Everlasting (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

Third Task

Staring ahead of yourself, you knew it was time to complete this. To end this. What started so abruptly, illegally, dangerously - it was time for you to shine. It was time to step forward and take victory upon yourself. Looking to the side at Cedric, who was in position, he gave you a light nod and a wink, and you flashed him a smile. This motivated him enough. And, in the audience, a certain frown presented itself upon the sight of you and Cedric being so close and working together - from Mr Malfoy, of course.

"And remember - don't forget yourselves in the maze."

You all looked forward, ready to charge off. And so, the siren was played, and it was time to charge in. Taking one last final look behind out of the maze, you caught sight of Mad-Eyed Moody, who flashed you a smile and quietly pointed to the left. To the left? Why was he telling you where to go? Either way, you took the advice, and thus proceeded to stick to the left.

You made your way through the maze, gripping your wand tightly. Where you were heading, or what you were going to encounter was an entire mystery to you. You were completely surrounded by greenery, and you could not hear or see anything else. There was a growing tension; a growing fear. Something within the maze began to make you feel uneasy, and it was not merely the deafening silence, or the eerie atmosphere. Something - something was off about it, and it began to make you feel sick. You thought, for a moment, that you felt your chest scar become irritated, but it was ever so hard to tell, and you believed it was your mind playing tricks on you, thus you ignored it and continued making your way through the maze. Sticking to the left, to the left, to the left.

When, suddenly, one of the aisles in the maze began to close up from the ending. Your eyes widened at the sight of it and, as quickly as possible, you began to charge in the opposite direction, avoiding being sucked up. You ran as fast as possible. And, just before the end, it was briefly behind you and had almost closed up on you, when you finally succeeded in jumping over into another aisle, avoiding the walls. Sighing of relief, you stared at the closed aisle, and realised how close it had been for it all to be over.

There was no time to mess around. Rolling up your sleeves, you sighed, looked ahead of yourself, and finally proceeded to charge through the maze. Victory was yours. You were [F/n] Potter. You would have it no other way.

"Have you realised being in the audience just means staring at nothing for ages?" Blaise asked Draco, who turned to him.

"Yeah. Adds the tension for no reason."

"You know, you kind of got me hyped for Potter," Blaise said with a grin.

"What?"

"Like, with supporting her and all. It's kind of made me support her too. I hope she wins. And plus, after I last spoke to her, I realised she wasn't as bad as Pansy made her out to be, and stuff."

"What are you saying?" Draco furrowed his brows.

"[F/n]."

"What about her?"

"I just said! Are you even listening?"

"Yes, I am. Why are you talking about her all of a sudden?"

"What? She's literally relevant to what's happening right now."

"Right," Draco cleared his throat, turning away. He had worked so hard to get you off his mind, but Blaise's constant mention of you ruined it every time.

"I think she'll win."

"Can we talk about something else?"

"Why? Why're you so irritated, man? Come on."

"I just don't want to talk about her. She's a boring topic."

"You sure, my man?" Blaise raised his eyebrow. "You're acting kind of sus."

Draco did not respond, but rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, you were creeping through the maze, for you'd heard the sound of footsteps, and could not risk being eaten by some unknown creature. However, when you turned to look into the other aisle, you discovered for it to be Viktor Krum; eyes as shallow as can be. Indeed, that was it for him. With no Viktor Krum left in himself, he was now a hollow body merely fighting for its life as it paced through the aisles of the maze. And that was the danger of this maze - he had lost himself, given into the darkness of the maze. It was a saddening sight, and you felt sad for a moment, but you realised he would return again. Eventually, he would be free from this maze, and return to being the teenager that he was. So now, there was no time to waste and ponder over ridiculous matters such as these.

You gripped your wand tighter, and proceeded through the maze. You felt it - you felt the victory so close. And yet, the further you went, the more you discovered, the more the irritation of your scar proceeded. Eventually, you acknowledged that it was not your mind playing tricks on you, and your scar truly was reminding you of its existence. That was not good. That was very much not good. For a moment, you wished to somehow get in touch with Harry, speak to him about it, and ask him if his was irritated too. But, you were stuck in this maze of isolation and desolation. There was no communicating with the outer world.

Pacing through, you ran into an aisle and proceeded to hear another set of footsteps running. Freezing in your position, you awaited for the figure to reveal itself as you awaited it with your wand pointed in the direction. Your heart raised itself in an instant, however, when you noticed the yellow shirt, and the messy hair of Cedric Diggory, alongside his dirty, muddy face, you sighed of relief and immediately ran up to him. He sighed of relief as he noticed you, and you immediately jumped up on him, wrapping your arms around him, as he also held you tightly and buried himself in the crook of your neck, embracing you as tightly as possible.

"You're here, you're here," he whispered into your neck. Cedric began to stroke your hair, processing that he really was holding you.

"I'm here," you whispered back, squeezing him tighter.

"I'm so glad you're safe."

You dropped down, and looked at him happily. The two of you quickly engaged in a kiss, and then held hands, refusing to let go. The desperate need to feel a presence, a like soul, with one was increased when in that maze. The maze heightened sensations of loneliness, desperation, and horrific depression. The mere ability to feel the skin of another human, the body warm and flowing with its lively blood - it was reassuring and calming.

"We've got this," you nodded with a smile, "we'll do it together."

"Together?"

"We'll both win."

Cedric looked at you intently. And then he smiled. And then he nodded. Yes, you were going to win together. You made your way through some more aisles, still holding hands, as you led him on, having a feeling of which way to go.

"My scar's been irritating me," you finally said.

"What? How do you know?"

"I can feel it. It's getting worse by the second."

"[F/n] - we should contact them on the outside, then! It's dangerous. You know what it means when it's irritated."

"But I think maybe it's just the effects of the maze and it's negativity. I think we should wait for a while longer. We could lose an entire victory just because of a misunderstanding. My mind is probably just playing tricks on me to make me go insane."

"I suppose you're right."

And then, finally, you saw the shining bright trophy at the end of the aisle. Standing there, ever so perfectly.

"Cedric," you whispered out in awe, and disbelief.

"Holy shit," he whispered back. "We've got it."

"Let's grab it together."