'The bravest thing she ever did was to stay alive each day'

-Atticus

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One week later...

As Dumbledore announced the rules and the champions' current positions, Adeline stood next to the Professor, tuned out. There was this odd feeling in the pit of her stomach, and not a good one at that. It made her hands fidget with whatever they could find, which was currently the hem of her school skirt. It made her feel numb: words and sentences repeating over her mind, full of doubt and over exaggeration.

This feeling, however, was not a rare one. It was common, and felt in everyone at some point in his or her lives. It was fear, but it was second-hand from none other than Harry Potter. Her eyes were on his shaky figure a few meters before her, standing with the older Tri-Wizard champions.

He was pale. He was shaking. He was anxious. He was scared. He tried to hide it, but did a very bad job at it. Upon seeing her brave best friend in this state, it made Adeline feel even worse. She had never felt fear for anyone but herself until now; it felt the same but different.

Harry had actually given her a tip during one of their random conversations, which almost seemed one-way, considering she did not talk much during them, but she thought and she listened, giving her opinion silently. He said to put on a poker face; if you show fear, it's easier for others to make you more fearful, but he also said that it was OK to be scared and to show it; sometimes it was the better option. It really depended on the situation.

He had also told her to try to think of her favourite memories, though that was hard for her, as she had a very limited amount at the current time. However, the majority of the ones she treasured were the ones shared with Harry. Therefore, she tried to think of them, which is when she was finally able to block out all of the noise and explore nostalgia, squeezing her eyes shut.

Immediately, her favourite memory entered her mind; that time in Potions class when Harry threw her a paper plane.

The two had been on opposite ends of the classroom; considering Hermione had dragged Harry away from Adeline again, she made her assigned potion alone. However, halfway through the lesson, there was a small tap on her back. Turning around, Adeline did not spot anyone. About to turn back to her potion, Adeline caught sight of a folded piece of parchment on the ground; a paper plane, to which someone had evidently thrown.

Looking around, Adeline searched for who could have thrown it, when her eyes met Harry's, who mouthed 'open it'. Grabbing the paper plane from the floor, Adeline hesitantly opened it up to find a message from Harry, saying:

'I've never noticed that you have freckles all over your face. They bring out your eyes.'

Heat rising to her cheeks, Adeline shot a grin at Harry, before scribbling in her own little reply underneath his message;

'You must need new glasses then if you only just noticed.'

Seeing that Professor Snape was still absorbed in his marking of essays and that everyone else was looking away, since Harry had turned back to his potions book temporarily, Adeline folded the paper plane back up and sent it flying back to Harry with her magic.

She smiled as it did loops in the air, landing perfectly on Harry's hand, which was resting upon the desk. Unexpectedly, Harry started laughing at her reply after reading it, Snape shooting him a glare, to which Harry covered his outburst with a fake cough, sending Adeline a grin, to which she returned.

A loud horn sounded, followed by cheers, causing Adeline to jump; Harry and Cedric were walking towards their entrances to the maze. Harry's was right next to where Moody was, who was next to Adeline, who was next to Dumbledore, but he had his back turned on Adeline currently, talking to Professor McGonagall.

Harry sent Adeline a small smile as he passed her, Adeline returning it. However, just as Harry walked in and attention turned to the remaining champions, Moody gripped Adeline's left arm and threw her into Harry's entrance just as it was closing.

Upon Moody's roughness, Adeline fell over, causing her to knock Harry, both falling to the hard ground. Nevertheless, before she could leave, the entrance to the maze had already closed up; apparently, no one had noticed Moody throwing her in, all sound draining out before silence took over.

"What...!?" Harry turned around from his spot on the ground. "Adeline? What are you doing here?!"

"Moody pushed me in!" She responded, sitting up and rubbing her left wrist to which she had roughly landed upon, a large bruise already forming. Looking around where she had landed, it was much quieter than before, as well as colder and darker, the grass wet, as if it had been raining.

"Wait, Moody? But—hey, are you okay?" Harry asked, upon seeing her bruise. Crawling over, Harry gently grabbed her arm, but pain shot through it and she retracted it, whimpering.

Sighing, Harry looked to the hedge where the entrance had been. He grabbed Adeline's other wrist and they both stood up, Adeline wiping her skirt off from the wet grass. Letting go of her wrist, Harry swiftly stepped over to the closed entrance, putting his hand on it.

"There has to be a way out--"

"It's sealed. The only way to get out is either sending up red sparks with Periculum or if you or someone else has won." Adeline explained as she stood shivering; she had not thought to wear her jumper that day, as it was too hot for it, but now she regretted it as her hair blew in the slight wind.

Harry looked gobsmacked.

"What? I heard Professor Dumbledore talking about it—why are you looking at me like that?" Adeline questioned Harry, her eyebrows furrowed, her right hand holding her left wrist.

"Nothing..." Harry said, shaking his head from the shock of her actually speaking that much. "Nothing, it's fine, never mind..."

Still confused, Adeline looked over Harry's shoulder at the hedge, when a 7ft tornado suddenly appeared behind him. Her eyes widened as it came closer, brushing the back of Harry's shirt, who had yet to notice it.

"HARRY, RUN!" She yelled, Harry finally noticing the 'maze's' pushiness for them to move along, running after Adeline as the small tornado followed them, not thinking on where they were going, but instead how to get rid of it.

Turning random corners, Adeline, after a while of running, stopped, catching her breath. She took small, desperate breaths, before they slowly turned to longer, more stable ones.

It was not long until Harry came running behind her, grabbing her hand as he passed her, the two continuing to sprint further into the maze. The tornado grew and gained speed, forcing Adeline and Harry to split up and go separate ways. Unlike splitting in half to hunt both of them down as they expected it to, it instead followed Adeline, who was running out of breath. Seeing as it wasn't chasing him, Harry went after Adeline, behind the tornado, hoping she won't get hurt; even though she's fast at running, that tornado was not going to stop.

Reaching a dead end, Adeline began to panic.

"No... NO! NO, HELP! HELP, PLEASE! HARRY!" She shrieked, desperately searching for a way out, but nothing came to mind. Turning around the tornado continued to come closer, Adeline's back against the hedge.

It didn't stop.

She couldn't go around it, nor could she go through, under or over. She was caught. Harry rounded the next corner just in time to see Adeline be swallowed up by the tornado, her scream echoing through the maze until there was nothing left but silence and a dead end, Adeline nowhere in sight.

A/N:

I'm not sure if there's typos and that in this, so if there is, feel free to point it out because I like fixing that kind of stuff.

Also I'm not really sure about this?? I mean, I'm not too good at writing action since it's all these short sentences so I don't really know?? You can comment what you thought, since it helps he to improve.

1 chapter + the Epilogue left of 'Paper Planes'

~G <3