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June 24, 1995
"You're truly not nervous? Not in the slightest?" Daphne asked him through narrowed eyes and a raised brow. It was a signature-enough look on her face, and while he would normally fold, this time, he shook his head.
"No," he replied, honest and truthful. "Fleur won't go after me, I think she's shown that from last night into the early morning. I won't say I completely trust her, but at the very least, I don't think she'll hurt me. Cedric's Cedric, you know? It's not like he'll do anything remotely harmful towards any of us unless we really provoke him, and even then I have my doubts. Krum's the only one I'm weary of, but if I have either of the other two near me, he'd be crazy to try anything."
Daphne blinked at him a few times before she shook her head. "That luck of yours will run out one of these days and I loathe the day I'm not at your side to stop it from doing so."
"It's not going to happen today, tomorrow or anytime soon. I finally got the bollocks to date you and since there's only one of me in the world, I can't leave you alone, now can I? There'd be nobody left to amuse you, let alone wicked enough to date you," Harry said light-heartedly as he grinned at Daphne.
He meant every word that he said, especially that there wouldn't be anybody left to date her that would remotely deserve her. Merlin, even he didn't really deserve the right to date Daphne — she was beautiful, smart, charming, had freckles all across her that he loved to look at and these small dimples that formed when she was truly happy. When he made her laugh or smile, even if her mood was previously sour, it was a victory like no other.
"You're an idiot, Harry," Daphne said as the tent flaps opened and the procession of Professors and Ministry Staff strolled in. "Come back to me whole and alive, please. If you don't, I'll find a way to bring you back in the body of a Malfoy."
Harry shot her a look that was wounded and pitiable as his hand clutched at his heart. "You'd do that to me?"
Daphne snorted, looked at the staff as they began to gather the other Champions towards the entrance of the tent and then she looked back at him. It was clear that she was weighing some action, but it was equally as clear that whatever the option was, it didn't take too long for her to make it; she leaned forward, grabbed the collar of his shirt and brought his face down to hers.
When their lips met, it was softer and without the typical lust that their teenage bodies would constantly give off. Sweetness or a genuine affection close enough to classify as love was the most prevalent even if neither had ever said as much to one another, then a tinge of saltiness followed. It was strange and new, and when Harry pulled back, he could see that that final taste came from Daphne's eyes.
There were small tear tracks and smaller still, tears, falling from her bright blue eyes. Her face was flushed, the tracks were obvious on her porcelain skin and when their eyes met, there were no further words that needed speaking between the two of them — she hadn't said the word he yearned for, nor had he said it to her, but he didn't need to hear it to know how it felt.
This was it. Love. Should the unthinkable happen and Harry lay on the ground, unmoving and unblinking by the end of the day, he would do so knowing what that feeling truly felt like; his parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, none had been able to do as Daphne had.
"I…" Harry started, choking on his words as Daphne's hand softly took hold of one of his.
"Gather round! Come come!" Boomed a voice from the front, incessant and bleeting.
"I'll be waiting for you," Daphne said when he baulked, unable to speak. "You'll tell me what you were going to when you're back from this mess," she pressed one last lingering kiss to his left cheek, and then she pulled away, her hand leaving behind something but she was gone with such speed that he hadn't the time to tell her.
Again, the man called for Harry to come over and it was then that he saw Cedric only moving over at the same time or near enough to his own. Cho, Harry reckoned, Cho had likely done just as Daphne had and whilst that made him happy for the older boy, there was that familiar tinge of sorrow that went along with any true couple that he saw. It seemed, in life, that relationships of the sincerest and truest kinds were most often the ones that ended horribly.
It was horribly unfair, but that was life. It would always be life.
Harry walked over to the annoying man and took his place beside him, instantly zoning out when he began to go on about the importance of this third task to the wizarding world at large. He, Harry, didn't care about what any of those outside his friend group would think of his performance. So long as he lived, so long as those close to him lived, the tournament could rot in the depths of history along with those who had seen to its creation.
Good luck, Fleur mouthed to him, winking when he returned those words to her.
He couldn't help the slight blush, it could have even been from her allure that the others spoke about, but he didn't need to think about that for very long as the countdown began. Three seconds, he took in a deep breath…. two seconds, he readied himself to bolt into the maze that lay before him… one second, he be-
The cannon fired prematurely and without waiting for it to be called back or for any other signal to be given, Harry sprinted forward at a break-neck speed. If this tournament were to end and all four Champions were to get through it, he would have to ensure that he tried his hardest. If he didn't, it would drag on and the risk of death would climb ever higher as the seconds ticked right on by.
Voices called out, gasps echoed throughout the stadium and screams radiated from behind him, but the moment he tore through the entrance to that maze there was only one resounding sound and that was the whipping of wind through the hedges. The place was truly a masterfully-crafted maze like no other he had seen or heard of. There looked to be a multitude of different paths, each one varying greatly in width, and so Harry did what any person racing would do.
He took a cursory glance around should anything obvious stick out to him and when nothing failed to manifest before his eyes, he tore off in the direction of the deepest visible path. Should it fail him, he would go back whence he came and start again, but if it worked, he would be all the closer to the Goblet, to the end.
With that as it was, Harry raced along as quickly as he could whilst maintaining a semblance of caution and safety. The last thing he needed during this task was to be caught in some form of trap, Magical or Mundane, or worse, end it stuck in the stomach of some sort of beast. The lattermost option was easily the most frightening and so he slowed his speed again as his eyes sought out the path before him as well as at his sides — he even looked up should there be any of Hagrid's friends descending from the tops of the hedges. By no means was Harry terrified of spiders, but Acromantula were beasts the size of horses and even larger still, depending on the age.
Doesn't look like there are any traps, Acromantula or anything else… this feels too easy. Why does this feel like such a cake walk in comparison to those other arseholes of tasks?
He huffed and looked around again, this time with his wand moving all about in the hopes that he could detect any living creature nearby. When that failed, telling him that there was nothing within sixty feet of him that was alive and large, he tried again with a spell that would detect any types of magic as well as the location thereof. In theory, it was a good idea, but in reality, nearly the entirety of the maze save for the floor would go on to light up; the whole place was magical, it turned out… he should have known better on account of those that were here to help in its creation.
That would thoroughly complicate things for him too. If there was nothing alive nearby, then the odds were increasingly likely that whosoever had set up this portion was especially gifted in Transfiguration and Animation. He doubted Inferi would be present too, but that wasn't a one-hundred per cent guarantee. Really, it was more likely than not that whatsoever waited for him would be a golem or construct of some sort. They were tough, bulky and typically very dangerous to anybody that came too close to them.
Harry cast another weary glance around, his eyes settling on the various turns there were that could be made. Any golem, construct or other creation that wasn't 'alive' in the true sense of the word could very likely wipe the floor with a wizard if they were made with a good enough stone or created by a master of the school of magic it resided in.
There's no way to tell, but… but I could do something really stupid, I suppose. It's not like Daphne taught me it, it wasn't even Fleur or Cedric, but I know this has to work and it's needed right this second. There's no dillying or dallying that can be done about it.
He huffed, summoned a nearby stick and transfigured it silently; that wasn't a feat of magic to him, nor did he think it was particularly impressive for any other truly talented witch or wizard. Now, as soon as that stick was in his grasp and extended the way he liked it, he started forward again. It wasn't remotely fool-proof, he reckoned any magic trap would be sprung and with him unaware of its existence even whilst utilising the stick, but he already knew the next sixty feet were clear.
This would be incredibly slow-going and very tedious work, but it was work that was required if he meant to survive and should he survive, there was no reason with a lead the likes of which he was given that he should lose the tournament. Sure, it didn't matter to him, but winning would prove so many others wrong and him, right.
Harry snickered — that thought had to have been placed inside of his head by Daphne. There was no other way it would get in there, least of all by his own accord. Daphne… he would see her again before too much longer so long as this went well, he reckoned he'd see her even if it didn't go as planned.
He shook his head and refocused on the task at hand at the very same moment a twig snapped. Harry whipped around, his wand raised and a shield charm already cast as he meant to fight his first creature of the task, but that wasn't to be.
"You point it at me?" Fleur asked with a grin as she slowly and casually approached him, her wand not visible, least of all whilst her hands were on her hips. "We are friends, no? It would be more if you were older or my Gabby was. Please, down, ouais?"
Harry rolled his eyes and slowly let his wand fall, the stick still occupying his other hand. "How'd you already catch up to me? Where are Cedric and Kru— wait, stop!"
Fleur flinched when he yelled and froze in place. Her feet were dug into the ground and she'd nearly stumbled at the sudden forcefulness of his voice, but there was something that he had to be sure of. This was the magical world, one where spells and potions existed in addition to inherent abilities that all could alter one's self.
"Prove you're Fleur," he said simply. "Prove you're her or I'm tying you up and calling for the Professors to get you."
'Fleur' smiled at him, the tip of her tongue poking through those pink lips that had first caught his eyes when he'd seen her; Daphne had slapped him back then and he was with her now, loyally so, but the memory had been retained.
"You met with me in my room last night, I teased you and your girlfriend, we had wine and you did not leave until early in the morning even when I offered to both of you that you could stay," Fleur pouted then, her bottom lip stuck out a good distance. "It was too much to offer to you two, no?"
That's Fleur alright. Nobody else would know all of that unless she was Daphne and if she was Daphne, she would have said as much by now.
Harry lowered his wand and looked around again. "Sorry, I just wanted to make sure… aren't you going to ask me something now to make sure I'm me?"
"That would be pointless, no? Already I have told you much of what we did and your nervousness, your presence, it is familiar to me. I do not need to test you, but you are smart to test me," Fleur finally strolled up to him, one of her hands patting him gently on the cheek as she looked at the path that lay before them. "This one seems longer than the others that I have seen, you have gone slowly and carefully?"
He nodded at her words. "Very slowly and very carefully. I like my life as much as the next bloke and I'm not all that eager to have it ended in a maze of all places. Krum and Cedric entered before you, do you have any idea where either of them are at? Did you see what direction or path they took, at the very least?"
"I did not see any sign of Krum and Cedric I have not seen since the very start when I saw him turn a corner at the far end of one of the paths I had chosen. They are fine, I am certain of it. Worry first about yourself and second about winning," Fleur looked ahead of them again, her face thoughtful. "We will go together?" she asked, almost as an afterthought as her eyes went back down to him.
"You don't want to win?" Harry asked with furrowed brows as he looked up at the older girl. "Really?"
Fleur shrugged. "Even if I do, it will be said that I cheated or that it is not deserved after my performance in the first two tasks. Who is to say what lies ahead or the dangers of it, oui? We are safer together and your little girlfriend, she will not try and kill me if I can bring you back to her — I would like a promise from you in return."
At that, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. "What would that be?" he asked, swallowing nought but his saliva as he continued to stare at the older girl.
"You and Daphne will visit in the summer when you have your break so I can show you off to my mama and papa. Harry Potter is the boy that saved my little sister, not me. I would not miss the chance to show you hospitality and friendship, I would not want my parents to miss the chance to meet you either, it is owed and your relationship, it is cute — I like cute things," Fleur winked at him then, playful and teasing as she'd always been since he'd gotten to know her. "It is a deal, or do you think it is unfair?"
Harry shook his head at her question. It definitely wasn't unfair, but it was more than a little weird… still, the offer of help was fine so long as it was true. He had an idea about that too, one that would make certain she wouldn't try and trick him. "I'll accept that, but, ladies first."
Fleur gave him a knowing look before she gingerly took his hand. "You will not use me going first to look at my rear, will you, Harry Potter?"
He sputtered and she laughed, and then they heard an explosion.
Harry's first reaction was to cast a shield large enough to protect not only himself but Fleur as well. As for Fleur, her first reaction was to whip out her wand and transfigure a large portion of the surrounding earth into a form of hard cover that was chest high rather than a simple protection spell. He had to admit in the seconds after whilst they waited for the person or a spell to land nearby that the two of them worked fairly well together.
"How far off did that sound to you?" Harry whispered as he looked at the half-dozen or so areas where somebody could emerge from where he'd already passed through; that was assuming the person wouldn't just barge through the hedges too, he reckoned that was a distinct possibility.
Fleur looked ahead of them again, pressing her back against his. "It was not too far, maybe the next row over or two from there. Only one spell is strange too, no? If there was a fight, it would not be over so quick."
She raised a good point. "What do you reckon we should do? Push forward or hold here another minute or so?"
"If we wait, the chance for both of us to lose goes higher. We should push forward, it is the better idea and whoever is nearby will be further away — the wind is getting heavier as the path continues, no? Maybe that is a sign that we are on the right one," Fleur tapped him lightly and bid him to look as she looked where he had been looking; she was just as on edge as he was based on her caution.
Harry, seeing that she was now watching where he had been, took the chance to look further ahead, where he had previously focused on going. Sure enough, just as she'd said, the wind was whipping right ahead of them. It was vicious, the hedges ahead were flowing as if they were the waves on an ocean, and so he figured that she just might be on to something. If she wasn't, what would they lose?
The answer to that question was 'nothing' so long as they were cautious and worked together. That was the key. So long as both of them watched one direction each and stayed very close together, a shield behind and before them, all should be well. Should Krum try anything — and he was the most likely of them all to do just that — there was no chance that he could best both Harry and Fleur in a direct confrontation.
"Forward it is, then," Harry finally said with a nod, his heart feeling as if it would beat out of his chest and flop onto the dirt below.
Fleur must have noticed his nervousness or lack of drive to move forward, for her next words were very much meant to calm him down based on the lightness in which they were said. "Would you like to hold my hand?"
He snorted, nearly stumbling from the remark. It was funny, truly, and so he looked back up at her as they slowly began to move forward. "You're just offering in the hopes that I'll say yes, so no. Now let's go before you eventually wear me down and Daphne murders the both of us."
"It is a plan," Fleur said, and so they started right on down the path with their wands ready and waiting for any creature, wizard, witch or even one of their fellow champions.
Any being who showed aggression, any being that they saw, Harry would stun; Cedric was perhaps the only perhaps that wouldn't be dealt with on sight. Should somebody take the form of Tracey or Daphne, of Draco or Pansy or even one of the Weasleys of which there were many, they would be stunned and left behind.
That was how it had to be, for any real person wouldn't be in this maze, to begin with. Not unless they were one of the four.
Harry and Fleur had continued their walking forward at a slow pace for a good few minutes, pausing every half a minute or so to ensure they weren't walking into a trap. It was slow going and harder the closer they got to the bend at the end of the path before them on account of the wind, but their progress was good.
"Nothing?" Harry asked, his eyes locked on whence they'd come while Fleur cast a few charms to see if there was anything nearby; there wasn't, again. It was unnerving by this point. Something, anything would be welcome to break the suspense that was building in the young pair as they continued onwards.
"I do not detect anything," Fleur said, her tone business-like and without the typical undertones, it typically carried. "We should be careful still. I do not like this, it is like there are a dozen eyes watching us and we can see none of them."
I agree, Harry wanted to say, but he refrained from doing so. There was no need to make her anymore on edge than she was alrea—
Movement. There was movement at the far end of the path he and Fleur had come from. Whatever or whoever it was ensured that they stayed pressed right up against the hedges and that alone made Harry doubt their intentions.
"Somebody's coming," he whispered to Fleur. "They're by the second path on the right and they're staying half inside of the hedges, maybe a bit more. I think they're trying to sneak up on us."
Fleur didn't seem too pleased by that, and so she turned to face the person, but only after putting a literal wall before them. He wanted to point out that it made it obvious they knew, but he reckoned she already knew that as she raised her wand and when she did so, he did as well.
"You will stop where you are," Fleur called out confidently.
"Fleur? Is that Harry next to you?" Called back the person after they'd stopped as they'd been told — the voice sounded an awful lot like Cedric's, but just like before, Harry couldn't be sure if that was true or not.
Fleur looked at Harry, Harry looked at Fleur, and Harry spoke, calling back to 'Cedric'. "Yeah, I'm here with Fleur. We heard an explosion earlier, was that you? What're you doing in the hedges anyways and how do we know it's actually you?"
Cedric's barking laughter made Harry reaffirm his grip on his wand; that wasn't very Cedric-like. Not at all.
"It's me — I've had a crush on Cho for the longest time, I've played Quidditch against you even longer and I sat with you once on the Hogwarts Express while you waited for Ronald and Hermione. I think we spoke about Quidditch and how you were going to lose, sound familiar?" Cedric emerged completely from the hedges with his hands up. "That was me earlier, yeah. Krum came after me, I don't know why, but he just did. I had to knock him out, he almost got me — cut me up pretty good, really."
Harry looked at Fleur for all of a second, gauging the older girl's reaction before he waved for Cedric to come closer. There wasn't any doubt in his mind that the boy was Cedric, not some sort of changeling or person who'd ingested a potion if they could spout all of that off.
"Where'd you leave him and was he fine?" Harry asked when Cedric drew closer, the few cuts and a particularly nasty one on his left flank drawing his attention.
"As fine as he could be, he didn't look much worse than I do. I didn't really know what else to do either, so I left him tied up and restrained before he decided to follow after me. The last thing I figured I needed, Fleur needed or you needed was a mad Krum chasing after us. Speaking of that, how'd you two come together?" Cedric sat down once he was close enough, his breathing fast-paced and clearly stressed as he looked up at the other two Champions.
Fleur answered for Harry as the younger boy kneeled with his wand out, intent on fixing up a couple of Cedric's injuries; healing had always been what he thrived in and the time had finally come for him to use some of that magical speciality he possessed.
"I had come to this path and when I saw Harry, I wanted to go to him. He is a friend and his girlfriend made many good points for us to not work against one another — you would have had the same talk from her, no?" Fleur grinned when Cedric took in a sharp breath, Harry having prodded away a bit of the torn shirt at his side so that he could treat the worst of the wounds. "Anyways, after we made sure we were the real versions of us, we stayed close and continued together. The tournament, it does not matter if it is this dangerous. No amount of money is worth one of our lives."
"Got that right. Nearly died, I did. Krum didn't look himself and he certainly wasn't acting like it either. Merlin, he looked possessed, downright evil and murderous," Cedric patted Harry on the shoulder when the largest of his wounds was finally dealt with. "Thanks, mate. I'm not all that good at healing charms or anything in that field, I thought I'd have to call for help soon if I couldn't get that to stop bleeding all on its own."
Harry shook his head. "I'd miss beating you on the pitch if you bled out and there'd be no fun without you, now would there? I reckon Cho wouldn't be too happy with me either —" Harry stood up and offered a hand to Cedric who gladly took it, the two boys now on their feet " — let's get moving now. Fleur and I think the Goblet is ahead of us, where the wind is stronger. We're a bit worried that we haven't really faced anything though… have you seen anything aside from Krum? Anything at all?"
"Nah, can't say that I have, really. I thought I'd heard something on the other side of the hedges right before Krum tore through the opposite side, but I can't be sure. You two really haven't faced off against anything?" Cedric looked confused just like Harry and Fleur; the lot of them had expected this to be far more dangerous with threats right around every corner, instead, it was peaceful save for Krum and the whipping of the wind.
Something had to eventually come, otherwise, this wasn't really the final task, now was it?
"No," Harry said. "Nothing."
"It is strange, no? There should be creatures to stop us or traps laid as we walk," Fleur said, her eyes narrowed as she looked ahead of them, where the turn was slowly getting more prominent as they had walked further ahead.
Harry agreed with her, but he moved past Fleur and kept Cedric behind him. "It's not like we've got any choice, really. We have to get a move on. The longer we take, who knows what'll happen, right?"
Fleur and Cedric each gave off an affirmation and like that, the group was once more on the move, this time with three wands instead of two. Harry felt very confident having the two older magicals behind him, he felt even safer when he recognised that the two were getting along and weren't likely to curse one another too. If they could stay together, all three of them, he figured everything would be safe and fine.
What could ambush and defeat three of the four Champions, after all?
"Stop," Harry said, halting in his tracks and putting his arms out to prevent the others from moving past him. "Don't go any further — look up and to the left, you should both see it."
There, right ahead of them by a good dozen or so feet, possibly more, was a bit of webbing. It likely had been stripped away by the whipping wind, but it was present enough for Harry and the two older Champions to see it. Usually, he wouldn't be afraid of it all that much since he'd dealt with Acromantulas in the past, but with the sheer amount of places to hide that were all around them, he wasn't particularly fond of the idea that such creatures were in with them.
"Do we keep moving or look for another way?" Cedric whispered to Harry and Fleur, a tinge of nervousness easily picked up in his voice.
"We could keep going, but we'd have to keep an eye out. They can paralyse you in an instant and if that happens, that could be real bad for all three of us. Fleur, do you know anything about Acromantulas? I only know a little bit, but I'm not sure what they teach over in, uh, France?" Harry looked up at the older girl for a split second before his attention went back to where the web was. He didn't want to let it out of his sight, nor did he want to look anywhere else but forward since that was likely where the greatest threats would come from.
Fleur nodded, he could see that out of the corner of his right eye. "I know that there are many types of them from around the world just as there are non-magical spiders. They are dangerous for their venom as you said, but some like to roam less and set up giant webs or traps. You know the ones that dig holes, cover them and pop up, no? It could be those that we are against."
Trap-door Acromantula that jump up from out of the ground? No thanks, that sounds like something I'd never like to deal with.
Cedric looked just as nervous and against that thought as Harry was, but the information was incredibly important for the pair of them to hear. "Thanks, Fleur," Harry said to the older girl as his eyes looked at the dirt path before them. "I don't suppose there's an easy way to find out if there's one of those holes in front of us, now is there?"
"You had a big stick when I saw you. You could poke the ground a good distance away or levitate it to do the same, it would reveal any parts where we would sink through," Fleur offered.
"I'll keep an eye out behind us and transfigure the ground into barriers that block the hedges as we move. That should stop anything from jumping out at our sides and it can't come out at us from behind either," Cedric said, piggybacking off of Fleur's idea by offering some modicum of support.
Harry nodded at that, the idea was a good one and it'd certainly make them a good deal safer. "Fleur, do you want to prod at the ground or keep watch above us? I'm not against either of the two options."
Fleur smiled at him, her teeth showing and the look as charming and beautiful as could be expected from her. "I will take the lead on this so that you are safe. I told you that your little witch would be angry if I let something happen to you and it is owed," Fleur took a step forward and began to levitate a freshly transfigured stick, but she paused to look at Harry and whispered something just loud enough for him to hear whilst Cedric went about his work. "You will not look at my rear like earlier, no?"
He snorted and shook his head, a small grin coming to his face despite the seriousness of the situation the three were locked in. Leave it to Fleur to crack a joke and raise his spirits under these circumstances. He wouldn't say it wasn't needed, the moment of levity definitely helped to make the oppressive atmosphere less horrible.
"I'll keep watch above us then — I'll try and keep the occasional eye on you too, Fleur and Cedric as well. I should be able to manage that and help out if either of you need me easily enough," Harry said, earning himself a small nod from Cedric and a second smile from Fleur.
With their minds made up, the trio slowly started forward again, a large wall forming on their sides to prevent the hedges from moving while Cedric kept a good watch behind them and Harry ensured nothing would jump down on top of them. The younger boy was almost tempted to make a rough, but he didn't want to. There was the potential that it could collapse or be forced downwards, trapping all three of them. That wouldn't be very good at all should that happen.
"There is nothing yet," Fleur said after the first twenty or so feet.
Cedric piped up then too, his voice calm but his words not claiming the same nothingness that Fleur's had. "There's something trailing us, maybe two somethings. They're in the hedges, just like I was when the two of you saw me… should I transfigure a stone wall behind us or would you rather I stay watching them? I don't think they know that I've seen them, at least not yet."
"Keep watching them, I'd say," Harry said quickly. "Better we know where they are instead of letting them out of our vision."
"He is right, 'Arry would be harder pressed to spot them above us than if they were a hundred feet away in hedges," Fleur added, the girl seeming to move a bit quicker with their guests known behind them.
Cedric didn't verbally respond, but the boy went back to watching the rear with the occasional glance coming in from Harry as a bit of a backup in case Cedric missed something. Two pairs of eyes were better than one, that was something that everybody could agree on.
Unfortunately, they didn't progress more than another ten or so feet before Fleur let out a yelp and a burst of spellfire went off. Harry snapped his head in her direction and he saw that Cedric nearly had too, but the older boy kept his attention on their rear and flanks. If anything happened before them, it would be up to Harry and Fleur alone.
Speaking of Fleur, the girl had dodged backwards, her back colliding with the front of Harry with enough force that he nearly found himself on the floor, but he stabilised himself by partially grabbing onto the girl. "What is it?" he asked, his eyes seeing nothing when he looked past her.
"Something grabbed at my foot, but I blew it away. I do not know what it was and it didn't get through my shoe, but there is something with us," Fleur looked around and then pointed out a few feet before her. "There is a wire, a small one that is barely visible, do you see it, Harry?"
Harry tried as hard as he could, but he couldn't see anything until Fleur took a half-step forward and put her hand near it. As soon as she did that, he could just barely make it out. Sure enough, right before them on the path they were meant to be taking, was a wire just as she'd said.
"It's gotta be a trap, yeah?" Harry asked her, not feeling like he needed to get any closer to it than he already was.
"Ouais. There would be no other reason for it to be here unless it was meant to hurt or stop us," Fleur said. "We could go over it, but there is no telling how many others there are or what it was that grabbed at my foot. It could be anything."
Cedric chose that moment to pipe up again. "There are two more figures moving on the other side of the hedge wall now, they're pressed tight into it but I can still see them. They're not humans or like us, but I can't exactly make out what they are. Whatever we decide, we have to do it quickly or we'll have a fight on our hands regardless of what we want."
Harry agreed. They would have to make up their minds, and soon, or else they'd be in a fight against who knew what.
"The right we want to take is only another twenty or so feet away from us. Do you two think we could transfigure a path over this one or cut through the hedges and make our own way?" Harry asked quickly, speaking faster than he likely had since his first year or second year, when he and Daphne were up against the most dangerous wizard in history.
"Over sounds better, but I will need help. That is much work and if we are to move faster than whatever is behind us, you will need to work with me, Harry," Fleur said, his name flowing regularly from her mouth.
Cedric seemed to agree with that based on the affirmative grunt he gave before he moved into a better stance. "You two go about doing that and I'll make sure I buy us some time in the rear. There's no point in letting them get any closer uncontested if we're about to bolt forward."
"Alright," Harry said as he moved into position alongside Fleur. "I'm with you, Fleur. Let's do this."
Fleur winked at him, patted him on the head instead of the shoulder, and then she began to wave her wand around in an intricate manner as the ground began to come up to form a sort of dirt-stone bridge. It would take a good bit of time and effort, but they could do it. When Harry joined her and the progress sped up whilst Cedric began punching holes in the hedges behind them in addition to other obstacles, Harry reckoned they just might make it through this portion of the maze.
It would be tough, difficult and draining, but they could do it if they worked together.
As it turned out, it hadn't been quite as difficult as they had thought it would be. The path before them had been completed and crossed in under thirty seconds thanks to the combined efforts of Fleur and Harry. It wasn't pretty nor was it exceptionally stable should somebody the likes of Hagrid try to cross it, but it did its job until the three were safely across and as soon as they were, the two that had made it, destroyed it. There was no point in keeping it up with enemies behind them, enemies that Cedric had delayed exceptionally well and even when they were across, the boy continued to raise stone walls alongside their flanks even whilst his hair clung to his face from exertion.
Together, as Harry had thought, the three were a force to be reckoned with.
"There's another turn ahead of us, but it's to the left this time and that wind… it's blown branches from the hedges. We might want to stick together if it's that strong and if you guys have anything important on you or something that's flapping about, you'll want to tie it down or get rid of it," Harry commented as he looked ahead, the first of the three to do so now that the former path they'd been on was gone.
Fleur didn't have anything to fix, but Cedric took a few seconds to fix his shirt so that the many cuts in it weren't half as annoying as they'd previously been. It was a smart thing to do now before they further progressed.
"Good?" Harry asked, earning a nod from Cedric and a wink from Fleur. "Wicked, same idea as before?"
"That won't be necessary," said a new voice, one that called out from the thirty or so feet away at the opposite side of their path. "The goblet's right around this here corner, but only of you can win. Unfortunately, that one of you was decided when first this tournament came to be, and so the path stops here for your older friends, Harry Potter."
There, at the other end of the path emerged a man with the very same mask that Harry had seen at the start of the year at the Quidditch match he'd attended. The man was Death Eater, possibly the one that had attacked the man that had fled to Harry and Krum. If that was the case, they knew he was dangerous, more so than the typical Death Eater was and bold too.
The man had come out to fight — he had to fight — three of the Champions at once.
Fleur and Cedric didn't look too rattled, but it was clear that neither was wholely for this fight either. They both had to know what the mask and robes meant, and they both had likely witnessed the attack first-hand just as Harry had.
"Unless there's two more of you hiding somewhere else in here, you've already lost," Harry called back to the man, confident as he stepped ahead of his two friends. "You can't beat all three of us at once. That's not going to happen, not unless you were Voldemort himself."
The man laughed. It was loud and happy-sounding as if Harry had just said a joke. "You're brave, Harry Potter. Very brave! But very foolish," the man took a step forward and instantly, all three had their wands on him, but he simply raised his hands as another bout of giggles came from him. "My, how aggressive the three of you are — tell me, was the trip here safe? I certainly hope so, I ensured it would be. You, Veela, did you enjoy that little tap of the ankle? I wasn't sure you'd see the trap one of the Professors laid, but I couldn't have it activated at the risk of Mister Potter's safety. Not if he's to be the guest of honour at our ceremony tonight."
None of the three Champions responded to the mad-sounding man, and in response, he huffed. He clearly wasn't having the 'fun' he had thought he would have. Harry thought that was good too, the man, any Death Eater really, didn't deserve anything. They all should spend their entire lives in Azkaban regardless of their reasons for following Voldemort and if he had to be the one to see that through, he would gladly do so.
"I already told you," Harry said to the man as he took one more step forward. "You aren't working your way through all three of us."
With that said, Harry started the fight by launching a myriad of recently-learned spells at the man and the wands of Fleur and Cedric weren't too far behind him. Together, the three fired dozens and dozens of spells, so much so that the area around them never ceased to be glowing all manners of colours; oranges and greens, pinks and blues, it was like a light show with explosions and splinters from the hedges flying all about.
It didn't stop. Not after ten seconds, not after thirty and not after a minute. Together, the three young magicals continued their offensive until they were happy; that was three minutes later and by then, the three were out of breath and panting. Even then, they still brought up cover before them in the form of shields and transfigured dirt walls with wood mixed in.
When the dust cleared and the debris all fell to the ground, they took stock of what still lay before them. Where the man had once been was now empty and desolate, the surrounding area nought but a crater with dozens of holes in the hedges nearby. There was a bit of his robe left on the ground, the clothing singed and burnt off at the end.
Harry was just about to say that he'd take a look when a spell hammered into the combined shields of the three young Champions, but surprisingly, it was repelled. The man reappeared after that first shock spell and he was near where he'd previously been, only without his robes; his mask remained, as did the clothing he had worn under said robes.
No longer was he laughing or prancing about as happily as he had been, now, he was firing as many spells at the three as he could and there were barely any effects in response. It was clear that he couldn't and wouldn't harm Harry, and as such, the younger boy ensured that he stay between his two older friends so as to provide them with as much safety as he could. They didn't seem to need it all that much, not when their three shields combined destroyed any chance of his spells breaking through and the cover that they'd transfigured ate a good portion of the other spells.
Not so easy, is it? Harry thought spitefully as he fired another spell off, this one causing a large portion of the hedge to fall towards the man, making him dodge and halt his offensive. That was all the opportunity that Fleur and Cedric needed, and not a second later, the two were joining him once more on the attack.
Harry saw that neither seemed to commit to particularly nasty spells and as a result of that, the man could bat them away or block them — Harry chose right then and there to break away from that. If neither would resort to spells that would end the man before them… he would. He had to, if not for his safety, then for theirs. After all, the man had said that Harry would be the guest of honour at some form of event and that could very likely mean that Voldemort in addition to a great many of his followers could be bearing down on them at any moment.
He swallowed as he thought about what he was about to do. It was horrible, something that most good witches and wizards would never do, but he had to. There was no other way. Daphne would understand, her family dabbled in worse magic than that and her personal thoughts on the matter would alleviate his concern.
Fleur and Cedric kept up the fire, beads of sweat falling freely from their faces with pools forming on their clothing. He noticed that the two were draining themselves, trying as hard as they could to break through the man's defence to halt him in his tracks, but every time his shield would shatter he would bring forth a new one. He was faster and their curses weren't brutal enough to go through it.
Harry nodded to himself, steeled his nerves and fired off a spell that he never thought he would use even if he'd observed it in Professor Moody's class.
He used the killing curse, it streaked forward and the man fell over, his body hitting the ground on the path before them. An eery silence fell, and two pairs of eyes fell on Harry at the same time.