▬▬ seventeen; the final task
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EVEN THOUGH IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT SHE HAVEN'T SLEPT AT ALL, SHE REFUSED TO SPEAK ABOUT WHO HAD COME TO VISIT HER AND KEPT HER UP ALL NIGHT. It was the third and final task today, and she did not want any attention towards her by saying that Voldemort had stopped by and talked to her. She wanted everyone to focus on the champions, helping them prepare and cheering them on. Especially her brother and Harry.

She hugged Cedric tightly and wished him good luck.

"I got this," he just chuckled. Their father had joined to be there, maybe Cedric won after all. It was an underestimate to say that he was proud over Cedric, he was over the moon for his son's courage and that he had gotten this far in the tournament.

"Yeah, you do my son!" Mr. Diggory beamed. "I am so proud of you." Lauren smiled as she saw them so close and kind to each other, but she couldn't kill the feeling of jealously inside her chest as she heard their father be so proud over Cedric, she also wanted them to be proud of her. But this was Cedric's day, his moment, and she wasn't letting anything get in the way for her to support him.

The school band started playing the same music that has been played through all the tasks, and all the students cheered loudly.

As her father walked out with Cedric before the crowd, Lauren slipped away to give Harry a hug and wished him luck before joining Hermione and Ron at the bleachers. Hermione noticed the worry in Lauren's expression and placed a comforting hand on her leg, "they'll be just fine."

Laure nodded, not trusting her voice to sound convincing enough. 

The champions stood on a grassplot between the bleachers and the enormous walls of bushes that formed a mile-long maze behind waited behind them. Professor Dumbledore attached his wand to his neck as he tried to be heard by everyone. And everyone went quiet as he started to speak.

"Earlier today, Professor Moody placed the Triwizard Cup deep within the maze. Only he knows its exact position. Now, as Mr. Diggory—" he was cut off by the many Hogwarts students that stood up to cheer in their yellow clothes. "—and Mr. Potter are tied for the first position they will be the first to enter the maze, followed by Mr. Krum—" another wave of students clapping their hands interrupted. "—and Miss Delacour."

"Come on! Krum! Krum! Krum!"

"Come on, Cedric!"

"The first person to touch the cup will be the winner! I've instructed the staff to patrol the perimeter. Should, at any point, a contestant wish to withdraw from the task. . . he or she need only send up red sparks with their wands." He jumped down from the tree construction he had been standing on and turned to the four students, "contestants! Gather around. Quickly!"

When he had them close to himself he spoke with a serious voice, "ln the maze, you'll find no dragons or creatures of the deep. Instead, you'll face something even more challenging. You see, people change in the maze. Oh, find the cup if you can. But be very wary, you could just lose yourselves along the way. Champions, prepare yourselves!"

The four contestants once again took place before an opening to the maze. 

"Good luck, my boy," said Mr. Diggory for the last time and hugged Cedric quickly.

"See you later, Dad," his son replied with a smile.

"On the count of three," spoke Dumbledore. "One—" he was cut off by a bullet firing from the cannon early. The headmaster sent Argus Filch a frustrated glare but only got an innocent shrug in return.

At the point where all the champions had walked into the maze, Lauren ran with the highest speed back to the castle struggling to breathe. Not only was she still sore from the book incident but the amount of fear that crept inside her head made her fall to the floor as she entered the empty Gryffindor common room.

Her nightmare from this summer wasn't her mind representing her biggest fear. . .

It was showing her the future.

Cedric and Harry wore the same clothes as they did in the dream, and the maze, and the cup. . . it all made sense. She needed to get into the maze and warn them before they touch the cup! But how could she—

"AH!" She jumped and screamed as a hand touched her shoulder. It was like she was put back to reality. While she'd been thinking the room had been spinning around and it had been so loud, but now she understood that everything was perfectly still and quiet.

"Lauren," exclaimed Draco and brought the shaking girl into his embrace. He stroke her hair while silent tears streamed down her red cheeks. "What is going on?"

"They. . . I need to— They— they can't touch it."

He hushed her as only stammering words left her mouth, "you need to calm down. Breathe with me."

"I can't. I need to—"

"Breathe. You're bloody shaking. Listen to me, okay, breathe me," he said and inhaled deeply. At first, she only tried to move away from him, or her breath was interrupted by sobs—but when he held her hand and looked into her eyes she finally felt like the grip around her neck weaken. 

"What are you doing here?" She asked as her breathing went back to a normal pace.

But still holding her he answered, "I was worried when I saw you run off. You had a panic attack, why?"

She sighed, "uh, I'd rather not speak about it. And I can't explain why but I have to get to the Triwizard Cup before any of the champions do!"

He raised an eyebrow, "why? You won't get inside the maze."

"You'll think I'm stupid if I told you."

"You are anything but stupid, Laure. Now, please tell me what's going on."

Lauren squeezed his hand as she sat so close to him on the floor that she was almost in his lap, but neither of them wanted to move. They felt like they were exactly where they're supposed to be.

"I had this dream. I first just thought it was a nightmare, I have those a lot, but I'm starting to think it seriously was a view of the future," she explained. "Everything matches with the dream and the present. Cedric and Harry and I are in this dream, and they grab the cup and I go with them and we get transported into a graveyard. Now, I don't remember many details but Cedric dies, and Voldemort returns."

"Lauren, it must've been a dream reflecting your fears."

"You have to believe me, Draco. I dreamt this dream way before I even knew about this tournament. And both I, Cedric and Harry are wearing the exact same clothes as in my dream. And the maze, the cup, all of it. I can't unsee it and I won't sit around waiting for them to return when I'm certain that they might not."

He looked into her desperate eyes and admired the big amount of courage she had, but he wasn't letting her run into danger. "I'll go with you."

"No," she said standing up. "Absolutely not, it's too dangerous—"

"That's why I'm not letting you go alone! Lauren, are you mad? You think I'm gonna let you go alone into a maze with only a wand and potentially meet Lord Voldemort himself?!" He also stood up and almost stood hovering over her because of the height difference between him and the short girl.

She crossed her arms, "there might be a way in. Come on, we have to find Professor Moody!" 

Draco looked at her oddly before she starting sprinting through the castle again, but he just followed; desperate to keep her safe.

▬▬ author's note ▬▬

So, I'm leaving y'all with this and you'll just have to wait to see what happens. Now don't think I write the exact same ending as the book has because you'll be a fool then. I have a lot of my own fantasy and I can promise you my ending will be worth reading :)
Gotta' have some self-support yk. I'll post part 2 of chapter 17 as soon as possible!

[last updated; 10/5/20]
Stay tuned, thank you! <3