They found Cedric the following evening, coming out of the library with a stack of books that Blake noted seemed like he'd been doing serious preparation for the maze. He looked up when he saw them both coming and his expression changed; pleasant and open. Blake thought back to how Cedric had helped him before in previous years, silently promising himself that Cedric wouldn't have to pay the price for their plan.
"Harry, Blake," he said, with a small smile.
"We need to talk to you," Harry said. "Privately."
Cedric looked between them, the smile fading ever so slightly. "Should I be worried?"
"No," Blake said. "Well. Not about us."
They found an empty classroom on the second floor. Cedric set his books down on a desk and leaned against it, crossing his arms in the relaxed way he had that somehow still managed to convey that he was paying close attention.
"The third task," Blake began.
"What about it?"
"We need you to not win it," Harry said, trying to look serious but apologetic at the same time.
Cedric stared at him. "Sorry?"
"More specifically, we need you to not touch the cup," Blake explained. "Or get anywhere near it, ideally. And the same for Fleur and Krum, but we're less worried about them being in a position to get there first - if it comes to it, ideally we want you to stop them."
Cedric looked between them for a moment. The relaxed posture hadn't changed, but something behind his eyes had.
"You're being serious," he said slowly.
"Yeah."
"And you're not going to tell me why?" he asked incredulously, the first signs of frustration starting to show.
"We can't," Blake said quickly. "I'm sorry - I know how that sounds, but we wouldn't be asking if there was another way. There are things happening with this tournament that aren't normal - you've probably realised yourself by this point, haven't you?"
Cedric looked at him for a long moment. "You're talking about Barty Crouch Sr."
"Among other things, yeah," Blake agreed. "But we want you to do that - for your own sake for then anything, Cedric."
The 6th year Hufflepuff was silent for a moment.
"I've been preparing for this tournament all year."
"I know," Harry said, sounding very guilty. "I get it, I really do, but-"
"It's for your own sake, Cedric," Blake said firmly. "Please."
Harry watched Cedric's face - he was clearly trying not to show any signs of anger or frustration, but it was obvious how he was feeling - and understandably so, Blake thought.
"Cedric," he said, "we wouldn't ask this if it wasn't important."
"I know you wouldn't," Cedric said, after a long sigh. He unfolded his arms and looked at the floor for a moment, thinking. "What happens if I do get there first? By accident, or wrong timing, or whatever - what happens then?"
"We'll do our best to manage it," Blake reassured him. "But it's easier if it doesn't come to that."
Cedric looked at him. "That's not particularly reassuring."
"No," Blake agreed. "It isn't - but remember, the main thing is that you can't, under any circumstances, touch the Cup."
Another silence. Cedric looked at Harry.
"The prize money," Cedric said finally. "The thousand Galleons would really-"
"I'll give you all of it," Harry said immediately, sounding relieved that Cedric seemed to be coming onboard. "Every Galleon."
"And I'll double it," Blake said. "Another thousand Galleons on top of whatever Harry gives you."
Cedric stared at him. "You'd give me two thousand Galleons in total?"
"Harry's thousand is your rightful prize money," Blake said. "Mine is compensation for the prestige of winning it."
Cedric was quiet for a long moment. He looked at Harry, then at Blake, then at the floor again.
"It's fine," he muttered. "I couldn't take that."
"Yes, you can!" Harry said loudly. "You'd be giving up so much money and prestige! It-"
"From the sound of it, you're the ones who are making a sacrifice," Cedric said dryly. "Harry, you're not an attention seeker - Merlin knows that you didn't enter yourself, and you've already helped me so much in this tournament. Whatever this is you're doing, I'm sure you have a good reason. And besides," he continued, turning to Blake. "This is to save my life, isn't it?"
"It is," Blake nodded. Cedric sighed again.
"Harry's going to be alright though," he stated. It wasn't quite a question.
"That's the plan," Harry smirked slightly.
"Blake's plans tend to work out," Cedric said, with a very faint smile.
"Usually," Blake smiled.
Cedric nodded, slowly.
"Alright," he said. "I trust you. Both of you."
Blake felt himself exhale more fully than he'd realised he'd been holding back.
"Thank you," Harry and Blake both said, as Cedric packed up his things, getting ready to leave.
"Stay safe, both of you."
"We will."
Harry looked at him as Cedric's footsteps got quieter and quieter.
"Told you he'd trust us," Blake said smugly.
Harry laughed for what seemed like the first time he'd properly laughed in weeks, and Blake couldn't help but be glad to hear it.
/
While Harry spent his free time learning how to communicate with a Patronus, Blake spent the time in the Room of Requirement instead, working through the sequence of what he'd need to do to get into Moody's office during the task, break magical seals he'd never actually touched, locate Moody in a place he'd probably never seen, free a man he'd never met, and get back out again before anything went wrong.
He wrote it out in stages, looking for the places where it could fail.
There's so many variables that I can't control, Blake said, frustrated. So many ifs, buts and maybes… so much that might go wrong.
The most unpredictable part was the real Moody himself. Blake had never met Alastor Moody. He knew his reputation extensively, considering he had read everything he could find about him going back to before the first war since the first days he'd found out about it, and he could probably recite significant portions of his Auror career from memory.
What he didn't know, however, was what nine months in a trunk did to a person, and whether the man on the other side of that trunk would be in any condition to help, or how he would react to a fourth year student breaking him out.
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