Chapter 1: Never Forgive, Never Forget

Chapter 1:  Never Forgive, Never Forget

Harry woke with a start.  He sat up, wondering what had brought him out of sleep.  Did he hear something?  Had a dream jolted him awake?  The room was dark and he reached blindly for his glasses on his bedside table.  Instead of coming in contact with the hard wood, his hand felt moist grass.  Surprised, he looked down.  He was outside, sitting on the ground.

After searching a moment, he found his glasses a few feet away.  He stood up, trying to make sense of his dark surroundings.  His eyes slowly adjusted.  A dense fog lay upon the ground and every few feet a tombstone jutted through it.

"Where am I?" he questioned aloud, peering around.

"Did anyone tell you the cup was a Portkey?" came a voice from behind him.

Harry turned sharply to find himself facing a boy with brown hair and gray eyes.  After a moment, he spoke again.

"I dunno.  Wands out, d'you reckon?" Cedric asked, looking at Harry.

Suddenly, Harry realized what was happening.  He had to stop it.

"Cedric, we have to get out of here!" Harry exclaimed.  Cedric just pulled out his wand, as if he hadn't heard Harry's plea.

Then Harry heard the approaching footsteps.  He turned to see a figure coming out of the fog, a figure holding something in its arms.

"Run, Cedric!" Harry cried, sprinting a few feet, and then stopping when he realized he was running alone.

Harry raced back to Cedric.  He reached out to grab the boy's arm but before he could a sharp pain exploded in his scar.  Try as he might to fight it, Harry's knees buckled.

"Kill the spare," came the high, cold voice Harry had come to know so well.

"Avada Kedavra!" screeched a second.

"No…" Harry cried weakly.

A green light shown through his eyelids, the pain in his forehead increased sharply, then died away.  Harry opened his eyes, looking straight at Cedric.  Straight into those gray, surprised, lifeless eyes.  Then all went black.

Harry sat up in his bed.  His breath was quick and sweat covered his face.  He breathed in gasps and chokes for a moment, then tears that he couldn't fight began to mingle with the sweat.  He covered his eyes with his hands, sobbing.

It had come again.  The dream that had haunted his nights the whole summer had come to him again.  His sobs gradually softened and his breath became more normal, but the tears would not stop.  He lay back down on his bed, trying to get to sleep, but his eyes would not close.

"I tried, Cedric," he whispered, the tears slowing as he looked pleadingly at the dark, "I tried…"