Chapter 66

Fleur was lazily sprawled on the grass, slim body propped up on her elbows, her lovely face tilted upwards and basking in the sunlight. Cedric watched her long, silver hair sway with the playful breeze, the closed, soft eyelids, the perfect lips quirking in pleasure every few seconds, so inviting...

A sharp pain on his shoulder broke the enchantment, and suddenly he was aware that he had been openly staring at a girl that was not his girlfriend. Worse, he had been aroused by the sight! He felt embarrassed and guilty, and deeply grateful that Cho wasn't around and that Krum had helpfully punched him out of his episode of weakness.

"Not your fault, Diggory," muttered Krum, scowling at the quarter Veela in a way that made Cedric suspect his fellow champion had caught himself staring too. The next moment a jet of water flew out of the Bulgarian's wand and hit Fleur in the face.

Fleur let out a string of insults in French and drew her own wand, but Krum just sneered at her and —judging by his tone— insulted her back in Bulgarian. Not understanding exactly what was being said to her made her even more angry, which was no doubt why Krum had switched to Bulgarian. He always did that force her out of her French.

"You ruined my hair!" she exclaimed finally in English.

"You were making Diggory drool," snapped Krum.

"I was just sitting here quietly!" she countered fiercely. "It's not my fault if you boys stare like fools!"

"It is your fault," said the Bulgarian. "We accepted you on the condition that you would not try to entice us. None of us is interested in you, deal with that."

"I do not try to entice you," argued Fleur angrily. "I'm just myself. And perhaps you are interested, else I would not have any effect on you. Harry has no problem ignoring me, and he doesn't even have a girlfriend!"

"Potter doesn't count," growled Krum.

Cedric remained silent as the other two bickered and occasionally insulted each other in foreign languages. Being the newest member of the alliance he didn't think he had any right to force his own opinion on anything, and even if he had the right he wasn't sure what his opinion would be. Much as it annoyed him to be lured by Fleur's dangerous charm, he supposed it was unfair to blame her for something she couldn't help about herself. Although Krum was right in that she could tone it down if she wanted and if she were willing to risk the insecurity of having males around her indifferent to her beauty. Cedric didn't think Fleur tried to charm them on purpose, since most of the times she didn't seem to be aware of what she was doing, but she also didn't make much of an effort restraining her nature and that showed little consideration towards their relationships. No wonder Cho and Hermione kept glaring daggers at her.

Fleur could be blamed, but Cedric blamed his own weakness more. Shouldn't his feelings for Cho make him immune to anyone else's charm, even a part Veela's? It irked him particularly that, like Fleur said, the one girlfriendless guy in the alliance didn't seem to have difficulty ignoring her —it was actually he who usually punched Krum and Cedric back to their senses. Harry wasn't immune, but he could easily shrug off Fleur's enchantment, and while his resistance had probably more to do with a natural talent —he was able to resist the Imperius Curse, after all— than with his feelings towards Cho, Cedric couldn't help feeling uneasy. What if Cho caught him staring at the quarter Veela and dumped him in favour of Harry, who was famous and heroic and strong enough not to make a fool of himself in Fleur's presence?

He glanced at his fellow champion, who wasn't paying any attention to Fleur and Krum's squabble and had his brooding eyes lost in the distance. Harry had been quiet and distracted since the incident with Mr. Crouch, but today there seemed to be something else troubling him. Cedric felt suddenly stupid for worrying about Harry and Cho when it was obvious that Harry had far more serious stuff —like people being murdered in front of him— to occupy his mind than someone else's girlfriend. Besides, Harry had said it was just a crush what he felt for Cho, and Cedric knew he would not act on it even if Cho were suddenly available, not for as long as they were allies.

While Harry's revelation about his crush had made things awkward between them, Cedric didn't regret to have forced that conversation since at least now he knew that Harry didn't personally dislike him. It was just hard for him to see him with Cho. Understanding this, Cedric had resolved to be more discreet from now on and to avoid kissing his girlfriend and even holding her too close in front of Harry. Cho hadn't liked the new restrictions, but he had been adamant so she had finally agreed to try and be more discreet too even if she didn't understand the reason for it. Cedric just hoped she didn't assume it was because of Fleur.

Lost in his own thoughts as he was, Cedric didn't notice that Krum and Fleur had stopped bickering until the distant laugh of some kids made him realize that silence had once again fallen between them. Now French and Bulgarian eyes were also fixed on Harry, and apparently their combined staring was intense enough as to bring their young ally back from wherever his mind had been. The green eyes briefly met Fleur's and Cedric's before gravitating towards Krum, as usual, with whom he exchanged a long look filled with wordless understanding. Those two might have welcomed Cedric and Fleur as allies, but it was obvious that their personal alliance would always come first for them, a fact that never fail to bother Fleur and that, if he was honest with himself, made Cedric a little envious too.

"Are we going to discuss the third task or what?" Fleur finally huffed in annoyance. "That is why we met here today, if I recall correctly."

"I thought you were here to display yourself in the sunlight," observed Krum dryly, reluctantly breaking eye contact with Harry to face the part Veela.

"I am here to discuss serious matters, as soon as Harry climbs down from his cloud and you and Cedric stop drooling," she shot back.

"All right, enough you two," scolded Harry, always the mediator. "I'm sorry that I zoned out, but Fleur is right, we should be discussing the maze. I think the first thing is to fly over it and try to make a sketch."

"I doubt it will be possible," argued Krum. "The judges know we fly at night, they must have raised wards and charms to prevent scouting."

"Wait," interjected Cedric, suddenly alarmed. "They know?"

Cedric had hesitated a lot when Harry had invited him to fly with them at night, which was definitely against the rules and could cost him his Prefect badge and any hope of being Head Boy next year. Snape had already threatened him twice with taking away his badge, and that for extremely mild offenses, nothing like sneaking out after curfew to fly. Despite his fears, however, Cedric had gone along, understanding that if he refused he might as well leave the alliance, and the truth was that he had really enjoyed flying again after so many months stuck to the ground. It had been awesome to fly under the stars, over the lake, and especially to fly with Viktor Krum and to chase a snitch with Harry just for fun.

If Dumbledore knew what they were doing, though, he was screwed.

"Oh, they know," said Fleur with a dark look. "Madame Maxime tried to stop me once, but I threatened her with sending her to jail for kidnapping my little sister if she got in my way so she didn't bother me again."

"Karkaroff knows too," said Krum, also with a dark look that made Cedric think the Durmstrang champion might have issued some threats of his own.

"And Moody," said Harry.

"And the Transfiguration and Potions Professors," added Krum.

Cedric stared at them in horror.

"Snape knows?" he gasped.

"The Potions Professor was called to the Infirmary the night when Potter almost drowned," said Krum, coldness radiating out of him as he fixed unforgiving black eyes on the part Veela. The Bulgarian would never let Fleur and Cedric forget that Harry had almost died cracking the egg clue for them and yet neither had thought to share with him the Bubble-Head Charm. For some reason Krum was harsher with Fleur, but Cedric had gotten his share of hard words too when he had joined the alliance. "Both he and the Transfiguration teacher already seemed to know about our flying, they were only surprized that Potter had fallen."

"I didn't fall," said Harry indignantly. "And they already knew because Snape sort of gave me the idea of sneaking out to fly in the first place."

Krum raised one thick eyebrow.

"The Potions Professor encouraged you to fly without permission?" he asked.

Cedric snorted mentally at the notion of Snape encouraging any sort of rule-breaking from anyone outside of Slytherin and from Harry Potter in particular.

"He didn't exactly encourage me," said Harry dryly. "He called me a moron for accepting Dumbledore's refusal when I asked for permission to fly, said I was stupid for not taking advantage of my Golden Boy position to break rules as usual, then set me three hundred lines about being an angry idiot and helping myself."

"Sounds like useful advice," observed Krum.

"Sounds like a bunch of insults."

"Useful insults," pointed out Krum.

"Confusing insults," said Harry, "since he also gave me detention and took fifty points from Gryffindor for-" he cut himself off as a thoughtful frown appeared on his face, "for flying over the Forbidden Forest."

"The forest full of dangerous creatures?" guessed Krum with a raised eyebrow.

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, that forest."

Krum nodded.

"It sounds like the Potions Professor suggested you a way for you to fly, but he punished you for flying recklessly. Just as the night of the Infirmary he punished you for jumping into a lake without knowing how to swim." He paused and gave Harry a knowing look. "I told you he looks after you."

Cedric was staring at the two famous champions with a no doubt flabbergasted expression on his face. Was Krum serious? Harry seemed to be considering his words seriously, at least, even though only a few days ago he had attacked Snape believing him a murderer. This didn't make any sense. Harry hated Snape, and Snape would rather crucio or poison Harry Potter than 'look after him'.

Although...

"Snape almost bit my head off the other day when I told him that I had left you alone with a madman," he said, and both Harry and Krum turned to look at him. "I think he was worried... in his angry way."

Krum nodded.

"He was also worried the night of the drowning. And he let your dog chew his arm while he finished sliding the bezoar down your throat, Potter. I saw him, at the time he prioritized your breathing over his pain."

"That's true," said Cedric. "I thought Snape was just too tough and didn't feel the pain, but that must have hurt like hell."

"Isn't the Potions Professor a dark wizard suspected for murder?" asked Fleur in confusion.

"Yeah, and he hates Harry with a passion," said Cedric, equally confused.

Harry remained lost in thought for another long minute, until he finally shook his head as if to shove aside his own confusion too.

"Never mind Snape, the point is that the judges and probably all the teachers know that we're sneaking out to fly at night, and they're looking the other way on purpose. So don't worry, Cedric, even if Snape catches us roaming the castle at night at most we will lose points and get detention or insulting lines. He can't get us expelled and I'm positive that Dumbledore and Sprout would ignore him if he suggested to take away your Prefect badge."

Cedric nodded, feeling somewhat reassured —especially if it was true that Snape had encouraged Harry to fly at night, crazy as that sounded— but still not entirely at ease. He understood that it was silly to worry about points and detention records when their lives were at stake, but it was hard for him to suddenly stop caring about rules and principles he had spent the last six years rigorously following and enforcing.

"We don't lose anything trying to fly over the maze," said Fleur, bringing them back to their original subject, "but I agree with Viktor in that the judges probably took precautions."

"I didn't know you were capable of agreeing with Krum," said Harry feigning shock.

"Very funny," drawled fleur with a glare, although the corner of her mouth twitched in amusement. "We should assume we will go in blindly and decide a strategy accordingly."

"The strategy is to stick together," said Harry simply. "We're strong as a team. With so many eyes nothing will catch us by surprize and the chances of someone knowing the right spell to use are higher."

"That sounds good," said Fleur with a nod. "We reach together the Goblet, and then Harry touches it."

Harry startled.

"I thought we had agreed Cedric would win," he said.

"You said that," countered Fleur, "but Cedric has already refused to touch the Goblet, and we all know it should be you, Harry."

"Yeah, Harry, it's fine, really," assured him Cedric, panicked at the idea of winning being things as they currently were. "You deserve to win."

"We all deserve to win," argued Harry. "since we're working together. Why not touch the Goblet the four at the same time? It would be a tie, a joined victory."

They considered that possibility in silence for a minute.

"I would not risk it," said Krum finally. "We don't know if ties are allowed, the Goblet might not like it. Just in case we should aim for a standard victory, and I agree that you should be the one to win, Potter."

Harry shook his head.

"No, if only one of us can win and Cedric refuses, then it should be you, Krum. You entered the Tournament for the best of reasons."

"What reasons?" asked Fleur curiously.

"Not your business," snapped Krum at her before turning back to Harry. "You ensured all the hostages' survival, Potter, there is no question of who should win. But we might not be able to stick together, we will probably enter the maze separately."

"In that case whoever gets to the Goblet first must touch it," said Harry firmly, pinning Fleur with a stern look. "No hesitation nor waiting around until 'someone more deserving' arrives. I don't bloody care who you think should win, Fleur, if you see the Goblet you touch it, clear? The same goes for you, Cedric."

Cedric nodded, but Fleur looked rebellious.

"I will not reach the Goblet without you anyway, Harry," she said stubbornly. "I think we should all try to find each other as soon as possible and then continue together like Harry said."

"It would be insane to try to find someone inside a maze when we're all moving," pointed out Harry, "We would stand a better chance of stumbling into each other randomly."

"Potter is right," said Krum. "We should all go our separate ways towards the centre of the maze. I know a charm that we can use to help us direct our steps, it makes one's wand behave like a compass."

"I don't like it," pouted Fleur. "We may never make it to the centre of the maze on our own. I propose for Harry to stay put at his starting point so we can all go to him."

"What? No way!" exclaimed Harry. "It might be easier for any of you to reach the centre of the maze than to reach me, and there's no way in hell I am going to stay put waiting for you to come pick me up like a little kid!"

"I agree in that it might be easier to reach the Goblet than to reach Potter," said Krum with a thoughtful frown, "and we shouldn't waste time taking paths that don't lead to the centre. But I would not dismiss the idea of Potter staying put."

"What?" exclaimed Harry again, betrayal plain in his green eyes.

"This task ends when someone touches the Goblet of Fire, it is not necessary for all of us to reach the centre," said Krum calmly. "You would be safer if you didn't engage with anything, Potter, just staying in your starting point until one of us wins."

"That's..." Harry didn't seem to have words to express his shock and indignation.

"That's outrageous!" cried Fleur, glowering at Krum like a very angry Veela. "You said that Harry deserves to win, Viktor, and now you want to make sure he loses?"

"I want to make sure he survives!" shot back Krum angrily. "If we could all stick together then I would have no doubt as to who should touch the Goblet, but it is too dangerous for Potter to walk the maze alone!"

"Hey!" protested Harry. "I'm not a five-year-old, you know? I can take care of myself and I will pull my own weight in this alliance, thank you. I don't care about winning, but I won't sit back and wait for you to finish this thing for me. It will be dangerous for all of us, why should I stay safely behind?"

"Because you are the youngest, the only one who didn't willingly put his name in the Goblet, and Harry Potter," replied Krum smoothly. "You said so yourself that someone —most likely your Dark Lord— entered you in the Tournament to kill you, so we must make sure that does not happen."

"Wait, what?" intervened Cedric in alarm. "Do you mean... You-Know-Who?"

Krum rolled his eyes.

"What is it with British people and hyphenated titles?" he muttered shaking his head.

"We're getting off-topic," said Harry with annoyance.

"Wasn't the Unnameable dead?" asked Fleur, frowning in confusion.

"Apparently not," said Krum. "And he wants to kill Potter, as usual."

"As usual?" echoed Cedric with his own frown.

Harry ran his hands through his messy hair. Clearly the subject irritated him, but he couldn't expect people to stay quiet when someone sprang on them that one of the most dangerous dark wizards of all times was still alive and trying to kill one of them!

Finally Harry took a deep breath and slowly let it out before speaking.

"No, Fleur, Voldemort was never really dead, he just lost his body for a while," he said tiredly. "He tried to return a few times in the last few years, and I stopped him, but this time I couldn't so he's corporeal again and trying to get me killed. That's nothing new, though, Voldemort has always been trying to kill me and he will keep trying even if I survive the third task so it's not like walking out of the maze is guarantee of not dying for me. Anyway, Voldemort is my problem, not any of yours. It doesn't matter how I got to be a champion nor who I am, inside this stupid Tournament I'm just one of four, and the four of us are equal allies. That means all of us have to face the same risks."

Cedric felt chilled to the bone as he stared at his famous schoolmate. It wasn't every day that he heard You-Know-Who's forbidden name, and Harry kept saying it over and over again in such a casual tone that made it horribly real. Far worse than that: Harry seemed to be completely certain that You-Know-Who was alive and back, and he sounded resigned and maybe even a bit bored when making reference to the dark wizard's repeated attempts to kill him. A few years back Cedric had heard and dismissed as ridiculous the rumours about Quirrell having had You-Know-Who's face hidden under his turban, but now he realized that that must have been exactly true. Harry had also had something to do with stopping the Heir of Slytherin —who had perhaps been You-Know-Who— the year of the Chamber of Secrets, and he had spent the entire last year being stalked by Sirius Black, one of You-Know-Who's most loyal followers.

And then last summer there had been that Dark Mark incident during the World Cup, when free Death Eaters had made an appearance as if they were trying to send some kind of message.

It was as if a veil had lifted from Cedric's eyes and he suddenly saw what was really going on around him. And he saw just how dangerous and precarious Harry's life was.

"If what you say is true," was saying Fleur, who looked very pale and serious, "then all the more reason to protect you. You are Harry Potter, the one who defeated that evil dark wizard when no one else could. If the monster is returned from the grave the world will need you to be alive so you can defeat him again."

"Fleur is right," said Cedric. "You're more important than us, Harry, so it makes sense to prioritize your survival over ours."

"No, it doesn't make sense!" yelled Harry, jumping to his feet and looking at them angrily from above. "You don't understand anything, any of you! I didn't defeat Voldemort when I was a baby, I just survived because my mother sacrificed herself for me, I have no idea why or how Voldemort vanished that night. There's nothing special about me, I just have the bad luck that an evil wizard wants me dead and the good luck that he hasn't managed to finish me off yet. I'm not more important than anyone, it would actually not be such a great loss if I died. Hell, any of you dying would be a bigger tragedy!"

Harry was yelling his throat raw, making Cedric very glad that Fleur had raised a silencing ward around them. They could hear everything that happened outside their little bubble, but no one could hear them. At most any passing student would see Harry waving his arms angrily, and since Harry was often angry no one would think much of it.

"I can't imagine a bigger tragedy than Harry Potter dying," dared to say Fleur. "The wizarding world would go mad!"

"Of course everyone would go mad," agreed Harry bitterly, "but it's not like anyone would really care. I'm just a famous name for most people, someone from whom everyone expects greats things. But I have no family, barely any friends, most people hate me and I'm usually just trouble. While you, Krum," he said pointing at the Bulgarian, "are famous for something you have actually done, and all Quidditch fans in the world would truly go mad if you died, not to mention that your family and Hermione would be devastated. And you, Fleur," he said turning to her, "have your family too, and it would really be a tragedy if someone so damned beautiful died so young. And you, Cedric," the green eyes turned to him, "you have Cho, and you're bloody perfect and popular, everyone in Hogwarts would miss you far more than they would miss me."

Cedric frowned. That was so no true. He was hardly popular these days, especially within his own House, and he definitely wasn't perfect. He saw that Fleur and Krum were also frowning at Harry, none too pleased with their fellow champion's dismissal of his own merits. Did Harry really believe he wasn't important to anyone on a personal level? Did he truly have no family? Cedric had never considered that. He knew Harry was an orphan, of course, and that he had been raised by Muggles, but he had assumed he had a family if a Muggle one. And he had friends, didn't he? Hermione was one, and Longbottom, and the Weasleys —most of them, at least—, and Krum, perhaps Fleur too. Cedric wouldn't say he was friends with Harry —he wasn't sure a friendship was possible with Cho in the middle— but he would like to be.

Whether he would be missed or not on a personal level —and Cedric was convinced that he would be—, Harry Potter was more important. He kept saying that he wasn't special and that he didn't deserve his fame, but he had somehow defeated —if only for a while, apparently— You-Know-Who, and he himself had admitted to have stopped him from returning a few times. And he had killed a dragon, so he clearly was extremely powerful and might be capable of defeating the dark wizard again, hopefully more permanently.

Even if Harry were completely useless against You-Know-Who, Cedric still thought he deserved to survive the Tournament more than any of them. Not because he was the youngest or the only one forced to compete or The-Boy-Who-Lived, but because he was good. Harry had proven he was the best of them during the second task, and the fact that he didn't believe himself better than anyone only reinforced that assessment.

Harry had turned his back on them, probably to hide the angry tears that had been threatening to spill from his eyes while he yelled, so Cedric took the opportunity to exchange silent looks with Fleur and Krum. He might not know them so well as they knew each other and Harry, but no words were required to confirm that the three of them were completely of the same mind about their youngest ally.

"I won't stay put," declared Harry after several silent minutes, turning back to glare at them with his Killing Curse eyes flashing dangerously. "If we enter the maze separately, we will all focus on reaching the centre of the maze and finish the task as soon as possible. That is our strategy."

Nobody argued, but Fleur's eyes were still shining with determination and Cedric would have bet anything that she meant to track Harry inside the maze and escort him to the Goblet if it was the last thing she did. Krum's expression was unreadable, but no doubt he would also try to protect Harry somehow, even if it was making his way to the Goblet faster. As for himself, Cedric wasn't sure what he would do. He had liked Fleur's suggestion of going all to Harry and continue together, but he knew that Harry wasn't going to stay put and that it would be hard to find anyone while moving inside the maze.

He also wondered what he would do if he reached the Goblet first. He should touch it at once, he knew, to put an end to the task and make possible for the others to receive external help, but the mere idea of winning made him feel nauseous.

Cedric sighed and forced himself to pay attention to his fellow champions, who were now speculating about the sort of obstacles they might come across in the maze and considering topics to research or spells to practice.

This chapter was posted on Mar 13, 2022