The Potion Princess

The Third Task

A/N: Okay so I know I offer pretty lame descriptions of the tasks, but considering the audience stared at a lake for the second task and a maze for the third, you're just going to have to suffer through a few paragraphs of boring.  Bear with me.

"You're going to be brilliant Harry."  Audra looks him in eye as she says it, like she's trying to convey just how much she means it, as if that might make either of them feel better about what he's going to have to do tonight.  She feels the rush of tears in her eyes and wraps him in a hug to hide it.  Audra's not sure if he's ever had someone other than Mrs. Weasley and Hermione hug him like this, like they care, like he's family.  His hands hang at his sides, like no one's taught him how it goes, but she doesn't let go.  Her eyes are stinging when she steps away, and behind Harry, Mrs. Weasley looks like she's about to burst into tears herself.  "I mean it."

"I'll be fine."  He's grinning.  Audra had caught sight of him this morning before her potions exam and he had looked a little green, but he does seem happy now.  It seemed that seeing Mrs. Weasley and Bill had bolstered his confidence.  "I've done alright so far, haven't I?"

"You've done amazing, and you better keep it up."  She ruffles his hair, making it stick up even more than it normally does.  "I've got twenty galleons riding on this."

She settles down in the middle of a group of Gryffindors to watch the third task, between the twins and Ginny, and behind Ron and Hermione.  No one gives her a second glance- it seems that for once, it is all Hogwarts students as one, instead of divided into four. 

The crowd is loud, but they're little group is quiet.  The music blasting from the band combined with the cheers make it hard for them to hear anything, but the looks on their faces are enough: no matter what they told Harry, it'll be a long night as they wait for him to come out of the maze with all his limbs attached. 

"He's going to be okay, right?"  Hermione asks, her voice small and on the verge of tears. 

No one wants to answer her at first.  She looks to Ron for reassurance, and Audra is reminded of when Mrs. Weasley looked at Arthur when they got home from the World Cup.  "Of course he's going to be fine."  He wrapped an arm around her in a side ways hug.  His voice was light and cheerful, but when he looked up at the twins, they all saw the grim expression on his face.  "He's gotten himself out of worse situations than this, you know he has."

"I know he can do it,"  Hermione said, sniffing and waving a hand at the air.  "I suppose I'm just being silly." 

Audra didn't think she was being silly at all.  She exchanged a look from Fred, and he nodded, just enough to let her known that he saw her looking.

When the names were announced, Ginny grabbed onto her hand and squeezed.  The cannon fired and Harry ran into the maze, wand outstretched.  Audra squeezed back.

They stay like that for the first hour, tense and searching for any sign that showed that Harry might be on his way out.  The six of them looked pretty pathetic compared to the rest of the crowd- Neville was sitting on the very edge of his seat, Hermione kept alternating between muttering random facts about the previous tournaments and burying her head in Ron's shoulder, the twins were cracking jokes that fell flat, and Ginny hadn't spoken at all since Harry disappeared, holding tight to Audra's hand the whole time.

It was hard to stay as worried as they were, and eventually, after they got used to the idea that Harry wasn't going to be led out of the maze on a stretcher, things calmed down.  Neville took snack orders around hour three, and they all took turns going to the bathroom during hour four.  Audra felt tense and miserable throughout all of it, hugging herself and digging her nails into her own skin, only stopping when Fred pried her fingers away.  There was a commotion when red sparks emerged the first time, followed by Fleur's scratch covered face and twig filled hair.  Then the sparks came up again and Krum was carried out, and the uproar was instantaneous- no matter which champion reaches the final, Hogwarts has won.