A bright flash shot out of the stranger's wand, green light filling the dark night. Harry fell to the ground in a slump, his limp body rolling over as it collided to the earth.

"Wormtail?" another man called out, "what did you do?" he spat out in a mix of shock and anger.

"Master I killed the boy, just as you asked…" the man identified as Wormtail said sheepishly, as he turned the face the bundle of robes nearby.

Cedric saw his chance, diving to the Triwizard Cup. Grasping Harry's jersey in one hand while gripping the trophy with the other. The tug of the portkey shook his head back, until he felt the grass under his nose.

Silence shook the stadium, then whispers of confusion. Cedric stood and faced the judges, Dumbledore started walking forward probably already knowing what happened.

"The cup was a portkey, and someone killed Harry!" the young Hufflepuff cried as Dumbledore gradually got close enough to hold in in an embrace.

His father Amos came running down the the pitch, panic on his features. Some of Harry's friends came too, trying to rush to his side before Dumbledore and Snape stopped them.

"My boy what have you done?" Professor Moody asked quietly, as the two Diggory males turned to face him.

"Mad-Eye," started Amos with trepidation, "you're surely not suggesting Cedric had anything to do with this?"

"Is it too much to speculate? All I'm saying is the boy comes back holding a corpse, and nobody handcuffs him?" Moody barked loudly, attracting more attention from the crowd. Nearby Aurors rushed to their former instructor's side.

"Mr Diggory we just need to ask you some questions, if you'll please come with us." Some burly balding man said, reaching down to help Cedric to his feet. "We promise it won't take long." He said, almost talking through him to his father.

"Prittark? Is this a joke? You're arresting my son… my child!" Amos shouted out, tears welling in his eyes. "You honestly didn't do this Cedric did you?" He half asked half told.

"No Dad I swear, please I didn't do anything, I'd never hurt Harry!" Cedric said turning to Auror Prittark, as he too begun to sob.

A huddle of cloaks surrounded him, blocking the view of the crowd. Shadows fell across his face, fear drenched his eyes. Breathing unsteadily, and gasping for air Cedric fell to his knees. His hands shaking unsteadily in front of eyes as he tried to grasp his bearings, he choked back more tears and his legs wobbled. Threatening to collapse under the pressure.

"Come now boy, this is no place for this." Another Auror said, colder than the previous one.

Being yanked up by his collar Cedric was roughly led to the side gates of the pitch. The crowd was split between watching him leave, and the huge amount of medics and Aurors surrounding Harry.

"Hey Ced what's going on?" Shouted a boy he recognised from his house. But before he could turn to answer his impatient captors pulled him away. Cedric managed to take one look back though as the maze entrance was almost out of sight, and saw Dumbledore facing him, arms crossed on his chest.

"And he said his name was Wormtail." Cedric finished. Calmed down now, the story of what happened came easier to him.

He was sat in an interview room within The Ministry. All of it was uniformly off-white, a cream that neither stoked tempers nor cooled agitated witnesses. He assumed the proper 'Interrogation Rooms' were even less welcoming than this. At least he wasn't being treat as a suspect, yet.

"So did you catch this man's real name?" His interviewer asked. She had been asking him questions of the event for what seemed like all night, judging by the half dozen cups of coffee she and her partner went through.

"There is no such wizarding family with that surname, nor any Hogwarts graduate in the last 90 years. We could have checked further we assure you, but judging by your description of the man I wouldn't assume he's over 100." She said as a smirk tugged on her lips.

"They never said any other name, he called the other one 'Master'. Then I left before I heard anything else." He said, taking a sip of the small glass of water they gave him hours ago.

"Master?" the man across from him scoffed, "are you telling me there's a little Dark Lord going around, calling out kill orders on The Boy Who Lived?"

"I'm telling you the truth!" Cedric said with indignation. Shocked at the treatment law enforcement would put upon a schoolboy.

"Calm down Mr Diggory, we just want your side of the story." The woman said, trying to soothe him, while shooting a look at the man sharply.

"I need to see my father, or better yet a lawyer." Cedric demanded with all the anger he could muster. Though 39 hours without sleep made it sound more like a whine.

"The interview is finished now. Besides, he's come to see you anyway." The ruder one huffed, standing up and hurrying out the room.

"We're sorry to have taken up so much of your time, Triwizard Champion." The woman said, sounding sarcastically sweet.

Cedric arose too, following them out of the room as the light above them dimmed at their departure. Not knowing where to go he followed his interviewers, who marched quickly through the thin corridors. Arriving at an open plan office, full of people staring at him, he assumed he wasn't meant to be here.

"What are you doing here?" An older man behind a reception desk called, focusing the room even more on the sweaty boy, still in his black and yellow strip. "Your Dad is through in the main atrium…. That way." He said after a second, noticing Cedric's confusion and pointing to a door across the room.

He walked in a rush through the gaggle of gawking coppers.

"Murderer." One whispered out of sight. The boy turned to try and find the insulter, but found cross faces and furrowed brows, so he just thought it best to leave.

He couldn't believe people thought he murdered Harry. Why would he have? He wasn't his friend per say, but they spoke now and then. Even before this year, when Harry's Nimbus 2000 broke during Quidditch. They had nothing against each other, and both of them warned the other about a task.

He saw his father waiting facing another smaller door to the side. His longer hair was stuck to his face with sweat, probably from worrying. He was tapping one of his feet impatiently, and judging by the tutting and eye rolling, he'd been doing it for some time.

"Hi Dad." He said meekly, as the Diggory men looked at each other.

"Was everything alright? What did they ask you? Do you think you're a suspect? Did they confiscate your wand? They didn't touch you did they?" His father asked all at once, as his nerves spilled over into his words.

"I'm fine," he mollified. "They just made me say what happened, then if I saw the face of who did it. I hope it'll be the last of it, I'm exhausted."

Cedric softly chuckled as he began to walk towards the Floos. His father did not follow him. When he turned to see the issue, he saw him standing on the spot thinking, looking anxious.

He then spun quickly and sped to him.

Placing his hands on both shoulders he said

"I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation Ced. One of the most famous wizards in the British Isles, and the saviour of the Magical World just died. You were the only one who saw it happen. I don't want to scare you but you're almost 18 now and it's time I spoke to you as an adult. Some people - no - most people will think you killed him. I wish this was an exaggeration but I'm being deadly serious."

He paused for a moment as if to gather up the courage to speak.

"You are in grave danger, people will want you dead. And some will try. We need to keep you safe and away from people for the time being."

It had been six days since Cedric Diggory, almost 18, was forced to hide away from the world in his house. The Diggory family wasn't rich, his father was an only child, he too was an only child, and his mother died when he was very young. Even as head of some department in The Ministry, Amos Diggory didn't bring in that much money. Controlling magical creatures wasn't really much of a burden on the budget, to put it lightly. So his father's wage hadn't seen a raise since before he started school.

The Weasley house was very close by, not like he wanted to pop round though. Ron was Harry's best friend, and Mr and Mrs Weasley liked him a lot too. In fact they all did, as he saw at the World Cup. Save maybe Percy but he wasn't there.

The Lovegood House was close too, a bit further mind but in the opposite direction. Just a father and daughter lived there. The girl should be in Hogwarts by now, he remembered.

That was it then, there was no one he could feasibly visit, save maybe the muggles down the village. But they wouldn't understand his struggles. His father was always out at work, trying to keep a low profile it seemed. Cedric thought about telling him that being in hiding isn't what innocent people do, but the teary eyes that walked through the door each night make him wary.

All alone in his house. No pets, ironically. Maybe his father was sick of dealing with animals all day at work. He dared not listen to the wireless, in case he heard some nutcase calling for his blood. He was school work to do, for his final year. But he didn't want to start, he couldn't do all of it in the first few weeks he could be here for months. There was the violin his mother played, but his father would be the one killing him if he touched that.

All in all, Cedric Diggory was bored. Which made him feel guilty, he watched someone die and he was bored? What was wrong with him? Harry's friends and family were out there mourning, Merlin, the whole country was.

He took a deep breath and counted to ten, just like Cho told him to when he got nervous. Oh. Cho. He almost forget how his girlfriend was ignoring him, he sent two letters to no response. The first was just asking what he could do, the second if she was okay.

Surely she's fine though, it's not like anyone would want to hurt her because they were angry at him. They saw them at the Yule Ball though, all the politicians in the country were there. Cedric wished he paid more attention at the dance, besides playing footsie with Cho under the table, and getting drunk on wine.

He looked around his childhood bedroom, a collage of yellow and black covered every wall. Proud of his house, and prouder of his Quidditch team. He would have been Quidditch Captain this year, probably. Nobody else in the team was old enough. If only the damned Tournament didn't exist. Harry would be alive, and rather than trying to not get killed by Dragons and Grindylow they'd be flying against each other for the snitch.

There was a knock at the door as Cedric imagined flying on his broom. There was a knock on the door. His father specifically said never to answer if anyone came knocking. But this was the first time he'd had to worry about it.

Diving out of view of the window, he crawled out his bedroom onto the landing, where a window overlooked the front door. There was Dumbledore there, alone. Cedric sighed with relief. Standing up, then walking down the the door was still nerve wracking. Why would the Headmaster come to see him during summer?

When Cedric opened the door, he noticed his Headmaster was wearing a frown. Which he had literally never seen him have before in his 6 years of schooling. He supposed this would be about Harry.

"Hello Mr Diggory, I wish this visit could be a bit less serious but unfortunately not. The state of the country is one of mourning, as you'll be aware. The death of Harry Potter was one that split Magical Britain asunder. While some are in both disbelief and despair, there are others who celebrate it.

Speaking of celebrating, that's part of why I'm here today. A congratulations are in order, as you are the Triwizard Champion. I know it will be the last thing you'll want to hear, but nobody could reach you."

"Is that why you came Professor?"

"Yes my boy, as the head of the winning school it falls upon me to present you with the prize money. You'd usually get the trophy too, but it's been took in as evidence. 1000 galleons have been transferred into a savings account in Gringotts for you."

"Are you joking? All I want to do is for people to forget about the damned thing." Cedric moaned.

"I'm sorry Mr Diggory, but that's the last thing that will happen now. It is not the only reason I am visiting today. You should have got them yesterday, but the owl returned with it undelivered. Your end of year results." Dumbledore said, passing folded pieces of parchment to him.

Cedric Diggory – 6th Year – End of year results.

Ancient Runes – E

Arithmancy – O

Charms – E

Transfiguration – O

Care of Magical Creatures – E

Defence Against the Dark Arts – O

Provided you have achieved a passing grade in the subject, you may continue it into your final year if you so wish.

"Well done Mr Diggory, those are rather good grades you have there. I assume you want to continue your schooling?"

"Yes sir." Said Cedric shocked, these were really good grades. Too good really, considering he missed a lot of Care of Magical Creatures classes to train for the tournament.

"If you're wondering why Professor Hagrid has given you such a high grade, I think you should know he didn't fail a single student in the school."

That made a lot more sense, his father would be proud of that grade in particular once he showed him.

"And one last thing before I leave," Dumbledore said in the doorway. "Take this, but don't open it until I leave."

"What is it?" Cedric asked curiously. He couldn't open it until he left what was up with that? But by the time he looked up the Headmaster was already gone.

The brown parcel was small, only really the size of his palm. He already half guessed what it was, and was giddy to open it. He slowly pulled at the string bow, letting the overlapping paper fall to the side. And there it was, Quidditch Capta-

Head Boy?

AN- Thanks for reading. This is inspired by a prompt on r/hpfanfiction .

I hope my own anxieties don't come through too much into Cedric through this, as a tend to only be able to express my own feelings through characters. -sigh-

As always, if you want to continue/adapt this story. Don't need permission, just send me a link either on here or u/4685368 on Reddit.