Competitor

Chapter Thirteen

I sit by the fire with Draco holding my hand. The final challenge is coming up, and I'm nervous. There is no hint for this one. I spent the day reviewing every single spell that Draco and I have written through four years. Also some other spells in the library. I honestly don't care about winning, just surviving. Krum enters the common room.

"Are you ready?" He asks.

"Yeah. You?"

"Of course. Just like another Quidditch game."

I nod my head and, when he's not looking, roll my eyes. Draco kisses my cheek.

¤

I stand at the entrance of the maze, waiting for the cannon to go off. I swear, the students can hear my heart beating ninety kilometers per hour. The maze is about twenty bloody meters tall. I work on my breathing as Dumbledore announces rules and the fact Mad-Eye Moody hid the cup in the maze.

So if we find it, how do we get back to the start? I enter as the cannon goes off. I hear the hedge grow behind me, but I don't care. I take off running. All I hear is my shoes slapping against the ground, my breathing, and heartbeat. Until someone screams and red sparks fly in the air.

"Bloody hell," I mutter. I keep running until I run into a familiar Gryffindor. "Sorry Harry."

"Not your fault."

We grab our wands and get up. Krum walks over. His eyes are glazed over.

"DUCK," I hear. I do as I'm told. Krum falls, knocked out. Everything becomes blurry and a loud pierce fills my ears. What is going on? Harry pulls me up and we take off running. I make the mistake of looking back as the running subsides. THE MAZE IS TRYING TO KILL IS!! Cedric falls and vines start wrapping around him.

"Harry," he calls. "Abi. Help."

I run over and, with Harry's help, get Cedric up.

"I thought you were going to let it get me," he informs us. A blue glow comes and we look at the Triwizard Tournament Cup.

"Take it," I tell them. This starts an argument on who deserves the award.

"All of us?" Cedric offers.

"Yeah sure," Harry agrees. I just nod my head. "On the count of three."

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

The ground pulls out from underneath my feet. I land on the ground with a thud.

"Just bloody great," I moan. The boys and I get up. It looks like we're in a graveyard. Harry falls on the ground, screaming in agony. "Get the Portkey, Cedric."

"Kill the girl," I hear. A green flashes before my eyes, but I'm not the one to fall. Cedric lands dead in front of me. I plop to my knees and tears start to form. I may barely know him, but he always was nice.

"Failure Wormtail," I hear. "Let's hope she works."

Before I could react, I go flying back into a wall. Harry is pinned above me. My vision is a bit blurry, but I can easily make out the rodent that turned in his friends and killed Cedric. Wormtail drops a tiny body in a cauldron as flames ignite around it. Wormtail makes a bone float in the air.

"Bone of the father, unwillingly given." The bone falls in the cauldron. He pulls out a blade. "Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed." Wormtail cuts his hand off. Then draws blood from Harry's arm. "Blood of the enemy, forcefully taken." The drops of blood falls in the potion. The knife is set down and Wormtail grabs a handful of my hair. He drags me to the cauldron. "Tears of the one is gifted." He holds my head over the edge. A stray tear falls in. I get thrown to the ground. "The Dark Lord shall rise again."

The entire thing starts to move until standing before us is Voldemort. I scan the area to see my wand is several meters from my reach. But the knife Wormtail dropped is right by me. My fingers wrap around the handle. Voldemort starts ordering Wormtail to do something. I look up and see Death Eaters surround us.