Maxima Hostiam
When Harry is getting ready to visit Cedric's grave, he takes James along with him for the first time and tells him the story of what happened in the graveyard many years ago.
(Written for the Storytime! Challenge by Winged Quill in the HPFC)
August 22, 2015
It had been twenty-one years. Twenty-one years since Ireland's defeat over Bulgaria. Twenty-one years since the first time Harry had seen the dark mark. Twenty-one years since he and his friends met up with Cedric Diggory to go see the Quidditch World Cup.
Harry never liked visiting Cedric's grave on the day that he died. There were too many friends and family members that had actually known Cedric. No, he much preferred to visit on this, when nobody else was around. It was a much happier day, twenty one years ago.
"I'm off, Gin," he said, kissing his wife of twelve years on the cheek.
Ginny sighed and looked at him sadly with her deep brown eyes. He knew that she hated this. She always wondered why he insisted on always visiting everyone's graves. Not just close friends and his parents' graves, but everyone's graves who'd died by the hands of Voldemort or fighting against him, whether Harry knew them or not.
"I'm sorry," he murmured, leaning forward and touching his forehead to hers.
She sighed again and kissed him. "Be back in time for dinner."
Harry grinned. "Always, love."
He turned to leave Gimmauld Place when a voice stopped him.
"Dad?"
James stood in the hall, staring at his father with a mixed expression on his face.
"Yeah, James?" Harry asked, facing him.
"Where are you going?"
Harry paused, unsure of what to do. His kids were pretty used to him dropping in and out of the house, leaving unexpectedly, and arriving late due to his job as Head Auror. But James knew that this was different. This wasn't work.
"I'm going to visit a friend," he replied slowly.
"Can I come?"
Harry looked at his son, analyzing the boy. James' brown eyes were dark with doubt, yet light with hope. They were so much like his mother's. The boy looked so young and so innocent, not knowing the dangers that the world held for him. It was hard to remember that he would be leaving for his first year at Hogwarts in a few weeks.
For the past eleven years Harry's tried to shield his children from pain and darkness the best he can. He wanted to keep them young and innocent, prevent them from having to face the dangerous world alone. He hadn't even told them the true extent of his involvement in the Second Wizarding War. As far as the kids knew, he and everyone else simply fought in it. They didn't understand the darkness, the terror that filled the years of his childhood. He wished would never have to.
"Alright," he said slowly. "Ginny, I'm taking James with me!"
Ginny appeared in the hallway, hands on her hips, eye narrowed, and jaw clenched. Her expression reminded Harry of how Mrs. Weasley's was when she would yell at the twins.
He cringed slightly. Remembering the twins (one in particular) still hurt.
Harry half expected her to refuse and make James stay, but then her stature softened and her eyes became sad.
"James, you have to be a good boy and listen to your father," she said sternly.
He nodded, effectively making his hair go everywhere, and hugged her quickly. "Thanks Mum!"
"I'll see you later," Harry said, smiling gratefully at her.
No sooner than he had taken one step toward the front door was there the sound of two pairs of pattering footsteps and a chorus of "I want to go too!" His two younger children Albus, eight, and Lily, six, appeared before him.
"Daddy, I wanna go," Lily said, pouting in the way that she knew would get her what she wanted.
"No, I'm older!" Albus declared, green eyes alight with determination. "I should go!"
James glared at his siblings and drew himself upright. "No, I'm the oldest and I'm going alone."
Then chaos erupted as the boys started shouting at each other and Lily threw a temper tantrum. Harry scrunched up his face and wondered how he was going to restore order. He wasn't very good at sorting out their fights.
"Stop that this instant!" Ginny screamed in a way that made Harry absolutely positive that she'd inherited her mother bear side from Mrs. Weasley.
The children obeyed and separated from each other.
"Now," she began testily, "your father is only going to take James with him. You two can go some other time."
"Why does James get to go?" Albus asked.
Ginny said matter of factly, "Because he's oldest."
James stuck his tongue out. This angered Lily very much. She stamped her feet and promptly sat on the floor with her arms folded. "I'm never going to do anything because I'm the littlest!"
"You can help me in the kitchen," Ginny offered.
"NO!" Lily screamed, immediately jumping to her feet and scampering off to her bedroom. She absolutely loathed cooking.
Albus, being the good child, hugged his father and followed his sister up the stairs.
"See you when you get back," Ginny sighed, kissing his cheek and going back to the kitchen.
Harry smiled down at James. "Now, as soon as we go through the door we're going to Apparate, alright? We have to do this very quickly so the Muggles don't see. Hold tightly on to me and don't let go."
The boy swallowed determinedly and wrapped his arms around Harry's waist. Harry stepped through the door and instantly they were gone. After feeling like they were squeezed through a rubber tube, they appeared at a graveyard.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, looking down at his son, who was rather green in the face.
"Fine," James croaked.
Harry sat him down on the ground and patted his head. "You did a good job. Most people vomit their first time."
He nodded, took a breath, and then stood slowly back up.
"Let's go," Harry said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder and leading him forward.
The graveyard was relatively empty. The sun was shining through a patch of clouds, and the flowers still looked in bloom. As they made their way through the graveyard, James began to frown and his eyes became troubled.
"Dad, where is your friend?" he asked with a sliver of doubt in his tone.
"Close," Harry replied.
James paused, and then asked, "Dad, is...is your friend, er...dead?"
His dad nodded. "Yes. He died many years ago."
They stopped before a grave that read as such:
CEDRIC AMOS DIGGORY
March 13, 1977
June 24, 1995
Friend and Son
As James read the last line, the words shimmered and changed to:
Friend, Son, and
Heir of Hufflepuff
Maxima Hostiam
"Dad, what does that mean?" he asked, pointing at the words at the bottom.
"It's Latin," Harry replied. "It means 'The Greatest Sacrifice.' "
"Oh."
There was silence for a while. Several vases of dead, petal-less flowers and a few silk ones remained on the grave, along with a few letters and cards that had been damaged by the rain
Harry leaned forward and picked up the dead stems. He took his wand out and Transfigured them into a bouquet of white carnations. He put them in a vase and muttered Aguamenti, filling the vase with water. He took a slip of paper out of his pocket, scribbled a few words, and then set it by the vase.
James, reading the words, questioned, "Dad, why are you sorry?"
"Because his death was my fault."
He was silent for many moments as he absorbed this news. "Why?" he asked eventually.
Harry turned away from the grave and began walking. James followed quickly.
"Tell me what you know about the Second Wizarding War," he said.
"A bad guy named...named...um, Voldemort killed many people. But he got killed a while ago. And you and Mum and Granddad and Grandmum and my uncles and Auntie Luna and...well, lots of people fought against him," James replied.
Harry nodded slowly. "Voldemort used to be a boy named Tom Riddle. He was an orphan and a half-blood, like me. He went to Hogwarts and was in Slytherin House. He was a very powerful wizard, but a very dark wizard. He wanted to live forever, and wasn't afraid to kill people in the process. As the years went by, he gathered followers called Death Eaters.
"Now, a group of people also formed who wanted to stop Voldemort. They were called the Order of the Phoenix. My parents, Granddad, Grandmum, Teddy's dad, and Uncle Neville's parents were in it. One night, on Halloween to be exact, Voldemort decided that he wanted to kill me. He killed my dad, and then my mum. But when he tried to kill me, he was blown apart. It's how I got my scar."
Harry pointed at his forehead, and James stared with an ashen face.
"That was the end of the first war. Many people thought that Voldemort was gone. But he wasn't, not really. As soon as I went to Hogwarts, he tried every year to kill me. It never worked, however. Now, you see, Voldemort had a problem: he couldn't touch me. Because my mum sacrificed herself for me, her love protected me from him. So Voldemort hatched a plan to resurrect himself and be able to touch me."
They approached a tree on the outskirts of the graveyard and they sat down beneath it. Harry pull a couple sandwiches out of his coat pocket and handed one to James, who bit into it hungrily.
"I was in my fourth year at Hogwarts, and it was the same year that the Triwizard Tournament was to be held again. Students from two other school, Durmstrang and your Aunt Fleur's school, Beauxbatons, were staying at Hogwarts. One student from each school was to be chosen. They were Viktor Krum, your Aunt Fleur, Cedric Diggory...and me."
"But that's four," James interjected, looking confused.
Harry nodded. "That was the problem. I was underage, so I wasn't allowed to enter. But somebody else had put my name into the Cup, and I had to compete."
"The Cup?" he asked.
"Oh, yes - the Goblet of Fire. Those who wanted to compete would write their name on a slip of paper and drop it into the Cup. When the champions are announced, the Cup releases three - or, in my case, four - slips of paper with the champions' names."
"Oh, okay." James continued eating.
"The Triwizard Tournament is composed of three tasks. In the first, I had to fight a dragon and steal its egg. In the second, I had to swim in the Black Lake and retrive your Uncle Ron. And in the third, I had to find the Trophy in the center of a very dangerous maze."
"Oo bib ool vat? !" James exclaimed through a mouthful of sandwich.
Harry chuckled. "Yes, but I had a lot of help. Now, Cedric and I reached the center of the maze at the same time, and the rule was that whoever grabbed the Trophy first won the Tournament. So we decided to grab it at the same time. But it was a trap."
His eyes darkened and he was quiet for several moments, thoroughly alarming James, who was feeling quite scared.
"One of Voldemort's servants turned the Trophy into a Portkey - you know what a Portkey is, right?"
James nodded.
"Well, it transported us to a graveyard in a place called Little Hangleton, which is where Voldemort grew up. He made sure that I would get to the Trophy first so that he could get ahold of me. Cedric wasn't supposed to be there."
"Did Voldemort kill him?" James asked, barely at a whisper. His brown eyes were wide.
Harry shook his head. "No, he wasn't brought back to life yet. He had one of his servants, Peter Pettigrew, kill Cedric. Cedric died just because Voldemort wanted him to die."
"Did Voldemort come back to life? Was he able to touch you?" he asked, getting louder with each question.
"Yes and yes," Harry answered. "But I fought him. When our spells collided, something called Priori Incantatem occurred. It only happens when two wands made of the same core cast spells at the same time."
James frowned. "So if I cast a spell at someone who casts another spell at the same time and he also has a unicorn core - "
Harry chuckled. "No, no. It has to be the very same core. The phoenix that gave the feather that's in my wand - " He held up the said wand. " - also gave another feather: the one that was in Voldemort's wand."
The boy's eyes widened and he nodded with understanding. Harry continued with the story.
"The battle then became a battle of wills. The ghosts of my parents, Cedric, and some others appeared and gave me strength. I fought off Voldemort, grabbed Cedric's body, grabbed the Portkey Trophy, and returned to Hogwarts."
James was silent, and Harry thought wryly that it was one of the few times that James had absolutely nothing to say.
"Cedric Diggory shouldn't have died," Harry said. "He was kind, brave, and had many friends and a loving family. He should have had a long and happy life. But he didn't. He didn't because of an evil man who cared for nothing and nobody but himself. Cedric didn't do anything wrong. He was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time."
A tear landed on his hand and Harry was surprised to find himself crying. He wiped his eyes and smiled weakly at his somber son.
"Do your best to remember Cedric, son," he said. "And always do the right thing, even though you might get hurt."
"Maxima hostiam, right Dad?" he asked.
Harry nodded. "Right."
They finished eating their sandwiches and were prepared to leave when James asked, "Did you kill Voldemort? You know, at the end?"
He paused, and then nodded. "Yes, I did."
"Is that why everyone knows who you are and thanks you all the time and asks you for your autograph and picture?"
"Yes."
"And did Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron help you a lot?"
"Yes."
"Did Voldemort kill Uncle Fred?"
"No, but one of the Death Eaters did."
"Do you miss them? The people who died?"
"Yes."
"Will you ever stop? Missing them?"
"No."
When James was quiet, Harry thought he was finally done. But he was wrong. James opened his mouth and asked,
"Why did Voldemort want to kill you?"
Harry paused, shook his head, and said, "That's a story for another time."
"But Dad - !"
"No buts. We're going home."
"But - "
Harry wrapped his arms around his son and they Apparated back to the front doorstep of Grimmauld Place, opened the door, and quickly entered. James wobbled on his feet and looked slightly nauseous. He turned to go up the stairs, but pause and looked back at his dad and smiled.
"Thanks, Dad."
Harry smiled back. "You're welcome. Oh, and James?"
"Yeah?"
"This can be our little secret, so don't tell Al or Lily."
James lost his nauseous pallor and instantly brightened at the thought of being allowed to keep something from his siblings.
"Alright!" he exclaimed joyfully, and ran up the stairs, undoubtedly with the purpose of boasting his secret.
Moments later, Ginny appeared and hugged him. "Glad to have you back. Did you tell him?"
Harry nodded.
"How did he take it?" she asked worriedly.
"He took it well, don't worry," he said. "Our boy is strong. They all are."
Ginny sighed. "I know they are. I just..."
He kissed her forehead. "I understand."
Harry squeezed her hand and went upstairs to their bedroom, hearing shouts of complaints from Albus and Lily coming from James' room as he passed by. Once in his room, he pulled a box out from under the bed. He lifted the lid and stared down at a multitude of pictures.
They were pictures of all those who he had lost because of the wars. His parents, Cedric, Remus, Tonks, Sirius, Dumbledore, Fred, and many more. He smiled down at them and they all beamed back. Then he closed his eyes, willing himself not to cry, and sent out a prayer of silent thanks to all of them for their maxima hostias.
There it is! I'm quite proud of it, really. James is a fun character to write. ^^ I hope you all liked it!
~Kicon