Chapter Nine
Cedric's Brilliant Moment
They moved me from the "torture chamber" into a kind of mess hall. Windows were boarded up but the enchanted wall lit the room as brightly as the fluorescent lighting in a muggle office building.
I revived sitting at a long rectangular table. Two of Vicila's wizards sat across from me while the others took positions in various areas around the mess hall. Each were armed with their wands and a machete.
"In case you try to escape," one of them sneered, fidgeting with the long blade.
"How much does a Death Eater make anyway?" I asked looking from wizard to wizard. "After you've sold your soul to a maniac I mean."
"If you are trying to get us to react you are wasting your breath," one of the wizards sitting across from me said.
The man had more of a Russian accent than Vicilia. His hair was dirty blond and from the look of his clothes and the smell of his breath I guessed it wasn't natural. Only two of the wizards looked particularly presentable, but they were probably better off financially. It was even possible they worked inside their governments.
"Why'd you want to be a death eater?" I asked.
He remained silent. That didn't mean I couldn't talk.
"Well, did Voldemort force you, or did you have a reason to join? Maybe it was for power? Do you think he'd make you his right hand man or something?"
"Shut up."
"That's okay. You don't have to tell me."
I rested on my shoulder and feigned a yawn. As I rested there, I looked from wizard to wizard. Two stood behind me, blocking a fire exit, one stood near the door that lead out of the mess hall. The sixth one was probably waiting on the other side, in case I managed to get that far. Outnumbered six to one and oddly enough, my odds seemed better with this lot than if Vicilia were here alone. Then I recalled how Vicilia seemed ignorant of Immortals, until the renegade watcher told her about them. How much did these wizards know?
"Radu's lucky," I spoke to no one in particular. "I mean, Voldemort obviously has ways to cheat death. So as long as he's around Radu will always be his most valuable ally."
I took a glance around the room. Not a reaction.
"Then there's me of course. I bet the Dark Lord would love nothing more than to have me at his side. Two Immortals are better than one they say."
Got one! The wizard standing by the fire exit was paying closer attention than the others.
"I bet Voldemort would reward the one who could recruit me for his cause. Or, better yet…I could always teach someone the spell for Immortality-oops."
The other wizards glanced at each other warily. Finally, the wizard who had shown interest pointed at the two who sat in front of me, respectively.
"Avada Kedavra!"
I ducked beneath the table as curses and hexes erupted in the mess hall. Tables flew, the boards covering the windows smashed like glass. The wizard who died first had slumped to his side. The hilt of his machete stuck out but the blade was caught beneath his body.
The wand was in easy reach, but would it work for me? Was it even anything like my own wand?
I took a chance and liberated the wand. One of the last wizards came close to the table, presumably facing the last of his obstacles. For the first time in my life I marveled at the power a few words had over the greedy and the ignorant. It made me respect really old Immortals like Amanda and Methos so much more.
"Petricius totalus!" I whispered.
The wand sputtered a bit and shot out a few sparks.
"Uh…stupefy!"
More sparks.
The wizard ducked to avoid a killing curse and saw me trying to use the wand. Acting on an impulse I jammed the wand into his eye socket, shocking and hurting him.
"Ahhh!" He howled, grabbing his eye.
I crawled out from beneath the table and punched him as hard as I could. He threw up his arms trying to fight me off, but I kept hitting him and reaching for his machete as the other wizard came around for a better shot.
"Avada Kedavra!"
I pulled the machete out and jumped out of the way as the Killing Curse took the man's life. Then I swung the blade upward, cutting the remaining wizard's stomach open and burying the blade into his arm. I quickly pulled it out, stepping back as he sank to his knees.
Blood sprayed from the open vain in his arm as he sank to his knees. His blood formed a puddle on the floor.
"I'm sorry," I said, sincerely. I knelt beside the wizard, ignoring the blood and the smell of death from the other bodies.
"Don't be," the wizard gasped. He used his good hand to aim his wand and at the hallway door. "Alohomora! When he finally comes to power, we're all dead!
"There is an office in the gymnasium of this building there is a fireplace. A single dementor is on orders to guard it, but a Patronus Charm will take care of it."
"But I don't know how to use a patronus."
"It is the only way out of this building. We are surrounded by miles of forest and endless roads. Go."
Before I could react, the wizard pointed the wand at himself and muttered the Killing Curse. In a flash of green light he was gone.
I suppressed the nausea and ran. The corridor was dark and I probed the space ahead of me with the machete, moving as swiftly as possible and keeping an eye out for obstacles.
A dim light shone through two double doors. I opened the doors and entered cautiously.
The gym was lit by fading sunlight, which poured through broken windows. I saw the door to the office and in front of it, standing guard, one of the most terrifying creatures I've ever encountered.
I recognized it from my sixth year at Hogwarts, the year before my first death. Long gray rags concealed their bodies and skeletal hands hung slumped at their sides. A faceless darkness stared out from beneath a hood. Since entering the muggle world I wondered whether or not muggles had been inspired by the sight of these creatures, and in doing so created the image of the Grim Reaper.
The dementor drifted towards me slowly, menacingly. Whatever warmth might have been in the room suddenly vanished. In its place an eerie chill filled the space between us.
I had Potions for my N.E.W.T. sixth year, and Snape gave us a lecture on dementors and their effects on humans. He told us how they fed upon the most pleasant human memories.
"So even though you may… marginally, succeed in my class…," He said the last part with a glance in my direction. "Be wary not to stir the dementors attention. Any feelings of success you may have will no doubt satisfy their appetites."
As terrified as I was, this dementor stopped suddenly. It almost seemed uncertain as it regarded me. There was a pop sound and suddenly the second witch from the train station appeared.
It was the second witch, the one who helped to capture me along with Vicilia and the others. She seemed younger than me, physically speaking. Probably sixteen or younger. And worse off, she had my sword in one hand and held it up in challenge.
"I'll make you a deal," she said, grinning devilishly. "Defeat me in a battle and I'll order the dementor off. If I defeat you, you teach me how to become immortal."
I held up my machete and looked around me, checking for any other avenues of escape. There was only the door behind me an
"What makes you think I know that?"
"Because you bribed the others with it. I over heard you."
The witch produced a little ear from the pocket of her robes.
"Clever girl," I said, half taunting her. "Why waste your life with these people? Don't you have dreams and hopes of your own?"
"My dreams are none of your concern, Hogwarts Champion," she hissed. "Do we have a deal?"
The dementor remained at her side, awaiting its mistress's orders. There was no way out of this.
"Fine." I said with a sigh.
The girl raised a hand and the dementor backed off. Then she widened her stance and we circled. I didn't wait long.
She opened with a strong thrust, trying to rush me before I had a chance. But Amanda taught me well, and I parried her attack. She backed off and parried my counter. We circled and struck, parried then circled again. I feigned a thrust and when she moved to block, I swiped at her chest. Her robes took much of the blow, but I wasn't trying to hurt her. She jumped back out of my sword's range.
"We can stop this now if you'd like," I offered. "Only one of us is going to survive this."
"Spare me your pity," she replied.
She struck again and I blocked. The sound of metal echoed in the gym and I forced my blade to the hilt of the rapier. Our faces were inches from one another.
"Why are you with them?" I asked. "What happened in your life to make you join someone as evil as Voldemort?"
"Watch your tongue!" The girl shouted.
She kicked at my stomach and I stumbled back. Then she reached into her robes to retrieve something. It was either her wand or a knife and I wasn't about to take chances.
I rushed her suddenly, swinging wildly and forcing her to drop the wand to parry my blows. I forced her back towards the wall and reveled in her terror as the realization dawned on her. I was going to win this battle.
"Attack him!"
I jumped to the left and turned around long enough to see the dementor begin its attack. I backed out of the girl's center, stepping out of the range of her thrust and blocking again.
The dementor paused again as it came within range. The eeriness returned but I had only moments to notice this as I was protecting my life. Soon the girl realized something was wrong as well.
"Attack him!" She repeated herself, stepping back to give it distance. "Now!"
The dementor didn't move.
It drains pleasant memories, I recalled. And at the moment the idea of my possible death, or having to kill this girl, didn't seem very pleasant.
But tell me young Diggory, who do you want to keep alive? Vicila's voice echoed in my thoughts.
Who was she going to go after to get to me? Amanda? Liam? My parents? Would she kill them and assume their form with a poly juice potion or torture them like she tortured me? Neither option filled me with the slightest joy. The dementor didn't even know I was there!
"Looks like you're on your own." I said, taunting.
The girl made her mistake. She looked back at the dementor, lowering her guard. I used the opportunity and stepped just inside her range. I made a clean swipe from left to right, cutting into her sword arm.
"AHHHH!" She screamed as the blade met flesh. My rapier clanged against the wooden floor as she grabbed her wound.
Rage welled within me and in the heat of the moment, I kicked her shins causing her to drop to her knees.
"Do you still want to know the secret of Immortality?" I asked, shouting angrily. "This is the secret you little brat! It's being born a freak like me! Someone who can never die no matter how much he is tortured or who dies around him! And it's spending every day of your life, afraid of losing this!"
I pressed the blade to her throat to emphasize my point. She glared at me, terrified by the angry and violent person I had become. Some small part of me was equally as terrified, but it didn't stop me.
"Is that what you want?" I demanded. "Do you want to spend the next century fighting for your very life?"
"I fight for my life now!" She screamed. Her defiance was punctuated by her sobs. "If I let you go I die just like everyone else who fails…him."
I recalled the night I died. I remembered seeing Harry for a second time, while he was facing Lord Voldemort. A man and a woman were there with me, whom Harry knew as his parents. I wasn't so sure it was a dream anymore as I recalled how we held off the Dark Lord, giving Harry the chance to get my body and the portkey out of there.
"Some of us have done the worse damage to Voldemort in death," I said. "He was the reason I am the way I am."
I glanced at the dementor.
"Call him off."
The girl just glared at me, crying. I pressed the blade, just enough to draw blood.
"Ulch."
"Call him off and I'll give you the chance to run, to get out of Voldemort's reach. Defy me and I'll show you how we die. It's you're only choice."
The girl glanced at her wand a few feet away. Her wounded arm was still bleeding and the dementor remained in its spot, still confused. Then, deciding that her options had run out, made a motion with her good hand.
The dementor backed off. I let the girl lead the way, picking up my rapier and keeping the blade against her back, in case she decided to try anything stupid.
"What's your wand made of?" I asked, quickly.
"The wood from a century old oak," she said. Her voice was mechanical, as if all emotion had been drained from her. "My father's wand."
"And at it's center?"
"Unicorn hair."
Just like my old wand, I thought. Will it work?
I told her not to move as I picked up the wand and placed the machete on the floor.
"Wingardium Leviosa." I said with a swish and flick.
The sword floated slowly off the ground. It was a slow and rickety movement, but that was fine. The wand worked and that's what was important.
We went into the office and found the flu powder next to a roaring fireplace that seemed out of place in this muggle room. Then I took a handful and threw it in the fire.
"Diagon Alley!"