━━━third task!

FOR THE FIRST time in a long time Birdie Potter was genuinely so happy, she had the boy she loved, her brother liked her, she talked to her parents, her bestfriend was by her side at Hogwarts and Hope Lupin was back in her life. See, happy life, unfortunately...life decided to screw her in the arse.

She'd talked to Fred, and he said they might need to take a break just to figure things out and Birdie said it was ok, which it was actually not Birdie cried the whole night, don't worry she's completely ok.

She's just overwhelmed...or not, whatever, she doesn't care — it wasn't like she knew it would happen sometime, but she wanted it not, that would've been great, but you know, it is what it is — shit happens, that's life — she has to now get off her lazy arse and start looking presentable if she didn't want the school to think that she had died and then gotten risen from her grave to feed on brains and then cause a zombie apocalypse.

"Oh, hey Birdie" Bianca looked over at Birdie who walked out of the bathroom with a solemn look on her face, "You didn't throw water on me today"

"Didn't feel like it" Birdie shrugged, she put her comfort cardigan on — it was her father's, he stole it from his father and his father stole it from his — you get the point.

Bianca frowned, "That's...odd, once you woke up at four when I had quidditch practice at five, just to pour water on me"

"I know" Birdie sighed, "Just didn't feel like it, allergies, ya know"

"Is that why I heard sniffling last night—"

"You know what, Bianca? It's none of your business"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed" Lorelei barged in, without knocking, which most definitely annoyed Birdie but she just sat down on her chair by the desk, Birdie laid her head down on the desk and then turned away.

She's very aware that she's being dramatic, but who the fuck cares? Certainly not Fred.

"You're not gonna say anything about the barging in without the knocking?" Hope asked, her brows furrowed and then sat next to Birdie after pulling up a chair.

"Not in the mood today" Birdie said, facing her head the other way from the people, back to the darkness where she belonged.

"What's wrong with her?" Lorelei said in a stage whisper, Birdie could imagine her scrunching her nose — another Black family habit.

"I don't know" Hope whispered back.

"I heard her sniffling at night" Bianca chimed in.

"Guys" Birdie whispered back, "I'm still here" she said raising her volume.

"Wanna play a game?" Lorelei responded in a whisper.

"No" Birdie answered.

...

"Ok, that is so stupid!" Hope exclaimed, "I would beat your arses so hard!"

"Um, I think not!" Lorelei exclaimed back, "Lupin I could mess you up in a blink!"

"I don't know who to pick on this round" Birdie said, leaning forward as the two girls bickered back and forth. The girls had ended up playing a game of who could kill, a little violent but fun nonetheless.

"Maybe in your other form..." Lorelei said her voice trailing off, she realized what she'd said and her voice cracked.

"No, bitch! I'm gonna tear you apart in my human form!" Hope said throwing popcorn at Lorelei, "And that without a hitch"

"Wow, you wanna tussle, Lupin?"

"Ok, let's tussle, Black"

"Ooh, wrestle to death" Birdie joked but then Hope and Lorelei started looking serious and she immediately backed down, "No, no, no! You're not gonna do it"

"Just an arm wrestling match" Lorelei whined, "It'll be fun!"

"Yeah, if you call losing fun!" Hope snapped.

Birdie sighed, the two of them immediately started arm wrestling each other — the two bestfriends cheating in every way possible you could in an arm wrestling match.

"I broke up with Fred" Birdie blurted out, "We broke up with each other, I— he broke up with me, um, he dumped me..."

Lorelei and Hope fell over in shock, both of them got up again with a sad look on their faces, "I thought things were going great with you two" Lorelei said, her voice turning soft.

"I said I loved him, he didn't feel the same way" Birdie shrugged, "It's fine — we were mature about it"

"Birdie, I am so sorry" Hope rushed forward to give Birdie one of the famous warm Lupin hugs, her dad gave her hugs just like these.

'I'm gonna kill him' Lorelei mouthed from behind Birdie's back, Hope shook her head, 'No, I will'

"No one's gonna kill him" Birdie wiped her eyes, "He's fine, he's a good guy, it just was me... probably, like every relationship of mine"

"Answer these questions, ok?" Lorelei asked Birdie who nodded, "Did you cheat on him?"

"No?"

"Did you call him names?"

"Yeah, I kinda did — I called his arseface, arsehole, and the other thing, mostly related to arse? But it wasn't with a bad intention"

"That's settled" Hope nodded.

"Did you belittle him every moment you could?" Lorelei asked Birdie who shook her head.

"No?" Birdie said back with her brows furrowed, "Why did he feel like that? Do I have to apologize—"

"No, Birdie" Lorelei said with a firm voice, "You're not the one who did something wrong in this relationship — so, if you'll now allow me, I'd like the permission to go kill him."

"Absolutely not" Birdie shook her head.

"I'll ask about it sometime again" Lorelei nodded.

"And it'll still be a no" Birdie said, "It's fine, dude it's ok. I mean, it's like I wanted this relationship to be right — it wasn't like I was hoping for some reason maybe I wouldn't be overlooked at one thing, and that was being someone's girlfriend."

"Ok, I think you need to rant it out" Hope said, coming down to sit beside Birdie, "It's something my father and I do, whenever we feel overwhelmed we list everything that has ever bothered us, and then it makes us feel a bit better"

"I don't have that much to complain about really — I guess I'm the 'forgotten one', thank god for that. I don't think I would've survived all the torment, so there's that, and um, my parents haven't been talking to me that much and I think it's because they're starting to hate me? Also, my bestfriends and my brother might die later today, so. Yeah, that's all I can name at the top of my head"

"Maybe you should start seeing a therapist"

✿

BIRDIE BIT HER nails anxiously as she stared at the maze, she hadn't heard anything about anyone inside the maze yet — this was fucking stupid, what the hell are they even trying to accomplish? And it's not even like they could see what's happening inside the maze.

"This is making me anxious" Hope said shoving her hands in her pocket, "I can't believe this is happening — we can't even see them, at least in Quidditch you can see the person"

"I really think Quidditch should be the least of your worries right now, Lupin" Birdie said shaking her head.

"Well, I'm sorry" Hope muttered, "When I'm nervous Quidditch is the only thing that runs through my mind"

"You should meet my dad" Birdie whispered in her ear, "He would love you"

"How do I know it's not because of my father?" Hope whispered back, "Everyone says I'm like my father — and your dad loves my father"

"My dad loves everyone" Birdie waved her off, "Except Snivellus, and a lot of Slytherins...actually, he does hate quite a few people but when he loves someone he loves them, also when he hates someone he hates them"

"Good to know" Hope shot back, "I'll keep that in mind the next time I see him, you know, make sure my hair isn't greasy or do anything that annoys him"

"Yeah" Birdie said absentmindedly, and then out of nowhere a red park flew up to the sky, bursting in the air to form exclamation marks, Birdie and Hope held on to each other's arms, "What is that? Why is it happening?"

"I don't know" Hope muttered back, everyone watched with amusement and fear at the same time, Professor Dumbledore got up and got his wand out — sending a tornado looking gust of the wind into the maze, the maze soon emerged with Eloise who had scratches all over her body, her body looked pale and her eyes were wide open with shock.

After a few more moments, another spark shot up — Fleur came out, she was unconscious. Then was Krum, but then things were quiet for the longest time until two champions found their way back to the front of the maze — Harry and Cedric.

"Oh my god!" Birdie exclaimed as the sound of cheer and the band playing surrounded the whole stadium, "They did it! Oh my Helga!"

"Birdie..." Hope said and the whole stadium fell quiet, Birdie looked at her friend the brightest smile on her face, Hope shook her head and watched Birdie's face fall.

Her gaze moved on to her brother was sobbing as he held Cedric's limp body, Birdie could feel her heart dropping — she couldn't breathe, before even realizing tears started streaming down her face, "No!" she exclaimed, "No!" Birdie ran out of the stadium, not knowing anything else — she didn't want to know anything else. She just had to get out of there.

"Robin!" She heard someone say as she was running out of there, she didn't know where she was going, and she didn't even know where she could go, she just couldn't be there, "Robin!"

Birdie collapsed on the floor, huge sobs racking her body as she put her head in her hands and tried to forget about whatever had happened. Birdie felt someone pull her into their chest and a familiar smell surrounded her but she couldn't care less.

She'd always been scared of losing people, with her parents and her brother — she had to be, she didn't know what could happen the next day, she just didn't want to lose any one she ever knew, it was her biggest fear in life and now it's come true.

Birdie had nightmares and it was all about losing people — how the hell was she going to deal with this? How can she ever move on from this? Cedric's gone and he's not coming back, he won't ever come back — Birdie didn't have a Hufflepuff buddy who could argue about Hufflepuff being the best at Quidditch — Cedric Diggory was gone.

Birdie had known the guy forever, they grew close, then apart and then close again and now Birdie didn't know how to deal with that.

...

"Where's my brother?" Birdie asked, her nose and eyes red and her cheeks splotchy, Fred was by her side no matter how much she asked him to step away — which was actually really bothering her.

"He's in the Hospital wing, dear" Professor Sprout said placing a hand on Birdie's shoulder, "I'm here if you need me" Birdie noticed that Professor's eyes were red herself, she gave her a stiff nod.

Birdie turned around and started walking towards the Hospital wing with her hands in her pocket, avoiding eye contact with anyone. Fred hung out behind her, "You ok, Robin—"

"What are you doing, Fred?" Birdie turned around — a hard look on her face, "What do you want from me?"

"I just wanted to make sure you wer—"

"You're the last person I want to see you right now" Birdie said with a harsh voice, "Are you happy? Cedric's gone, there's no one who can catch the bloody snitch besides your house, congratu—fucking—lations!"

"Birdie—" Fred said, his voice gentle.

"Leave me alone, Fred" Birdie said firmly and made her way to the hospital wing to see her brother. He was sat in the hospital bed with a big black dog curled up in his side, she knew who he was but she didn't have the energy.

"Snuffles, shoo" Birdie said and the dog gave her a look and when she gave him a glare he released a whimper and then walked away, his tail hanging, "You need something? Water? Butterbeer? Firewhiskey? God knows you need some"

"Thanks for offering me alcohol" Harry pressed his lips into a line, "but no, thanks"

"Tell me everything that happened" Birdie said pulling up a chair, "It's very important, Harry don't leave out a single detail"

Harry explained everything word to word, the siblings teared up when it came to the topic of Cedric. "Harry you realize what's gonna happen now, right?" Birdie said, her voice cracking, "We have to tell M and D, we won't be able to communicate to them anymore"

"I know" Harry nodded, "You should warn them, you know"

The Hospital wings opened with a bang and George barged in, everyone immediately surrounded him, "What are you—" Birdie got up and and saw George holding someone in his arms, she saw the Durmstrang uniform— oh no.

"I found her outside the maze, I don't think she's feeling good" George said, he kept stammering.

"Oh, dear!" Madam Pomfrey rushed forward and, "Come on, let's get her settled on the bed, Mr Weasley!"