"Ladies and gentlemen," Ludo Bagman's magnified voice took the attention of the crowd. "The third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin!"

Harry took a deep breath; he was ready.

"Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each— Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!" The two grinned at the cheers and applause that they received. Isabella waved at the two boys with a proud smile on her face. 

But Harry frowned soon as his eyes roamed around the crowd; Where was Asteria?

"In second place, with eighty points— Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!" More applause came, and Harry kept looking around. "And in third place— Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!"

Harry could just make out Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Ron, and Hermione applauding for Fleur politely, halfway up the stands. He waved up at them, and they waved back, beaming at him. But Ria wasn't with them either.

"So... on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" said Bagman, taking their attention. Harry shook his thoughts away. Maybe she's with Sophie, Nott and Zabini.. "Three— two— one!"

She stared down at the floor in horror, then ran her hand through her hair. No.. not Cedric. He is in danger.. He— He needs—

Ria got up, her body shaking with fear. She had to warn him. She had to tell someone..

Dumbledore.. Yes, he would do something. He would stop it, he would save them. I'll have to tell him.

Ria spun in her place rapidly, but instead of moving, she found herself stuck.

Something was glowing in front of her. Something really.. breathtaking. 

It gleamed like the moon with silvery light all around, and Ria found herself getting lost in its presence.

'You can't..' said a disappointed voice in her head.

It sounded.. sympathetic; almost like it understood whatever she was going through. 'They won't listen to you.'

She frowned, but her focus didn't falter a bit. Why wouldn't they? She asked, confused.

'Every time you've tried.. How much of your words have they valued?' The voice asked truthfully. And her memories travelled to the day the Goblet of Fire had chosen Harry as a competent.

'You screamed it to them..' Then played the moment when she was begging Dumbledore to save him. But he just walked away. 'They've never listened.'

The heavy silence of grief grew over her as she realisation dawned over her. She agreed with the voice. It was true.

'You saw a Seer, a Saviour..' She saw the same thing she had seen some moments ago; Moody transforming back into his true form. 'And all they saw was a poor, naïve, helpless girl.' But then, she saw Dumbledore dismissing the possibility of Moody being suspicious.

'You are so much more than that, Asteria.' The voice cooed, showing the heavy belief it held in her; the belief that no one had showed before.

'They could've done so much.. yet they did nothing!' The anger in their voice didn't fail to make Asteria furious too. 'How did you even think that they'd help you now?'

'You need to do it yourself.' Something soft was handed to her, and another pair of hands closed her fists around the material. 'No one can save them now.. No one but you.'

Her eyes began tearing up. What if I fail? What if I lose, not just Cedric, but Harry too?

'You won't fail..'

'I believe in you.'

And that was enough. Ria nodded, taking in a shaky breath. 

'You'll do it for yourself.. for the ones who need you. For the ones you love.'

She took a step back as the light slowly dimmed, disappearing into darkness. Her vision slowly retrieved itself, and she stared at the cloak in her hands, determined. If no one was going to help her, she had to save them herself.

Ria rushed towards the Quidditch field with Harry's Invisibility cloak hiding her from everyone's eyes. She could hear the voice ringing in her head, encouraging her on.

She finally reached the maze. The crowd surrounded the two remaining champions. Harry and Cedric were nowhere to be found. They had entered already.. Her heart pounded mercilessly against her ribs.

Bagman blew the whistle for the second time, and Krum nodded at him. This was Asteria's chance. She ran towards the opening that Viktor was going to enter through.

He entered, and the opening began to close, making her panic. Her pace increased, and she zoomed past Moody, who was guarding the entrance. She made it into the maze just in time, but Moody was quick too. Before the opening could close, he snatched the Invisibility cloak off her body.

Ria stared at the foggy, dark maze in horror. She looked behind her; the opening was closed. A gust of wind blew past her, making shivers run down her spine. I'm doing the right thing, aren't I?

...Aren't I?

With her teeth chattering in the cold air, she raised her wand. "Lumos.." she whispered, and the darkness faltered slightly. But then she realised something. Maybe I could contact Cedric with his bracelet.

Ria raised her left wrist and tapped her bracelet in a hurry, but the dot stayed still instead of whirling. She tried again, but it didn't help either. Perhaps charms brought in from outside did not work in the maze.

She gulped; now she could only hope that she could reach the Triwizard cup before Harry or Cedric did.

Ria kept on taking whatever path her instinct told her to. She could've really used the positions of the stars to figure out the north at the moment, but the maze was filled with mist. She couldn't see the night sky clearly.

Thankfully, Harry would have a spell to point his wand towards the north. She thought. But her eyes went wide in shock. That meant he could reach there quickly. Her pace increased.

Minutes into the maze, she heard something rush past behind her, making her spin in her place. She held her wand up, wanting to see whatever it was while her heart thundered against her chest. She heard another set of slow steps, and she turned around again just to come face to face with the thickening fog.

The mass of the almost opaque fog began parting when a very tall, thin figure walked towards Asteria. Her eyes travelled up; it was almost twice her height. She could feel her throat growing dry. The figure looked pale, with a red hat over his eyes and a broken red umbrella in his hand. It was all dark, but she made out a creepy smile on his supposed face. 

There was just one question in her head; who had put fucking Crooked Man as an obstacle in the maze?

The man took a crippled step towards her, and he tilted his head slightly with a crack, making her take two steps back. She skimmed through every spell she knew in her mind, and it finally dawned on her.

"Riddikulus!" The cripple-walking man transformed into logs of wood and fell on the ground, soon disintegrating away into the mist. Ria rested her palm against her thumping chest and left her breath. That fear was never going to leave her.

"Honestly, why did I have to watch Conjuring 2 when I was only eight?"

Harry looked around the maze; not because he was confused or lost. It was a sinking feeling that told him something was wrong. But it could just be the maze messing with his head.

He shook his head and continued the same path he had been taking. By then, he had been troubled by a Boggart as a Dementor, some enchanted mist that made him think the world had turned upside down, and an enormous Blast-Ended Skrewt, which had terrified him because the creature wasn't being fucking affected by spells. But he had succeeded at last.

He paused, hearing something in the path running parallel to his own.

"What are you doing?" yelled Cedric's voice. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?" His head perked up in alert. And it wasn't just him that had heard Cedric's voice.

And then Harry heard Krum's voice. "Crucio!"

The air was suddenly full of Cedric's yells. Horrified, Harry began sprinting up his path, trying to find a way into Cedric's. When none appeared, he tried the Reductor Curse and blew a hole through the bushes. He struggled to scurry through it before it could close again. And at his right, he saw Cedric jerking and twitching on the ground, Krum standing over him.

Harry pulled himself up and pointed his wand at Krum just as he looked up. Krum turned and began to run.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled. The spell hit Krum in the back; he stopped dead in his tracks, fell forward, and lay motionless, facedown in the grass. Harry dashed over to Cedric, who had stopped twitching and was lying there panting, his hands over his face.

Asteria ran towards whatever path she could find towards the place. Her cousin's screams had echoed through the maze just a while ago, terrifying her beyond explanation, and she just hoped someone had found him and aided him.

It wasn't just Cedric. She had heard Fleur too, and when she had found her, she had been unconscious, being sucked into the bushes. Ria had sent red sparks into the air, desperately wanting someone to rescue the girl since she didn't know how she could've freed her from the enchanted vines.

The maze was scary; and not just because of the obstacles present in it, the walls of the maze were made of living bushes— like the Devil's Snare— but a little less harmful. The atmosphere in the maze used to suddenly change; making minor storms of wind blow past occasionally. But that had cleared the mist many times and helped Asteria figure out where north was.

She found herself getting closer and closer to the spot where she had heard Cedric's screams from. Then she stumbled onto something stiff, falling on the ground soon after.

"Viktor?" She breathed out in confusion. She looked at his unresponsive body; he was stunned. Who stunned him?

Should I rennervate him? She shook her head. That'd be like a second chance.. I can't. She raised her wand in the air. "Periculum!" The shot levitated into the sky above the mist and burst out into red sparks. Ria quickly got up and rushed away from the spot, not wanting to get caught.

A small hope shone upon her when she heard hushed voices. She took off towards them. Since Fleur and Krum were being rescued, that left her with..

The wind in the maze changed into a storm again. Leaves and vines flew around, flapping and cutting against Ria's limbs, though she kept moving towards the voices that had turned into shouts.

She finally saw them, and she felt like crying with happiness. But then her eyes went wide in panic. The two were right in front of the gleaming Triwizard Cup.

"Go on, take it!" Cedric's voice said, and she ran towards them. "You saved my life, take the Cup!" He said to Harry, who shook his head.

"Together!" He replied. Cedric looked conflicted for a mere second, but then he nodded. "One.. two.." Harry began counting.

"No! No, stop—"

"Three!"

Ria got hold of the two's arms, but she was too late as they had already grabbed the Cup. She felt herself being jerked forwards, swirling inwards towards the Triwizard Cup along with Cedric and Harry.

The three were slammed hard against the ground, and the Triwizard Cup hurled away from the two's grip. Cedric and Harry looked around, expecting themselves to be back before the crowd at Hogwarts, while Ria's gaze was stern on the ground, her breath shaking with fear she had never felt before.

Her breath hitched. She looked around, finding herself in the place she dreaded. The graveyard.

"Ria?" The two boys asked simultaneously. "What are you doing here?" asked Cedric, his voice of concern.

"We— We need to leave." She croaked out, tears racing down her cheeks. She then looked at the two. "Ced, Harry, we need to leave, now!" She commanded urgently, getting up and looking for the Triwizard cup despite her arms bleeding out from various cuts. Her eyes found the giant cauldron and her stomach twisted sickly.

"Something's not right.." Harry spoke in realisation. The place was familiar to him, too.

"There's no time—" But her sentence was cut in half as she fell to the ground, with fine, white wisps around her body. The boys leapt towards her. She struggled in her position. "I can't— I can't move!"

"Full body bind curse.." Cedric spoke, dreading. "Harry! Wands out!"

As the words left his mouth, Harry fell to the ground in pain. His wand slipped out of his hands and he clutched his head at the agonizing pain. He felt like his head might split in two.

"CEDRIC! TAKE HARRY AND LEAVE!" Asteria yelled, her voice raw and her cheeks glistening with tears. "PLEASE, RUN! PLEASE—"

Cedric stood his ground, with his wand held at the person who lurked in the shadows. "I'M NOT LEAVING YOU ALONE!" He answered, cautiously watching the man who cradled something in his arms.

Ria struggled against the body-bind curse again, wanting to prevent whatever she had seen. Her heart wrenched at every scream that left Harry's mouth, at every moment she saw the vision run back and forth in her head..

From far away, a high, cold voice spoke. "Kill the spare."

"NO!" Her wail was loud enough to drown the incantation of the curse, but again, she was too late. The green light hit Cedric, and he fell back. 

Harry's pain reached a peak, and then suddenly diminished. Then he saw the body that laid beside him, dead. He felt numb as someone lifted him from the ground, but then his eyes moved towards her.

It looked as though Ria's heart had stopped as she stared at her cousin in disbelief, her lower lip trembling. She had watched as the light in Cedric's grey eyes dimmed.

Her mind blanked out on her. Knowing everything, doing nothing. Knowing everything, doing nothing. The chant was back, making her temples hurt so bad she felt like she could bleed from her eyes.

But it would be mercy..

It would be mercy not being able to see at all, rather than look at his lifeless body.

She had failed him.

The cloaked man dragged Harry towards the marble headstone. And from the dim wandlight, he could recognise the name clearly.

TOM RIDDLE.

The stone statue of the reaper moved, and his axe trapped Harry to itself by his neck. The cloak was shed, and he saw the man he despised with his entire life. Wormtail.

A fire lit up at the bottom of the cauldron. Wormtail flicked his wand, Ria's body rose in the air, and Harry couldn't tell if it were the words he was mumbling that made her go still, or the incident with Cedric. He slowly lowered her right in front of Harry.. above a circle engraved on the ground.

He chanted the words repeatedly, and Ria's eyes rolled to the back of her head, leaving her feeling lifeless. Harry's burn went on increasing. A dim light shone that he could see through his closed eyelids. He squinted his eyes open, and saw Ria hovering over the ground. Wormtail's breathing increased, and so did the pace of his words.

"No!" Harry yelled out, realising whatever that was happening resulted from the incantation. "NO! LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Golden light came from all over Asteria, and it spread gracefully in the air. Some letters rose from the ground— no, they were Runes— and floated around her body. And as the words repeated, the light got so bright that Harry couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. Yet he did.

"Now.." The icy voice said.

Pettigrew removed the cloth from whatever that was held in his hands, and Harry wished he hadn't. It was like a raw, slimy, greasy, overgrown foetus— but hundred times worse. It was hairy, scaly with a face inhumane that resembled to a reptile; a snake.

The thing looked feeble and weak, but its presence gave Harry another wave of immense pain in his forehead. He couldn't even clutch it with his hand to aid it this time.

Wormtail let the foetus fall into the boiling potion of the cauldron. The scar almost burned past Harry's endurance, making him squirm against the stone axe that trapped him. 

Wormtail raised his wand, and a crack was sent through the surface of the grave. A dusty bone hovered in the air at his command, and above the cauldron. "Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!" The bone caught fire and fell into the potion, making it turn into a vivid, poisonous-looking blue.

The man whimpered, drawing out a long, silver dagger from his robes. He looked petrified. "Flesh— of the servant— w— willingly given, you will— revive— your master!"

He squeaked horribly and then raised the hand with a missing finger. The blade hovered over his hand. As soon as Harry realised what he was going to do, he shut his eyes close.

There was a loud sob that echoed through the air, and a loud splash. Through his burning eyes, Harry peeked into the cauldron, which now contained red.

"Blood of the enemy.." His voice was now close to Harry. "Forcibly taken.. You will.. resurrect your foe."

And before he could do anything, the tip of Pettigrew's dagger was pressed into Harry's right forearm. Then he painfully dragged it downwards, drawing blood out. Harry winced, though the pain was nothing compared to the one in his scar.

Pettigrew held the dagger above the cauldron and drops of blood fell into it, turning the potion blinding white. Wormtail dropped to his knees, scurrying away to aid his arm, gasping and sobbing.

Harry shut his eyes tight, hoping the process had gone wrong. But then, the cauldron transformed into a mass of white and floated in the air, taking form. The burning circle of Runes ascended in the air, around Ria and the light.

"Force of the last blood! Si— Siphoned and drained!" He sobbed out. "You will submit to your new and rightful beholder!"

Asteria couldn't move the tiniest bit. The Runes around her glowed brighter and brighter with every ounce of energy taken from her body. Harry could see the outline of a thin man through the light. He opened his eyes and stared at his enemy as his black robes floated in the air.

Harry stared back at the face that had haunted his nightmares for three years. His pale skin, as white as a skull, with wide eyes as red as blood and a flat nose, with slits like a snake. Harry gulped.

Lord Voldemort had returned.

Pettigrew cried at his presence, while the Dark Lord spread his arms wide, looking smugly at the golden magic that surrounded Asteria Edwards. The light flowed towards his pale, inviting hands. But before the magic could flow into him, there was a burst of searing light from the wondrous girl.

And before he could do anything, all the magic forcefully returned back into her body, hurling her back onto the ground.

She slowly opened her eyes, barely breathing as every part of her ached. Through the small slits that she peered through, she saw the body of her cousin. The lump in her throat became harder to swallow.

With everything left in her, she inched her hand towards her brother's, hoping for the slightest chance of life. Her warm hand fell into his icy cold one, and she clutched it tightly as warm tears streamed down her face. 

She had one chance, and she had lost it.. 

She had lost him..

"Ced.. no.." She whimpered, letting out a helpless sob before unwillingly submitting to her tiredness.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

[word count: 3273]

a/n: zamnn we at the second last chapter of GoF :3

also I just realised that we're close to where we left off before I started rewriting 💀
man it's gon be fun