LIKE LIGHTNING | Harry Potter x Reader Fanfiction

⁕ the third task ⁕

"So...on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" yelled Bagman, "Three...two...one!" He gave a short whistle and Cedric and I were off. 

The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and whether because they were so tall and thick, the sound of the surrounding crows was silenced almost immediately. I pulled out my wand and muttered, "Lumos." Cedric did the same a few steps behind me. 

"See you.." I said before taking the left fork in the path in front of us. He nodded and took the right. I heard Bagman's whistle go off a second time and I sped up, determined not to let Krum catch up. I hurried with my wand pointed straight above my head. Still, there was nothing in sight. The whistle went off a third time; we were all in the maze. The maze was growing darker and darker by the minute and I reached a second fork. 

"Point me" I whispered to my wand and it spun around once and pointed to my right. I had to take the left fork and go right as soon as possible to go north. The path ahead was too empty and when I reached a right turn I was unblocked. I felt as if the lack of obstacles was too easy. Some sense of false security. Just then I heard movements behind me and I held out my wand, ready to attack. It was just Cedric who looked shaken up. The sleeve of his robes smoking. 

"Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts! They're enormous- I just only got away!" he hissed. 

Shaking his head he dived out of sight to another path. I did not want to get in the same situation as him and was determined to put a lot of distance between myself and the skrewts. I turned the corner just before finding a dementor silently gliding towards me. Twelve feet tall, its face was hidden by its hood. I could hear its rattling breath and I felt a clammy coldness stealing over me. I summoned the happiest through I could and raised my wand, crying, "Expecto Patrunum!"

The silver stag erupted from the end of my wand and galloped towards the dementor only to have it fall back and trip over the hem of its robes. 

"Hang on! You're a boggart! Riddikulus!" I shouted. 

There was a loud crack and the shape-shifter exploded into a wisp of smoke. I moved on quickly, listening hard. Left...right...left again... right again. I reached a dead-end before hearing a scream shatter the quiet air. 

"Fleur?" I yelled. There was only silence. I paused at the junction of two paths and looked around for some sign of Fleur. I was sure it had been her who screamed. What had she met? Was she alright? I looked up to the dark blue sky and saw no sparks. But, she could have been too far out of reach to grab her wand... 

One champion down... I thought. 

The Cup was somewhere nearby and it sounded as if Fleur was no longer in the running. I had gotten so far... it almost didn't seem real. What if I actually managed to win? I met nothing for another solid 10 minutes and kept running into dead ends. Finally, I found a route and started jogging along with it. Then I rounded another corner and found myself facing a Blast-Ended Skrewt. I cursed to myself; it was the one creature I was hoping not to run into. And Cedric was right- it was enormous. There was a long skewer on its back and thick armor ran up and down its body. I pointed my wand and yelled, "Stupefy!" 

The spell hit its body and rebounded, I ducked just in time but could smell burning hair; it had singed the top of my head. I yelled "Impedimenta!" just as it blasted a plume of fire towards me. It was only inches from me when it froze. Panting, I pushed myself away from it and ran. Hard. 

I took a left path and hit a dead end, a right, and hit another; forcing myself to stop I performed the Four-Point Spell again and backtracked. I had been hurrying along the path for about 5 minutes when I heard something in the path running parallel to my own.