Champion of the Heart (Francesco Pazzi | Medici the Magnificent)

TEN

Word Count: 1175

It didn't matter how many times I explained what CPR was to my pureblood wizard friends. They still didn't totally grasp what I had done to save Francesco and why I had needed to kiss him to do it.

The rumors circulated quickly through the school. At the very least, Giuliano couldn't bear to be near me anymore, so I didn't have to worry about him ambushing me. I learned through Lorenzo that he had rushed down to the pier when he saw Simonetta come out of the water. Not me. I didn't know why he kidded himself anymore that he still liked me. It was obvious he didn't.

I determinedly avoided Francesco most of all, and I was pretty successful at it too. Either that, or he respected my wish for distance and didn't try to interact.

The final task came around, and to my surprise, I was tied with Francesco for the lead. It made absolutely no sense. I was the worst champion.

There hadn't been any hints given for the last task, but it became apparent what we were doing pretty quickly. The tall hedgerows with four entrances could only be one thing. A maze.

Crouch explained that the TriWizard cup was hidden within. The first to find it and grasp it would win. We would face some obstacles within the maze, but if we needed assistance we only needed to send up red sparks with our wands.

At the sound of the cannon, Francesco and I were allowed to walk in first. I gave him one last look before we both vanished into our separate entrances. Then the world went dark. The music stopped. The hedges closed up behind me.

I was completely alone.

Much like with the last task, I had no hope of using a winning strategy, so I arbitrarily picked turns and hoped I didn't get too turned around. The key to surviving this final task was patience. So long as I kept my head, I could wander around avoiding obstacles until someone won the game and I could go back to my warm bed in the Hufflepuff dormitories. Nothing sounded better than that.

A piercing scream broke the silence.

I jerked my head in the direction of it, knowing it sounded exactly like Fleur's scream, but I had no way of knowing if it was her or a trick. Even if it was really her, I had no way of helping. She had just better remember to send up red sparks.

I came to a dead end and turned to go back the way I came, but I wasn't sure anymore which way I had come from. Hoping I didn't pick the same turn at the next impasse, I turned around a hedge and headed what I thought was north.

Footsteps crunched in the grass behind me. I froze, worried that it was some horrible creature come to get me like it had gotten Fleur.

I whirled around with my wand drawn.

"Easy!" Francesco called. "It's just me."

"Francesco?"

"Mind if I tag along with you?" he asked.

"I- I mean- If- If you want to." Words seemed to clog up in my throat, and my tongue and lips stopped working to form them.

"Thanks." He took a few extra steps to fall in step with me. "You seem to have a handle on these tasks, so I figured I stand a better chance following you."

As we walked and I picked another random turn, I hummed, "I'm not so sure about that."

Francesco frowned at the turn we just took. "You're making it up as you go, aren't you."

"Yep."

He sighed.

"I thought it didn't make sense that you found the city so fast in the last task. It didn't make sense that you accidentally figured out the egg either. Or that you even ended up in these games."

As he said it out loud, I realized how truly odd everything did seem. It made the hair on my arms stand on edge. "You don't think... You don't think someone is behind this, do you?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

I rubbed my hands up and down my arms to ward off the chill. "I don't know why my name came out of the goblet after yours. I don't know why I've lasted this long in the games either. None of it makes sense to me."

"Crouch and Dumbledore talk about the goblet like it could be its own sentient being. Like it makes the decisions for the tournament on its own. Maybe it wanted you here." The deep rumble of his voice made my stomach flip with pleasure, but I pretended not to notice.

"Maybe..." The chill only intensified to think an old goblet was deciding my fate now. Much like the sorting hat, I didn't get a comfy feeling about inanimate—yet somehow living—objects deciding the future.

I picked another turn, but we were met by another champion at the end of the row. Viktor Krum stood unusually still, his eyes fixed on us. Only he seemed to be looking through us more than at us.

"What's wrong with him?" I whispered.

Francesco must have sensed something was off too, for he drew and raised his wand. Striding ahead, he placed himself between me and Viktor as he called out, "Krum. We're just passing by."

Slowly, like in a horror movie, Viktor's head turned while no other part of his body moved. The closer we got, the more apparent his glassy eyes became.

"I think he's bewitch—"

Viktor's hand twitched violently, and a burst of light shot out of his wand.

Luckily, Francesco was quick and had been expecting something to happen. With a flick of his wrist, he deflected the curse.

I "eep"ed, naturally, and darted down the closest row of hedges to avoid being struck by ricocheting curses. A duel ensued, and both young men were lethally skilled at nonverbal, rapid-fire curses.

Peeking out hesitantly, I watched as curse after curse was thrown. Francesco held his own, but Viktor flagged. In his bewitched state, he was a bit more sluggish, stiffer in his movements. Francesco got in the final curse when he hurled a stunning spell, striking Viktor square in the chest. The Durmstrang champion went flying before he rolled in the grass to an unconscious halt.

I was just about to step out and reconvene with Francesco when a wind ripped through the maze and the hedges began to move. I made the mistake of looking up rather than running to Francesco, and when I looked back down, the path to him was blocked by a solid hedgerow.

"Francesco!" I yelled as I tried to shove my arm into the hedge with the hopes of squeezing through. But the wall was impenetrable. Vines snaked around my arm, pulling me in deeper, and I ripped my arm free as fast I could. The hungry vines lashed out, trying again to grab me, but I turned and ran.