Fourth Book

June 24th, 1995
Sixth Year

It all felt very juvenile now.

The pranks, the arguments, the anger. Juvenile.

The time that Ara, Cedric and Cho spent together in the library rambling on about irrelevant subjects, such as Ara's non-existent relationship with Fred Weasley, instead of training for the Third Task felt incredibly juvenile.

"He's fine, right?" Cho's desperate voice brought Ara back to reality.

I should've been stricter.

"Yeah," The blonde said meekly, "-He's fine,"

Cho had taken to pacing, in fact, most of the audience for the Third Task had, but Ara was too nerve-stricken to do so. The blonde stayed sitting in her seat, head buried in her hands.

Fuck.

This task really had been an awful idea, entertainment and safety-wise.

The contestants had gone into some stupid hedge maze, and that was that. There was no way of seeing what was happening to them. There was no way of seeing if they were alive.

Idiots. All the organizers. Idiots.

Fleur Delacour had been the first to give up. She'd sent out a beam of red-light from her wand, and the tournament organizers had flown her out of the maze.

That was the only form of communication that the contestants had with the outside world. A measly red-light.

Ara stood up abruptly, which actually scared a few people sitting around her. Cho gave her a confused look, but the blonde didn't care to explain what she was doing, mostly because she didn't know herself.

Without giving it much thought, Ara bee-lined towards where the Beauxbatons students sat in the wooden tournament stands. She didn't bat an eye towards her fellow Hogwarts colleagues as they curiously watched her, and she ignored the murmurs from other visitors that came to watch the Third Task.

Rita Skeeter being one of them.

Ara needed to talk to Fleur.

The part-Veela looked shaken up. Ara had actually felt quite sympathetic when the girl had first given up, she'd shot her a friendly smile and nod as Fleur was escorted towards the rest of the Beauxbatons students. The French girl had given her a nearly embarrassed look before weakly smiling back.

That had been ages ago

And there hadn't been any sign of Cedric, or Harry, or even Viktor Krum for the matter, since.

What's going on in those stupid bloody hedges?

Fleur and Ara locked eyes as the latter made her way towards the former. Fleur mentally prepared herself for what was to come, because she knew how much Ara loved the boy who she'd long ago decided was family. And she knew that said boy had been in the maze for far too long.

There had been no introductions.

"What happened in there?" Ara's question, uttered in French, was direct and to the point. "-How dangerous was it?"

"I can hardly remember, something attacked me and I blacked out," Fleur mumbled. "Clearly, it was too dangerous for me. But, Cedric's experience may be different,"

The two blonde girls were silent for a moment.

Mere hours ago, Ara had been teasing Fleur about her new-found fascination with Bill Weasley.

Juvenile.

Fleur had caught a glimpse of the man, who she had been informed was seven years her senior, this morning; he and Molly Weasley had been invited to the Third Task on behalf of Harry. Despite Ara's taunting, she had answered any and all questions posed by Fleur about Bill.

"Is there anything that might've attacked him? Killed him?" Ara asked quietly. Fleur's eyes softened, she avoided looking directly at the Slytherin in front of her.

"Ara, I can't speak for how Cedric-"

"Just be honest,"

Fleur sighed deeply, she finally looked up to meet Ara's eye.

"Yes,"

Fleur could've sworn that Ara had begun tearing up, but whatever emotional response that her answer had triggered was interrupted by a bushy-haired girl walking up to the two of them.

"I'd like to know what the maze was like," The girl cleared her throat unpleasantly. Ara and Fleur turned to face Hermione Granger, the witch looked rather awkward next to them.

Before Fleur could gather her thoughts well enough to answer in English, Ara spoke.

"Harry will be fine," She said, abruptly, "-Cedric wouldn't let anything happen to him."

There was a tense silence between the three girls, Ara had never been so snappy towards Hermione, she blamed the stress. And the fact that Cedric would undoubtably die for Harry. Cedric would die for anyone.

Thick-skulled Hufflepuff.

"Hermione! Come back here, dear!" A loud voice interrupted Hermione before she could even think of a response. Ara hated that she could recognize Molly Weasley by the sound of her yell.

Howlers since First Year.

Ara wondered if Molly Weasley knew her.

Juvenile.

Against her better judgement, Ara looked over towards where the voice had come from. A gaggle of gingers, who were none other than the Weasley's, were staring her, Fleur, and Hermione down.

Ginevra and Molly Weasley both had particularly mean looks etched onto their faces, the daughter of the pair was whispering something to her mother while staring at Fleur and Ara. The two blondes both saw the action, and turned to share a look.

It was no secret that Ginny Weasley didn't like either of them. And it seemed like Molly Weasley was about to adopt that opinion as well.

Juvenile.

Ara glanced at the Weasley's once more upon hearing squabbling coming from their direction. She couldn't make out exactly what they were saying, unfortunately, but she could guess Fred had something to do with the arguing. The tall redhead rolled his eyes at his sister, in quite an animated manner, before mumbling something to his mother and standing up abruptly.

Ara watched attentively as Fred pushed past Ron, who'd also stood up and was surely going to attempt to usher Hermione back to her seat. Ronald Weasley stumbled back before muttering something to his older brother, which caused Fred to sneer at Ron from over his shoulder and snap something back. The youngest male Weasley didn't bother coming to collect Hermione after hearing whatever it was that Fred had said.

Super-hearing would be a lovely trait to possess.

Hermione and Fleur were bickering back and forth quietly. Ara finally turned her attention back to them, only to realize their argument was about her.

"-You're just mad she thought to ask me before you did!"

"As if!"

"I am aware filles like you. You cannot stand the idea of another woman being-"

"Hermione, go sit down," Fred's firm voice left no room for disagreement. He and Ara stood next to one another, chest to chest. The blonde crossed her arms, awkwardly, and looked down at her shoes, which coincidentally resulted in staring at Fred's feet as well.

"But-"

"Go," Fred hissed, he didn't bother to check if Hermione had listened because he'd turned his attention to Ara. Fred gently placed his hands on her shoulders, which resulted in the Slytherin glancing up.

"Quite sweet, how your mother has taken a liking to Hermione," Ara mumbled, Fred sighed. The pair hadn't spoken to each other in a manner that was not arguing since before the Yule Ball.

And Ara hadn't told Fred she missed him, yet.

"She takes a liking towards everyone, it's her nature,"

Ara glanced back at Molly Weasley, who was ushering Hermione towards her, while shooting the blonde venomous looks.

"Everyone," The Slytherin chuckled, before stepped away from Fred. The redhead's hands, which had been comfortingly gripping Ara's shoulders, fell beside him. "-I find that hard to believe, Freddie,"

Fred felt himself internally cringe, he'd wanted near-desperately for Ara and his mum to like each other, especially when considering that Ginny hated the Slytherin.

"Ara-"

"I think it's best you go back to your seat. Rita Skeeter is here, wouldn't want to be caught in the back of one of her pictures." Ara said coolly. Fleur uncomfortably eyed the pair. "-Your mother is a strong believer of that woman's theories, isn't she?"

Before the events of the Yule Ball, Fred had told Ara about Molly's naive-nature when it came to Rita Skeeter's articles. The aloofness in the blonde's voice told Fred all he needed to know.

Any hope of Ara and Molly not developing ill-feelings towards one another had clearly gone down the drain.

"C'mon Ar', I-" Fred began, Ara's demeanour softened while she shook her head.

"Go back to your family, Fred," The blonde muttered. Ara manoeuvred past Fred, but before she could walk away, and before Fred could think of something to say that'd make her stay, a loud explosion sounded from inside the maze and the ground outside the hedges shook.

"Fuck!"

Fred had partially jumped in front of Ara, the blonde had also, nearly out of instinct, jumped towards him. They'd both turned their backs to the maze. Fred had protectively wrapped his arms around Ara, and after the initial shock of hearing an explosion had worn off, they both turned slightly to see what had caused the blast-like sound.

"Are you okay?" Fred whispered after one quick glance at the maze, which seemed unmoved. Ara was not as hasty to look away from the hedges; her eyes danced across the border of the plants, and she didn't bother answering.

"What was that?" The blonde finally asked, Fred turned to look at the maze once more. The tournament organizers were running around, trying to make sense of what had just happen to their stupid task, and the majority of the audience wasshaken up.

Fred's arms were still wrapped around Ara, and the girl didn't bother to move away. She held onto his forearms while continuing to eye the edges of the maze, near frantically now.

"I don't know, but please, relax," Fred mumbled, sensing that the Slytherin was starting to panic.

"I'm completely relaxed," Ara finally turned to the redhead. Her sarcasm was venomous. "-That didn't sound worrying at all to you, right? Cedric probably just felt like lighting some fireworks, you git,"

Ara pulled away from Fred and walked off angrily. Fred tried to keep his irritation at bay, and he tried to remind himself that Ara's snark was only a result of her being scared.

She's lucky I'm worried too.

Everything was happening very quickly now. In what felt like the flash of an eye, Ara and Cho were at the bottom on the Third Task stands, arguing with the game makers. A crowd was gathering around them.

Before Fred had the chance to completely register what was happening, he realized that his mother, Ginny, Hermione and all his brothers were pushing past him, and making their way towards the blonde. Seeing no other option, Fred joined them.

"-What do you mean you don't know where they are?" Ara's voice was eerily calm, and triumphed over everyone else's yelling.

"You don't know where they are?!" Molly Weasley's voice screeched, and forced nearly all those surrounding her to turn.

"Mum, relax," Bill mumbled as he pushed the crowd surrounding Ara and Ludo Bagman, one of the tournament judges and organizers. "-You lot give me a minute alone with Ludo, let me at least try to deal with this civilly." The oldest Weasley sibling warned his family before sending Fred an extremely targeted glance, to which the twin rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue.

"Well, Miss Malfoy, you see-" Ludo Bagman began, he refused to look directly at Ara, despite feigning confidence.

"Mr Bagman," Ara began condescendingly, "-What I see are three of the Triwizard contestants missing. What I see are families worried for their children."

Ara paused to cross her arms, and to give Ludo a chance to look at the families he was affecting. The man glanced at the Diggory's, who were near by and very clearly distressed. He glanced at the Krum's, who were arguing with Igor Karakaroff in a foreign language. And then, he glanced at Bill Weasley, who'd made his way next to Ara.

"What the young lady doesn't see, Bagman, is an explanation," Bill said courtly, he and Ara took a split second to nod at each other. For no reason other than to agree, that in this moment, they were on the same team.

"Which is the only thing this young lady would like to see," Ara nodded, scrunching her nose.

Ludo Bagman was silent for a moment as he looked between Ara and Bill. They were two very articulate individuals, who'd be able to mop the ground with him without breaking a sweat.

But he didn't know that yet.

"At this moment in time-"

Bill Weasley shot Cho Chang a curious look as her foot bounced and she scanned the outer edge of the hedge maze. She didn't seem to be paying attention to him, or Ara, or even Bagman, at all.

"Ara, look," Cho gasped while gesturing towards the maze, this snapped the blonde Slytherin out of her near-malicious mood and cut Ludo off.

Ara quickly looked over to where Cho had motioned. Viktor Krum was dangling out of the arms of two tournament workers, who were flying him out of the maze on their brooms. He was unconscious.

No.

This caused a huge uproar among the crowd, the Weasley clan included. Unlike nearly everyone else, Ara was not outraged, instead she sported a hollow expression that was nearly unnerving as she stared at Viktor Krum's limp body being gently transported onto the ground.

Fred really hated the look on her face because he knew what she was thinking.

She thinks Krum is dead. She thinks Cedric is dead. She thinks Harry is dead.

Before Fred knew it, he was screaming at Ludo Bagman, as was Cho, and his mother. Ron and Hermione too. Bill and George were trying to appear calm, but their voices were raising much too fast for them to pull that lie off.

Ara's thoughts were going a mile a minute, and the sense of relief she felt upon seeing Viktor Krum jolt awake and begin to gasp was unreal.

There's still hope.

Suddenly becoming aware of the fact that the Weasley family had practically engulfed her while trying to give Ludo Bagman a piece of their mind, Ara calmly pushed her way in-front of the man again, Cho was next to her.

"Who can I speak to that isn't a fucking idiot?" She asked. Her question, and mere voice, had forced all the yelling around her to a short halt, which Fred couldn't help but admire. "-Because it's clear to me that you know nothing."

Bagman, who seemed more at ease with people screaming at him then with Ara's cruel tone, looked distraught.

"Well, Miss, you see, I can't inform you-"

"Mr Bagman, point me in the direction of someone who knows something." Ara said in a slow, dumb, voice. She was speaking to Ludo as if he were a child, and it was affecting him. Fred smirked at the man as he awaited the answer to Ara's pressing question.

He owes me money, might need Ar' to give him another run down later.

Before Bagman could reply, someone pushed their way in front of Ara, quite aggressively at that. The blonde stumbled back a few steps, to which Fred jumped to her side and helped steady her.

"Mr Bagman, would you care to give the Daily Prophet a quote?" Rita Skeeter's airy voice interrupted whatever progress Ara and the Weasley's were making in figuring out what was happening to their respective loved ones.

Bozo, Rita's paunchy cameraman was snapping photo's of Ludo while his boss spoke to him. The clicking was irritating Ara. As was the sudden awareness of how loud the crowd was being.

She couldn't stand it.

"Who do you-" Ara began, anger radiating off of her as she tried to pull away from Fred. Rita had just so happened to shove the wrong girl at the wrong time. And said girl was planning on absolutely destroying her. Unfortunately, Fred had other plans.

"Stop it." He whispered strictly and pulled Ara back into his chest.

"Let go of me," Ara hissed, turning her head to look up at Fred.

They pair ignored Fred's family as they eyed them. They didn't notice that Bozo had curiously turned to them, and began snapping pictures.

"Why? So you can hex Skeeter?" Fred asked roughly, pulling the blonde in his arms closer as she began to thrash.

"Fred Weasley, let go of me, now!" Ara demanded, raising her voice. Fred rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, she just needs a minute," The redhead smiled charmingly as he pulled Ara away from the crowd surrounding Ludo Bagman, he ignored the protests from Ginny and his mother.

Rita Skeeter glanced back at the pair curiously, she'd been too preoccupied interrogating Bagman to hear them quietly bickering over her demise.

"You're being a git! Let me do as a please!" Ara argued as Fred dragged her behind the watching stands of the Third Task.

"Yeah, get on Rita's bad side, why don't you? I'm sure your father would love to see on you on the front page of the Daily Prophet!" Fred snapped angrily, finally letting go of the blonde.

Ara's outrage came to a halt at the thought of her father finding out. She suddenly became very aware of how many people had surely been watching her. And she also became aware of how caring Fred was being, despite his mean tone.

Fred and the blonde were silent for a few moments. The former of the two carefully eyed Ara, she looked strangely awkward.

"Listen, Ar'-" Fred began, assuming that she was angry with him, he was cut off by Ara hugging him.

"Thank you," She whispered before pulling away, she ran a hand through her hair and smoothed out her clothes. She continued to absentmindedly make herself look presentable as she wordlessly walked back towards the Third Task stands.

Fred stayed behind, slightly shocked, while trying to memorize the feeling of Ara's body pressed against his, because it had been far too long since she'd last embraced him.

Once Fred had finally gotten over the feeling of Ara's touch after months, he quickly turned to make his way back to his family, and her.

They still had to give Bagman hell.

Only, it seemed that this was no longer the plan. Fred was shocked by the scene of Dumbledore standing in front of Bagman, nearly protectively. His family was hesitantly making their way back to their seats. And Cho was practically dragging Ara away from the two men, but the blonde refused to turn her glare away from her Headmaster. George, upon realizing how difficult Ara was being, aided Cho is pulling her away. The blonde's anger never faltered, and her glare was harrowing, though Dumbledore was not phased.

Fred quickly made his way over to his twin, Cho, and Ara. Apart from George, and Bill, Fred's family hadn't cared to say anything to the blonde before they went to sit down.

"-We did what we could. Bagman is lucky Dumbledore stepped in." Bill muttered to Ara before turning to walk away, the Slytherin glanced at him, glare still intact and jaw clenched. She nodded.

"What happened?" Fred asked once he was next to his twin, Cho, and a very angry Ara.

"Dumbledore-" Cho began quietly.

"Dumbledore is a fucking prick, is what happened," Ara hissed, quite loudly. George sighed and shook his head, he gave his twin a slightly frustrated look. Fred could tell that whatever Albus Dumbledore had done had irritated his brother as well.

"Told us all the leave, give the game makers space," George said under his breath. "-And you know us. Jumped at the old mans request."

Ara looked like she was about to say something, but a loud bang sounded through the arena before she could. In what felt like a blink of the eye, Cedric and Harry were in front of the stands.

Ara's anger was immediately replaced by shock, and happiness, Cho was the first to sprint down the tournament wooden bleachers. Ara was first to follow. People were cheering loudly, and a band had started playing music.

Fred and George has followed Ara and Cho down the stands. Which Ara became aware of rather quickly because they ran into her. She couldn't blame them, you see, she'd stopped rather abruptly upon realizing that Cedric wasn't making a move to stand up. Instinctively, she grabbed unaware Cho by the wrist. The Asian girl looked back at Ara, nearly angrily, the blonde didn't mind because she knew that if Cho got any closer, she'd regret it.

The sound of Fleur's scream echoed in Ara's ears, and made Cho come to the same realization that she had. Ara's head spun as she also became aware of Harry's sobs.

Cho's sobs matched his as she began shaking. Ara jumped towards her, and held her up as her body threatened to collapse. Ara looked nearly emotionless. The blonde turned Cho's head away from Cedric's body as the Ravenclaw cried into her shoulder.

George, upon realizing what had happened, backed up. They were only a few meters from Cedric's dead body. The twin couldn't process what was happening, and sported a shocked look. He'd covered his agape mouth with his hand and made no move to do anything else. Although Fred felt the same way that his brother was acting, he jumped into action, for Ara's sake.

The redhead moved in front of Ara, and blocked her view of Cedric, for which the blonde was incredibly thankful. With Cho still in her arms, Ara looked up at Fred, and the Gryffindor became aware of the tears pooling in he corners of her eyes. Without thinking about it twice, he wrapped his arms around Ara, and held her tightly.

Severus Snape sped-walked past them, but paused to glance at Ara and Fred. For what felt like the first time ever, Snape nodded at Fred kindly, he then grabbed Ara's shoulder for a moment and squeezed comfortingly before running over to Cedric. Ara glanced at her godfather with tear-filled eyes before looking up at Fred.

"I'm so sorry, Ara," The boy whispered softly. Ara said nothing, but let out a lone sob that broke Fred's heart. She pulled away from him, and Fred noticed that tears had begun streaming down her face. The blonde didn't care to acknowledge said tears as she tried to help Cho gain her own sense of balance back.

Amos Diggory's cries forced another sob out of both Ara and Cho. Fred cringed and tried to keep his own emotions at bay. George had suddenly reappeared, and while still looking nearly numb, took Cho out of Ara's arms. Once free of the Ravenclaw, Ara turned to Fred, the pair wasted no time and embraced each other.

Ara quietly cried into Fred's chest, and Fred felt a few tears run down his own cheeks.

Cedric Diggory was dead.

following an update schedule? idk her AHAHAHA sorry about this vupdate which is likeeee 2 weeks late. ily guys tho so pls forgive me

anywayyyyyyy here it is folks. this was kinda so hard to write and its SOOOOOO long, like insanely, like almost 4k words. i literally cant tell if i dragged it out too much, but it definitely feels like that. alsoooo ive been struggling to write because Ara is kinda in such a bad space (obviously, lol), and i'm just dreading having to write her like that. i'll manage tho. since the next few chapters have already been written/are awaiting editing, the next update will be on time, i hope :p

BTWWW, we hit 10k reads on wattpad! yay! i love to celebrate all my readers, so thank you sooo much for taking the time to put up and read MY fic, it means soooo much! i love you all infinitely.

okay, have a great day guys! please leave a review and tell me what you think about this chapter, i love to hear what you guys have to say! bye loves ❤ ️