Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

129

Hermione shrieked as she turned around and started slapping whoever it was that had grabbed her as hard as she could.

"Hermione! Hermione, it's me!" Harry voice's echoed into her ear. Hermione stopped hitting him for a moment. 

"Harry? You scared me!" She spat at him. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to." Harry claimed to her. Hermione opened her mouth to say something when they heard voices ahead of them. 

"What are you doing?" Cedric yelled, "What the hell d'you think you're doing?" 

"Crucio!" Krum's voice shouted then Cedric's screamed billowed through. Hermione and Harry looked at each other before preforming the Reductor Curse onto the hedge. They slipped through and rushed over where they found Cedric jerking and twitching on the ground with Krum standing over him.

"Stupefy!" Harry and Hermione yelled in union. The spell hit the back of Krum, sending him flying onto the ground just a few feet away from Cedric, who stopped twitching. 

"Are you all right?" Harry asked while they helped Cedric off the ground. 

"Yeah..." Cedric panted, "Yeah... I don't believe it... he crept up behind me... I heard him, I turned around and he had his wand on me...." 

"I can't believe this... I thought he was all right," Harry said while Hermione walked over to Krum. As she bent down, she looked over Krum. She couldn't help but reached down to his eyes and carefully pulled them opened. They were a pale white color, but soon were slowly turning back to their usual color. 

"What are you doing, Hermione?" Cedric asked her as they began walking over to her. She turned her head to look at them. 

"He was bewitched. Someone cursed him to attack you." Hermione claimed before standing up from the ground. 

"But why would anyone do that? What would be the point of it?" Cedric asked in disbelief. 

"Not sure. But one thing I do know is we need to get out of this damn maze." Hermione stated before walked carefully over Krum then raised her wand up to the sky and shot a shower of red sparks into the air. Then she quickly rushed around the maze with Cedric and Harry as they hurried along. They went down a couple of dead ends till they found one with a creature standing right before them. Hermione knew right away that it was a Sphinx. When they got closer, she stood up and spoke. 

"You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me." 

"So... so will you move, please?" Harry asked while Hermione shook her head. 

"I don't think that's how it works," Hermione mumbled, "I think will have to answer her riddle." 

"Riddle?" Harry asked. 

"Aye, you are correct young lass. Answer on your first guess-- I let you pass. Answer wrongly-- I attack. Remain silent-- I will let you walk away from me unscathed." she said with a smile. 

"Then can we hear the riddle?" Cedric asked her. She sat back down right in the middle and recited: 

"First think of the person who lives in disguise,
who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies. 
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend, 
the middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard 
During the search for a hard-to-find word. 
Now String them together, and answer me this, 
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?" 

The three of them stood there thinking about the riddle. 

"Could I have it again... more slow--" Harry started when it popped in Hermione's head. 

"A spider!" she said. Cedric and Harry shared confused looks until the Sphinx smiled at her, got up, stretched her legs, then moved out of the way. 

"Thanks!" Hermione shouted to her before they rushed down the path. They turned a few times before pausing when they saw it. The blue light of the Triwizard Cup stood in front of them. They glanced at each other for a few seconds before they ran down the path towards the cup. However, as they were inching closer to the cup, Hermione stared noticing something coming from the hedges. 

"WATCH OUT! Spiders!" She screamed back towards Harry and up towards Cedric while pulling out her wand. They shot countless spells as the spiders kept charging at them. It took them a couple of minutes till finally they reached the Triwizard Cup. 

"One of you should take it," Cedric told them, "You guys helped plenty of times." 

"So have you," Harry said, "You take it." 

"But you told me about the dragons! I would have gone down if you hadn't told me!" 

"But you told Hermione about the egg, which she then helped me. We're square." 

"I insist you--" 

"Boys! Boys!" Hermione screamed at the two of them, "Why don't we all take it? That leaves us all tied and it's still a Hogwarts victory." 

Harry and Cedric looked at each other before nodding in agreement. 

"On three, right?" Cedric said, "One-- two-- three--" 

They grasp hold of the cup as they began swirling around, their feet leaving the ground as they began to swirl around in a world of color and a howl of wind. 

It felt like an hour till they landed on the ground, tumbling a few feet away from the cup that slumped near a stone grave. 

"Where are we?" Harry asked as they climbed to their feet. They were in the middle of what appeared like a dark and overgrown graveyard. 

"Is this supposed to be part of the task?" Cedric asked them. 

"Don't know, but I say we have our wands out just in case." Hermione suggested while holding out her wand. She couldn't help but noticed Harry seemed to be in a look of panic as suddenly he blurted out...

"Someone's coming!" 

Hermione darted her head to the side where she saw a figure growing closer towards them. She could see he was clinging tightly to something that he was carrying. As he drew nearer, Hermione began to back away. 

"Guys we need to get back to the cup... now!" She shrieked. Just as she turned to head for it, Harry suddenly began howling with pain. She turned to see he was clinging to his forehead where his scar was. 

"Harry!" Hermione cried out as she reached down and grabbed hold of Harry's arm. As she was trying to pull Harry towards the cup, she could hear a high, cold voice speak. 

"Kill the spare!" 

There was then a second voice and a swishing noise as the words screeched into the night: "Avada Kedavra!" 

A blast of green light blazed past them as they turned and watched as Cedric slammed down against the ground.