"Ladies and Gentlemen," announced Headmaster Soren. All the Students from the schools had gathered here to watch the finale of the Triwizard Tournament. "I welcome each and every one of you to the Third Task of this Triwizard Tournament! Many of you have wondered what would come of our Champions after this Task. I have enjoyed the un expecting rumours these past few weeks, and the exciting anagram revealed yesterday. However, I must now reveal that this Task is as unmerciful as you all thought it would be. The Third Task is both of punishment and of tragedy, not to mention the mass amounts of danger. Camille Avery of Hogwarts and Margot Letzel of Durmstrang, your Task is to fight each other in the arena until one of you is dead. Good luck."
There was a mixture of shouts and muttering around the audience, Helena was in complete shock and relief, thought she couldn't believe Voldemort's hypocrisy. If he didn't want to see anyone die, then how was this an ideal Task to deal with betrayal.
However, Camille and Margot came out of separate cells of the arena, parallel to each other. Camille looked deadly white in the face, like she was dead. Helena realised that she was going to die whether Margot wins or not. She was going to die either way... But the Task was just to cover it up! Inevitability was going to appear in this final Task.
The sound of the cannon interrupted Helena's thoughts and people cheered on for Margot, determined not to get caught supporting a rebel. Camille felt oddly isolated and felt that the competition became extremely biased. Margot seemed to not take any pity on Camille, and she sent a direct Killing curse towards her, which Camille dodged fairly easy. There was an 'Oooh!' from the crowd. Helena spotted Voldemort smirking a little, as though he was enjoying this. Then she reminded herself that he probably was. And she remembered that this whole Tournament idea was his own.
Camille rounded on Margot, forgetting her scared-like nature. Margot produced lethal sparks from her wand, then did deadly slash movements. Camille attempted to deflect them, but she quickly realised that they were unblockable, so she quickly dodged out the way. She never fell over as she lost balance.
The odds were inevitably in Margot's favour, as she was eager to win the Task to finally defeat Camille. Though, Camille was reluctant to give up her fight. They were both determined not to fall at the hand of one another.
Then, without warning, spells erupted from the tip of Margot's wand, and Camille fought fiercely against them to stop them from reaching her and giving her deep harm. There were many cheers meant for Margot, many of them seemed to have a mocking tone towards Camille, which made her confidence lower ever so slightly. But she wouldn't let those deafening voices let her down. However, she could not deny that they made her feel slightly intimidated.
Just then, in that moment of her being lost in thought, battling away of being too concentrated on beating her inner fears, reality struck her and a jolt ran through her. As quickly as it come, she fell dead in the arena. Camille Avery's body lay limp on the floor, as Margot had just struck her with a Killing Curse. She hadn't expected it to work. The arena was silent, still tense from before. Then, an uproar of cheers came from all around the stands. A few people, some of Camille's dearest friends, shed a few tears and did not cheer for the victor. Her father, Avery Jr, just sat motionless, blank faced, refusing to meet the gaze of anyone. It was clear that he was distraught, yet so powerless over the situation.
Helena sank deeper into her chair, overcoming sudden realisation.
This will be my end, she thought. I'll be forced into something I'm not ready for, all because I do not agree with Voldemort. And Katie... Katie doesn't deserve to come down with me. It'll be her choice, not mine. I will not drag her into this if she's not ready, or if she doesn't want to go like this. I won't be responsible for her death.
Just then, Katie interrupted her thoughts.
"Is everything ok, Helena? I mean, I know someone just got killed and all but..." she trailed off for Helena to make her own statement. Helena managed to force a smile.
"Yeah... It's fine. Better actually. It's just... Never mind, I'll tell you about it later."
"Are you sure?" she asked, concerned.
"Yes," she replied, eyeing Voldemort. "Wrong place, wrong time."
Just then, Headmaster Soren spoke out to the audience, interrupting their conversation.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that Margot Letzel, of Durmstrang Institute is this year's Triwizard Tournament winner!"
Cheers suddenly boomed around them all, except for the minor few who were mourning Camille's lost.
"Her victory will be remembered for ages to come. And her reward will only be known to a select few, but it is of the highest importance. Finally, I must say it's been an absolute pleasure having the Triwizard Tournament being played at this school for the third time since its resurrection in 2000. Thank you!"
Applause and cheering continued and Margot couldn't suppress a grin to what her reward might be. It was the future that contained her prize, and she couldn't wait to find what was in store for her.
x
End of Year
The end of year exams came soon before the end and Katie seemed prepared. Helena just didn't revise at all, as headaches boomed in her mind whenever she tried to sit down and revise over her notes, which made her feel like she was going to be sick. Instead, she pondered the grounds by herself, appreciating the summer sun. Oddly enough, these made her forget that she was alone in doing so. They cleared her mind, and she paid no attention to her surroundings as she didn't want to worry about it all that much. Though, Katie claimed that she might fail if she was to forget. Helena thought of it to be unlikely, but she could forget things every now and then. That's why when she went on these prolonged walks she tried to remember as much as she could as then go over what she forgot. It was a very helpful exercise in order for her to remember, and she thought of it as less of revision and more of a remembering technique. That way, she could benefit without any defects.
Although, after a while it made her feel repetitive and she was going over it so much that eventually she decided it was making her ill to remember it over and over. So she relaxed a little and she went over the exams with a breeze. It was obvious what she would've gotten, but she felt like remembering it made her feel more secure and less worrying about what may come up on paper. She was glad that it was all out-of-the-way and summer holidays will be arriving.
But one thing that she might be pondering on, is what Margot Letzel's award would be. She knew she wouldn't find out, but she couldn't help herself.
But she wasn't worried. After all, she had all summer...
AUTHORS NOTE: THANK YOU TO BREEZE (Patronus12) FOR HELPING ME REDISCOVER THE ANAGRAM AFTER I DELETED IT. IT'S 3:45 AM AND I JUST CAN'T OK. TURNS OUT THE ANAGRAM WAS 'PUNISHMENTS RESIDE IN THE THIRD TASK, CAMILLE AVERY. BEWARE, MARGOT LETZEL' AND I WAS TOO DUMB TO WORK IT OUT BECAUSE I CAN'T OK ANYWAY HAVE FUN BYE