Hey there! Chapter 13 ready!

Usual disclaimer so no bothering anymore with writing it. Just check out one of previous chapter's.

Ch. 13 Trouble and Explanations

Ced's POV

When we landed in the stadium on the safety of Hogwarts grounds, I heard the crowd cheering for us, but I just kept shaking Samantha, praying that she'd wake up. The crowd then stopped when they saw that there was someone else with the champions that was not part of the tournament or conscious. One girl let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"Professor, Voldemort's back!" Harry told the headmaster, trying to calmly explain what we had just witnessed, but I could hear the terror in his voice. Then I heard a squeaking and looked up to see Moody standing there.

A fury than was so intense, it would have matched the heat of the sun coursed through me, and I gently laid Samantha down and ran full speed at him, knocking him to the ground. There, I began to start punching him with everything I had in me.

"This is your fault!" I kept yelling at his face as I punched. Arms wrapped around me and tried to pull me off, but I broke through them. "Who the hell are you?"

"Mr. Diggory, what has gotten into you?" Dumbledore asked me.

"Professor, that isn't Alastor Moody!" Harry yelled as he saw the imposter move to hex me. Dumbledore quickly registered what had been said and stupefied the man before he finished his curse. I was hauled off of him and watched as the face of Alastor Moody became the face of a young looking man that I'd never seen before.

"Bartimus Crouch Jr.," Dumbledore whispered in amazement. Crouch Jr.! He was sent to Azkaban for torturing Neville Longbottom's parents. I'd heard that he died years ago and buried on Azkaban grounds. How is he living?

"Mr. Diggory, would you please take Ms. Carlett to Mme. Pomfrey in the hospital wing? She needs proper attention," Professor McGonagall addressed me and I hurried back to a still unconscious Samantha. I felt ice form in my stomach. I scooped her small frame into my arms and ran towards the school, my father behind me.

"Ced, what happened?" he asked me in that fatherly tone that meant for you to answer him right away, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Samantha needed me more.

"My goodness!" Mme. Pomfrey gasped as she saw the many cuts and scrapes on my person and the unconscious girl in my arms. She indicated for me to lay her down on one of the beds and she quickly got to work. She forced me out of the room, even though I begged for her to let me stay.

"I need to make sure that she is alright and I cannot very well do that with you constantly looking over my shoulder, now can I?" she asked me before closing the doors in my face. So I stood outside the doorway, pacing back and forth as I waited for news about the girl I loved. It lasted two hours before I finally got an answer, and it wasn't one that I wanted to hear.

"It would seem that Ms. Carlett's magic is somehow defending her system as it also repairs the weakened areas. There is nothing that I can do right now except to keep her in here until she awakens. And of that, I'm not sure of how long that could be until. But you can see her for now." I ran back into the room as soon as she said so and what I saw was gut-wrenching.

Samantha was laid across the bed, her hands, face, and head all covered in white bandages spotted with red. The skin that you could see was so pale, it was almost impossible to know where the bandages ended and it began, and the black pjs that she had been dressed in made her even paler. I could say and do nothing except take a place in the chair beside her bed and gently clasp her hand in mine, bringing it up to my lips.

"Samantha, I'm so sorry for everything!" I sobbed into her hand. "I was so stupid for fighting with you! I'll do everything needed for me to make it up to you, but please, just open your eyes! Please!" I kept begging and begging, but her eyes never opened. Eventually, I fell asleep sitting beside her bed, her hand still held between my own.

,:~:,

These past couple of days had been the hardest for me. The competition was finally over with for over a week now, but Samantha was still unconscious up in the hospital wing. I kept visiting as often as I could, and I saw that people had left flowers for her and get well cards, but it didn't change anything. I was almost worried that she'd never wake up. I would have killed that bastard that had caused all this, but Professor Dumbledore had informed Azkaban prison and they sent Dementors who removed what was left of his soul before I even woke up the next morning.

Dumbledore had informed the whole school that You-Know-Who was back and that he was the reason why Samantha was the way she was, but he didn't mention anything about her being related to Godric Gryffinor. I wondered if he even knew that part.

Dad had sent a letter to Samantha's parents telling them what I had told him, and they were terrified. I received letters constantly, each asking if there had been any improvement on their daughter's condition. I wanted to ask if they really had known about the prophecy or not, but I didn't want to be the one to break it to them if they didn't. But how could they not? Sixteen years living in the same country and then suddenly they decide to move to a completely different place? There was no coincidence. They had told me that they would be coming at the end of the week since they couldn't get away long enough from work. It's their daughter, for Merlin's sake!

After my final class, I went to my usual place which was right beside Samantha in the hospital wing. Mme. Pomfrey was so use to my being there that she had moved a more comfortable chair to Samantha's bedside, seeing as I sat there for hours on end.

I placed a bouquet of white lilies that Samantha likes so much into one of the many vases that layered the table and sat down, taking her small hand in mine. Her eyes were still closed and they had a slight hollow and sunken look in them. Her skin had a slight bit of color, but was still deadly pale.

"So how is she?" Harry asked as he walked into the wing, followed by Ron and Hermione who each had bouquets of flowers.

"Still unconscious," I muttered, not even looking away from Samantha's face. "How are you feeling?"

"OK, I guess. Though I think I'd be in worse shape if Samantha hadn't saved us," Harry said. He was right, but I was wishing at the moment that she had tried to save just herself. Maybe then she wouldn't have been like this. Then I heard it.

It was so soft that I hardly even heard the small moan. I looked at her face to see Samantha's eyes begin to flutter open. Her hand slightly twitched in mine, fingers slowly curling around mine. When I saw the beautiful emerald green, I nearly started crying again right there.

"Ow! My head…" she muttered as her free hand came up to touch the side of her head. "What the hell… where am I?" She looked over at me, finally realizing I was there. "Cedric? What?" I broke down then, pulling her into my arms so tightly, like she would disappear if I didn't.

,:~:,

After a few more days under the watchful eye of Mme. Pomfrey, Samantha was finally able to return to her dorm to pack her things. Luckily, the final exams had been last month so she didn't need to worry about that.

I could tell Samantha wasn't ready to go back home. After she woke up in the hospital wing, she told me that she didn't want to be around her parents. I sent an owl to my dad and he said that if she wanted, Samantha could stay at our house for the summer. When I told her, she immediately jumped on the idea.

So that was how it was the entire ride back to King Cross' station; Samantha sitting there rigid and unmoving while Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were playing some games before they couldn't use magic for the next two months. The thing I was most nervous about was her parents, who were planning on meeting us at the station and try to talk their daughter into coming home with them. As much as I didn't want her to, I thought it would be safer for her if she stayed with them.

When we finally arrived at King's Cross, I noticed my father in his usual brown robes and my mother in her favorite muggle clothing, and standing right beside them was Mr. Carlett and who I only guessed was his wife.

Sammi's POV

"What are you doing here?" I hissed at my parents as I got close enough. I'm positive that I would have just ran off or something if Cedric wasn't beside me, keeping me calm as he gently rubbed my arm up and down.

"Sweetheart, I know that you're upset," Mom began, but I cut her off before she could continue.

"Upset doesn't even begin to describe how I feel right now Mom- oh, wait. Are you going to tell me that you really aren't my parents and that Eric isn't my brother," I asked staring into green eyes like my own, hers filled with a self-loathing and mine with a blinding fury.

"Someone talking about me?" my little brother came up behind me with his things, and I'm sure it was quite a sight; two adults looking ashamed and like they should be beaten with a stick, a teenage girl who looked willing to do the beating, and her boyfriend keeping her from doing so. Yeah, great family Christmas card picture, huh? "What's going on here?"

"Perhaps we should take this to another place," Mr. Diggory suggested, causing me to jump out of my skin. I hadn't even noticed that he was there. The woman beside him must have been his wife seeing as she looked like a female duplicate of Cedric. Talk about your first impressions. She must think I'm nuts now!

The trip to home was quick thanks to the Floo powder, but I still didn't like it. It just meant that I'd be listening to my parents begging me to stay sooner. After everyone took a seat in the living room, I looked accusingly over at my parents.

"Tell me the truth. Did you know about me?" I asked.

Mom looked away, but she was the one to answer before my Dad said anything. "I didn't know until after your brother were born. Your father told me that he had kept it a secret so that he wouldn't frighten me."

"And you guys never thought of telling me because…?"

"Sweetheart," Dad spoke up. "We were planning on telling you. We were planning on telling you after the Quidditch tournament, but then there was the Death Eaters attack on the camp grounds, and we thought it would have been better if you didn't."

"So let me get this straight- because you thought that if I didn't know that I was descended from one of the most powerful wizards that there ever had been and that I was going to be the one to stop Voldemort from pretty much destroying everything and everyone dear to me, everything would be fine?" I nearly shouted at them. "Don't you think that would have been my choice?"

"Samantha, I know what you must be thinking-"

"No Dad, you don't. I find out that I've got more on my shoulders than Harry Potter, from the guy that would kill me if I don't join him I might add, that I'm actually a part of a very powerful family bloodline, and that my parents kept the entire truth from me all my life!" I was pacing now, and I needed to get this out fast before it got ugly. "At the beginning of the year, I was worrying about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Turns out I might not have to worry since I might not be living for much longer!"

"Samantha, don't talk like that!" Cedric said as he jumped up and wrapped me in his arms tightly. "I nearly lost you this year. I don't want to think that you will be gone." I closed my eyes as I felt him tremble and pulled him close.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. I really was doing nothing but causing problems for everyone today. It's just so infuriating to find out that your parents only tell you about something really big in your life after someone else did. I was scared. Yes, I'll admit it- Samantha Carlett was scared.

"Samantha," my father finally spoke up. "I don't blame you for being upset with your mother and I. Hell, I expect that you're more upset with me than anyone else, and I understand that you probably don't even want to be anywhere near us. That's why I'm letting you make the choice of where you want to go now. You can stay here if you want to, or you can go with the Diggorys."

"What? Keifer, you can't be serious!" Mom nearly yelled. "She's just a girl!"

"Lynette, Samantha isn't a child anymore, and we can't keep treating her like one either. It's her life and she has the right to do what she wants to. We kept her in the dark for long enough," Dad answered her.

I really felt terrible now. I was ready to keep tearing at them like there was no tomorrow and he does this. But then I thought 'why?' They're my parents, the people who raised me. If I was in their position, wouldn't I have done the same thing for my baby girl? They really were just trying to look out for me.

"Daddy?" I said as I felt the tears form in my eyes. He just looked at me with that look he would give me when I was younger like the time I scraped my knee the first time I rode a broom. I felt like I was five again as I bolted from Cedric's arms into my father's, crying. He just held me close and kept apologizing in my ears. Little did I know that all this trouble was only the beginning of it all and my life would never be the same again.

That's all she wrote for this chapter. Hope you liked it.

R&R!

Nancy (aka megamatchmaker)