An: This hurt. A lot.

"Merlin, this is taking longer than I thought," said Amara under her breath.

Alice agreed with her. She was anxiously holding Fred's hand, her legs shaking like crazy.

"I can't take all of this. This is crazy...I read that some champions have vanished or died in this...this wasn't a good idea at all," she said whilst chewing on her lip.

"Sometimes people vanish from a Quidditch match too, love," said Fred.

"But they'll turn up in a month or two," grinned George.

"So don't scare yourself. You know that Harry can do it. And Cedric too. The Cup didn't just choose them randomly," reminded Fred her.

Alice looked at her boyfriend in amazement. "That's the most logical thing you've ever said," said the girl with a grin.

Fred laughed and squeezed her hand. "If that helps you, I'll try being more logical now."

Suddenly red sparks erupted from the maze. Alice drew in a sharp breath and feared that it had come from Harry or Cedric.

"Do you think it was them?" asked Amara sounding just as anxiously.

"Don't worry. It probably was Fleur," said George just as the Beauxbatons girl was seen coming out of the maze. She looked terrified and beaten. Alice tried to conceal her relief, but she was feeling better knowing that Harry and Cedric seemed to be doing okay.

"She looks terrified," said Amara slowly. The girl had at first been as relieved as Alice but the terror on Fleurs face didn't seem to help her at all.

Alice nodded. "You know. I'm happy that neither Harry nor Cedy have appeared up until now, but I also don't want to know what's going on inside there. I really hope they're not hurt or worse."

"I know what you mean"

Alice leaned more into Fred, breathing him his scent to calm herself down. The Weasley boy seemed a bit surprised by her action at first, but then put his arm around her and drew soothing circles on her back.

"It's alright to be worried, love. Everyone is. But everything will be alright. You'll see. Harry and Cedric will come out of the maze unharmed and successful in no time."

"I hope you're right."

As the night fully settled in and it became colder and colder, Alice realised that she should've put on a jumper over her school uniform. She scooted even closer to Fred, nearly sitting on his lap as she started shivering. The boy wrapped his arms around her and tried to giver her some warmth. The anxiety and the fact that she was starting to get tired didn't help her being cold at all. Amara too had started shivering but George had thought of bringing another jumper, which he gave to his girlfriend.

"At least you're considerate," said Amara with a grin while she put on the jumper. It was a bit big on her but she appreciated the offer nonetheless.

"Why don't you do things like that?" asked Alice mockingly.

"Hey, I'm the good-looking twin, George is the one with the considerate ideas," said Fred with a shoulder shrug. "And I am trying to do something, I can always stop if you don't appreciate it."

"No, no, please don't," said Alice smiling. "I was just joking. I like being cuddled by you, keeps me warm. So, thank you. And thanks for trying to cheer me up."

"Always, love."

"Urgh, these lovey-dovey couples make me sick," said a voice behind them.

Alice turned around just to see her sister together with Ginny in the stands behind them.

"Oh, it's just you Ally! Where were you?"

"Looking for you obviously," said Alyssa with a grin. "I recall talking to you that we could watch together, but I guess you forget all about it."

"You're right! By Merlin, I'm sorry Ally! I didn't mean to forget about you."

"Doesn't matter. We sat with Colin and his brother for a while, so it's okay," said Ginny and sat down beside them.

"On whom do you bet Ginny?" asked George suddenly.

"Oh, I know who it is going to be," said Fred.

"Don't be mean," said Alice and smacked Fred.

Ginny just sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "It's Harry and Cedric if you need to know. I'm not rooting for anyone specific; I just want Hogwarts to win and for this Tournament to be over. It scares me kind of."

"I know what you mean. I read that they stopped it because of it's dangers, so why just start it again? I do trust Professor Dumbledore, but not with this," said Alyssa.

"You sound just like your sister," said Fred and looked at the siblings.

"Well, we are related for a reason," said Alice grinning. "And I trust my little sis to have a good judgement. She learned it from the best."

"You're so full of yourself sometimes," said Alyssa laughing.

Another crack stopped their conversation. The students jumped to their feet to see everything as two people could be seen just outside the maze. One was holding onto the other and the cup while the other person wasn't moving.

Alice took in a sharp breath as she recognised Harry holding onto Cedric.

She couldn't quite focus on the scene. It felt to unreal.

Next to her Amara let out a scream. "Cedric!"

It snapped Alice and the others out of their trance and started a huge commotion. Fred pulled Alice into an embrace as the girl felt tears roll down her face.

"What is happening?" whispered Alice to Fred, fear sounding in her voice.

They saw Dumbledore running to Harry, turning him over.

"Harry! Harry!"

The boy was clearly not in his right mind at the moment. He seemed disoriented and confused and like he had cried. Alice couldn't hear what they were saying, but she saw Fudge running to them and saw his face as he looked at Cedric. She saw the cold eyes of her best friend.

"No," was all she could say as she started sobbing uncontrollably. She buried her Face in Fred's body, willing the image to go away.

"This can't be happening," said Alyssa next to her. She was clinging to Ginny, who was looking as traumatised as herself.

Fred tried soothing her by stroking her hair, but the boy was as shocked as everyone else.

"My boy!" Alice could hear the voice of Cedric's dad and turned around. She saw the man running down onto the pitch to get to his son. She saw the man holding onto the body of Cedric and how he cried, the hurt all too painfully visible on his face.

Her only hold in that moment was that Fred was holding her, as she felt her legs gave out underneath her. She sank to her knees with Fred going down with her. Alice felt like her heart was about to explode. The pain was too strong. She had never lost someone like that.

"He's my best friend, Fred. This has to be a dream, a nightmare," said the girl between sobs. She heard Amara crying next to her. She felt Fred's tears on her cheeks and knew Alyssa and Ginny were too young to see something like this.

She could faintly hear Dumbledore saying that all students were to go back to their dorms but to Alice it was just a muffled voice in the background. Her ears were ringing, and her vision was blurry from the tears.

Fred helped her back up and tried calming her down.

"You have to breath, love," said the boy worried. "Please, look at me Alice."

She tried focusing on just his voice and drawing in shaky breaths.

"That's good, that's my girl," said Fred and Alice could see him more clearly with every breath.

The girl looked around, saw the other crying people and the shocked faces. She heard someone scream that Voldemort was back and that he had killed Cedric. The thought alone let her heart painfully retract.

"We have to go now," said Fred slowly. He took her hand and tried to get her to start walking.

"N...no, no I can't. I...I need to see him; we can't just leave him there. We...Fred...we can't...," her tears wouldn't stop. All she wanted to do was go to Cedric and make sure that he wasn't just sleeping.

"Alice we can't do anything for him," said Amara suddenly, her tears streaked and puffy eyed face close to Alice, so the two saw only each other.

"We can't help him any longer. We lost him. We need to be strong for him now."

"This is not how it should be. He is too young," whispered Alice and engulfed Amara in a hug. The two girls embraced each other tightly and cried painfully. They had lost their best friend and it was obvious that the pain and the fear was not yet over. Alice felt that it had only just started.