Chapter 19
"So… on my whistle, Harry and Cassius! Three - two - one!"
Bagman gave a short blast on his whistle and Cassius walked into the maze with Harry.
"Lumos" Cassius and Harry's wand tips lit up.
After walking fifty yards together, they reached a fork. Cassius turned to Harry, giving him a thorough once over.
'He's just a kid.' Cassius though, actually looking at Harry.
Even though he was a Gryffindor, and was brave by default, Cassius could see the tiniest bit of fear in his eyes.
"See you," Harry said and took the left path.
Cassius was forced to take the right path.
'He's a child. He's becoming a young man, but Potter is still a child. What the hell am I doing?' Cassius thought to himself as entered the maze.
He came across a sphynx, and rather than try to solve the riddle he left instead, turning back and trying a different path.
He was surprised that his second obstacle was a Blast-Ended Skrewt.
"Confringo!" Cassius pointed his wand.
The spell bounced off the Skrewt's hard shell.
Cassius swore under his breath and tried to skirt around, not wanting to turn back a second time.
"Locomotor Mortis!" Cassius pointed his wand at the legs of the Skrewt.
The front two legs, and one other leg on the right locked up, making the Skrewt fall when it went to take a step.
"Yes!" Cassius rushed forward, but when he thought he was clear the Skrewt shot at him and caught his sleeve before landing into the hedge.
Cassius managed to escape though, not wanting a round two. He had a wand light land on him, looking past the light, he saw Harry.
"Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts!" He hissed, nursing his arm. "They're enormous - I only just got away!"
Cassius shook his head and dove out of sight, wanting to get some space between him and Harry.
Cassius managed to make it past a boggart.
In the past it had been his Father being disappointed in him. But tonight, it was Cassie. Cassie who was disheveled, and blood coming from the cut on her face and from the corner of her mouth.
"You betrayed me!" Boggart Cassie shouted.
"Riddikulous!"
The blood turned into a clown's nose and Boggart Cassie had started to laugh.
Cassius ran by the boggart, not giving it a second glance.
He passed through a strange field that flipped him and the world upside down, but he continued on.
'Am I going to betray Cassie? I don't want to. I want to live in a world she is going to be happy in.' He thought to himself.
He stopped jogging. Krum had walked into his path.
"What are you doing?' Cassius shouted, slightly shocked at Krum's sudden appearance.
"What the hell d'you think you're doing?" He asked again, seeing the Krum had pointed his wand at him.
"Crucio!"
Cassius had never felt more pain in his life. There was an echo of someone yelling, but he couldn't think about who it was. His bones felt like they were breaking into tiny pieces.
It felt like forever before the spell was lifted off of him.
"Stupefy!" Harry shouted.
The spell lifted off of Cassius, and he covered his face, not wanting to show his rescuer the tears on his face.
"Are you alright?" Harry roughly grabbed Cassius's arm, not realizing the pain he was still in.
"Yeah," Cassius panted. "Yeah… I don't believe it… he crept behind me… I heard him, I turned around, and he had his wand on me…"
'That is why I have to do what I must.' Cassie thought bitterly.
"I can't believe this… I thought he was all right." Harry was staring down at Krum.
"So did I," Cassius agreed.
"Did you hear Fleur scream earlier?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Cassius nodded, "you don't think Krum got her too?"
"I don't know." Harry's answer was slow.
"Should we leave him here?" Cassius muttered.
He really wanted to.
'No," Harry shook his head. "I reckon we should send up red sparks. Someone'll come and collect him… otherwise he'll probably be eaten by a screwt."
"He'd deserve it," Cassius muttered, but he agreed with Harry. So he raised his wand and shot a shower of red sparks into the air, which hovered above Krum, marking the spot where he was.
Cassius stood there with Harry for a moment. His thoughts racing.
'I have to betray Cassie. The Dark Lord would do worse to me if I betray him. Krum here proved that.' Cassius thought bitterly.
"Well… I s'pose we'd better go on…"
"What?" Harry asked. "Oh… yeah… right."
The two of them walked up the path to another fork.
Cassius didn't want to look at him, so he turned right at the fork and walked on.
'I can't betray the Dark Lord, but I don't want to betray Cassie. If I betray the Dark Lord he will torture me. If I betray Cassie… she'll hate me…' He gave a loud yell of frustration and it was the wrong thing to do.
A scuttling noise was coming from his left and Cassius started running.
"Why?!" He hissed to himself.
Why did Cassie have to be a Seer?
Why did Cassie have to be friends with Harry freaking Potter?
Why did his parents have to be Death Eaters?
Why did he look up Cassie's family?
Why didn't he think before his actions?
And why did he have to fall in love with Cassie?!
There was something shining to Cassius's left and he sprinted for it.
He just wanted to get away from whatever was chasing him, and if he reached the cup before Potter he could figure out another way to give the Dark Lord what he wanted.
"Cassius!" Harry bellowed. "On your left!"
Cassius turned to hurl himself out of the way, but he tripped. His wand flew out of his hand and the spider that had been chasing him was still coming.
"Stupefy!" Harry shouted.
Cassius was grateful that it hit the spider, giving him time to recover his wand.
"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!" Cassius could hear Harry trying all of the spells he knew.
Cassius got his wand back and turned to see Harry in the air, he was being held by the spider.
"Stupefy!" Cassius shouted.
It didn't do anything, the spider didn't even seem fazed by the spell.
Harry shouted, "Expelliarmus!" And was dropped.
Harry dropped from the air, and he crumpled onto the ground.
"Stupefy!" Cassius and Harry shouted together.
The spider finally keeled over sideways, flattening a nearby hedge, and strewing the path with a tangle of hairy legs.
"Harry! You all right? Did it fall on you?" Cassius shouted.
"No!" Harry was panting.
Cassius walked around to see Harry leaning against a hedge, his leg bloody and covered in a gluey liquid.
"Take it, then," Harry panted. "Go on, take it. You're there."
Cassius turned to the cup, wanting to take it. He wanted Slytherin to win the Tournament, but he knew that there was more behind the Tournament.
'You are a son I can be proud of.' Father's voice echoed in his head.
Father hadn't said anything like that to Cassius, but Cassius hoped he would one day.
'But I can't.' Cassius thought back.
'I will support you.' Mother's voice was reassuring.
"You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck in here."
"That's not how it's supposed to work." Harry snapped.
"The one who reaches the cup first gets the points. That's you. I'm telling you. I'm not going to win any races on this leg."
Cassius stepped away from the Cup, shaking his head.
"No." He said.
"Stop being noble, just take it, then we can get out of here."
"You told me about the dragons," Cassius wasn't sure how he was going to convince Harry to take the cup. "I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming."
"I had help on that too," Harry snapped, trying to mop up his leg with his robes. "You helped me with the egg - we're square."
"I had help on the egg in the first place." Cassie took another step towards him.
Harry wouldn't be able to run in his state. If he could just get Harry he could summon the cup to them and take him.
"We're still square," Harry grumbled, testing his weight on his injured leg.
"You should've gotten more points on the second task," Cassius said, grasping for anything that could work without having to fight Harry. "You stayed behind to get all the hostages. I should've done that."
"I was the only one thick enough to take that song seriously! Just take the cup!" Harry said bitterly.
"No." Cassius shook his head.
He stepped over the spider and went to Harry's side.
"Go on," Cassius said, staring Harry in the eyes.
'What am I doing? Just take him!' Cassius thought to himself.
"Both of us." Harry said.
"What?" Cassius was surprised.
'I can't believe it worked!' Cassius thought.
"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it."
Cassius unfolded his arms.
"You - you sure?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "Yeah… we've helped each other out, haven't we? We both got here. Let's just take it together."
Cassius couldn't help the grin on his face.
"You're on," Cassius said. "Come here."
He grabbed Harry's arm below the shoulder and helped Harry limp toward the plinth where the cup stood. They both held a hand out over one of the cup's gleaming handles.
"On three, right?" Harry started the count. "One - two - three -"
He and Cassius grabbed a handle.
Cassius held tight to Harry as they were jerked away. Cassius had one thought.
'I won't disappoint Father.'
Oh boy oh boy. I'm debating on ending this in two chapters, or in three to four chapters. They are long, and I'm just not sure if I need to break them down more.
