A/N: I do NOT own any of the characters in this story. All belongs to J.K. Rowling.
"This is horrible." Hermione sighed heavily, her brow creased with worry and utter disbelief.
Harry and Ron looked up at from the opposite side of the train compartment. They had been satisfied with staring out the train window and stuffing their mouths with chocolate frogs in mournful silence.
"Wha' noow" Ron groaned through a mouthful of melting chocolate.
"This has gone too far." Hermione held up the latest issue of the Daily Prophet for them to see. The headlines read:
Tri-Wizard Contestant, Cedric Diggory's, Body Missing from St. Mungo's Morgue.
Below the headline was a picture of the emotionally worn Mr. Diggory. His glasses sat atop his head as he wept shamelessly for the flashing cameras. His head in his hands, his shoulders shook violently with every sob.
"Some 'un stole 'is body?" The chocolate dripped down Ron's chin.
"Who would do such a thing?" Hermione pondered as she buried her face in the paper again.
Harry turned back to the window to see the vast green scenery rush by in a blur. The slightest hint of a smirk pulled at the corner of his lips.
"Who would do such a thing?" He repeated. "Could I have that paper when you're done?"
School was over. Harry was a little thankful for that. It had been a restless year and danger was around every corner. It's not that he liked staying with the Dursleys, that was not true by any means, but he was able to have a little "me time" in the muggle world in this muggle house. Time to be alone and do what he liked. At Hogwarts there was always someone at his side. Whether is was Ron, Hermione, Neville or Dumbledore. Even Snape, who he was absolutely convinced that he wanted a lot more from him during their meetings, in the late hours of the night, in his bed chamber, than just potions.
In the Dursely's house, Harry could just go about the day as barely a bleep on anyone's radar.
"Finally, alone at last." He sighed. Leaning against his closed bedroom door he relished the soft click as he locked the handle. Harry slid to the ground and crawled fervently to his chest with stickers from Hogwarts stuck on haphazardly. He tried to wrap his arms around the trunk and laid his head on the lid.
"No we can be together." His lips pulled into a smiled and he closed his shiny emerald eyes.
"Harry." A high pitched falsetto voice called to him from the door.
"Go away Dudley." He growled angrily. His patience was running quite thin with his cousin already.
From the train station and during the whole car ride home, Dudley talked non-stop in that grating, high pitched voice.
Sometime during the school year, Dudley came to the realization that no one in the world would love him as much as his mum, therefore she deserved all his praise and love in return. He had heard that imitation was the best form of flattery, so he decided to imitate Petunia.
"Harry" His cousin knocked on the door. "Mum and I have to step out for a bit, to the store. I want you to take my cake out of the oven in ten minutes. You should hear the bell sound when it's ready."
Harry sighed. Dudley was already talking like Aunt Petunia, now he was baking like her too. What was next?
"Fine, if it'll make you leave me alone, I'll do it."
"Great!" The Petunia-Dudley exclaimed, his already high voice reached amazingly new shrill heights. "Be back soon."
Harry listened as his cousin receded from the door. His footfalls were lighter than he had remembered, or maybe it was just because Dudley had taken to walking on the balls of his feet to stimulate walking in heels, like Petunia.
He opened his eyes, Harry didn't care about Dudley or his stupid cake. He had other pressing matters to attend to. He grabbed his wand from his pocket, mumbled a few words at his shiny new magical lock, and opened the chest lid.
Nothing, but the past four weeks worth of news clippings, seemed to fill the deep trunk. He had cut out every article with Cedric Diggory's name and/or handsome smiling face on it. Now over two hundred Cedrics looked back at him, their eyes never really seeing him, a warm smile, a gesture to no one in particular, was captured on the yellowish paper. With careful hands, Harry removed the Daily Prophet articles and placed them on his bed.
His trunk was now seemingly empty. He touched the bottom of the chest, it shimmered and rippled beneath his hand. Harry caressed the silky, slick, fabric of his invisibility cloak. It was smooth and familiar. He could easily make out the shapes of what was hidden beneath the cloak. Frigid wisps of air escaped from below the magic cloth, what Harry touched was cold, hard, and broad.
"My pet..." He whispered quietly. "Everything went so wrong. It can only get better now, and it will. I promise...I promise that - "
Harry could hear the stairs creak and moan under the weight of his Uncle Vernon's body.
"The bell's gone off, boy, go get Dudley's cake from the oven." He yelled as he waddled into his room.
Begrudgingly, Harry left the cloak in place, closed and secured the lid of the chest and hid Cedric's articles under his sheets.
"Waah, waah, waah, cake, cake, cake." He muttered under his breath as he slothfully moved down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Bloody hell."
Harry grabbed the flowery oven mitts and opened the oven door. A great gust of heat billowed out from inside. Carefully, he took the cake out of the oven.
"Of course." Harry sighed as he looked at the tasty chocolate heart-shaped dessert. He tenderly loosened the cake from the mold and put it on the cooling rack.
With refurbished excitement, he ran back up the stairs and locked himself in his room again.
Harry dragged his trunk to his closet and quickly unfastened the lock and opened the lid. His anxious hands tore the invisibility cloak away from the precious new object of his affections. Harry pointed his wand into the box.
"Wingardium leviosa."