When he first regained his consciousness, he breathed in the air around him. He felt sore and exhausted beyond belief, he felt the earth beneath him.

Well, that meant he was alive.

He survived?

As improbable as it was, he was forced to believe it. He was breathing, his body aching, his magical core exhausted.

Yep, he was alive.

It was impossible. Of course, he knew what Avada Kedavra was. He was already in his sixth year in Hogwarts. Because he knew that, the fact that he was alive baffled him so much his breathing quickened.

Trying to calm himself down, he thought of his current situation. He had three things to establish.

First, he had survived a Killing Curse.

Second, his body hurt so much he was forced to hold back a scream by biting his tongue.

Third, he was bound by something, meant that somebody not friendly was holding him captive.

Cedric wondered in his head; his luck couldn't be worse than Harry Potter, could it? To survive a Killing Curse, it was unheard of. That was, until his fellow Triwizard champion survived He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's Killing Curse and instantly went famous because of it.

He wanted to know who it was, the one who cast the Killing Curse. The strange looking man was carrying what seemed like a baby ― a deformed baby. And if it wasn't for his good hearing, he wouldn't catch the baby-like creature saying "kill the spare" in a voice so hoarse and breathy it tranced him with horror. It felt horribly, utterly wrong to hear those words coming from the creature and not from the man.

He involuntarily shuddered of the memory, quickly wincing as the rope or something that bound him pressed tightly against his skin. His eyes was yet to open, as he was scared of what to see if he did.

"Oi, Ero-sennin! I think he's awake!"

"How many times do I have to tell you? Get away from that boy!"

"He doesn't feel hostile."

Cedric slowly opened his eyes, only to see a pair of blue eyes peering at him.

"Who're you?" escaped his lips as soon as his brain registered the person before him.

"What?"

Cedric was pulled to sit by a man with ridiculously long white hair, who appeared in front of him. And soon, he was dragged away from the red-headed girl with a stunning pair of blue eyes he had ever seen.

"What is your purpose?" The man stared down at him, dark colored eyes on him. He was pinned by a bigger-than-normal frog. Or was it toad?

However, it quickly dawned upon Cedric, that whatever gibberish he heard earlier was a language he wasn't familiar with. "I'm sorry, I don't understand you," he said, oddly apologetic about it.

The man frowned, eyes understanding. He pointed to himself, "Jiraiya."

He made a face at the man, not sure how to pronounce it right. He knew it was the man's name.

The man repeated, "Ji-rai-ya."

"Ji-rai-ya."

The man ― Jiraiya ― nodded in approval. "Naruto, come here!"

"Tch, you just said to not be near him." Receiving two stares from him and the man, this Naruto-girl frowned, "Ng? What's wrong, Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya smirked, looking like he was excited, "Seems like we have a case here."

Warily, Cedric stared at the two strangers. What was going on? Who were these people, speaking in an unfamiliar language?

Looking around for a clue to where he was, it looked like he was in a campsite.

Cedric let out a shaky breath as he gazed at the strangers who was arguing in a foreign language, hoping that these two wouldn't kill him.

Blimey, he wasn't a Gryffindor. He didn't fancy dangerous adventures and whatnot, unlike the Golden Trio.

Defending himself countless times in the third task and surviving a Killing Curse definitely took a toll on him, his eyelids dropped. He was rapidly losing his consciousness, despite not wanting to.

As darkness greeted him, the sounds of the two strangers muffled and gone within seconds.

Welp. I checked the review section and... it's empty. Huh. It's not that I demand a review or something, but this definitely discourages me. Just a little bit, though. Because I write for fun! Tee-hee.