┏━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┓
Nerezza Lupin-Black
┗━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┛
"So help my lifeless frame to breathe
And God knows,
I'm not dying but I breathe now"
•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••
The day of the final task was here.
I'd said goodbye to Sirius the day before, feeling invigorated by his pride in me.
I held hands with Harry and Cedric as the three of us walked into the middle of the grass where stands of people circled around us; the Weasley's were all stood with Hermione and Remus-cheering us on.
"Promise me, no matter what happens, you'll both make it out okay?" I croaked feeling the nerves creep up on me.
"I promise Nerezza, everything will be okay" Cedric said warmly, "baffling to think one of us may walk out of that maze a tri-wizard champion" Cedric hummed longingly.
"You both deserve it" I praised.
"So do you Nerezza" Cedric replied, giving me a quick hug before he walked off next to his father.
"Nerezza" Harry began, "when we enter the maze, we could meet up and find each other. We could get through this together" Harry depicted.
"That's a great idea, Harry! Would you be okay with me speaking into your mind? So I can find you" I asked not knowing how comfortable he'd be with letting me inside his brain.
His brows furrowed together making his glasses shift on his face.
"I trust you" he smiled.
"Earlier today Professor Moody placed the tri-wizards cup deep within the maze. Only he knows its exact position. Now as Mr Diggory..." Dumbledore began to explain but roars of cheers cut him off at Cedric's name.
Cedric beamed my way and I returned the jovial smile.
"Good luck, Nerezza. I hope you win" Cedric winked.
"And Miss Black" Dumbledore continued but again was cut off by people cheering for me, " are tied for first position they will be the first to enter the maze. Followed by Mr Krum..." Dumbledore explained.
"The first person to touch the cup will be the winner. I've instructed the staff to patrol the perimeter, if at any point should a contestant wish to withdraw from the task he or she need only send up red sparks with their wands. Contestants, gather round" Dumbledore instructed.
"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. Oh find the cup if you can, but be very weary you could just lose yourselves along the way." Dumbledore's words were wise.
They made me think about my friends and how I had to get Harry and Cedric back safely.
"Champions! Prepare yourselves." Moody griped.
Cedric hugged his father tightly. I turned to look up at the stands where all my friends and my Father was...I waved at them and mentally took details of their features, scared I might be injured.
The canon sounded and Cedric and I entered the maze through different entrances.
The maze was quiet. A different atmosphere to the happy, cheery and warm one outside the maze...the hedges were huge, looming over me almost threateningly-the air was misty and cold.
I ran my fingers over the hedge feeling the leaves scrape at my fingers.
I heard the canon fire again and knew Harry and Krum must've entered the maze now; I closed my eyes reaching out for Harry's mind. I felt the gentle buzz of Cedric's mind. Working away methodically about the maze and hoping we were safe, I turned from his mind and found Krum's-focused on victory.
I finally felt the anxious and rambling hum of Harry's mind.
"Harry, it's me Nerezza" I said within his mind.
"I'm never gonna get used to hearing you inside my head, where are you?" Harry replied back.
"Don't move, I'll find you" I said.
I followed the pull I felt to Harry's busy mind. As I rounded the fifth corner, I found Harry. He was stood, fiddling with his thumbs restlessly as he waited for me to find him.
"Harry!" I smiled.
He grabbed my hand with a relieved smile and instantly I felt stronger with him. I felt that together we had a real chance of winning this. As we walked aimlessly around the maze, we came across Fleur already being stolen by the undergrowth.
"Fleur!" Harry cried.
We sprinted forward but she was already gone.
"Periculum!" I yelled, pointing my wand in the air.
Red sparks shot from it. A heavy wind started blowing, the walls closing in, Harry and I began running down the slim paths of the maze. I was breathless when Harry pulled me to a halt, Harry squinted at something in the distance and he moved
towards it.
A spell came shooting at us and I flicked my wrist up, repelling the spell with my magic.
"Viktor?" I gawked.
Viktor stood a little way from us, his eyes misty and white. His face seemed lifeless...he wasn't him.
"Get down!" Cedric ordered suddenly.
Cedric pulled Harry and I to the ground, yanking me by the Tri-Wizard unfirom we had to wear, Cedric fired a stupefy spell at Viktor and he was thrown into the air.
Cedric jogged to Viktor's body and kicked the wand from his hand. He aimed his wand at Viktor but Harry is up before I can blink, he tackled Cedric to stop him from hurting Viktor.
"He's bewitched Cedric!" Harry grunted as he struggled against Cedric.
I got up from the ground and separated the two boys.
"Cedric, are you alright?" I asked, looking between the two boys.
He nods, wiping sweat from his forehead and smearing dirt onto it by accident.
In my peripheral, I see something blue shimmering-I look in the direction of the glow and there it is...the cup.
All three of us begin darting towards it-Harry and Cedric push and tug at each other whilst I run ahead of them.
"Nerezza! Nerezza stop!" Harry bellowed.
I spun around, my hair whipping my in the face. Cedric was being entangled by the undergrowth just like Fleur. I immediately ran towards Cedric and held out my hands-red tendrils coiled around the undergrowth, I gritted my teeth trying to snap them.
"Harry I need help!" I pleaded desperately.
"Harry! Nerezza!" Cedric cries sounding fearful.
Harry raised his wand and fired a Diffendo spell at the plantlife and Cedric wriggled free.
Harry and I rushed to his side, helping a fear stricken Cedric up. Cedric dusted himself off and gripped my shoulder as thanks. I placed a hand on his chest, catching my breath after the frightful near loss of our friend.
"You know for a moment there I thought...you were gonna let it get me" Cedric gulped.
"We'd never Cedric." I panted.
"Some game huh?" Cedric let the corner of his mouth twitch in a smile
"Some game." Harry confirmed, nodding his head before placing an arm around me.
"Why don't we finish this. Together" I offered, my voice full of conviction.
"Together." Harry nodded firmly.
The wind picked up, reminding us that we didn't have time to stop and be sentimental.
"Go. Take it, you saved me!" Cedric nodded his head to Harry and I.
"Together, on three. One, two, three!" Harry yelled, we all leapt forward gripping a hold of the cup.
I felt a spinning sensation before I crashed into grassy ground with a thud. I groaned feeling winded from the fall-I turned on my side touching my hand to my lip, blood covered my fingers and I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Cedric grappled my arm and helped me stand up.
We were in a graveyard. Night was still weighing heavily in the air and the mist had only grown.
"You ok?" Harry nudged me, his eyes darting to my busted lip.
"Yeah, you?" I asked the two boys.
"Where are we?" Cedric looked around us.
"I've been here before." Harry murmured.
"It's a portkey. Harry the cup is a portkey!" Cedric laughed as if impressed with the game.
"I've been here before in a dream...Nerezza, our dreams." Harry's eyes were wide and fearful.
As I glanced around I knew what Harry had meant. I'd seen his dreams flash before in his head, the details of the misty graveyard plagued his thoughts.
"Cedric, Harry, we have to get back to the cup? Now!" I demanded, feeling the same fear Harry was feeling crawling up my skin.
"What are you talking about?" Cedric frowned.
Harry let out a shout and began cradling his head in pain. I skidded on my knees to his side, gathering him in my arms and attempting to sooth whatever was causing him such pain. Cedric stood slightly in front of Harry and I, still looking around.
"What is it? What's happening Harry?" I dry sobbed, seeing him in this much pain was hurting me.
"Get back to the cup!" Harry warned Cedric and I.
I tried to pull Harry off the ground to get back to the cup.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Cedric's accusing voice made me look upwards to see the man who'd put my Father in Azkaban for so many years.
The man who'd helped kill Harry's parents. Wormtail. He was holding a shrivelled looking thing in his arms as if it were a baby, it looked disgusting and pruned.
"Kill the spare." It hissed.
"Avada Kedavra!" Wormtail fired the spell.
The green ripples through Cedric's body, causing it to fly and hit the ground right beside me. I let out a horrible scream at the sight of my friend...his eyes were open-cold and no longer sparkling with that kindness Cedric carried with him.
My chest ached as I thought of how I'd failed Cedric. I could've blocked the spell. If I'd reacted quicker I could've saved him. I lay over Cedric's body, letting my tears fall on his chest. I was so preoccupied with grief that I didn't even see Wormtail haul Harry up into Statues that trapped him.
"Do it, now!" The voice hissed again.
It took everything in me to tear myself away from Cedric's body but I needed to help Harry. I couldn't let another person die because I was distracted-I motioned towards Harry and held up my palms to release my red magic.
Wormtail jerked his head in my direction.
"Crucio!" He fired.
I dropped to the floor in agony. My skin felt like it was on fire, like it was tearing itself apart again and again. It felt like fire was consuming me from the inside only to douse itself out and ignite again-I screamed in agony. The pain ceased and I let out a strangled cry of pain. I lay there, uselessly, in too much pain to move.
Wormtail dropped the shrivelled body into a cauldron, all I could do was hear Harry's cries of my name and watch through blurry tears.
"Bones of the father, unwillingly given." Wormtail prattled, lifting a bone from Thomas Riddle's grave. "Flesh of the servant willingly sacrificed." Wormtail held out his arm and sliced off his own hand.
I let out another sob as the hand dropped into the cauldron. Blood splattering over my face, I retched in disgust and choked on my tears.
"Blood of the enemy forcibly taken." Wormtail slashed Harry's forearm and flicked the blood into the cauldron. "Blood of a Kenesis Witch, the message carved, forcibly taken" Wormtail slithered over to my body.
I tried to edge away from him but I felt too weak.
He took the shining knife and dug it into the skin of my forearm. He seemed to take a little longer with mine as I writhed and pulled away in pain. I saw Harry crying for me and apologising over and over. I just wanted to be with my family in this moment. I wanted this to be a bad dream.
When I glanced over at the wound, I noticed it was a carved message.
'The Dark Lord's Own' it read.
My lips quivered when I read the message.
"The dark lord shall rise again."
The cauldron burst into flame and a reformed Voldemort emerged. He ran his dirty, pale hands over his bald head, his fingernails long and grimy. I had managed to drag myself to Harry's feet, feeling safer near him.
This was it. Voldemort was back. Cedric was dead.