RAVENCLAW, YEAR 6, THEMED. PROMPT: DELICATE HANDS
He has his arms wrapped around me, my head on his chest listening to the musical, rhythmic beating of his heart. My eyes are closed, and I can tell his are too. It's hot; a midsummer night. The sun is drifting back, casting a fire of oranges and reds across the sky, though it dims by the minute as the deep ocean blue of the night extinguishes the sunset. He twitches, as he always does in the moments before he falls asleep, and I use this as a moment to escape his arms without disturbing him. I gently cross his room, made possible by the light of the receding sunshine. I sit at his desk and watch him. The thought flashes across my mind that he has never looked as beautiful as he does right now, but I disregard it; I think that almost every time I see Cedric.
His desk is littered with papers from work; ever since the triwizard tournament, after I touched the cup just before him and had to fight Lord Voldemort he was even more inspired to become an aurora. He was desperate to protect me, but his very existence, the very essence of who he is protects me.
I was walking through his flat now, aimlessly. His hallway was lined with pictures of him at Hogwarts, flying in and out of frame on his broomstick in a wet quidditch match. There were pictures of him with his family, pictures of him with friends but most of all, pictures of him with me. We were giggling about something, or play fighting or otherwise enjoying one another's company. My mind was wandering though; how long could this last? I could hardly be to blame for my skepticism; I was never able to keep around those that I love for long. But I have to try.
Cedric is something else entirely. The only one I need. Charismatic, electric. And with that thought in my mind, I fell to the ground. Hard.
When I woke, Cedric was above me. His hands, his pale delicate hands, were soaked in crimson red blood.
"Harry! Oh my God, Harry, are you okay?" His response seemed disproportionate. I had just fallen, maybe caught my head at worst.
"I'm fine Cedric. What happened?"
He painted the picture like a photorealistic artist. He had been asleep before hearing a clatter from the kitchen. Rushing in, wand in hand, he had found me on the floor. My hand was covering my scar, and I was writhing on the floor in apparent agony, screaming; attempting to claw the lightning bolt scar out of my own skin. Cedric attempted to repeat the other sounds I was making; parseltongue, no doubt. He scooped me up in his arms and decided I should go to St. Mungos.
They were baffled. Never had any of the professionals at the wizarding hospital had ever encountered anything like this. Cedric attempted to relay the noises to the doctors, but to no avail. Even I couldn't begin to understand what I might have said. And the screaming started again.
I remained fully conscious. My scar burned like never before; like someone had heated a fire poker up to 1000 degrees and had promptly begun to stab me in the head with it, repeatedly. I was aware now too of my own parseltongue speech. It wasn't good. I wasn't speaking so much as relaying a message that I could hear in my head. In the muggle world, I was aware this would be enough to classify me as insane.
The voice he was relaying was cold and aggressive.
'I will take him' my tongue hissed 'and you will be alone again.'
When the pain stopped, I pulled on Cedric's arm, resulting in a look of pity or confusion or both.
'Cedric, we have to leave.'
'What? Harry, you're unwell. You're not making any sense.'
'The voice,' I stopped talking, briefly taking a moment to gather my thoughts. 'It's him. He's going to take you away from me. Cedric, I need you. We have to leave. I can't lose you.'
Cedric's eyes glossed over, and it was clear he was conflicted. He's an auror; this is his job. Should we stay and fight, presumably, the most powerful dark wizard of all time? Or should he run, and stay with Harry? Surely, the latter option presented him with more power over the situation, and a higher chance of protecting the boy he loved, but at the same time Cedric was worried. He feared for his own life. For Harry's life. How would his family be affected by him leaving? Were they in danger too? He was brought out of his anxious musings by Harry.
'Cedric, we have to leave. Now.' I grumbled lowly, making sure nobody else could hear.
'Okay. I have to keep you safe.' Cedric agreed.
Seconds later, we were back in Cedric's flat. He had apparated into the bedroom, and within seconds Harry lay witness to the most furious he had ever seen his boyfriend. He was throwing clothes into a bag with no rhyme or reason, ignoring any attempt Harry made to stop him and ask him to think about what they would really need.
His hands, still soft and delicate, rifled through drawers and the wardrobes.
'Cedric!' I had to yell to make him stop, and he looked at me in disbelief. I had never shouted at him before.
'I have to stay.' My voice cracked.
'What? What do you mean? What are you talking about Harry?'
'You have to go. You have to hide, but if He's coming back - if Voldemort is returning, somehow, or someone else is putting you in danger, I have to fight. I have to make it safe for us, and if that means you have to go into hiding somewhere then so be it.'
'Harry, no. I can't leave you. I love you.' Cedric knew the power those words had over me, but I couldn't let that affect me now.
'This is how it has to be. I cant have your death on my hands. I love you too much to lose you.'
'So what? You love me too much to lose me but you'll kick me out of my home? The country? That's not how this works Harry. Not this time. You were the chosen one last time, but now you're my chosen one. I love you and I won't leave without you.'
The atmosphere was tense all evening. I knew what had to be done, but at the same time maybe Cedric was right? I didn't really have to take on this battle. I could just leave, let the ministry handle it. But was it the right thing to do? I decided to call Hermione. She would know what to do.
'Harry, you have to tell the ministry. This isn't a fight you can take on alone, not again.' Her voice was quick, and she had an amazing talent of talking in a rushed manner without ever breaking for a breath.
'You're right. I'm just so scared, I can't lose him Hermione.'
'That's what they want. They want you to be scared, and right now you're letting them win.'
I spoke to Hermione for a long time after that; she helped me realise things. That for once, I have to put myself first; I spent so long in the battle with Voldemort that I never took the time to live my own life, with the love of my life. I had to speak with Cedric.
I approached Cedric delicately. He has to know that I'm genuine. He has to know that this time, I'm putting him first.
'Cedric, can we talk?' He turned to look at me, sighing.
'Of course,'
'I'm sorry,' I knew there was a way I had to go about this, and so far I was doing it right.
'I've been thinking and talking with Hermione and I know I was wrong. I'm just so afraid of doing the wrong thing, you know? Imagine if I chose the wrong option here and you got hurt, or worse killed? I love you and I can't let that happen. But Hermione said something that really resonated with me. She said I need to live my life for me now that the Voldemort battle is over, and I do.'
He was trying not to smile in order to keep up the apologetic reunion, but his teeth broke through anyway and for the millionth time he was flashing me his picture-perfect smile.
'Thank you, Harry,' he gushed. 'It will be like an adventure, just for us two! We can travel all over!' Cedric's delicate hands gently cup Harry's face, leaning in and gently kissing me on the lips.
We were back in the bedroom, packing for our first stop whilst simultaneously discussing what that would be. We were thinking Perth, maybe, although Cedric does tend to burn easily so perhaps Australia wouldn't be best. We thought Canada, but perhaps Canada could be too cold? We ended on New Zealand; Cedric's grandmother lives there and is happy and comfortable and I thought it might be good for him to be around a family member. We decided to have one more night at home before apparating to our new life.
The flat was barren. The pictures were packed, leaving the walls stripped. Cedric was sad to leave behind his old life, so he decided to spend a while on the phone to his mum and dad. Whilst he was gone, Ron and Hermione came over to say goodbye. The mood was solemn but hopeful, and my friends were glad that I was leaving to start a new love with the boy that I really do love.
As the evening came to a close, it hit me what a wild day it had been. I had gone to hospital, I had been contacted by something or someone, i had argued with Cedric and we had decided to run away together. After everything we've been through together, this felt like a positive move. We were moving away to keep each other safe, and I really do trust him with my life.
When Cedric was done and Hermione and Ron had left, we decided it was time. Somehow, we managed to hold onto all of our bags and each other. Cedric kissed me gently before closing his eyes and all at once, we were somewhere in between the UK and New Zealand.
We landed together, holding onto each other tightly and yet again Cedric planted a kiss on my lips. We were in a lounge, decorated hideously. The wall paper was a faded shade of pink, with a light green carpet and a fabric blue sofa, covered in various cat hairs. There was a small box TV in the corner. An elderly woman walked in. Jacqueline Diggory was a hunched over, grey, elderly woman, with deep set smile lines and chubby cheeks.
'Cedric! What are you doing here?' She appeared shocked, but cheerful anyway.
'Grandma, Harry and I are in danger and we had to leave England. I was wondering if we could stay here for a while before we set ourselves up properly?'
'Oh, Harry I didn't even see you there! How are you dear?' She approached with her arms outstretched.
'I'm not too bad, Mrs. Diggory, how are you?' I was polite to all of Cedric's family, but his grandma was such a lovely woman that she unintentionally commanded more respect than others.
We sat and spoke with her for a while, getting comfortable and drinking tea. We caught her up on the whole situation, and she let us know that her home was our home and we could stay for as long as we need. We thanked her and decided to get some sleep; it had been a long day after all. Cedric led me to the bedroom by the hand, and yet again I fell asleep in his arms.