Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Eternal Glory

Eternal Glory.

Dumbledore promised that to the ones who entered the damned tournament, not that he ever entered the tournament itself. The only thing you will ever get in this event is a measly 1000 Galleons, while it may be a lot to many wizards and witches, but for the ones who entered it, not so much.

Viktor Krum, world’s youngest seeker, he has a fucking castle from what I heard, he doesn’t need 1000 Galleons nor fame.

Fleur Delacour, well, she’s going to be married to me, I’m rich, and she’s part Veela, men eyed her as if she was a prize, a treasure.

Cedric Diggory, fucking Robert Pattinson, he looks like the Batman and Edward Cullen, handsome as hell, and his dad’s in the ministry as well, he doesn’t need 1000 Galleons or fame.

And Harry Bloody Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, he doesn’t need anymore fame as it is, and his family’s rich from what I can observe. 1000 Galleons is not a lot to him, not that he can use it anyway… Besides, he’s here for… other reasons… 

I could hear the sound of trumpets and drums behind me, the Hogwarts band playing some kind of cheering tune for Diggory and Potter, I could hear some French words getting thrown all around from the Beauxbatons side, cheering for Fleur.

As soon as they knew they had a chance of winning this bloody tournament, they supported her. Vultures… all of them…

The cheers then began to become more loud as the Champions entered the Quidditch field. Three of the four champions looked nervous, Diggory, Potter, and Fleur, while Krum was acting casual, throwing his fist to the Durmstrang students to rile them up.

Potter was talking calmly with Dumbledore, trying to look calm. Diggory was being escorted by his father, who looked so happy for his son.

Fleur was looking at the stands anxiously, trying to find someone. When her eyes met mine, she looked considerably calmer, I just threw her a gentle smile, to which she smiled back.

I was sitting with her family, probably more nervous than she is. They looked calm, but Sebastian was sweating like a pig.

The champions gathered in front of the maze entrance, nothing seemed abnormal, but there was one thing that I noticed.

Moody is missing.

It’s quite worrying to see Moody missing. I cannot know what he is planning, and I’m feeling jittery right now…

—

Fleur stood in front of the maze entrance as Dumbledore explained the rules of the task. She will enter first, as she’s in the first place. She kept glancing at the audience stands over and over again, looking at Archie nervously. To her surprise, Archie’s face looked calm, he kept giving her soft smiles to calm her down, but she felt that Archie is hiding his emotions strongly right now. Her parents also looked nervous, they were quiet besides Archie, solemnly listening to Dumbledore’s explanation.

As soon as Dumbledore finished, he turned to Fleur and walked towards her.

“Without wasting anymore time, it’s time for Miss Delacour to enter the maze!” he shouted as he softly pushed Fleur to the maze.

“Miss Delacour… In there, you will not find any monsters or beasts to conquer. But be wary, people change in the maze, and you might just lose yourself on the way.” Dumbledore whispered to Fleur.

Fleur gulped nervously, her hands feeling jittery.

“Now, you can enter Miss Delacour. If you feel that you cannot do it anymore, send a spark towards the sky, and our staff will pick you up.” Dumbledore then pushed Fleur to the maze. As soon as she stepped into the maze, she felt… strange… she glanced at the audience stand for the last time, looking at Archie’s smiling face, before the maze entrance closed by itself, the bushes around her moved.

Fleur took a deep breath once the entrance closed. The maze will change, she thought. She slowly walked towards the dark maze, she could hear the scuffling noise of the bushes moving around her, and it’s honestly a bit nerve racking. 

She clenched her wand tightly as she kept walking through the place. She kept remembering Archie’s warning about the third task, that something was going to happen, so she was alert at all times, waiting for that ‘something’ to come.

—

As time went by, I saw the champions enter one by one. Diggory and Potter entered together, they seemed calm, I don’t know if they had a deal beforehand or something. The maze was calm when the two entered. There was no scream, no red signals in the sky, which was good, but it only made me more nervous. When Krum entered, the crowd finally died down, and now comes the wait. Seriously, who designed these tasks, two out of three tasks just made the audience wait to see who came first…

“Do you think she will succeed, Archibald?” Apolline asked quietly, trying to calm herself.

“She is a capable witch, Apolline, you should trust your daughter more.” I said, though I know that was just empty words.

“What things are in the maze anyway?” Sebastian frowned. “I hear no noise coming from it.”

“There’s nothing in it I hear.” I answered. “But the maze is alive. It will move by itself.”

“You know a lot of things, Archibald.” Apolline commented as she caressed Gabrielle’s hair.

“Well, I researched a lot of things for this.” I said calmly. “Don’t worry, if anything ever happens, I will do something.”

The two parents then turned to me and raised their eyebrows spontaneously, damn, they really look like a married couple.

“What do you mean?” Sebastian questions in suspicion.

“Well…”

Before I could answer, something in my pockets vibrated profusely, as if it was trying to get out of the pocket itself. I quickly took it out, it was a carved stone, meant to be an ‘alarm’ or some sort, so if Fleur’s in danger, I could know it from this.

This was… too fast… the stone continued to shake heavily as the rune glowed, making the Delacours more curious.

“What is that?” Apolline frowned deeply at the sight of the stone.

“Sebastian, tell Dumbledore that there’s something going on in the maze.” I said calmly.

“What? What do you–”

“I’ve got no time to explain. Just do it.” I said. I looked him dead in the eyes, before crushing the already crumbling stone in my hand, and I disappeared from the place, leaving the Delacours baffled.

—

Meanwhile, Fleur was running desperately as a wave of plants were closing on her, closing the path she just took. Her breath was haggard, and was sweating like crazy. She kept shouting curses in French and tried to outrun the wave.

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When she looked in front of her, she saw two paths. One straight, and one to the left. Of course, she took the left path, the obvious one. She quickly threw herself towards the left path, barely avoiding the moving maze.

She took a deep breath as she laid on the ground, trying to rest for a while.

“Merde…” She cursed between her breaths.

She rested for a couple more seconds, before turning to the path that is now upon her. At first her gaze was blurry from all the running, but as it focused, she could see a glowing trophy displayed on the edge of the corridor.

Fleur’s eyes went wide. “Wait… is that…”

There are three paths in front of her, if she goes straight, she will get the trophy, and there are two more paths, leading to Merlin knows where.

She weakly stood up, still not believing that she actually found the bloody cup. Her legs were trembling slightly, her muscles tired, but she pushed on and slowly walked towards the glowing thing.

But as she passed the crossroad that is between her and the cup, she saw a bright flash of red light coming towards her from the left path. Her eyes widened at the sight, but before the light could hit her, she was pulled by someone from the side, narrowly avoiding the bright crimson spell.

Fleur could then feel someone was hugging her tightly from behind, and it made her really uncomfortable.

“Wha—” Fleur wanted to protest, but the man that hugged her suddenly closed her mouth with his hand.

“Be quiet.” said the voice from behind her, and she could instantly recognize that voice.

Fleur quickly raised her eyebrow at the voice. ‘Archibald? What is ‘e doing ‘ere?’

—

After I pulled Fleur away from the trajectory of the spell, I quickly shut her up using my hand. It’s no use anyway, but I prefer to concentrate when shit like this happens, and her babbling in front of me won’t help it.

“I should’ve thought you would interfere, Whitlock.” said the man who shot the spell.

“Are you an idiot?” I spoke out from behind the bush. “You’re revealing yourself to the public, Crouch. You haven’t even finished your task yet.”

The man, who was Crouch Jr, gruffed as he shot an explosion spell towards my direction. I pushed Fleur away from the place, avoiding the explosion barely.

“I should’ve known.” Crouch Jr. scoffed. “You are too smart for your own good, Whitlock.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” I taunted, silently telling Fleur to keep laying low while I stood up. “Are you an idiot? Fleur is not your task, why are you here?”

“Oh that’s where you’re wrong, Whitlock.” Crouch Jr. sneered as I appeared in front of him. He was still in his Moody disguise, still wearing the eye, which is a problem. “The Dark Lord is sending goodwill towards your family, and he wants to meet you Whitlock, be honored!”

“And why is that connected to Fleur may I ask?” I said sarcastically. But then, I realized what he meant by that. My eyes widened at the thought, making Crouch Jr. grinned like a madman.

That fucker’s planning to kidnap Fleur…

“Join us, Whitlock.” he pointed his wand towards me, his face slowly morphing towards his own face. Moody’s eye dropped to the ground, along with his staff that was held by Crouch Jr. “The Dark Lord will be pleased if you gave him the impenetrable Whitlock Manor, along with the knowledge that comes with it!”

“You know… how idiotic can you be?” I said while chuckling, taunting the dark wizard in front of me. “Are you really trying to kidnap a French family member? Do you realize how stupid that is?”

Crouch Jr. quickly frowned at my words, but he didn't say anything, instead, he quickly casted a stunner spell towards me.

I used a silent Protego charm and rolled to the path that is heading towards the cup. “You haven’t thought about it are you? I bet that your so-called ‘Dark Lord’ only commanded you to bring me to him in a hurry, and you haven’t thought of a specific plan…”

Again, no verbal response. Instead, an explosion spell suddenly blew up the edge of the bush of the labyrinth. I turned towards Fleur that is across me, and signaled her to back away and stay silent.

She had a look of protest in her face as she held her wand tightly, I could only signal her to wait. She appears to realize what I’m doing, so she nodded.

“I mean come on Crouch, are you really going to follow a Dark Lord that doesn’t even have a place to stay?” I said, mockery filled my tone. “Instead of making it himself, he commanded his underlings to coerce a 14-year-old boy to get the castle he dreamt for. Isn’t that just pathetic?”

“How dare you mock the dark lord!” A bright green light slammed the wall bush in front of me, making me flinch as I could feel the hate from that spell. I planted myself on the wall behind me, wand pointing at the direction of the spell. I signaled Fleur to back off even further, she could only agree as it was quite dangerous right now. 

“You think the dark lord didn’t think of that boy?!” Crouch roared, struggling to calm down. “And you think the French Ministry will go to war for one girl that is not even bound to them anymore?!”

Crouch finally stood in the middle of the crossroad of the labyrinth, facing me, and his back facing Fleur. It seems he doesn’t notice that Fleur is behind him from all the rage he’s releasing right now. I stood my ground, my wand ready.

“They are all cowards.” Crouch started to calm down, eyes staring at me. “Our dear minister will deny the possibility of the dark lord coming back. And those damned French can’t do anything, lest they want to start a war with the whole of Britain.”

“And what about you?” I asked once again. “You’ve been caught red handed, I assure you, your plan about Potter have already failed, as I am here, you’re either going to be defeated by me, defeated by Dumbledore, or murdered by your own lord.”

“You overestimate your ability too much, boy.” Crouch Jr. sneered. “AVADA KEDAVRA!”

A flash of bright green light enveloped my vision, and I could feel something hard hitting my chest.

Alright, this is it… please work, please work, please work…

And nothing happened.

“Hah! It worked!” I shouted like an idiot. The robe that I was wearing then suddenly burned to a crisp, leaving me with only my shirt and trousers.

“You…” Crouch murmured deeply, a grim frown visible on his face.

I cleared my throat and spoke loudly. “Alright, now that the test is over, Fleur!”

Crouch’s eyes widened as I shouted Fleur’s name. Both of us then pointed our wands at him, casting a spell at the same time. The spell travels towards Crouch, targeting his front and his back, cornering the dark wizard as if he was but a rat in a trap.

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