July 2003, Leavesden Studios, London

  I raced ihe maze, with Henry Cavill right by my side.

  “See you on the finishing line, Harry!” He grinned as he dashed towards the left, while I went right. Ign the cameras around me, I kept running aimlessly for what seemed like hours (because of all the retakes), before finally, a giant bck teddy bear was in front of me again, which I reized immediately. It was the same figure used in the [Prisoner of Azkaban] for a dementor.

  “Expecto Patronum!” I waved my wand in his dire, expeg a glowing stag to be added in the post-produ. When it didn’t have that much effe the figure, I mused out loud, “Oh, you must be a Boggart. Riddikulus!” The figure was snatched away using strings and I moved on.

  I kept running some more before the maze started closing in o was made of very soft material, so it didn’t hurt me, but it was a little custrophobiove through it, so I increased my pace. Somehow, I escaped that jungle and ran some more, but not before hearing a loud feminine scream that could only belong to Lea. I turhe er of the maze in front of me, only to e face to face with Stan (who pyed Krum). He held a shining wand up to my face, his eyes appeared gssy, having been covered with special tacts for this se. Seeing it was me, he lowered his wand and tinued forward as if I was unimportant.

  I stood there in the er, in shock that he left me alone. heless, after a couple of seds, I rao where Stan had e from, only to see Lea Seydoux fainted.

  “Fleur?” I called her out but received no response, so I raised my wand towards the sky and shouted, “Periculum!”

  Suddenly, fast winds started blowing in the maze as it started closing around me again. I ran in the only dire avaible to me. When the maze calmed down, I came across a sphinx. Not really a sphinx, it was just a woman with her face revealed. Below her neck, she was fully decked in a green suit to add CGI ter on.

  “You are very near yoal,” she said mysteriously. “Answer my riddle, and the way is just behind me.”

  “First think of the person who lives in disguise,

  Who deals is and tells naught but lies.

  , tell me what’s always the st thing to mend,

  The middle of middle and end of the end?

  And finally, give me the sound often heard

  During the search for a hard-to-find word.

  Now string them together, and answer me this,

  Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?”

  I put on my metaphorical thinking cap, and mused it out loud, “A person who lives in disguise, an impostor… No, he deals is, so a spy. Middle of middle, and end of end… er… let’s put a pin in it for now. A sound during hard-to-find word…er… Yes! That would be ‘Er’. Spy…er… Spider! It’s a spider that I’m unwilling to kiss!”

  The woman cracked a smile befivihe way. I ran fain, only to hear a loud shout of ‘Crucio!’ followed by agonizing screams of one Henry Cavill. I turned around the er to see Stan t over a twitg form of Henry.

  “Stupefy!” I called out, sending Stan down on the ground.

  “Are you okay, Cedric?” I asked Henry as I helped him up his feet. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before nodding. Theuro Stan, and in anger, he kicked at Stan’s torso. He missed, but the camera angle would make it seem he didn’t. Then Henry raised his wand to curse the stunned boy, but I stopped him by holding his arm down.

  “He has beeched. I could see it in his eyes. He attacked Fleur as well.” I was hyperventiting a little at this point. Henry broke free from my grip before raising his wand in the air and casting the same spell over Krum that I did to disqualify Fleur from the petition.

  Then came the final se of the maze as we started running together in one dire where a faint blue light of the cup was visible from the distance. We shoved and pushed each other back, both trying to reach the cup before the other. The maze was back to being its treacherous self as it attacked us with vines and bushes sprouting out of nowhere. Henry was always a few steps ahead of me, but suddenly, I was running alone. I stopped to see that he was being attacked by an aantu, which was a giant spider.

  “Harry!” Henry cried out in pain. “Help!”

  Making my decision, I ran ba and shouted curse after curse at the bsted spider. “Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Impedimenta!” It didn’t kill off the spider, but it freed Henry. He got up and together we shouted, “Stupefy!” And then the spider didn’t get up.

  “Thanks,” Henry whispered to me. “For a moment, I thought you were gon get me.”

  “For a moment, so did I,” I said somberly.

  Suddenly, the wind started blowing up again, thanks to some sturdy fans, so we ran in the dire of the glowing blue Triwizard Cup.

  “Go on, take it,” Henry insisted. “You saved me. Take it.”

  “Together,” I insisted. “Owo, three!”

  We both lu the cup, holding on to one handle each, before hearing the bsted word, “Cut!”

  We waited with bated breath for Alfonso’s final verdict about the se.

  “Perfect! We are done for the day, everyone.”

  I heaved a sigh of relief. Goddamn it, I would ake another aovie in my life. I ran for just this se and I was hating Alfonso already with the number of retakes he made me do of just running. If I had to do this for months, I’d go mental.

  (Break)

  “Avada Kedavra!” Timothy Spall, who pyed Peter Pettigrew, yelled while pointing his wand towards Henry. Wires that had been attached to him yanked him batil he y on the ground motionless.

  “Cedrio!” I yelled helplessly, staring at the corpse of the older boy. My eyes watered slightly as realization sank in. I couldn’t move from my spot. Unfortunately, that turned out to be my downfall as I was lifted by wires as well before an animatronic statue of a death reaper held me tightly, leaving me uo move at all.

  “You murderer!” I yelled with as much hate as I could muster. “I’ll kill you!”

  “Do it! Now!” A whispery voice said the words, making the older man ignore me entirely, as he proceeded to add ingredients to a cauldron, whicluded a fake bone, a prosthetid, and some red-colored syrup that he collected from me. All the while, I kept gring at him hatefully.

  And then came the moment that took the franchise and tur on its head yet again. Ralph Fienered, plete in his Voldemetup, wearing a long bck robe, walking barefoot.

  This was the first time I was seeing him like this, and it was creepy as fuck. Maybe this was the reason I wasn’t allowed to see his plete look until this moment so that my rea could be genuine. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything but hang ba the statue as different actors pyih Eaters, including Jason Isaacs (who pyed Lucius Malfoy), walked in and tihe se. One big difference I could see from the inal film was that the e of the Death Eaters didn’t look like the KKK in this reality. All thanks to my timely intervention.

  Back to the se, Fiennes walked over to Henry and tilted his head over with his foot. He tutted, “Such a handsome boy.”

  “Don’t touch him!” I shouted.

  “Harry!” Fiennes grinned maniacally while walking over to where I was being held by the statue. “I’d almost fotten you were here. Standing on the bones of my mudblood father. I’d introduce you, but word has it that you’re almost as famous as me these days. The boy-who-lived. How lies have fed yend, Harry.” His fad expressions were shtening, that any sane person would run for the hills.

  He tinued his monologue, telling everyone about what happened 13 years ago. Meanwhile, all I could do was try to push the statue away from me, but I was helpless as he pushed a finger into my forehead to show everyohat he could touch me now.

  “Pick up your wand, Potter!” Ralph Fiennes growled as the statue holding me suddenly relinquished its hold. I rolled over on the ground. “I said pick it up! Get up, you filthy blood traitor! You’ve been taught how to duel, I presume, yes?”

  As he was saying this, I scrambled back towards my wand and stood up shakily.

  “And now we bow.” He bowed mogly. When I didn’t follow his example, he chuckled as if we were taking a stroll in the park. “e on, Harry, the ies must be observed. Dumbledore wouldn’t want you tet your manners, would he?” Suddenly, his grin vanished as he yelled, “I said, bow!” His wand was raised in my dire, so I yelped out a forward as if I were being forced to do it.

  “That’s better,” He grinned again. “And now, Crucio!”

  This was supposed to be the third big moment within a few minutes after Cedric’s death and Voldemort’s resurre when viewers realized that this wasn’t a kids’ movie anymore. I screamed the most agonizing scream that I could, a down on the ground, writhing on the floor. I probably screamed for a long time before I heard the magic word.

  “Cut!”

  I heaved a sigh of relief as I got up from where I was lying on the ground. Ag as if you’re being tortured magically is difficult both on my body and my vocal cords.

  “We’ll o redo the torture se, Troy,” Alfonso called out as he walked over to me. “ you perhaps take it up a notch? You are doing great, but this is a big shift in the movie as far as darkness is ed. We want to dial it up all the way. You know what I mean?”

  I didn’t. I was already giving this se my 100%. I don’t know what I could do better here. Yet, I didn’t think telling that to Alfonso would solve the problem. Maybe I will get it better after a few repetitions. With that thought in mind, I nodded, not wanting to speak because I was still panting from my st effort in the se.

  “Do you think you need a break?” Alfonso asked.

  “No,” I shook my head. “Let’s just get this over with.”

  This was the st se we were shooting, and I just wahis nightmare of a shoot to be over. If we include the [Prisoner of Azkaban] as well, we have been shooting for this film for more than a year, and right now, I just want to ze around for a month or two. Ideally, we would have preferred to shoot this se before, but Ralph Fiennes didn’t have dates avaible, so we adjusted our schedule to match his.

  “We’ll still need a few mio adjust the equipment,” Alfonso said.

  I nodded in assent as he patted me on the shoulder before walking over to adjust the camera settings. Meanwhile, I stood there awkwardly. Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, and Timothy Spall were talking to each other animatedly as the se was bei. I wao go and chat with them as well, but I didn’t think I could. Ralph Fiennes was so good as Voldemort, as if he was born to py this role. His every word, every sylble seemed nuanced, as if he had spent months, if not years perfeg the role. I, oher hand, has been literally pying this role for years, and I'm still not perfe this portrayal.

  I needed a perfect mental state to give this performance. For that, I o feel alone, desperate, and afraid of the hideous man known as Lord Voldemort. So I ignored everything around me. I igobias, who had offered me a bottle of water. I ighe cast members chatting merrily as if we were on a holiday. I ighe crew members bustling around the set. I even ignored Evan as he was assisting Alfonso once again. All I cared about was my art, and making it perfect.

  True to his words, it didn’t take long for Alfonso to adjust the cameras, and it was time for aake.

  (Break)

  Evan was excited. The shoot for the fourth Harry Potter film was just about to end, and Alfonso Cuaron, the director, was so impressed with him that he had offered Evan the ce to help in the post-produ of the third and the fourth films in the series. Like any aspiring filmmaker, Evan had leaped at the opportunity like a hungry lion.

  One of the st ses to be shot was Harry getting tortured by Voldemort before dueling him, and then fleeing with Cedric’s body. But they were shooting in reverse order, so the duel se and the fleeing part had already been shot. Evan thought that the torture se was also enacted beautifully by Troy, and shot quite well by their cameraman, but Alfonso begged to differ.

  “Why are we redoing it?” Evan asked curiously. “I gehought that st take was good enough.”

  “That’s the problem,” Alfonso said pointedly. “As a good filmmaker, never settle food enough. Always go beyond and perfect it. I have seen that boy aore than a year now. I know what he’s capable of when pushed correctly. I have done just that, and I’m sure he’ll give us something magical to look at.”

  “Stop with the magical puns already,” Evan mumbled, but Alfoher ignored him or didn’t hear.

  “A!” Alfonso called out after everyone was in their spot.

  Immediately the cast went into motion.

  “Crucio!” The big baddie called Voldemort shouted while pointing his wand at Troy. Troy let out a blood-curdling scream as if he had been lit on fire while being held captive by metal s around him.

  Immediately, Evan uood the differeween this shot and the one before. While the first shot was good, this one was almost impossible to watch for Evan because his brother Troy was right there writhing on the ground as if he was actually being tortured in front of everyone. Seeing that, Evan’s breath hitched, and he trolled his desire to run up to Troy and fort him.

  ‘It’s just ag,’ Evaed that mantra again and again in his mind until after the se was plete, and Alfonso called out, “Cut, print, check the gate!”

  Theuro Evan and asked, “Still think the first shot was better?”

  Evan could only shake his head as he saw Tobias running up to Troy aing him up to his feet.

  “No actor is perfect all the time,” Alfonso lectured. “Troy is one of the better actors I have worked with, but he ot hit a high note in every se. It’s the duty of a director to push their actors. Resultantly, what we have here is ematic gold.” As Alfonso repyed the se of Harry’s torture, Evan could see why such a curse would be named ‘unfivable’ by the Ministry of Magic.

  “Do you think he get another Oscar for this?” Evan asked bewildered.

  Alfonso chuckled and shook his head, “Unlikely, but that doesn’t mean this performance was ahan an Oscar-winning performance.”

  Then Alfonso turo the crew at rge and announced, “Alright everyone, we are doh this se. And with that, we finish the shooting of [Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]. Let’s get ready for a big party tonight!”

  _____________________________________

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