MORALITY ⟶ Angelina Johnson [1]

Chapter Fifty-Nine

[Chapter Fifty-Nine]

Overwhelmed by everything that had taken place in the maze, the last thing that Saros was anticipating was the cup being a portkey. Where it was taking him and Harry, he hoped it would be just outside of the maze, but things couldn't be that simple. Perhaps there was a second part to the Third Task that they weren't aware of, but as the portkey arrived at its destination, Saros' body was making it clear that it had enough. He collapsed and wasn't willing to push himself up anymore. As he had told Harry earlier when they had been in the maze, he was done. The price of eternal glory just wasn't worth it to him anymore and he was so tired that the slightest bit of movement proved to be too much for him.

When his body hit the ground, Saros didn't fight to push himself up, instead, he rolled on his side, trying to catch his breath. He felt incredibly weak and as Harry called to him, his voice sounded so distant for some reason. Perhaps it was the side effect of the Cruciatus Curse being cast on him, considering he had never experienced it before. It was becoming increasingly hard for Saros to keep his eyes open, but he could still hear Harry calling to him.

Harry didn't understand as to why Saros had suddenly collapsed and wasn't responding. When they had grabbed the portkey they had been fine for the most part. But Saros seemed to be fading away with every passing second. Searching for some cause, Harry looked around until he looked down at Saros' other leg. His prosthetic was exposed from where his trousers had been ripped in the leg, but it was the other leg that began the focus. At some point, Saros had been bitten by something and it looked terribly infected. The darker blood surrounding the wound left Harry to look back up at him.

"Did something bite you? Did the spider get you too?" Harry asked frantically before he turned Saros' head to face him. "Saros!"

For a moment or so, Saros looked confused as if he didn't understand the question or if he was attempting to recall what had bitten him during his time in the maze. And that's when he remembered the beginning of the maze, what he had faced and during the time, his adrenaline was so much at work that he probably didn't even notice.

"Venomous Tentacula," he responded finally in a quiet voice, " it must have bitten me when it got a hold of my leg earlier. I'm not going to make it Harry, I can't. Not like this. You need to go on and finish the task. Just send up a distress signal for me, please, I can't...I can't..."

Harry didn't have the heart to tell Saros that he didn't think they were part of the tournament anymore. The eerie feeling that had been creeping up his spine the entire time was getting harder to ignore as he saw that they were in a graveyard of sorts. The sounds of the crowds were gone and there was no indicator of what should be done next. With Saros closing his eyes, Harry started to panic and even if he didn't think it would work, he thought about casting the red sparks into the sky.

He went to lift his wand when he heard someone approaching. Allowing his arm to fall back down to his side, Harry squinted his eyes through the darkness to see a short hooded figure making its way towards them. Shaking Saros to tell him that they needed to move, Saros didn't respond at all to the touch, bringing Harry to look down.