Chapter 34

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BLAM! The first sound of the cannon had been fired as Cedric immediately rushed into the maze, his figure dissolving into the tall hedges within.

The Ravenclaw took one last breath before. BLAM! The second cannon sounded, instantly she dashed into the maze, the walls of the maze looked incredibly taller when she stood by them.

Inside the maze was utterly silent, eerie and creepy. BLAM! The sound of the third cannon sounded which told the Ravenclaw that Krum has now entered the maze.

Quickly she continued forward, following her route as she turned a few lefts and rights, to her relief nothing has yet to come out and challenge her.

Just then, the sound of the fourth cannon fired through the maze, all four champions were now in the maze, which only encouraged the Ravenclaw to get through the tall hedges quicker.

She continued to move forward, her wand tightly in her grip as she glanced around cautiously, keeping an eye out for any potential traps. Suddenly, a soft crack sounded behind her, causing her to turn around sharply, though, nothing.

She turned back to her front and continued deeper into the maze. As she furthered down the maze she was met with a crossroad, each of the alley's were short, she followed her gut and went for the one on her right.

As she continued in the maze, she was starting to get skeptical, there must be something bound to pop up and attack her already, though she hadn't faced anything.

Shaking herself out of her thought, she refocused her concentration to the maze, the sky was now dark as the sun had fully setted, making the maze just more scary and eerie for the Ravenclaw.

Mist began to settle around the Ravenclaw, giving her a some sort of unsettling feeling as she began to quickened her pace. She was now running through the maze, the only sound she could hear was her feet rustling against the ground as she was spooked by the swirling mist.

Finally coming to a corner she turns and the mist was gone. Sighing in relief she continued on the new route she took, "Lumos." she casted, causing a light to emit from her wand to give her a better view outfront.

She had no clue where she was as she continued to walk through the maze, then, an idea came to mind as she placed her wand flat on the palms of her hand, "Point me."

Instantly, her wand spun around before it pointed towards her right, right into a solid hedge, this told the Ravenclaw that she had to move north-west in order to at least get to the middle of the maze.

She hurried herself, she wanted to quickly get this overwith as soon as possible as she ran down her route, trying to get to the direction she needed to go.

Suddenly, a loud shriek sounded within the maze, it was definitely a female's scream and it certainly was not hers, meaning, it could only be Fleur's.

The Ravenclaw didn't think twice as she hurried towards the sound, she didn't know why but she needed some reassurance that Fleur was okay. She ran deeper into the maze towards the scream she heard, she soon came to a halt as she found herself now in a junction.

Suddenly, in the distance, she could make out a figure moving towards her, gulping nervously she watched the figure intently, her grip around her wand tightening immensely.

As the figure came to the clearing, it too stopped. It was Krum, though something about him looked odd to Y/N. His eyes were a very light blue, his face was emotionless, it was as if he was possessed by a demon.

Uneasy was what the Ravenclaw felt as Krum continued to stare at her, his expression made the Ravenclaw think he was about to attack her, though without muttering a single word, he abruptly turns away to a different route.

Debating to herself whether or not to follow Krum, though she soon decided to keep following her own route. As she motioned deeper into her route, she reached another crossroad, without thinking much she rounded a corner gingerly.

Startled to find Fleur laying motionless on the ground, she slowly approached her before kneeling down, she tried to shake her shoulder slightly, hoping for a response, nothing, it seemed as if she'd been knocked out.

Sighing to herself, she took Fleur's wand in her hand, raised it to the air and shot red sparks into the air. McGonagall had told them if they needed rescuing they'll have to shoot up red sparks as a distress call.

Considering Fleur was most likely unconscious the Ravenclaw decided to do it for her, despite being competitors she still wouldn't want Fleur laying stunned on the ground all night.

Though, the Ravenclaw had to admit she was slightly freaked to see Fleur laying unconscious on the ground, it made her question what could've possibly knock someone out that badly.

Without further more thinking, she quickly ran down her route, turning corner after corner, an anxious feeling started to fill her veins a she ran into short corridor after short corridor, looking over her shoulder a few times out of anxiousness.

Again, she had reached yet another cross road, she glanced behind her once more before turning back front and feeling herself crash into something.

"Ahh!" two voices yelled out, the Ravenclaw fearfully stumbled back, poising her wand thinking she had bumped into a beast. Though, as the person's face came into the clear, she sighed in relief before letting out a low snicker, "Merlin's sake, Cedric."

The Hufflepuff boy looked in a distressed state, his shirt looked like it'd been rubbed in a pile of mud, "Y/N, doing okay?" he questioned curiously, earning a nod from the Ravenclaw along with a shrug, "Fine."

Cedric nodded before he took off again, this time the Ravenclaw followed, though it puzzled the Ravenclaw as she noticed Cedric running faster and faster down the corridor, his wand light fading into the distance before fully disappearing.

The Ravenclaw couldn't catch up as she began to slow down, catching her breath as she now found herself in a long corridor. Her eyebrows started to furrow together as she watched the end of the corridor beginning to draw nearer and nearer.

Thinking she had gone delusional, she turned back, eyes widening in fear as she noticed the maze beginning to fold behind her, she was going to be crushed.

Turning back to the front, she caught a gap in the distance, without a second thought, she dashed towards it, sprinting down the long corridor as the hedge behind her began to catch up, she hurled herself forward, slipping through the gap just in time as the hedge closed off entirely.

The Ravenclaw was now panting on the ground, her chest heaving up and down desperate for air before she slowly picked herself off the ground. Dusting herself off as she lifted her gaze forward, the cup could be seen just in the far distance ahead.

Suddenly, a bolt of light rocketed right past her face, singeing the side of her head causing a hiss to escape her lips at the stinging pain as her hand cupped the singed spot.

She turned to her side from where the bolt of light had came from, but what came to sight shocked Y/N entirely, it was Krum, readying for a second shot, though his eyes weren't pointed towards her, instead someone behind.

"Y/N! Duck!"

Instantly, the Ravenclaw ducked down as Krum's spell sizzled right above her head. Just then, she watched as Krum stormed his way towards Cedric, constantly casting spells as Cedric tried hard to avoid them.

Though, it seemed as one of Krum's spells finally hit Cedric as his wand flew out of his grip as he stumbled onto the ground, Krum however, didn't back away, he continued to storm towards Cedric with a deadly look in his eyes.

The Ravenclaw quickly got up and poised her wand, "Stupefy!" she yelled as a bolt of light bursted from her wand towards Krum, causing him to collapse right onto the ground wide-eyed and motionless.

She hurried towards Cedric and helped the Hufflepuff up, "Thanks, Y/N/N." Cedric told to which the Ravenclaw shook her head at, "All good, Ced."

Then, she motioned towards Krum's stunned body as she kneeled down for his wand, raising up to the air and once again shooting red sparks into the sky as a distress signal.

She dropped his wand back to his side before turning to the front, the Cup was placed at the end of this short corridor, she and Cedric shared a glance, then, without a word, they both sprinted towards the Cup.

It felt like a sprinting race, the Ravenclaw didn't know why she was running for the Cup, she didn't really needed the prize, it was like, she was under a spell to go for it.

Cedric was began to take the lead until suddenly, a root twisted up out of the hedge and snagged his ankle. He desperately kicked the roots off but instead of breaking free he was being rapidly enveloped by the edge.

He was now sent to the ground as the Ravenclaw overtook him, though the grunting from the Hufflepuff caused her to look back, Cedric was now being suffocated and choked by the foliage.

Y/N took another short glance to the cup, mentally debating, "Who am I kidding?" she scoffed,shaking her head in disbelief. Without hesitation she dashed back to Cedric, who was almost fully consumed by the hedge.

Y/N whipped out her wand towards the snaking branches and began to blast spells all over them, though without realising one of the branches had sneaked up onto her ankle as she was sent to the ground.

The branch was wrapped so tightly on her leg it felt as if her ankle was about to be snapped off, desperately she quickly sent more bolts of lights from her wand towards the branch, finally able to riddle her leg out of it.

Hurriedly, she went back to Cedric and attempted to pull him out, finally with one last blow she was able to haul Cedric free. They both quickly got to their feet, though a sudden ache was sent through her body as she placed weight onto her ankle.

Groaning slightly from the pain she lifted her pants slightly to check the damage, to no surprise it was bleeding from the impossibly tight grip by the branch, she felt as if her entire feet had went numb.

In the corner of her eye she noticed a hand extended towards her, lifting her head up quizzically she was met with Cedric, she willingly accepted his hand as he helped her steady herself, to her relief the pain from her ankle was slowly subsiding, though she couldn't really walk well.

Cedric helped the Ravenclaw move to the side of a hedge, so she could lean on it for support. As she was now steadied, they both glance over to the front, the Triwizard Cup was right there, it's beautiful blue light reflected across their faces.

"Go on, Ced. Take it." Y/N encouraged, though Cedric didn't make a move to grab the Cup, instead he shook his head disapprovingly, "No. You saved me. Take it."

The Ravenclaw swore she thought Cedric had literally gone insane as a scoff left her lips, "No, Cedric. It's about who gets to the cup first, not about heroism. Go ,Take it."

Though, that didn't seem to convince the Hufflepuff as he only stayed put, "No, you tipped me off about the Dragons, you saved me from Krum and a few seconds ago you just saved me from those branches."

"Ced, don't be ridiculous. You tipped me off about the egg, you encouraged me even though I was on the edge of giving up. We're even." she stated pointedly, "The Tournament isn't about acts of chivalry. Besides, with my leg like this, people wouldn't believe me if I said I'd won."

Again, Cedric made no move to grab the cup, "No! You would've won first place in the second task if you hadn't had stayed back to ensure everyone's safety-"

"I was stupid to think that Dumbledore would actually let them all die! Just take it Cedric and it'll all be over!" she yelled, though Cedric once again, stayed put. The Ravenclaw huffed irritatedly, she never thought of Cedric as the stubborn type but oh man, he was extremely stubborn right now.

"Fine." the Ravenclaw huffed annoyingly as she limped towards the Cup, "You and me, we take it together, fair and square. Deal?"

Cedric shot the Ravenclaw a look to ask if she was serious, she held her composure showing him that she was dead serious. After a few seconds, finally, he nodded, "Deal."

They both stood side by side, the cup placed right in front of them as the Ravenclaw took one deep breath, "On three."

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

Just then, the both reached out towards the Cup, once they grabbed onto each side of the handle. Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to lurch, the sky around them started to shudder, spinning and spinning independent of the earth.

A wind rose in a howl as everything around them became more and more blurry. The Ravenclaw felt as if she was flying in midair, she must be dreaming, she thought to herself before thud!

She felt herself fall face flat onto the ground, her body aching entirely from the hard contact as the burning around her ankle became more and more intense. Please let this all be a dream. She thought to herself.

Little does she know, it'd be a dream she'd hold on to for a very very long time.

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