Cassius couldn't tell how long he'd been in the maze. It was probably part of the magic, screwing with his ideas of time. He was also pretty sure they'd somehow magically expanded the quidditch pitch, because it felt much larger than normal. He stopped for a second to get his bearings, checking his arm as he did. To say that his encounter with the blast-ended skrewt hadn't been fun was an understatement. His healing spell had done something, but a potion was what was really needed for this, and he supposed that would just have to wait. Conjuring a fresh bandage, Cassius could only find space to be glad that it hadn't been his wand arm, then he continued on.
There was something horrible about the silence, he felt. With your senses hyper-alert, you couldn't help but feel as though something was right around every corner, mostly because something could be. Still, he'd preferred the silence to the scream that suddenly seemed to echo through the maze, a scream that had to belong to Fleur. Cassius knew he couldn't get there—it was far too muted to be anywhere nearby—but he nearly started running anyway, and barely stopped himself from tripping into the hole in front of him. He swallowed, looking at the little holes he would have fallen on, and perhaps lost his wand in, and then, defenseless…red caps weren't an issue, but only so long as he had a way to repel them.
Casting a shield charm around his body, he started across the path, moving as fast as he could without falling, shooting down the red caps when needed, until finally, he made it across. Breaking into a faster run, Cassius moved forward, wanting to put some space between himself and the red caps, and found himself running directly into something—which, to his great relief, turned out to be Krum.
"Sorry," he grunted, catching his breath and backing away. Krum turned around slowly, and Cassius had a sudden urge to run away, then felt nothing at all but pain, pain like nothing he'd felt before. He was vaguely aware of himself screaming, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. Everything in his body was on fire, his muscles were stiffened with shock and he couldn't release them for what felt like hours until finally, suddenly, it stopped and he collapsed on the ground. Potter hovered over him, face white.
"I heard him cast…d'you think—I mean…" Potter's face came more clearly into focus, and Cassius vaguely began to realize what he was thinking.
"You heard her scream too then?" Potter nodded. "I think he was under the imperius. He was moving all slow, and when he turned around his eyes looked out of focus…" Potter nodded again.
"Right, er… I'll see you at the end, I guess. And we should probably let them know about Krum." Potter sent up sparks, nodded at Warrington, and followed the passage to the left.
Cassius shrugged and went right. He didn't know how many turns he made. He never passed Krum again and never ran into Fleur, and what little part of his mind wasn't focused on going the right direction and surviving was creating endless possibilities of what could be going on and what could have happened to her. He was going more slowly now, which he was grateful for as he was able to sneak up on a lemix lying in wait in the shadows, stunning it and banishing its weapons before moving on. What had really shaken him had been the boggart, which had taken the form of Andrew, looking at him as he cast the Avada Kedavra. He'd responded quickly enough—it wasn't as if his fear had surprised him; he had, after all, been dwelling on it for weeks—but the image had replaced that of Fleur in the back of his mind, a constant recording of the sight of one of his best friends looking him in the eye and preparing to kill him, not caring, not blinking—
There it was. The Triwizard cup in the center of the maze, and Harry Potter looking at him from across the circle. They both ran up to it, reached for it, and stopped, wands out, looking at each other mistrustfully. And Cassius lowered his wand.
"What are you doing?" Potter asked, his brow wrinkled in confusion, looking ready for some kind of trap.
"I'm making a choice. Come on, we can take the cup together. It's still a victory for Hogwarts, either way, and maybe it can do something. If we win together, maybe neither of our houses will be angry—"
"Or both of them will," Potter pointed out. Cassius had to laugh.
"At least they'll be agreeing on something. Come on, Potter. On three. One-Two-Three!" Cassius reached out his hand as Potter did the same, and felt his feet lift off the ground as the portkey was activated to transport them outside of the maze. He could picture Andrew's face, his eyes rolling at the sight of Potter but excited anyway; and Pucey by his side, cheering loudly. He was ready to come back, truly a champion, and hear the shouts of the crowd as the Hogwarts students realized they had won. His feet touched the ground, and he once more felt the silence echoing throughout his body, the tingling sensation running up his arms.
A cold, high voice broke through it. "Kill the spare." Cassius closed his eyes, time seeming to move even more slowly than it had in the maze. He knew what was coming.
"Avada Kadavra!" A weak voice shouted. Cassius Warrington fell to the ground, and felt no more.
I know, it's short and also... saddd. I needed to write it now, and I felt like it should be its own chapter. So only one left! The last bit of the graveyard, and then... fallout. We've got some sad stuff ahead, guys.
As always, let me know what you're thinking, or if something didn't make any sense!