𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒔 - pjo x hp

xlix. death warrants

"And now, Fleur!" Bagman blew his whistle once again.

Raya cheered Fleur on, silencing as she disappeared as well.

The crowd waited, some kids starting up random chants in hopes the Champions could hear them. In all honesty, Raya couldn't see any sound leaking through the walls of the maze. 

The teachers patrolled the edge of the maze, watching for anyone sending up red sparks. 

Kayse, Elias, Emmet, and Nathaniel began game of Exploding Snap, hiding whenever a teacher looked in their direction. 

"You sure you don't want to play?" Nathaniel asked. "We can do girls against boys."

"It'll be girl against boys," Raya said, peering up at the maze. 

"Oh, right," he muttered. "How about—"

"You guys play," she insisted. "I wanna watch the task."

"It's literally just a hedge maze, but okay," Nathaniel shrugged to himself.

At that moment, a stream of red spark were sent up from one of the corners of the maze. The students moved to the edge of their seats, trying to see what had happened. 

Moody — who was on guard at that point — waved his wand and stepped through the maze. Raya held her breath, nearly collapsing with relief as he returned with Fleur.

Cedric was still in.

Fleur didn't look very hurt. Maybe she was stunned? Raya couldn't be sure because Madam Pomfrey whisked her away to the Hospital Tent.

"I stand corrected," Nathaniel muttered, whistling before going back to his game.

Raya turned her attention back to the hedge maze, jumping whenever the Exploding Snap cards... exploded. The weird feeling in her bones hadn't settled, not even when another series of red sparks appeared.

Professor McGonagall brought Viktor Krum out of the maze. He was looking a little pale, but Madam Pomfrey whisked him away as well.

Cheers erupted from the students as they realized Harry and Cedric were the only two left. No matter who won, the Champion would be from Hogwarts.

The students paid attention now, waiting for something — anything to happen. Red sparks which would disqualify a contestant, or something else that would announce the winner. 

Minutes turned to nearly an hour, but nothing happened.

Professor McGonagall whispered something to Moody, which Raya had to amplify to hear.

"Where are Potter and Diggory?" she asked him. "Can you see them?"

Moody's mechanical eye — which was already trained on the maze — seemed to lock in on a position. "Oh yeah. They're both getting close. This can go either way."

That sentence caused alarm bells to ring in Raya's head. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to think of what the hell could be taking them so long.

Slowly, Moody's eyes swiveled towards Raya. He stared at her bright grey eyes, but unlike all the other times, it felt sinister now. Like he was finally going to be winning a generations old argument.

Raya turned towards the maze, trying to forget about Moody and his oddly triumphant look.

A whoosh sounded, and in front of the maze entrance appeared a tangled up figure and a glowing blue cup.

Raya — along with half the others in the stands — stood up to see what was going on.

It took her a minute to realize the tangled up figure was actually Harry and Cedric. One of Harry's arms clutched Cedric, while the other hand held onto the cup.