Task.

But Adeline hadn't encountered any of those creatures for a while, and she was starting to get a little worried. It was now nearly dark out, which certainly didn't help calm Adeline's nerves.

And then the maze came to life.

What Adeline didn't know was that the maze was enchanted so that the closer she got to the Triwizard Cup, the more active it would become. It wasn't continuous though. It would happen at random moments, the wind whipping around like a tornado and the hedges coming to life to smack Adeline as she ran.

Then, the wind suddenly stopped, and it was as if it hadn't even happened at all. Adeline nearly collapsed to the ground, winded from all the running she had just done. Instead she leaned her back against a hedge, needing a few moments to catch a breath and compose herself before continuing on again. Adeline wiped her cheek and was shocked to find that when she brought her hand back down again, she could see blood smeared across the back of her hand.

In the distance, Adeline could see a faint blue light and the outline of the cup, and she finally found the motivation to pick herself off the ground again.

But she didn't have time to run to it just yet. All Adeline heard was a male bellowing far off in the distance before a red light came flying in her direction. Adeline screamed and dodged the curse, ducking to the ground before shooting back a defensive spell in Viktor's direction.

The two dueled for however long, shooting spells at each other and dodging them to the best of their ability. Adeline hadn't had much dueling experience in the past – the exception being Lockhart's shortly-lived dueling club – but she had always been a brilliant witch who excelled in Defense Against the Dark Arts and spellcasting.

But Viktor had the advantage of going to a school that regularly practiced the Dark Arts and likely had loads of experiences in duels. He had nearly overpowered Adeline when Harry Potter suddenly jumped into the fight, casting a spell that knocked Viktor off his feet and left him in a dazed state for a few moments.

"What the hell?" Adeline couldn't help but scream. All the events that had happened in the maze were absolutely terrifying to her, and this fight with Viktor – a guy who had been mostly nice, if not a little distant – with her this entire Tournament was now trying to severely harm her in the maze. "Why the hell did he just try to do that?"

"Adeline, look!" Harry yelled, pointing towards Viktor's shadowed face. "He's under the Imperius Curse! It's not him!"

Taking a closer look, Adeline could see Viktor's normally dark brown eyes were now silvery and cloudy, one of the signs Professor Moody had taught them in class to look out for when someone was under the curse.

But when another red light came shooting in their direction and just barely grazed Adeline, she muttered, "Well that's not going to stop him from cursing us," before grabbing Harry's arm and running towards the faint blue light in the distance.

Viktor was right on their heels, shooting curses wildly at them as the pair ran down the maze path. The two tried their best to fire curses back towards him, but running forwards and having to shoot spells at someone who was behind them proved to be difficult to the pair.

Just as he was about to reach them, Adeline hit Viktor with the Stupefy curse square in the chest and sent him flying down the pathway before knocking his head on the hard ground. The pair ran over to his unconscious body, and as Harry sent red sparks in the sky, Adeline couldn't help but wonder for a moment who had put Viktor under the Imperius Curse. An uneasy feeling grew in the pit of Adeline's stomach, as something didn't feel quite right to her about the whole situation.

But, once again, she couldn't think about that for too long.

The maze came became alive again, the wind blowing at top speed and forcing Harry and Adeline apart from each other. Both of them kept running towards the Triwizard Cup, the bright blue light acting as a beacon to guide the pair to their destination.

Suddenly, a root grabbed onto Adeline's ankle and the scream let out as she fell to the ground was lost over the sound of the wind and battering hedges.

Harry managed to hear this, but not until he had gotten much farther down the pathway. He stopped suddenly in place, glancing at the Triwizard Cup and then back at Adeline. For a moment, Harry contemplated running to the Cup and grabbing it, winning the Tournament and all of the glory that came with it.

But then Harry thought about Adeline and how kind she had been to him since the very beginning, even though Harry was taking away so much of the glory and praise that was rightfully hers. About how he never even wanted to compete in this Tournament in the first. About how he couldn't just leave Adeline there struggling, despite her trying her best to cast a spell that would force the root to let go of her.

So Harry ran back over to Adeline and helped her escape her clutches of the hedges. Adeline barely even had the time to thank him before the pair took off again. The two stopped when they reached the cup and stared back at each other, shocked that the other person wasn't reaching out to grab it. "It's yours, Adeline!" Harry yelled, taking a step back from the cup. "Take the cup!"

"Harry, you saved me!" Adeline insisted, gesturing for him to grab the glowing blue cup as she dodged the flying branches. "You would've gotten here first if it weren't for me falling! Take it!"

"I shouldn't be here! The Hogwarts Champion was supposed to be just you! You should be the Triwizard Champion!"

Adeline and Harry locked eyes, and they both seemed to realize at the same time that neither of them would take the cup no matter how much the other insisted.

"Together," Harry suddenly said, earning a surprised look out of Adeline. "It's a Hogwarts victory either way. We can tie!"

Adeline thought it over for a second before nodding at Harry. "Together," She repeated with a wide smile which Harry returned, despite their environment still storming around them.

"On three, okay!" Harry shouted over the noise as the two reached out towards the cup. Adeline nodded and grabbed Harry's other hand, ready to be out of that maze and back at Hogwarts again as Champions together.

"One...two...three!"

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