a rose by any other name

chapter fifteen ❃ the maze

February: 2 days.

It was the 12th of February. The final task of the Triwizard Tournament was today, I was not ready. I hadn't seen as much of Cedric as I would have liked to in the past month, it was understandable though he had to prepare for the maze. I felt sick to my stomach, I wasn't even thinking about my birthday, all I could think about was Cedric. We had spent a few nights together in the astronomy tower, or his dorm, but he always said I was too distracting when I told him to focus. I enjoyed being in his company even if his attention wasn't on me, but it usually was, and this was a problem at the moment.

I was walking through Hogwarts, heading towards where the final challenge was being hosted. Magically, a huge maze had appeared on the far ends of the grounds a week ago, everybody was buzzing with excitement and anxiety. I was about to walk out of the main doors when I was pulled into an empty classroom. "I'm sorry, I know this is unplanned, but I just had to see you before the challenge starts." Cedric quickly said, before crushing his lips into mine not giving me a chance to reply. This kiss was different to our others, our usual kisses were soft and gentle, sometimes slightly heated admittedly but this one was different. I could feel all Cedric's emotions pour out from his lips and into mine, it's like he was kissing me for the last time, he must have been as worried as I was, I'm sure my kiss back felt the same. We pulled away after a while and just stared at each other's eyes catching our breath. I was feeling so many different things, I became overwhelmed and tears blurred my vision. Cedric showed a pained expression and hugged me, holding me against him as tight as he could without crushing me. Neither of us had spoken. "I-I'm scared for you Cedric; I'm not doubting your ability of course but this sounds really dangerous." Cedric released me and held my hands in his, looking back into my eyes. "I promise I will win this, for you. I will make it out of there, for you Parisa you have my word. I won't leave you." His words pulled at my heartstrings for two reasons; He was doing all of this for me, but he was making promises he knew he couldn't be sure about, and I didn't want him to be too distracted while he was in there. I couldn't think about the second reason right now, about the last thing he'd said, I needed to be in this moment. "Oh Cedric, I-" I stopped myself, I knew what I wanted to say, what I needed to say, but I couldn't. Not when I was about to ruin this, about to ruin us, in no more than two days. I knew he felt the same way about me so I wasn't scared of rejection, I was just scared that telling him how I truly felt, telling him that I loved him, would cause him more pain in the long run. He smiled at me, I knew he understood, he always understood what I was thinking. To a certain extent of course, he couldn't read my mind and for that I was grateful. I saw his gaze wonder to my neck. "I knew it would look beautiful on you, look I have a ring that's the same, so we're always together." I looked at his hand, on it was a golden ring that looked like two angel wings wrapped around his finger, on the outside it had little yellow diamonds, and when he took it off, the inside was covered in little green emeralds. It was like my necklace but backwards, they both had a secret you could only see if you knew to look for it. It fit our situation perfectly. I smiled at him. "Oh Cedric, they're both so beautiful, I love the necklace so much honestly I can't thank you enough." Cedric didn't say anything he just kissed me again, it was gentler this time, but I could still sense his urgency through it. We kissed momentarily, until we heard The Hogwarts March begin to play, signalling that it was time for the tournament to begin. Cedric grabbed my shoulders gently, holding me in front of him and looking at me before kissing my forehead and turning towards the door, no goodbye. "Good Luck Cedric." I said and he turned to face me, "I'll see you afterwards I promise Parisa, no goodbyes." I smiled and nodded as he left. I waited a few minutes, so I knew he'd be far enough away as not to hear, and I let myself sob.

I had cried for a good five minutes before I pulled myself together and left the classroom, heading towards the maze, there were stands surrounding the entrance to it and students were already packed in. I found a seat on the end of a row, next to a random Ravenclaw and I noticed that the champions were already stood in front of the maze, Cedric with his father. Cedric was scanning the crowd, and when he saw me his eyes lit up and he smiled, I lightly smiled back until Dumbledore emerged and we both looked at him. "Earlier today Professor Moody placed the tri-wizards cup deep within the maze. Only he knows it's exact position. Now as Mr Diggory." The crowd of students cheered upon hearing his name and Amos grabbed Cedric's arm throwing it up in the air with his, Cedric blushed and shot his father a look, this made me smile. Dumbledore continued. "As Mr Diggory and Mr Potter tied for first position, they will be the first to enter the maze. Followed by Mr Krum and Miss Delacour. The first person to touch the cup will be the winner. If at any point should a contestant wish to withdraw from the task, they need only send up red sparks with their wands. Contestants, gather round!" They all huddled around Dumbledore as he spoke quietly, I couldn't hear what he was saying but I assumed it was a warning. I took this time to look at the maze. It looked terrifying, the forbidden forest had never scared me like it did everybody else, I loved nature. However, this maze was extremely tall and the darkest shade of green I had ever seen it was almost black. I was certain that if the moon hadn't had been shining by now it would have been pitch black in there. What was even more terrifying was the noises it made. It was like the walls were moving, the whole thing was deeply grumbling and every now and again the floor would shake lightly. The huddle broke away and Cedric hugged his father before standing at the entrance to the maze, with Potter beside him. "On the count of three...ONE..." Before Dumbledore could say two Filch let of the cannon and shrugged. I felt completely sick to my stomach as Cedric entered the maze, taking a part of me with him.

authors note: hello! sorry I am uploading so late I had college all day! It's almost the weekend so hopefully I should be able to post more than one chapter a day. Thank you all so much for reading and I really do hope that you're enjoying this story! Please vote it would mean so much, and as always, feel free to leave any comments!