𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐘 || 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳

✿ CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE ✿

As the third task drew nearer and nearer, excitement in the castle ran wild.

I skip down the empty corridor on my way to lunch, my brain still foggy with the lingering smell of the Divination classroom that seems to be permanently stuck in my nostrils. Professor Trelwany had announced that we would be re-visiting tea leaf reading to see what we had remembered from the previous year, however I have to admit it was sort of interesting considering I never learnt in third year. My book bag is heavy with the many books that I had to study, though I'll probably put off reading them until as late as I can.

"Hey, Petal." Fred says to me as I join the gang at Gryffindor table. The nickname had spread like wildfire and I was learning to accept that no one would ever stop. Admittedly, I had slipped Harry some Madame McLares Colour-Changing Hair Potion in his morning pumpkin juice, which had caused his hair to spontaneously change colour every few minutes for three days.

I ignore my older brother and turn to Harry instead.
"Nervous, Harry? The final task's tomorrow night!"
"I think I know that, thanks." Harry says. He'd been agitated the last few days, his stomach obviously stirring with worry, though I knew not to take it personally. I did feel awful for Harry. If I had to go through what he is, I don't know what I would do.
"You'll be fine, I promise." I grin.
"You promise? Well if you say so it must be true, eh Petal?" He jokes.
"Shush, dear one. I'm giving moral support." I say, trying not to giggle. "Worst case scenario, you could just make all those maze creatures noses explode with pink bubbles." I say with a glance at Hermione.
This time he does laugh. "As much as I am nervous, I'm feeling better than the other tasks. Much more prepared."
"Good-o." Ron pipes up, taking a break from his sandwich.

For some reason, I couldn't shake some bad feeling. Like something was going to go wrong. My heart felt heavy in my chest. I tried to fight it off with a half-hearted laugh but it came out flat and empty. My head spins and my vision goes spotty.
"Ruby?" George's voice sounds vague, like I'm wearing earmuffs or have my fingers shoved in my ears. I start to fall, and my head his the floor with a thump, pain erupting from the spot where my head made contact with the stone floor.

A white flash. I'm standing in a graveyard. Harry and Cedric Diggory stand ten or so meters away from me. A short stubby figured cloaked in black draws near, in their arms carrying a bundle of cloth.
"Hide." Harry whispers. My legs move involuntarily, running as though I'm a puppet being controlled by invisible strings. I find myself crouched behind an old and dirty headstone roughly thirty meters away from Harry and Cedric.
"Kill the spare!" A high voice yells.
"Avada Kedavra!" The stubbly man hisses. A green flash. Cedric's body falls to the ground, unmoving. I watch the same scene play out again, but this time instead of watching from inside my own body, I'm watching it from above. I watch it one more time after that, and this time from right next to Cedric. In the distance I can see myself crouched behind the headstone. A loud, insane, mad scream fills my head and ears and there's another bright white flash.

I'm back on the floor of the Great Hall. My head throbs and my body is wet with what is either water or sweat. The blood curdling scream still echoes loudly around me, and it takes a long moment for me to realise that the scream is coming from me. An incredibly sharp pain erupts from behind my right ear. Every single head in the Great Hall is turned to me, including Dumbledore, who is standing over me.

"I'm fine. I promise, I'm fine." I say, trying to regain my feet, except my knees give way and I fall back to the ground. Either Fred or George - I have no idea which, as my vision seems a bit fuzzy - leans down and picks me up off the floor, and I'm vaguely aware of him carrying me out of the great hall before the world goes black once more

:•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•:

I wake up in the middle of the night and realise I'm in the infirmary, which is empty and an eerie silence seems to be spread over the room like a blanket.