Then she noticed that the light coming from behind her from Cedric's wand was gone. In shock, she turned around to check on the English wizard, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Cedric?" she called out. There was no response. "Viktor! Cedric is…" Fleur turned to face the Bulgarian wizard only to see only the inky blackness at the limit of her spell's light.
A lessor witch would have yelled out in panic with the disappearance of her two male companions. Fleur took a series of long slow breaths to calm the sudden adrenalin spike that shot through her body on the disappearance her two missing friends. As her heart settled, Fleur started down the stairs again.
Fleur approached what appeared to be a landing with something of relief. A lone torch burned dimly in a sconce but it was enough to cut through some of the cave's gloom. Yet that relief was short lived as the dank chill of the cave ratcheted up sharply. Fleur felt a fear she'd never known before. It was as though everyone she'd ever loved - everyone she'd ever known - was lost to her. Images of her parents, her little sister Gabriella floated past her eyes as corpses. She wanted to simply curl up and cry forever.
Then through her tears she saw a small cave opening in the rock wall. Thick but rusty looking iron bars blocked off the cave. Trapped on the other side was a hideous, unmistakable creature.
A dementor.
Fleur forced her brain to think. Her Defence class covered the fowl creatures. They'd discussed the casting of the Patronus Charm to defend against the beasts but never did so as no dementor had been sighted in France in over 300 years. It had only been an academic discussion so Fleur never bothered with learning the spell on her own. Yet the bars prevented the creature from approaching her or stopping her passage. It would only be her own fear that would stop her.
Forcing herself to her feet (she didn't remember kneeling down), Fleur pushed forward cursing her laziness in not learning the Patronus Charm. The landing was wide enough that Fleur never had to come within ten feet of the creature. Fleur steeped quickly past the creature's barred prison staying as far over as the platform allowed and to the stairs beyond.
The stairs continued to drop into the darkness. Now water dripped from the cave walls adding to the damp air a musky, decayed smell. Fleur was just beginning to feel better after the dementor when she saw another torch ahead. The added chill in the air left her no doubt what waited ahead.
This platform was a third less the width of the first with the dementor trapped like the last. The smaller platform meant she would have to pass that much closer to the creature. The dementor had managed to get one skeletal arm through the bars and grasped desperately in Fleur's direction.
Fleur screwed up her courage and rushed past the dementor dodging the swing arm as she past.
The Veela witch dropped to her knees just past the creature and started sobbing uncontrollably. Running had gotten her past the creature but it meant its power had hit her all at once. Fleur forced herself to crawl further away - down the stairs - away from the creature's power.
Fleur didn't know how she could go on. But how could she stop? There was nowhere to go. Her only option was to continue down, out of this damnable Pit of Despair. She wrapped her mind around that thought as she shuffled her feet forward and down the stairs.
It was no surprise when she reached a third platform. Like the last, this dementor had one arm through the bars. But unlike the last, this platform was almost narrow enough for it to reach the railing on the other side of the platform.
Fleur cast a quick spell on the floor, followed by another. Then she steeled her courage and ran forward down the stairs. Just before reaching the dementor's cave she dropped to her knees and slid down the icy path her spells and the creature's own cold created.
She was almost past when the creature managed to grasp a handful of the witch's long blonde hair. Fleur let out a scream of fear and pain as the creature tugged at her hair. Fleur grabbed the nearby railing to stop from being pulled back. Her other hand reached back to grab her hair and pull back reducing the pressure and pain. Fortunately, dementors possessed little physical strength and Fleur was able to pull free of the creature's grasp.
Fleur dragged herself up off the floor and away from the dementor. The creature's effect was waning when a new sight appeared. This was two torches burning brightly on either side of a stout-looking wooden door. While this was something unknown, at least it wasn't another dementor. Fleur reached out and grabbed the door handle. The door swung easily and silently open.
The room beyond was filled with light and a warm breeze came from the wide windows that let in the sunshine. On a pedestal in the room's centre was the Tri-Wizard Cup. Fleur stood in disbelief as she stared at the cup. She'd won? In a haze of shock, Fleur stepped forward and grasped the arm of the cup.