Break Me || Harry Potter

Chapter 45- Thrown Back into Darkness

Since the second task, things were still pretty much the same. I still hung out with Hermione most of the time, and occasionally Ron, but otherwise spent the time with Mina, Hayley and Brooklyn, and I even spent an afternoon chilling with Draco. Harry and I were still talking with hard words and rocks in our chests, but I was done caring. He has to really make it up for me to be friends again.

Classes were stressful, homework was a butt, and pretty much everything was mediocre until the upcoming finals. Spring Break was a scramble between studying and going to Hogsmead, and after that, testing was upon us. I was pretty sure I aced out DADA test, I was good at that, but 99.9% sure I failed Divination and History of Magic. I had the most fun at my Care of Magical Creatures test, which was identifying traces of certain animals and trying to tame a full-grown Skrewt with anger issues. Aced that. Transfiguration and Potions were okay, and all of my others were ish.

Finally after our tests were over, the school got ready for the last Triwizard Tournament Task. I had spoken briefly to Ron about it, who had told me that Harry was going to face a maze. He didn't say anything else.

The day of the task, I was more nervous than I thought I was. Something was off. I had a rock in my stomach that wasn't the usual one from my broken friendship with Harry. Something bad was going to happen.

I had promised to meet Mina at the bottom of the Gryffindor staircase and walk down to the quidditch pitch with her, so I grabbed a lightweight leather jacket and threw it over my Gryffindor shirt that I was wearing. I tucked my wand behind my ear and stuffed my combat boots on, then bounded down the stairs to not be late. I finally spotted Mina standing by the entrance to the courtyard.

"Hey, sorry, I didn't know what to wear," I panted, running up to her. Mina smiled, and waved a hand.

"No worries, but we should get down there, I told Brooklyn and Hayley we would meet up with them once we got down there." She said, walking next to me as we started down the hill. We made small talk about the task, and she told me about her art after she got me to confess my love for music. Once we got to the pitch, our jaws dropped. The back half of the pitch had been opened up to reveal a huge maze twisting and winding through the canyon of the area; the end was invisible. Mina and I quickly met up with Brooklyn and Hayley, who were wearing blue and gold for Fleur. Mina had told me they wanted to support Fleur, since she was the only girl and the Ravenclaws had been hanging out with the Beauxbatons the most. I felt slightly awkward in my Gryffindor shirt, which had POTTER 7 painted across the back, but I swallowed my awkwardness and decided to put my quarrels behind me and cheer for Harry.

"Students! It is the final task! Our champions are ready to face the dangers lurking in the walls of the maze. On the sound of the cannon, Cedric and Harry will enter the maze first, then Viktor and then Fleur. The best of luck to all!" Dumbledore announced, waving his weathered hands in the air subtlety. He sat calmly near the entrance of the maze, and the champions stood facing four separate entrances behind him. I took notice of Harry's worried gaze, and his fidgety stance. He was terrified. I was about to look way when we made eye contact. Come back alive, Harry, I mouthed softly, wondering if he knew what I meant. His eyes were full of fear, but for some reason they seemed to gain a tiny bit of confidence.

The sound of the cannon broke our eye contact, notifying Harry of the official start of the task. Twenty seconds later, Cedric and Harry had disappeared into the maze. A minute after that, Fleur and Krum were gone as well.

"And now we wait. Again." I mumbled, sitting down on the wooden bleachers. "These are really hard things to spectate, don't you think?" I asked Mina, who nodded.

"Yeah, we just have to wait to see who gets back first. And we can't even watch," she replied, waving at hand at the maze. Small flashes appeared here and there, and after about an hour, Fleur was rescued. It seemed she was overpowered by something in the maze and sent up red sparks to disqualify herself. She was now gossiping with the other Beauxbaton girls.

2 hours and 46 minutes. Still no sign of anybody. I wanted to look down at my necklace, but my neck was empty. I wondered where it was. Looking back up with my lips pursed, I started to say something to Mina, but my mind was spinning. The pitch started to morph in strange ways. My eyesight was deceiving me. This isn't real, I tried to tell myself. I watched the sight of the pitch morph and blend together in front of me. My head started to hurt, a stinging pain that started small but grew to a pounding inside of my skull.

I was about to cry out when it stopped, and I forgot about everything. Forgot about the tournament, forgot about my friend trapped in the maze. Just one thing stood out in my mind.

Get away from the stands. Wander. Run off to a random place.

I quickly told Mina I was going to grab something, then made my way through the stands and out the side of the pitch. My leather jack concealed me against the dark, and it wasn't until I was hundreds of feet from the pitch until I realized what I was doing.

"Damnit Saige," I muttered to myself, trying to figure out what way I had come. My mind was so blind to my surroundings that I had gotten myself lost. I quickly pulled out my wand and did a quick compass spell, waiting until the tip of my wand pointed north, then headed in the direction I knew the pitch was. It wasn't until I heard the cracking of twigs behind me did I register my danger.

"Well, you must be the famous Saige Walker!" a steely voice said calmly.

I spun around, my wand pointed forwards and took in the young man standing before me. My heart froze as he shed his hood. Grenville. The man from my dreams. My blood turned to ice. This isn't happening. Not again.

"What do you want?" I said, the venom in my words scaring even myself. My mind went into defense mode and started to calculate the ways I could get to safety.

"Oh, Miss Walker. I want to play a little game. The game is called you come with me or I kill your friends," he taunted, and my body stiffened. Threats. All threats.

"Why." I spat, tightening my grip on my wand. The man, Grenville, smiled evilly, the scar on his face twisting horribly.

"Because you are part of the plan. Because the Dark Lord needs you." He said, his voice confident and venomous. I tried to hide my fear. This wasn't a task; there was no second chances. I could literally be killed, or get my friends killed.

"What plan? Voldemort? Isn't the old goon dead?" I said desperately, trying to back up the hill. I hoped to be able to get into seeing distance from the pitch, but I was too far away.

Grenville laughed, a sickening sound. "Sorry, to disappoint you, but I can't tell you the plan. And the Dark lord is about to be very much alive." And with that, Grenville lunged. I immediately channeled my fear and anger into my wand, muttering a curse.

"Incendio," My wand erupted in flames. They formed a sphere around me, causing Grenville to stumble back. He growled at me as they whipped around me.

"So you want to make this difficult? Okay missy," he pulled his wand out and closed his eyes. Shadows from the growing night were sucked around him, twirling like jet black snacks, slithering around him. When he opened his eyes, they were bright white, and his face turned about 10 times creepier. I was lost.

"Want a taste of the darkness Walker?" Grenville taunted, throwing the shadowy snakes at me. I rolled to the right, letting my training from over the summer kick in. In my head, I cast a spell for sunlight, and my wand obeyed. Light poured from my wand in misty clouds, so I imagined them battling the darkness, and they did. I had no idea how I was accomplishing this level of magic.

Grenville hissed as his snake recoiled from my light. I basked in my small triump, but I already felt my energy failing. Using my wand for hard magic took the energy from my core, so by the time Grenville pulled back his snakes I was weakened and tired. My chest tightened with a sob I refused to let out as I realized I wouldn't make it out alive. I had enough sense to point my wand up as one last call for help.

"PERICULUM!" I screamed, my wand sending red sparks into the air. Grenville was laughing, stalking towards me with a confident swagger. I tried to balance myself, then held a weak arm out. I hadn't managed my energy very well.

"Foolish pleas. They will never come in time. You days are over. Say goodbye Saige Walker." Grenville taunted as he neared me. My arm trembled. I refused to cry however, I refused to go down without a fight.

So, as Grenville lifted his wand to cast the killing curse, I let my powers erupt one last time.