Disclaimer: I only own Bella and her family. Also, Dumbledore's speech is taken from the book.

The Return of the Dark Lord

Draco and I, along with the rest of the Slytherins, were sitting in the quidditch stands in the dark. Draco had his arm around my shoulders and I was cuddled against him. The third task was by far the most boring. Though we hadn't been able to see what went on in the second task since it was underwater, we'd at least been able to see what magic the champions were using to complete the task. It would have been more interesting if the stands were situated so that we could see into the maze. I supposed the judges didn't want the champions to be distracted by (or to receive any advice from) the audience. The highlight of the evening so far had been when red sparks shot out of the maze and Delacour had been brought out unconscious.

The dread that I felt when I looked into the crystal ball had largely subsided. It helped that I had Draco's arm around me. I mean, who wouldn't feel great under those circumstances? Although, I was still worried about what would come of the final task. Perhaps it was merely Delacour being attacked into unconsciousness, but I doubted it.

"It's not hard to see why people get so excited over the Triwizard Tournament when for half the time you're sitting around doing nothing isn't it?" Blaise asked sarcastically.

"Is there anything in the world that truly interests you, Blaise?" I asked.

"No, not particularly," he responded.

I rolled my eyes and moved closer to Draco. Draco spoke up, "They could at least show an image of what's going on in the maze where all of us could see it; like they did for the Quidditch World Cup. They put up a large image showing all of the players at the beginning of the game."

"They probably didn't want to waste such magic on school children," Blaise replied.

We didn't have to wait much longer for the final task to end; soon Potter appeared outside the maze with the trophy and what looked like an unconscious Diggory. "Well, one good thing certainly came of this," Draco said somewhat cheerfully. "Potter sure is cut up bad." Indeed, Potter did appear to have many cuts and bruises, but why was he clinging to Diggory like that? Had the maze been so traumatizing?

Before long, the appearance of Potter and Diggory threw things into chaos. Within a few minutes, something began to run through the crowd like a cry. "What are they saying?" Blaise asked curiously.

I leaned forward, straining to hear, and found out. Cedric Diggory was dead. "Diggory," I whispered, "he's dead."

"What?" Draco asked, surprised.

I had been correct, the terrible feeling I received from the image of the maze was that one of the champions would die. Unfortunately, it had not been Delacour. I wondered what had killed him. I couldn't see any obvious death wounds on him, but I was rather high up.

"Pity it wasn't Potter," Draco said. I looked at him in surprise. Diggory was the one who Draco had been supporting all year long. Draco was the one who made the Support Diggory/Potter Stinks badges. Had he merely supported Diggory out of spite for Potter?

"What?" Draco asked noticing my look.

"One of our classmates is dead. Aren't you at least shocked?"

Draco shrugged. "We knew people might die in this tournament. Diggory knew the risk, he tried out anyway." Though Draco said this, I noticed his skin looked paler than normal. His callousness still bothered me, although I now knew he didn't mean it entirely. "Don't tell me you're upset over his death?"

"Well, I'm not going to cry about it. It hardly affects me, but you don't exactly expect any of your classmates to drop dead, now do you?"

The end of the year feast was a somber affair. I was willing to bet that normally it was quite festive, but given the circumstances that hardly would have been appropriate. The entire Great Hall was decorated in black cloth to signify mourning. The usual noise during meal times was much more subdued today.

"You would almost think that someone important had died," Draco scorned. "It's not as if this shouldn't have been expected. What, did everyone assume that the entire tournament would go perfectly well and no one would receive more than a few bumps and bruises?" I vaguely wondered if Draco's response would be different if the champion who had died had been from Slytherin rather than Hufflepuff.

"They did change a lot of things to make the tournament less dangerous," Blaise said. "I expect this made people believe that no one would be seriously harmed."

As Professor Dumbledore got up to talk, silence fell over the Great Hall. "The end of another year. There is much that I would like to say to you all tonight, but I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here enjoying our feast with us. I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory."

I stood and help up my glass along with the rest of the school. Dumbledore went on to speak of what a great person Diggory had been and then he said, "His death has affected you all, whether you knew him well or not. I think that you have the right, therefore, to know exactly how it came about. Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort."

Oh no. No, no, no. I'd always feared that the Dark Lord would come back, but had never dreamed it would be so quickly. That it would happen when I was only in my fourth year of school.

"The Ministry of magic does not wish me to tell you this. It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I have done so—either because they will not believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, or because they think I should not tell you so, young as you are. It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies, and that any attempt to pretend that Cedric died as the result of an accident, or some sort of blunder of his own, is an insult to his memory."

There were only two times I could remember being grateful to Professor Dumbledore. The first was when he let me transfer from Beauxbatons to Hogwarts. The second was now. I was well aware that there were many adults who would not have told us this information; they would have told us some lie to cover up Diggory's death.

I noticed that Draco turned to Crabbe and Goyle and muttered something. I worried over what it was. I hoped it wasn't something positive in relation to the Dark Lord. If it was, then I probably didn't want to know what he said.

Dumbledore continued on, "There is somebody else who must be mentioned in connection with Cedric's Death. I am talking, of course, about Harry Potter. Harry Potter managed to escape Lord Voldemort. He risked his own life to return Cedric's body to Hogwarts. He showed, in every respect, the sort of bravery that few wizards have ever shown in facing Lord Voldemort, and for this, I honor him."

So, that explained what I felt when I saw the maze in the crystal ball. Of course, it hadn't merely been someone dying, but the Dark Lord himself coming back. As I previously mentioned, I didn't see every day events (though it's callous to say, the death of one student (unless, perhaps, it had been Potter) did not have much effect in the grand scheme of things), but much larger events of which I had little understanding. That was why I had felt so much dread, not because a student was going to die, but because something much more evil was going to occur. If I was more experienced in the art of divination, I probably would have realized I had seen something bigger, but it wouldn't have done me any good. It wouldn't have changed anything, aside from making me feel even more dread about what was coming in the third task.

I tuned back into what Professor Dumbledore was saying. "It is my belief—and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken—that we are all facing dark and difficult times. Some of you in this Hall have already suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Many of your families have been torn asunder. A week ago, a student was taken from our midst.

"Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."

Dumbledore sat back down and the students went back to the feast. Due to the way I was raised, I didn't understand the obsession of choosing right or wrong. My parents had trod the middle path for years, and had done quite well by it so far.

Blaise made a movement and I looked up. When he caught my eye he said, "And so, it begins again."

I was somber as I entered the Hogwarts express to return home with Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle. As we sat down in a compartment, Draco turned to me and asked, "What's wrong, Bella?"

I turned to him and quietly said, "Our world is about to be thrown into turmoil, and you're asking me what's wrong? All of our futures, no matter how far ahead they were planned out, have just changed drastically."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Draco responded. "The world will be better after the Dark Lord has taken over."

"You really think so, Draco? You think that the world will be better when we are in a war encompassing the entire magical world and the muggle world? We now have a bloody future ahead of us, and no matter which way the war goes, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better."

"Why are you being so pessimistic? It's not like we'll be in any danger. Our families support the Dark Lord."

"Your families support the Dark Lord. You know very well that my family gave as much support to the ministry as to the Dark Lord. They played both sides very well to make sure they would be in good standing no matter who won the war. It's only my uncle and grandfather who were Death Eaters. My father was never even close."

Blaise gave me an appraising look before saying, "You don't support the Dark Lord."

As it was a statement rather than a question, I considered not answering, but since the answer was just too obvious, I couldn't help myself. "Hermione Granger, a muggle-born witch is one of my best friends. Of course I don't support the Dark Lord."

Our conversation reminded me why I was so deeply grateful to Professor Dumbledore for telling us the truth about the Dark Lord returning. A reason I didn't particularly want to think about, but needed to. The main reason I had come to Hogwarts, the personal mission that was so important to me, was to convince Draco and Blaise to not throw their lives away by becoming Death Eaters. The return of the Dark Lord made my goal much, much more difficult.

A/N: So, as stated in the first chapter, this was something I wrote in high school, and fourth year at Hogwarts is all that I wrote, which means I'm done for now. If there's enough interest, I might continue on with the next year.

Thanks so much to everyone who favorited, followed, and commented on this story!