Chosen || Draco Malfoy

11 - Into The Maze

"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."

At Dumbledore's words, Draco automatically glanced towards the Hufflepuff table, his eyes resting on the blonde girl who, for the first time in her life, looked green as she fiercely hugged her parents.

His stomach churned unpleasantly. It wasn't too late. He still had time to cross the hall and warn her not to go into the maze.

But, as he rose to his feet, a hand fell heavily upon his forearm, halting him.

Theo glared up at him, shaking his head warningly. "You'd better not be thinking about doing something stupid, Malfoy,"

Draco slowly lowered back down at his friend's dangerous tones, his heart thudding uneasily against his ribs. This wasn't right. Yes, he hated that bitch, but he didn't want this.

He watched as she walked from the hall behind the rest of the champions, the sounds of whistles and cheers following them in their wake.

******

My confidence had been all but left at the Hufflepuff table, and I felt sick as I walked down to the third task silently alongside the other champions.

Not even Chen's good luck kiss before the feast had managed to cheer me up.

"You alright?" Harry asked me, breaking the strained silence as he fell into step beside me.

"Not really, no," I found myself confessing. "I've been having... bad dreams."

"Oh, join the club!" Harry said jovially, swinging his arms gaily by his side. "At least your dreams haven't made you the laughingstock of the school."

"Huh?" I asked, not having any idea what he was talking about.

"Haven't you been reading the Daily Prophet?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "I've been all over it this year."

"Ew," I said, wrinkling my nose. "As if you'd ever catch me reading that pile of trash."

Clearly I wasn't wrong if they had nothing better to report about all year besides a fourteen year old boy's wet dreams.

"Rita Skeeter's obsessed with me," Harry shrugged nonchalantly. "She's that reporter that got me in a broom cupboard. Told everyone I cried like a baby. In her latest article she claimed I was 'disturbed and dangerous' simply because I passed out in class. I mean, you try having this scar and all these sodding visions! I only wish that someone else could step into my shoes and know what it's like to be me. The Boy Who Lived! Pah! Sometimes I wish I'd just died with my parents."

"Oh," I said, not knowing quite how to respond to that serious piece of mood.

Instead, I glanced up into the night and shivered as what appeared to be a shooting star zoomed across the sky, falling beyond the maze which had finally loomed into view.

"The darkness makes it look more threatening, doesn't it?" Harry said gravely, following my gaze towards where our final task lay.

I nodded, swallowing. I hated feeling this way, I was normally so confident, so at ease with everything. It was what made me so awesome.

But I didn't feel awesome in that moment.

A warm hand slipped into mine and I looked up at Harry in surprise as he gave my fingers a comforting squeeze.

"You'll be fine, Cecilia," he grinned, his green eyes shining brightly down at me, "you're brilliant at everything you do."

His gesture was so genuine, so full of kindness, that I found myself smiling warmly up at him, realising I was only seeing him properly for the first time.

Our hands remained entwined as we made our way to the entrance, and he didn't let go as we waited for the spectators to arrive and take their seats in the stands.

I tried to look for my parents, but the bright white spotlights aimed upon us blinded my vision. I gripped Harry's hand tighter, suddenly grateful he was here sharing the champion position with me.

As Ludo Bagman made the introductory announcement, Harry squeezed my hand one last time before letting go. It was a comforting thought that we would be entering the maze together.

When the whistle blew, we jogged side by side into the entrance, silence pressing against my ears the second we stepped within the hedges, the noise of the crowd with accompanying band music disappearing completely.

"Good luck," Harry murmured, a small nervous smile tugging at his lips.

"And you," I whispered, my heart now in the back of my throat.

And so there we parted.

He went right. I went left.

******

I didn't understand it.

This maze was piss easy.

All that worry over nothing. I suddenly felt really silly that I had allowed myself to get so worked up about it.

As I ran along the empty pathways, I wondered how my fellow champions were doing. I recalled Harry's earlier rant, about wishing how someone else could put themselves in his shoes.

I made a decision to be kinder to him when all this was over, maybe even ask if he wanted to hang out more, to try and understand him that little bit better.

I turned another corner, baffled as to where these so-called obstacles were supposed to be. I was not wearing my watch owing to it not going with my outfit. But I could be sure I had been running around for at least half an hour.

It was at that point I heard a scream. It sounded like Fleur, but all I could do was keep on running.

My heart started racing in my chest again. The scream had made me nervous and my wits were back up around me.

And then, as I rounded a corner, I saw something up ahead that actually made me gasp.

Something shiny, bright and beautiful.

The trophy.

Fuck yes! I did it! I knew I could, I knew I was better than the rest of those stupid idio-

And that was when I found myself being attacked by a bush of all things.

Thick branches curled tightly around my limbs and mouth; gagging me so that I couldn't speak. I frantically tried to flick my wand but my wrists were bound too tight and I hadn't practiced nonverbal magic enough to get it right.

Damn. I was trapped.

Thwarted at the final hurdle by a fucking hedge.

But then Harry's face appeared out of nowhere and he was yelling something, thrashing his wand down towards me.

"Th-thanks," I gasped after he'd freed me.

"Here," he panted, taking my hand and pulled me to my feet.

He kept hold of it as we both ran together towards the trophy, with Harry insisting we take it as one.

"Are you sure?" I asked, flabbergasted at his generosity. "You could have left me, you know."

But of course, I had forgotten about his hero complex.

"Together," he insisted, his lips curling into a smile that made his green eyes twinkle into mine. "A Hogwarts victory."

So, together, that is exactly what we did.

******