Chapter 14
A Death, A Memorial, and Umbridge's Arrival
Fred, George, Lee, and I took our Apparation tests shortly before the third task, and we all passed. I really wish we could Apparate inside Hogwarts so I could go poof I'm there poof I'm gone, over and over again in Snape's classroom.
The third task came soon. Now I wish it hadn't come that soon. Or rather, hadn't come at all.
It's just completely, utterly indescribable. The third task, that is. It was already pretty unnerving, sitting in the stands, with no idea at all what's going on. Fred, George, Lee, and I were all sitting together, having a good time, until we heard a scream. It was barely audible, but it was still a scream. Then, not too long after, we saw red sparks go into the air. I was just starting to stop freaking out, when Harry comes spinning onto the ground with the Triwizard cup in one hand, and Cedric's dead body in the other. "He's dead! CEDRIC'S DEAD!" I yelled hysterically, and then completely broke down into sobs. What seemed like and eternity later, Fred and George were leading me to my dormitory (they had to leave at the foot of the stairs), where I fell onto the bed and cried myself to sleep.
The next day, the words Harry had said, "Voldemort's back!" finally sunk into my head. Cedric had died at the hands of Lord Voldemort, like so many others would by the end of the war. That's what this is, isn't it? A war. The second war against Lord Voldemort. And with that thought, I followed Fred and George to the hospital wing to visit Harry Potter.
When we got to the hospital wing, we were greeted by the whole Weasley family, Hermione, a dog, and Dumbledore. The dog soon turned into Sirius Black and Mrs. Weasley did the customary freaking out. "Oh my God! Sirius Black!" she shrieked. I resisted the urge to laugh while Dumbledore explained to Mrs. Weasley that Sirius was innocent.
After we'd talked to Harry for a while, I asked Dumbledore, "Can we have a memorial for Cedric? All the sixth and seventh years? I already know we can have it in the Room of Requirement."
"Of course. I'll make the announcement today. Would tomorrow be a good day?" asked Dumbledore gently.
"Yes, thanks," I answered. Shortly after, we all headed back with new knowledge and heavy hearts.
The next day came quickly, and more kids than I had expected showed up to the Room of Requirement. A few fifth years had shown up, including Cho, and I was forced to explain that only sixth and seventh years could come, as the Room of Requirement was full to the maximum. Cho didn't seem happy at all (actually, she was turning red), and I couldn't help but get a little bit of satisfaction from the look on her face.
All the sixth and seventh years from Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor took turns talking about all the wonderful things we remembered about Cedric. (And there were so many.) I wanted to keep the mood light, and Fred and George helped with that a lot. I was the last person to share my story, and had previously decided to tell the whole truth.
"Cedric and I were in…we were in a lot like love," I started. "If you stayed all the way through midnight at the Yule Ball, you'd know. If you could see us after Potions, you'd know. Cedric was great. He was…is…a gentleman and he would have been the greatest Healer St. Mungo's has ever seen. I want to leave you with this thought, even though it'll depress everyone who doesn't already know it. Cedric was killed on the orders of Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort is back." We all left the Room of Requirement, our heads spinning. I don't think any sixth or seventh year doubted after that day that Voldemort was back.
Dumbledore said it again at the going away feast…that Lord Voldemort was back, I mean. To the people who looked skeptical when Dumbledore announced this, I wanted to go wring their necks and say, "Cedric got past a dragon and loads of other stuff. Do you think he just fell in a ditch and died?"
The train ride back to London was uneventful. The train was nearly silent with all the thinking that was going on. That's what I'd be doing a lot of that summer, thinking. Or, at least, that's what I thought I'd be doing. When we got off the train, Mrs. Weasley whispered into our ears, "We'll not be staying at the Burrow this summer." Fred, George, and I wanted to know where we were going to go, but Mrs. Weasley refused to let a single word escape her lips. "It's too easy too be overheard here," she explained. With that, we headed to what was known as Number 12 Grimmauld Place, or, for that summer, our home.
I can't say that Number 12 wasn't interesting. But, it's not exactly what you'd call fun. We weren't allowed to tell anyone where we were, so I must have seemed very distant in my letters to my parents. So when Harry got into the screaming match, I could kinda see where he was coming from. But it was killing us all every day, not knowing what the Order was talking about. But Fred and George's Extendable Ears did help for awhile, at least until Mrs. Weasley made the door Impetrable. I swore, when I left Hogwarts, I was going to be in the Order so fast, they wouldn't know what hit them. Hadn't Harry proved enough that 'children' can defeat Lord Voldemort? Yeah, needless to say, I was really P.O.'d about not knowing what was going on.
However, it was occasionally fun to help Mrs. Weasley de-evilize the house. Doxies proved really helpful in the Skiving Snackboxes, which were coming along nicely. "The Puking Pastilles may be ready by the beginning of the school year," George had gone so far as to say one day. God only knows how much they'd be in demand from NEWT students. Oh, yeah. That year was the year we'd be taking NEWTs. I needed to excel in all of them to be able to be an Auror. What really scared me about 7th year was that Fred and George weren't really excited about anything pertaining to Hogwarts. They didn't need NEWTs, they said.
It was then that they told me about the thousand Galleons that Harry had given them. "You guys! That's awesome!" I yelled, giving them each a huge hug. "I'll be your first customer, I promise!" We had great fun that summer, I guess, but I was close to ecstatic to be back at my home away from home, Hogwarts.
But then we realized that our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was a complete and utter toad. (Not just in personality, she looked like one, too.) I listened to her speech and told Fred, George and Lee that it meant that the Ministry was screwing around with Hogwarts.
"No way! Screw working at the Ministry!" exclaimed Lee.
"We probably won't get to pick up a wand at all while in class!" complained George. Too bad that we didn't realize how right he would be.
When we had our first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, Umbridge was already on edge. One of the rumors was that Harry stood up for the truth and Umbridge said something like, "You're a raving lunatic! Screw you!" Actually, the rumor that she gave him detention seems closer to the truth, but she was still raving mad.
When she put up the course aims, Fred, George, Lee, and I all asked, "Aren't we going to perform magic at all?"
"No! I already told the last class that no situation will arise that will require you to use these spells in class!"
"I want to be an Auror. It would kind of suck if I was trying to capture someone and couldn't even perform a simple defense spell, wouldn't it?"
"Miss Malfoy, if you are so keen on performing magic, I suggest you have a duel…with Mr. Weasley."
"Which one?"
"Fred."
So Fred and I got up, faced each other, and bowed. "Better enjoy the only time I'll be able to touch a wand in class," I thought.
"Expelliarmus!" I yelled at the exact time as Fred yelled "Stupefy!" Instead of the spells glancing off of each other, they met in the middle and turned gold. We were lifted up off of the ground and surrounded in a dome of gold light.
"What's happening?" I asked Fred.
"No idea," he answered nonchalantly.
There was a bead of gold light in the middle of the line connecting both our wands, and it seemed to want to go towards one of us. Fred and I both used all the will and force we had to keep that bead away from us. The bead suddenly turned red and exploded, surrounding us in a bubble of tremendous red light before we were sent hurtling to the ground.
"Mr. Weasley, Miss Malfoy! Go to the headmaster's office at once! You may be putting the other students in danger!" croaked Umbridge.
"Sure, whatever," Fred replied as he took me by the hand and led me out of the classroom.
So we headed to the headmaster, wondering what had happened. "We need to speak to the headmaster," I told the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office. It didn't move. "Sugar quill? Bertie Bott's? Acid Pops?" I guessed. The gargoyle sprung to the side to let us through.
"Professor Dumbledore?" I inquired.
"Miss Malfoy, Mr. Weasley, what brings you here?"
"Well, Umbridge sent us. Paige and I were having a duel type-thing, and something weird happened."
"We were lifted off the ground, our wands were connected by gold light, and we were surrounded by gold light."
"Then this bead in the middle turned red, exploded, and we fell down."
"Your wands were connected by a stream of gold light with a gold bead in the middle, the bead turned red, exploded, and you fell from where you'd been lifted. Is that correct?" Seeing Fred and I nod, Dumbledore continued. "My conclusion is that you were victims of Prior Incantuam. Your wands have a core from the same exact animal, so they can't work properly against each other. As for the bead turning red, I can only guess. You did not want to cause harm to each other, but you love each other. So the bead turned red from immense love, and exploded."
"When you say love, Professor Dumbledore, you mean brotherly-sisterly love, right?"
Dumbledore just smiled and said, "Mr. Weasley, you may go. I have a need to speak to Miss Malfoy privately.
A/N: Hahaha! My charries are idiots! The love is right in front of them, and yet they don't realize it. I love being in control. And I left you with a mini cliff hanger…I am evil!