Chapter 18: Collapsing Inwards
Cedric was falling down stone step after stone step having stumbled at the top, bouncing on every tier with a fresh explosion of pain until at last, with a crash that knocked all the breath out of his body, he landed flat on his back on the sunken pit bit. The whole room was ringing with the sound of Death Eater jeers. He was overcome by an overwhelming, all encompassing, wave of exhaustion. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and take a very, very long nap.
A pang of worry for the others shot through him. Last he saw Gavin was knocked unconscious, Cedric could only hope he was going to be alright. Part of him yearned to run his friends, but he had to trust James could keep them safe. Harry was out there in that room somewhere, and at just that moment Cedric closed in on the sound of his boyfriend's voice.
"Let-let the others go, and I'll give it to you!" Harry shouted desperately.
Harry is fighting. Harry needs me beside him. Harry came here for me. I can't let him fight alone. I won't let him fight alone! With a groan, fighting back all the pain of the last day, Cedric forced his good hand underneath him and pushed.
Again, the cold laughter of Death Eaters echoed out.
He got his feet underneath him, rose to his full height, gripping his good hand tightly around the wood of the wand that had been handed to him. It did not sing with the same warmth of his old wand...the wand Bellatrix had snapped...the wand he had bought when he was eleven...but it would do. It had to.
His left hand hung limply in the sling. The spell Harry had cast was powerful, between it and the nerve damage he could not feel anything at the end of his arm. That was at least better than earlier.
"You are not in a position to bargain, Potter," Lucius Malfoy drawled. "You see, there are ten of us and only one of you...you're all alone...or hasn't Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?"
"He's not alone!" Cedric shouted, stepping out from the shadows of the dais to where the others were. Harry looked back at him, his expression panicked, and Cedric did his best to give Harry a weak smile. "Harry's never alone! He's still got me! He has people who love him fighting beside him-and he always will!"
"Cedric, no!" Harry was shouting, crying. "Get out of here!"
Never, Harry. Never in a million years will I leave you to fight alone.
Cedric raised the wand in his hand and fought. "STUPEFY!" A death eater fell to the ground, another raised his wand. "EXPELLIARMUS! IMPEDIMENTA! STUPEFY!"
"PROTEGO!" A shield appeared before Cedric, catching the spellfire of a curse, erected by Harry. For just a moment the battle fell away, Cedric's gaze connected with Harry's, and he nodded.
Side by side, they fought.
"STUPEFY!"
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
"STUPEFY!"
Spellfire flew through the dim darkness of the chamber and then-
"Crucio!"
No.
A scream tore it's way out of Harry's chest. He stopped mid spell, falling to his knees, twitching in agony. Cedric turned, horrified.
"Incarcerous!"
Black, thick, ropes tied around him, preventing him from moving or casting or fighting. And still, Harry screamed. Cedric struggled, cursing the Death Eaters with every word he knew, but he was...helpless. Again. Unwillingly, Cedric began to move, levitated towards the Death Eaters.
Bellatrix Lestrange ran a hand along the side of his face, "Oh Ceddy…" Abruptly, Harry's screams dissipated. "I'm so close to destroying you, cracking your mind open, aren't I? Let's see how long you last...unless Potter wants to give us the prophecy…"
"DON'T YOU GIVE IT TO THEM, HARRY!" Cedric roared, beside himself with rage. "DON'T-"
"Crucio!"
Cedric screamed. Distantly, he felt the ropes vanish, leaving him to writhe and twitch in agony freely. At this point...what was the pain at this point? Nothing he hadn't felt before. Nothing he hadn't endured before. And now Harry was right there -he had something to fight for..
"That was just a taster," Bellatrix said happily, leaving Cedric sobbing and shaking. "Now, Potter, either give us the prophecy or watch your... wittle boyfriend die painfully."
Harry was on his feet...extending his hand to Malfoy...the prophecy clutched in it…
"Harry...no…" Cedric muttered, his voice weak.
Then, high above them, two more doors burst open and six more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Remus, Cedric's Mom, Moody, Tonks, and Kingsley. They were clearly furious.
Cedric sobbed, for the first time believing they might actually make it out of there alive.
Malfoy turned and raised his wand, but Sirius had already sent a Stunning Spell right at him. Cedric did not wait to see whether it had met its mark, he was already on his feet, lunging towards the dais...halfway in between, he collided with Harry. His good arm encircled his soulmate as Harry held on to him tightly, pulling him towards the other side of the stone.
The Death Eaters were completely distracted by the appearance of the members of the Order, who were raining spells down upon them as they jumped from step to step towards the sunken floor. Harry and Cedric made it to relative safety, the other side of the dais.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked weakly, looking over at him. Cedric stared, wanting desperately to reassure Harry that yes, he was fine...and finding he could not lie. A harsh bark of bitter laughter left Harry and he sagged, leaning against the stone. "What a stupid...bloody...question…"
Cedric smiled weakly, and the next moment he was leaning in, wanting desperately to kiss Harry-
The stone floor between them exploded as a spell hit it, leaving a crater right where they had stood seconds before. Both scrambled away from the spot, then a thick arm came out of nowhere, seized Harry around the neck and pulled him upright, so that his toes were barely touching the floor, he was gasping for breath…
"Give it to me," growled a voice, "give me the prophecy-"
"Stupefy!" Cedric shouted.
The Death Eater keeled over backward and Cedric caught Harry, supporting him even as his legs shook with the effort of staying on his feet. Harry was leaning against him and Cedric was leaning against Harry in return...he could not honestly say who was supporting who…
Harry reached up, framing Cedric's face in his hands, and captured his lips quickly with his. It was a heartbeat that lasted an eternity. Sirius lurched by, dueling furiously with a Death Eater, and they broke apart, and a moment later they were fighting again.
Dolohov raised his wand again, "Accio prop-"
Sirius hurtled out of nowhere, rammed Dolohov with his shoulder, and sent him flying out of the way. Now the two were dueling, their wands flashing like swords, spellfire flying from their wand tips. Cedric stuck to Harry's back, sending stunners after the other Death Eaters as Harry joined Sirius in attacking Dolohov.
"Nice one!" Sirius shouted, forcing both Cedric and Harry to the ground as a pair of Stunning Spells flew toward them. "Now I want you to get out of-"
They both ducked. A jet of green light narrowly missed Sirius; across the room Cedric saw Tonks fall from halfway up the stone steps, her limp form toppling from stone step to stone step, and Bellatrix...Cedric watched as her gaze drifted over the battle to finally rest on them, on him, and triumphantly she ran back into the fray, towards them. He felt the lingering tremors, somewhat lessened by the potions he had taken earlier, return-felt the panic tightening like a noose in his chest.
I'm afraid of her, he realized, with a feeling a disgust. She did get to me, break me.
Bellatrix had barely made it down three of the stone steps, however, before she was forced to stop. Cedric's mother, Thea Diggory, was sending spell after spell after Bellatrix, dueling with a ferocity that was terrifying to behold. Her red curls, some grayed with the steel of age, had escaped their bindings and flew free around her, like a cloud of fire. It was one thing to know his mother had been a Combat Healer in Voldemort's first rise, it was quite another to see her fight first hand.
"Harry, Cedric, take the prophecy and run!" Sirius yelled, dashing out to join Thea. Whatever happened next was obscured from Cedric's vision; Kingsley swept between them, battling with Rookwood. Another stray jet of green light shot towards them, struck the stone beside Cedric's head.
"C'mon!" Harry shouted, grabbing Cedric's arm.
They had only made it up a few of the stairs, however, and then, out of nowhere, a man lunged at them. Cedric, who by this point was fighting just to remain standing, stumbled, crashing into Harry and sending them both tumbling backwards.
"The prophecy! Give me the prophecy, Potter!" Cedric watched in horror as Lucius Malfoy pressed the point of his wand between Harry's ribs, knowing that even though he was close he wasn't close enough to attack Malfoy before Harry could.
"Argh! No, get off! Cedric-Catch it!"
The spun sphere of grey glass flew through the air into Cedric's hands; he cradled it to his chest and scrambled backwards. It felt strangely warm in his hands, as if it radiated internal heat. Cedric saw Malfoy raise his wand to point at him instead of Harry, fumbled with his wand, lacking two good hands…
"IMPEDIMENTA!" Harry roared, placing himself between Malfoy and Cedric, protecting him.
Malfoy was blasted off his feet. As Harry scrambled towards Cedric, helping him clamber shakily back to his feet, he looked around and Malfoy smashed into the dais on which Sirius and Bellatrix were now dueling. Moments later Malfoy aimed his wand at Harry and Cedric again, but before either of them could react, Remus had jumped between them. Spellfire split the darkness, red, green, and purple light flashing between the two wizards.
"Harry, Cedric, get out of here!"
"Somnum Mortis!"
Cedric felt his blood go cold. He recognized that curse from the studying he had done for the apprenticeship; it was under the obscure curses that were nearly classified as death curses. It required medical attention within minutes if the victim was to survive.
Orange spellfire struck Remus squarely in the chest, and he crumpled to the ground. Malfoy raised his wand again to strike…
"STUPEFY!" Harry shouted, and the force of his spell sent Malfoy flying again.
Cedric stumbled and the prophecy dropped from his hands, and, before either of them could catch it, bounced off Harry's foot. It flew some ten feet to their right and smashed on the step beneath them. As both of them stared at the place where it had broken a pearly-white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air. It's mouth was moving, but, amidst the chaos of the battle, could not be heard.
"It doesn't matter," Harry muttered.
Both of them knelt by the prone, unmoving figure of Remus. He was no longer breathing. Cedric was desperately feeling for a pulse with his free hand, only distantly aware that Harry was saying something. When he found it, it was weak, slow, and rapidly failing. Within minutes, Cedric knew it would be gone.
"He's alive," Cedric managed to say, his voice trembling. "But he won't be if we don't get help soon. Where is my mom?!"
We need a healer!
"Uh," Harry was turning around desperately, looking for her. Finally his gaze rested on the dais...where Thea was dueling violently. Sirius and Thea were back to back, up against three Death Eaters, holding their own but barely just. "Cedric she's…"
Preoccupied at the moment.
"Fuck," Cedric muttered, drawing the wand of the Death Eater Gavin had given him earlier. The moment he sent a bit of magic into it to test it, he knew it wouldn't work for this spell-even assuming as exhausted as he was Cedric could perform it. "Harry, I can't do healing spells with this."
Wordlessly, Harry passed him his wand of holly and took the wand of the Death Eater. Pushing himself to his feet, brandishing the stolen wand, Harry placed himself between Cedric and the battle.
Cedric turned back to Remus, who lay unmoving. He knew what he had to do. This man before him was like a father to Harry-beyond that, this man before him had informally adopted Cedric as his own son. The Life Spark spell would be brutal...but it was Remus's only chance at survival. For several minutes, Cedric would have to pump magical sparks of his own energy into Remus's body. He tried to tell himself he could do this...but he knew Remus's chances of survival were slim.
"Tribuo Vitae!" Cedric incanted digging the point of Harry's wand into Remus's sternum. Remus twitched slightly, his body flexing as if struck by electricity, then lay still. "Tribuo Vitae! Tribuo Vitae! Tribuo Vitae!"
Cedric channeled memories, emotion, into the repetitive incantation of the spell. He pictured countless moments at Grimmauld Place, channeled the love he felt for the family that had formed there. He saw in his mind's eye Remus at the beginning of the summer, saving him from a Death Eater in the very first attack. Now it was his turn to save Remus.
Harry stood between his boyfriend, one of his adoptive fathers, and the battle raging around them. It was chaos. Upon the dais Sirius and Thea dueled side by side against the Death Eaters surrounding them. As he watched, one of the Death Eaters fell, crashing off the dais.
Harry saw Sirius duck a jet of red light from Bellatrix: he was laughing at her. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled his voice echoing around the cavernous room. The second jet of light collided at the last moment with a shield erected by Thea-Harry shuddered to think what would have happened if she wasn't there.
"Watch your-"
"Avada kedavra!"
From Bellatrix's wand a jet of green light split the air between the dueling pairs and struck Thea squarely in the chest. It took only a heartbeat, and she was gone. She fell to the ground, unmoving.
Dead.
Thea Diggory was dead.
No...she can't be...
It was impossible to process. Harry stared, wanting desperately not to believe it, to see her rise from the ground again. It hurt worse than a physical wound. It felt as though someone had set fire to Harry's lungs, burnt the oxygen out of the air. He couldn't breathe, couldn't move, could barely think . Blood was roaring in his ears, deafening him, the world around him was spinning out of control. He staggered, felt himself scream.
Behind him, Harry heard Cedric's spellcasting falter, his voice breaking. He'd seen it too.
Anger swept over him, and somehow anger was easier and Harry welcomed it. Before Harry knew what was happening he was running forward, wand in hand, every fiber of his being determined to destroy that witch. She hurt Cedric. She killed Thea. Bellatrix Lestrange would pay .
But Bellatrix was already running, Harry heard her triumphant yell, he had to catch her and-
"HARRY!" Strong arms wrapped around him, holding him back. Sirius had beaten the other Death Eater, who now lay prone on the dais next to...Thea. Harry stared, shaking, at eyes that had been once so filled with life and were now empty of anything. "There's nothing you can do-"
"I'll kill her!" Harry screamed, tears choking in his throat.
"It won't bring Thea back, Harry!" Sirius said, his voice breaking as he struggled with Harry. "Revenge will do nothing!"
A moment later, the door to the chamber opened. Framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Harry looked at him numbly, wanting to rejoice that they were saved but...it was too late. Thea was already gone, Remus was dying...Bellatrix was getting away…
Dumbledore was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realized he was there. There were yells; another one of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore's spell pulled him back easily. Harry watched this blankly.
There was movement going on around them, pointless bustling, the flashes of more spells. To Harry it was meaningless noise, the curses flying back at them did not matter, nothing mattered except getting to the witch who had caused so much pain to his family. Sirius dragged Harry away from the stone steps, back towards Remus and Cedric.
Sirius faltered as he beheld the scene before them; Harry stopped fighting.
" Tribuo Vitae!" Cedric growled, Remus went rigid, convulsing as magic poured into him. Again and again and again Cedric incanted the spell, even as tears streamed down his face. Remus was hovering in the space between life and death, and Cedric was fighting with every fiber of his being to keep him on the side of the living.
"What…" Sirius trailed off, looking on with an expression of abject horror.
Cedric didn't pause in the incantation for a moment.
Numbly, Harry realized Sirius was holding two wands. Thea's wand. A healer's wand. Gently he pried the Hawthorne wood from Sirius's fingers and fell to his knees beside his soulmate, holding it out.
Cedric looked at the wand for a moment, for the first time falling truly silent, if only momentarily. Harry's holly wand fell from his hand and he reverently took the wand from Harry's. Then, without a word, he turned back to Remus. " Tribuo Vitae!" This time the spell seemed stronger.
Just as Harry closed his hand around his own wand there was a loud bang and a yell from behind the dais. Harry saw Kingsley, yelling in pain, hit the ground. Bellatrix Lestrange turned tail and ran as Dumbledore whipped around. He aimed a spell at her but she defelected it. She was halfway up the steps now-
"Harry-no!" Sirius cried out, but Harry had already ripped himself free from his godfather's slackened grip.
"SHE KILLED THEA!" Harry bellowed. "SHE HURT CEDRIC! I'LL-I'LL KILL HER!"
Every swirling emotion he had battled throughout this ordeal was collapsing inwards like a star going supernova; condensing to a singular, focused point. There was only rage- hatred. He closed his eyes for a moment as he ran and he saw Cedric's terrified, pained expression, on the verge of tears as that witch held him in a choke hold. He blinked again and he saw Thea, dying. Visages of pain burned into the lids of his eyes, memories that would haunt his nightmares and waking moments for years.
The need for revenge was all consuming.
Cedric watched, helpless, as Harry broke away from Sirius's grasp, running after Bellatrix. He wasn't sure if he wanted to run after them to join Harry in destroying her or stop Harry from getting himself killed. But he couldn't move. His mother's wand was in his hands, the wand of a healer, a fighter, and he had a life to save.
His mother. She was gone. She was dead. Another sob.
No. No. No. No. No. Please no. No. No. No. No...
Sirius stood there motionless for a moment, turning helplessly between the rapidly disappearing figure of his godson and the convulsing figure of Remus. Distantly, Cedric realized what Sirius was feeling. Remus was Sirius's soulmate-the fact that the two of them had been trying to keep some distance out of fear wouldn't change that-and he was dying. But Sirius could do nothing for Remus now, and he could save Harry.
It was all too much. The world was pulling at him in too many directions, Cedric felt like he might come apart at the seams.
" Tribuo Vitae!" Cedric spoke through gritted teeth, trying not to choke on his own tears " Tribuo Vitae! Go! Tribuo Vitae! After! Tribuo Vitae! Him! Tribuo Vitae!" Momentarily Cedric turned to the man, pleading with his eyes. "Please! Tribuo Vitae!"
"Is he… will he…" Sirius' face was contorted with pain.
"I don't know! Tribuo Vitae! " Cedric said honestly.
The spell seemed to be working, despite his exhaustion, but he wouldn't know for several minutes if Remus's heart would regain a rhythm that could sustain life. And until then, Cedric was the rhythm. He couldn't break away for a second. He was channeling every last bit of magic he had left into saving Remus.
There was an ocean of pain within Cedric, struggling to break free. Something that felt absolutely impossible yesterday had happened, and it had come at a moment where he was totally unprepared to handle it. He could not allow himself to feel the pain, not fully. The loss of concentration would kill Remus, and Cedric wasn't honestly sure he would survive the shock of the totality of that ocean of sorrow.
"Tribuo Vitae!" Cedric's hand, even grasped so tightly around his wand that his knuckles turned white, was shaking. Physically, he was exhausted. Every muscle in his body screamed to just curl up in a ball and sleep for a decade, but he couldn't do that.
And once again Harry was in danger and the world was holding Cedric back from protecting him. But it's Bellatrix, a tiny voice spoke tauntingly at the back of his head. You really think you could protect him? You couldn't even protect yourself. And now Harry thinks he had to fight her for you. All of this, because of you. Pathetic.
"You're going to die, Ceddy," Bellatrix had whispered in his ears. "And so will little Harry."
No! No he can't! I can't lose him too. And Remus, we need him. We can't lose anyone else. Guilt won't save Remus, won't help Harry. I have to do this.
"TRIBUO VITAE!" Cedric growled the incantation, incanting through tears. "GO! Tribuo Vitae!"
Sirius, for one more moment, hesitated, torn between Remus, possibly dying, and his godson, rushing headlong into a fight he could not win alone, and then he took off at a sprint, tearing across the battlefield after Harry. Around them, the battle was beginning to wind down as Dumbledore and the Order rounded up the last of the straggling Death Eaters.
Cedric's battle was far from over.
"Tribuo Vitae!"
Harry forced his way out of the lift before the grilles were fully open and looked around. Bellatrix was almost at the telephone lift at the other end of the hall, but she looked back as he sprinted toward her, and aimed another spell at him. He dodged behind the Fountain of Magical Brethren; the spell zoomed past him and hit the wrought gold gates at the other end of the Atrium so that they rang like bells. There were no more footsteps. She had stopped running. He crouched behind the statues, heart racing, listening intently.
His muscles were trembling with the lingering tremors of the Cruciatus curse and exhaustion, but he had no choice but to keep fighting. He couldn't even imagine how Cedric must have been feeling.
"Come out, come out, little Harry!" she called in her mock-baby voice, which echoed hollowly off the polished wood floors. "What did you come after me for? Are you here to play? Oh I do hope you're as much fun as dear Ceddy was! I thought you were here to avenge her !"
"I am!" Harry bellowed.
"Aaaah...do you love Ceddy, little baby Potter? Did you love her , little baby Potter!"
Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never known before. The memory of Cedric's face, broken open with pain as he watched his mother die, flashed before him. He flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed " Crucio!"
Bellatrix screamed. The spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek with pain as he or Cedric had-she was already on her feet again, breathless, no longer laughing. Harry dodged behind the golden fountain again; her counterspell blasted the head off the golden wizard.
"Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?" she yelled. She had abandoned the mocking baby voice now. "You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain-to enjoy it-righteous anger won't hurt me! I'll show you how it's done, shall it? I'll give you a lesson-"
You hurt Cedric!
Harry threw himself from out behind the fountain, wand in hand, a curse flying from his wand. It shot through the air, and sailed uselessly past her head just as she raised her wand and spoke.
"Crucio!"
A scream escaped him as he ducked back down again behind the fountain. A moment later the pain dissipated. He curled up into a ball, whimpering, trembling.
"Potter, you cannot win against me!" she cried. He could hear her moving to the right, trying to get a clear shot of him. He backed around the statue away from her, crouching behind the centaur's legs. "I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant. I learned the Dark Arts from him! You are just a little boy! I made your Ceddy scream and I'll make you scream too!"
"Fuck you!" Harry had edged right around to where the goblin stood and now took aim at her back as she peered around the fountain for him. "Stupefy!"
"Protego!"
The jet of red light, his own Stunning Spell, bounced back at him. Harry scrambled back behind the fountain, and one of the goblin's ears went flying across the room.
"Potter, I am going to give you one chance!" Bellatrix shouted. "Give me the prophecy and I may spare your life!"
"Well, you're going to have to kill me, because it's gone!" Harry roared-and as he did pain seared into his forehead. His scar was on fire again, and he felt a surge of fury that was quite unconnected with his own rage. "And he knows!" A bitter laugh, mad enough to rival Bellatrix, escaped him. "Your dear old mate Voldemort knows it's gone! He's not going to be happy with you, is he?"
"What? What do you mean?" she cried.
"The prophecy smashed when I was fighting Malfoy!" Harry shouted. "What do you think Voldemort'll say about that, then?"
His scar seared and burned…
"No!" she screamed. "It isn't true, you're lying-MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED-DO NOT PUNISH ME-"
"Don't waste your breath!" Harry yelled, his eyes screwed up again against the pain in his scar, the sight of Thea dying burned into his mind's eyes, tears fighting their way down his face. "He can't hear you from here!"
A new voice, cold and high echoed against the walls of the Atrium.
"Can't I, Potter?"