Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for characters I created, like Charlotte.

Chapter 5

When I woke up, I found that for the second time that day, I was in Cedric's arms. This time, the circumstances were different of course. This time he was protecting me from the death eaters, the people who followed You-Know-Who. Now that it was lighter than when we got into the clearing, I could actually see the surrounding area. There were trees all around us, covering us from incoming people. You could see the dim light in the trees, meaning it's probably around six in the morning. I yawned and snuggled more into Cedric, who was still sleeping.

I watched the trees sway in the wind, as I lied in his arms. I didn't want to wake him up yet, because he looked so peaceful, as he slept. I don't know what I'd do without him. He helped me so much in the past year. When the news came out that my father was a werewolf, he let me cry, and he just sat and comforted me. When we got back to Platform 9 1/3, he told my dad that it didn't matter that my father is a werewolf.

I heard a twig snap somewhere in the distance. I felt my heart start racing, and I shook Cedric awake.

"Cedric!" I exclaimed, shaking him. "Cedric wake up!"

"Wh—what?" He asked sleepily.

"I heard a twig snap," I told him.

"A twig?" He asked me. I could tell that he was still half asleep. He opened his eyes again and everything seemed to come back to him. "Get up."

I stood up and so did he. He took his wand out and told me to get behind him, in case it was something bad. I listened and got behind him. I could see a figure coming towards us. Cedric had his wand on the man walking towards us.

"Cedric!" The man said. Cedric lowered his wand as we saw his dad coming towards us. "Charlotte! I've been looking for you two all night."

"Sorry," Cedric apologized. "We didn't know how far we went into the forest."

"You're not that far," Mr. Diggory said.

"What happened last night?" I asked.

"I'll tell you back at the tent," Mr. Diggory replied. "It's almost seven, we need to pack up and go home."

Twenty minutes later, we were back at our tent. It didn't get too wrecked in the chaos of last night. I was sitting next to Cedric at the dining room table. Mr. Diggory was in the kitchenette making us breakfast.

Cedric yawned next to me. "When did you fall asleep?" I asked.

"I don't know," Cedric said. "I stayed awake for a few hours I think."

"I'm sorry," I apologized.

"For what?" Cedric asked looking confused.

"For falling asleep."

"Charley, I don't care that you went to bed. I could have fallen asleep; I just wanted to make sure you were safe."

Mr. Diggory walked back into the dining room. He had a plate with eggs on them and then toast on another. Cedric got up and grabbed three plates and knives and forks and put them on the table. We each took a plate and silverware and I took two eggs, Mr. Diggory and Cedric took three each.

"What happened last night dad?"

"The Death Eaters dissapered after a bunch of Ministry Officials went after them. The Dark Mark appeared in the sky after they were gone."

"Did somebody die?" Cedric asked, fearfully.

"No," Mr. Diggory assured us. "But we found Harry Potter and his friends were the mark had appeared."

"Harry?" I asked. "He didn't summon it…did he?"

"No," Mr. Diggory replied. "Barty Crouch's house elf did."

"A house elf?" Cedric asked confused. "How did a house elf get a wand?"

"Apparently Harry dropped his. The house elf picked it up and made the Dark Mark appear."

"What happened to the house elf?"

"Barty Crouch sacked it of course. Disobedient house elves aren't useful."

The rest of breakfast was quiet. I felt bad for the house elf. It probably doesn't know what to do, but it'll find work for someone else. I hope so. I started putting my stuff back into my bag. I put the pictures I had in the bag last. I put the bag over my shoulder and went back into the living room. Cedric was already sitting on the couch waiting. His backpack was on the ground next to him. Cedric made a motion that told me to come sit down next to him. I walked over and put my bag down next to his and sat down.

"You all packed?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"Good. My Dad's talking to my Mum to tell her that we're going to be on our way home soon."

"Okay," I replied.

"Yeah," Cedric replied. "You ready to go back to Hogwarts?"

"I miss it, but I'm going to miss my dad."

Cedric nodded. "How has he been?"

"Okay I guess. He's been looking for work a lot."

"He'll find something," Cedric said optimistically.

"I hope so."

Cedric hugged me and I rested my head on his chest. I love Cedric so much. He can always make me feel better. I'm going to hate when he graduates next year. I'll be all alone…except for Ali but I need a…normal friend who isn't boy obsessed too. I guess I'll have Harry still, but it's been kind of weird since that night in the Shrieking Shack. I think he's mad that I never told him that Sirius is my uncle, until that night. But what was I going to say? 'Oh hey Harry. You know Sirius Black? The man that betrayed your parent's? He's my uncle.' Harry has a temper and I really didn't want to make him angry. Now he knows of course, and he knows that Sirius is innocent.

"Ok, you two, time to get going," Mr. Diggory said.

"Okay," Cedric replied. He stood up and then pulled me up.

We got back to Cedric's house around one thirty. Mrs. Diggory fussed over us for ten minutes, before she went to start making lunch. Mr. Diggory went to contact my father to tell him that I was okay and that he's invited to come for lunch around two thirty.

Cedric and I went up to his bedroom. I sat down on his bed and looked around it. There was a picture of me and him from last year. He had his arms around me and was twirling me around.

"You have that picture?" I asked looking at him.

"Of course," he replied. "It's one of my favorite pictures."

"Aww Cedric!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms around him. He fell over so I was on top of him. We were laughing. I got off of him and went over to his side. "I love you."

"I love you too," Cedric replied. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Me too."

An hour later, Mrs. Diggory called us down for lunch. When we got into the living room, I saw my dad. I threw my arms around him and he held me close to him. He kissed my forehead.

"I missed you," I said.

"I missed you too."

I let go of my dad and Cedric walked up to him and shook his hand.

"It's nice to see you Mr. Lupin," Cedric said smiling at him.

"It's good to see you to Cedric," Dad said. "But please, call me Remus."

Cedric nodded and Mrs. Diggory ushered us into the dining room to eat.

After lunch, we thanked Mr. and Mrs. Diggory and I said goodbye to Cedric. Dad grabbed my arm and we apparated back to our house. I brought my trunk back up to my room and then when I came back downstairs dad had two glasses of lemonade on the table. I sat down across from him and took a sip out of the cup.

"How was the world cup?" Dad asked.

"It was fun," I replied. "I saw Ginny and Luna."

"Oh yeah?" Dad asked. "How are they?"

"They're good. Luna went to Switzerland to look for something…I don't really know what though."

Dad nodded his head. "What happened with the death eaters? What did you and Cedric do?"

"We went into the woods and I fell asleep and then he fell asleep. And then I woke up and I heard a twig snap, so I woke Cedric up and it ended up being Mr. Diggory."

Dad was silent for a moment. "Is it true that they think that Harry made the Dark Mark?"

"They thought he made it appear, but then they decided a house elf did it."

"A house elf? Really?"

"Yeah," I replied. "I don't know how a house elf could make the dark mark appear, though."

"Me neither," Dad replied.

AN: Sorry for the late update, but last week was crazy. My iPod got stolen, and then I had to go see my school musical too. Please read and review! Reviews make me update faster.