Hermione stood in the stands of the stadium seating surrounding the maze and couldn't move. Her heartbeat was so loud that she couldn't hear anything else. For a moment she thought she would be sick, the fear and anger had been rising for minutes now. Where was Harry? Eventually the cold nose and the whine from the dog beside her brought her out of her own world of panic and she took a breath. Then another. Sound started coming in and she glanced around.
Sirius took a step toward the stairs leading down and she was grateful for the permission to move. She felt as if her body was floating as she raced down the stairs after the black tail in front of her. Trusting Sirius to be able to make his way by scent she was halfway around the mazes perimeter when there was a flash of light and then noise. Something had happened. Someone said Potter and then she heard the word body. The bond pulsed reassurance and though she didn't slacken her pace she knew that Adrian must be able to see Harry. Finally they made it to the starting point and the judges.
Wrapping her hands into the dogs scruff she watched her friend be dragged off the still shape of Cedric. Dead, she heard the words and knew she would be upset with herself later, for the fixation on her friend and only the brief stab of emotion for the Hufflepuff. Again Adrian tried to calm her and this time she let herself open the bond up more and she felt him relax and the force of emotion showed as she let hers be felt.
Some kind of invisible barrier was separating them from the group of teachers and Dumbledore surrounding Harry. Then Moody stepped away with his hand holding Harry's shoulder and still she couldn't get closer. Even as they moved away from the ring of people and the crowds, she was held from following. Sirius was growling lowly and she let herself thread her hands into his fur.
Then Adrian was moving away, and she sent her request. Not words but the feeling of helplessness and waited to be released with the crowd she stood in. Getting angrier and more panicked by the minute.
Adrian POV
"Fuck." He swore quietly and then quickly cast notice me not charms on himself and Marcus before pushing to the front of the crowd. The fear and tension had been increasing steadily in the bond and he knew that Hermione was moments away from panic. When the flash showed and then Potter and Diggory on the ground he tried thin the bond. Neither were moving and he didn't want her to catch his flares of thought or feelings about her best friend somehow being dead. Then Potter moved and he opened it up. Sending all the reassurance and certainty he could to her.
Feeling her open the flow of emotions in response and then he watched from his vantage point higher up and further away. There was a surge of people and the crowds were prevented from getting closer to what used to be their quidditch pitch. There she was, with the dog that he was quite sure was Sirius Black, in the group of people that were being held magically away from the two boys on the ground and the crowd of teachers and officials.
When Moody grabbed Potter and started leading him away he could feel the flares of panic and steadily growing anger from her. Damn it, better see if he could follow or something. Grabbing Marc's sleeve he began heading toward the stairs and then drown to the paths from the quidditch pitch to the school. The emotions that came next were like a plea and he knew what she wanted. Needed from him.
"Ade. What are we doing?" Marc asked this quietly and without slowing. Not for the first time he appreciated his friends habit of going along and asking questions later.
"Potter." He answered as quietly as he could and knew that the chattering students and adults would cover anything they said.
"Why? Oh, for her. Fuck Ade. Your girl is involved in some crazy shit." Adrian knew that Marc's excessive foul language was in response to his bewilderment at what looked like the dead body of their classmate and his own agitation for Hermione.
"I know. Do you see them? He's with Moody." Not sure if Marc had seen the two leave, all of his own focus had been on Hermione and because of her, Potter.
"No. Was all bloodied though. Hospital Wing?" That seemed as good a suggestion as anything else and he was sure the matron would hustle back there from the task medical tents. The other two champions had been in there but both of her own students needed her. Well one of them, Diggory was dead.
All of Hermione's panic made sense in that moment and he stopped. It wasn't possible, surely they hadn't been taken from the task and somehow, he didn't know what could have happened but the tension could be easily seen in the tournament officials and even Snape looked as if he were made of stone. Now that they were further apart and he couldn't feel her so clearly his mind began to work rapidly.
"Ade?" They were just inside the huge doors to the castle and Marc looked concerned.
"I don't." He didn't have any idea what to say. Couldn't just spit out that Hermione had told him she though the fucking Dark Lord was returning and that he had realised that's where she thought Potter had been. Somehow back here with a dead body and looking as if he had been tortured himself. Marc's eyes were steady and watchful, Adrian swallowed and made a decision.
"Later." Was all he said and they headed up the main stairs amongst a steadily growing group of scared students and a few adults. It was slow going and Moody must have been moving quickly to get ahead of even the first to have exited. Then both doors opened with a louder than normal boom and they watched Dumbledore enter from the top of the stairs.
He felt her get closer and debated heading for the hospital wing but didn't actually know Potter was there and wanted to see her. Pulling Marc into a corridor that led to the transfiguration wing, he waited. Feeling her slowly move toward the stairs and up. She was in the middle of the crowd and then close to the top she began moving toward him. Mentally he thanked Merlin for their bond. She knew he wanted to see her and she could feel where he was. Marc just waited silently and then stiffened slightly when she came around the corner.
Hermione's gaze flicked from him to his friend and back again. Then the bond opened nearly fully and she let out a pitiful sound. Not a moan and not a cry but something in between and he grabbed her hand before pulling her into the closest classroom and letting Marc follow then putting up their wards. Even if it was just for a few minutes, he needed to be able to focus on her and couldn't do that if he to be aware of his surroundings.
Before he could do anything or even speak she had her arms around his waist and was sobbing into his shirt. Then he realised the dog wasn't with her and relaxed a bit more. Now wasn't the time and Marc was here. He made soothing sounds and poured his love for her into the bond. He couldn't do anything else and the terror was so mixed with anger and frustration that he didn't think she could speak. Slowly over a minute or two it began to lessen. Still there but she was forcing herself to calm down and all he could do was help with the bond and physical contact.
Eventually she looked up and he nearly cried himself at the desolate look in her eyes. There was question there too and he didn't have an answer.
"It happened I think. That's where he was. Something in Dumbledore's face and Snape." Her words were quiet and didn't make much sense but he understood what she meant and tried not to let his own emotions move too quickly all at once.
"I'm sorry." She said and he just pulled her back to him and cradled her head gently against his cheek. Over her head he met Marc's eyes and could see that he didn't understand what had happened but the intent look and apprehension on his friend's face made it clear that he knew it was bad. Whatever Marc saw on his face made his own shift into a grim tight look that he had never seen before. It was close to the one he had after a bad run in with his father but more somehow. They held eye contact until Hermione shifted against him and he let her go.
"Thank you." The witch whispered and he could tell that she meant it. He nodded and tried to smile or something but knew it hadn't been convincing. She meant for his efforts to help and then calming her, not that he had managed anything.
"I have to go." He nodded, Potter. He could feel the need she had to get to him and something complex that he thought was mostly protective of the younger wizard. As always when Potter caused so much feeling in her, he examined it carefully and then felt the tenor of the bond. Not their feelings but the actual bond itself. Nothing that showed she felt something that endangered it. This was habit but he couldn't help it.
Letting his arms fall he was surprised when she didn't move for the door immediately.
"I'll be later tonight. Will you wait?" She sounded uncertain and he nodded once firmly. Then made sure she felt the determination and need. Not the physical but emotional need he had for her. Nothing would keep him from her now. Again she flicked her eyes to Marc and thought it was thanks she tried to express but then she turned to the door and he pulled down the wards before she opened it. Her shoulders firmed and her chin came up, then her hands wiped her face of tears and she cast a spell that he hadn't heard before. A last glance back at him showed that all traces of her tears were gone.
The door closed and he looked at his friend who was watching him with something more than interest but also apprehension. He jerked his head towards the door and Marc gave his own single nod.
Together they silently took back staircases and hidden passages to the common room and then entered a completely silent room of students in green. If he had considered it then he would have thought there would be chatter and whispers about what had happened. Nothing, there were enough sons and daughters of Death Eaters here. Their tension kept the younger years quiet and their peers watchful. He met no ones eyes and walked with Marc beside him to the hallways leading back into the warren of dormitories.
His door finally closed behind him and he waited for Marc to enter through their adjoining bathroom before putting up those same wards. He couldn't say anything and Marc would understand that he had to be the one to speak.
"What the hell Ade." Marc's voice was raised and Adrian amended the previous thought, he would understand eventually.
"Diggory is dead. Potter is important. Granger is terriified and you don't need words. I won't ask. You won't say, will you. Let's see how well I can read you." Rarely had he had so much of Marc's focus directly on him before. The look was more penetrating than he had ever seen and for a moment his friend looked like Colin Flint. Cruel was an understatement to describe the man and Adrian felt bad for the thought, his friend would be crushed.
"Not a potential anymore then." A single nod in confirmation of his own conclusion, that wasn't a surprise. Eventually Marc would have known, it had been obvious maybe, especially since Yule.
"Potter." Then Marc's eyes snapped to Adrian's and he could see the thoughts racing behind the dark brown eyes of his best friend, brother in his mind and Marc's. They had decided over ten years ago that they wanted someone to be theirs. It was how their juvenile minds had articulated their feelings and ever since it had been the two of them, even when they weren't together.
"No." The word was breathed and Adrian wondered if this same thing was happening all over the country. Most wouldn't know of course but inside this room, one did and now two thought it a real possibility. In his own home and Marc's, well if it had happened then they would know. He didn't confirm anything nor did he move at all. Marc's eyes were searching his face and even his posture.
"Granger thinks so. I've never seen her like that. Desperate was the word that came to mind when she looked at you." The last sentence was absently added as his friend looked down and then sat in the comfier of the two chairs in his room. Silence reigned for the next hour. Neither man moved and only the frequent glances showed they were aware of each other. Adrian could see that sometimes Marc was thinking of him and sometimes of other things. The flashes of fear mixed with speculation told him that he was considering Hermione and him, the danger that added to an already deadly situation.
Nathan Pucey didn't speak much of those times or his tattoo and it's relevance to life then. Colin Flint enjoyed regaling his son with snippets of things that weren't appropriate and when they were very young had been terrifying. The two of them had been five when Lucinda Flint had died and after that everything changed for Marcus and because of that, Adrian. Weekly sleepovers became more frequent and his mother began arranging their lives more and more. Holidays and day trips, things that ended late and Marc had better stay. Excuses and pleas to Flint that her own son was happier when his friend was there.
By ten years old there were no excuses needed. Marc was at their home more often than his own and nearly all of the day to day care and things were taken care of by his family. Flint demanded his son regularly and there was little that could be done but Marc knew that he didn't have to be at Flint Castle if his father hadn't requested it specifically. Their home was always open to him and he had the suite next to Adrian's, complete with clothes and books. Everything, he need never bring anything or feel a guest. It hadn't taken Marc long to stop trying to leave or apologize after weeks or him going school shopping with them.
In those minutes he was glad that he had his friend. That Marc too knew what his return would mean and that he knew about Hermione.
"Occlumency." Was the first word said and it was Marc that spoke. Looking down at the empty whiskey glass in front of him while he did.
"I've been slacking but your dad always made us practice on holidays. Better get back to it." Adrian watched his fists clench and then the dark eyes met his. It was reassuring to see the determination there and for a moment they locked eyes and reaffirmed their commitment to each other, the loyalty. Then a nod each and Adrian reached for the bottle. He could have one more without it affecting him, aware he needed to be coherent and steady for Hermione.