A piercing scream echoed throughout the entire maze as Cedric was flung into Harry Potter's area. "Help him! Someone help him! You damn
A piercing scream echoed throughout the entire maze as Cedric was flung into Harry Potter's area.
"Help him! Someone help him! You damn Aurors, why aren't you helping?!"
The members of the Thebes Legion were still clashing with the Aurors, but when they saw Cedric soaring through the air, they became even more agitated.
Harry Potter froze. Should he go forward to grab the trophy, or turn back to check on Cedric's condition?
He was caught in a dilemma.
Fleur was on the verge of a breakdown. First, she saw Gabrielle get punched, and now Cedric had been sent flying. From the looks of it, Gabrielle's situation couldn't be good either.
"Regulus! My sister misunderstood something—she's going to react impulsively. What should we do?!"
Though Gabrielle herself was fine, she shook Regulus Black's arm desperately, begging him to help Fleur.
"There's nothing I can do in this situation. The gauntlets don't have a communication function, so Fleur can't be informed of your status. But honestly, it's not a big deal. If the safety mechanism is triggered, she'll be withdrawn from the match."
Regulus Black tried to comfort the little girl. In fact, misunderstandings like this could make things rather interesting.
On the other side, Stanislav Ivaneski had just sent Cedric flying. He turned and saw Fleur stepping into the center of the arena where the Triwizard Cup sat. His teammate, Viktor Krum, was a bit further away.
If he couldn't claim the trophy himself, he wasn't about to let anyone else have it either. With that thought in mind, Stanislav Ivaneski strode forward. As he moved, he tore through the maze effortlessly. Traps, mechanisms—none of it could stop him.
Fleur reached the central area at the same time as Stanislav Ivaneski.
Fleur was trying to get through this zone to find her sister Gabrielle, while Stanislav was there solely to prevent her from reaching the trophy.
Just as Fleur stepped onto the trophy's pedestal, Stanislav's massive foot landed at the same moment.
The pedestal shattered. The trophy was teleported elsewhere, and Fleur was enveloped by a gust of magical energy that shielded her from the giant foot above.
Outside the maze, Regulus Black cast a summoning spell once more, and Fleur was withdrawn from the competition. The two sisters immediately embraced, overjoyed that the other was safe.
"Cedric! How are you feeling?"
Harry had ultimately decided to check on his classmate first. He quickly found Cedric in a nearby section of the maze.
"I'm alright... I seriously thought I was going to die just now."
Cedric had been struck and launched across the entire maze. During his tumble through the air, he even caught a glimpse of the trophy.
Fortunately, the maze walls were made of slender trees. Cedric had slammed into them, which absorbed the impact and prevented him from crashing to the ground.
"I'm just glad you're okay. Really glad."
Harry sat down beside Cedric. He had truly feared the worst—he had braced himself to find a corpse.
"I might be fine for now, but we're about to have a serious problem."
Cedric's voice was tense. That towering figure in the night sky looked terrifying, and Harry stood up anxiously as well.
"Lend me your wand—mine got knocked away earlier."
Cedric asked to borrow Harry's wand. In the dim light, both their faces were unreadable.
"Here."
Harry handed it to him without hesitation.
"Accio wand!"
Cedric swung Harry's wand and cast the Summoning Charm to retrieve his own.
Immediately, a slender wand flew toward them from the distance. Cedric caught it in one hand and returned Harry's wand.
"We'll use Stupefy together. Make sure you use all your magical power."
It was the only spell Cedric could think of. Even though the giant had flung him across the maze, he didn't want to kill him.
"Stupefy!"
"Stupefy!"
Their target was so huge that there was no need to aim—they couldn't miss. Both Cedric and Harry channeled all their energy into the spell.
Then... it seemed to work.
The giant, Stanislav Ivaneski's transformed form, wobbled—and began to fall backward.
"Damn it! How could it be this unlucky?!"
Just behind the main arena, Viktor Krum watched the giant about to fall—there was no way to dodge it!
Like a collapsing mountain, Stanislav Ivanesky toppled straight down, crashing heavily onto the ground and pinning Viktor Krum beneath him.
"It seems Krum's protective air shield has also activated."
Since she wasn't his woman, Regulus Black didn't hesitate. He drew his wand and pointed it at the ground in front of him.
Bang!
A burst of air exploded, like a balloon being punctured. Viktor Krum suddenly appeared at that spot out of thin air.
"Too bad, Krum. You did quite well."
Regulus Black extended his hand. The two shook hands—was that a gesture of acknowledgment?
Viktor Krum removed the bracer from his left arm and handed it to Regulus Black. He didn't know why the man was collecting these items, but since it was part of the rules, he complied.
At that moment, right next to Regulus Black's seat lay the bracers of the Delacour sisters.
In the entire arena, a giant lay collapsed near the center, and the only remaining contestants were the two champions from Hogwarts.
The course of the competition had taken a dramatic turn. Cedric and Harry Potter exchanged a glance, and both saw the determination to win reflected in each other's eyes.
Raising his arm to look at his bracer, Harry saw that the glowing light indicating the location of the trophy had shifted to a different place.
Stanislav Ivanesky had first transformed into a giant and destroyed his own section of the arena, then attacked Gabrielle and wrecked her area, then continued to Cedric's zone and leveled that too.
After demolishing three areas, he spotted Fleur entering the central zone and charged toward it, destroying that section as well.
Now, the only zones still intact were those of Harry Potter, Fleur, and Krum.
Fortunately, the trophy wasn't in Krum's area—otherwise, the world-class superstar would've already turned around and claimed it.
The trophy wasn't in Fleur's zone either. Otherwise, Krum might have reached it first and avoided being crushed by the giant.
Unexpectedly, the trophy had been relocated to Harry Potter's area—right on a pedestal near the entrance.
It was as if fate itself had smiled upon him. There was no need for a long trek anymore.
The two Hogwarts champions, once bound by mutual respect, were now competitors—everything had changed in an instant.
Both started sprinting toward the pedestal where the trophy stood, jostling and shoving along the way, showing no regard for the fact that they were schoolmates.
The same kind of shoving and shouting erupted in the stands. The Theban Legion and the Salvation Army clashed outside.
"Victory belongs to Cedric!" members of the Theban Legion shouted, swinging their fists and punching their opponents in the face.
"Victory belongs to Harry Potter!" members of the Salvation Army countered, retaliating by jabbing their fingers into the others' nostrils.
"Calm down, children!" Professor Sprout squeezed herself into the crowd, trying to separate both sides.
"Stop this at once!" Professor McGonagall stomped furiously outside, mentally recording the names of all the students involved.
"What do we do?! What do we do?!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, barely noticed in the chaos.
Professor Snape, expressionless as ever, glanced briefly at the commotion behind him before locking his gaze on the events unfolding on the big screen.
Rarely did he care about the fights between Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs—he wouldn't even deduct points if they killed each other. The only thing that ever stirred him was the safety of Harry Potter.
Due to his unfamiliarity with Harry's area, Cedric had been trailing behind. But now, the trophy was in sight.
With his tall frame and long legs, Cedric took off in a sprint. At this moment, he was no longer a wizard, but a true athlete. The contest had left the realm of magic and entered the domain of pure physical endurance.
Just then, a sinister gust of wind swept in!
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