Before I Knew
35. Dead
Everybody had been greatly looking forward to the third task, hoping there'd be more to watch than the second one, but they were dismayed by the twenty foot tall hedges that had taken up the Quidditch field when they arrived. They all cheered as Ludo Bagman told them the current point tally and then Harry and Cedric were off into the maze, followed by Krum, and then by Fleur.
Since they couldn't see anything, the students took to imagining what the champions could be facing in the maze.
"What if Hagrid stuck one of his Skrewts in there?" Neville asked, his face pale.
"What if there's a banshee?" Dean wondered, grinning at Seamus.
"How about a severed hand?" Seamus countered.
Parvati shuddered. "Or a mummy!"
They saw red sparks fly up out of the maze and a buzzing hush fell over the crowd as the officials went in to rescue the champion.
"It's yer French girl," Seamus whispered to Dean.
"She's not my French girl," Dean hissed back.
Sure enough, however, an unconscious Fleur was being pulled from the maze. Bagman performed a spell and she woke up. When she realized where she was, her expression crumpled and she put her face in her hands. The crowd began to clap respectively for her as Madam Maxime took Fleur into her massive arms. People were trying to talk to Fleur, to get her to tell them what was in the maze, but she was too upset to talk to anybody. She looked really disappointed in herself.
"Poor girl," Parvati murmured.
About ten minutes later more red sparks were sent up. Everyone held their breath. All the Hogwarts students began whispering excitedly to each other when they saw it was Krum being dragged out. He was unconscious too, but a quick spell woke him up. He seemed really disoriented. They clapped respectively for him as well, but the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students now looked distinctly unhappy and disinterested in the task now that it was sure to be a Hogwarts victory, as were most of the Slytherins, who'd been rooting for Durmstrang.
"It's been nearly half an hour since they pulled Krum out," Seamus complained. "What's takin' them so long?"
"Do you think they're having it out with each other?" Dean asked.
Seamus shrugged.
Just then Harry appeared at the edge of the maze, lying on top of Cedric with the Cup in his hands. Everybody rose to their feet and cheered.
"Harry has the Cup!" Lavender exclaimed.
"Does that mean Gryffindor wins?!" Parvati asked excitedly.
But something was wrong. Cedric wasn't moving and Harry was…crying. The realization sank in –
"He's dead," Seamus whispered, his eyes filling with tears. "Dean, he's…he's dead, isn't he?"
Parvati and Lavender screamed, as did the rest of the crowd as the whispers of "Cedric's dead!" "He's dead!" "What happened?" "He can't be dead!" spread through the crowd. Seamus swayed dizzily, a cold numb filling his entire body as the tears rolled down his face. Dean was crying too as he clutched at Seamus' hand.
"This wasn't supposed to happen," Seamus whispered, squeezing Dean's hand tightly.
"I know," Dean murmured.
"I thought they made it safer," he said, looking up at Dean. "I thought they…"
Seamus trailed off, crying softly into Dean's shoulder, and Dean's teardrops landed in the Irishman's hair as Mr. and Mrs. Diggory's cries of agony reached their ears.