"Cedric, you don't need to keep thanking me for the dragons. It was only fair that everyone knew," Hariah said. She went to go around Cedric and escape to the Gryffindor common room. She had been avoiding most of the male populace of Hogwarts for the last week. The anticipation for the Yule Ball had reached a fever pitch. It had been a painful experience to turn down Colin Creevey and Cormac McLaggen had even gone so far as to try to slip a love potion in her morning pumpkin juice. Thankfully Hermione had caught it and thrown the goblet in his face.
"No, it's not about that," Cedric said with a small smile. He readjusted the bag on his shoulder. "I was just thinking- we're both Hogwarts champions, so, why don't we show some solidarity. I thought that maybe we should go to the Yule Ball together…both champions going together? No rivalry for a night?"
"I'm going to kill you Hariah Potter," Voldemort whispered, a smirk tugging at his lipless mouth. She squirmed against the tombstone, cold through her champion robes, as his foul breath ghosted over her face. "And your classmate is lucky enough to bear witness. He will tell everyone how the Girl-Who-Lived begged for death and that I, being a merciful lord, obliged."
Out of the corner of her eye, Hariah saw Cedric struggling frantically against the Death Eater restraining him. Hariah could see the mingled fear and fury in his eyes. Muffled shouts could be heard through his gag.
"Quiet! Foolish boy, or I shall kill you as well," Voldemort said without sparing him a glance. His eyes remained focused on Hariah as he lifted a finger and touched her forehead. Hariah screamed. She squirmed and pressed her body against the bonds, willing them to break, willing some kind of release from the pain that was tearing her mind apart.
The letters started coming before she had even been at Privet Drive for a week that summer. At first, Cedric only inquired after her welfare. Hariah reassured him that she was fine, that was until she'd had one terrible nightmare too many. She knew Ron and Hermione would listen, but they hadn't experienced what she and Cedric had.
She wrote a long letter detailing the nightmares she had been having and her frustration at the obliviousness of the wizarding world to Voldemort's return. Cedric responded immediately and the two wrote almost daily for the rest of the summer.