The Anti-Heroine || A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter LXXIV

CHAPTER LXXIV:

Hermione's POV:

There was a heavy, sick sort of anticipation in Hermione's stomach as she watched Harry disappear into the Maze.

"Honestly," Blaise muttered next to her, "this Tournament's turned out to be a terrible spectator event— the only Task we actually got to see was the first one, with the dragons. The Second Task was underwater and now this one's in a bloody maze too tall for us to actually see anything interesting."

"Perhaps I should have worn my Spectrespecs," Luna said thoughtfully, from where she was curled up on the other side of Blaise. She was wearing his green-and-silver scarf and he'd wrapped one of his arms wrapped around her. "They let you see through solid objects, you know— mummy created them. She let me choose the colours."

"I don't know," Longbottom said, the Gryffindor no longer hesitating so much to speak up and disagree anymore. "I found actually watching the Champions in danger much more stressful."

"I'll just be glad when it's over," Daphne said with a sigh. "Though I'll miss Viktor."

"And I'll miss Yosef," Tracey said glumly.

"I thought Sashko said your parents had arranged a betrothal," Theo said and Tracey sighed mournfully.

"They did, but Yosef's parents are traditionalists. From now until we're married, when we're together we'll have to be chaperoned."

Hermione snorted softly at that. "I'm so glad I'm not a pureblood," she said, unable to imagine not being allowed to be alone with Harry or Tom. Or not having sex with them, another big pureblood no-no.

The light banter between them carried on for a while and Hermione was acutely aware that her friends were trying to take her mind off the Task, but she appreciated it all the same. The tension in her stomach didn't abate, however, and she was so fixated on the Maze that she was one of the first to spot the sudden shower of red sparks.

Instantly, her heart started to speed up, her breath catching in her throat. "Fuck," cursed Blaise, the second out of their group to spot it. Around them, Hermione could hear the explosion of chatter as people started loudly debating what could have happened. For the next few minutes, she waited with baited breath, hoping that one of the Champions had just found themselves in over their head and had called for help. That hope shrivelled up and died a miserable death when a bear patronus bounded out of the Maze, a brilliant burst of silvery-blue light that caught everyone's attention as it made its way straight to the healer's tent that had been set up. Moments later, a cat patronus followed, streaking through the air towards the stand where all the staff were seated.

There was an explosion of noise in the stands, everyone speaking over each other as they stood up on their chairs, craning their heads to get a look at what was happening. Mitkov, Maxime and Sprout were descending down the stairs of the Quidditch stands to the ground, while Dumbledore twisted on the spot, apparating out of view. The other professors started to stand up too, making their way through the stands and stopping the spectators from trying to leave their seats.

Hermione felt like her whole body was humming with nerves— and then her blood turned to ice in her veins as Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin, McGonagall and Moody all exited the Maze together, two stretchers hovering between them as they made their way straight to the healer's tent where Madam Pomfrey was waiting to usher them in and out of sight, a grim look on her face.

There was no excitement in the air now, only a tense anxiety and terrible sense of anticipation amongst the students, parents and guests alike. Hermione felt like she was going to be sick and she abruptly turned to face Blaise beside her. "I need you to cast a disillusionment charm on me in a moment," she murmured and his eyebrows rose but he nodded.