Chapter Seventeen: Strange Remus— Stranger Cedric
Holly grinned happily as she walked around the lake without a care in the world, singing softly to herself. It was then that she remembered Remus's note!
"Oh!" she said to herself as she looked across the lake. "There!" There were two figures, standing in the shadows. "Remus!" she called out to them.
"Hello, Holly! Come here, we can't be seen in the light!" came Remus's voice. Holly grinned as he approached her, not even wondering about his strange comment.
"Remus," she said, her smile fading. "Something terrible has happened. Something terrible. I don't know where they are, they're gone, he's left me here to drown, Remus, do something! Please, Remus, let me feel him again!" He smiled weakly and stroked her hair.
"Relax, Holly," he said, soothingly. "Everything is going to be alright." Holly frowned, realizing for the first time that something was definitely wrong. In the midst of chaos, in her disordered, frenzied, worried mind, her eyes began to see things for what they truly were.
She stepped away from Remus's warm touch.
"No," she whispered, shaking her head. "Something's wrong. Remus, what's going on? I don't know what's going on anymore, Remus. Help me!" Tears began to form in her eyes.
"Holly, why do you pull away from me?" Remus said, laughing slightly.
"Why did you want to meet me after the Third Task?"
"It's the only time we could get here, Holly. And I wanted to find out who had won."
"Why didn't you just come and watch the task?" Remus laughed again.
"Do you think that parents would be comfortable with a werewolf around their children this close to the full moon?" Holly's frown deepened.
"But Remus… The full moon was a week ago, remember?" Before Remus could reply, his companion stepped out from the shadows of the woods.
"I know," he said with a grin. "Stupefy!"
~
"Wake up, you stupid girl." Holly felt a boot come in contact with her stomach. She opened her eyes.
"What's going on? Where's Cedric?" The man laughed.
"Look up at me, girl!" Holly did so. She could barely see through the darkness and her vision was blurred. She saw a man with sharp features and a black mustache. His dark hair was neatly trimmed and he wore black robes. Holly noticed a black tattoo on his arm, but couldn't make it out.
"Who are you?" she asked, dazed. He smiled.
"I am the man that killed your father," he laughed.
"Remus…" Holly muttered, confused. "Where's Remus?"
"At the lake," said the man. "He was such a great help."
"Remus wouldn't betray me…" Holly shook her head, stubbornly. The man laughed again, a hoarse, cruel laugh.
"Of course he would, Holly! What are you to him anyway? Just another burden!"
"I'm not a burden…" Holly looked up at him with confused eyes.
"Yes you are. Ever since the day you were born, you were a burden. You were even a burden to your own parents. To both sets of parents."
"That's not true!" Holly cried. "That's just not true!"
"Of course it is!" The man threw back his head in another cruel laugh. "Always begging your mother to play with you when you knew she had to tend to the baby! And your father, you would never stop asking him questions. They were so exasperated with you. Why do you think your mother left you in the bushes that night?"
"You're lying!" Holly yelled now. "You're lying! My parents loved me!"
"And to the Phillips!" the horrible man continued. "They were forced to take care of you! You can't just leave a kid out in the streets! Do you know what we were arguing about the day your father died?" The man grinned a yellow-toothed grin.
"Wha… What?"
"You," he hissed and Holly caught the scent of his horrible breath. "All about you. He was complaining about you. I tried to defend you, Holly. I didn't know you, but I tried to defend you. You can't just say you don't love your own child…"
"No!" Holly shrieked. "He never said that!"
"He did," the man laughed. "And he told me I didn't have the right to defend you, since I'd never even met you, and he pushed me. So I pushed him back. He tripped, it wasn't my fault…"
"Gareth Larkin…" Holly muttered in recognition. "You… He didn't! He loved me!"
"You know your father always spoke his mind," Larkin grinned. Holly screamed.
"HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT HIM THAT WAY! HE LOVED ME!"
"You tell yourself whatever I want, Holly, I know what I heard." He was still grinning and Holly hated it. All she wanted to do was maul the man and rip out his vocal cords with her own fingers so she couldn't hear that gruff, harsh laugh anymore. But she said nothing, trying to calm herself, remembering Remus's words of advice to her whenever he tried to teach her how to defend herself.
"Now Holly, keep your wand steady…"
"I KNOW Remus!" the young girl shouted angrily, her fiery temper shining through her otherwise impassive eyes. He smiled, weakly.
"Calm down, Lily—Holly!" he corrected instantly. The girl took no notice. "Now! Hold the wand steady!"
"It's steady, it's steady," the twelve-year-old muttered. "Now what?"
"Be ready for your attacker. Anticipate every move before he even knows what he's going to do."
"But that's impossible!"
"No it isn't, you just have to keep a clear head and concentrate on his position, his stance, and the way he's holding his wand. Open those big brown eyes of yours and observe your opponent."
"This is getting frustrating!"
"Keep a level head while you're dueling, Holly. Never let your opponent get to you, it will distract you. This important, so please, pay attention."
At the time, Holly had thought the lessons were stupid and a waste of time. But now…
"OK," she said, holding herself up high, taking on the expressionless face she had achieved so easily before her fifth year.
"OK?" Larkin looked confused. Holly grinned.
"So he didn't love me. I loved him, right? That's what matters, isn't it? I don't care if he found me annoying, I loved him and I love myself."
"Right," Larkin laughed, amused. "Stay here, girl. We were told to wait."
"Wait?" It was Holly's turn to look confused. "Where are we?" Holly looked around and found herself in a circle of gravestones, the sky above them dark. You couldn't see the stars here. Holly looked around at the surrounding landmarks. She couldn't see a forest or Hogwarts or even the mountains that surrounded them. All she saw was a house on a hill in the distance. Larkin grinned his yellow grin.
"Little Hangleton." He said. Holly looked shocked.
"Where?" she asked.
"You ask too many questions," he said as he glowered at her. She glowered right back. Someone in dark, hooded robes approached them.
"Larkin!" the man said, sharply and Larkin snapped to attention. "He needs you now…" Larkin nodded like a soldier to a colonel and pulled Holly roughly by the arm to her feet. Using his wand, he bound her hands together with a thick robe behind her back and shoved her forward.
"Move," he ordered, the mocking tone completely gone from his voice. She did so, reluctantly. As they stumbled across the graveyard, Holly began to notice a group of people surrounding something…
Soon, a cold, shrill voice broke through the still night air and sent shivers of recognition like spiders up Holly's spine.
"…Harry Potter has kindly joined us for my rebirthing party. One might go so far as to call him my guest of honor."
"NO!" Holly screamed, hysterically, flinging herself forward so fast, she fell on the ground. She felt a sharp stone gash her cheek but she didn't care. She struggled to get to her feet again, but it was difficult with her arms behind her back. Larkin approached her and yanked Holly up. Holly's scream had attracted everyone's attention and she felt at least a hundred eyes on her. She could feel the embarrassment inside her heart, but she was too confused with other emotions to care.
"NO!" she screamed again. She noticed they were surrounding a statue and something was tied to it… A young boy with glasses and messy black hair… "HARRY!"
"Holly?" The boy seemed absolutely shocked. Holly turned from her brother to the second person at the center of the Death Eaters' attention. The unnatural being gave her a crooked grin.
"Ah, yes!" he hissed like a snake. "The final guest has arrived! Bring her to me, Larkin…" Larkin shoved the girl in the middle of the circle, but she wasn't looking at the pale figure in front of her. She was looking beyond him, beyond Harry, beyond the circle of Death Eaters. She was looking straight into those wonderful gray eyes of her beloved, staring straight back at her, barren, cold and… lifeless.
"C-C-C-Ced-Cedric!" It was an unnatural, stuttering groan of agony that escaped her lips as the grief welled in her brown eyes in the form of tears. She couldn't even say his name. She just continued making an 'S' sound.
"C-C-C-C-C-C-Ced-ric… CEDRIC!" she screamed the name in anguish and lunged at the boy beyond the Death Eaters, but again, she failed and fell to her knees. "Cedric!" she howled. "Cedric, please, please, Cedric! Cedric!" The tears poured like waterfalls from her eyes as her throat constricted and her stomach churned. She nearly vomited from the nausea. She couldn't handle this; this wasn't right; this had never happened before. Why was it happening to her? Why did it happen to Cedric?
She collapsed on the ground in grief-stricken sorrow, shaking with tears and frustration. All the memories she had shared with him came flooding back to her. That kiss in the hall, the jokes they shared, the advice he gave her, the secrets she told him, the white rose they had always exchanged, even earlier that morning by the lake! Oh, why hadn't she embraced his love when she had the chance? Why, why, WHY?! Scenes flickered past her mind like photographs and the scene she saw most often was her companion, the friendly, confident Cedric… laughing. Laughing at Holly's ignorance, laughing at her worries, laughing at her jokes. Just… laughing. But now… he just stared and his eyes had lost that wonderful dancing sparkle they had once held. No one was laughing now. No one, except for Voldemort.
"No…" she whispered, shaking her head slowly. "Cedric can't be… he just can't be…" she couldn't even say the word.
"Oh, was he your friend?" said Voldemort in mock sympathy. "I'm ever so sorry… Did you say his name was Cedric? Well, I didn't know that! Thank you for enlightening me." Holly turned to Voldemort and glared at him.
"I'll kill you," she said. "Just like you killed my parents. I'll kill you." Voldemort grinned his unnatural grin.
"Yes…" he hissed. "Just like I killed your parents. Tell me, Holly. Who were your parents, exactly? Because, as I recall, Elise Phillips is still alive and her husband wasn't killed by my hand." Holly just glowered at him, menacingly and didn't say a word. Voldemort's attention returned once more to Harry.
"Do you know who her parents are, Harry?" he asked, casually. Harry looked confused. Holly continued to glare at Voldemort. "Ah, yes, I didn't think you did. Of course, no one would have wanted you to know. They knew how you'd react. But I am not one to lie to my victims. Though I do have other vices, dishonesty is not one of them. Hm, I wonder, Holly, do you know the names James and Lily Potter?" Again, Holly didn't reply.
"If you're implying that we share the same parents, you're wrong," Harry said, coolly. "I am an only child."
"Is that what Dumbledore told you? Tut tut, he can't be trusted for anything!" Voldemort shook his head. "Lucius, would you care to explain?"
One of the Death Eaters around the circle stepped in. "It was my son," came the voice of Lucius Malfoy. "He overheard a young red-haired witch tell her friend that she was the sister of Harry Potter. He thought this needed looking into, so he came to me."
"Who, in turn, went to my dear Wormtail here, isn't that right?" Voldemort hissed. Wormtail nodded. Harry was frowning and shaking his head.
"Then you got the wrong information. I don't have a sister." Harry's face was impassive. Voldemort's grin widened.
"You poor, naïve child. Ministry records speak of a Holly Lillian Potter born to James and Lily Potter two years before the birth of their second child, a son, Harry."
"You're wrong!" Harry insisted, stubbornly. "I don't have a sister! My family's dead, all of them, they're dead, do you hear me! D-E-A-D DEAD!" he shouted. He then looked at Holly who was looking at her knees. She couldn't meet his eyes.
"No…" Harry shook his head violently.
"Whatever you say, Harry," Voldemort laughed and turned to Holly. "You I will deal with later. After you watch your brother die."
"NO!" Holly shrieked, coming to her senses. She dove at Voldemort and knocked him off of his feet. The Death Eaters readied their wands, about to administer the killing curse, when Wormtail beat them to it with something completely different.
"STUPEFY!" he shrieked, and Holly fell unconscious.
A/N: Why did Wormtail stun her? Answers in next chapter! Review! (PS: When I say next installment, I mean Holly's seventh year, not the next chapter. When I say next chapter, I'll say 'next chapter.' Lol)