▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER NINETEEN ▬▬▬▬

I hope you all suffered while waiting for this chapter :)

"YOU COULD'VE BEEN KILLED!" SIRIUS exclaimed as he paced around his hotel room at the Hog's Head Inn. "You can't just go walking around with anyone else at nighttime! There is somebody highly dangerous at Hogwarts, Harry, it's clear to me that they wanted to stop Crouch from seeing Dumbledore and you were probably feet away from them in the dark. You could have been killed! Your name didn't get into the Goblet of Fire by accident. If someone's trying to attack you, they're on their last chance. Stay close to Esmerelda, Ron, and Hermione, do not leave Gryffindor Tower after hours, and for Merlin's sake, arm yourself for the third task! Practice Stunning and Disarming. A few hexes wouldn't go amiss either."

Harry opened his mouth to argue, "But what about Crouch?!"

Sirius stopped pacing. "There's nothing you can do about him. Just keep your head down and look after yourself, please, I'm begging you."

Harry was about to protest, but Esmerelda cut in this time. "He's making a lot of good points, Harry," she said tiredly from the chaise she had been lounging on. She was in a worse state out of everyone in the room, having spent the last few weeks doing... just about everything to be honest. She was 90% sure Crouch had already died, but it was extremely hard trying to find his ghost or his file. She had a feeling he was still waiting in line to enter the Underworld, but that was a looooooong line and she had no time trying to search for faces.

"You need to train yourself more than ever." She finished.

"I have been," he grumbled.

"No, you haven't," she stated calmly. "You've been training for the Tasks and even then you procrastinated on that. This isn't just about the Tournament now. Someone's after your life, and the Third Task is the last chance they have to finally kill you. You need to train yourself on self-defense, on survival."

"Then you train me then!"

"A little busy now, sorry," she said apologetically.

He let out an aggravated sigh and turned to Hermione and Ron for help.

The latter shrugged, "Sorry mate, but I think you should seriously listen to them."

"But no one's tried to attack me all year," he said stubbornly. "No one's done anything to me at all—"

"—Except put your name in the Goblet of Fire," Hermione interrupted curtly. "And they must've done that for a reason, Harry. Sirius and Essie are right. Maybe they've been biding their time. Maybe this is the task they're going to get you."

"Look," he said impatiently. "Let's say they're right, and someone Stunned Krum to kidnap Crouch. Well, they would've been in the trees near us, wouldn't they? But they waited till I was out of the way until they acted, didn't they? So it doesn't look like I'm their target, does it?"

"It's not going to look like an accident if they murdered you in the forest," Sirius explained exhaustively. "The same can't be said if you die during a task—"

"—They didn't care about attacking Krum, did they?" Harry shot. "Why didn't they just polish me off at the same time? They could've made it look like Krum and I had a duel or something."

"Harry, I don't understand it either," Hermione said desperately. "I just know there are a lot of odd things going on, and I don't like it... Moody's right—Sirius and Essie are right—you've got to get in training for the third task, straight away. And no more sneaking off alone again."

Naturally, Harry left the Hog's Head Inn in a huff with Hermione and Ron following after him.

Sirius shot Esmerelda a worried look. "Do you think he'll listen?"

She snorted. "No."

He sighed in defeat. "Of course not..."

"I got Winky to tell me everything though," she began. "Crouch's kid, Junior, is alive."

His eyes widened. "What?"

"Yep. According to Winky, his parents used a Polyjuice Potion to swap him and his dying mother. Not much freedom for him though since his dad put him under constant Imperious. And that Bertha Jorkins lady you mentioned? Apparently her mind's all messed up because she accidentally discovered their secret and Crouch Snr struck her with a Memory Charm that was a little too strong. I have no idea where she is now, and neither does Winky. Sometime later though, Crouch Snr allowed Winky and his son to attend the Cup, but Junior broke free, stole Harry's wand and conjured the Mark. He was at the Top Box with us the entire time, just hiding underneath an Invisibility Cloak."

"Do you think he's the one who could've put Harry's name in the Cup?" He asked.

She nodded. "That's what I'm guessing. He's a Voldemort-fanatic so he certainly has the motive. But if I'm right then that means he's somewhere here in the school."

There was a tense silence between them as Sirius took in her words. He collapsed on a chaise across from her, looking understandably troubled.

"And do you think he might have anything to do with his father's disappearance?"

"Actually..." She winced. "Crouch Senior might be dead."

"What?!"

"I had Harry take me to the clearing where it all happened and I can sense death all over it. Someone had died there and it was fresh too. I don't know for sure if it's Crouch Senior, but it's a good possibility... As for who killed him, probably his son." She explained.

"And did you tell all this to Dumbledore?"

"Yes."

"And what did he say?"

"Well," another sigh. "We're on our own."

He dipped his head back and groaned. "Are you kidding me."

"I have no proof other than Winky's words, and Dumbledore said the Ministry would never listen to the words of a house-elf and the daughter of an accused mass murderer."

Sirius rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Fucking idiots," he couldn't help but curse. This whole situation was just so frustrating.

...But he also knew Esmerelda was probably feeling even worse. She already had a handful of issues to deal with before this year started, this whole mess with the Tournament was only adding on to her stress.

He eyed her in concern. She looked paler than ever, with noticeable bags under her eyes, and her shoulders were stiffer than they usually were.

"You should head back to Hogwarts," he told her softly. "Take a break or something. It doesn't seem like there's much else we can do."

She shook her head. "That's not true. If Crouch Senior is dead, then I can at least find his ghost. He's either in the Underworld... or waiting in line to enter." If it was the latter then he was at the DOA Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and boy did she not want to search through there. That place was always an absolute clutter of souls thanks to Charon and his laziness and lack of organization.

(See this is why Hades never gives you a raise, Charon, you're always a goddamn mess, she couldn't help but think.)

"Why's it important to try and find his ghost?" Sirius asked, brows furrowed.

"Well... I have a theory." She started.

"I'm all ears."

"I think... Crouch might be sneaking around using the Polyjuice Potion." She started. "At first I thought he could be using the Invisibility Cloak since he has one and all, but that's gotta be uncomfortable to do 24/7. So I figured he must have a safehouse where he can freely walk around without having to hide under the cloak, but I doubt there's much places he could hide to himself around here. The castle's an obvious no, he wouldn't be able to survive in the Forbidden Forest unlike you since he probably has no animagus form, and I checked the Shrieking Shack too and it's been untouched since last year."

"And he's familiar with the Polyjuice Potion too since he's used it before," Sirius added thoughtfully. "It's a bit of a stretch though, are you sure?"

"I have no other way to find him," she shrugged. "There's a Tracking Spell but I need something personal from him. Winky didn't make the cut for that, by the way, so that plan's null. Junior's probably drinking the potion constantly so he would've been disguised when he killed his father. All I can do now is find Crouch Snr's ghost and ask him who his killer was."

"Are you sure you want to be the one to tackle this issue?" He asked her pointedly.

"I'll try and figure something out," she promised him, rubbing her temples. Sirius opened his mouth to try and protest, but she had already disappeared in a poof of green mist.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

I miss dad, she thought to herself suddenly as she tried to distract herself from the strong perfumed fire of the Divination classroom.

She hadn't been visiting her father lately thanks to everything going on in her life, and she could really use his comforting (dead) presence right about now.

"My dears," Professor Trelawney began, sitting down in her winged armchair in front of the class and peering around at them all with her strangely enlarged eyes. "We have almost finished our work on planetary divination. Today, however, will be an excellent opportunity to examine the effects of Mars, for he is placed most interestingly at the present time. If you will all look this way, I will dim the lights..."

She waved her wand and the lamps went out. Professor Trelawney bent down and lifted, from under her chair, a miniature model of the solar system, contained within a glass dome. It was a beautiful thing; each of the moons glimmered in place around the nine planets and the fiery sun, all of them hanging in thin air beneath the glass.

For the rest of the period, Esmerelda forced herself to stay awake as Professor Trelawney began to point out the fascinating angle Mars was making to Neptune, which didn't make her feel better at all knowing that Mars represented war and Neptune... well, Neptune made her think of Percy.

Not a very good combination, Percy being the leader of the incoming war and all...

Suddenly, a small, pained noise caught her attention. She began to turn her head, only to catch sight of Harry falling to the floor. He was writhing around, clutching at his forehead. Esmerelda and Ron hurried to his side.

"Harry! Harry!" Ron called out to him.

Esmerelda furrowed her brows in concern. Harry was clutching his scar like it was hurting him... but she couldn't sense anything off. The weird deathly feeling from the old wound hadn't changed at all. 

Harry finally stopped and opened his eyes. By now the whole class was standing around, looking terrified.

"You alright?" Ron asked him worriedly.

Professor Trelawney answered before he could. "Of course he isn't!" She exclaimed, looking thoroughly excited. Her great eyes loomed over Harry, gazing at him. "What was it, Potter? A premonition? An apparition? What did you see?"

"Nothing," Harry lied. He sat up, his limbs noticeably shaking.

"You were clutching your scar!" She pointed out. "You were rolling on the floor, clutching your scar! Come now, Potter, I have experience in these matters!"

But Harry just shook his head. "I need to go to the hospital wing, I think. Bad headache."

"My dear, you were undoubtedly stimulated by the extraordinary clairvoyant vibrations of my room!" She awed. "If you leave now, you may lose the opportunity to see further than you have ever—"

"—I don't want to see anything except a headache cure," he interrupted.

He stood up. The class backed away. They all looked unnerved.

"I'll walk you there," Esmerelda said quickly, using her Charmspeak to make sure nobody would deny her. They all nodded their heads in approval.

She and Harry gathered their things and headed out the classroom.

"What happened?" She asked him in a hushed voice once they managed to climb down the ladder.

He hesitated. "I... saw something. It was like a vision."

Esmerelda grimaced at that word. The last vision she got was back at winter, and a younger version of Hades nearly kissed her(?) in that one. So she could totally understand what it was like to get freaky visions.

"Or well, maybe it was a dream." He frowned. "I was dozing off... Anyways, I saw this giant snake... and Wormtail."

She stiffened. "Wormtail? As in Peter Pettigrew? You saw him in your dream-vision thingy?"

He nodded. "Yes, and before you ask, no, I don't know where he was. Voldemort was there too, and he was torturing him about a mistake he made."

"Oh good," she said nonchalantly.

Harry did a double-take at her, before wisely keeping silent.

They paused when they finally reached Dumbledore's office. The gargoyles took one good look at Esmerelda and opened the door before Harry could begin making guesses for the password.

"Huh," he said as they walked in. "Maybe he was already expecting me...?"

"Shh," Esmerelda stopped walking once she heard voices. Behind the polished oak door, she could hear several people speaking inside. One of them, unfortunately, sounded a lot like Fudge.

"Dumbledore, I'm afraid I don't see the connection, don't see it at all!" She could hear him say. "Ludo says Bertha's perfectly capable of getting herself lost. I agree we would have expected to have found her by now, but all the same, we've no evidence of foul play, Dumbledore, none at all. As for her disappearance being linked with Barty Crouch's!"

"She's been missing for months now and people haven't even started to look for her?" She grumbled under her breath, unimpressed.

"And what do you thinks happened to Barty Crouch, Minister?" Came Moody's growling voice.

"I see two possibilities, Alastor," Fudge began. "Either Crouch has finally cracked—more than likely, I'm sure you'll agree, given his personal history—lost his mind, and gone wandering off somewhere—"

"—He wandered extremely quickly, if that is the case, Cornelius," Dumbledore said calmly.

"Or else—well..." Fudge sounded embarrassed. "Well, I'll reserve judgment until after I've seen the place where he was found, but you say it was just past the Beauxbatons carriage? Dumbledore, you know what that woman is?"

Esmerelda felt herself scowl.

"I consider her to be a very able headmistress—and an excellent dancer," Dumbledore answered quietly.

"Dumbledore, come!" Fudge exploded. "Don't you think you might be prejudiced in her favor because of Hagrid? They don't all turn out harmless—if, indeed, you can call Hagrid harmless, with that monster fixation he's got—"

"I no more suspect Madame Maxime than Hagrid," Dumbledore interrupted, just as calmly. "I think it possible that it is you who is prejudiced, Cornelius."

Hah! Tell him!

"Can we wrap up this discussion?" Moody growled.

"Yes, yes, let's go down to the grounds, then," Fudge said impatiently.

"No, it's not that," Moody replied. "It's just that Potter and Black want a word with you, Dumbledore. They're just outside the door."

The door to the office opened.

"Hello Potter... Black." Moody said her name a little more scathingly. "Come in, then."

Harry stepped forward, but Esmerelda stayed rooted on the spot. Her green eyes scanned the office, locking with Dumbledore who looked just as exhausted as her. It was as if he was saying, 'See? Told you the Ministry wouldn't listen' and she gave him an equally as aggravated look back.

Then her eyes landed on Fudge who quivered just from the sight of her.

She plastered on a 'friendly' smile. "I only offered to walk with Harry to make sure he's okay. I'll be taking my leave now... Wouldn't want to scare the Minister off with my presence."

Fudge looked like he wanted to protest against that, but then he locked eyes with her and faltered again. Smile widening, she left the place after giving Harry a nod of good luck.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

It was 5 PM, just several hours before the Third Task and Esmerelda's progress wasn't doing so great.

"I can't find Crouch," she told her uncle as she paced around his hotel room. "I tried looking for his file but apparently he's not the only Bartemius Crouch to ever walk the Earth. Why would anyone even name their kid that? Like what the fuck?"

"Does that mean he's alive then? If you haven't found his file?" Sirius asked her curiously.

"It could, but he's definitely dead. He most likely hasn't reached Judgment yet... meaning he's somewhere in DOA."

"Can't you look for him there?"

She shuddered. "Absolutely not. Do you know how many people die per minute? A hundred and six. That means 1,590 people have already died since we've started this conversation. Charon can barely manage ten people, so imagine how full DOA is right now. There's probably thousands of ghosts all congregated in that building."

Again, this is why you never get that raise, she mentally shook her head at the thought of her co-worker.

"...What about Nico?" Sirius suddenly asked. "Didn't you mention that he could summon particular ghosts?"

She frowned. "He can, but I won't ask him to do this. He's been very stressed lately..." That poor boy.

"And you can't summon ghosts?" He asked desperately.

She shook her head. "Nope, sorry. That's not my specialty. Neither can Lou Ellen, she's more skilled in the Mist, and there's nobody else—"

Oh fuck.

It finally dawned on her.

Étienne.

He could summon ghosts too. But could he help her? He was still pretty new to his powers after all and the only instances where he actually managed to summon ghosts were all accidents.

But she'd have to take the risk. The Third Task was in a few hours.

"I have an idea..." She breathed out, and Sirius' eyes lit up with hope and curiosity.

"You do?"

She nodded. "Yes, but I need to hurry up." She Mist traveled away, purposely leaving out what her idea was. She hadn't told a soul about her half-brother yet, wanting to keep his true identity a secret until the war ended—or maybe until Hera finished with whatever crazy plan she concocted for the Greeks and Romans. She did vow to keep the existence of the Romans a secret and everything.

Twenty minutes later, she was scouring the forest with a bunch of Happy Meals in hand. According to Justin (who had been very confused as to why she was carrying a bunch of McDonalds to-go meals), Étienne was most likely in the carriage with the rest of the Beauxbatons students. Luckily for her, their carriage wasn't that hard to find since it was almost as shimmery as her labrys.

Struggling with all the bags in her hand, she knocked on the door and waited for it to open.

One of the Beauxbatons students opened it, and stared at her in confusion.

"Um—"

"—Get me Étienne Rosier now please," she ordered.

The student blinked dazedly before rushing off. From outside, Esmerelda could see that the inside of the carriage worked like those tents back at the Quidditch World Cup. It looked small and unassuming on the outside, but it was built like a freaking castle on the inside. It was impressive, but she didn't exactly have the time to admire it right now.

Étienne finally made it out of the door, fancily dressed as always. She almost felt bad for what she was about to ask him.

"Essie? Uh... what is that you are carrying? And why does it smell weird?" He asked her, looking at the Happy Meals weirdly.

"It's food. Now come on, I need your help with something." She said hastily, gesturing him to follow her.

He scampered over to her side immediately, his face bright at the prospect of helping her with something. It was actually kind of adorable.

"What do you need help with?" He asked eagerly.

"I need you to summon a ghost," she answered. "A specific one."

He faltered a bit. "Er, I don't really know how to... All the other times were accidents."

"I'm going to help you," she told him, and he perked up once more.

"You will?!"

"Yep."

"Who is it?" He asked.

"Barty Crouch Snr," she replied and he blinked in confusion.

"Wait... the Ministry worker? One of the judges for the Tournament? He's dead? How do you even know that?"

"Call it a hunch. Now hurry." She quickened her pace until they finally reached the clearing Crouch died in. She dumped the Happy Meals beside a tree and hoped they wouldn't be eaten by ants. "You sense it, don't you? The death?"

"It's faint..." He murmured, looking around. "What does it mean?"

"This is where he was killed," she answered shortly, then bent down to grab the two shovels she had left there previously. She handed one over to him. "We're gonna dig a pit."

"...I'm sorry, what?"

"Come on, we're running out of time! The Third Task is probably going to start any minute now!" She rushed him, then began digging.

Étienne—the poor boy—was so confused, but because he was such a good scout, he started digging anyways.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Harry looked around the stands, his previous anxiety only growing worse when he noticed a certain missing face. Esmerelda was nowhere to be found. In fact, he hadn't seen her the entire day which was concerning because she hadn't been looking very well for these past few months.

The Weasleys, along with Sirius (under his disguise as "Steve White") were all in the stands at least. When he locked eyes with Sirius, he mouthed 'Esmerelda?'.

Sirius, much to his dread, shook his head with worry in his eyes.

Biting his lip, he turned to Cedric and whispered, "Hey, uh, have you seen Essie?"

"No," Cedric replied, also frowning. "Étienne's missing too. The two of them were supposed to walk with me here but I haven't seen them all day."

Harry had met Étienne before and he seemed like a nice person... but he was also a Rosier and according to Sirius, the Rosiers were a dark family. Had Étienne done something to her somehow?

Before he could think any further, Bagman's voice yanked him out of his thoughts.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with ninety points each—Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!"

The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky.

"In second place, with eighty points—Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!"

More applause. "And in third place—Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!"

Harry could just make out Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Ron, and Hermione applauding Fleur politely, halfway up the stands. He waved up at them, and they waved back, beaming at him. In the corner of his eyes, he could even see Moody giving him a thumbs up with his usual gnarly grin.

"So... on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" Bagman said. "Three—two—one—"

The whistle blew, and the two boys sprinted into the maze.

The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and thick or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment they entered the maze. Harry felt almost as though he were underwater again. He pulled out his wand, muttered, "Lumos," and heard Cedric do the same just behind him.

After about fifty yards, they reached a fork. They looked at each other.

"I guess I'll see you then," Cedric said with a smile.

They both nodded at each other, and then parted ways.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

"Can... we please... stop..." Étienne panted, falling onto his bottom. His once fashionable clothes were now ruined with dirt and sweat.

Esmerelda surveyed the pit and nodded to herself. She tossed her shovel to the said. "This is good enough. Grab all the Happy Meals."

Étienne looked at her hopefully. "Are we going to eat them?"

"No," she gave him a sympathetic look. "We're gonna use them to summon Crouch."

He stared at her. "...What?!"

She raised a hand. "Trust me, it works."

"This is so weird!" He whined.

"I know, I know," she soothed, pulling him up to his feet.

"Why can't you do this instead?" He asked curiously.

"I'm unable to," she answered with a shrug. "This is more of your specialty. I'm just here to help you." She could think of this as a nice bonding/training activity!

"So what do I do now?"

She threw some cheeseburgers into the pit, and he looked at her incredulously. 

"Just repeat my words," she began to give him the incantation, only to pause. Étienne was Roman, not Greek, so wouldn't it work better if he spoke in Latin instead? Quickly translating the words in her head, she then gave him the Latin incantation and told him to get to chanting.

He furrowed his brows, but repeated the words. Slowly, he became more certain of himself and looked more like he was in his element.

A familiar, heavy sensation permeated in the air and Esmerelda tossed the last of the cheeseburgers into the pit. A translucent figure appeared at the very bottom and picked up one of the fallen burgers.

"What is this?" A ghostly Crouch, toothbrush mustache and all, had finally appeared. He looked at the burger in disgust (which was just rude). 

Étienne stopped chanting, his green eyes growing wide.

"Oh finally!" Esmerelda cried out. "Dude, do you have any idea how long I've been trying to find you?! Where have you been?!"

"Black..." He acknowledged her warily. "Am I back at Hogwarts? The last thing I can remember is being in this... terribly crowded building..."

"The DOA," she scowled. "Figures. That place is always a mess. Anyways, I need you to tell me who killed you."

"I don't know," he answered simply.

"WHAT?!"

"Well..."

"Yes?" She said hopefully.

"How do I know if I can trust you with this sort of information?" He asked her coldly.

Her eyes flashed dangerously. "If you don't give me any answers, I'll make sure you suffer for all eternity."

Étienne was looking at her wide-eyed, but instead of looking terrified, he looked absolutely giddy. Which... honesty didn't surprise her at this point.

Crouch looked like he was fighting back the urge to fall on his knees. Through gritted teeth, he spat out, "Fine. I'll tell you."

She relaxed.

"My son is alive, and I have been trying to hide him from the rest of the world. But he's obsessed with his Dark Lord, and I had to put him under the Imperious Curse to keep him from doing... anything he could regret." He began.

"But he broke free and conjured the Dark Mark," she added, and you had the audacity to blame me.

He nodded, wincing. "Yes. I managed to get him back home and Imperiused him again, but... but Lord Voldemort discovered him. He freed my son and put me under his control."

"That would explain why you've been absent, and why you were acting weird at the forest." She mused.

Another nod. "I broke free and escaped. I went to Hogwarts to try and warn Dumbledore. Potter and Krum found me and... and I believe one of them left..."

"That was Harry," she informed him.

He frowned. "Right. I remember... waiting with Krum... but then I heard a voice say 'Stupefy' and Krum fell. Since he was holding on to me, I fell down with him."

"Do you recognize the voice? Was it your son's?" She asked. Étienne was looking between the two of them with deep intrigue.

Crouch shook his head. "No, I would've recognized it. It was a man, older, and his voice was deeper... Akin to a growl."

A growly voice...?

"But there was another thing," Crouch suddenly said quickly, as if he had just remembered it. "When I fell, right before I heard him say the Killing Curse, I managed to turn around. I couldn't see his face, but I saw his foot. It was wooden, and shaped like a claw."

Esmerelda froze at what he was insinuating. "A claw?"

Crouch nodded, a serious and grim look on his face. "Yes. Mad-Eye Moody."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

"Cedric! On your left!"

Cedric turned and saw it: a gigantic acromantula coming upon him. After months of suffering under Esmerelda's grueling training sessions, he was no longer fazed by the incoming attack.

Instincts kicked it and he hurled himself away, avoiding it's hit. While still in mid-air, he aimed his wand at the creature and wordlessly shot a Stunner at it.

"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!" He heard Harry shout as he finally landed with a thud. He jumped back up to his feet immediately and started shooting more spells at the giant spider.

"Harry!" Cedric gasped in horror as the younger boy was lifted into the air.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled, and the creature dropped him onto the ground.

Cedric winced when he heard the small crack, but focused on aiming his wand at the spider's belly. "Stupefy!" He shouted, his voice combined with Harry's. The two spells hit and the spider keeled over sideways.

"Harry!" He called out. "You all right? Did it fall on you?"

"No," he heard him call back, but he sounded winded and hurt. He could see him leaning against the hedge, his injured leg shaking badly. Cedric sucked in a breath upon seeing it. It was bleeding profusely and there was some sort of thick, gluey secretion from the spider's pincers on his torn robes. but his leg was shaking badly and did not want to support his

Cedric glanced back at the Triwizard Cup. It was just behind him, just a foot away. He could easily reach out and take it, but Harry was in such an awful state and he did help him too...

As if reading his mind, Harry said to him, "Take it, then. Go on, take it. You're there."

But Cedric didn't move. He merely stood there, looking at him. Then he turned to stare at the cup longingly... but then Harry's pained breaths brought him back to reality and he found himself looking back at him.

He inhaled deeply. "You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck in here."

Harry shook his head. "That's not how it's supposed to work. The one who reaches the cup first gets the points. That's you. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on this leg."

Cedric took a few paces nearer to the Stunned spider, away from the cup, shaking his head.

"No," he said.

"Stop being noble," Harry huffed irritably. "Just take it, then we can get out of here."

Cedric watched Harry steadying himself, holding tight to the hedge. "You told me about the dragons," he said. "I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming."

"I had help on that too," Harry snapped, trying to mop up his bloody leg with his robes. "You helped me with the egg—we're square."

"I had help on the egg in the first place," Cedric shrugged, remembering Moody's helpful advise.

"We're still square," Harry pointed out.

"You should've got more points on the second task," Cedric admitted. "You stayed behind to get all the hostages. I should've done that."

"I was the only one who was thick enough to take that song seriously!" Harry said bitterly. "Just take the cup!"

"No," Cedric shook his head. He stepped over the spider's tangled legs to join Harry, who stared at him.

"Go on," Cedric urged him, arms crossed and his face set.

His House would probably be upset with him if he found out he had willingly allowed Harry to take the Cup. He knew how much the other Hufflepuffs were hoping he could help them gain some glory, but there was no glory in unfairness.

Thanks to Esmerelda opening his eyes to the situation, he knew Harry's name had been put there without his consent. If anyone deserved that Cup, it was Harry. He was only a Fourth Year and yet here he was, having equal standing with three Seventh Years.

"Both of us," Harry suddenly said.

Cedric blinked and stared at him. "What?"

"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it."

Cedric continued to stare at him. He unfolded his arms.

"You—you sure?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "Yeah... we've helped each other out, haven't we? We both got here. Let's just take it together."

Cedric's jaw dropped and he stared at him dumbly. A second later, his face broke out into a bright grin.

"You're on," he beamed. "Come here."

He grabbed Harry's arm below the shoulder and helped him limp toward the plinth where the cup stood. When they had reached it, they both held a hand out over one of the cup's gleaming handles.

"On three, alright?" Harry told him. "One—two—three—"

He and Cedric both grasped a handle.

Cedric expected balloons, fireworks, trumpets playing, anything akin to a celebration. What he wasn't expecting was the familiar jerkiness that struck his body. He and Harry were immediately flung to the air in rapid speeds.

They were being transported away. The Cup was a portkey.

A few seconds later, his feet slammed to the ground and both boys fell forward. The Triwizard Cup slipped from his hands.

"Where are we?" Harry groaned beside him.

Cedric grunted in reply. He got up, pulled Harry to his feet and they looked around.

This is definitely not Hogwarts, was his first thought.

They had left the Hogwarts grounds completely; they had obviously traveled miles—perhaps hundreds of miles—for even the mountains surrounding the castle were gone.

They were standing in some dark and overgrown graveyard. Cedric could see the black outline of a small church somewhere in the distance, and a yew tree to his right. On his left was a hill. He could just barely see an old house on the hillside.

Creepy, Cedric couldn't help but shudder.

He glanced down at the Triwizard Cup, then back up at Harry.

"Did anyone tell you the cup was a Portkey?" He asked.

The younger boy shook his head. "Nope. Is this supposed to be part of the task?"

"I dunno," he replied nervously. There was something very wrong with this whole situation... "Wands out, d'you reckon?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed, pulling his out. He looked around, then suddenly tensed. He stepped closer to Cedric and whispered, "Someone's coming."

The fine hairs in the back of his neck rose, and Cedric squinted through the darkness. There was a figure drawing nearer, walking steadily toward them between the graves. He couldn't see the person's face since they were heavily cloaked with a hood over his head. They were also carrying something in his arms. Cradling, to be more specific. A baby perhaps?

He and Harry exchanged quizzical looks before turning back to watch the approaching figure.

They stopped beside a towering marble headstone, only six feet from them. For a second, Harry and Cedric and the short figure simply looked at one another.

Cedric was about to call out to them when Harry suddenly dropped to his knees, letting out a cry of pain.

"Harry!" Cedric called out, but before he could do anything he heard a high, cold voice say: "Kill the spare."

He snapped his neck towards the figure just as they raised their wand.

"Avada Kedavra!" The second voice screeched, and it was as if time slowed down.

Cedric saw the green light burst from the person's wand. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. His mind didn't think, but his body did all the work for him. He did what he would always do whenever a spell was shot at him during one of Esmerelda's training sessions:

He dodged.

— author's note —

You're welcome.

BUT FR GUYS I WAS STRESSING OUT SO MUCH ABOUT THIS. I was already planning for Cedric to live, but my problem was that I didn't know how. I kept thinking of all these scenarios of Essie Mist traveling to the graveyard to save him and whatnot, but like...

Esmerelda indirectly saving him by giving him the proper training he needed to survive in a fight sounded so much better to me??? So I just stuck to it!