𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓 ⚯͛ 𝑫𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑶 𝑴𝑨𝑳𝑭𝑶𝒀

[22] : the maze

✧

✧

        time flew by faster than hydra could acknowledge and soon enough it was june 23, the day before the third and final task. rumors had been going around that the third task was a maze that would hold unrelenting forces, creatures, and terrors, which did not sooth hydra's growing anxiety for the event at all. she laid awake the previous night begging for the higher power in the universe to show mercy to her friends. all she could do was hope.

        "hey... you okay?" daphne asked as they ate dinner together. it was a grand feast to fill the champions before the final task and hydra's plate was filled with all sorts of food, but her appetite wasn't there. her breathing had been inconsistent and her hands shaky as she thought about the day to come. as much as she tried to push the though to the back of her mind, something bad was coming and she knew it. it left a pit in her stomach.

        trying to reconfigure her breathing, hydra looked to her best friend and shook her head. "too much anxiety about tomorrow. i don't know how people are so excited for it." she said, her breath shaky. daphne rubbed her back and said," hy, cedric and harry are going to be okay. you need to have faith in that."

        draco looked at his anxious girlfriend and felt heartache, wishing he could take her worry away. he wasn't anxious about it at all. after the past three years at hogwarts, draco knew something like this certainly wouldn't be the end for harry and he knew cedric was too smart to let anything happen to himself. but he also knew hydra to be a person who had a very strong gut feeling about things which was almost always right, so he couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mind.

        hydra shut her eyes and said," i just... don't feel good. i'm probably overreacting. i just want to talk to both of them tonight."

        so as soon as dinner was over, she parted from her friends and followed the hufflepuff crowd. cedric was surrounded by his friends in his year, laughing, and she almost felt too nervous to bother him but felt like she would regret it if she didn't.

        "cedric!" she said over the voices in the small crowd. he looked up and met his eyes with her, smiling and excusing himself from his friends as he walked over to her. "what's up, hydra? it's been a minute since we've talked." he said, smiling wide as he crossed his arms.

        she fiddled with her hands before saying," hi. i know you've probably heard a lot of this tonight, but i just wanted to say good luck, cedric. i'll be rooting for you, considering you were the greatest herbology and transfiguration tutor i ever had." cedric let out a soft laugh and said," thank you. it'll be encouraging to know my smartest pupil is on my side."

        the pit in her stomach grew as a sad laugh escaped her lips. she engulfed him in a tight hug, which after a second, he gently returned, laughing.