Return of the Unicorns, Chapter 9
Note: While all previous chapters in this story have been from the perspective of Cedric/Hope, this one will be from the perspective of Amos Diggory. And there will be some other chapters that take the perspective of other characters.
Amos Diggory woke up exhausted. He always woke up exhausted, and it seemed to take all his effort to get out of bed these days.
It was like all the happiness and light had been wiped out of his life in one random, blinding flash of green light last June. His son, Cedric, was no more and the Ministry of Magic was in denial about it, and eventually Voldemort (Amos used to have trouble saying the name aloud, but he now allowed himself to say it. It was the least he deserved after the bastard killed his son.) was going to make his presence known and then everyone would be doomed.
What did he have to live for?
It was a question he grappled with a lot these days. At first, he thought there was nothing. Cedric had brought so much joy to him and his wife Natalie from the day he'd been born. He'd been a wonderful boy – handsome, sweet, adventurous, strong, and kind. Smart, too, although he had a bit of a daft side. Brave, despite his fear of heights – which he'd overcome in order to realize his dream of playing Quidditch.
Cedric had been everything. And now, everything was gone.
The day they'd taken Cedric's body home to Ottery St. Catchpole, Dumbledore had taken Amos to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and told him a story about how he'd found Cedric there one night, comforting a couple of grieving unicorns. Dumbledore observed that Cedric's eyes were just like the unicorn that'd been slain, his disposition so similar to the unicorns of the forest. You see, Dumbledore believed that unicorns reincarnate – and that some even reincarnated as humans! – and he even suspected that Cedric had been a unicorn in a past life. But what did it matter now? Both Ced and the unicorn were dead.
And unicorn reincarnation was just a fairytale. Amos believed in empiricism and what you could observe, not in weird fairy tales.
Anyway, his life was falling apart.
He'd used to love his job at the Ministry – he worked for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and it was basically his job to organize, coordinate, and carry out population control of certain dark creatures, like dragons and giants and trolls. It'd used to be exciting. Now, whenever he showed up to the Ministry, people gave him looks of pity and condolences for the tragic accident that'd killed his son. But it wasn't a tragic accident. His one and only son had been murdered by Lord Voldemort and the lies were just about killing him. He now wanted to punch at least half of them in the face on a daily basis.
He had, of course, considered suicide.
The night after Cedric's funeral, he'd been lying in bed, his eyes full of tears and his head full of images of Cedric's lifeless gray eyes.
He was ashamed to admit it, but he was too much of a mess to even speak at his son's funeral that day. It was amazing how strong his wife had been as she spoke of the love and joy that Cedric had brought to their lives.
All the light had left the world. He couldn't do anything. It was clearly time to end it. So, he pulled his wand and pointed it over his own heart. He would be sorry to do it this way, but it had to be now, he couldn't wait… "Avada-" he whispered
He never got to finish the spell, because the next thing he knew, his wife was yanking the wand out of his shaky grip and clapping a hand over his mouth. "Don't," she cried. "Please, Amos, don't. I can't lose you, too. You can't leave me."
At this, he burst into tears. Would there ever come a time when he was done crying? Why would she even want to save a mess like him? "I'm sorry, Natalie, I'm so sorry," he cried softly.
"I know how much it hurts, Amos. I know you want to end it so badly. And to be honest, I do too. I want to join Cedric, you know? But we can't go yet. Cedric would want us to live for him. Even if, wherever he is, he misses us."
As she spoke, tears came to her gorgeous eyes – the same bright gray eyes she'd passed down to Cedric – and he realized she was hurting just as much as he did, even if she wasn't as much of a mess. She had to be so much stronger than he could ever imagine being.
"Sorry, love," Amos whispered. "I won't die on you. I'm so sorry."
She held him close. "I'll tell you what," she whispered back, "If either one of us thinks of suicide again, we'll tell each other and we'll help each other not do it. Deal?"
He kissed her forehead, his scruffy beard slightly brushing her like always. "Deal."
They lay in melancholy silence for several moments.
"Do you really believe in Heaven?" he asked her. Natalie had been raised Christian and she had mentioned something about Cedric going to Heaven in her speech at the funeral.
"I want to," she choked sadly. "But I just don't know, really?"
He hesitated, wondering if he should tell her what he said next. But in the end, Amos had no filter, and he just couldn't help himself. "Dumbledore told me something… he said that unicorns can reincarnate from one life to another, and he even believed that our Ced had been a unicorn in a past life. I think it's all silly fairy tales, but part of me wants to believe it, you know?"
Natalie wiped at tears. "I know. And our Ced certainly had a unicorn-like disposition. Strong and handsome, with boundless energy. Sweet and unassuming and caring. Brave, too. And of course, there was the love of cake and the regular urge to graze…"
At the mention of their son's major sweet tooth and somewhat-legendary appetite, both parents gave a watery laugh.
"Well, I guess if he was a unicorn and unicorns reincarnate, he's off living a new life somewhere. I hope it's a good one, whatever he's up to."
In an ironic twist of events, it was not the anger-management-challenged Amos Diggory who lashed out first, but his wife.
When he returned to work after a couple weeks away, Amos heard nasty whisperings about Cedric's death had just been a big accident, brought about by his own stupidity. But at the time, Amos had been too depressed for those comments to fully register with him. So he let all the condolences about the tragic accident slide past him – not because he didn't have the guts to face the people (he did – he'd been a Gryffindor and he'd never been afraid to let people know when he was mad), but because he simply didn't have the energy.
But one afternoon, Natalie came over from Gringotts to find him in his office. He heard her voice outside his office.
"Is my husband in there?" she asked.
"Yes," replied the cold voice of Lucius Malfoy. How strange that even through a closed door, Amos could hear the man sneering.
"Right," replied Natalie.
"I am so sorry," he heard Lucius say, "for the loss of your son in the tragic accident in the Triwizard Tournament last June. It must be so terrible that Harry Potter keeps bringing up his death. Fortunately, Dolores Umbridge-"
Lucius had been going to say, Amos was sure, that he was glad to see Umbridge was putting some order to Hogwarts. He'd stood silently by while Lucius said the same thing while he was in earshot. He'd responded passively and taken it. But he couldn't take it when Malfoy spewed the same horrid lies to his wife.
It was like he'd been suddenly shocked out of a weeks-long coma. Amos shot out from behind his desk and slammed the door to his office… right into Lucius Malfoy's face. The man landed on the ground with a thud and blood spewing from his nose.
In his hurry to get to his wife, Amos had forgotten to draw his wand, but seeing that Lucius had dropped his, Amos grabbed it before he turned to his wife Natalie.
"Sweetheart, are you all right?" he asked her.
She could only stare at him with shock in her wide gray eyes before Lucius got up from behind him.
"Diggory," he said, sounding odd because either his broken nose or the blood coming from it had somehow clogged his nasal passages, "I'm sure it was an accident that you slammed that door in my face."
"Well, we know it wasn't an ACCIDENT," spat Amos, "that you spouted those lies at my wife, so I'll thank you to go now."
"Don't tell me you believe those lies," said Lucius through a still-clogged nose. His tone would've been funny if Amos wasn't so thoroughly mad at him.
Every eye in the main office of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures was on Lucius, Amos, and Natalie now. Lucius seemed to take confidence from this, thinking that Amos should be ashamed of himself.
"Remind us what you said about our son," hissed Natalie.
"He died in a tragic accident in the Triwizard Tournament. I suppose nothing can really, truly be safe," he said to Natalie in a condescending tone. "Now, hand me my wand, Amos, and don't make this any worse by making a scene."
But Amos didn't hand him back his wand. Instead, he snapped it clean in half and THEN handed the pieces to Lucius.
"Well," he said, taking the pieces and not bothering to wipe away the blood that dripped from his nose and onto his shirt, "Mrs. Diggory, I do extend my sincerest condolences. I shall assume that you are sorry for your husband's actions."
"No" was her only reply.
"Why, you-" Lucius lunged forward, poised to somehow attempt to attack them, even though his wand was broken.
Both husband and wife had the same idea: they whipped out their wands and hit him with a non-verbal Expelliarmus at the same time. Then, at the same moment, they interlocked their free hands and turned on their heels to leave.
"You destroyed my wand, Amos Diggory!" Lucius spluttered from where he lay sprawled on the floor.
"Buy a new one, you blasphemous imbecile!" Natalie shouted over her shoulder. And with that, she and her husband disapparated on the spot.
When they re-appeared at home, they both practically fell into each other's arms k
"I'm sorry you had to hear that," said Amos. "I should've done something to shut him and the other Ministry idiots up sooner."
Natalie sighed a sigh of defeat. "It's nothing I haven't heard at Gringotts, Amos," she said. "I knew better than to fight them."
"Well, I couldn't let them say that rubbish to you. I just couldn't."
Natalie pulled him into a tight embrace so that she could cry into his shoulder while he cried into hers. Amos had always been a proud man, but after the loss of Cedric, he hadn't cared a wit who did and didn't see him fall apart. It didn't matter anymore.
"I'll still fight for you even if you leave me, you know," he murmured. "You were always so classy and smart. You could've done so much better than the likes of me. You could still start a new life. I won't stop you."
Natalie pulled back from him and grabbed his face so that he was forced to look at her as she vehemently shook her head. "No, Amos. You're the one who could still move on. You could still find someone young enough to have children and you could have a whole new family-"
He stopped her right there with a silencing finger over her mouth. He knew what Natalie was trying to get at with what she was saying – she was more than 10 years older than him and since he had barely just turned 41, he could still theoretically find another woman to have children with. But he didn't want to.
"I don't want anyone except you, Natalie. Only you."
"Well, I love you, Amos. I'm not leaving you. You always stood up for me back when we met. It was what made me fall for you. So, I'm not going to leave you. Not in this or any other lifetime."
"I'll never stop loving you, sweetheart," he whispered.
After that, they'd kissed, sweet and slow, through the salt of their tears.
"No matter what happens, let's not stop fighting for our Cedric. Or for the truth," said Natalie.
"I agree."
"And if we can possibly save this from happening to anyone else, if we can somehow look after any other families, any other people, whose lives were torn apart by the Dark Lord, we do it," she added.
"Absolutely."
The two of them spent the afternoon at home. They tried to nap on the sofa, but neither one could sleep, so they just ended up holding each other, each one's mind racing in a million directions.
They were interrupted a bit before sunset by a knock on their door. It was Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Mr. Shacklebolt. What can we do for you?" asked Natalie when she answered the door and let him in.
"Cornelius Fudge wished to tell you that you both were nearly fired – from your job at the Ministry, and from your job at Gringotts," he said, referring to where Natalie worked.
"Are you assuming we care to keep our jobs?" Natalie asked coldly. "After the slander we've had to endure every day about what happened to our son?"
Kingsley looked from Natalie's stern expression, to Amos's, and back to hers again. He cleared his throat. "I am here to ask you both to keep your jobs, as a favor to me, and as a favor to those who want to fight the Dark Lord."
"Explain," said Amos.
"I am a member of a secret organization called the Order of the Phoenix. We fought the Dark Lord during the previous wizard war and now that he is back, we have re-convened to fight him again."
"Count us in," said Amos, knowing that he spoke for both of them. They hadn't been part of the Order of the Phoenix during the first war, but they'd still fought against the wrath and violence and greed and thievery that the Dark Lord had inflicted against the Wizarding Community. And this time, they would both be all in.
Two nights after Kingsley's arrival, a unicorn appeared outside the Diggorys' bedroom window, casting a pearly light all around it. Amos and Natalie got up and ran outside to watch it. It walked a few steps away, then turned its head back as if to ask, "Are you coming?" Exchanging nervous glances, they both followed.
It led them to the cemetery and neither Amos nor Natalie could be too surprised when it led them to Cedric's gravestone. It bowed its head, as if in mournful respect. Then, it touched its head to the gravestone, which seemed to glimmer for a moment. Then, it turned around and swished its tail and when it stepped away from the grave, the land was covered in beautiful wildflowers.
It turned back to the Diggorys and bowed its head one more time to acknowledge them. Then, it raced away at a gallop, jumping the 10-foot cemetery fence with ease. Less than a minute later, it had vanished into the night.
Filled with nerves, Amos and Natalie approached the grave. The tombstone originally read:
Cedric Amos Diggory
Beloved Son
Loyal Friend
Champion
And the dates of his birth and death, December 22, 1976-June 24, 1995.
But now, there were two more lines below:
Death is not the end, but a mere portal to another life.
Hope is coming.
"What WAS that?" asked Natalie.
"I don't know. What does it even mean? Our son is still dead – nothing can bring him back to us."
"You're right, of course," said Natalie. "But I think it might be time to do some research on unicorns."
Amos nodded.
Even after the unicorn apparition, the grief had not abated and Amos was beginning to accept that perhaps, it never would.
But at least he'd learned to channel that grief. On behalf of the Order of the Phoenix, he kept an eye on whether any groups of magical creatures seemed to be turning to Voldemort's side. Even if, in order to do it, he had to deal with the presence of willfully ignorant twats like Fudge and Malfoy at the Ministry.
But he kept up his work for the Order of the Phoenix and looked after Natalie and let Natalie look after him and didn't consider killing himself anymore for Cedric. Because if Cedric had survived the Dark Lord's return too, he'd be joining the Order of the Phoenix as soon as he possibly could, Amos was sure of it. His son had a protective streak a mile wide.
At least, he mused as he headed in one day, nobody in the Ministry spewed lies about Cedric when he was around. They seemed to all realize that blaspheming about Cedric to him or his wife was the conversational equivalent of sticking your hand in a muggle blender and turning it on: you were basically asking to get hurt.
So, Lucius Malfoy turned the other way when Amos passed him, and he turned instead to turn his supercilious glare on an unassuming young woman in purple robes. At the sight of his glare, she visibly shrank off to the side and her hands started shaking.
Compelled by curiosity, Amos looked at her: she had shiny dark hair, a smooth tea-and-cream complexion, a tall and lean and athletic physique, and fine, chiseled facial features. She couldn't be a day over 20.
Then, a familiar pair of gray eyes – eyes that looked just as Cedric's had – met his… but he didn't have too much time to marvel at those eyes because the woman's knees were wobbling, her hands were shaking, her breath was coming in sharp gasps, and k
Natalie often liked to joke that Amos was part-caveman, but he still knew a panic attack when he saw one – new recruits to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures got them all the time on their first assignments fighting dark creatures.
He ran to meet her, draped an arm around her shoulders, and shepherded her into a nearby elevator. "Come on now, it's all right. Just take some deep breaths, it's okay."
She looked into his face and opened her mouth as if to say something… but then, she projectile-vomited in his face and passed out on the elevator floor.
Amos wasn't too bothered by the vomit. If you had to track and hunt and capture dangerous magical beasts for the Ministry, then the job could get pretty revolting – and having someone vomit in his face wasn't half as bad as some of the other stuff he'd dealt with.
So he just waved his wand to clean up all the vomit, picked the young woman up off the floor, carried the young woman to his office, and let her rest on a spare couch.
During the couple of hours she rested, a big black shaggy dog made its way in through his office door, took note of the young woman, and laid down on the floor with its eyes watching her.
When at last, she woke up, he conjured her a glass of water, which she greedily gulped down. "Are you all right?" he asked.
"I'll be fine," said the young woman sluggishly. "Sorry I vomited in your face."
"No, don't worry about that. Is something bothering you? Did Lucius Malfoy say something to you earlier?"
"No, I just have a migraine. I should probably go home before it gets worse. Thanks for helping me, though, Amos Diggory."
"How do you know my name?" he asked.
"It's on your office door?" she replied. "I really should find my dog and go."
In response, the dog woofed softly. She looked at it, indicating that the big black dog was hers.
"Come on, Major. Your human needs some painkillers and a nap."
"Wait, wait! What's your name?"
"Hope. Anastasia Marshall. Thanks again."
"That's a great name. If my wife and I had a daughter, we would've named her Hope." Amos wasn't sure why it mattered, but something made him want to tell her.
The young woman simply nodded, waved, and left.