A/N: 100 reviews! WOW! Thank you so much guys, you have no idea how much I appreciate all your reviews, they really up my ante. 100 reviews...I can't get over this! Thank you all so much! Really!

If you have to go don't say goodbye
If you have to go don't you cry
If you have to go I will get by
Someday I'll follow you and see you on the other side . . .

-Smashing Pumpkins. Song: For Martha.

Blue Roses.

Chapter twenty-six: Don't go.

Cedric grasped the handle of the cup and instantly felt a jerk right below his navel. He closed his eyes tightly as the cup, Harry and he spun quickly through the air, passing what felt like city after city and town after town. Without notice, he was dropped onto the ground.

He slowly sat up and picked up his wand. He stood up slowly and wearily, brushing the grass off his legs.

"Did you know the cup was a Portkey?" he asked Harry.

"No..."

"Well, wands at the ready, then."

Cedric took a weary step forward, listening for any sound of movement. He realized he was in a graveyard, where it was the dark of night. The graveyard looked as if it hadn't been visited for ages. He heard a rustling to the left, and whipped himself around.

"Who's there?" he demanded.

There were footsteps approaching him, and he saw a cloaked figure that seemed to be carrying a bundle of robes.

"Who are you?"

"Kill the spare," a cold, high-pitched voice demanded.

"Avada Kedavra!"

- - -

Skye stopped screaming. She looked around her, her eyes darting from left to right. She felt a chill go up her spine.

"P...professor Dumbledore...some...some...something's not right..."

Dumbledore's eyes dimmed as if he felt it as well.

"Wait here," he said, pushing her back by the shoulder as he walked briskly into the maze. Skye chose not to follow him; the maze didn't seem too promising.

She slowly lowered herself onto the soft grass, shaking in the process. She buried her head in her hands, rubbing her eyes as she tried to focus.

"You're being stupid!" she thought. "He's fine, you're just being neurotic!"

"But what if you're not being stupid? What if he is in trouble?" a small voice reminded her.

She shook her head violently. Nothing was wrong. Nothing...

Or was it?

- - -

Dumbledore returned a few minutes later, shaking his head. Skye stood up to question him, but he just kept shaking his head.

Skye jumped when she heard a 'clang' behind her. She whipped around and saw Harry, who was weeping, with the cup in one hand and Cedric's limp form in the other.

"Cedric?" Skye mumbled. Cedric didn't move.

"Cedric?" her face drained of all color as she threw herself beside him, feeling the grass scrape her knees.

"Cedric," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders and shaking him. "Get up Cedric."

He still didn't move.

"Cedric, get up now!"

People had begun to crowd around them, gossiping between each other.

"CEDRIC!"

Skye shook Cedric violently, but he still didn't move. She put his hands on his chest and began pumping up and down, trying to get a heartbeat.

"CEDRIC!" she cried, falling on top of him. "CEDRIC!"

"Come on, Skye, get up," someone said.

"CEDRIC! NO! NO! NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"

The crowd parted and Amos passed through, horror-stricken to see his son lying, dead.

"My boy," he whispered. "MY BOY!"

"Skye, get up, we can't stay here..."

"CEDRIC!" she screamed, ignoring the hands that had grabbed her shoulders. "NO! CEDRIC! NO!"

"Skye, we have to go..."

Amos sat beside Skye, his head in his hands as he wept over the loss of his son.

"Skye we have to..." the voice pressed on.

Skye whipped around. "FUCK OFF!" she shouted through tears before throwing herself on Cedric again, wrapping her arms around him.

"I won't let you go..." she whispered into his ear.

- - -

Skye sat in a large, comfortable chair in Dumbledore's office, shaking like a leaf. She was alone in the room, but she still felt even more desperate and alone inside. She felt as if she had died with Cedric. She held herself tighter, trying to squeeze the life out of herself so she could be with him.

She put her hand on the left side of her chest, and swore she couldn't feel a heartbeat before dismissing it as a figure of her imagination.

She heard the door being slowly pried open behind her and jumped, spinning around, grabbing her wand and holding it in front of her.

"Jumpy?" Dumbledore asked, standing in the doorway. "Relax. You're going to be here for a while."

Skye's shoulders sunk as she pushed herself back into the chair. Dumbledore walked forward and placed himself in the chair before her that was behind his desk.

"I spoke to Harry," he said calmly.

"And?" said Skye, shortly.

"We know our culprit."

"And?" Skye repeated, her voice rising.

"It was Lord Voldemort."

Skye gave a jump back at the mention of his name. "V...v...You-Know-Who did it?"

Dumbledore nodded solemnly.

"But I thought..." Skye stuttered.

"As did I."

"But...this makes no sense! I'm so confused!"

Skye threw her face into her hands, rubbing her eyes with the tips of her fingers. Dumbledore stood and began pacing through his study.

"I believe," he began. "I believe this has to do with your prophecy."

Skye stopped rubbing her eyes and lifted her face out of her hands to reveal her shocked face.

"It...does?"

"I believe it said that..."

"...'This is her fate; she whom is the lone daughter of Severus Snape, born in the waning of Summer during times of great peril, will be the one who changes the fate of our kind. It shall be she who chooses whether the ones to prevail will be light or darkness; this is her fate.'"

"During times of great peril...yes, it all makes sense."

Dumbledore walked over to his window and rested his aged hands on the bottom of the frame, opening the window and letting a warm breeze into the room.

"Voldemort," he began, making Skye shiver at his name, "has returned. Thanks to blood from Harry, the bones of his deceased father and the flesh of his slave, Peter Pettigrew, he has been brought back. Voldemort, if you have not discovered it by this point, is very special. Very, very special.

"If a person wishes to, they can go through a process of splitting their soul."

"They can split their soul? Right through the middle? Why? And how?"

"Simple. They must kill someone first, because if you kill someone your soul is not fully intact anyway, and you perform a complicated charm to take a split piece of your soul out of your body and you place it in something known as a Horcrux."

Skye nodded. She had never heard of a Horcrux, but she wanted to find out how Voldemort splitting his soul into pieces could relate to her.

"Voldemort split his soul into several pieces. He has stored the parts of his soul in different objects that have a great meaning to him."

"How many is several?"

"I don't know yet. I only very recently discovered the news about the Horcruxes myself, and it is not a subject that is easily researched. I do know that one of the Horcrux is this."

Dumbledore reached on top of one of his shelves and pulled down an old, torn diary. It had a large puncture would in the middle of it.

"What's this?" Skye asked, taking it from him and examining it.

"It is his diary, from when he was a student here. Harry destroyed it when he was in his second year."

Skye paused, thinking. "That was the year the Chamber of Secrets was opened!"

"Correct! It was Voldemort who opened the Chamber, using that diary. Part of his soul was alive in that diary. That is the reason that Voldemort was returned to power today. Part of his soul lives within these Horcruxes, and he just needed someone to bring him back to life. Pettigrew was just the person."

Dumbledore began pacing again, his pace becoming more rapid.

"He chose to have Harry's blood used in the potion because this way Harry is no longer protected from him. The protection Harry's mother gave to him when she died is no longer apt for Voldemort has injured Harry, and has Harry's blood running through his petty veins!

"This is where you come in, Skye. Harry and Voldemort will, inevitably, have a battle for the ages one day. But Harry cannot do this by himself. He is but one under-age wizard and though he has bravery beyond his years he does not have the education or talent to destroy Voldemort alone. He will need someone by his side in case something goes wrong. He will need you, Skye. Someone older, someone wiser."

"Why can you not do it, Professor Dumbledore?"

"I have my part in the story, as well. But this is not it. It will be either Harry or yourself who destroys Voldemort in the end."

"It will be sweet revenge," Skye said, a twinkle of vengeance in her eyes.

"You will have help," Dumbledore said. "I will be recalling the Order of the Phoenix to help. Voldemort's progress must be tracked, we must watch his every move to predict the future. You will be notified at a later date the whereabouts of the Order but for now, I believe the Ministry wizards will be shortly arriving. You are dismissed."

Skye slowly rose from her chair, walking towards the door.

"Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes, Skye?"

"When I am done school, should I begin looking for the Horcruxes, sir?"

"You may begin at whatever time you find most fit for you."

"Ok, sir. I will write."

Skye opened the door slowly and exited Dumbledore's office, leaving him scratching his chin as he began pacing the room once again.

- - -

A/N: ...read and review, I suppose.