Chapter 27 - Year 4 - part 8
June 24th, 1995
William's POV
The noise around him was deafening but he wasn't actually listening. It was like he was wearing a pair of those earmuffs from Herbology and aiding him in the current silence of his mind.
Looking over his shoulder, he quickly found Ellinor and Max. Max had his arm securely around Elli's shoulder and she stared at him with such hope, he didn't know what to do about it. She blew him a kiss and winked, and he smiled softly as he remembered the snog she had promised him a repeat of, once he got back.
They all thought that this would be the easier part of the Tournament, but who on earth would leave the last part of such a grand affair for last? Everyone knew that people had died in it.
It wasn't a secret.
He wasn't as confident in his own abilities as they apparently were. There was no way he would make it out of this completely unscathed. He already had the scars from his dragon in the first task, and he had gotten off easy.
Easy.
Beside Max sat grandma. She smiled softly at him. Gave him a reassuring nod with her head and mouthed 'You're good.' at him.
He was good. He was good at many things. But was he good enough at this?
He didn't want to win. Didn't give a damn about it. Fuck the money and the eternal glory and all that dung. He just wanted to survive and get back to the days when it was all good and fun. Why couldn't he just go and be nervous about his homework and girls, like everyone else in his year? Why did this have to be him? He hadn't asked for this.
The only good thing this brought, was that he got to show his parents his second home. They sat proudly beside grandma, and looked at him with such love and affection that it made his heart swell. They had looked at everything with such awe it was like being 11 years old all over again. It was amazing.
He had shown them the Great Hall with the enchanted ceiling, the moving staircases, his common room and dorm. They had also met some of his professors including Professor Sprout. Then Hermione had shown them her common room and dormitory, which they had, of course, also been thrilled about.
Then at the end of the tour, they had also met Max and Elli again. He was time and time again, in absolute awe of the excess love their parents showed for anyone he and Hermione held close to them. That also included Ellinor, whom they had more or less adopted as a second daughter at this point.
He loved it, just as he loved her.
Noticing that he was looking at them, his parents smiled brightly and waved at him with Hermione by their side. Happily, he waved back to them.
His smile disappeared as he turned around to face the maze, as his name was called.
Minister fudge gave them what felt like a completely ordinary run-through of what they needed to do, reminding them that they needed to be on their feet, and that they should shoot red sparks if they wanted to withdraw from the competition. It could happen at any time.
How about now? He thought bitterly.
It was time.
With Harry by his side, they stepped forward to the two entrances of the maze. He had a lazy grip on his wand as he raised his chin.
Whatever was in there, he would meet it and do his best. If that wasn't enough - he didn't care.
"Good luck, Harry." He said in a low voice to Harry's ears only. No one else needed to know what they said to each other.
"You too, Wills." He whispered back, his voice shaky. He sounded as terrified as William felt.
He stepped forward, and the maze disappeared behind him. It was like the opening had never been there in the first place.
Alright. Logic. I need to get to the centre of the maze, which would probably be north of here. Using his wand, he did the point-me-charm, and followed the direction.
He had barely taken ten steps around the first corner, when he heard a high-pitched scream that made him stop in his tracks and whip his head to the right.
Fleur.
Then, nothing.
The silence was eerie as it encased him once more. The only noticeable thing he could hear was the rustle of leaves and his own breathing… reassuring - but then, not at all. Nothing was reassuring about this damn Tournament.
Then he saw the sparks.
Red sparks.
Someone had left. Probably Fleur, he guessed from her earlier scream.
That did it for him. He ran.
…
His point me wasn't helping him, and neither was the maze. He should have known it wasn't a normal maze.
Nothing was ever normal in the magical world.
Damn it all.
The maze kept changing. He would turn a corner, reach a dead-end and turn around, only for his path to have changed. The maze physically changed.
He could do nothing but run as far back as he was able, and then do another turn.
Left.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Straight.
Left.
Right-
After an unknown amount of time, he found himself face-to-face with one of Hagrid's bloody Blasted-ended Skrewts.
In his mind, he ran through every possible information he had about the beast, and came up empty. He couldn't remember how to render it harmless. What were its weaknesses?
His mind was blank.
Somehow, it hissed at him, and fire flew his way. He dug to the side and out of the way and ended up almost with his head in the hedge. He could see the roots crinkling near his head and quickly rolled away and up in a crouched position - his wand pointed to the creature.
He shot spell after spell at it, but nothing seemed to be in his favour. It couldn't be stunned. Nor blasted or bound.
It jumped at him, with its stinger stabbing at him, and he jumped and rolled.
It missed.
"Stupefy!" He yelled and threw one more stunner at it, hoping that it would finally hit its mark and just work.
It didn't.
It retaliated by spitting fire at him, hitting him on his thigh. He screamed in agony, and threw a Flipendo at it to get it away from him.
It flipped.
"BOMBARDA!" He shouted at it, as it flipped and exposed its underbelly that apparently didn't have any armour.
The Skrewt hissed but slumped in on itself, and stopped moving.
He didn't have much time to think about what was happening, but turned his wand towards the sky and shot red sparks.
He waited, while quickly inspecting his hurt and visibly burned leg. It'll probably scar, he thought sourly, thinking about the burn scars he already carried on his person. But nothing happened.
The air didn't clear. The maze didn't open up for him to exit. No Professor appeared. The hedge didn't change.
Nothing.
He groaned as he stood, and limped slightly as he moved on.
If that's how it's going to be, then so be it. This entire tournament was rigged anyway, so he might as well play along. Bloody bastards.
Left.
Left.
Straight.
Right.
Left.
"Crucio!" Was suddenly shouted behind him, and red, hot pain seared through his veins so instantly he didn't even get to be surprised before he was writhing on the ground.
"She's mine. You don't get to take her from me." Krum growled as he stared down at him with such hate, William had never seen anything like it. His eyes were clear and filled with hatred.
"I - She - Sto -" He could neither start nor finish a sentence as the pain kept building. Kept screaming through his body as he screamed along with it. Very vaguely, he remembered classes with Professor Moody, where they had to experiment with the Cruciatus curse, and he had had to be the test object too many times just for being a Hufflepuff with a slightly buffy build.
"Without you in her head, she'll be mine." Krum said with such conviction, William didn't doubt that he actually believed what he was saying. But he couldn't say anything himself, as Krum increased the Cruciatus, making him scream and his body spasm in pain.
But then it stopped. As suddenly as it had begun.
Yet it felt like it had gone on for hours on end.
When he finally managed to open his eyes again, he was being pulled upright into a sitting position. "Wha-" Krum was on the ground, unconscious and bound.
"Fucker got what he deserved." Harry said in a low voice, "Let's get out of this place."
He didn't counter this heavy suggestion as Harry pulled him further up and onto his feet.
At first, he leaned heavily against his baby sister's best friend, but then he needed less and less support as his body stopped spasming. He could still feel the pain coursing through his body like a wildfire… It had been nothing like Defence class.
"What happened?" He finally said, once he trusted his voice enough to speak. "With Krum."
"I think he's doing his own agenda tonight… I found Fleur not long from where I found you, but she… She was being eaten by the hedge. Its roots were pulling her in under it. I tried pulling her free, but I couldn't."
"I thought she'd been pulled… I mean - the scream and the sparks. But mine didn't work either, so I guess she just…" He trailed off, not knowing how to finish his sentence. He didn't know what had happened to her until now. He'd thought that maybe she'd just carried on like he had.
"Yeah. Me too. Saw yours too." Harry said with a hard sigh as their speed picked up as much as William's burned leg and Cruciatus-exhausted body could handle. "This entire thing is fixed. I think I know why, but I'm not sure who or if there's a personal motive in it, but -"
"I think there is." William thought out loud, and Harry looked at him in question. "The more I think about it, the more I'm sure. One of the first things we were told was that 'the Triwizard Tournament can be deadly' - and then suddenly my name was pulled. I think Krum put it in, and I think he charmed it to choose me. When he just attacked me - that was deliberate. His eyes were clear so not imperious like the other night when you ran into each other in the forest. I- I think he simply just wants me dead."
As he finally said it out loud, he fully started to believe it. If Krum hadn't just full on attacked him, he wasn't sure he would have ever had the thought in the first place. But it had been real. The anger. The hatred. The possessiveness. It had all been too real to ignore.
He may be a Hufflepuff, and he may believe in the best side of all people - but he wasn't stupid. Nor ignorant.
Krum definitely had a vendetta - And William's name was on it, just as Hermione's was.
"Not to be a whiner or anything," Harry said as they neared a fork in the road that would take them either left or right. "But I really don't want to do this alone."
William was fast to answer him so as to not leave him any more in an uncomfortable situation, than what was necessary. "Well, if that makes you a whiner, then you and I both, mate. This place is bloody mental. Wanna go right?"
"Let's." Harry just quipped and then they picked up their speed once again and ran right.
…
They had spotted the cup. It was right ahead, and they were now full-on sprinting. It wasn't like they were running in a fight to get there before the other, no, they simply wanted to get the hell out of this shithole.
Soon after deciding to do the maze together, they met a Sphinx.
A mythical creature that apparently - of all things - gave riddles.
Bloody, fucking, riddles.
He hated riddles. Hated them, and couldn't do them - even if he tried.
Therefore, it was lucky that Harry was able to handle it for them. Without Harry, William would have never been able to continue.
Then, they'd met the spider. It was ginormous, hairy and vicious. It attacked again and again, and they retaliated - again and again. But like with the Blast-ended Skrewt, nothing really seemed to work.
As a last shot, he tried a disarming spell. He hadn't thought that it would actually work - but somehow it did. He had been utterly relieved.
They were quick to inch past it, and now found themselves in direct view of the Cup. This view was what had brought them to the full-on sprint they were now doing.
As they ran for dear life, they heard the maze was starting to grow together behind them. Looking back over shoulder William noted the speed that it was growing. They needed to go faster.
"It's gaining on us Harry! Run! Faster!" He shouted at Harry who was already ahead of him, William's burned leg slowing him down. "RUN!"
He didn't know what happened if you were eaten by the hedge, and he didn't have any plans to figure it out.
He felt the leaves skimming his arms and legs as he somehow found another gear that aided him in gaining speed. Roots shot out from below, but he jumped over them. Branches shot out from it, trying to catch him or trip him, but he somehow managed to avoid them.
He was almost at the clearing with the cup - and Harry was waiting for him. "TAKE THE BLOODY CUP, HARRY!" He shouted as loudly as he could as he sprinted with all the energy that was left in his body. It wasn't a lot.
"JUST RUN!" Harry shouted and shot spell after spell after spell, shooting away branches and roots to make his run easier.
He was almost there, when he tripped over his own feet.
Physically he was in the clearing by the Cup, but he felt roots grab a hold of him, and started dragging him back into the maze. It wasn't just going to let him go quietly.
Why should it?
Just as he had resigned himself to his fate, Harry lunged for him. He ripped root after root off, and quickly William found himself free enough to roll out of there reach before casting a hearty bombardier right at the roots which then disintegrated and left a large gaping hole in the maze.
Even as they looked on, it mended itself.
They backed up until they were very nearly bumping directly into the cup.
That wouldn't do.
"On three?" Harry asked after they had both looked at it long enough.
"Yeah." He agreed.
"One." Harry said in a low voice.
"Two." William followed.
"Three!" They both lurched forward and grabbed each their handle of the Cup and instantly felt his navel being pulled inwards.
It's a portkey!
…
Harry had fallen as they arrived, his head had hit gravestone and some wayward rock had cut him up his arm. William had been luckier, and had merely stumbled back as he landed on his injured leg.
Never in his life had he been so happy for adrenaline but in that moment, because he could barely feel the pain that would surely put him on bedrest by Madam Pomfrey for multiple days.
Harry sat up gingerly, and William inched closer. He made a small cut in his shirt and ripped some fabric off to make a compression on Harry's arm.
Harry hissed in pain as it was tightened, but William noticed him looking all around them even as he did.
"This doesn't look like Hogwarts. Is it a part of the task?" he whispered, and it was like all other noises were sucked up from the darkness that surrounded them.
"I'm not sure. Maybe. Let's keep our wands out, yeah?" He whispered back as he checked the compression. It would hold. Hopefully.
He stood and helped Harry get to his feet. "Stay behind me for now. I've got a bad feeling about this."
Harry looked at him oddly, but then his face scrunched up in pain and he started looking around frantically. He focused on somewhere beyond William's shoulder, and as he turned around towards it, he saw torches being lit by a large house. "Only if you put this on." Harry whispered and dragged something silvery out of his pocket and threw it at him. He hissed in pain but continued to speak. "Don't ask, just do it. I've got a bad feeling too."
William put on what was apparently a cloak, but when he looked down at himself, he saw… Nothing.
Harry whispered, even as William could see him grab his wand a little tighter. "Stay hidden and stay silent."
"But-"
"Silent." Harry whispered through closed lips, and even as he did, William heard approaching footsteps.
William didn't know what to make of this. If this was really a part of the third task, then what was going to happen?
Was Harry trying to take all the honours of it all?
Or was he trying to protect William from something that he himself didn't know of, but that Harry did?
And why did he seem to be invisible all of a sudden?
His thoughts were a whirlwind all over and the more he thought about it, the more questions popped up. But there didn't seem to be any answers.
"There were two. Where's the other?" A high cold voice asked. It made chills run down his body.
A person appeared even as he and Harry hid behind what appeared to be a tombstone. The person had been carrying some sort of bundle, and William didn't want to figure out what it was - or what it was needed for.
"I- I don't know, master." a second voice stuttered. stuttered. He sounded terrified. Was it the person carrying the bundle? Or someone else? Where were they?
Off to the side, he spotted the Cup laying on the ground. Close by it were a pile of big rocks. Or maybe it was the start of some sort of stonewall?
"I'm going to stay by the cup. Stay put for now." He whispered as low as he could. Harry nodded as inconspicuously as possible.
Right. Showtime.
Not wanting to think too much about it, he quickly moved closer to the glittering Cup - while staying low and behind tombstones. He reached it quickly, and hid behind the rocks. Harry was looking towards him, and he lifted his hood enough to make sure Harry had seen him.
Harry nodded.
Then William did what was probably the best transfiguration he had ever done - and made the stones look like him.
The colours on the shirt were a bit off, but that was quickly fixed.
He then softly pushed, and it was instantly lit up by green as a voice shouted: "Avada Kedavra!" and the jet of green hit the transfigured pile of rocks.
He had been right.
This was not a part of the task.
He heard Harry gasp, even as the figure grabbed Harry roughly by the hair and dragged him forward to be bound to the tomb he had been hiding behind.
"You?!" Harry gasped, though this time it was in disbelief instead of shock. Harry obviously knew who this person was, but William had no idea.
The cloaked figure didn't reply, but instead stuffed something into Harry's mouth, and turned around to the bundle that now lay on the ground not too far from the tomb.
As quietly as possible, William moved himself closer to Harry - back exactly the same way he had come the first time to fake his own death.
He still couldn't believe it had actually worked.
While the cloaked figure did something with a cauldron, William slipped around the last tombstone and hid behind the one Harry was bound to. "I'm here." He whispered as low as he possibly could and he could hear Harry still in his attempt at getting the robes loose.
Had he heard him?
Harry then hissed in what sounded like pain, but William didn't understand why. No one was touching him.
A cauldron was brought forth by great effort, it sounded. It also sounded like it was full of water.
What the hell were they doing?
Make a giant potion?
He needed to get Harry down, right this instant. He had been right about the bad feeling.
But what could he do? They had obviously intended to kill him, so what would they do if Harry got loose from his restraints?
Think, William, think!
Even though he may have been invisible, he didn't know to what extent, and he dared not look beyond the tombstone. He heard Harry yell out and then he heard a splash.
The cloaked figure started chanting something low. Something about Bones and Flesh?
Then followed an anguished cry and another splash. The hooded figure was panting heavily, small sobs emitting from him.
Then the Chanting grew nearer and William knew that he had moved to Harry.
Something was about to happen to Harry and he couldn't stop it.
He should have done something sooner. But what?
Think.
Think.
Think.
"B-blood of the enemy… forcibly taken… you will… resurrect your foe." Chanted the person, and then Harry screamed.
It's too late.
No! It's never too late!
As the figure, heavily panting, moved away, William whispered to Harry and hoped that he would hear him: "Remember your wand."
He raised his own wand and used a slicing charm on the robes holding Harry to the Tombstone.
It seemed to all happen in one fluent motion as Harry fell to the ground and threw himself around the stone as a spell went flying. Harry grabbed his arm and William used the other to point his wand.
"ACCIO CUP!" He shouted and said cup went soaring through the air. He thrust his wand between his teeth and grabbed the cup, his other hand holding tightly onto Harry.
Instantaneously, he felt the pull by the navel while someone screamed in anger.