my best friends brother - fred weasley

xxii. moment of change

"Ron, if you sit in front of me with your fat head, I swear to Merlin himself-" I growl at my best friend as he goes to sit on the bench below me.

"Blimey, remind me to never cross you." He rolls his eyes, moving down a few spaces to sit down. It's the afternoon of the third task in the Triwizard tournament. Hermione, the Weasley's and I are all sitting in a group, wearing our Gryffindor scarves and holding a flag we made yesterday for Harry. In front of us there's a hedge maze that looks about three and a half metres tall, even Hagrid can't see over it. 

The band plays as the champions and their supporters come out. We watch Amos Diggory stride out, proudly, almost leaving his son behind. Cedric walks out and everyone whoops and claps for him, I cheer louder and more enthusiastically than the rest of my group, while Fred scoffs and rolls his eyes. Fleur Delacour makes her way out in her Beauxbatons blue tracksuit, her schoolmates dance for her, cheering in French while everyone just admires her. Viktor then walks out, earning another large cheer from the crowd, he blows a kiss to Hermione, who blushes and looks down at her hands. Harry finally walks out with Dumbledore and Professor Moody, earning a few boo's from the crowd, but we try and drown them out with our cheers. 

"Sonorus!" Dumbledore stands on a platform in front of the stands to announce the challenge. "Professor Moody has placed the Triwizard cup within the maze. Only he knows it's exact position." I make eye contact with Cedric, his father has his arm around him, standing proudly, Cedric gives me a scared smile and I respond with an encouraging two thumbs up. 

"As Mr. Diggory-" Dumbledore is cut off by an eruption of cheers. "And Mr. Potter are both tied for first, they with be the first to enter the maze, followed by Mr. Krum, and then Miss Delacour. The first to touch the cup, will be announced the winner." There's more cheering. Dumbledore gathers the champions in a circle and whispers to them, we all sit in anticipation.

I watch Amos give Cedric one last bone crushing hug before his son goes into the maze, I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding in. "Good luck, my boy." He says. The canon goes off and the band starts playing again, Moody sets Harry into the maze with a rough pat on the back. We all crane our necks to watch him go further in, before the maze moves to block him from our view completely. 

⊱✿⊰

It's been half an hour since the contestants entered the maze, we all sat in near silence, nervous for what was happening that we didn't know about. Fleur had already withdrawn from the task by sending red sparks up with her wand. She came out shaking and muttering something to Dumbledore, none of us could understand her with her thick accent and nervous state. It set an eerie tone for the rest of the waiting time. Even the twins weren't joking around anymore, as the time of the challenge neared an hour. Some of the younger students had left, deciding that it was either too scary or too boring, waiting for the results. Viktor Krum had also come out, but his headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, took him under his arm instantly, taking him far away and out of sight from everyone. It was only the Hogwarts students left in the competition to become  the Triwizard champion.

With a flash, Harry and Cedric reappeared in the middle of the stadium. Everyone stood up to cheer, the band started playing. I had a huge grin on my face and ran down the stands to celebrate the boy's victory. I was trailing behind Fred when there was a blood curdling scream, Fred stops in his tracks and turns to grab me, lifting me up and carrying me back towards the stands. 

"What? I want to go see them!" I yell at him, trying to fight him off me, pushing against his chest, he holds me tighter. The band stops playing and there's nothing but Harry's sobs and shocked gasps. I finally push Fred off of me and run to the crowd, seeing Harry lay over Cedric possessively.