Run!
That was Harry's only though at the moment. Nay, his only instinct. The primal instinct of survival, to live to fight another day.
Harry's famed Gryffindor bravery went straight out the window the moment Cedric Diggory was killed right in front of his eyes.
He had to get out of there!
Harry dodged incoming spells as if his life depended on it. And after a shout from Voldemort of "Kill him!" he knew his life did depend on his ability to get the fuck out of there!
Immedietly Harry was forced to dodge behind a gravestone as the telltale green flare of the Killing Curse soared at him.
He looked all around him for a way out as the granite headstone took a few more hits before disintegrating completely.
The portkey!
That is what the ghosts that came out of Voldemort's wand told him.
Harry ran and fired off some of his own spells as a distraction. He doubted anything he could cast at the moment would do any significant damage.
With not a moment to spare, Harry grabbed both Cedric's body and the Portkey Triwizard cup. He waited for any sign of the portkey trigger- the feeling of being hooked by the navel, spinning, and being dropped unceremoniously on the ground.
But none of that happened. In fact, nothing happened at all.
Harry realized the folly of his mistake. The enemy did not make the Portkey two ways. There was no reason to, so why would the caster expend the effort to do so? In fact, Harry had never even heard of a portkey being two-way before.
The panicking wizard dropped the Cup with desperation, and gave an apologizing look to Cedric's body as he started to run once more.
Harry could hear the pursuers hot on his tail as he rushed out of the graveyard and into the nearby town.
There was one thing that could be said about Harry as he ran down the road. All the years of Quidditch and Harry Hunting have made him fast. However, that was before he participated in the Triwizard Maze was the unwilling participant in Voldemort's rebirthing ritual, and got his ass kicked in a one-sided duel.
Now, his entire body groaned with agony and pain. He would not give in to fatigue, as to give it would be to die. He has lived through too much in his short lifetime to die now. He is The Boy-Who-Lived after all. He lived when no one else could.
Harry ran all the way until he made it into the next town over. The death eaters were still close on his tail, being a lot fresher than Harry was physically.
He spared a glance to look at some of the signs on the stores alongside the road. A few of them had the name of the same town; Greater Hangleton.
That name meant nothing to him though.
There were not many people out at this time of the night, and if there were, they were most likely up to no good and paid no attention to the fleeing boy.
Harry took a turn down a side street, and then down an alley, and back onto another main road.
He kept running, sporadically turning down random alleys. After about 10 more minutes he stopped hearing his pursuers altogether.
Harry was starting to think that he had thrown off the chasers, and was wondering how to escape back to Hogwarts and safety.
There was no warning. A man smashed into Harry as he jogged past an alleyway. He did not hear or see the man.
The man threw Harry up against the wall, hurting the already beaten and bruised wizard.
Harry only had time to look up at his attacker before he was thrown once more. The man looked average, although there was an odd glint in his eyes that he could not place. The man was clearly a muggle, and there was no sign of anybody nearby to help. Not even Death Eaters.
The attacker took Harry's face and grinded it up against the brick wall of the alleyway store. Harry was beyond pain now, with scrapes and bruises all over, and blood rushing out of his wounds. His wand was somewhere on the ground, having dropped it when he was smashed into the wall for a second time.
Harry was struggling to even pull himself up to his knees.
"Please… What do you want?" Harry managed to ask in between mouthfuls of blood and dirt.
The man was not done though. He said nothing as he picked Harry up effortlessly and threw him against a metal bin.
The distinct sound of breaking bones was heard and Harry nearly passed out from the pain.
Harry managed to open one eye and attempted to give the man a defiant look.
He knew he was going to die. He knew that his flight from death was all for naught, and in the end it was this savage man who won.
At least Harry would die knowing that it was not Voldemort who killed him. He would deny the Dark Lord that pleasure one last time.
The man knew he had won and saw the boy in front of him was destroyed. He walked over slowly to the fallen wizard and bent down in front of him, making eye contact.
A shiver went up his spine as he saw the unnaturalness in the man's eyes. Harry's single undamaged eye widened with shock when the man opened his mouth and bared his teeth – no, his fangs.
The man grabbed Harry and bit right into his neck.
Harry tried to cry out, but he was too much in shock to do much of anything. He felt his extremities tingle as the blood rushed from them and out of his neck.
His arms flailed around on the ground, searching for something, anything. His vision was blackening as his blood kept pouring out.
Harry's hand brushed up against an object. He didn't know what it was and it didn't matter. Anything, anything, to help.
He swung the empty beer bottle he picked up as hard as he could, smashing it over the man's head. The bottle shattered, showering them both with glass causing many small lacerations to the both of them.
However, it had the desired effect of dislodging the man from Harry's neck.
Harry knew it was already too late. He didn't even think a miracle could save him now, not even phoenix tears.
He wanted to take the bastard out with him though. With broken beer bottle still in his hand, he stabbed straight up at the exposed man's face.
The makeshift shank sunk home. Blood from the man poured all over Harry; on his face, into his wounds, and even into Harry's disfigured mouth.
Harry coughed when the blood hit his mouth, but his jaw was so damaged that he accidently swallowed some of it. Disgusting. Along with choking on his own blood, he had another man's blood dripping down his throat, and his neck was too destroy to cough it up properly.
The man in question was on the ground having what looked like a fit, while clutching at his face.
Harry rolled backwards off the bin and was now laying on the ground as well. He had one last look at the man who killed him. He watched in detached fascination as the man spontaneously burst into flames. He put it off as a hallucination, after all, he was at death's gates and the line between reality and the afterworld is blurred.
Harry cough up one last time, expecting to taste blood once more, but he had no more left.
He closed his eyes and knew no more. A wisp of black smoke could be seen escaping from the forehead of the fallen boy-hero, but there would be no one around to witness their savior's death.
Minister Fudge was in a panic. He lobbied so hard for the Triwizard tournament to be brought to his country. Now something had gone wrong.
Terribly wrong.
Both of the Hogwarts Champions have been missing for hours, and naturally his country was blaming the French. Granted, there were a few blaming Durmstrang, but there was a lot more hatred being directed towards their cheese-eating allies.
There is a helpful tidbit of information that Fudge learned upon taking the office. The public doesn't care about something as silly as facts, all they care about is opinion. If an idea is popular enough amongst the plebeians, then that is as good as the word of Merlin himself, regardless of the truthiness.
They ignore the fact that both Delacour and Krum were inflicted with unforgivables; the imperious and Cruciatus. All they cared about was that their two champions were missing.
Even Fudge could tell that something else was happening that did not single out just one group of individuals. All the schools were affected, but it just happened that Hogwarts had two champions, one of which was their beloved boy-savior, and both of which were missing. Missing!
He had Amelia working the case. The head of the Department for Magical Law enforcement was very good at her job. Fudge only wished he had more witches like her.
The most annoying part about the whole situation is that Amelia already had a dozen of her aurors supervising the Third Task, and something like this still managed to happen. The only thing they manage to conclude is that there are traces of Portkey magic, meaning that the Winner's Cup that both the boys touched at the same time transported them to some unknown location.
Amelia had teams tracking the magic while Fudge had nothing to do but contemplate his own future. The ministry could detect unauthorized portkey use instantly, but tracking it could be very tricky, especially when other magic is at play.
The public would have his head surely if any harm befell any the students. If the savior of the wizarding world died on his watch, then all hell would break loose. The ones highest up always fall hardest, and it does not get any higher up than the Minister.
He was a politician first and foremost. It was his duty to inform the public that they are safe, not under any threat, and to quell any fears. There are still people out in the world who would make it their duty to destroy Harry Potter. There are still many Death Eater out their biding their time, wanting to revenge their fallen master, and at the top of that list is Sirius Black. The notorious mass murderer is still at large, and would be his immediate suspect to this disaster.
A few minutes of introspection later, and Fudge was interrupted out of his thoughts by the arrival of an Auror with bright pink hair. Pink of all the colors!
The Minster listened in as the Auror gave her report. A lot of the technical jargon surrounding portkey tracing went right over his head. Something about unauthorized portkey use, and tracking it to an unplottable land.
"Director Bones, we have a lead."
"Continue." Amelia Bones acknowledged.
"We traced the portkey to a Graveyard in Little Hangleton. We found Cedric Diggory there- he's dead. Struck down with the killing curse. The cemetery is a wreck. There are blown up tombstones and traces of dark magic all over the place. There was a fight there, but there is no sign of Harry or any other attackers. There was no sign of the portkey, who ever did it cleaned up after themselves."
Amelia bones let out a sigh of frustration. "Very well, continue the search. Look through the nearby town. Greater Hangleton I believe it is called."
"Sure thing Boss."
It was another two hours later when the same Auror reported back, this time looking grief stricken. "Report Auror Tonks."
Auror Tonks spoke up shakily. It was always up to the FNG to report news like this. There is a saying, 'shit flows downhill,' and with the news she was about to report, it was no question as to why the new recruit got the duty.
"We found him, or rather, we found what we think is the remains of him. Massive puddle of blood we determined to be Harry's. It was found in an alleyway, and there are smears all over the brick walls and a metal container there as well. Whoever did this to the boy did not hold back… with the amount of blood found, there is no way that Harry is still alive. Plus we found these."
Tonks pull an item out of her pocket. It was Harry's glasses. The frame was mangled and the lenses were cracked.
"Any signs of the attacker?"
"Nothing. Not a single trace of magic. It could have been a muggle gang who did this."
Amelia wasn't one to show emotions, but this news was devastating. The child savior of the wizarding world was dead, a huge blow to all of Britain for sure. "Very well. I'll take the necessary steps."
Naturally it was the biggest news since Voldemort's downfall and it was already in the paper two hours later.
Tri Wizard Tournament Disaster!
Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory found dead!
By Special Correspondent Rita Skeeter.
It is my sad duty of this reporter to report on the greatest tragedy Britain has seen this century. During an unforeseen series of events, the Tri-Wizard cup was charmed into a portkey by perpetrators unknown and it transported both of our beloved champions to a location not revealed to us.
After many hours of panic, a lone Auror reported back with news that they found Cedric Diggory's body struck down by the unforgivable Killing Curse. There were signs of a great battle at the location, not much more is known than that.
Our savior Harry Potter was not found until two hours later in the nearby muggle village. It seems as if the young champion was trying to escape his foe, but in the end our tired 14 year old savior was no match for the attacker. A massive amount of blood and his trademark glasses are all that were found. We can only hope that his body is returned to us unsoiled.
When asked if this is the work of Notorious Mass Murderer Sirius Black finally finishing what he started all those years ago, there are no confirmed reports but the Minister says it is highly likely. Our condolences go out to the families.
Sirius Black's week could not go any worse. He knew the Triwizard Tournament was very dangerous and even more so for his 14 year old Godson.
He didn't know what James would say to him if he found out that Harry was kidnapped during the final task. And under Dumbledore and the Ministry's eyes as well.
The Firewhiskey he was drinking did not care though. In fact, it comforted him in his time of need. He had just recently moved back into his old childhood home at Grimmauld place, and was christening it by drowning his sorrows in his best friend named Alcohol.
It was always there for him when he needed it and it never asked awkward questions. It truly was a man's best friend. It could even get you laid.
Sirius was sober enough to notice an owl tapping at the window, so he got up to open it. He managed to only stumbled twice before he managed to open the latch.
He took the paper and read the heading. There was a sudden stillness before Sirius threw the paper on ground and let out an inhuman scream.
The students of Hogwarts were in a somber mood. A fellow student was dead, and another missing. Even the Slytherins dared not flaunt.
Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger just arrived in the great hall to eat a melancholy breakfast. It was only a few minutes before a hoard of owls flew in.
They both burst into tears when they read the headline.
Ginny Weasley picked up the discarded paper, read the headline and also burst into tears. She ran out of the room to mourn the loss of her prince charming.
Albus Dumbledore was at a loss of words for the first time in his life.
He stood up from his chair at the teacher's table in order to say a few words to the breakfast eaters. He attempted to say something. His mouth opened, and closed a few times, unable to say anything. He looked oddly reminiscent of a fish.
Everyone in the hall was now looking up at him for guidance, but he was unable to formulate a coherent sentence.
He sat down to avoid further embarrassment and buried his face in his hands.
Petunia Dursley was having a wonderful day. Her flowers were blooming vibrant, and her garden looked much better than Mrs. Number Two Privet Drive.
Her routine morning of watering her daisies was interrupted by the site of an owl flying at her, holding a bundle.
She nearly fainted right there and then. She looked around to see if any of the neighbors saw this freakishness before pulling the bundle from the owl's care.
Petunia read the headline and immediately gave a fist pump and shouted "YES!"
She looked around abashed, to see if any of the neighbors saw her outburst.
Petunia cleared her throat , "Er… yes!" She repeated, this time in a much lower voice. "Got to show Vernon and Dudders, they will be so ecstatic!"
Author's notes
I will keep this brief.
Story is rated M. There will be blood, gore, and sex. Genres can include- Dark Arts, Independent Harry, action/adventure/horror
I got 9 chapters of this story already finished, over 30k words. Pairing is already decided, but that will have to wait. This is sort of a rewrite to my story HP and the meaning of life. There is a couple scenes reminiscent of it, but after this chapter the two stories essentially go their own way.
I want to take this down a far darker route than the previous story.
Second chapter will be up sometime later today.
I enjoy worthwhile feedback, such as grammatical and spelling mistakes. I do a lot of proof reading and editing, but I am hardly an expert and it is possible some things escaped my net.
And here is a shout out to DLP. Join our C2 at .net/community/DLP_5_Starred_and_Featured_Authors/84507/
It is the only c2 worth a damn, and many stories far superior to my own are in its library.