Chap 9: The Third Task

"Stop writing! The examination is over!" The examiner said.

Cho just completed her final O.W.L examination and was satisfied with how she had done, convinced that she had done well. However, her mind quickly became set on something else. Harry.

She ran out of the classroom to search for him. McGonagall had told Harry that his family was here to see him which left everyone puzzled. The only family Harry truly had left was the Dursleys, and from what Harry had said about them, Cho had grown to despise them as much as Harry did. Knowing this, the possibility of them being here was negligible, meaning someone else came in their place, who it was, Cho had no idea.

"Cho!" someone behind her called. Turning, she saw Harry with a middle-aged woman with a younger man walking beside him, judging by their red hair, Cho quickly realised who they were. She ran towards them and embraced Harry tightly, before greeting the Weasleys

"Hi, I'm Cho, I would assume you are Mrs Weasley?" Cho greeted politely.

"Yes, pleasure to meet you," Mrs Weasely almost coldly, staring at Cho, taking her aback.

"Urm… And you are?" Cho awkwardly directed her attention to Bill.

"Bill Weasley, I'm Ron's older brother, pleasure to meet you," Bill said warmly, reaching out to shake Cho's hand.

"Mrs Weasley, have you been reading what Skeeter has been saying?" Harry questioned, observing Mrs Weasley's cold attitude towards Cho.

"What! No," Mrs Weasley said unconvincingly.

"Just for the record, Skeeter was the one who attacked us and nothing that she said is true," Harry said, to which Mrs Weasley nodded awkwardly, though her cold demeanour disappeared.

"Sorry about my Mum, she's just slightly protective of Harry," Bill whispered to Cho, making her laugh.

Cho joined Harry for the walk throughout the afternoon, with the rest of the Weasleys eventually joining. However, as the day flew by, the Final Task drew closer and eventually, they were in the Great Hall for the evening feast.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch pitch for the third and last task of the Triwizard Tournament, will the Champions please follow Mr Bagman down to the stadium now," Dumbledore announced at the end of the feast.

Harry reluctantly got up from his seat and after bidding goodbye to Hermione and the Weasleys, turned to Cho.

"Good luck Zhu, you got this," Cho said, before planting a firm kiss on his lips.

Soon, the announcement was given for the students to head down to the Quidditch pitch and Cho nervously settled into the front row together with Hermione and the Weasley's. The stadium was bustling with excitement for the final task, Cho however, was terrified out of her mind. This was the first task she would watch Harry in after becoming this close to him. She was truly terrified.

After greeting the audience, Mr Bagman faced the first 2 to enter the maze, Harry and Cedric. Counting down from 3, he blew the whistle and the task had started.

Using magical visualisers, the crowd was able to watch the entire event from the stadium. Cho watched nervously as Harry made his way through the maze, making his way past the Boggart which terrifyingly turned into a Dementor.

"I can clarify that we did not place a Dementor into the maze, it's a Boggart-" Bagman clarified. However, he was distracted by the crowd's wowing as Harry produced a beautiful Corporeal Patronus which fought the 'Dementor'.

"Impressive Patronus Charm from Mr Potter! However, that isn't the spell he needs, he needs- ah yes there you go, the Riddikulus charm, fantastic job by Mr Potter," Bagman said as Harry cast a successful Riddikulus charm, destroying the Boggart before continuing. Cho, proud of Harry, cheered loudly among the Hogwarts students.

After a short while, all hell broke loose as Fleur was attacked by Krum. However, something was odd about Krum, his mannerisms, it seemed abnormal, as if he was taken over by something. But Fleur was down and there was major commotion, with the Beauxbatons protesting while everyone, including the Durmstrang students watched on with horror.

However, Cho was once again distracted by Harry's movement in the maze as he drew closer to Fleur's location. Cho sat in fear as he approached Krum. Thankfully, Krum moved away before Harry reached.

At this point, the crowd was in complete chaos, with many calling for the task to be ended. The officials however, sat in tense discussions, unsure about how to proceed. Thankfully, Fleur was successfully recovered and she was being treated by the medics on site. To her relief, Bagman announced that Fleur was fine.

By now, Harry had successfully made it past another 2 obstacles, one a golden mist which even Cho was unsure about, and Blast-ended Skrewts which after several attempts to stun, Harry was finally able to stop by using an Impediment Jinx, allowing him to escape.

However, he ran into more trouble and the entire stadium erupted into a frenzy. Krum used an unforgivable curse on Cedric and the calls for everything to be stopped grew even louder. While Cho was worried for Cedric, she couldn't help but be terrified for Harry's sake, he was just about to reach them.

To her surprise, when Harry reached the scene, Krum simply turned and ran, allowing Harry to stun him. Something was really really off, Krum really looked like he was possessed by something, but thankfully, both Harry and Cedric were safe and they sent red sparks into the air for someone to retrieve Krum before setting off in their separate ways.

Cho watched on anxiously as Harry continued, trying to figure his way to the centre. Unfortunately, Harry soon ran into a Sphinx, the one thing she did not have confidence in Harry facing. Harry was smart, skilled and very talented yes, but the Sphinx, it doesn't test any of that, it tests their creativity and common sense, by using a riddle. Pass, you get past it, fail, it attacks. Cho sat in utter fear as she watched Harry struggle to get the riddle right, praying for him.

Please Zhu, get this right, she thought.

At this moment, the stadium erupted into cheers again as Harry successfully solved the riddle. Cho heaved a sigh of relief, Harry was near to the end, she knew it.

However, Cedric was in front of him, and the Triwizard cup was inching ever so closer to Cedric's hand. Out of nowhere, a large spider appeared, ready to attack. Harry, seeing this, began to send spells to the spider. After a long and terrifying fight, one that made Cho wince as Harry got injured, Harry managed to defeat the spider with the help of Cedric.

Surprisingly, none of them bolt straight towards the cup, they instead were in a long argument, one that they had no idea the contents of. Eventually, they seemingly found a common consensus, and both walked towards the cup, grabbing it together to everyone's surprise.

The maze's tall walls immediately fell and the crowd erupted into cheers. However, both champions did not return back to the start as intended, both were missing, vanished. The crowd's cheers soon quieted and everyone sat back into their seats, no idea what was going on. Cho glanced at the officials who were once again in heated discussions, with worry and confusion plastered all over their faces. One thing is for certain, something was really not right.