The Secret that We Keep
Chapter 4: To Discover
A/N: SUPER SORRY TO THE EXTREME! As bad as it sounds, I practically forgot this story ever existed that is until I decided to re-read the first four HP books in preparation for the HP5 movie coming out this July (SO PSYCHED!). When I stumbled upon the words 'Cedric' and 'Diggory' in that order, in the Prisoner of Azkaban, memories of this story began to flood back at full force. That was when I had a massive 'Oh sh' moment.
On top of that, I recently returned home from vacation where I spent the last two weeks lounging it up in the Big Apple with a friend. IT WAS FRICKIN' AWESOME! Sooo much money has left my bank account because of it (breaks down and cries) but it was well worth it though…YAY FOR THE POOR UNIVERSITY STUDENT BUDGET!
Disclaimer: The obvious characters, places and ideas belong to J.K Rowling. The things that belong to me will be reference in footnotes at the very end of the corresponding chapter that they are first mentioned in.
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Screams of terror were echoing all around him, and yet their diminished volumes made it seem as though they were off in the distance; so clear and yet so faint. The scent of smoke in the air was heavy and the heats of the growing embers were making him uncomfortably hot. He wanted to open his eyes and see the terrible sight for himself (assumed from what his nose and ears picked up), but the gentle crib that was embracing him warmly and comfortably was preventing him from doing such a thing.
As the screams the heat and the smoke faded away from his senses into nothingness, his ears were greeted with a few new noises: heavy breathing, a heart beat and two youthful voices. One sounded strong yet defeated, where as the other was choppy and devastated. His entire body felt like it was trembling, and yet he wasn't.
Is…is someone…holding me?
Moments later, he felt the prickling wetness of an unknown liquid drip down in uneven patterns on his cheeks. And then it all came together; tears of despair…from someone who was holding him in their arms.
"Shhh…don't cry…please don't cry. You might wake him up."
"S-sorry…it…it's just that I….c-can't b-bel-believe that…t-this…"
"Shh…it's okay…it's okay…don't say anymore…you need your strength…" Just then, the sounds of distant emergency sirens began to inform them of their presence.
"Before we continue any further…I have one more thing to do. Can you wait for me here?"
"Y-yes…" The person who was holding him cleared their throat. "I-I can…"
"Don't worry…I will be back shortly."
He didn't know how long it had been since he was left with the gentle rocking, the steady breathing of his holder, and the far-off sirens to be his only forms of company; but he was certain that it wouldn't be long until the other stranger returned. As if on cue, the gradually rising sound of feet against concrete indicated the return of said stranger.
"Come on love…let's get out of here. I don't want the little pup to hear it."
"Alright…"
After being jerked around a bit, resulted from the running that the person who was holding him was doing, he felt them come to a complete stop. Seconds later, the faint sound of an explosion in the distance invaded his hearing. He also heard the combined sighs of the two strangers in addition to the tighter but gentler hold on his body.
"I…it's really gone…all of it…all of them…"
"That bastard will get what's coming to him…I'll personally see to it that he falls by my hands. This is unforgivable!" Just then, he felt a different set of hands gently touch his face. "Don't worry little pup…we'll continue to be the home and the family that was mercilessly taken away from you…I'm sure of it…here…I got something that belongs to you." He felt the coldness of a strange object being placed around his neck.
"We made a promise…and the time has come for us to fulfill it."
"We're bringing you home…Harry…."
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Godric's eyes shot open as he took in a sharp gasp of air. Stunned from all that he had heard in his dream, he placed a hand over his heart to try and sooth down its rapid beating. It took him a few moments to realize that even though his eyes were clearly open, all he could see was black – possibly resulted from the object wrapped around his eyes. He felt his heart stop when he also realized that the cold hardness of the plastic and metal that belonged to his previous identity-preserving visor was no longer there. Instead, it was replaced with something a lot softer and a bit warmer.
Moving with the impulse of panic running through his body, Godric began to rapidly feel around his head and face just to be sure that the assumptions of his lost visor were wrong. Unfortunately, he felt the light and partially fluffy material of what seemed to be cloth; possibly a night mask or a headband. Godric heard the echoing sound of approaching footsteps and felt his chest tighten. He had no idea where his real visor was so he couldn't exactly remove the mask upon consequence of having his identity blown; although it was a little redundant now as whoever was given the task of removing his visor had already been given that privilege. Furthermore, he had no idea where he was, period.
One peek…just one quick peek to see if I can find something large nearby to hide behind.
Godric raised the part of the headband covering his right eye and looked around. What he saw surprised him, but not by much. He was greeted with the surroundings of a high tech laboratory. The room he was in was glowing with a dim but enticing electric blue hue; accompanied by the frequent beepings of what he assumed came from the masses of technologically advanced machinery situated all around him. A quick glance above made him notice large collection of stalactite and rock. Strangely enough, although it was a little bit smaller, this unknown laboratory Godric was brought to, gave him a slight 'homely' feeling as it greatly reminded him of the lab that he corresponds to for his missions.
Without even realizing that he spent too much time looking around, a new voice interrupted his thoughts.
"You're awake! I was starting to get a little worried."
His entire body froze. Although the voice came from behind him, Godric was presented with the highly uncomfortable feelings of shock and embarrassment. He was only able to mutter out one single word.
"B-brock…?"
The light laugh confirmed it. "The one and only! And don't worry about the whole headband thing. Your eyes will forever remain a mystery to me." Godric let out a very deep breath. "Here…" The young teen felt an object being placed in his hands; it was his visor. "And to prove just how adamant I am about having your identity remain to yourself, I'm going to keep my back turned until you give the word that it's safe."
Still keeping his back to Brock, Godric asked. "Wait, how were you able to remove my visor without even looking at me."
"Simple…I basically stood behind you like I'm doing right now." Godric's right eye twitched as he heard another light hearted laugh from the older agent. His face also became slightly pink but thankfully Brock wasn't able to see it. Although unknown to the young brunette, Brock did in fact notice the light blush on the younger boy's face and secretly smirked.
As he cleared his throat, Godric undid the headband around his eyes and hastily replaced it with his beloved visor. He turned around on the futuristic lab cot that he was sitting on so that he properly faced the older spy. "Alright…you can look now."
As Brock turned around to face the young teen, Godric continued talking.
"So…um…what exactly happened after the explosion…?" The older spy made a small sigh.
He began to tell his younger partner – although it was only a one-sided label – about the aftermath of the explosion; going into detail of what he thought caused the young brunette to pass out for a little under two hours.
"I see…" Godric held a stern look on his face and zoned out for a bit.
"Oh…I almost forgot." Brock handed Godric a smooth steel box.
"What's this?"
"Why don't you open it?" When Godric fulfilled that request, he stifled a gasp.
"My necklace! B-but how did…"
"No need to worry. I just got it cleaned up for you. At first I did it because of the small film of gunk that was encrusted on it but instead I somehow managed to end up cleaning up more of it than I expected. Apparently that necklace of yours had a fairly thin coating of bronze to cover up the true nature of its composition: gold."
Godric continued to stare at the piece of jewellery sitting in the velvet confinements of the box in his hands. He couldn't help but wonder why his necklace was in fact made out of gold instead of the bronze that he had initially believed it to be.
"Um…pardon my intrusion, you don't need to answer me if you don't wish to do so but if you don't mind me asking, where did you get that necklace?"
Godric hesitated for a bit but he decided to comply with the older spy's question and answer it. After all, answering a simple question (but not giving away too much information) was the least he could do for having his life saved.
"Well…to be honest, I've had this thing for as long as I can remember. I've been told by my guardians that it was mine ever since I was born."
Brock couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this. "You guardians? You mean…you-"
"Yeah…" Godric gently placed the box down beside him, with the necklace still inside of it. "I was adopted."
Brock sighed in sympathy. "Yeah…I know what you mean." Godric looked back at the brunette questionably. "Well…not exactly. I mean, I still knew who my parents were, that is until they were murdered when I was a teenager."
Brock knew that he had to bend the truth just slightly, considering that as a spy, any obvious personal information that they expose to a non-confidant could possibly be used to trace their identity. In spite of his desires to acquaint himself with the enigmatic young spy, he still had to be careful. Godric may only be a teenager (assuming so) but he was also a fellow spy, and appearances are always deceiving.
"I guess…that's something that the both of us have in common." Brock nodded in understanding. "So…have you been living by yourself ever since?"
"Direct-family related…yes. But overall it hasn't been too bad; I can still get by well enough. What about you? Since you mentioned that you were adopted, do you still keep in contact with your parents?"
"U-uh…I…um…" Godric trailed off and looked to the side with a slight pained look on his face. After observing the younger boy's reaction, Brock assumed that he hit a very personal spot.
"I'm sorry! I um…I didn't mean to make you upset."
"No…no don't worry about it." Godric somehow couldn't stop himself from elaborating. "I never knew who my real parents were. Been told that they died in a car crash when I was only a few months old."
"I…I'm sorry…"
"Like I said…don't worry about it." Godric's voice slightly hitched. His head snapped up when he felt gentle hands gripping on to his shoulders.
"Listen…I know that you've mentioned to me countless times before about having hell having a better chance at freezing over than us being partners, but at least promise me this. We still may not know enough about each other to even consider us as being acquaintances. Heck for all we know, we might not even be on the same side. The only times when we actually do encounter each other are when we're on duty. Neither of us knows of what the other looks like given the nature of what we do. But given the fact that we have saved each others lives in the face of danger and more recently have revealed hidden truths to the other so absent-mindedly…well…what I'm trying to say is…that…Godric?"
"Y-yeah?"
"Just know…that I am someone who you can turn to, if you ever feel the need to talk to someone."
Although the majority of his conscience was telling himself that 'Agent Brock' was still an untrustworthy joke of a spy, a very small part of him believed in every single word that the older spy had said. The fact that he revealed something personal to someone who was still essentially a complete stranger didn't quite bother him as much as it was supposed to. Brock gave off an aura of gentleness that told Godric that he was at least sincere.
"Um…thank you…Brock…"
"Oh and one more thing…"
Brock gently the placed a small watch-resembling object in Godric's hands.
"My communicator!"
"Shut down. It received quite a fair bit of damage resulted from the trace amounts of water found within the circuits. My guess is that it initially cracked sometime during the plane explosion. And well…you can probably guess where the water came from."
Godric stared at the object.
"Is it still-"
"Oh no don't worry I was able to get it fixed. Sorry, I should have said that sooner." Brock gave a slightly bashful laugh. "Nothing that a little TLC and some expensive machinery won't fix right? Some parts needed replacing but they were just simple resistors, capacitors, inductors…you know…basic stuff. The screen and some of the diodes had a few cracks in them too so I just replaced them as well with a few more 'modernized' versions."
Godric turned on his communicator and noticed that the small display screen presented the digitized text in a very trendy electric blue colour, as compared to the somewhat plain light green colour that it used to be. The young teen was left speechless.
"B-brock…I…."
"Hey no sweat! You were knocked out long enough for me to complete all of this. To be honest, it actually gave me something to do rather than just waiting around for you to wake up."
"B-but…how…?"
"Like I said…TLC and expensive machinery…besides, it's a hobby. Repairing and/or upgrading gadgets and appliances are what I do best."
Godric couldn't fight back the blush that was creeping up on to his face. Although he still sort of viewed Brock's skills as a spy to be somewhat elementary, his skills as a mechanic made up for it immensely. Sure he had his own access to futuristic technology but even the equipment in Padfoot and Moony's lab wasn't as impressive as Brock's. Godric was about to continue showing his gratitude for the older spy until his communicator have a slight beeping sound. Godric looked back up at Brock with uncertainty, but he was greeted back with an understanding nod.
"Go…your commanders are probably worried sick about you."
Godric let out a sigh of defeat and quietly nodded. He fastened the communicator back on to his wrist and grabbed the necklace that was still seated on the velvet interior of the steel case. But before he even touched the piece of jewellery, Brock's voice stopped him.
"Take the case as well. Think of it as a paring gift. Well…that and the fact that I really need to get rid of it. Heaven knows when I'll be able to get around to a cleaning day around here."
Brock gave a light-hearted laugh while Godric gazed at the open case with uncertainty. Slowly but surely, the teen was able to close up the box (with the necklace still inside of it) and gather it up in his arms.
"Now follow me…we're going to take one of the more fancy ways out of here."
Brock nodded and escorted his younger companion towards a platform which was actually their mode of transportation towards the exit at the very end of The Cavern. This exit in particular was normally used whenever Brock departed by jet. One could only image how long it would take to reach the end by foot. Once they reached the end, an elevator opened up just a few feet to their right. After they descended, the boys were greeted to a fairly large cave opening, completely blocked by a waterfall with a small bank just below. Godric assumed that this was the exit that Brock used to arrive and depart by boat as Padfoot and Moony's lab had a similar exit such as this. After they walked along a small pathway which led outside (safely beside the roaring waterfall), the two exchanged one final look at each other.
"I…I'll pay you back…for all that you've done today…I promise."
Brock waved a dismissing hand.
"Don't worry…I'm sure I'll be able to think of something before that time comes. So… until then…take care Godric. And remember my promise…you'll know where to find me."
Godric only half-nodded at this statement. "Wait…I don't even know where this place is. And I don't think you're quite willing to reveal it to me just yet."
"Hey…I took a great risk in bringing you back to my headquarters. Even if you don't know where you are, the moment you depart from here, you'll be able to figure it out eventually. Even though I don't usually gamble with my identity at stake…" Brock gave a light smirk. "I have a feeling that this was a bet that will prove to be quite beneficial to me sometime in the near future. It was worth it."
Godric somehow understood that statement, and his face was graced with a light pink tinge because of it.
"So…do you have your own means of escaping from my clutches?"
Godric shared a laugh with the older spy. "Yeah...I do. Don't worry."
"You know I don't…see you again Godric."
"Good bye for now…Brock…"
Godric operated his jet powered boots and propelled himself up into the air and towards the direction of his home base, but not before waving one final time to the older spy. As Cedric watched the young teen fly away, he had a few thoughts on his mind.
The first was the satisfying feeling of believing that he and Godric were slowly moving from indifference to a quiet friendship. Second, was having the suspicion that he had seen the design of Godric's necklace somewhere before. And third, was the strange phenomenon of how the young boy's hair sort of shifted colors from midnight black to light brown (with a few blond highlights) every now and then when his visor was off.
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A/N: Alright, alright I know an awful chapter after like 6 months of collecting dust. But I promise to have chapter 5 up by no later than next month! Even if I get zero reviews for this chapter! I originally intended to have another large chunk of story to appear after the last paragraph but I figured that it would be a lot better to end it off here.