"Harry . . ." The voice drifted in the semi-darkness, a breath at the edge of hearing. Harry padded towards it, barefoot over the fallow meadow, the long grass tickling his shins. The night was indolent. Warm and moist, the air was so syrupy thick that the very act of breathing felt like drinking. The disgusting odour of rotten vegetation roiled in his nostrils, and he willed himself to breath in quick shallow bursts, afraid that he might gag at any moment. His ears strained for the voice, it was the only tether he had to this place. He had no idea of how he came to be outside; or why he was dressed in a soaked nightshirt, which smacked against his thighs with each step. He knew this place; it was familiar to him in the way that dreams are familiar to the freshly arisen. Somehow he knew that up ahead was a short picket fence, and now he could see it glinting bone white against the darkness like a jagged row of teeth.
"Harry . . ." The voice was close now. Almost close enough to touch. It floated to him from somewhere on the other side of the fence. He quickened his pace and leapt the barrier, stumbling, and falling hands first into the loam.
"Where are you? I can't see anything in this darkness . . . please." He whined, terrified suddenly. Too fearful to look around this place he knew instinctively to be a graveyard.
"I'm here, Harry. Look at me." The voice was garbled, as if the speaker were trying to enunciate through a throat filled with mud. Something leathery and hideously soggy caressed the ridge of Harry's jaw, urging his head upward.
Harry looked up; there was little else that he could do. Looming against the inky night before him stood a horribly decomposed ghoul. Half of its face was gone, revealing white bone and stringy tendon. The other half was sickly green, scabrous and peeling. Harry screamed.
The timbre of it split his skull, and was terrible, but at least it let him focus. He was sick into the grass. Aspirating as he howled.
The fiend bent over him, and Harry thought that surely the end was coming, but then it did a strange thing. It thumped him on the back.
"Stop fighting me and breathe! You're no good to me dead, Harry." It said, although the words were garbled, Harry understood. Harry lay on the grass, body wracked with coughing. Eventually the fit subsided and he gasped for air that was marginally less foul than the acid sting of vomit burning in his raw throat and leaking from his nostrils.
"Who are you and why am I here?" He wheezed.
"I'm not surprised that you don't recognize me. Death hasn't been very kind." He gestured depreciatively at himself. "And before I tell you who I am you must promise not to freak out again. It's bloody inconvenient when you do, especially since I don't have much time. Do you swear?"
Harry nodded weakly.
"Good. I am Cedric Diggory."
"Oh god, ohgod, ohgod Cedric, I'm so sorry . . ." Harry moaned.
"Quiet, damn it, and listen to me! I need your help, not a litany of your regrets. Cho's life is in danger, and I can't do anything to help her. You must swear to me that you will stop her. Swear it Harry, there isn't much time." Harry watched in horror as a maggot wormed its way out of the corner of Cedric's eye and rolled down his face like a tear, falling with a soft patter onto the soil next to him.
"Cho? What do you mean?" Harry asked, trying not to cringe. "How is she in danger?"
"She is sad, so sad. I can hear her calling to me beyond the veil. I cannot rest until I know that she is safe. Oh bugger. I can't hold this form much longer." As he spoke he began to tremble violently. "You must keep her away from the tower. Harry! Swear to me, you will protect her! "
"I can't!" Harry sobbed. "Everyone around me dies. You, Sirius, My Parents . . ."
"Then she is lost," Cedric gasped and fell on top of Harry with a squelch.
Harry thrashed violently trying to free himself, and felt . . .pillows? All was in darkness now, and he couldn't breathe. Something was twined around his waist, binding him. He tore at it desperately, feeling . . .bedclothes?
"Aargh! Aargh! Get it off, get it off!"
"Harry, wake up!"
"Ron?" Harry blinked up owlishly at his friend. Ron helped to extricate him from the duvet, and then handed him his glasses.
"Merlin Harry, you're sopping wet. Was it nightmares again? You were screaming bloody murder. What is it this time?" He asked.
From across the room came muffled grumbling and swearing from Seamus Finigan. Dean Thomas took it one step further and said, "Take it somewhere else. Some of us are actually trying to sleep."
"Shut your gob." Ron said. "Come on Harry, let's get you cleaned up and go down to the kitchens for a bite to eat. Leave Mr. Obvious to his kip. I'll tell the elves to get you some clean bedding." Ron rummaged around in Harry's chest for a moment, and handed him a dry nightshirt.
"Thanks Ron." Harry said, padding towards the bath. After a quick shower he met Ron in the common room and together they left the tower concealed underneath Harry's invisibility cloak.
Later in the kitchens, the elves had set a feast before them. Ten different kinds of sandwiches with all various garnishes, crisps, pickles, carafes of soda, tea (both hot and cold), pumpkin juice, and two steaming mugs of hot cocoa with dollops of whipped cream crammed the sideboard. Harry ignored all of this food, except for the hot cocoa. He was licked a dollop of whipped cream off of his finger, after telling Ron about his nightmare.
"So you had a dream about Cedric, and he told you that Cho was in trouble, huh?" Ron was busy combining two of the meat sandwiches. The resulting monstrosity looked highly unappealing to Harry who still hadn't gotten the image of Cedric's badly decomposing corpse out of his head.
"Not trouble, Ron. Danger. There is a subtle difference. So am I losing my mind then?"
"Mate, you lost it a long time ago. Really, it was just a dream. I doubt that there is anything to it."
"But it felt so real. Do you think I ought go to tell Dumbledore? I mean if something is wrong, and Cho really is in danger . . ."
"Come on, get a grip . . . it was just a dream. If I had to read anything into it, I'd say that you still love the bint. Well, do you?"
"Ron! Don't every call her that. She deserves your respect. Whether or not I have feelings for her is irrelevant. My life is such a mess, a girlfriend is the last thing I need right now. Besides, she's in love with Michael Corner."
"No she's not. Last I heard he dumped her. Made a big show of it too. Ginny said that Luna told her that they had a big row in the Ravenclaw common room the other day. Michael said that she was too controlling, and that if he wanted to date his Mummy he would have. I'm surprised that you didn't know."
"No, I hadn't. Ron, do you mind if I go on alone? There is something that I need to check on."
"And let this lovely food go to waste? Harry the house elves have outdone themselves tonight. You can't just leave . . ."
But he was already headed out the door. Apprehension tugged at the corners of his mind. Something was amiss, and Harry could not relax until he figured out what that something was. Cedric had said not to let Cho go near the towers. No that's not right, he said 'keep her away from the tower'. Singular. One. But which tower? They were in a bloody castle. It was packed with towers. The only way he was going to solve this was to go back to his dormitory and look for Cho on the Marauder's map.
"Potter . . ." The liquid drawl of his most despised teacher rooted him to the spot. Snape's timing was impeccable but awful.
"Isn't it late to be out for a stroll? Curfew, as you will recall was four hours ago. Would it be too much of a leap to wager that you are up to something? A midnight tryst, perhaps? Or do you have more puerile reasons for flaunting the school's rules? Well, out with it boy."
"No Professor. I felt ill, and I was on my way to the infirmary. Uhm... I'll go back to my room now."
"Go then, and Potter, fifty points will be taken for your obvious lie. Don't try and leave again tonight. I will instruct the Fat Lady to refuse entry or exit to Gryffindor Tower for the remainder of the evening. Anyone else caught out of doors will be subject to my wrath. And if I find you out of bed again it will be a further fifty points and a month's worth of detention. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Sir." Harry mumbled. He hoped that Ron would lie low until breakfast. At least Ron had the cloak. If he couldn't leave the tower how would he be able to reach Cho in time, if she was indeed out of bed and intent on harming herself? Only the map could tell. He hoped to find her safe, wherever she was.
Professor Snape, true to his word, followed Harry all of the way to the painting of the Fat Lady. Not only was she irritated at being woken, she was livid that
Harry had managed to slink past her in the first place. Harry hurried inside, leaving his dour Professor to converse with the painting. Once in his room, he retrieved the map from it's hidden compartment in his trunk. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He tapped the map with his wand, waiting for the map to draw itself. He quickly turned to the illustration of Ravenclaw Tower, looking specifically at the seventh year girls' dormitory. Cho was not there.
Paging through the various towers, he saw her. She was on the Astronomy tower. Specifically, sitting on the wall, if one could imagine someone's actions by a name. Tossing the map aside, he reviewed his options. He couldn't leave again via the portrait, and even if he could there was no time. His broom then.
Grabbing it he ran as fast as he could to the observation deck at the top of Gryffindor Tower. He mounted and with sweaty palms urged the Firebolt to move swiftly. He had just rounded the Astronomy tower when he saw a dark shape fall from it. Cursing he dove after, moving faster than her free fall. He caught her a mere fifteen feet from the ground. Using the rest of the distance to break their velocity, they fell to the ground with a thud.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" She shrieked.
"Saving you." He seethed. "I might ask you the same."
"Oh Harry, I miss him so much. I wanted to be with him so badly. Nothing's gone right for me and . . ."
"Cho, Cedric loves you. He doesn't want you to die. He wants you to live." Harry put his arms around the trembling girl, burying his face in her inky hair.
"How would you know?" She sobbed.
"Because he came back from the grave so that I could save you tonight, you foolish girl. Don't ever do that again."