Okay, guys, this is it! I'm updating early because I'm several chapters ahead in this now, and I can't stop myself. I've also been a bit neglectful of updates lately, so I'm hoping this will make up for that a little. I appreciate all of you for sticking with me on the irregular updates for the last few months!
LoverGal2024: Thank you so much for reviewing! The third task is really not for me lol. This was hard to write. I have yet to decide how Mrs. Weasley will find out about Fred/Tori…I'm debating between my two personalities at the moment: overly dramatic or rational adult. Ahhhh! Anyway, enjoy!
Bookcozy: It's crazy to be at the end! Somehow it feels simultaneously so quick and so slow. But I do enjoy writing them all being supportive of Harry. Also, Molly *sigh*. I feel like it is out of character for her to accept Nessa's explanation so easily, but the way she responded to Hermione in the books irritated me so bad when I read it. Molly Weasley is not a girl's girl sometimes. So much is going to happen soon though! Nessa/Umbridge is going to be the best. Nessa has no chill at all.
Chapter Forty Four
Nessa would be happiest once she never had to worry about O.W.L.s ever again. She had never been so exhausted in all her life as she was trying to keep up with the fifth-year course load, and she was grateful that she wouldn't have to worry about such exhausting exams for at least another year after this.
She was also eternally grateful that her professors had stopped setting them homework over the last few weeks, which had given her more time to study and revise outside of her practice sessions with Harry. Lessons had instead been devoted to reviewing those topics that their teachers thought most likely to come up on the exams.
Waiting outside the Great Hall for their first exam, she was not the only one looking frantic and confused. Several students were muttering to themselves, and she and Tori had taken to quizzing each other on Potions theory while they waited, Tori's anxiety still noticeable despite her correct answers and her clear attempts to hide it. It was Tori's most dreaded exam, as Snape was notoriously difficult to please when it came to O.W.L. scores and she needed the O.W.L. for her chosen career path.
There had been a flourishing black-market trade in aids to concentration, mental agility, and wakefulness among the fifth and seventh years in the last few weeks. Tori had looked like she might try them, but Nessa was entirely sure that none of them even worked and the last thing she needed was for Tori to end up in the hospital wing after consuming crushed dragon claw. The exams were intended to be spread over two weeks with theory exams in the morning and practicals in the afternoon, except for Astronomy which would take place at night. They had been advised that all quills and parchment given would be charmed to prevent cheating, and any outside quills, parchment, and ink would be confiscated.
And, unfortunately for them, they'd changed the way that scores were submitted. They used to advise of O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. scores within a week, but, due to the Tournament taking place this year, they would not know their scores for at least six weeks when an owl would be sent to their homes. She hated that about as much as she hated waiting outside the stupid hall waiting for the examiners to take pity on her and allow her into the place to get this over with. She didn't want to worry for six weeks about if she'd failed, and she had no idea why she was so nervous about the entire thing anyway because Potions was her best subject, but she still felt like she might be sick.
At half-past nine, the doors opened and they were called in class by class to reenter the Great Hall to take their seats. Sharing one last look with her best friend, they filed inside to take their seats. The four House tables had been removed and replaced instead with many tables for one, all facing the staff-table end of the Hall where Professor Snape stood facing them, sneering down at them all. His gaze slid over her completely. When they were all seated and quiet he said, "You may begin," and turned over an enormous hourglass on the desk beside him, on which there were also spare quills, ink bottles, and rolls of parchment.
Nessa took a deep, slow breath, trying to leave all of her stress about the upcoming task outside of this room, and turned over her paper, gazing at the first question:
Explain a situation in which you would use a Deflating Draught.
Okay, easy enough. Nulling the effects from a Swelling Solution.
List the possible side effects of a Pepperup Potion.
Also easy, and she was suddenly grateful to Madame Pomfrey for forcing her to list them out to her over and over again before she'd been allowed to administer one to a poor first-year who had come down with a cold and had waited impatiently for her to get them all correct.
She was starting to feel a bit better about herself as the questions continued, even though they continued to progress in difficulty as she went on. It was not an easy exam by any means, but she let her love of Potions kick in as she scribbled frantically over her parchment, choosing to let her passion for the craft speak for itself on the pages.
Describe the effects of the Polyjuice Potion in detail; Explain why the potion must be brewed for an entire month; Advise what potions a bezoar can be used for & list any exceptions to this rule; Explain why it is not safe to take Baruffio's Brain Elixir…
On and on the questions went, and by the time the exam had ended two hours later, her hand was aching from the amount she'd written. Shaking her hand out, she waited for Tori to exit the hall.
"I don't even want to talk about it," she said immediately upon exiting.
"It wasn't so bad," Nessa laughed, feeling much better about the prospect of O.W.L.s moving forward.
"Easy for you to say," Tori muttered as they climbed the staircase to return to Gryffindor Tower before lunch. "You didn't have Snape breathing down your neck, and scoffing under his breath every time you wrote something down. I might have failed based on that information alone."
"You didn't fail," Nessa soothed. "You did well when we were practicing together. He's just trying to get into your head."
"Yeah, well it worked," she griped. "I've half a mind to go to his office and have the twins hold him down while I shampoo his head."
"Which is bad because…?"
Tori gave her an irritated look.
"Because he's clearly afraid of soap," she said shortly. "That's the only explanation for it."
Nessa snorted and rolled her eyes, but opted to change the subject instead. Tori would do fine on the practical as she normally did well in class when brewing, so there was no need to stress about that portion of the exams, and Nessa knew that she had likely done fine on the theory exam anyway. It was the only exam that Tori had nearly killed herself to study for in the last month.
When they finally made the trek back to the Great Hall for lunch, the air felt a bit lighter than it had before. She found Harry sitting at the table with Mrs. Weasley and Bill and dragged Tori in that direction.
"Molly? Bill?" Tori said, perplexed, giving each of them hugs before they sat down at the table. "What are you doing here?"
"Come to watch Harry in the last task!" said Mrs. Weasley brightly. "I must say, it makes a lovely change, not having to cook. How was your exam?"
Tori scowled, but let Nessa answer for the both of them as she filled her plate with an enormous looking salad.
"It was good," Nessa said, selecting her customary sandwiches and starting to tear the crusts off and set them on the plate beside her for George. "How was your tour of the grounds?"
She listened politely as Bill and Mrs. Weasley told them about their earlier walk with Harry, as if she hadn't seen the grounds nearly every day for the last five years. Fred, George, and Ginny came to sit next to them too and it almost felt exactly like it did when they stayed over at the Burrow over the summer. It further eased some of the anxiety in her gut. She'd nearly forgotten about the task later that evening altogether and she had no concerns about her Potions practical exam. Once the task was over, and Harry had been deemed safe, she could focus every one of her energies on her O.W.L.s and return to Private Drive for a few weeks before the Weasleys inevitably invited them over before the school year started up again.
The peace she was going to have once this task was over was the only thing getting her through at the moment.
George leaned over to speak to her quietly while Ron was telling them all about how he'd forgotten some of the names for goblin rebels on his History of Magic exam, and had opted to make some up. Mrs. Weasley did not look at all pleased.
"How was your exam?" he said, accepting more of her crusts without a word.
"It was good," she said to him, unsure why they were talking so quietly.
"Oh, so you mean to say that you're incessant studying on my birthday was as useless as I said it was," he said smugly with a grin. Nessa rolled her eyes.
"Perhaps it was that studying that will have given me an Outstanding, you can't say that for sure," she said. He smirked at her wickedly.
"As I'll recall, you were a bit distracted by the end of that particular study session, so I think it's safe to —"
She flushed to the roots of her hair, and covered his mouth hastily, shooting his mother an anxious glance. She nearly exhaled in relief when she noticed that she was too busy in conversation about O.W.L.s with Tori.
"George Fabian Weasley," Nessa hissed, turning back to face the redhead beside her. His eyes were twinkling mischievously. "You cannot talk about that in front of your mother! Actually, you know what, you can't talk about that in front of anyone. At all. Ever."
He was shaking with silent laughter when he pulled her hand away, placing a kiss to the inside of her palm before curling his fingers around hers.
"She didn't hear anything," he said with a grin, eating his soup one handed.
"Yeah, well, you should hope not," she muttered. "Rita Skeeter already nearly convinced her that I'm a floozy —"
"Scarlet woman," he corrected with a grin. She blinked at him.
"What?"
"Mum calls them scarlet women," he said.
"I — what difference does it make?" she snorted, trying not to laugh. "Floozy or scarlet woman, it's all the same, and I don't want to be either. And regardless, I'm thinking if she knew about…that," she said, blushing again much to George's amusement. "She'd have a very awkward conversation with us, and I'd rather jump off a cliff."
George grimaced.
"She gave Fred and I 'the talk' over the summer," he said, looking ill at the thought, and she giggled before she could stop it. He glared at her. "It's not funny. She gave it to us together. I couldn't look at him for at least a day."
She burst into laughter before she could stop it, falling into his shoulder with the force it. He shook his head at her, chuckling himself, but they were interrupted by his mother, who had been watching them closely.
"What are you two giggling about?" she said, watching them with a sparkle in her eye. Nessa cleared her throat.
"Nothing," she said hastily, changing the subject entirely. "How is Percy?"
Truly, she couldn't have cared, but if she kept asking, she was afraid that she might start blushing again and give herself away. And she really, really did not want to have that conversation. Her Aunt Petunia was never going to have it with her, and if she was lucky, she'd manage to avoid the entire subject entirely.
"Not good," said Bill, taking pity on her. She smiled at him thankfully.
"He's very upset," said Mrs. Weasley, lowering her voice and glancing around. "The Ministry wants to keep Mr. Crouch's disappearance quiet, but Percy's been hauled in for questioning about the instructions Mr. Crouch has been sending in. They seem to think there's a chance they weren't genuinely written by him. Percy's been under a lot of strain. They're not letting him fill in for Mr. Crouch as the fifth judge tonight. Cornelius Fudge is going to be doing it."
Nessa couldn't have told anyone what she replied with because she was too busy turning over the words in her mind. Of course, it was possible that Percy hadn't known the directions weren't coming from Crouch, and she wanted to believe the best of the older Weasley boy, but…
Well, he was a bit ambitious, wasn't he? She'd never known someone so incredibly dense to the comings and goings around him when he was working. She'd heard so much about cauldron bottom thickness over the summer that she'd wanted to scream. And part of her wondered if…well, if he seriously thought Crouch had been in any sort of danger, she was sure Percy would have said something. He wasn't evil, but…
Well, was it wrong of her to wonder if he hadn't noticed because he hadn't wanted to notice that it could be someone that wasn't Crouch? He'd been annoyed in his letter to Ron when he had asked him if he'd heard from Crouch lately upon Sirius' request. Something about being able to tell his boss' handwriting from an imposter. As if maybe someone had already suggested that whoever was writing to him wasn't his boss.
She didn't think that he'd have done so maliciously, but she had severe doubts that he wouldn't have done it simply to further his career. He wanted to prove himself within the Ministry and if he got letters from his boss that gave him a way to do that, she didn't think he'd have bothered questioning things at all. He'd been a menace even before he'd gotten the job at the Ministry, and it had only gotten worse.
But she wasn't about to say that to his family. She'd always stood on rocky ground with Percy, and she might just be a cynic.
She was still thinking about Percy when lunch had ended and they'd had to wait for their Potions practical exam. It was as relaxing as she had expected it to be. There were a number of proctors roaming the hall as they brewed their potions, walking to observe silently.
Nessa ignored them, breathing in the fumes from the cauldrons around her, and clipping her hair back before focusing on what was in front of her. This exam was three hours long, and she had to brew a number of potions. First, a Befuddlement Draught that took her nearly no time at all to master. Moving down her table, she started her Wit-Sharpening potion, wondering idly if the proctors had chosen that particular potion to be funny. They couldn't use them for the exams, but they'd have them brew one to rub it under their noses.
Lastly, the Draught of Peace. A potion she could have brewed in her sleep. She took her time with this one because it was her favorite to brew, letting everything else fade to black and losing herself in the familiarity of the brew. She didn't understand how there were people who thought Potions a weak art. It was underappreciated — it required a delicate hand and a strong focus and an abundant amount of patience.
"You look like her."
She startled in the middle of slicing her stewed mandrake, nearly slicing her finger off, and looked up to see one of the examiners standing before her. She was an older woman — a very old woman, though Nessa felt a bit rude for having noticed — with a very severe face. Marchbanks, she thought her name was.
She was short, shorter even than Nessa, who felt a bit excited about this prospect, as the only people who were shorter than her tended to be the first and second year students. She had an air of no nonsense about her as she circled around her, eyeing her potions with a critical eye.
"You've got her talent too," she said without a response to her previous assertion.
"I'm sorry?" Nessa said, blinking at her in surprise and wondering distinctly if talking to her was against the rules. Maybe this was a test?
"Lily," she said, looking up at her with sharp eyes. "I administered her O.W.L. exams as well. Your father's too. Now, he was talented as well — and quite charming, if I recall — but your mother…she had a special knack for Potions. One of the best potions I'd ever seen at the time. I daresay you'll end up with marks as high as hers."
She had absolutely no clue what she was supposed to say to that, but the older woman had hobbled off before she could even think up a response. Staring after her in surprise, she caught Tori's gaze across the room. Without Snape to snarl at her, she actually looked like she might be enjoying brewing potions for once.
Tori rolled her eyes with a grin, and mouthed "Show off," to her from where she was stirring whatever potion she was working on. Nessa grinned and went back to what she'd been doing before, focusing on her Draught of Peace.
When the exam had ended, she sighed in relief. One down, nine to go.
She had an hour before she had to meet everyone for dinner, so she decided she'd go to the library to get some more studying in beforehand. She had Charms first thing tomorrow morning and she imagined she'd be up late this evening, no matter how the tournament ended. Win or lose, her brother had done something incredible and they'd celebrate even if he lost.
If she was going to end up being up into all hours of the evening, she might as well study while she could. It might also help distract herself from the anxiety of the upcoming task too. She felt like she'd been handling things well so far, but the closer it got, the more she wanted to start pacing. Mutter to herself all of the spells Harry had learned in the last month. Remind herself over and over that he was going to be fine, that nothing bad could happen to him while he was under Dumbledore's protection.
That's what she needed to remind herself right now. Because she'd promised Remus that she'd loosen the reins a bit, and Harry had done everything he could, and she had exams that she needed to focus on. Exams that had the capacity to change her entire life, which really wouldn't do to ignore for the sake of panicking about something she had no control over.
Groaning to herself, she took a seat at her usual table — though she hadn't been to the library much this year because she was afraid to see Cedric there — and pulled out her books, quill, and parchment. If her Potions exam were any indication, she'd be expected to know charms from her very first day at Hogwarts, and she was grateful that her anxiety didn't allow her to throw out any notes she'd taken in previous years. She conjured them from her room as well, and started the process of looking over them.
Cheering Charms…that had to be on the exam. Flitwick had been particular about them when they'd been learning them in third year. She'd wanted to hit him with one just to see if he'd stop making them cast them over and over.
She had only barely started reading over the notes she'd taken on them, the material coming back to her quickly, when someone cleared their throat next to her.
She jumped, looking up to see…Cedric.
Because of course it was him.
She couldn't tell if the irritation she felt was at her or him, but she smiled at him tightly.
"Hey," he said awkwardly. "Mind if I join you?"
She hesitated. It seemed a very bad idea to her, but she didn't want to be rude. And maybe if they talked, she could clear the air between them and they could just agree to be…acquaintances. Old friends who waved at each other in the hallway.
She didn't know what it would be called, but walking on eggshells around him had gotten exhausting, and she didn't want to upset George by being overly friendly with someone he clearly didn't like. And for a good reason, which she could no longer ignore.
"Where are your parents?" she asked, rather than answering.
He smiled, running a hand through his hair.
"They wanted to get to know Cho a bit," he said, looking uncomfortable. "Mum told me I was making her nervous or something, I don't know."
Had it always been this awkward between them? If it had, it was sad. She was sad to have lost him as a friend about as much as she was angry because if he hadn't been such a stupid prat, she probably wouldn't have.
Or maybe angry at herself for not being more direct about the entire thing. She didn't know.
At any rate, she took pity on him and waved at the empty seat beside her. He smiled at her thankfully and slid into it.
"How did your first O.W.L. go?" he said.
"Fine," she said shortly. "It was Potions."
"So we already knew you'd do fine then," he laughed before clearing his throat awkwardly. "So how mad is Weasley then?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"He's not mad," she said. "At me."
"Yeah, I got that," he said with an eye roll. "The two of you are disgusting to watch —"
She refused to ask him why the hell he'd been watching them to begin with, and changed the subject instead. To the thing she'd been most concerned about.
"Are you ready for the task tonight?" she said, eyeing him anxiously. Just because things were…complicated between them now didn't mean she didn't care about him, and she wanted nothing more than to go into tonight in hopeful spirits.
"Yeah, I'm ready," he said, nodding at her with a grin. "More prepared than I was the last two times, I reckon. Moody's paranoia might have paid off a bit."
She snorted because she seriously doubted that.
"I'll take your word for it," she said dryly. "I'm sincerely hoping that he won't be here at all next year, but to each their own."
He grinned at her.
"He probably has ears everywhere, you know," he said. "He probably knows you said that."
The words had been said jokingly but they hit a little closer to home than she'd have preferred because she was still convinced that he was watching her, though she had no proof of that.
She couldn't tell Cedric that though. Not without sounding like a psychopath.
"I assume you didn't come here to have awkward small talk," she said instead, her anxiety leading to her being quite short with him.
He blinked in surprise before looking away awkwardly and shaking his head.
He always did that when she was short with him. George had always met her anxiety-induced shortness head-on, but Cedric had always buckled under it. And she could never tell if that head shake he did was judgment or something else.
"No, I —" he paused, looking torn before he laughed to himself darkly. "This was the stupidest thing I've ever done. Just forget it, okay?"
She watched him get up and start to walk away, totally bewildered, but she had a bad feeling about tonight and she was probably being overdramatic but if he'd come to talk to her then he clearly had something to say. And the last time she'd let someone leave this table after harboring a secret they'd wanted to share, they'd ended up at the bottom of the Chamber of Secrets.
And, well…she was being short with him and maybe that was unfair. It wasn't his fault that she had a sensitive spot around Moody right now.
Or maybe she was just a pushover.
"Cedric," she said, standing hastily, and walking around the table. She stopped abruptly when he paused and turned to face her. Sighing heavily, she said, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be short with you. It's just — well, things are a bit awkward at the moment and I…" she huffed when no words came to her. "I'm sorry. What did you need?"
He stared at her, clearly still debating what he was supposed to be doing or if he even really wanted to come to say what he'd decided. She had no idea why he was looking at her like that. It was…painful, sure, but there was something like…regret there as well. Or maybe longing? She didn't know but she didn't like it.
"I really like Cho," he blurted eventually.
Her eyebrows climbed her forehead in surprise.
"Okay," she said, the word coming out like more of a question than a statement. "That's good, isn't it?"
"Yes," he said immediately. "No. I don't know. You make everything so fucking confusing."
Had she ever heard him swear before? She couldn't recall. She didn't think so, and she was suddenly wishing she'd just let him go because she had a bad feeling about where this was going.
She was regretting this now. She should have let him go because she did not want to have this conversation.
Again.
"Cedric —" she began, frustrated.
"No, I know, alright?" he said angrily. "I know what you're going to say and I've heard it before and I get it. And I'm a prat for this because I do like Cho but I — I'm in love with you."
She stumbled backward, catching herself on the table, and gaped at him. There was a ringing in her ears now, and there was no possible way she could have heard it properly when it was so loud. She had to be mistaken because there was no way that he'd said —
"I really don't know why you're looking at me like that," he said, laughing darkly. "It's pretty obvious, isn't it?"
She shook her head slowly, not because she was disagreeing but because he'd said it. She'd had a feeling, suspected it. Heard George say it and Tori had warned her, but she — she'd never expected him to say it to her.
Was this a nightmare?
"Anyway, I don't know why I feel the need to tell you that. Or why I feel like I should tell you now, but —" he laughed to himself. "Maybe I'm hoping that you'll change your mind and pick me instead but that's not going to happen, is it? No matter how I feel or what I say, it'll always be Weasley."
It was a nightmare. It had to be.
She never wanted to have this conversation. With anyone. Ever.
And why was she even surprised? She had to be stupid. For all of the times, she thought herself perceptive of other people, she had wildly underestimated this situation.
When she didn't answer, he did something so entirely stupid that it would haunt her for the rest of her life. He stepped forward and kissed her.
Unlike every other time that had happened, she jolted immediately, suddenly aware of what was happening and that she should have been responding far before now, but that didn't matter.
She responded now.
She slapped him so hard that he stumbled backward from the shock of it. Truthfully, she was a bit shocked herself because she'd never hit any of her friends before. She'd hit Slytherins and had not regretted it once, but she'd never hit anyone she knew personally.
She waited to feel badly about that fact, but nothing came. Her hand stung, but she was unbelievably pissed off that she couldn't find it within herself to feel badly.
How many times did a person have to hear the same words before they got it through their thick skull?
She almost wanted to hit him again.
"Don't ever do that again," she said angrily. "What the hell were you thinking?"
He laughed again, but there was no humor behind the sound.
"Not sure," he said angrily. "Maybe I'm a masochist —"
"Or perhaps you're just an idiot!" she said. "How many times do you need me to tell you that there's nothing going on between us?"
"I guess once more," he said, looking at her like she'd stomped on his heart. She wanted to stomp on it at the moment because she was seething. She'd be miserable later, but she refused to feel badly right now. "This isn't fair to you, and I know that. I'm really sorry. Truly. But I just — I need to hear you say it. I want things to work with Cho and I don't think they will if I'm holding out hope that your feelings will change if I just told you that I love you. So please just — do us both a favor, and say it."
And just like that, she wasn't mad anymore. She was…exhausted. So unbelievably exhausted and it felt like something in her chest was twisting. They wouldn't be friends after this, and certainly could never be, but she had made her peace with that.
If it was what he needed to hear to make his peace with it too, then she'd do it.
Looking at him now, she wanted to cry, but she opened her mouth, and as gently as possible, said, "It changes nothing, Cedric. I love you, but —" she took in a shaky breath. "But not in the way that I love, George. It will always be him."
She didn't apologize for that. She didn't try to sugar coat it. She didn't even try to make him feel better about it by smiling at him sadly or giving him a hug to somehow blunt the words.
She just watched him as the words sank over him and the acceptance came with it. There was something lighter in the air because she could tell he was listening this time. He would let it go. And even if a part of her hated that they were standing here and staring at each other, wishing it had turned out differently for either of them, she wanted it to be done. She wanted to stop feeling guilty about leading him on or wondering if she was doing the right thing.
She wanted to just be over it.
After a long moment, he nodded once, and smiled at her sadly.
"Tell Harry good luck tonight," he said before pausing again for a long moment. In a voice that was as final as she'd ever heard from him, he said, "Goodbye, Vanessa."
And then he was gone.
Nessa stood next to Madame Pomfrey several feet away from the maze as the students began to fill the stands. The air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as hundreds of students filed into their seats. The sky was a deep, clear blue now (for the first time in weeks) — which Nessa may have been taking as a good sign for the choice she'd made with Cedric, despite the fact that she felt a little numb inside — and the first stars were starting to appear. Hagrid, Professor Moody, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick came walking into the stadium and approached Bagman the champions. They were wearing large, red, luminous stars on their hats, all except Hagrid, who had his on the back of his moleskin vest.
Harry, Fleur, Cedric, and Krum all stood in a line, barely talking or looking at each other in any way. She didn't blame them. Now that they were out here again, she sort of felt like she'd not worried enough. Words she never thought she'd think at any point.
But she tried to focus on what she did know: This was the last task; Harry was prepared; Dumbledore was here, and watching very closely.
She kept repeating those things to herself over and over again until Bagman raised his wand to his throat and began speaking to the surrounding crowd.
"Ladies and gentleman, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! In first place, Harry Potter, of Hogwarts school!" She was among those who cheered wildly and the noise sent birds in the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky. "In second place, only five points behind, is Cedric Diggory, also of Hogwarts school!" More applause, just as loud as the last, but her response was a bit less muted. "In third place, Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!" More applause. "And in fourth place, Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!"
She applauded for each of them, but her concern was on Harry. He met her gaze and waved at her. She waved back, trying to appear positive despite her growing unease.
"We will be patrolling the perimeter of the maze as the champions make their way to the center. Should you feel threatened in any way, please send up a shower of red sparks, and we will come and get you. Harry, in first place, will go first, and then Cedric, and so on. The first champion to the Triwizard Cup will be our next Triwizard Champion!" There was a roaring from the stands and Bagman had to wait several minutes before he could continue. "So….on my whistle, Harry! Three — two — one —"
He gave a short blast on his whistle, and she watched as her brother hurried forward and disappeared within the towering hedges. She tried to breathe in and out as slowly as she was able, knowing that this was it. This was the last hurtle, and she had nothing else to worry about after this.
Well, she had Voldemort and O.W.L.s to worry about, but one thing at a time.
After a few minutes, Bagman blew his whistle again, and Cedric disappeared within the maze at a run, clearly trying to make up for any lost time. She didn't think he had to worry because Harry had appeared to slow once he'd entered the maze as if he were waiting for something to jump out at him at any moment and needed to be prepared. Which, knowing Hagrid, was likely the case.
Despite their broken relationship, she sent up a prayer that Cedric would be fine as well. Perhaps once this was all over and he'd moved on, they could be friends again in the distant future. Until then though, she wished him the very best.
Bagman's whistle blew for a third time, and Krum disappeared next, stalking forward as if he were about to face a horde of giants and could intimidate him by his expression alone. Finally, several minutes later, Bagman's whistle blew for the last time. Fleur straightened her spine and entered, appearing to glide more than anything else, into the maze as well.
All of the champions were now inside. And all they had to do was wait. Which, truthfully, was quite annoying.
Whoever had thought up these tasks had clearly not considered the spectators. The lake and the maze were tasks that they couldn't watch for the life of them. What was the point? If this barbaric tournament was intended to serve as entertainment for the masses, and prove to all of them the champions' magical prowess and bravery, what was the purpose of having tasks that showed them absolutely nothing of what was occurring while it was happening?
The tournament was stupid, no matter what it looked like, but she didn't like this waiting game.
At least under the lake, she'd been unconscious. She hadn't had to wonder what the hell was happening underneath. Now, she wanted to pace endlessly, waiting and waiting in whispered silence for one of them to exit the maze. What would cause one of them to shoot sparks into the air? What had Hagrid put in there? How long would it take to get to the center of the maze, if they estimated?
Too many questions, too many concerns, too much anxiety. And not nearly enough to do to soothe any of it.
"Psst," she looked up to see the Weasleys, Tori, and Hermione looking down at her. The stands had been lowered so that they could lean over and talk to her, and she checked Madame Pomfrey out of the corner of her eye. They weren't doing anything at the moment, but she had no doubt that if the woman saw her conversing with her friends, she'd be less than pleased. When she saw her speaking quietly with Fudge, she sidestepped, so that she stood directly under the twins and Tori.
"What?" she muttered, only loud enough for them to hear her. Fred snorted.
"What, she says," he said with an eye roll. "We're doing our duty as her good — no, her best — her best friends, and trying to make sure she's okay, and she's griping at us."
"I am not griping," she said with an eye roll. "I just don't want Pomfrey to think that I'm over here plotting to give one of the injured champions a Canary Cream."
"Well, now you mention it, love, that sounds like a fine plan," George said, grinning at her. She gave him a long look, but Tori spoke before they could keep it up with the jokes.
"Are you doing okay?" she said, covering the mouths of both twins for good measure. "You were quiet at the feast."
She had been. The atmosphere in the Great Hall had been vibrant, loud, and excitable, but between what had happened in the library with Cedric and her increasing anxiety about the task, she hadn't been able to join in with the excited chatter of her friends. She'd barely been able to focus at all.
"I'm fine," she said, sighing forlornly. "I'm just ready for this to be over. I feel like I say this every year, but this might be the longest year of my life."
Tori snorted.
"Yeah, well, it's true every year, too," she said, smacking the twins when they swatted her hand away from their mouths. "Maybe we should stop saying it. You know, in case someone is looking and is trying to top the year before."
Nessa didn't really believe in that sort of thing, but at this point, she might try anything.
She opened her mouth to say something when a scream shattered the silence. They all fell silent, and Nessa whirled around to face the maze.
"Was that Fleur?" she said, looking to the professors to see what was happening. They had all stopped where they'd been pacing, turning to stare at the maze as if waiting for a shower of sparks.
Could anyone even see what was happening? Not unless they could see through walls —
Moody.
Her gaze searched for him, and he was whispering to Dumbledore, his usually whirring eye locked on a particular spot of the maze. Dumbledore appeared concerned, but not as though he needed to be making a scene which made her feel a bit better.
But why had she screamed? What in the hell was in there?
A moment later there was a shower of sparks, and Dumbledore had gone. Nessa blinked at the space he'd once occupied, totally flabbergasted. As far as she knew, you couldn't apparate within the grounds, but she had no other explanation for how he'd up and disappeared.
He reappeared, carrying Fleur, and made his way quickly toward Madame Pomfrey. Nessa left her friends without a goodbye, meeting up with Dumbledore just as he reached his destination.
"What happened?"
"Stunned, I believe," he said, setting the girl on the spot they'd conjured a bed. "She's got a few injuries, but nothing major. Excuse me. I need to head off her family."
He was gone in the next moment, herding Fleur's family back up to their seats with firm, gentle words. The man had a real knack for people, she'd give him that.
"Tell me what you see," Pomfrey demanded immediately, pulling her attention back to her.
She tried to focus. This was what she was here to do, and she needed to pay attention to what was in front of her. Examining Fleur closely, she said, "Some minor cuts…likely from the maze itself as there's nothing oozing from them and no smell. She's got a bruise around her nose, but it doesn't look broken. And a lump on her head, from falling maybe?"
Pomfrey raised an eyebrow.
"You're forgetting something."
She blinked.
"What are you — oh," she said, removing her wand and pointing it at Fleur's wrist. A number flashed over it. "Pulse is 101. A little high, but not that surprising considering the circumstances."
"Good," Pomfrey said, though she didn't sound impressed. Nessa had learned not to take that personally. The woman was hardly ever impressed. "You can proceed."
She sighed, pointed her wand at Fleur's chest, and muttered "Renervate!"
It was a mistake she hadn't accounted for. The woman had been knocked out in a moment of panic, and she awoke in one as well. She sat up rapidly, speaking in rapid, fearful French, her arms swinging and her eyes wide.
"Shit," Nessa muttered. "Fleur! Fleur! You're okay, it's okay. You're out of the maze."
The older girl settled, blinking at her in confusion.
"Vanessa?" she said in confusion. "What iz 'appening?"
She pushed Fleur back down firmly.
"You were Stunned," she said by way of explanation. "Just relax for a second, okay? You can get up once we've healed your injuries."
Fleur seemed too in shock to say anything, but Madame Pomfrey was smirking. A moment later, Nessa knew why.
"First lesson," the matron said. "Never wake up someone who's been Stunned unless you know for certain they've been calmed."
Her gaze narrowed on her mentor.
"You knew that would happen," she accused in annoyance. When Pomfrey didn't deny it, she exclaimed, "Well, why didn't you stop me?"
"You'll learn best with examples."
Nessa growled under her breath, but said nothing. It was true although she'd have preferred not to have to dodge a flailing fist.
"Dumbledore woke Krum and he didn't act like that," she said by way of explanation. And she'd woken Ron several times during spell practice but she didn't say that.
"Dumbledore is able to do things with a wand I've never seen," Pomfrey said dismissively. "But if you're referring to when Mr. Krum was found in the Forest, he didn't see the attack coming, so he likely wasn't more concerned than he normally was when he'd been knocked unconscious. Based on Miss Delacour's scream, she had seen the attack coming and was likely experiencing an increase in adrenaline."
With that, they healed Fleur's cuts with a minor charm, and placed a paste on her nose to help with the bruising. Another charm and the lump on her head had all but disappeared. Pomfrey asked her a plethora of questions about what charm could be used to calm someone while they were still asleep. Most calming magic was done by potion, so she hadn't known the answer to that, and then had to listen to Pomfrey's subsequent lecture about the spell and how it worked.
"Here," Nessa said, handing Fleur a potion that would help in case she had a concussion. She grabbed Fleur under the arm and helped her sit up slowly. "You should be okay, but this is just in case you have a concussion. You'll have to take it easy for the rest of the evening." Fleur nodded, taking the potion in one go, and handed her the empty bottle. "You feeling okay?"
Healing often didn't end after the spells had been cast, though Pomfrey's bedside manner could use a bit of work.
Fleur nodded, letting her head fall into her hands, her gold hair falling around her like well-spun silk.
"I zink it was Krum," she said. Nessa's brow furrowed.
"He attacked you?" she said in surprise.
What on Earth for? The champions were pitted against each other, but not in a way that would require him to so blatantly attack one of them. Although she supposed that was one way to ensure he got to the Cup first.
Fleur nodded.
"Oui," she said. "I didn't zink anyzing of it when 'e came around the corner. 'E 'as never seemed violent before. Zis is now ze second time zat I 'ave 'ad to be rescued like I am some sort of damsel."
Vanessa had to admit — the woman's English was getting better in the time she'd been here. She was much easier to understand now. And there was a flicker of respect for her being more upset at seeming weak as a woman than because she hadn't won the Cup.
She put her hand on Fleur's shoulder in comfort.
"If anyone here thinks that you're a damsel, they're sorely mistaken," she said firmly. Fleur looked up at her, arching a perfect eyebrow. "Half of the people in those stands wouldn't have been brave enough to enter the tournament in the first place. And I'm including myself among them."
Fleur blinked at her a few times before smiling at her brilliantly. Nessa had had no time to prepare herself for it, and swayed toward her as if she'd been pulled by a string.
She shook her head sharply.
For God's sake.
"You 'ave been a nice friend, Vanessa," Fleur said, pulling her attention back.
Nessa blinked.
Friend? They'd hardly spoken to each other except for the times that they'd seen each other after each task.
"I have?" she said blankly.
"Oui," Fleur said, nodding. "I am not familiar wiz 'aving friends. Women do not like me, and men — well, zey usually only want the one zing, you understand?" Nessa snorted. She did, but she was glad Fleur didn't go into detail. "It would be okay if I wrote to you after zis is over?"
Nessa's jaw dropped for a moment before she had the presence of mind to close it before she started floundering about like a fish.
"I — yeah, sure," she said. "Of course."
Fleur smiled at her again and kissed her on both cheeks.
"Zank you," she said. She waved to someone behind her, and Nessa caught a glimpse of her family behind the Weasleys, who waved at Nessa when they caught her looking. "Zat man? Ze one wiz the long 'air and earrings…you know 'im?"
Nessa grinned smugly, and turned back to Fleur with a raised eyebrow.
"I do," she said facetiously.
Fleur tilted her head to the side as she studied Bill from her position.
"'E is your boyfriend's relation?"
"His brother," Nessa agreed. "I'd have thought him a bit edgy for you."
Fleur gave her a wicked smile that she didn't expect from someone like her.
"Zey are much more exciting zen ze rest, no?" she said.
Nessa laughed.
"Tell you what," she said with a grin. "If Harry makes it out of this task alive, I'll introduce you to him myself."
Fleur grinned, shaking the hand she held out to her, and eyeing Bill from the corner of her eye as he continued chatting with Ginny.
Nessa didn't have much time to continue the friendly chat, however, as there was another yell, this one sounding remarkably pained. She tensed, praying to anyone who would listen that it wasn't her brother. The screaming stopped, and then a moment later red sparks shot into the sky again. She straightened immediately as Snape and McGonagall went into the maze, using some sort of charm to part the walls of foliage. A few moments later, they were levitating an unconscious Viktor Krum out of the maze.
Her entire body sagged in relief as they brought Krum to the place that Fleur had been occupying moments ago. She'd moved over to allow them to work on Krum.
"Alright, Miss Potter," Pomfrey said. "Let's try this again. What do you see?"
She performed the charm on his pulse, surprised to see that he appeared remarkably steady, and outlined his injuries in great detail. Nothing more severe than what Fleur had undergone, though he had the addition of several burns that she decided she didn't want to think about. There was no way Hagrid could have fit a dragon in there, and that was all she needed to know.
When she attempted the Stress-Relief Charm, nothing had happened, so Pomfrey performed it for her before waking the Bulgarian Seeker. He awakened much more calmly than Fleur had, his eyes fluttering open slowly. He appeared groggy at first, and Nessa's brow furrowed at the sight of his eyes. They were the same dark brown as she recalled, but there was something…off about them. Something hollow and unseeing even though he could clearly see because his gaze fixed directly on her face.
"My vand?" he said, sounding normal as well.
Pomfrey handed it to him before turning to grab burn paste from the table behind her that they'd stocked with every possible cure they could think of without knowing what was in the maze. Or at least, Nessa didn't know what was in the maze. She assumed that Pomfrey did because it seemed negligent not to advise the matron of what she would be healing in terms of injury.
The moment Pomfrey's back had turned, Nessa was looking at the business end of Krum's wand. He said nothing, but there was a flash of white light and she went flying backward, backflipping over herself before she landed painfully on the ground. There were cries of outrage from the stands, but none louder than Tori's "What the hell?" or the twins' infuriated, "You smarmy bastard!"
Nessa's breath had been knocked out of her completely, and she coughed when she took a breath in, tightening her hold on her wand as she forced herself to sit up. She raised her wand to fire something back, expecting him to be coming for her again except he was…he was trying to get back inside the maze.
What the hell was happening?
She didn't need to do anything as Dumbledore had pointed his wand at the Bulgarian and he went crumpling to the ground again. Nessa pulled herself to a stand, ignoring the throbbing in her body, and stumbled over.
"That was entirely uncalled for!" McGonagall was shouting at Karkaroff as if it were his fault that his student had lost his mind. Though, to be fair, he was smirking widely, which seemed inappropriate for the situation. Upon seeing her approach, McGonagall said, "Miss Potter, are you alright?"
Nessa waved her off.
"Fine," she said, still sounding a bit winded. She looked at Dumbledore. "His eyes."
The teachers around them fell silent as Dumbledore leaned over and peeled the lids back from Krum's eyes. Nessa nearly screamed. His eyes were…there was too much focus to them now, and they were…whirring in his head as if his mind were moving a mile a minute and he was trying to keep up.
"He's been Imperiused."
McGonagall gaped at him.
"Dumbledore, are you quite sure?" she said.
"Very," he said grimly. "A very good catch, Miss Potter. Not many would have recognized the signs."
She'd have felt better about that if she wasn't now trying to figure out who in the hell had used an Imperius Curse on one of the champions.
"He'll need to remain asleep until we can figure out who cast it," Dumbledore advised Madam Pomfrey, who was looking quite pale. "They'll need to lift the charm in order to release him unless he manages to fight it off."
Nessa wanted to be sick.
"We'll conduct a full investigation when this is over," Fudge promised, though no one had asked. "My word, the Imperius Curse? Surely, the champions are aware that that is illegal —"
Nessa tuned him out, looking over to the stands where there was a commotion. Tori and the twins were snarling in Snape's face, attempting to get down to the pitch. She rushed over.
"Listen here, you greased wingbat," Tori was snarling. "I don't care about the stupid tournament. He just sent her flying across the —"
"I assure you, Miss Potter is perfectly fine or she wouldn't be standing," Snape purred, his eyes flashing. "You are as insolent and dangerous as your father —"
"At least my father never killed anyone," she snapped back. "Have you?"
For a moment, Nessa thought Snape might actually hex her, but she was there a moment later, pulling him away from her.
"Go help Dumbledore," she said firmly. "Someone used the Imperious Curse on Krum —"
"What?" the twins and Tori exclaimed. Snape gave her a long look as if he thought she might be joking, but he was gone in the very next moment.
"Who would do that?" Mrs. Weasley said fretfully, having overheard her. She'd been too focused berating the twins for being rude to their professor to hear what Tori had said near the end, for which Nessa was entirely grateful. It would be a work of a lifetime to explain that comment about Sirius away.
"They don't know," Nessa said, waving at them to sit back down. "Really, sit down, I'm fine. I don't even feel it anymore —"
"But you did before?" George said, standing up angrily. "I'll kill him —"
She gave him a quelling look, and grabbed the hand he'd set on the railing in front of him when he'd pushed to a stand.
"He didn't know what he was doing," she said gently. "He'll be fine once we can figure out who cursed him, but he's staying asleep for now." When he glared at Krum's unconscious body on the sidelines, she said, "Really, George, I'm fine. Sit down. The task is almost over anyway and I've still got to help Pomfrey."
He gritted his teeth, but nodded once and took his seat again, though his gaze did not leave Krum. If this was his reaction to someone attacking her when they had no control of themselves, she was not excited to tell him about what had happened with Cedric later. But after what had happened the last time Cedric had done something romantic and she'd hidden it from him, she had no desire to do that again.
Once had been enough. Though she seriously hoped that Cedric was prepared with a hex or two just in case.
"Did they say what they planned on doing when they found out who cast it?" Bill asked.
"Fudge said there would be a full investigation, but he didn't say what would happen beyond that —"
"Well, everyone in the tournament is of age other than Harry," Hermione said promptly. "So if it was one of them then I imagine they'd get the normal punishment —"
"Azkaban, you mean," Ron said with an eye roll. "You can just say it —"
Hermione ignored him.
"Harry definitely wouldn't use something like that. But I can't imagine any of the other champions using it either."
Neither could Nessa if she were being totally honest. She joined Madame Pomfrey again after promising to meet them once everything was over, hopefully with more answers than she currently had, but the question plagued her anyway.
Who would have cast a charm like that? It couldn't have been Krum himself, for obvious reasons, but she had no idea why anyone would have cursed him to begin with. Fleur had never struck her as the type either. Now that she was considering it though…had that been the reason that Krum had attacked Fleur? Someone had told him to?
But why? What was the purpose of that?
That left Cedric, who was still left in the maze with her brother. That didn't bode well at all, but she couldn't imagine that he'd do something like that. Sure, he'd not been very keen on listening to her about her feelings for him, and while she found that particularly annoying, she didn't think that that would translate to using an illegal curse in order to win a tournament. Clearly, he had boundary issues, but he wasn't crazy or malicious.
As the sky continued to darken, the grounds were lit with floating jars of fairies. So many, that there was no place on the pitch in shadow. The next hour dragged on for what felt like an eternity, and her anxiety grew the longer they waited.
Was it supposed to take this long? Fleur and Krum had come out within twenty minutes of each other, and of course she didn't know where they'd been within the maze or how far they'd been from the center, but this felt like too long. The maze couldn't be that big, could it? Even the teachers were getting antsy and she didn't like that.
She'd seen McGonagall, Snape, Dumbledore, and Moody whispering to each other grimly several times, but she assumed if something were truly wrong that Moody would have seen it with his eye and alerted the teachers by now.
Maybe it was her anxiety. Maybe it was her deep distrust of Moody, but she walked over to Snape after the third time they'd dispersed and went back to patrolling their section of the maze. She hadn't spoken with him since she'd lost it on him in his office, but she didn't care what the hell he was or had been before. She'd consider it longer later, but at the moment, her only concern was for Harry. Her hurt feelings could be placed on the backburner for now, and she had no qualms playing on the Potion Master's fondness for her in order to figure out what the hell was going on.
"Miss Potter, if this is another attempt to attac —"
"What's wrong?" she said abruptly, cutting him off before he could attempt to start a battle of wits with her.
He paused, looking down his nose at her.
"I've no idea what you mean," he said.
"Don't do that," she said, pointing at him angrily. "Don't you do that. I can see you all whispering to each other. What's the problem? Is Harry in danger?"
"Miss Potter —"
"It isn't supposed to be taking this long, is it?" she said anxiously. When he opened his mouth, likely to brush her off again, she grabbed his arm and dug her nails in. "He's all I have, Professor."
There was a long silence between them, but his expression didn't change at all, so she wasn't sure if he was going to answer her or not. He pulled his arm from her, rubbing at his forearm as if it were itching him. She tracked the movement, her brows furrowing, but he spoke before she could ask him about it.
"It shouldn't be taking this long," he said finally, and her heart stopped in her chest. "But Moody has assured us that they are merely stuck within the maze. Hagrid's Blast Ended-Skrewts are quite difficult to pass —"
Whatever relief she'd been feeling had been short-lived. Because in the very next moment, there was a loud THUD and a groan from behind her, and she whirled around. The crowd erupted in screams at the sight of the Hogwarts champions appearing before them, but Nessa could tell immediately that something was wrong.
She and Snape were moving in a heartbeat.
Her brother, sobbing in a way that she'd never heard before, was clutching Cedric and the Triwizard Cup in his hands. He reacted violently when Snape tried to pull him away, and she shared a concerned look with her Potions professor.
"Harry?" she said gently, crouching down to speak with him.
She saw it then, what had upset him so.
She'd thought that Cedric had merely been unconscious — both Fleur and Krum had been, so it felt like a logical supposition. But when she knelt before her brother, her eyes caught on something glassy above him, and her breath left her in a rush. She fell to her knees, a scream leaving her before she could stop it.
Because Cedric Diggory was not unconscious. His chocolate-brown eyes were wide open and unseeing, attached to a spot above her that she couldn't see.
Cedric Diggory was dead.
Okay, listen. Listen, listen, listen. I'm very sorry. Was this the plan with Cedric the whole time? Yes. I almost stopped the trajectory a lot of times, but I think I might be trying to hurt myself. I wanted to cry while writing that entire scene in the library. Do I feel badly about this? Also yes. But here's the situation as it is in my head. I think I've said this before, but Vanessa and Cedric have become my Lily/Snape parallel. It didn't necessarily start out that way, but it's how it ended up.
They're friends, they're close friends, and then that sort of starts to fall apart, they start to grow apart, and now he's…dead. I don't think Lily and Snape ever had mutual feelings for each other (at least not based on JKRs telling of things, and I don't remember that he ever told her he loved her? But we're going that route with Cedric and Nessa). We saw the impact loving Lily from afar had on Snape after she died (I still hate him though) and now we'll see the reverse. What it might be like to know someone loved you in a way that you couldn't return, and then have them die. Which is how I sort of imagined it would happen between Lily and Snape if he'd had the guts to tell her how he felt. But maybe that's just because I'm a huge James/Lily stan. I love James Potter almost as much as I love the Weasley twins.
Clearly, I have a type.
Anyhow, FORGIVE ME. I'm very sorry. The next book is a real turning point for Nessa, and it needs to be, but we're just…we're a little sad right now.
Hang in there for the next few bits. We're almost to the end of GoF. I think we've got maybe 3-4 chapters after this.