Disclaimer: I don't own Cedric, Cedric's father, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, or even the thoughts and events of this chapter, which happen simultaneously with the events following the Quidditch World Cup in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I do, however, love Sam and Promise to death, because they're my two favorite original characters. Other than that… just enjoy!
Chapter
4
Tree Forts
"So why can't you play like that, Ced?" Promise teased him, throwing a Bertie Bott Every Flavor Bean at Cedric, who lay outstretched on his bed.
"Because I'm just a sixth year Hufflepuff," he smiled as he picked up the gray-green bean and popped it in his mouth. "And I'm not a professional Quidd-" He gagged and spit out the disgusting half-chewed candy.
"What'd you get?" Sam asked, sitting the comfortable armchair Promise had conjured up next to the bed.
"Snail," Cedric coughed as Promise fell backwards on the bed, laughing, keeping her legs crossed as she half-flipped.
"You should be like me," Promise smiled, popping a red and yellow speckled bean into her mouth. She constantly bragged about being able to determine the exact flavor of nearly every Bertie Bott bean she came across, which explained exactly why Cedric always managed to get some ridiculous, disgusting flavor like paint, which happened to be the first bean she had ever given him when they met on Platform Nine and Three Quarters.
Promise tossed Sam one of the candies out of her bag. Sam eyed the small white, possibly dangerous, bean apprehensively before picking it up and examining it between her index finger and thumb, holding it close to her eye.
"Oh Sam," Promise rolled her eyes, offended. "Don't you trust my sixth sense? I'm insulted. But, if it makes you feel any better it's vanilla flavored. Trust me."
Sam brought the innocent white sweet to her nose and inhaled deeply in a futile attempt to sniff out the flavor.
Promise rolled her eyes. "No, Sam, you can't smell 'em and tell the flavor. They're designed to prevent that. That Bertie Bott had a very sadistic sense of humor."
Sam closed her eyes and opened her mouth, holding the bean between her thumb and forefinger, poised like she was prepared to dive off into the dark abyss between cliffs with nothing more than a rope held by friends for support.
"You can trust her, Sam," Cedric urged. "If there's one thing Promise never jokes about, it's Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. It's something to do with a reputation she must uphold or some other nonsense," he smirked.
Promise gave Cedric a very sarcastic "you're-so-funny-when-you-tease-me" look before grabbing a handful of beans out of the bag, removing a good portion of them and setting them aside in what appeared to be a "Throw at Cedric" pile on the bed. She dropped those left behind in her hand into her mouth all at once. The potency of what could have possibly been in her hands made Cedric quiver. So many flavors, even good ones, all at once couldn't taste good. No way.
The three of them jumped as a loud bang, a crash, laughter, and cheers echoed again across the field outside. They looked at each other and laughed. Cedric looked at his father, who lay in his bed on his stomach, head buried under his pillow.
"Asleep yet, dad?" Cedric whispered loudly, soft enough to make himself sound courteous, but loud enough to disturb his father.
"Not with all the celebrating going on out there," Cedric's father said, voice muffled almost completely through the combination of the continuous cheers and the pillow stuffed in his face. "They're going to be at this all night."
"What's wrong, Mr. Diggory?" Sam inquired. "I thought you wanted Ireland to win."
"Oh, I did," Cedric's father scoffed, flipping onto his back and facing the three's group huddle on Cedric's bed. "But that doesn't mean I don't like sleep. Why aren't you two in bed anyways?"
Promise raised her hand. "Umm, My parents don't care?"
"And my mom says that I can hang out as long as I want in honor of the Irish victory," Sam smiled and shrugged.
Cedric felt himself melt slightly as he watched Sam's smile. Almost instantly, a green and brown bean hit him in the forehead, knocking him from his stupor. He rubbed his forehead slightly to see Promise giving him a definite "not now" signal.
"Well," Cedric's father murmured. "I love how you three are hanging out, but could you please go hang out somewhere else? I'd like to get some sleep."
"Sure," Cedric kicked himself onto his feet from the bed, putting the bean on his tongue and chomping down on it, a definite metal taste lining his tongue. "Promise, what'd you give me?"
"Copper," she said, bored. "Couldn't you tell?"
"Can't that kill me?"
"Only in the mornings," Promise smiled.
They left the tent to the largest party scene Cedric had ever seen. What appeared to be every single tent participated in the massive celebration. Fireworks flew. Children glided around on tiny broomsticks, attempting to dive, but forced out of it by some child protection on the broom.
"I love winning," Sam sighed.
They moved through the encampment. Cedric found himself unable to not smile in the wake of the celebrations. Promise popped beans between flashes of shiny bright smiles of teeth. Sam, however, seemed not enthralled so much with the celebrations, but rather, in just being near Promise and Cedric.
Cedric bumped into a man shrouded in a black cloak. He didn't get a chance to see the man's face, but found himself unable to focus on anything other than the suspiciousness. Without warning and not wanting to disturb Promise and Sam's good time, he shot down a side alley of tents and followed the man's path toward the line of trees separating the Cedric's field from Harry Potter's field.
He paused behind a tent as the man in black whisked into the trees. He needed to sprint the next twenty yards in order to not be noticed. Ready, Ced? Three, two-
"What are you doing?" Promise's voice came from behind him.
Cedric jumped about five feet into the air. "What are you doing here?" He hissed.
"Following you," Promise looked at him with a look that made Cedric feel like an idiot. "What does it look like we're doing?"
"But what are you doing, Cedric?" Sam asked him from behind Promise.
"I was just… I mean… I just had a… well…" His voice trailed off.
"Cedric?" Promise pursed her lips as though attempting to understand Cedric's motives. "Do you mean to tell me that you attempted to have an adventure and not tell me? Not to mention Sam?"
"It wasn't an adventure," Cedric bowed his head. "I saw a suspicious looking man, got a strange feeling, and, wanting to not ruin your fun, decided to follow him."
Promise merely looked at him. "And you didn't invite me because…"
"You looked like you were having fun?"
"Cedric," she put a hand on his shoulder. "How can you not invite me? Come on. I'm such fun to be around, and I'd be a help if you needed magic," Cedric glared at her. "Oh please. We both know that you'd never do magic outside of school. I'm coming with you."
"Ahem," Sam chimed in.
"Fine. We're coming with you" and without so much as another word, Promise sprinted the distance to the trees separating the two fields. Sam followed her quickly, leaving Cedric to roll his eyes before bolting after them.
The woods were dark, yet easy to traverse through. They were very well kempt for a small forest. Promise, somehow instinctively, led their blind march through the woods.
"Why don't you light your wand?" Sam whispered.
"If we're following someone we can't give ourselves away," Promise whispered back. "Now shh! I'm trying to concentrate."
They continued walking through the forest until Cedric saw a small group of lights in a glade fairly close to their position. Promise moved quickly and diligently to the edge of the glade, where she picked a tree and climbed high enough to listen in to the conversation. Cedric and Sam followed suit as quietly as they could, rustling very few leaves.
"-night to get together," came a voice of the dozen or so men in the circle. "Lot's of people. No one will notice us missing, in the high fervor, which we can use to fuel panic."
"I agree," came the voice of another. "It's been far too long since a demonstration," Cedric swore he heard the sound of the man licking his lips. "And there are some very decent muggles to play games on."
"But where will we start?" Another voice interrupted.
"What about the Muggle cottage nearest the Portkey drop point? We can apparate there. I know there are at least four of those filthy creatures. We can make an example of them all."
The men laughed and cheered in unison.
"But when?"
"How about now? If we wait too much longer the fun will die out. Let's move now.
"But what about the ministry?"
"It'll be impossible for the Ministry to catch us. They'll be too concerned with their precious Muggles."
They all nodded and murmured in agreement before popping away.
Cedric climbed to the base of the tree. "What was that about?"
"I don't know," Sam mused.
"Well, whoever they were, they didn't sound like they were going to go ride a talking unicorn," Promise said seriously, voice devoid of the normal joking tone. "Whatever they're going to do is probably happening right now. Did you hear how they talked about the chaos? We need to tell someone."
"Someone from the ministry. What about my dad?" Cedric asked.
"Then let's go," Sam said. "You heard how they were apparating to that poor Muggle's cottage. If we don't act soon something terrible could happen."
Cedric nodded. "We'll tell my dad and we can take it from there."
"Well what are we waiting for?" Promise asked. "Let's go!"
They sprinted out of the forest the way they came, managing to pass through the throng of celebrators with little difficulty, and several minutes later reached Cedric's tent, only to hear loud screams and bangs echo far off in the distance.
Cedric burst into the tent. "Dad," he shook his dad as Sam and Promise stood and watched.
"What?" Cedric's father asked groggily. Cedric guessed his father really did get that coveted sleep after all.
"Something's wrong. We went into the woods following this man. He led us to this circle of men in black cloaks. They talked about causing chaos and starting with the Muggle who lives on the first encampment."
"Whoa," Cedric's father asked, pulling on his glasses, instantly awake. "Slow down. What happened?"
More bangs echoed, closer this time. The celebration had quieted down significantly as Cedric began to hear screams start amid the celebration.
"I don't know. But something'll happen, and I think it's starting right now, Mr. Diggory," Promise took immediate control of the situation. "You need to round up every Ministry wizard and witch you can find and send them to the next field over. Peoples' lives are at stake."
"I'll do jus-"
A wizard in a pair of pajama pants and a shirt under an untied wizarding robe cut off Cedric's father by ripping back the flap to the tent. "Amos," the wizard began. "Something's wrong. We've just gotten word that there is a Death Eater attack in the next field over."
Cedric's father sprang out of bed and grabbed his wand.
"Kids, I want you to get to the forest now. Don't ask questions, but stay there until you get word from ministry wizards or me to return back here. Do not go anywhere else. Promise, that means you."
Promise's nodded, eyes wide, taking Cedric's father seriously.
They moved quickly and orderly out of the tent. Mr. Diggory repeated his instructions very quickly before apparating away.
"Death Eater?" Sam asked.
"Followers of Lord Voldemort," Promise told her, weaving a way to the forest near the first field and paying no attention to Cedric's cringing at the sound of 'the name.' "They were the ones we saw in the woods."
"What are they doing here?"
"Having a good time by torturing Muggles and creating chaos."
They entered the trees and moved quickly against the flow of the crowd in order to try to see the happenings in the other field. Cedric followed Promise as she scurried up a tree. His jaw dropped.
A tightly knit group of black robed wizards roamed the large grounds, lighting the tents they passed on fire while holding four limp bodies in the air above them. Ministry wizards flowed from everywhere towards the small cluster of men. Even from this distance, Cedric could hear the sick, twisted laughter of the men.
Cedric looked down as he heard several figures sprint through the trees, but halt when one tripped. He looked down to see none other than Hermione Granger light her wand over the sprawled form of Ron Weasley, Harry Potter looking on, visibly concerned. The three exchanged words and then, without warning, spun around to face the darkness as a silver haired boy he recognized as Slytherin Seeker Draco Malfoy emerge from the darkness to start a conversation. He tapped Promise on the shoe and pointed down to the ground. Promise nodded as Cedric lightly tapped Sam's shoulder with his shoe. She already seemed focused on the conversation.
Whatever exchange of words took place, they seemed to seriously offend Hermione. Harry stood up. Cedric vaguely remembered the tension he always witnessed whenever Draco and Harry had made eye contact. Hermione dragged Ron and Harry away from Draco after a quick lashing of words. Draco turned, with a wide grin as he watched the chaos on the fiery field.
Several more minutes passed. Cedric still had difficulty perceiving exactly what was happening on the field, but it didn't look like the Ministry officials were having much success. They appeared to be trying to help the four people, whom Cedric assumed to be the Muggle family of the first field, but held back for fear of not hurting the Muggles.
Without warning, Cedric heard an incantation from far away, and a large green light brightened the sky, weaving into the pattern of a skull with a large snake protruding from its mouth. Cedric's heart sank into the bowels of his stomach. Screams erupted from the forest as Cedric turned to look at the sinister figures terrorizing the fields below. They dissapparated instantly, forcing the ministry wizards to save the four muggles from falling.
"We need to get on the ground. Now," Promise ordered.
"Why?" Sam asked. "What is that?"
"Sam," Cedric stated as calmly as he could, urgency still bleeding through his voice. "That's the Dark Mark. We need to get down now."
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Promise whispered, coaxing Sam and Cedric down to the ground in a soft glide, like paper on the wind.
Promise landed on the ground mere seconds after Sam and Cedric.
"What's going on? What is that?" Sam demanded.
"That's the mark of You Know Who!," Cedric explained as he led the way back towards their field. "We need to get inside somewhere, now."
"We'll go to your tent. It's the closest," Promise told him.
Cedric led the way quickly as Sam continued questioning.
"So it's his mark. It's not like he's back."
"That's the point, Sam," Promise attempted to explain. "We can't take that risk. If he's here, nobody's safe. Well, everyone except for Harry Potter."
They moved quickly in silence until they arrived back at Cedric's tent. No one spoke, except for Cedric, who simply said. "Let's just sit tight here until dad gets back."
Cedric paced around the tent. Sam sat on the bed, unsure of what to do. Promise placed herself on the kitchen counter and pondered the meaning of the mark in the sky.
An hour passed before Mr. Diggory marched back into the tent.
"What's going on?" Promise demanded as he walked back in.
"Someone conjured the Dark Mark, an elf by the looks of it."
"Whose elf?" Cedric asked.
"Barty Crouch's."
"Who's that?" Sam asked.
"He's the head of the Department for Magical Cooperation at the Ministry," Cedric told her.
"Listen," Mr. Diggory said. "Sam, Promise, you both need to get back to your tents. Your parents are probably very upset and worried."
"I'll write," Cedric called out as they nodded, leaving the tent. When they had gone he turned to his father. "What does it mean, Dad?"
"I don't know, Ced" His father replied, sitting back in his chair and rubbing his eyes vigorously. "But I know that I won't have any answers for you until at least tomorrow. Now go to bed. You've had more than your share of a long day."
Cedric nodded and wiggled his way into his bed before passing out.