Chapter 3
You woke up on the morning of the third task drenched in a cold sweat. You had a nightmare that Cedric was killed during the task. You thought about telling him, but you didn’t want to worry him, as you guessed that he was stressed enough, without you worrying. “I’m being stupid” you told yourself, “It’ll all be fine”. You walked into Cedric’s dorm and asked “How’re you feeling about today?”. He seemed so chilled about it. “Bit nervous, but I know it’ll be fine. It’ll be a day to remember” he said. “A day to remember…” you responded. And it was, but for all the wrong reasons. If only you’d have known that then. Maybe you would have done things differently. Said what you wanted to say. Hugged him one last time. But it’s too late. You were with Cedric all day, and your stressed tripled as the time passed. You were easily way more stressed than Cedric was, and he was the one doing it, not you. You meet Cedric’s parents with him, and then you went over and were delighted to see that Mrs. Weasley, the mother you and Harry didn’t have growing up, and Bill Weasley, who had been like an older brother to you and Harry ever since you met him, came in the place of parents to watch Harry in the third task. Each champion was called to enter the maze, and Harry and Cedric went first, as they were tied for first place in the tournament. All you could do was watch your brother and boyfriend walk into a maze, where they easily could never walk out of. You were barely minutes into the task and your fingers were already bleeding from biting your nails. 30 minutes in and your hands started shaking. 40 minutes in and someone sent red sparks up. You didn’t know whether you wanted it to be Cedric or Harry, or you didn’t. You were relieved, but almost disappointed when you found out it was Fleur who had sent them up, not Cedric. Your mind was spiralling. It was coming up with all these “What if’s” and “Worst case Scenarios”. You kept trying to tell yourself that it will all be fine. In the next hour or so Cedric would be back, and all this stressing would be for nothing. Or so you thought. Then more red sparks were sent up, and yet again, the same feeling of relief, but disappointment came when you saw Krum. No sign of Cedric or Harry. 30 more minutes passed, then an hour and still nothing. You wouldn’t tear your eyes away from the maze for even a millisecond. Someone would talk to you, and you’d give them vague answers without even looking at them. “When are they going to be back!” You cry in frustration. You want this feeling of fear and stress and anxiety to go away and stay away. No one answered you and you got more and more frustrated by the minute. It’s could have been 10 minutes, or an hour, but you finally saw the red of Harry’s triwizard shirt, but instead of looking happy, or at least relieved, he was screaming, crying. Your first thought was that he was injured, as he was on the ground. But then you saw it. The flash of bright yellow that you recognised as Cedric’s triwizard shirt. Your thoughts spiralled as you shoved your way through crowds of people and then you saw him. Grey eyes glazed over. You touched his hand and it was as cold as ice. “No no no no! You- you promised you weren’t going anywhere, you said we’d get married, start a family together! You were so excited, don’t- don’t leave me here.” you said through sobs you thought would never stop. You knew full well that it was completely pointless, that it was too late, but you tried to shake him awake, like you did when he fell asleep as you were studying. “Y/n, I’m really sorry, I am, I really tried to stop it, but I couldn’t, I was too late”. He explains everything about the graveyard, and wormtail and Voldemort’s return. “So you’re telling me that Voldemort is back, and wormtail killed Cedric under his orders?” Harry nods. You were eventually brought up to your dorm by one of the other girls in your year, but that night you didn’t get any sleep. You kept thinking about all of it, and it hit you in waves. You went through all the five stages of grief multiple times. Whoever says those “stages” are true, is lying. You tried to focus on the good memories, but that almost hurt more. Knowing that all those things will never happen again.