They used the 'point-me' spell to pick their next turn and headed left. Stumbling upon an Acromantula was not how they wanted to continue their trip through the maze. Unfortunately they did. "All spiders hate fire," Viktor said before casting a spell and lighting the giant spider on fire. The scream it emitted was painful to hear and Cedric cast a spell to muffle the sound.
A blood-curdling scream from the maze had everyone jumping. "It didn't sound human," Hermione said.
"At least there's that," Harry said. Hermione used the omnioculars to try and see into the maze to no avail. They were left not knowing what was happening. "This is really, really annoying," Harry said. "I don't like waiting."
"Well aware of that love. You're not a patient man."
"Not at all," Harry mumbled.
"I like you as you are," she whispered.
He smiled at her and she shifted on his lap, giving him a very pleasurable feeling. The look on her face told him it was intentional, "Vixen."
"Maybe a little," she winked.
Draco looked at the timer. He had another 25 minutes to wait. Twenty-five minutes until he could show them who was the superior wizard. They would all bow before him.
Being chased by a burning Acromantula is not a fun experience. They're very large creatures and anything that is on fire and chasing you and is also deadly is not a good thing. Especially when said creature knows it's dying and wants to take everyone down with it. Terrifying would be an understatement. Fleur, Viktor, and Cedric ran back the way they came, occasionally turning to cast a spell. Cedric cast the leg-locker jinx only to have the monster begin rolling toward them. "I haf plan," Viktor said. "Cast blasting hex at ground," he yelled. They sprinted ahead and all three pointed at the ground where a hole appeared. The beast rolled right into it and they all cast incendiary spells to kill the very angry dying spider.
Once the spider was dead Cedric was first to climb over it. Fleur turned to Viktor and kissed him on the mouth, "That was brilliant Viktor."
The grin on his face after the kiss was matched only by how red his face turned. It was Weasley red. Fleur smiled and caressed his cheek before she climbed over the spider, receiving help from Cedric before they waited for Viktor. He calmed himself down, still partly surprised at having had his first kiss with Fleur, and climbed over the spider before they headed back toward where the Acromantula had been. That would take some time. All three were feeling cautious and could use the break to get their breath back.
The timer signaled and Draco marched confidently into the maze. Looking around he ran forward. Now, there was a feature of the maze that had not been explained to the champions. It had to do with the hedges. The organizers of the tournament worried people would just blast their way through the hedges so to prevent that from happening if something entered the hedge it was spit out at another random location. When the Chimaera had been blasted into the hedge by Viktor and Cedric the hedge had warped and spit the Chimaera out closer to the entrance. And the Chimaera was in the mood to mate after having tasted the allure of the Veela.
The beast's eyes zoomed in on Draco Malfoy, who stood frozen in fear as he gazed at one of the most dangerous beasts in the world. Before Draco Malfoy could utter a word or pull his wand out the beast lunged at him and Draco let out a scream as it knocked him to the ground.
After the long scream from the Acromantula had been heard the Ministry employees had cast silencing spells on the maze since the spider's scream had not ended quickly. They had not removed them. Outside the maze it was only silence and noise from the crowd.
Inside the maze the other three champions missed the sound of Draco's pain as they had come upon the trophy and all three grabbed it at the same time the Chimaera jumped onto Draco. The trophy immediately took them out of the maze and back to the start, all holding onto it.
Their appearance had people roaring for their victory. An Auror cancelled the spell on the maze and everyone heard a very human scream. Silence fell and the Aurors rushed into the maze together to find the fourth champion. The three champions of the tournament were being looked over by Madame Pomfrey who gave them clean bills of health, surprised but pleased. Then her gaze turned to the maze to wait.
Fleur, Viktor, and Cedric were led away and soon found themselves in the arms of their mothers. Fleur asked if the Chimaera had attacked Draco only for Apolline's eyes to flash and her gaze shifted to Madame Maxime, "Did you know about this?"
"Zey nevair said anyzhing about Chimaera," the headmistress of Beauxbatons promised.
Three school heads and five parents turned to Ludo Bagman, "Yes well we wanted it to be dangerous and you all said we could place the creatures."
Apolline Delacour looked angry. And it was a look that the few who'd seen Hermione transform recognized. "You put a deadly and incredibly violent creature into a maze for schoolchildren?! Are you insane?!"
"Well we thought it would be a good way to keep the champions on edge," Ludo said, wilting under Apolline's gaze.
"How did you three get past it?" Mira asked her son and the other two champions.
"Fleur pulled a Hermione and tried to speak to it creature-to-creature," Cedric said, smirking at the brunette Veela, "but that didn't work. Fleur blocked its fireballs with her own and then the thing launched itself at us. Viktor and I both banished it."
"It flew into the hedge," Viktor nodded.
Everyone turned to Ludo who mumbled that the hedge would randomly spit out things that entered them elsewhere in the maze. Hermione, meanwhile, was looking at Cedric, "Pulled a Hermione?"
The look on her face was enough to make Cedric pale as he stumbled over his words, "Well you're really nice to magical creatures and…" He stopped when he saw Hermione and Fleur chuckling. "You two like having a go at me."
"You're easy to tease," Hermione responded.
Lucius Malfoy suddenly appeared and was staring at the hedge. At that moment they exited with the caged Chimaera and Draco Malfoy, who was in the cage but looked unharmed. He had obviously soiled himself but to everyone's surprise there wasn't a mark on him. "Your son is very lucky Mr. Malfoy. The Chimaera was nuzzling him and preparing him to mate." The same Auror looked at the female champion, "You're Veela, yes?"
She nodded, "I released my allure toward a troll earlier in the maze."
"We found an unconscious troll about twenty feet away," the Auror confirmed.
"There's just one problem," another auror said, "we can't get him away from the Chimaera. He's rather fond of your son. He doesn't attack so long as we don't try to take the boy away."
"So what are you saying? Draco is to be the…sex toy for this creature?"
Harry barely managed to withhold a snort but it was a near thing. Hermione shot him a glare that helped to sober him up but he saw her lips were twitching. He wasn't sure what was so funny. Was it that the Chimaera wanted to mate with Draco, that Fleur's allure had ironically saved his life but possibly at the expense of…whatever happened when Chimaeras mated (they were one of the most violent creatures alive; their mating rituals were probably brutal), or was it the way that Lucius had come up with the phrase 'sex toy for this creature'?
"We need to see a magical creatures expert. Please come with us," he said. Lucius nodded, gazing at Draco as they walked off to portkey away.
Harry and Hermione headed up to the Room of Requirement for some privacy. "A Veela saved Draco's life," Harry said.
"Temporarily at least," Hermione corrected, "Harry think about how many species of animals mate so violently that the partner often dies during the act." Harry could think of a few. Seals, Quolls, and Otters. Not exactly the romantic types.
"Yeah I guess that's true. It's kind of funny," Harry chuckled, "I mean, it shouldn't be, but it just is and I'm not sure why."
"The sex toy line did it for me," Hermione admitted softly to him which had him cracking up, "Harry!"
"Oh come on Hermione. You know I won't judge you. It's funny. Let it out." And so, with just the two of them there, they laughed.
Fleur and Viktor got away from the celebrations to talk privately, "You kissed me," he said.
"I did," she smiled shyly.
"I liked it," he said.
"Me too," she ran her hand over his cheek. "Viktor if this," she waved her hand between them, "is to continue I need to ask that we take it slow. I was…"
She was interrupted by Viktor, "You don't have to say a word if you don't want to."
Fleur smiled at his gentleness, "Thank you, Viktor, but I think I need to say it. Hermione knows," she added, "Viktor when I was fifteen I was attacked by a gang of men."
Viktor's eyes grew dark and his jaw clenched, "Did they rape you?"
She nodded and then had to pull him into a hug to try and calm him down, "My father made sure they could never do that to anyone again and he put them away," she gazed at Viktor, "Thank you for wanting to protect me. And for being understanding."
"I care about you Fleur. Why would I not want to protect you or be understanding?" He asked, confused. Fleur kissed him in answer.
P.S. I just...I don't know where this Draco and the third task plot came from but I fell all over myself laughing as I typed it out.