"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the third task!" Andrew Jordan's voice floated through to her. "The champions have been split up, and imprisoned in these two places you see before you! The first pair to break free and ring the bell will win fifty points, and possibly the tournament!"

The crowd went crazy, and she was filled with a rush of happiness as she looked up at them and saw Alice, Lily, Fred, Louis, Albus, Scorpius, Rose and Hugo amongst them, cheering with banners and a JP painted on one cheek and an AE on the other.

"Now, let me give you a recap of the scores," Andrew continued. "In last place at the moment is our Beauxbatons pair..."

His voice faded out a little as Azalea focused on what she was about to do. She was currently outside the grey brick building, wondering what on earth it had in store for her. She felt uncomfortable knowing she was going to be locked in a room with the guy that had tried to assault her, but she didn't expect he would try anything in favour of the task.

"Okay, champions!" Harry's voice called over the stadium, silencing it as he had his wand to his neck, projecting his voice. "When the cannon fires, you will be admitted into the rooms, and then you'll be on your own!"

Okay, then.

All she had to do was get those pieces of Gryffindor's sword and put them into the frame in the door. The obstacles would be fine, and she'd manage to get past them, and James would do amazing in getting the keys and they'd win the whole tournam-

BOOM!

Her thoughts were wrenched out her head as the cannon went off, and the aurors opened the door to the room.

Azalea ran, because all she knew was that she needed to find these pieces of the sword, and she needed to do it fast.

The first thing she was aware of when she got in was the fact that there was almost no light coming into the room. The room itself was pretty run down, with a concrete stone floor and mess everywhere. And shit, it was going to be so hard to search in this.

There was stuff all over the place. Random stuff like clothes, and suitcases, and piles and piles of rubbish and a load of other stuff. Her eyes also snagged on three doors at the opposite side of the room, one with the imprint of a sword, one with the imprint of a locket and one imprinted with a diadem.

But what was the most concerning was the amount of other doors inside, no doubt leading to other rooms where most of the pieces would be.

Lea wasted no time, darting forwards and racing to shove clothes to the side, trying to find a piece of sword. She found nothing, and kicked herself for thinking she'd find anything amongst there.

"Aaarggh!" She heard a scream behind her, and turned, freezing in fear as she saw that Adelaide of Beauxbatons had just opened a door and was met with an acromantula in her way.

The girl screamed, trying to see past it and work out whether there was a piece of her relic-

"Arania examae!" Azalea yelled, a bright light emitting from her want and shooting at the spider, sening it flying backwards and falling against the wall, not dead but unconscious.

The redhead rushed forwards, trying not to scream herself as she reached past the giant spider and grabbed a shiny metal sword tip. She knew it wasn't the real sword, but even to hold the metal of the fake in her hands was pretty cool.

She wasted no time in grabbing it and running across the room to her door, paying no attention to Lauri or to Adelaide. She quickly slotted the tip of the sword into the frame and smirked as she did, knowing she was the first to get this.

She wasn't alone, however, because next second Lauri was running up to his frame, having found a bit of the locket's chain to fill it in.

Azalea ran towards the suitcases, half knowing what she was going to find inside but also knowing she needed to search inside them for-

The first one she tried, she found it.

A boggart, flying out and causing that image to play out in front of h-

Only this time, it was different.

Her mum, her dad and Daisy were still dead, yes, but this time, another body had joined them. James, his face a ghostly pale, his neck slit like the others, the ghost of his signature smirk still on his face.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to scream and cry and run away from the image, because James Potter was dead in front of her and he wasn't coming back.

But she needed to get rid of the boggart, because she needed to get a bit of the sword.

"R-ridikkulus," she said weakly, lifting her wand, her throat closing as the tears began to come. "Ridikkulus!"

She let out a small laugh as the bodies changed into circus clowns with big rainbow wigs and red noses, tooting horns and jumping about, before the boggart was sent flying away, and the suitcase was left empty.

The redhead girl grabbed for the piece of the sword in the case, finding half of the ruby encrusted hilt. She grinned, wiping her tears thouroughly before running to put it into the frame, trying not to concentrate on the fact that Lauri now had two bits of his locket in, and Adelaide had a part of the diadem.

She could dimly hear Andrew's commentary outside and knew they must have some way of seeing what was happening inside the rooms, but she wasn't distracted by it.

She ran to one of the doors that hadn't been opened, and was met with a heart chilling, bone shaking fear as soon as she did.

In front of her was a dementor. Azalea instantly froze, unable to think of anything happy, of anything good. All she could think about was the fact that Lauri was winning, and that he was going to win the tournament-

But then she remembered James. James, who believed in her one hundred percent. James, who loved her just as she was. James, who was counting on her to get this piece.

"Expecto Patronum!" She shouted, her voice sure and confident as she raised her wand and the vixen came bounding out of it. She watched in satisfaction as her patronus drove the dementor away, and then ran forwards, searching the room which was full of more stuff for the sword piece.

She raked through stuff, finding a part of the diadem and shoving it further into the mess before finally, finally pulling out a part of the sword, ODRIC GRYFF visible on it. She let out a successful exhale and sprinted out the room, going back to her frame and shoving her third piece in.

Come on, she thought as she looked at it. She only needed two more pieces of sword and a part of the hilt and she was done.

"Stupefy!" Lauri's cry of the stunning spell got her attention, and she saw him across the room, trying to stun a hippogriff, looking at it like he was more scared of it than anything.

Azalea scoffed, about to leave him to it when she noticed something. Just behind the hippogriff was a small section of sword with INDOR etched onto it, another section that she needed.

So she ran straight up to the hippogriff, shoving Lauri out the way. The dark haired boy let out an indignant cry but didn't say anything as he watched in wonder.

Azalea knew how to train a hippogriff, Hagrid had shown her ages ago. Nevertheless, her legs were shaking as she bowed down to it, knowing that if she didn't manage to gain its trust, she'd be dead.

However, when the hippogriff didn't strike, she took that as a green light, and slowly extended a hand to touch it.

When the hippogriff bowed its head and touched his brow to her hand, she smiled slightly, letting out a shaky. "Thank you."

Then, much to Lauri's shock and anger, the creature moved to the side, and let her through. She grinned and ran to the back, grabbing the sword piece.

However, she was unable not to have a little fun as she held up a piece of the locket, saying to the black haired boy. "Hey Lauri, want this?"

The boy looked excited for a fraction of a second before Azalea chucked it behind her and ran out past the hippogriff, which promptly stood in Lauri's way again.

"Wha-?"

Azalea ignored his curses and middle fingers as she bounded towards the frame, fitting in the fourth piece of the sword. Only two more to go.

She saw a door across the room that no one had opened yet, and knew it was her best chance. She made a beeline for it, reaching it soon enough and wrenching it open.

What faced her made her scared.

She was standing in front of a... a mirror? Yet it couldn't be a mirror, because it wasn't showing her her reflection. It was showing her herself and James, laughing together, a broomstick by her side and him in the robes his father now wore. She was a quidditch player and he was a... an auror?

She spotted the big emerald ring on her finger without much doubt, and her eyes widened as she saw the golden band above it. They were... married?!

What is this...? Azalea frowned, biting her lip hard as she wondered what on earth she was looking at right now.

Then, all of a sudden, she remembered Lily's voice from years ago in the dorm, telling her a story.

"Dad once found this mirror in Hogwarts that showed you your deepest desire instead of your reflection! Doesn't it sound so cool?"

This was that mirror. She had no doubt about it, not even stopping to think about the fact that she was discarding a desire in which she was married to James Potter, and brought out her wand.

"Reducto!" She shouted, obliterating the mirror to pieces.

Outside, she heard the crowd go up. She wasn't sure what that was for, but she knew it must be something good. She tried not to think about it as she found another piece of the sword; the last piece of the blade, short and inscribed with the letter G.

She sprinted over to the frame, shoving the penultimate part of the sword straight in and flicking her eyes to the other two. Lauri's was almost full with only a part missing, and Adelaide's needed two.

I need to hurry, was the only thought in her mind as she looked around frantically, searching for a place she hadn't been.

She found that in the form of a final unopened door, and ran up to it, turning the handle and throwing it open.

"Eeiiiiiyy!"

What greeted her was a room full of Cornish pixies. Like, full to the brim. She had only encountered Cornish pixies once before, in second year, but never ever wanted to again.

And with the high pitched shriek they let out as she opened the door, they didn't want to either.

All at once, about six of them flew towards her and she was ambushed. She screamed, swatting them away as she charged into the room, knowing she just had to do it otherwise she'd never get this last piece.

It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, as she raked through the mounds and mounds of pixies, trying not to let any of them grab or harm her.

"Get off!" She yelled as she threw one from her, kicking at another that wanted to grab her leg.

She couldn't find the piece of sword anywhere, she didn't know where it was, she couldn't find it-

"Got it!" She yelled, lunging for the piece the moment she saw the small shine in the corner of her eye. She shoved another pixie out the way and there it was, the final piece. The other half of the hilt, encrusted in bright red rubies.

She grinned as she got it, turning and running back out the room. She'd done it, she was successful and this meant she and James could w-

"And Lauri Krum has escaped! Wow, just look at him go!"

Azalea's heart chilled as she watched Lauri's door slam shut, tears coming to her eyes. She knew she needed to go, but-

"THAT'S JAMES POTTER! JAMES POTTER IS FIRST TO ESCAPE THE OTHER ROOM, MEANING IF HIS PARTNER AZALEA EDWARDS MANAGES TO FREE HERSELF BEFORE-"

She didn't need a boy reciting her internal monologue for all to hear.

But she did need to fucking run.

She slammed the second half of the hilt into the frame, watching in wonder as the door began to light up and open for her, revealing the bright day and the cheering crowd to her.

"AZALEA EDWARDS IS FREE!"

The crowd was cheering louder than ever, and Lea swore she could hear every single one of her friends' voices in it, but she didn't care. She ran. She ran like her life depended on it, which it probably did.

James was stood by the bell, looking at her in wonder with a grin on his face. He began to laugh, his whole face transforming into a thing of beauty, and Azalea couldn't help but grin.

They'd won. They had to have.

"Come on, Edwards!" Her boyfriend yelled, as she neared the bell. "Hurry up!"

"Fuck you, Potter!" She yelled, panting loudly but also grinning.

And when she got to the bell, she and James wasted no time at all.

They grabbed the clapper at the same time, and slammed it against the cold metal. The sound was deafening, but Azalea didn't care.

"THEY'VE DONE IT!" Andrew yelled. "AZALEA EDWARDS AND JAMES POTTER HAVE WON!"

And it seemed surreal, as she looked up at the crowd and saw them all jumping up and down, cheering loudly for her and James. It seemed crazy. She'd never ever imagined that any of this would happen when McGonagall first read out her name from the goblet.

But right now, as she looked around at everyone, at Alice, who was crying and clapping, at Lily, who was cupping her face with her hands and whooping for them, at Fred, who was jumping up and down, at Louis, who was grinning wider than she'd ever seen him, she knew she wouldn't change a thing.

She didn't regret any of it.

Especially not James Potter, she realised, as her boyfriend picked her up and kissed her harder than ever, his hands on her waist and hers cupping his cheeks, the whole crowd either wolf whistling or laughing at them.

No, the only thing she regretted, was how much time she'd spent hating him.