Chapter 22
"Harry?"
Harry raised his head and looked toward the voice. Cedric Diggory stood silently, looking down at the body of Harry's father.
Slowly, Harry stood and drew his wand, pointing it at Cedric. "Someone cast the killing curse," he said, tears still streaming down his face. "Did you see anyone?"
Cedric shook his head, watching Harry warily.
"It came from the path you entered," Harry said.
"Nobody passed me, Harry. I swear it."
Harry walked up to him, glared at him suspiciously, then walked past him and looked down the path that Cedric had taken.
"Harry, I swear . . . Oh, God!"
Harry whirled around and saw Cedric kneeling on the ground, his hands covering his face. The body of his father had disappeared, and in its place was a hooded figure in a black tattered cloak. Its face was hidden beneath the hood, but the arms reaching out were skeletal, having just a bit of rotting flesh. The figure reminded him of the statues in the Riddle graveyard. Suddenly, Harry realized what had happened. He had faced his worst fear, and now Cedric was doing the same. He pointed his wand at the hooded figure and cried, "Riddikulus!"
The figure shrank until it was only an inch tall. Harry's laughter was on the brink of hysteria. He was relieved that his father was still alive, yet still trying to recover from the image of his death.
Cedric looked up at him, relieved. "Thanks, Harry."
Harry nodded and put away his wand. He wiped his face with sleeve while pointing at the Triwizard cup. "There it is," he said.
Cedric stood up and, together, they walked to the trophy.
"You were here first," Cedric said. "And you saved me from the boggart. Go ahead. Take it."
"No. You saved me, too. Let's make it tie. We'll take it together."
Cedric grinned at him. "You have more points than I do, so you'll actually be the champion, but I'll be in second place. It's a still a win for Hogwarts," he said. "On three?"
Harry nodded, and Cedric began the count. "One . . . two . . . three!" They both grabbed a handle of the cup, then looked at each other in surprise as they felt the pull behind their navels, realizing they were holding a portkey.
They landed on soft ground in a deserted field of stone statues.
"Where are we?" Cedric asked, standing and brushing the dirt from his knees.
Harry stood and gazed around him with a feeling of dread. "I've been here before," he said. "Cedric, we've got to get back to the portkey."
"Why? What's going on?"
A man carrying a small, deformed baby walked out of the mausoleum. Cedric drew his wand. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Is this the boy?" the baby asked, and they realized that it was not a baby, but a very small man. His face looked ancient and his arms and legs were underdeveloped so that they hung uselessly from his twisted body.
"No, the other one," the one who was carrying him said.
"Then, kill the spare," the small creature said.
The man took out his wand and pointed it at Cedric. "Avada—"
"NO!" Harry cried, raising his arms, enclosing the two men in a transparent dome.
"Kedavra!" The man completed the spell, which struck the wall of the dome, bounced off, and rebounded back, hitting his right shoulder. He dropped the twisted creature as he fell to the ground, dead.
The creature's eyes met Harry's through the barrier, full of hatred. Harry's arms shook with the effort of maintaining the shield.
"Cedric," he said, sweat pouring down his face. "Take the portkey. Tell my father I am at Tom Riddle's grave. Tell him that Voldemort is here."
Cedric looked down at the twisted figure in the dome, then up at Harry, torn between going for help and staying. He hated leaving the younger boy alone. It was obvious he could not maintain the shield for long.
"GO!" Harry cried between clenched teeth.
"I'll get help, then," Cedric said, grabbing the cup and disappearing.
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When Cedric appeared on the Quidditch pitch with the Triwizard cup in hand, the crowd burst into cheers and applause. He searched the pitch for the person he was looking for, then dropped the cup and ran to Mithrael.
"Harry's at Tom Riddle's grave with Voldemort!" he cried, loud enough for everyone standing near to hear him. "He needs help!"
Mithrael turned to his wife. "Take care of our daughter. I will take care of our son."
Dumbledore turned to Auror Shacklebolt who was standing beside him. "Bring aurors to the Riddle graveyard in Little Hangleton," he said, then took off his hat and waved his wand over it, turning it into a portkey. "Take hold of this," he told Mithrael, Sirius, and Remus. They did as instructed, and soon found themselves in the graveyard where they had banished the bones of Tom Riddle.
They found three bodies lying on the ground: a man, a boy, and what looked like a baby. Mithrael ran to Harry and found that he was still alive. The man and the small creature were dead.
"It looks as though Barty Crouch Jr. was killed by the killing curse," Dumbledore said, looking at the two bodies that were side by side. "And this creature is Voldemort. He seems to have suffocated to death. How is Harry?"
"He is alive," Mithrael said, lifting his son and holding him in his arms. "But we must get him to a healer."
"Take the portkey back," Dumbledore said. "I'll wait here for the aurors."
Sirius and Remus returned to Hogwarts with Mithrael and Harry. When they arrived at the Quidditch pitch, the news had spread through the crowd. Draco was holding Coriel, while Elsbeth paced back and forth in front of him. Hermione, Ginny, and Ron were also standing nearby, anxiously awaiting news of Harry.
Mithrael, with his son held tightly in his arms, immediately began to run toward the castle. Sirius was slightly ahead of him, clearing the way to the hospital wing. Remus stopped long enough to explain to the others what they had found.
"Harry is alive, but unconscious. We don't know what happened. When we got there, Voldemort and Barty Crouch Jr. were dead. Mithrael is taking Harry to the hospital wing."
Elsbeth took off running toward the castle before he could finish. The others followed, Draco more slowly with little Coriel in his arms. "Shhh," he said to her as she started to whimper. "Everything will be fine, little princess. Your brother is alive and will be hovering over you protectively before you know it."
Daphne Greengrass was suddenly beside him. "Do you want me to take the baby so you can go to your cousin?" she asked.
Draco shook his head. "I can't do anything there, but at least I can take care of Coriel so that Elsbeth and Mithrael can be with their son." He smiled at her. "You can help, if you'd like."
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In the hospital wing, Harry lay unconscious on one of the beds. Elsbeth sat on one side, holding his hand, while Mithrael sat on the other side, doing the same. Sirius and Remus stood at the foot of the bed watching Madam Pomfrey run her wand over their godson.
"He's in a magical coma," she explained. "His magical core was exhausted and drained of magic, and the coma is a protective device his body is using to help him heal. He will not wake up until the core has regenerated the magic it's lost. This is so that he will be unable to use magic, which would cause further damage to his core. He'll be fine, though. He should wake up in 2 to 3 days."
"I'll go and tell his friends," Remus said, leaving the screened-in area. He walked outside the hospital wing to the area where the others were waiting. His friends were no longer the only ones waiting. The room was filled with the entire Gryffindor house, the other champions and their families, the Weasley family, most of the Hogwart's staff, and several students from other houses.
"How is he?" Hermione asked before he had completely entered the room.
Remus explained what Madam Pomfrey had told them, and the people waiting breathed a sigh of relief.
"Does anyone know how it happened?" Ron asked, and Remus shook his head.
"I can tell you what I know," Cedric said. He stood and told everything that had happened, from the time they saw each other and dealt with the boggart to the moment he took the portkey back to get help.
"It was V-v-v-You-Know-Who?" Neville asked. "Are you sure?"
"That's what Harry said," Cedric told the crowd.
"And that is also what Professor Dumbledore said when he saw the creature," Remus added. "However, what happened between the time that Cedric left and we arrived, we don't know. We'll have to wait until Harry is awake to find out. Now, Madam Pomfrey is allowing no visitors tonight, so you should all head back to your common rooms. We will keep you informed of everything that happens, and when Harry is awake, I'm sure he will appreciate your good wishes, but wait until Madam Pomfrey gives you permission before trying to see him."
Slowly and reluctantly, the crowd moved out of the waiting area and back toward their common rooms. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, however, stayed where they were.
"Could we just see him for a minute?" Ron asked. "We won't stay long or be any trouble. We just want to see that he's all right."
Remus sighed. "Wait here. I'll ask Madam Pomfrey."
When he returned with permission, the three friends quietly entered the hospital room. Harry lay on the bed, looking as if he were dead. Elsbeth smiled at them. "He will be fine," she whispered. "He is just healing now, but he will be awake in 2 or 3 days. If you wish to visit him, I will ask Madam Pomfrey to let you in. But please don't talk to him because it is important for him to stay in this coma until he is healed."
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The next morning, there was a meeting in Dumbledore's office. Minister Fudge, Amelia Bones, Shacklebolt, Ludo Bagman, Madam Maxime, Karkaroff, all four heads of houses, Sirius, Remus, Mithrael, Cedric Diggory, and his father, Amos Diggory, were all in attendance. They were listening to a report being given by Auror Shacklebolt.
"We found Mr. Crouch in his home last night," he said. "He had been under the imperious and was the victim of a badly performed memory charm. After several hours, we were able to get some information from him. He told us that, just after leaving Albus's office with the Triwizard cup, he ran into Mad-eye Moody who placed him under the imperious and turned the cup into a portkey. He was told to place the cup in the maze, then go home and wait for him to arrive. Rather than Mad-eye showing up at this house, however, his son appeared and attempted to place a memory charm on him.
"After talking with Crouch, we took him to St. Mungos, then went to Mad-eye's house. We found him stunned and bound in his own bed. He told us that, earlier in the day, he had heard something outside and had gone to investigate, but remembers nothing after stepping out his back door." He grinned. "You can imagine how embarrassed he was that his "constant vigilance" failed to keep him from being stunned."
The others chuckled, and Shacklebolt continued. "After questioning him under veritiserum, we found that he was telling the truth, so we had him checked out at St. Mungos. He's fine, just furious as hell."
Dumbledore turned to Madam Bones. "What did you find out about the bodies of Barty Crouch and Voldemort?"
"You were correct about the causes of death on both," she said. "Barty Crouch did indeed die from the killing curse, and after questioning Mr. Diggory and performing priori incantatum on all the wands, we concluded that it was accidental. We believe that the shield Mr. Potter raised was the cause of the other death. We think that a lack of air in the dome resulted in the suffocation of the other victim. However, we have also concluded that it was an accident. We will, of course, have to talk with Mr. Potter when he regains consciousness, but we doubt that he intentionally caused the death of the creature inside the shield."
"The creature inside the shield is not dead," Mithrael said. "His body has died, but his soul remains in the Human Realm. Voldemort will try to return again."
"How is that possible?" Fudge asked. "We saw the dead creature. How do you know that his soul still roams the Earth?"
"Because he has taken precautions," Mithrael said. "He has made certain that he cannot die. He has performed dark rituals that will keep his soul bound to the earth until the Child of Prophecy destroys him. He will continue to search for ways to regain a body."
"Who is this Child of Prophecy?" Fudge asked.
"He will show himself when the time is right," Mithrael said. "But it is an Elven prophecy of which I speak. You Wizards have your own prophecy concerning the child." He looked at Dumbledore pointedly. "Perhaps it is time for you to tell them."
Dumbledore closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, everyone in the office was watching him, waiting for him to speak. "I have believed that there would be danger in revealing the prophecy to others," he said. "Not for the Wizarding world, but for the boy of whom it speaks. Others will try to use the boy, and I cannot allow that."
"The boy will not be used by others," Mithrael said. "He has a family who will protect him from that. The prophecy was given to bring hope to your world. Is your world so corrupt that you would keep this from them?"
"Yes," Sirius answered before Dumbledore could speak, and then stood up. "Our world is that corrupt, but I will stand with the family to protect the boy from being used."
Remus rose from his seat. "And so will I," he said. Mithrael smiled at them as he, too, left his seat.
"And I," Madam Bones said, standing.
"I'll protect him," Shacklebolt said, rising to his feet. McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape, and Sprout rose, also, showing that they would stand behind the boy's family, whoever they were.
Then the others rose, leaving only Dumbledore and Fudge seated. Very slowly, Dumbledore stood, looking at Fudge as he did so. "As Minister of Magic, will you protect the boy from all who would use him?" Dumbledore asked.
"But we will need the boy," Fudge argued.
"You cannot use him," Dumbledore said. "You can stand with us or against us, Minister, but you will not use the boy."
Fudge looked around at all those who were standing. They were some of the most powerful people in the Wizarding world. Finally, he sighed. "All right," he said. "I will not allow the boy to be used." He stood with the others. "I give you my word as Minister of Magic."
And so, for the first time since it had been spoken 15 years before, the prophecy was revealed to the Wizarding world. The entire Wizarding world, for though the others did not see it, a small beetle flew out of the window to make the deadline for tomorrow's Daily Prophet.