George Weasley x Reader ~ Jaffa Cake

32 - That's My Boy

It happened with no warning. The death was unexpected, leaving everyone feeling empty and upset, but there was no going back.

Cedric was killed during the third and final task. 

The mood during the morning of the event said otherwise. The hall was full of excited chatter, owls and food, it was so loud that one could barely hear their own thoughts. Harry had received a good luck letter from Sirius, Cedric had received many good luck letters from family and friends, and the other two champions were too irrelevant to you to care about what they were doing. The only two people who mattered to you at that moment were Harry and Cedric. There was quite a lengthy article in the Daily Prophet about Harry apparently being 'disturbed and dangerous' which had far too much information in it to be released to the public - yet there it was on every single table anyway - however Harry didn't seem to bothered, he did say something along the lines of 'Gone off me a bit, hasn't she?' as he folded up the paper. It certainly made you feel rather sick, and you had silently hoped that Hermione would figure out Rita Skeeter's little illegal trick soon enough. She dashed off to the library at one point right before her and the boys were supposed to have a History of Magic exam, so you prayed that she'd finally got it. 

Before making your way to lunch, you managed to find Cedric and wish him good luck. He had smiled softly at you and you stood in an emotional hug for a few minutes. The nice thing about your friendship with Cedric was that nothing was ever awkward between the two of you, because you probably had the same emotional capacity, which was why you were able to hug each other for extended periods of time without it being strange. There was an unsettling feeling that gripped you from the inside out as he smiled at you, and a completely different glint present in his eyes that you'd never seen before. You had no idea that it would be the last hug you ever shared with him; the last time your eyes ever made contact. 

Harry hadn't a single idea that the night he'd spent with Cedric was the last night he'd spend with him ever.

During lunch, you'd met the Gryffindors at the Great Hall and sat with the Weasleys, all of whom seemed to take a kind warming to you. Of course you sat next to George, which led to Mrs Weasley having a lengthy conversation with you about how you should have been smarter and picked someone more suited to you. You'd simply smiled and linked your arm in George's, before telling her all the ways George had helped you in the past year, and she seemed to loosen up quite a bit after that, appearing to be quite proud of her troublemaker son for once in her life.

Eventually, Dumbledore stood up from the staff table, cleared his throat, and began to speak.

'Ladies and Gentlemen - in 5 minutes time, I'll be requesting that you make your way to the Quidditch Pitch where the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament shall be taking place. Will the 4 champions please follow Mr Bagman down to the stadium now.'

Harry lifted himself up slowly in his chair and everyone seated on the Gryffindor table began to clap wildly for him. You looked over at Cedric, who had been receiving copious amounts of head pats and supportive words, and he didn't catch your eye. There were nerves overloading his system, just like Harry. Just like all four of them. Everyone watched as they left the hall at the same time, Cedric and Harry standing barely centimetres apart. They hadn't come out to the larger majority of the school yet - they'd decided that it was their plan to after completing the third task. That was the plan, anyway.

After five minutes had passed, the people who were going to watch the task were ushered out from the Great Hall and to the Quidditch Pitch. As soon as you saw it, you couldn't help but gasp in awe, and neither could anyone around you. The pitch had been transformed completely: where the tall hoops and sandy floor used to be stood a massive, thick, green maze. From the front it looked like an oversized, gaping holly bush, but once the task was explained and you were sat on a higher seat, it became apparent that the bush was a giant maze made to confuse and contain. It had to have been about 20 feet high, and was extremely dense.