𝘼𝙧𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙚? - 𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙒𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙮

28. The Final Task

𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧
𝙎𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙙𝙖𝙯𝙚 - 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙙

"All right, Harry, look at me," Sophia said while holding the bespectacled boy by the shoulders who was growing paler as each minute passed by. Harry tried his best to keep his attention on the older girl in front of him instead of the nerves that were twisting into a knot in his stomach.
"You will be all right! You've been practicing spells for a while now and you're better than everyone in Defence Against the Dark Arts. You will do good, okay?" Sophia said while looking at him, "Give me a nod."

Harry licked his lips, his eyes darting from the crowd to Sophia as he vigorously nodded his head.
"Good," she said softly, taking him in an embrace before he went off to be wished luck by his friends. Sophia waited while the crowd around her dispersed, she wanted to watch the Third and final task of Triwizard Tournament with her but Montague had asked her to join him. And she had no choice but to oblige since they were going to be leaving for summer vacations sometime soon.

Sophia's eyes darted around the crowd, searching for her Hufflepuff friend. She hadn't seen Cedric all day and she wanted to wish him luck before he went into the maze. She craned her neck, snaking past people once she spotted the tall, brown-haired, boy and rushed towards him.

"CEDRIC!" she called out loudly, catching Cedric's attention almost at once as he turned to spot her, making her way through with difficulty. He watched her amusedly as she took a great breath and wiped at her once she managed to get out of of the crowd.
"Are you all set?" she asked, voice turning soft with concern as she turned towards him. Cedric nodded with a smile.
"Just be careful, Ced," Sophia said softly in his shoulder after pulling him in an embrace. She felt Cedric bury his head in her hair, she could feel the smile on his lips as she slightly pulled away to look at him.
"Don't worry," Cedric said reassuringly, pinching the bridge of her nose before setting off to join the other champions near the maze while Sophia walked towards the seats.

The Quidditch pitch looked unrecognisable. For some reason, Sophia wanted to be closer to her friends, her nerves were on edge but she tried to remain calm as she sat down next to Montague. But she knew that she'd feel much more comfortable if she was around familiar people, people closer to her or maybe she just wanted to be around Fred for the time being. His presence, somehow, comforted her despite the things he sometimes did that really ticked her off.

She watched as the champions entered though the maze, her hands clasped on her thighs as she craned her neck every now and then. Montague kept on looking at his watch.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked once he noticed her nervous demeanour.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just some nerves," Sophia said with a small smile, shaking her head slightly.
"Are you sure, Soph?" Montague asked, turning to her and reaching out to hold her hand.
"Yes, don't worry," she said, eager to get his attention away from her.

When Montague turned back to talk to Adrian Pucey, Sophia's eyes searched for her friends. Fortunately for her, Fred caught her eye and it was almost like he could read her like an open book and passed her a knowing look. Before their silent conversation could go on any further, a spark of red shot through the air that made Sophia jump to her feet immediately. Everyone looked around for who it was going to be and Fleur emerged from the maze looking very disheveled.

Sophia's her was thumping in her chest, it was starting to discomfort her as she tried to sit back down and waited for the remaining time to pass. Her eyes kept on darting back to where Fred was sitting.