Cedric's POV
I didn't want to let on how nervous I really was to my parents but more importantly, to Elsa. I swear she hadn't slept properly since I told her about the maze. I knew she felt like she was somehow responsible for the maze, even though I told her continuously that it wasn't. I hated seeing her blame herself for something that she wasn't in control of and I was determined to win the tournament to make her see that she didn't have to fear the Nornir anymore.
But none of that stopped me from pacing around the change room I had been directed to so I could change into the uniform I had been given. I was waiting for Dad to come and get me when I heard someone knock on the door. I knew that it wouldn't have been Dad who knocked, he would have walked straight in so that only left one person who would want to see me before the task started, Elsa.
I quickly made my way over to the door and opened it to see Elsa standing there in my old quidditch jersey, ripped jeans and cowboy boots. I couldn't stop the smile from my face when I saw her hair in pigtails with red ribbons, showing that she was supporting Harry as well.
"Supporting your little brother as well, I see," I said as I wrapped my arms around her.
"Your Dad's not going to be angry at me because of it, will he?" she asked, her voice muffled from resting her head on my chest.
"No, he won't. Mum yelled at him for picking on a fourteen-year-old boy who had no one. Besides, I don't care what he thinks and I would have been disappointed if you didn't support Harry as well," I told her.
"I couldn't not support him. He's just so lost."
"I know and that's why I love you. You want to help everyone," I said, lifting her chin up so I could look at her, only to see her blue eyes filled with tears. "Love, everything is going to be okay. I promise."
"I know, but that doesn't stop me from for worrying," she said, wiping away the tears before they had the chance to fall.
"I know, love," I said as I felt her pull away from me. I looked down, confused at what she was doing to see her pulling the bracelet that was her cosmic staff off and turning it into a leather bracelet and tying it on to my wrist.
"Now you have to come back to me because you have my comic staff," she said, holding on to my hand.
"I didn't need another reason to make it out of the maze, you were enough. But now it will be like you're with me every step of the way," I told her before leaning down to kiss her.
I never wanted to wanted the moment to end as I felt her hands slid up from where they were resting on my chest to around my neck. I could feel that her hands were cooler than usual from where she was holding on to me, telling me she was even more worried than what she was letting on which made me feel like I never wanted to let her go.
Tightening my grip around her waist with one arm, I walked the both of back a few steps so that Elsa's back was against the wall and I had my hand braced on the wall next to her. When I felt her reach up so she could get closer to me, I lifted her up so she could wrap her legs around my waist as I held on to her. Just like that night in the entrance hall, I carried her over to one of the seats and pulled her on to my lap as I sat. I slid my hands under her shirt so I could rest my hands on the small of her back. When she pulled away to catch her breath, I continued to kiss her on her neck. It was at that moment that my father decided to call out to tell me that it was time to head out.
"One of these days we won't be interrupted," I said as I rested my forehead against hers.
"Get out of that maze in one piece and maybe that will happen," she replied in a breathy voice.
"I'm going to hold you to that," I joked as I helped her stand up.
"Promise you'll come back to me, Ced," she pleaded in a small voice.
"I promise. It's going to be the two of us forever, to the end of the line" I told her, knowing the importance of the words to the whole Rogers family.
"To the end of the line," she agreed as she stood on her tiptoes to give me one last quick kiss.
"I love you so much, Elsa."
"I love you too, Ced," she said before she used her Asgardian powers to apparate out of the room just before my father walked in.
"What's taking you so long. It's time to go," he said briskly.
"Sorry, Dad. I, uh, got lost in my own thoughts," I said walking over to the door.
Looking down at the leather bracelet on my wrist, I made a vow to Odin or whatever Norse god watched over us on earth, that I would make it back to Elsa if it was the last thing I did.
As I walked out with my father, I heard a marching band playing and I knew that it has to have been Ludo Bagman. He seemed to want to make everything over the top which was why I was happy to see Dumbledore had officially take over commentating.
"Earlier today Professor Moody placed the Triwizard cup deep within the maze. Only he knows the exact position. Now as Mr. Diggory..." Dumbledore announced but was cut off from the cheers from the Hufflepuff stand, making my father grab hold of my hand and raise it into the air and embarrassing me. I looked away trying to pretended that he wasn't over acting to see Elsa and Captain Rogers, or Steve as he kept telling me to call him, on their feet and cheering which instantly made me feel better.
"And Mr. Potter tied for first position they will be first to enter the maze," Dumbledore continued. "Followed by Mr. Krum, then Miss Delacour. The first person to touch the cup will be the winner. I've instructed the staff to patrol the perimeter, if at any point a contestant wish to withdrawal from the task, he or she need only to send up red sparks with their wands."
After he finished his announcement, Dumbledore motioned for us to gather around him so he could give us the of the information we needed before entering the maze.
"In the maze you'll find not dragons or creatures of the deep. Instead, you'll face something more challenging. You see, people change in the maze," he said ominously. "Oh, find the cup if you can, but be very weary, you could just lose yourself along the way."
As far as pep talks went, Dumbledore's had to be one of the worst I had ever heard. I walked over to where I was meant to enter the maze as Moody called out for the champions to get ready. Walking with me, my father stopped and pulled me into a tight hug which surprised me. He was never one to really hug people or show emotion but he actually was.
"I love you, son," he told me before he let go of me.
"I love you too, Dad," I told him as Dumbledore announced that Harry and I could enter the maze on the cannon blast but like last time, Filch fired it early.
I turned around to look at Elsa one last time before going into the maze. She was standing up and holding on to her dad's arm as she tried to keep the worried look off her face. When she saw me looking at her, she mouthed I love you which I said back to her. Taking a deep breath, I took my first step into the maze which closed behind me, letting me know there was no way back now.
"Point me," I said as I pulled my wand out of my pocket, casting a direction spell to tell me which way was north.
When my wand stopped spinning in the palm of my hand, I walked in the way it directed me while I kept a firm grip on my wand. I walked cautiously through the maze, unsure of what I might encounter. When I didn't run into anything for the first fifteen minutes, I started to get worried. Dumbledore was very clear when he warned us about the maze, it was meant to test us in every way possible and it just seemed too easy.
As I walked further into the maze, it began to grow darker. I was unsure if I should cast lumos, worried that it may draw whatever was in the maze to me because of the light. But when I could no longer see what was in front of me, I had no choice.
After coming up against a few dead ends, I finally came up against the first challenge of the maze and it was not what I was expecting. Hagrid's blast ended skrewts which were now close to ten feet long and looked like an over grown scorpion. As soon as they saw me, they started to propel themselves forward with small blast of fire. I desperately tried to remember what Elsa had said about them a few months earlier, knowing she said something about them having a week spot. The I saw it, there was a part that was free from its armor like shell on its stomach. I raised my wand, trying to keep my hand as steady as I could so I could make sure I wouldn't miss them.
"Impedimenta!" I cried out, hitting the skrewt and freezing it temporarily. Knowing the spell wouldn't last forever, I ran as fast as I could to get away from the hybrid creature but not before one of them started to unfreeze and tried to move forward with a blast of fire which got the sleeve of my shirt.
I ran faster as I tried to put out my smoking sleeve. I knew it was foolish of, but I wasn't paying attention as I ran and I almost ran into someone as I rounded a corner of the maze. I pulled my wand out, ready to attack whoever or whatever it was but luckily it turned out to be Harry.
"Hagrid's blast ended skrewts," I warned him as I tried to catch my breath. "They're enormous, I only just got away."
"Thanks for the warning, I'll stay away from them," Harry said with a smile.
"Well, I guess I should be heading off," I said, awkwardly as I waved goodbye to him and set off down another passage of the maze.
As I walked the twisting path of the maze, I heard a high-pitched scream and knew straight away that it was Fleur. My heart started to beat faster as I saw red sparks light up the night sky, whatever had got Fleur had terrified her judging by the sound of her scream. But I tried to push the thought aside, I knew she was going to be safe now because one of the teachers was going to get her out of the maze and I needed to keep a level head if I was going to make it out of the maze and back to Elsa.
It seemed like forever until I reached the next challenge but eventually, I stumbled upon a sphinx. It was pacing back and forth but when it saw me, it sat down in a cat like manner and almost seemed to smile at me.
"Congratulations on making it this far champion," it said in a husky voice. "The quickest way to your goal is through me but you must answer my riddle. But head my warning before you make your choice, if answer correctly I will let you past, but if you answer wrongly, I'm afraid I must attack. But if you chose to stay silent, you may walk away unharmed but must walk the longer path to what you wish to reach."
"I would like to hear your riddle," I told the sphinx as I had nothing to lose. If I didn't know the answer, I could just walk away.
"Very well, here is my riddle; All though I have but one eye, I am all seeing; I am a father to one but a father to all; In my death, I began my life; I am known by many names but only one is true; I am the finder of truth but I am swift to deceit; I am the lord of the dead yet I am king to the immortals."
I repeated the riddle over in my head a few times, knowing that it sounded familiar. But then it hit me, a father to one but a father to all. Elsa talked about him all the time and I didn't see how I missed it in the first place.
"Odin, the answer is Odin!" I told the sphinx who smiled at me and moved aside so I could get past.
"Take care on the path ahead, young champion, for your greatest fears still lie in front of you," the sphinx warned me.
"I will and thank you," I called out to the sphinx as I ran past it and further in to the maze.
When I was clear of the sphinx, I slowed my pace. I didn't know if it was telling the truth when it said that my greatest fears were still ahead of me, but I wasn't going to take the chance that if was trying to lull me into a false sense of security. But I never found out what my greatest fear would be because I ran straight in to Viktor. Something about him just didn't seem right, he had a dazed look on his face and he looked at me like he had never seen me in his life.
"Viktor, are you okay?" I cautiously asked him as a tried to back away from him slowly, concerned about the way he had his wand raised and pointing directly at me. "What are you doing? Seriously Viktor, what the hell are you doing?"
"Crucio!"
The next thing I knew I was on the ground in more pain than I had ever been in. As much as I wanted not to scream out in pain, I couldn't help myself. My whole body felt like it was on fire and there was nothing I could do to stop him; I was completely defenseless. I was vaguely aware of someone else approaching but I was in too much pain to care who or what it was.
"Stupefy!"
Suddenly the pain disappeared as quickly as it appeared. I pushed myself up so I was kneeling with shaky hands to see Harry standing with his wand raised at a now unconscious Viktor. He had a look of shock and horror on his face as he processed what had just happened and honestly, so was I.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked as he helped me to my feet.
"Yeah, I think so," I told him as I looked down at Viktor who was still passed out on the ground. "I think he was under the imperious curse, it's the only explanation."
"Do you think he got Fleur as well, I thought I heard her scream a while ago," Harry asked me.
"I think so, we should send up red sparks so one of the teachers can get him out," I told him.
"I guess," Harry muttered as I sent up the sparks.
"I suppose we better get going," I said awkwardly.
"What...Oh, yeah, I guess so," Harry said almost as if he had forgotten why we were in the maze.
We both continued up the same pathway for a little bit until we reached a fork in the road and then we split again. It was strange being on my own again after being with Harry, it just seemed so much quieter with just the sound of my footsteps to keep me company. They seemed to echo in the air around me. But it wasn't long until I heard another voice and it was the last voice I was expecting to hear.
"Cedric, what do you think you're doing," Elsa drawled as she walked towards me with her arms crossed her chest and a snarl on her face. "Odin's beard, you are so pathetic. You might as well just send up red sparks now and be done with it. We both know you wouldn't ever be able to actually win the tournament. Oh yeah and you do get back, it's over. I don't even know why I bothered with you, when I can have any guy, I wanted back on Asgard."
I knew that this was what the sphinx was talking about when it said my worst fears lay ahead. There was always a small part of me that feared that one day Elsa would wake up one day and realise that she could do so much better than me. Which meant this Elsa had to be a boggart.
"Riddikulus," I cried out as I pointedmy wand at the fake Elsa and forcing the boggart back to wherever it came from.
I continued up the path I was on when I saw it, the Triwizard cup gleaming at the end of the path. With the end so close I could almost touch it, I took off running as fast as I could towards it, towards the one thing that could take me back to Elsa. I could hear the footsteps of Harry behind me as I ran as fast as I could towards the end of the path. I didn't know what came over me in that moment but I suddenly didn't care what happened to Harry in the slightest, all that mattered was winning.
"Cedric, on your left!" I heard Harry call out and in my delirious haze of wanting to win, I was convinced that Harry was trying to trick me. That was until the branches of the maze seemed to latch on to me.
Authors note: I swear, the on your left line was actually in the book. Page 631 if anyone wants to check. And if no one's noticed, I've been trying to do a mix of both the book and the movie. I hope it worked okay.
The hedges seemed to try to pull me into them and no matter how hard I tried I just kept being pulled back under. I tried to grip on to anything that was on the ground but only came away with handfuls of dirt. In that moment whatever haze had come over me to possess me to do anything to get to the cup vanished, leaving me fearing for my life.
"Harry! Please, help!" I called out, but whatever craze took over me seemed to be happening to Harry as well.
For a few moments Harry stood still and just looked at me, as if he was contemplating on leaving me where I was to be taken by the maze to who knows where. But just like I did, Harry snapped out of the haze and blasted the hedge away from me before helping me get to my feet.
"You know, for a moment there I thought you were gonna let it get me," I panted.
"For a moment so did I," Harry admitted sheepishly.
"Some game, huh," I tried to joke.
"Some game," Harry said back to me as he shook his head.
Suddenly a strong wind blew through the maze as the hedges tried to grab hold of the both of us again. With one last burst of energy, Harry and I took off running towards the cup. When we both reached the cup at the same time, neither of us wanted to take hold of it and claim the title of Triwizard Champion.
"Go! Take it, you saved me!" I yelled at Harry over the sound of the collapsing maze.
"Together," Harry yelled, coming up with the perfect solution. "One, two, three!"
Both Harry and I grabbed hold of the cup and suddenly the familiar feeling of traveling by portkey and we were teleported out of the maze.
Third POV
Harry and Cedric fell on to the ground when the cup had finished working its portkey magic and rolled down the hill, away from the two Hogwarts boys as they both got to their feet and tried to steady themselves.
"You okay?" Cedric asked, still out of breath from the chase in the maze.
"Yeah, you?" Harry asked as he looked around, causing a sudden wave of unease washed over him.
"Where are we?" Cedric asked, sounding unsure if what was happening was part of the tournament or not.
"I've been here before," Harry muttered, mostly to himself as a feeling of panic settled on him.
"It's a portkey. Harry, the cup is a portkey," Cedric laughed he realised nothing bad had happened, after all they did need to get out of the maze somehow after getting the cup.
"I've been here before in a dream," Harry realised the sense of danger dawning on him. "Cedric, we have to get back to the cup!"
"What are you talking about?" Cedric asked the young Gryffindor who had suddenly shouted out in pain as he clutched his head, right about his scar. "What is it?"
The sound of footsteps on the gravel path forced Cedric to spin around with his wand raise, ready to face whoever was walking towards both him and Harry.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Cedric demanded as the person stepped into the light to reveal Peter Pettigrew.
"Kill the spare."
"Avada Kedavra!"
A green light shot out of the of the end of the wand that Pettigrew was holding before Cedric even had the chance to move, hitting him in the chest and killing him instantly. Harry watched in shock as his friend, the boyfriend of the girl he considered his sister, fell to the ground. His open eye now lacking the sparkle that made him Cedric Diggory.
"CEDRIC!" Harry screamed as he tried to run to the body of his friend but was stopped and forced on to a grave stone where he became trapped.
"Do it now," a sickly voice hissed as Harry watched Pettigrew walk over to the cauldron that was in the middle of the graveyard and drop something into it.
"Bones of the father unwillingly given," Pettigrew said as he levitated a bone of the grave and into the cauldron.
"Flesh of the servant willingly scarified," Pettigrew continued in a shaky voice as he held his hand over the cauldron and swiftly cut it off in one swift motion with a deadly sharp dagger.
"Blood of the enemy forcibly taken," Pettigrew continued again as he walked over to Harry and slices Harry's arm, causing him to cry out in pain. But it didn't stop the man who walked over to the cauldron and let the boys blood drop into the mixture.
"The dark lord shall rise again," Pettigrew finished, taking a step back from the cauldron.
Harry watched in silent horror as the cauldron burst into flames and Voldemort emerged, alive once more.
"My wand, Wormtail," he ordered without even looking at the man who had been his servant for the past year, who dutifully handed it over. "Hold your arm out."
Holding out his shaking arm that he had cut sacrificed hand off, Pettigrew looked up at the Dark Lord with admiration in his beady eyes.
"Thank you, master," he groveled, thinking that his lord was going to restore his lost hand.
"The other arm, Wormtail," Voldemort snapped, grabbing hold of the man's other arm and pressed his wand to the dark mark. In an instant all reaming death eaters appeared in the graveyard, ready for instructions from their dark lord once more.
"Welcome, my friends," Voldemort said, holding his arms out to greet his followers. "Thirteen years it's been, and yet you stand before me as though it was only yesterday. I confess myself...disappointed, not one of you tried to find me."
Voldemort walked around the semi-circle of his followers, slashing out angrily at the hooded figures as he named each one of them but paused momentarily when he got to the last.
"Not even you, Lucius," he said in a disappointed voice before slashing out at the man and forcing him to his knees.
"My lord," Lucius pleaded. "Had I detected any sign or even a whisper of your whereabouts."
"There were signs my friend, and more than whispers," the dark lord hissed at the blonde man who was on his knees with a fearful look in his eyes.
"I assure you I never renounced the old ways. The face I have been obliged to present each day since your absence, that was my true mask," Lucius called out as Voldemort walked away from him.
"I returned," Pettigrew said in a trembling voice.
"Out of fear, not loyalty," the dark lord hissed. "Still, you have proved yourself useful these past few months, Wormtail."
Waving his wand over the sniveling man's arm, he created a silvery hand to replace the one that had been sacrificed in his name.
"Thank you, master, thank you," Pettigrew groveled as he held up his new hand to admire it in the moonlight.
Voldemort walked around the graveyard until he reached the lifeless body of Cedric Diggory and moved his face with his foot so that he could get a better look at the boy.
"Oh, such a handsome boy. A pity, really because now I'm going to deal with that Asgardian girlfriend of his and I really did not want to get on the bad side of Odin. Never mind, they were next on my list anyway."
"Don't touch him," Harry snarled, not wanting such an evil being to be anywhere near his friend.
"Harry! I'd almost forgotten you were here," Voldemort said with a laugh. "Standing on the bones of my father. I'd introduce you but word has it you're almost as famous as me these days. The boy who lived. How lies have fed your legend Harry. Shall I reveal what really happened that night thirteen years ago? Shall I divulge how I truly lost my powers? It was love. You see when dear sweet Lily Potter gave her life for her only son, she provided the ultimate protection. I could not touch you. It was old magic, something I should have foreseen. But no matter, no matter. Things have changed, I can touch you now!"
The dark lord walked over to where Harry stood, trapped by the gravestone of Tom Riddle Sr and touched the scar on the boy's head, causing him to scream out in pain.
"Astonishing what a few drops of your blood will do eh Harry? Pick up your wand Potter. I said pick it up, get up. Get up! You've been taught how to duel I presume yes? First, we bow to each other. Come on now Harry the niceties must be observed, Dumbledore would not want you to forget your manners now, would he? I said bow!" Voldemort ordered, forcing Harry to bend over in a bow against his will.
"That's better. And now..." Voldemort gloated as Harry withered on the ground in pain from a silent spell, but something in Harry gave the strength to fight off the spell. "Atta boy Harry, your parents would be proud. Especially your filthy mongrel mother. I'm going to kill you Harry Potter, I'm going to destroy you. After tonight no one will ever again question my powers. After tonight if they speak of you, they'll speak only of how you begged for death, and I being a merciful lord obliged. Get up."
Taking his chance, Harry ducked behind one of the grave stone in an attempt to catch his breath and try to figure what to do next.
"Don't you turn your back on me Harry Potter I want you to look at me when I kill you, I want to see the lights leave your eyes," Voldemort demanded as he stalked the graveyard.
"Have it your way," Harry said, walking out from behind the grave and casting a stunning spell at the dark lord at the same time he sent the killing curse at Harry. In the moment that the spells met, a golden glow over the two.
"Do nothing. He is mine to finish. He's mine!" Voldemort called out as his followers stepped forward to help.
Then, from the connect wands, the ghost of the souls that Voldemort's wand had previously killed appeared one by one. From Cedric to a kind looking old man and finally, Harry's parents.
"Harry when the connection is broken you must get to the portkey. We can delay it for a moment to give you time but only a moment, do you understand?" James Potter told his son as he and his wife stood at Harry's side.
"Harry take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my father. And tell Elsa that I love her and the she was the last thing on my mind and she always will be. But more importantly, tell her I'm sorry, that I should have listened to her and not to blame herself. I wanted her to be happy," Cedric said in an emotion filled voice.
"Let go. Sweetheart you're ready. Let go! Let go!" Lily Potter told her son.
Harry broke the connection between the wands and ran to Cedric's side. Before Voldemort could get to him, Harry summoned the cup into his hands and took both him and Cedric back to Hogwarts.
Steve's POV
Both of the other two champions had returned and Elsa had start to panic that neither Cedric or Harry had come back yet. No matter how hard I tried to calm her down, she grew more panicked with each passing second as she held on tightly to my hand. Then in a bright flash both Cedric and Harry appeared back outside of the maze with the cup.
The crowds began to cheer but with all the battles that I had fought in, I knew something was wrong. Cedric was too still and Elsa had noticed it to, causing her to grip my hand tighter.
"Daddy, he's not moving!" she screamed, breaking my heart in two. "He's not breathing!"
I wrapped my arms around my daughter as we watched Amos run to his sons' side and fell to his knees. I looked over Cassy who for the first time in her life loss at what she should do and at Danny who was crying as he held on to one of Elsa's hands.
"Let me through! That's my son! That's my boy!" he yelled as Eliza, his wife, cried into Molly's shoulder.
Not being able to take it anymore, Elsa broke free of my grasp and ran down off the stands to get to Cedric. I jumped up and followed her down, needing to support her in what ever happened next. I felt so helpless as she fell in on to the ground next to the boy she loved lifeless body as Dumbledore helped Amos stand.
"Cedric, you promised me you would come back. You promised me forever!" she cried, cradling his head in her lap. "You said to the end of the line! You can't go back on the end of the line, you can't. Please Cedric, I love you. I can't live without you."
Tears fell down my cheeks as I watched my daughter fall apart and I felt like a letdown of a father, knowing I couldn't do anything to make it better. That's what my job was as a father, to make everything better. To pick her up when she fell and to support her through anything. But nothing I could do or say could bring Cedric back.
Before I knew what was happening, there was a small flash of a golden glow that came from Elsa's hand, so small that you wouldn't have noticed unless you were looking directly at it. Then Elsa fainted, making me run to her side before she could hit the ground.
"Snowflake, wakeup," I whispered as I wiped the frozen tears off her cheeks. "Come on, Elsa. You can't give up on me, baby."
I had to fight not to break down as I held my daughters' unconscious body in my arms and I prayed that she would come back to me because I didn't know what I would do if I lost her as well as Kimberly. They were my whole world and I couldn't live without them.