Reacting instantly, Charlie grasped his wand in his right hand, trying not to think about the immense pain coming from his burning arm. Then, right as the beast's stinger began to descend down on the boy's face, he raised his wand to the Skrewt's fleshy, shell-less underside and yelled:

"Expulso!"

With a loud and screeching cry, the Skrewt was hit with a blinding burst of blue light and sent flying into the air, exploding from immense impact; body parts fell from the sky like confetti after bursting open a piñata.

Without even giving the Skrewt a second look, Charlie turned towards his arm, yelling:

"Aguamenti!"

Water shot out the tip of his wand, extinguishing the fire quickly, and a sizzling steamed began radiating off his arm. Luckily enough, there was no permanent damage as the fire had only just made it through the cloth of his jumper. Charlie sighed in relief as he laid on the ground amongst the fog in a dark corner of the maze.

He laughed slightly, "Goddamnit Hagrid..."

For a moment, Charlie contemplated lying on the floor until the Cup had been found. He just wanted to lay here and stare up at the stars without having to worry about fatal beasts attacking him — but he knew that he had to keep going.

 He just wanted to lay here and stare up at the stars without having to worry about fatal beasts attacking him — but he knew that he had to keep going

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Slowly, he rose to his feet and dusted himself off before continuing down the foggy path. He mustered up as much confidence as he could and continued to run, turning quickly at every intersection —

CLASH!

This time, however, it wasn't the body of a deadly creature than he had ran into, but that of Harry Potter.

"Jesus Christ, Charlie!" Harry yelled, clutching his heart, "You scared the hell out of me!" — it was in this moment that he glanced down at his friend's charred jumper — "What happened to you?"

Charlie shook his head, waving away the look of concern from his friend's face as he held his knees to catch his breath.

"Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts!" he panted. "They're enormous — and fucking vicious, I'll tell ya!"

Harry simply nodded and the two bid a quick farewell and good luck before they were separated once again.

Charlie dived out of sight along another path, keen to put plenty of distance between himself and the Skrewts. He ran further, his arm stinging slightly, but he kept his focus on the task. His mind just kept repeating the same things over and over again in his head to give him strength;

I can't lose you.

It'll shatter me, Charlie, don't you get that?

Promise me...

...and he did.

As stupid as it may have been to commit to something that wasn't able to produce a certain outcome, Charlie promised his girlfriend he'd make it back to her — and he intended on keeping that promise.

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