The Illustrious Diary of Mr. Cedric Diggory
4 March 1995
Dear Diary,
Sprout finally released me from the morning detentions. She hasn't forgiven me, but I never complained about them. I just shut my mouth and did the work she told me to. She knows I'm not sorry for what I did but she finally gave up on trying to make me sorry. I finally drummed up the courage to ask Dumbledore why he was making me write essays for detention. Although writing the essays were rather tedious, the research I had to do was not. I told him it didn't really feel like a punishment, just an extra class.
He responded that he wasn't trying to punish me. The detentions with him were a personal request from Auror Shacklebolt for Dumbledore to keep an eye on me. He didn't exactly explain why.
I asked Dumbledore if he was mad at me for what happened in the fall. He denied any anger, although he admitted that he wished I had been more subtle and had not lost my temper in front of the school, which was the primary reason he took my prefect badge away. He apologized for the way the staff had been treating me.
He went on to tell me that he agreed Black was innocent and recounted several shenanigans that Black and his friends had perpetrated while at Hogwarts. Apparently, they were a lot like the Weasley twins.
I asked him if there was any way I could spend time with Harry. There were rumors at the beginning of the year that Harry's friends had visited. Dumbledore said that his visits with Harry had gone poorly, as had the visit of his friends. He regretfully returned to me the letters I had sent to Harry, which were unopened. Dumbledore stated that Harry couldn't receive letters and Auror Shacklebolt had returned the letters I sent to Harry.
Dumbledore ended the detention and I left. Instead of doing the little bit of homework I had left, I went to the lake to visit the merpeople.
Cedric
C | D
11 March 1995
Dear Diary,
When I got to detention with Dumbledore, Harry was there waiting! As soon as I opened the door, he was right there and hugged me before I could step inside the door. I didn't realize how much I missed him. Since it was a Hogsmeade weekend, I managed to persuade Shacklebolt to let us walk around the grounds. Harry managed to beg Shacklebolt for his wand so he could feel like a student for a little while. To my surprise, Shacklebolt reluctantly agreed and handed Harry his wand with the condition that Shacklebolt would be able to supervise us the entire time. It was then that the idea started to form in my head.
I had been planning on going to Hogsmeade after detention, so I had a pouch of Galleons in my pocket. It wasn't much, but it was enough. As we walked by the lake, I casually asked if he wanted to meet the merpeople I had made friends with. Harry eagerly agreed. We sat by the lake and I taught him the necessary warming charms and the Bubblehead charm. As soon as he figured it out, we waded into the lake before Shacklebolt could stop us. I used the same trick on Shacklebolt that I used on the Weasley twins. As soon as he followed me into the water, I banished him out of the lake while he was trying to adjust to seeing everything underwater.
It was then that Harry realized that something was up, but he followed me as I dove deep into the lake. I had to cancel a summoning charm twice on Harry's robes, and once on my own. It was difficult to talk underwater, but I managed to tell him, that if he wanted to risk it, there might be a way out of Hogwarts at the bottom of the lake. He hesitated, glancing up towards where Shacklebolt was no doubt trying to figure out if I was trying to hide Harry or if I only wanted to talk to Harry alone for a little while. I hoped he thought it was the latter and I hoped that no one knew about the potential portal at the bottom of the lake.
Harry agreed to attempt an escape as long as I promised that I wouldn't get in trouble. I promised and squashed the guilty twist in my stomach. I was already in trouble for casting a spell on an auror. Harry didn't need to know that.
He followed me down to where I remembered the shift in temperature had occurred while I explored the lake in February. The entire time, Harry stayed close enough that I felt his hand brush my leg with every stroke. It didn't take long for the temperature to change. It wasn't as drastic of a change as I thought it would be.
We quickly swam towards the surface, which was much closer than in the lake.
As soon as we surfaced and cancelled the Bubblehead charms, Harry turned to me with a wide grin and told me that we were in Paris. I had no idea how he knew, but I believed him as we climbed out of the river. He looked around in fascination as I fixed the location in my mind so I could apparate back, even though I didn't have my license yet. I dried mine and Harry's robes then Harry led the way towards one of the streets. I was immediately uncomfortable when I realized we were in a muggle neighborhood, but when Harry saw the nearest street sign, his expression lit up and he pointed at it excitedly. I didn't understand what he was pointing at until he explained the symbol at the bottom right corner of the sign was the Black family crest, which seemed to be glowing a faint red, which apparently meant that Sirius was somewhere in the city, most likely at the Black house at the end of the street. I followed Harry's lead when he started running towards the end of the street. Luckily, the street was quiet and there was no one outside.
Harry dashed up the steps of one of the houses and started banging excitedly on the door, shouting a phrase about a stag. It took almost a minute before the door was flung open to reveal Black with an utterly stunned expression. Harry jumped up and hugged him tightly. Lupin pushed past them, grabbed my arm, and dragged me into the house, closing and bolting the door behind us. The entire time, he kept his wand pointed at me. As soon as Harry picked up on the adults' suspicion, he quickly explained who I was and how we got here.
Sirius looked horrified when Harry told them how we arrived and quickly started casting spells over Harry. Lupin explained that it wasn't a permanent portal that we used. Unless Sirius 'untied' the portal's magic from us, it would transport us back to Hogwarts in an hour. He explained that Sirius had been using the portal to stay in touch with what was going on in Britain.
I didn't want to, but I decided that I should go back to Hogwarts sooner rather than later. Black was too focused on his spellwork to listen, but Lupin was extremely wary. When I explained that I was competing in the Triwizard Tournament, he agreed. Harry didn't understand, but accepted Lupin's promise to explain. Lupin didn't delay in escorting me back to the portal. On the way back, he explained how to move the portal and gave me a story to tell when I returned. He cast a clever confundus on me to make sure I did everything perfectly. It took Lupin three tries to get the spell right. It left me lightheaded and dazed, but I could still think clearly enough to do what I needed to.
I did exactly what he said. As soon as I passed through the portal, I started the spell to move it across the lake. It was successful, and I covered up that spell with several school charms I had been practicing all week, then recast the Bubblehead charm on myself, followed by several warming charms. Then I performed spells to look for Harry to set up my story.
I rocketed towards the surface and bellowed for help as soon as my head broke the surface. Shacklebolt was standing on the bank, dripping wet, and organizing several teachers and aurors to search the lake. Shacklebolt waved his wand and the spell lifted me out of the water and pulled me towards them. I barely slowed before tumbling to the ground at their feet, Lupin's story tumbling out of my mouth. I told them I was showing Harry one of the coves I found during the second task then he disappeared and I couldn't find him. I barely had a chance to recast the Bubblehead charm before they hustled me back into the water to show them the cove. I swam down, the aurors following me closely. I pointed to where the portal had been, and the aurors started to examine it.
Just like Lupin predicted, they investigated, but found nothing. My fake panic convinced them I was genuine and as soon as I showed them the location, they pulled me away, sending me back into the castle to wait in Dumbledore's office.
Eventually, while the search for Harry was still ongoing, Shacklebolt returned and listened patiently as I told him Lupin's story in bits and pieces, trying to think clearly through the confundus.
During the second task, I stumbled upon the cove and a warm current. I took Harry to sit there so we could talk. While we were looking for the exact spot, Harry disappeared and I tried to follow him, casting location spells to look for him, but they all failed. I searched around, trying to retrace the path he took, but failed and went for help.
Shacklebolt had no qualms about letting me know that this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't ditched him. Apparently, they had unearthed a small cave created with magic and filled with comfortably warm air, evidence that someone—a human—had been spending time there. There were clothes and blankets and a small collection of items with the Black family seal. According to Shacklebolt, I had stumbled upon Black's hiding place. He had taken the opportunity to kidnap Harry and flee. Shacklebolt cast several diagnostic spells and sighed, telling me that I had been confounded, then escorted me to the Hospital Wing with the orders to not go in the lake again.
I was terrified that they would press harder or have Moody interrogate me again, but there was nothing. I'm not risking anyone being able to read this entry. I'm placing a dozen security spells over these few pages and a few more over the entire journal. All are spells I got from the books in my secret study room, just to make it more difficult for someone to break the seals.
I know I shouldn't be proud of what I did. I know I shouldn't be proud of freeing Harry and duping the Ministry, but I still am. Although, I suspect Dumbledore knows I wasn't telling the entire truth. He visited me in the Hospital Wing that evening, but I feigned sleep. He respected that and left me alone.
Cedric
C | D
27 March 1995
Dear Diary,
Yesterday, Rita Skeeter found out that I was there when Harry 'disappeared' from auror custody. She blames me for setting a werewolf loose in Britain and blames a recent werewolf attack on Harry. The school hates me again, especially since this morning there was a follow-up article about my contribution to Black's escape from Hogwarts and subsequent suspension.
Black sent me a letter, which arrived right after the Prophet. It was incredibly clever. I was almost convinced it was a rare letter from my estranged godfather, who Black had known at Hogwarts, but there was a subtle reference to France that gave away Black's identity. When I was somewhat alone, I tapped the word 'France' with my wand and the entire letter changed. It was a fascinating enchantment.
Black thanked me for bringing Harry back to him, then told me that Erica Conall, who had monopolized the news on the cases surrounding him, disappeared the evening before Skeeter's article. Black suspected that You-Know-Who was responsible. Even though Conall wasn't on Black's side, she was a good journalist and Black had been exchanging letters with her, trying to share his side of the story. They were supposed to meet for an interview that evening, but instead of Conall, a Death Eater, Barty Crouch Jr., had showed up instead, told Black that Conall was dead, threatened to go after Black's supporters, then tried to kill Black. Black warned me to be careful. He told me that he would meet me after the school year ended to explain what he knew, then told me to burn the letter. As soon as I finished reading it, I poked it with my wand and it shriveled into a heap of ash. The people sitting nearest me gave me angry and suspicious looks, so I quickly left the common room.
I spent the day in my study room and no one bothered me, although I knew the professors would disapprove of skipping class. My father sent me a letter last night and said that he wouldn't make me return to Hogwarts for my seventh year if I didn't want to, as long as I rejected Black's innocence. If I didn't, I wouldn't be allowed to remain under his roof after September first.
I'm not giving up on Black. Maybe he'll take me in when I see him this summer.
Cedric
UP NEXT: A continuation of the collected personal notes of Mister Cedric Diggory.