Smile - Cedric Diggory

Twenty-One

(Cedric's P.O.V.)

(In The Maze)

"Cedric! On your left!" Harry bellowed behind him.

Quickly, he glanced to the left and saw, to his horror, a giant spider. He threw himself past it, but suddenly his foot was slipping, and his back collided painfully with the ground. His wand flew out of his hand, and he tried to scramble for it but the blasted thing was too far away.

"Stupify! Impedimenta! Stupify!" Nothing Harry was doing was working, but it gave Cedric a chance to grab his wand and jump to his feet.

He watched in horror as the spider lifted Harry into the air and shouted desperately, "Stupify!" But it didn't do anything.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry hollered.

The spider dropped him, and Cedric winced and how painful it looked. Together they yelled, "Stupify!"

Finally the spell worked, and the spider keeled over dramatically, filling the pathway with its disgustingly hairy legs.

"Harry! You alright? Did it fall on you?"

"No." He heard the boys weak answer and glanced back at the cup for a moment, wondering if he should just get it over with. But Iris would never approve of that.

"Take it then. Go on, take it. You're there." Harry urged him.

"You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck in here." He replied, not looking at the cup.

"That's not how it's supposed to work. The one who reaches the cup first gets the points. That's you. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on this leg."

"No." Iris would never have done it.

"Stop being noble. Just take it, then we can get out of here."

"You told me about the dragons. I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming."

"I had help on that too." Cedric wondered briefly what kind of help the Boy Who Lived was getting. "You helped me with the egg - we're square."

"I had help on the egg in the first place."

"We're still square."

"You should've got more points on the second task. You stayed behind to get all the hostages. I should've done that." But I was only thinking of Iris.

"I was the only one who was thick enough to take that song seriously! Just take the cup!" Harry yelled.

"No." He couldn't.

He turned and started walking away from it all. His classmates would be severely disappointed in him, but he couldn't take it.

"Go on."

There was a long moment of silence as Harry contemplated what he should do.

"Both of us."

"What?"

"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it."

"You - you sure?"

"Yeah. Yeah. . .we've helped each other out, haven't we? We both got here. Let's just take it together."

"You're on. Come here." He helped the other boy limp towards the shining cup.

They both reached out a hand and glanced at each other hesitantly.

"On three, right?" Harry muttered. "One. . .two. . .three-"

They both grasped a handle together and Cedric felt something odd. They were suddenly traveling very quickly by Portkey.

(Iris' P.O.V.)

A churning feeling unsettled her stomach, and she hoped that she didn't puke all over the people in front of her. The moment Cedric stepped into the maze she wanted him to walk right back out.

A hush settled over the audience as they watched and waited.

Fleur Delacour's unconscious body was pulled from the maze and Iris felt herself choking on air with worry over her best friend.

If he survived walked out of that maze she swore she would kiss him right there, damn the consequences.

She spotted Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger sitting a little ways away, looking equally worried for their best friend.

Her eyes came to rest on the glow of the Triwizard Cup and she reminded herself to breathe deeply and not panic.

All of the stress of this year had led up to this moment, and now she regretted not grabbing his face and pulling him down to her height so she could kiss him before he stepped into the maze. What would she do if there wasn't another chance to do that?

Red sparks shot up somewhere in the maze and the teachers hurried towards it. She watched with bated breath to see who it was.

Viktor Krum was mumbling something and his eyes were glazed over unnaturally. Dumbledore cast a spell over him and he relaxed, falling into unconsciousness.  They summoned a stretcher and he was escorted up to the castle to be cared for by Madam Pomfrey.

What was going on in the maze that left the Champions like that?

Only Cedric and Harry were left, and Hogwarts was excited to win, but the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors were now glaring at each other menacingly. 

Minutes later the Triwizard Cup glowed so bright she had to look away, and then it was gone. There was no light.

The stands went into a panic, and Dumbledore quickly calmed them. "It's alright, this is supposed to happen."

Iris watched him though, and saw his worry. He was lying. Something was very, very wrong, and no one knew what. Not even Dumbledore.

Was Cedric safe?