Return of the Unicorns, Chapter 21
Note: This chapter will be partly from the POV of the Diggorys and partly from the POV of Hope. In case anyone is wondering how far the plot of this story will go, it will extend to the end of Deathly Hallows, and then have an epilogue. So, it'll probably be pretty bloody long. And I'd like to extend a thank you to anyone who's read this far! I hope you're enjoying it!
The past several weeks had been really, really weird for Amos and Natalie Diggory.
It'd started when the Ministry of Magic sent people to the cemetery in Ottery St. Catchpole to exhume Cedric's body… only for everyone to discover that the body had somehow magically disappeared all by itself.
The revelation that Cedric's body was no more had led Natalie to realize… Cedric really had been a reincarnated unicorn, and he was apparently back from the dead now and living a whole new life. Amos and Natalie had been utterly overjoyed – their boy was back among the living!
But then, reality set in. They lived on a planet populated by 7 billion people and among those people on that planet, Cedric's new self could literally be anywhere and look like absolutely anyone. Finding a needle in a giant barn full of haystacks – without magic – would've been easier.
Distress set in once again, but this time, it was permeated by nervous little slivers of joy. Cedric hadn't remembered his past life as a unicorn, but maybe this new incarnation of Cedric could somehow remember all of Cedric's old memories. One could dream.
So, Amos and Natalie spent their days going to their jobs – Amos at the Ministry and Natalie at Gringotts – while sullenly trying to pretend like everything was completely and utterly normal. At least people wouldn't be shocked if they seemed down and dismayed all the time.
Their nights were spent frantically researching unicorns and holding one another close as they endured wave after wave of hope, then nervousness, then crushing disappointment, then grief.
It didn't help that they'd run out of unicorn legends. And Ministry records of unicorns – though the Ministry's records were pitifully scanty. Amos had promised Natalie that as soon as he could, he was going to learn everything he possibly could about unicorns. Maybe that was the key to finding their child.
XXXXX
It didn't help that Christmas was fast approaching and neither Amos nor Natalie knew what to do. Christmas had always been a cheerful holiday at the Diggory household – even when Amos and Natalie were just married and didn't yet know whether they could have kids. Since Natalie had once thought that she couldn't conceive, she'd been delighted to learn she was pregnant and she called Cedric's birth – on December 21, the Winter Solstice – the best early Christmas present she'd ever gotten.
But now, their best-ever Christmas present had died and even if he was back, he was nowhere near his heartbroken parents.
"It could be that since he's off living another life, he's spending Christmas with his new family. Maybe we can at least be happy for that?" Natalie asked half-heartedly.
They were glad their son was somehow alive again – of course they were glad he was alive! – but he was still GONE and THEY STILL MISSED HIM.
In the end, Amos and Natalie had decided that theirs would be a quiet Christmas – a small tree and a few presents, but without all the other traditions they'd come up with as a newly married couple, and then as parents to Cedric.
Amos had added that maybe they could use the time to seek out unicorns. If they were successful in locating any of the creatures, maybe they could learn more about what their son was. Even if they never found Cedric, wouldn't it be amazing if his existence somehow brought them closer to an incredible – and largely not understood – species?
Amos's suggestion didn't make either one of them particularly happy, but Natalie agreed with him that she wanted to keep learning about unicorns. Just in case.
XXXXX
Meanwhile, the very person Amos and Natalie were looking for sat, dumbfounded, in the Room of Requirement. When Hope had sought Cho out, she'd been expecting theirs to be a joyous reunion. Instead, she'd scared Cho senseless and accidentally convinced the poor girl that their love had somehow died.
What. A. Mess.
"Room of Requirement, please untie me from this chair." The room did as she bade it. Technically, Hope could've apparated out of her bonds, or transformed into a unicorn to break her bonds, or performed a bit of wandless magic to make her bonds disappear, or broken the chair she was tied to with her own strength and then shrugged off the ropes binding her. But she'd stayed tied to the chair because if the sweet and gentle Cho Chang was frightened enough to tie her down, then Hope wasn't about to do anything to scare her further.
She'd recovered the memories of both her past lives, but what was she even supposed to do? If Cho was scared by how different she was this time around, then maybe other people would be. Like her parents. There were plenty of times in her past life as Cedric where Amos had mentioned that he'd really wanted a son, and had been overjoyed when his wife gave birth to a boy. Would Amos Diggory be disappointed to have a daughter instead of a son?
Her reincarnation had gotten back from the dead, but had she somehow… done it wrong?
Looking back, her past lives seemed like a tangled labyrinth. She had, for some reason, left the world of unicorns behind when she reincarnated as Cedric Diggory. But then, she'd left the Wizarding World behind when her life as Cedric ended. And then she'd been born into the Muggle world, but she'd left that one behind, too, when she discovered she had magic and wanted to learn more about it. But the Wizarding World wouldn't know what to do with someone like her, either. Was there anywhere, anywhere at all, where she truly belonged?
Or had her return from the dead been all for naught? The idea frightened her to the core.
Because she didn't want to risk causing any more chaos at Hogwarts and didn't want to be surrounded by people at Grimmauld Place, she apparated to Tonks's cottage, which was decorated for a Christmas that Hope wasn't in much of a mood to celebrate. The place was blessedly empty. That meant, at this hour, that Tonks was either out with her friends or filling in a guard shift in the Hall of Prophecy.
The Hall of Prophecy… Shit! She'd signed up for a zillion guard shifts there during the holidays and one of those shifts was supposed to be tonight. She was probably already late.
She hastily apparated to the front of Grimmauld Place, knocking on the front door the second it appeared.
Kingsley Shacklebolt answered the door.
"I'm so sorry, I completely forgot that I was supposed to keep watch in the Hall of Prophecy tonight! I got sidetracked at Hogwarts and I was busy trying to recover my memories and the time just completely got away from me!"
"And… did you recover all of them? Can we stop calling you the other Patient HM?"
"Yeah…" Hope took a deep breath, fortifying herself to say what she'd learned. She quickly prayed a silent prayer that she would be accepted for who and what she was. "My name is Cedric Diggory," she said for the second time tonight. "In my first life, I was the unicorn Rocinante and in the second of my three lives, I was Cedric Diggory."
"Welcome back, Cedric," said Kingsley, giving her a friendly hug. "Now, come inside. I've got two people here who are very, very eager to see you."
"Wait, what about my shift guarding the Hall of Prophecy?"
"Oh, don't worry," Kingsley said with a shrug, "Arthur Weasley filled in for you."
XXXXX
The 19th of December didn't promise to be any different than the prior days for Amos and Natalie Diggory.
"I've been thinking," said Natalie as they lay in bed, neither one quite ready to leave their cocoon of blankets and face the day, "that if we're going to learn more about unicorns, maybe we should ask the Order of the Phoenix for help. And Albus Dumbledore, too. If he believes Cedric might've reincarnated, then maybe he can help us figure out where Cedric might be in his new lifetime."
"You're so smart," Amos said, punctuating his remark by snuggling her close and kissing her cheek. "How about I see if I can meet with Dumbledore soon, and I'll ask Kingsley Shacklebolt for the Order's help when I'm at the Ministry today."
"Sounds good," said Natalie, nodding.
It was the first glimmer of true hope they'd had in weeks. Amos and Natalie could prop one another up, but they needed allies and it was about damned time to get some.
The day at the Ministry dragged by slower than any other day Amos had ever experienced since working there. He sent a letter to Dumbledore to let the man know that he wanted to discuss unicorns (Dumbledore would know what it was about), but he didn't receive a response all day. And he'd wanted to see Kingsley Shacklebolt, but one of the secretaries in the Auror Office informed him that Kingsley wouldn't be back into the office until that evening.
Time never goes so slowly as when you have something urgent to discuss and no one to discuss it with. The only remotely distracting thing that happened that day was a letter from Hagrid telling him that the hippogriff Buckbeak, who'd escaped a death sentence a year and a half ago, had been found. Hagrid was wondering if he could take the creature back to Hogwarts to live with him under a false name.
Amos had heartily disagreed with the Ministry's decision to execute Buckbeak, so he happily re-registered the hippogriff under the false name Witherwings and sent Hagrid a letter letting him know that he could take "Witherwings" back to Hogwarts to live with him.
At least that was one innocent life returned to normal, but what of the life of his innocent son, Cedric?
Kingsley was supposed to return to the office at 5pm, so Amos showed up at 4:30, hoping the other wizard would be early. But the other wizard didn't show up until 5:37, by which time Amos was about ready to send out a search party.
"It's about damned time you got here," Amos growled when the other wizard finally mozied into his office.
"I wasn't aware that I had anything urgent to do, besides file another false report that I've failed to track down Sirius Black," he said languidly as he shut the door to give the two of them some privacy.
"I need your help with something. It's really urgent."
"Oh?"
"I need to research unicorns. I need to learn absolutely everything about them that I possibly can. Particularly about their ability to reincarnate as human."
"It's funny you should say that," said Kingsley relaxedly. "The Order of the Phoenix recently acquired a reincarnated unicorn."
Amos's heart leaped. Could it really be Cedric?
"She's quite an asset. We're very fortunate to have her."
The unicorn was a girl. Cedric was a boy. It wasn't Cedric. Amos's heart sank.
"Could I ask her to reach me about unicorns and how they reincarnate?"
"Of course! Hope would be happy to teach you anything you need."
"What's she like?"
"Oh, she's one of the sweetest people you'll meet. But don't let that fool you – she can be dangerous when she wants to be. Do you remember when I told you that Hagrid escaped the giant Gorgomath? Well, she's the one who scared Gorgomath off. In short, she's tremendously talented, very fair-minded, quietly confident, and always thinks of others before herself. We are very lucky to have her."
"Wait… Does she like cake?" It was a random question, but it slipped out before Amos could stop himself. What could he say – Kingsley's description sounded very familiar.
"As a matter of fact, yet. She says she likes chocolate. And lemon. And cauldron cakes. And coconut. And red velvet. And this muggle invention called funfetti. And Victoria sponge. And Battenburg cake and- Well, she goes on for quite a while, listing flavors."
"Holy shit… Is she on the quiet side? Does she like Quidditch? Is she a good flier? Is she crazily athletic? Is she incredibly accomplished, but quiet about her achievements? Does she like rock n' roll music and sing it way off-key while she's in the shower?"
"Have you… met Hope and gotten to know her? Because all of those are true."
"I've met her, but I haven't gotten to know her… Wait here, I need to get my wife."
Amos apparated to Natalie's office in Gringotts. Seeing she wasn't there, he ran out of her office and down the hallway. Knowing how important she was to Gringotts, she was probably in the middle of negotiating some enormous deal that would make them a ton of money. Any other day, Amos wouldn't interrupt – but this was too important.
Finally, on the 5th conference room door, Amos found Natalie in a meeting with several goblins and several other wizards. He opened the door, drawing several annoyed glares toward himself. But he didn't care.
He simply mouthed, "EUREKA!" and Natalie got it.
The other bankers and the goblins would think them terribly rude for this, but it was an emergency. Natalie sprang out of her chair and grabbed her husband's hand. And the moment their hands touched, Amos disapparated them both back to Kingsley Shacklebolt's office.
"The Order of the Phoenix has a new member named Hope – who's a reincarnated unicorn. And Hope is Cedric," Amos told Natalie.
"Really?" she exclaimed.
"Really, really," said Amos as he hugged her and held her tight.
XXXXX
Kingsley Shacklebolt took them both to the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters at 12 Grimmauld Place, but Hope was nowhere to be found. According to Kingsley, she was at Hogwarts, trying to recover some of her past memories from her past life.
Amos didn't care if she recovered her former memories. If she hadn't gotten them back yet, he and Natalie would help her find them. She was their child and they loved her absurdly, no matter what she looked like or how much she remembered.
While Amos, Natalie, and Kingsley waited for Hope to arrive, Kingsley told them more details about how Hope had arrived at the Order of the Phoenix, and what an amazing friend she'd been to Tonks, Kingsley, Sirius, Remus, and generally everyone at the Order. The more stories Amos and Natalie heard about her, the more certain they were that it was their child, returned to life.
Finally, a knock sounded on the door to Grimmauld Place. Kingsley got up to answer it because it could've been anyone.
But it was Hope.
"My name is Cedric Diggory," she said plainly. "In my first life, I was the unicorn Rocinante and in the second of my three lives, I was Cedric Diggory."
That was all Amos and Natalie needed to hear. As Kingsley hugged Hope and welcomed her back, they sprang up from their chairs and went to look her in the face.
Hope's face was new – she was a half-Black young woman now, rather than a white young man – but she still had beautifully chiseled facial features that reminded them of Cedric. And she still had those prepossessing gray eyes that had captivated husband and wife at once from the moment their child was born.
"Merlin's beard, Ced, it is you!" cried Amos, lunging forward to pick up Hope. He swung her around and joyfully spun in circles. When Hope landed, Natalie joined the two of them in a three-way hug that sandwiched Hope in the middle. She even smelled as Cedric had – of bright, fresh citrus mixed with warm spice.
At last, the little family broke apart from their hug.
"I can't believe you came back and found us!" exclaimed Natalie.
"Of course, I did!" exclaimed Hope. "I really missed you when I died. I missed you so much – I had to find you!"
"You know what I just realized, Amos? When the words Hope Is Coming appeared on Cedric's tombstone – Hope was a name!" Natalie exclaimed.
"What?" asked Hope. "Wait, I dreamed I was a unicorn and that I wrote those words on somebody's grave!"
"Oh my Merlin, it was you!" exclaimed Natalie, pulling Hope's face in close again and covering it with kisses. "We love you, we love you, we love you!"
Natalie at last pulled back from Hope, and the two parents stared into their child's face, taking in every feature. With her athletic build, gorgeously sculpted features, and prepossessing gray eyes, Hope looked so much like Cedric.
"You're not…" Hope struggled to find the words, "disappointed that I'm so different on this reincarnation? Because gender has been known to sometimes flip-flop between unicorn reincarnations. So, I mean, you used to have a son, and now…" she trailed off.
"We accept you regardless," reassured Natalie, planting another kiss on Hope's cheek. "We love our handsome, strong, brave, kind, wonderful child regardless of what gender you are!"
"And it's not weird?" Hope asked in a small voice.
"It's a bit strange," said Amos, shrugging. "But we'll take a little weirdness any day if it means we have you back. We love you so much, our Ced, our Hope. And besides, when we were expecting you, we would've been happy if you were either a boy or a girl, so I don't see any reason to be getting all particular about gender NOW…"
Hope laughed, despite herself, and she embraced her parents once more. "I love you too! Dad, I know you wanted a bold and brave son who'd go into Gryffindor like you, but-"
"NEVER have I been so happy to not get what I was hoping for," reassured Amos. "You are the best thing to ever happen to me, and I absolutely loved that you were such a surprise. Now, let's go home. We have a LOT of catching up to do."
Hope nodded. "Absolutely." With that, she allowed her dad to apparate the family home to Diggory Hollow.
XXXXX
Hours later, the reunited Diggory family were still catching up.
"How did you find us?" Natalie asked once they had apparated home. "Tell us everything!"
"Ah, okay," said a flustered Hope. "Sorry, I just don't even know where to start!"
"Uh, before you do," said Amos, "I have a few things I wanted to say to you ever since you died." He cupped Hope's face in his hands and looked into the familiar gray eyes. "I'm sorry that my expectations of you were too high and I'm sorry that I ever compared you to Harry Potter and I'm so, so sorry that I pressured you into the tournament that basically got you killed-"
Hope put up a hand to stop him. "It's okay, Dad. Everything's okay now. You never belittled me or talked down to me, and you never would've put my life at risk intentionally. It was Lord Voldemort who killed me. Twice."
"Still, I'm sorry I pressured you and compared you to Harry Potter. That was wrong of me and I'm never going to do it again. I should've respected that you were on your own path, and I should've enjoyed the way you invented your own story."
"It's okay, Dad," said Hope as tears sprang to the corners of her eyes. "I love you too." Father and daughter pulled each other into a tender embrace, which Natalie Diggory quickly joined.
At last, they broke apart again. "Well, what do you mean You-Know-Who got you killed TWICE?!" interjected Natalie. "Was that how your unicorn life ended, too?"
Hope nodded solemnly. "In Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts – my third year – Voldemort was trying to come back and he was killing unicorns to drink their blood. I was one of the unicorns that died."
"God, I'm so sorry," said Natalie. She guided Hope to the couch so she could sit cuddled between her parents, who each draped a loving arm around their daughter.
"I just hope it doesn't happen again," said Hope. "Since both of my deaths happened in the timeline of my current life, I had to experience both of them over again as visions. It was brutal."
Amos and Natalie nodded somberly. "You're so special to us. We couldn't bear to lose you again, either. And how did you reincarnate as a human? Did you somehow discover a magic that was lost to unicorns for millennia?"
"Nah, nothing quite so astounding," said Hope. Unicorns have always been able to reincarnate into human form. I'm just the first one to do it since the 400's CE. There was this dark wizard, Xerxes, who slaughtered loads of us and bathed in our blood to try and gain our powers. It didn't work for him, but the damage was done: unicorns didn't want to reincarnate into the human world anymore after that. Until I was daft enough to try it."
"You're not DAFT," said Natalie, ruffling her daughter's soft hair.
"I think she meant she was the first one in millennia that was BRAVE enough to try coming back as a human," Amos clarified.
"Thanks, guys," said Hope, blushing.
The three family members talked the rest of the evening away. Though Hope wasn't usually the chattiest person (Cedric hadn't been the chattiest person either), she was more than happy to fill her parents in on every detail they wanted to know about her current life. So, she told them about what it was like growing up in Vermont, learning to ski, overcoming her fear of heights, volunteering with the mountain patrol search and rescue teams, playing hockey with her friends, double-majoring in philosophy and mathematics at Wellesley, and everything in between. She happily answered all her parents' extra questions.
Natalie Diggory, who had a sister that went to Wellesley (Natalie was Muggle-born), got especially excited to hear about Hope's time at Wellesley and Amos had laughed till he cried at some of Hope's hockey stories. Especially the one where Hope was the first girl in the high school hockey league and the coach of an opposing team disliked it so much that he almost refused to play her school's team at hockey… so when they did play each other, Hope's teammates (all guys) bought matching frilly pink dresses from a thrift store, wore them over their team jerseys, and played the ENTIRE GAME that way, making it extra satisfying when (with Hope's help) they won. "Sounds like that sexist bastard had it coming!" he laughed. Hope grinned and nodded.
All too soon, Hope found herself yawning uncontrollably. She stretched her feet beneath the coffee table, which held the remains of the pizza they'd ordered for dinner (pizza margherita with fresh basil, Cedric's and Hope's favorite) and three half-finished Butterbeers.
"Is someone ready to sleep?" asked Natalie.
"Yeah. Blimey, is it 3am already?"
"Time flies when you're joyously reunited with your former son, now daughter," yawned Amos.
"Hey, we're not going to wake up and find out we dreamed this, right?" added Natalie nervously.
"No," said Hope. "But can I, uh, go sleep in my bedroom now? Is it still there? Can I stay for the holidays?"
Kingsley had told the Diggorys that he'd had to modify the memories of Hope's other family, as per Order of the Phoenix security protocols.
"Of course, you can stay for the holidays!" they both said at once. Then, they both seemed to fall over themselves suggesting elaborate plans. They'd buy her a fancy new broomstick to replace the old one that they'd donated to Hogwarts. They'd have the Order of the Phoenix throw her a special welcome-back-from-the-dead party. And they'd also-
"Guys, guys!" Hope held her hands up to stop them. "Can we just hang out, catch up, decorate a Christmas tree, and do that thing where we magically construct a giant snow fort? It doesn't need to be fancy."
"Well, let us know what else you want to do over the holidays – and your birthday. And what presents you want," said Natalie.
"You know me, I'm not particular," said Hope with a shrug. She made her way to her bedroom and waved her wand to clear out the dust that'd accumulated there.
"UGH, why has that been the repeated refrain for the last TWO years? Kiddo, it's sweet that you're not particular, but do you know how difficult that makes you to shop for?" complained Amos.
Suddenly, a loud POP sounded from the living room followed by Kingsley's voice shouting, "Hope! We need you! Come quickly!"
Hope sprinted back to the living room, followed by her parents. "What is it, Kingsley?"
"It's Arthur Weasley," Kingsley panted. "He was bitten by You-Know-Who's own snake while he was guarding the Hall of Prophecy. He's in St. Mungo's and we're not sure if he'll make it. We might have to resort to using unicorn blood."
"Take me there now – you should've come to me sooner if you thought he would need unicorn blood!"
"We weren't sure if we wanted to risk unicorn blood because it's cursed. We only wanted to use it if there was no other option."
"It's not cursed if it's given willingly," said Hope. "And you know I'm more than willing to save Mr. Weasley's life."
Kingsley nodded. "Come on, then." He held out his hands. Hope grabbed one while Mr. and Mrs. Diggory grabbed the other and a moment later, they'd apparated into a hospital room where Mr. Weasley lay badly bruised from a bite on his side. He was pale as a ghost and hardly breathing.
"Where're the healers?" asked Natalie.
"We ushered them out for a moment, but we didn't say why. We can't exactly let everyone know we're harboring a reincarnated unicorn. Can't have You-Know-Who getting a hold of that news. Hurry, Hope," he said, handing her a small knife.
The Diggorys and Kingsley watched in amazement as Hope pricked her finger and squeezed out a drop of blood. The blood was red at first, but it turned a shining pearly-white a moment later. She put the drop between Arthur Weasley's lips and a moment later, his breaths got deeper and more stable.
"Will he be all right?" asked Amos, casting a worried glance at his friend.
"He will," said Hope. "Unicorn blood's no panacea, but it should be enough for him to survive the snake bite.
"Amos, I know you're worried for your friend, so I'll let you know how he fares," said Kingsley. "But the healers will be back any moment, so please make yourselves scarce."
Hope nodded again and apparated herself and her parents back home.