The weeks leading up to the Final Task go by in a blur. Ron, Hermione, and I help Harry prepare the best that we can: going over every spell we know, quizzing him on poisons and antidotes, and even dueling with him. All of our preparation and training would come down to tonight.
I am a buzzing ball of nerves sitting in the common room before dinner. The Champions would soon be whisked off for their own private dinner and then prepare for the Final Task-whatever it was. I try to keep my anxious energy to myself; I don't want to make Harry any more nervous than he already is.
"You're going to be wonderful, Harry," Hermione says, lightly touching his arm.
Ron and I share similar sentiments, and Harry smiles. "Thank you guys. I couldn't do it without you three." He looks each of us in the eye as he says this.
With a deep breath, Harry rises from his seat. "Well. I guess this is it. I'll see you all on the other side."
Hermione also rises and pulls Harry into a hug. Ron follows suit, then soon we're all hugging and murmuring last minute wishes of luck.
***
It's a surprisingly sticky night outside; its effects made more noticeable by the amount of people crammed into the stands awaiting the last trial. I'm squeezed between Hermione the rest of the Gryffindors. We are about halfway up the stands, a decent place for viewing the giant maze looming before us.
I gaze down into the crowd standing in the front row. Ron is with the rest of his family who had come to support Harry. A tall, stunningly beautiful blonde woman is standing near them, and I assume her to be Fleur's mother. Next to her is a young girl that I remember as Fleur's younger sister, the one Harry had also rescued from the lake. On the Weasley's other side is Cedric's father. I recall seeing him with the Weasley's at the World Cup this past summer.
"WELCOME! WELCOME! TO THE FINAL TASK! OF THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT!" the announcer's voice booms over the crowd.
Hermione grabs my hand tightly, and I grip hers just as tightly in return.
"Each contestant will be tasked with retrieving the Triwizard Cup from within the maze. But be careful, Champions, things in the maze may not be what they appear. Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory will be first to enter the maze, followed by Viktor Krum and finally Fleur Delacour. On my count-three, two, one...BEGIN!"
Harry and Cedric tear off into the maze and soon disappear from sight. Krum follows on the announcers signal, and then Fleur does the same. And now, like the second task, we sit in anxious anticipation for something to happen.
Everyone sits down about five minutes after the Champions disappeared into the maze. People start to chatter amongst themselves, glancing every few minutes at the maze to make sure they didn't miss anything.
After about 30 minutes, red sparks light up the sky somewhere deep inside the maze. Gasps ripple through the crowd as every head turns to look. Something is wrong. My heart squeezes in my chest as I hope against hope that it isn't Harry that needs to be rescued from the trial.
Moments later, Fleur is being carried out by an older wizard. Her eyes are open, but she appears to be staring at nothing. The rest of her expression is blank and off. A shiver runs up my spine, and I feel Hermione shudder beside me.
Not long after, more red sparks explode in the sky. Krum is carried out similarly to Fleur. I look at Hermione; her mouth is in a tight line and her eyes are wide. She stands rigid next to me. Harry and Cedric are the only ones left in the maze. And we have no way of knowing how they are.
The minutes tick by way too slowly. Everyone is still seated, but the lively chatter of earlier has died out with the rescue and carrying away of the two Champions. We all sit in tense silence, waiting for more red sparks, waiting for someone else to emerge from the maze.
In a flash, Harry and Cedric appear on the ground at the bottom of the stands. Everyone cheers, but something feels wrong. Cedric is just laying there, too still, and Harry is covered in blood and dirt, and his eyes are wild and he is yelling.
An inhuman wail fills the air a second later. "That's my son! That's my boy!" Amos Diggory breaks through the crowd and collapses at Cedric's side.
For a beat the world seems to stand still; everyone zeroed in on the father and son. Then, chaos erupts.
People are screaming; witches and wizards are apparating left and right, trying to get away from whatever caused this trial to end in...I shake the thought away.
Fear snakes around my limbs, and I stand frozen in place. My heartbeat fills my ears and becomes deafening. This can't be happening.
Hermione jerks my arm, hard, forcing me to move with her. We move through the crowd, trying to get to Harry, but professors are now up and corralling students, barking orders and moving them away from Harry, Cedric, and everyone else. We begrudgingly comply when Professor McGonigall shouts at us to go back to the castle and go with the flow of the rest of the students. I twist and try to find my brother in the sea of students, but there are too many people to see through.
Once we are all back in the castle, prefects organize everyone by house and lead them back to the dormitories. We are all to stay there and not come out until further instructions are given.
I sit by the fire, hugging my knees with Hermione beside me. We assume Ron and the others went with their family since none of the Weasley children have appeared in the common room yet. Where Harry ended up is also a mystery, but my best guess is the hospital wing. I can't get his shouts or Amos' wails out of my head. I squeeze my eyes shut tight against the noises in my head.
I don't know how long we have been sitting here. My legs feel numb from how I'm sitting, but I don't have the energy to move. Neither Hermione nor I have spoken a word since returning to Gryffindor house. Neither of us want to vocalize what we both know to be true, afraid that saying it out loud will somehow make it real.
Cedric Diggory is dead.
A/N This was so painful to write, but I hope you all enjoy! Also, how boring would the last task have been for the spectators? Just staring at maze for ages without knowing what's inside. Let me know what you think is going to happen next! :)
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Falling Star
FanfictionMany fans hold to the theory that Draco Malfoy would have stayed on the side of the Hogwarts students in the final battle if he had just one person who truly wanted him there. What if he did? Would he have found redemption if someone there cared eno...
