Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter.
Author's Note: Thanks so much for your feedback! I am warning you now, many of you will want to kill me by the end of this chapter. But I promise you, I didn't deny you your request on purpose. It's just that I planned this story a few years ago, and I assure you that everything that happens has a purpose. Even if you don't like what happens, I beg you to keep reading. I don't want to lose readership over this!
Enjoy this highly emotional chappie! There is an author's note at the end as well.
Warning: This chapter does contain torture.
Chapter 38: Bravery Beyond All Bounds
The moment Harry, Cedric, and Moody touched the Triwizard Cup, Harry knew something was wrong. He felt a tug behind his navel and the familiar sensation of a portkey. Once they landed, Moody and Cedric helped him up; he once again had an awkward landing.
"Where are we?" Harry asked, getting a very uneasy feeling as he looked around the graveyard they had arrived in. Cedric looked as confused as Harry did, and Moody's face held no expression at all.
"I don't know," Cedric answered. "Professor?" He turned to Moody. "Is this supposed to be part of the task?"
"I am hoping you boys can figure that out," Moody said quietly.
So the two boys continued to look around. All they could see were headstones. "Cedric, Professor, I have a bad feeling about this," Harry admitted. "I don't think we're supposed to be here. I think we should touch the cup again, and maybe it'll take us back to Hogwarts."
"You have a good mind, Potter," Moody complimented him. The cup had fallen to the ground, and Harry and his two companions bent down and touched it again.
But nothing happened. The three stayed right where they were.
"Ah, a one-way portkey," Moody muttered. "Whoever did this made sure that touching it again wouldn't work. What else do you two suggest?"
"I know how to apparate," Cedric said at once. "Just got my apparition license this year, as a matter of fact. Harry, just hold on to my arm and I'll try and get us out of here. Professor, you try as well. You know how, I'm sure?"
"Yes, I do," Moody said.
"All right," Harry said nervously, grabbing his friend's arm. Cedric adopted a look of fierce concentration as he tried to apparate them out, but nothing happened. An extremely worried look came over the teen's face.
"I can't do it," he panted after a few more tries. "There's wards set up here to stop people from apparating. Professor, what are we supposed to do?"
But as they looked at Moody's face, it twisted into a wide, crazed smile. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted, pointing his wand at the two boys. Harry's and Cedric's wands went flying into his hands, and Moody then shouted, "Incarcerous!" The two boys fell to the ground, ropes covering them.
"Professor, what ..." Cedric started. Harry had a sudden feeling of déja vu, and he didn't know where it had come from. Moody then pointed his wand at Harry again. "Obliviate reverso!" he yelled.
Memories then started flooding back to Harry. He remembered Neville and himself being in Moody's office right after he had demonstrated the Unforgivables. He remembered him suddenly drawing his wand on them, and performing the same spell he'd performed just now. He remembered yelling that this couldn't be Mad-Eye Moody when the man made a comment about "mudbloods and other filthy scum." He remembered this impostor mocking him and his friend, and a few minutes later, he'd changed into none other than Crouch, Jr.
The confrontation came back in awful and vivid detail. He looked at Cedric in horror as everything came to the surface: Crouch's taunts, and especially something about some prophecy. A prophecy that was made before Harry was born, a prophecy which Sirius and Remus hadn't told him about. He'd tried to get him and Neville to tell him what the prophecy was, but neither of them knew anything. He'd even put Harry under crucio, and the terrible, agonizing pain came back to him. Now he remembered exactly what it was like to be under that curse. Then came more taunting from Crouch, and the memory charm that was put on him to make him forget.
After the stream of memories came to an end, Harry looked at the man he'd trusted, the man he'd thought all along was one of Dumbledore's greatest friends. "YOU!" he screamed. "It was you, wasn't it? YOU put my name in the Goblet of Fire!"
Crouch, still looking like Moody, smiled sinisterly. "Ah, so I did, Potter," he said quietly. "Did I not tell you I had a plot to get you to the Dark Lord this year?"
"What?" said Cedric, horrified. "Harry, what's going on? Professor, why are you acting so weird?" He struggled, but the spell held him firm.
"I'll tell you exactly what's going on, Diggory," growled Crouch. He put his wand to his temple, removing a silvery strand. He then walked over to the immobilized Cedric and placed the silvery strand to the boy's temple. The strand then disappeared inside of his head.
Cedric's face grew more and more pale as he watched whatever Crouch had put in his mind. "NO!" he screamed. "No, this can't be happening! How dare you, you bastard! You hurt Harry!"
Harry felt a pang in his heart. Cedric was worrying about Harry when he himself was in danger, too. It was just like him to put Harry first. But Harry was terrified for the older boy. He'd dragged Cedric here, dragged his brother, his friend to somewhere where he could be killed. He had to escape somehow! Harry didn't care what happened to his own spirit and body, all he cared about was that Cedric arrived at Hogwarts, safe and alive. He didn't know anything about this prophecy, and was shocked that his guardians had kept such a thing from him. But his mind was churning with so much right now that he'd save that thought until he got out of here with Cedric.
Crouch grinned. "Ah, so you finally realize, Diggory," he taunted. "Have you not been helping Potter all year?"
"You asshole!" Cedric shouted in terror. "Harry, you have to get out of here! Escape somehow!"
"Cedric, I'm sorry!" Harry yelled. "You're not supposed to be here!"
"It's not your fault, mate! It's this madman's! I knew you hadn't put your name in that goblet, that someone else had!"
"I knew you hadn't put your name in that goblet," Crouch mocked Cedric with a sneering laugh.
Suddenly, pain erupted in Harry's scar. As he blurrily looked around, he saw people emerging from behind headstones. Someone removed an invisibility cloak, and a beautiful woman was revealed. She had heavy-lidded eyes, and the two boys knew they had seen her before. She'd been on the front page of newspapers for months. It was Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius's vile cousin, and Harry knew what she was holding. It was Lord Voldemort.
Bellatrix let out a shrill peal of laughter. "Itty bitty baby Potter is fwightened, is he not?" she cackled. "And Crouch, what are you doing here?"
"Ah, the boys so kindly offered for me to take the cup with them," smiled Crouch.
"Where's the real Moody?" Cedric demanded, shaking all over.
"It's funny you should ask that," said Crouch. "He was very useful to me in these last months. I got a lot of information out of him so I could mirror his actions and thought processes in front of all the Hogwarts staff and students. I even fooled Albus Dumbledore! But now, my work is done, and he is no longer useful to me. So I disposed of him."
"Disposed of-NO!" Cedric yelled, his gray eyes widening. "He's dead?"
"That's what "disposed of" means, young Diggory," Bellatrix sneered.
"If old Dumby looks in Moody's magical trunk," said Crouch, grinning, "he will find the corpse of his old friend. A lot of his hair will be missing, mind, from the Polyjuice Potion I perfected so I could assume his appearance."
"That's enough talking," said a high, cold voice. "Remove the spell from the boys. Crouch, you levitate young Potter. Rookwood, you levitate Diggory. Bella, bring me to the cauldron at once."
Crouch took the spells off the boys, and at once, they tried to run for it. But Rookwood and Crouch were too quick for them. Crouch levitated Harry as asked, and Rookwood did the same with Cedric. Harry screamed in pain and put a hand to his scar as it seared. Agony coursed through him as the pain grew more intense with each second. Harry's heart was pounding, and he tried in vain to escape the levitation spell. He had to get to Cedric, he just had to! His big brother had to be all right!
Harry was dumped down on a gravestone, and ropes were tied to him. He looked at Cedric in fear as he saw that the same thing was happening to him.
A cauldron was standing a few feet away from the two boys, and as they looked around, one of the masked men removed his mask. Standing in front of them was Peter Pettigrew.
"Bella, put me in the cauldron," the high, cold voice demanded.
Bella willingly put what looked like a deformed baby into the bubbling cauldron. Please, let it drown! Harry thought as it frothed and boiled.
Peter raised his wand, speaking in a terror-stricken voice to the night.
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!"
The grave at Harry's feet cracked. He and Cedric let out horrified gasps as a fine trickle of dust rose into the air and dropped into the cauldron. The potion bubbled again, even more so.
Pettigrew's face suddenly grew even more terrified. He stammered, "F-flesh of the s-servant ... willingly given ... you will revive your master."
The boys let out screams of unadulterated fright and revulsion as the man cut off his hand with a dagger, and it plopped into the cauldron as well. Peter fell to the ground, screaming in agony. The two friends looked at each other, and it looked like Cedric was trying his hardest to hold in his dinner.
"Get off the ground, Wormtail!" shrilled Bellatrix. "Shut up, you blibbering fool!"
Slowly, Pettigrew got off the ground. He removed a vial from his robes as he walked over to Harry.
"No!" Cedric shouted. "No, you sonuvabitch, you won't hurt Harry!" He struggled in his bonds, trying to get to the younger teen.
"It's no use, Cedric!" Harry shouted back as Wormtail held the dagger to Harry's arm and cut it open, causing blood to pour into the vial. Harry screamed in anguish.
"Blood of the enemy ... forcibly taken ... you will resurrect your foe!" Peter intoned. He then emptied the vial into the cauldron.
"Oh God, harry, are you okay!" Cedric asked, his gray eyes wide as he watched more blood drip from Harry's arm.
"I'm f-fine, Cedric," Harry stuttered in answer. The pain in his arm as well as the pain in his scar was blinding him.
The liquid within the cauldron turned a blinding white, and sparks flew in all directions. Harry and Cedric hoped with all their hearts that somehow this had gone horribly wrong.
But suddenly, the sparks from the cauldron were extinguished, and they could see the dark outline of a man rising from inside it. With a thrill of panic, Harry knew it was Lord Voldemort, returned to full power. And with Harry's unwilling help! Harry couldn't describe how terrible he felt just then.
"Robe me, Bella," said Voldemort softly. Bellatrix immediately did as she was told. As Voldemort stood up, she put the robe gently over him, almost like she was doing it to a lover.
"My Lord!" she exclaimed in wonder as she touched his hand lovingly. "My Lord, you have returned!" The smile on her face was extremely bright.
"Indeed I have, Bella, indeed I have, and I am honored to have these two guests at my rebirth party," said Voldemort. His face was a repulsing thing to behold. His eyes were red, and he had slits for nostrils. He had a wide, lipless mouth, and his body looked like a snake. Harry and Cedric's hearts pounded in their ears.
"You are lying, Harry Potter," said Voldemort, "on the headstone of my ancestor, my filthy Muggle father, the pathetic father who didn't want me, who abandoned me. My mother, being the sentimental fool that she was, gave me his deplorable name. Tom Riddle."
"I'll tell you what's deplorable," shouted Cedric with every fiber of bravery he had. "You are! Dragging Harry here to hurt him, how dare you!"
Voldemort immediately pointed his wand at Cedric. "I've heard all about how you protect Potter," he sneered. "Crucio!"
"NO!" Harry shouted, his throat tightening as Cedric's screams filled the graveyard. Many of the masked figures laughed tauntingly, and Bellatrix screeched with giggles. "How do you feel now, itty bitty baby Potter?" she yelled insanely.
"Stop it, please! Stop it!" Harry cried in panic, tears springing to his eyes. He willed them away angrily; he didn't want Voldemort to gain any satisfaction from seeing them.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Voldemort lifted the curse. Cedric lay panting on the gravestone, sweat pouring down his face.
"You see now, don't you, Diggory?" said Voldemort softly. "You see now why you shouldn't insult Lord Voldemort, for he will reap his vengeance upon you!"
Cedric said nothing; he was still panting, but he did glare at the Dark Lord with utter hatred and fury.
"Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," mocked Voldemort, "my mother died in child birth. She only lived long enough to name me. Tom was after my father, Marvolo was after my grandfather. Then I was brought to a filthy orphanage, where I was ridiculed by disgusting muggles. But when I came to Hogwarts, I discovered my power and ancestry. I am the heir of one of the most powerful wizards in the world, Salazar Slytherin!"
He then went on to explain about his ascension to power, and then about how he had fallen back in 1981 when Lily Potter sacrificed her life for Harry. He'd spent years in exile in Albania, but then, Barty Crouch, Jr. had somehow freed himself from his father's Imperius and had gone to find him. On the way, he had captured Bertha Jorkins, who had some very valuable information about the Triwizard Tournament. Crouch Sr. had put a memory charm on her so that she wouldn't reveal certain facts about the tournament which she'd overheard by accident. Unfortunately, the forcible removal of the charm had broken Bertha, and in Voldemort's words, she was "no longer useful," so he disposed of her. Harry and Cedric were disgusted by the callous way these people treated human life. Voldemort then explained how Crouch had tried to help Harry so that he'd win the tournament.
"But it turned out," said Crouch, whose face had turned back into himself during Voldemort's long-winded explanation, "that I didn't need to do much helping. Young Diggory here was very willing to assist young Potter, were you not, Diggory?"
"You bastard!" Cedric hollered. "I would never lead Harry to you, and you know it! Harry, I'm sorry!"
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Cedric," Harry reassured him. Cedric was looking at Harry with a very sad, apologetic look.
"Ah, how sweet," jeered Bellatrix. "Look at the way the wittle fwiends talk to each other."
"You can try to make yourself feel better about this as much as you want, Diggory," Voldemort sneered. "But you know you placed Potter right into my hands. Wormtail, hold out your arm."
"Oh, thank you, my Lord! Thank you!" Wormtail simpered, holding out his stump of an arm.
Voldemort gave him a disgusted look. "The OTHER ARM, Wormtail," he snarled. Peter immediately stopped talking and held out the other arm. Voldemort pressed his wand to the Dark Mark, and the other man let out a scream of pain.
Moments later, figures started to apparate into the graveyard. The wards had obviously been removed. More Death Eaters, the boys realized with another thrill of terror.
Voldemort then gave a speech to them, giving the information of his return in detail. He walked around the circle, snarling at them for their failures while he was without his powers. Harry and Cedric were forced to watch as he put many of them under crucio, especially Lucius Malfoy. He then spoke of two Death Eaters, one who had left him forever and one who was a coward. He said he'd exact his revenge on them in due time. Then he asked Peter to hold out his stump of an arm, saying how he was going to reward him for his service this evening. Harry and Cedric gazed in open-mouthed astonishment as he was given a silver hand to replace the one he had cut off. Peter bowed to Voldemort, kissing the hem of his robes and thanking him profusely.
"Harry Potter," Voldemort then said softly, turning back to Harry. "As you remember now that Crouch has so kindly removed the memory charm, a prophecy was made about you before you were born. Your parents sacrificed themselves to keep you safe. Do you have any idea what that prophecy says?"
"You know I don't!" Harry shouted, glaring at the awful-looking man. "Didn't your lackey Crouch tell you? I have no bloody idea!"
"Now, now," said Voldemort nastily. "That just will not do. Yes, Bella?"
"I know how to make him talk!" yelled Bellatrix in sheer joy. She looked into Voldemort's eyes and they seemed to communicate without words.
"My thoughts exactly, Bella. What a clever witch you are," said Voldemort. "I am giving you one more chance, Potter. WHAT IS THE PROPHECY?"
"I ... don't ... know!" Harry screamed at the top of his lungs. "I ... don't ... know ... anything!"
"Very well," snapped Voldemort, pointing his wand at Cedric. "Crucio!"
He was using the same method on Harry to make him talk as Crouch had used on Neville to make him talk. "No, stop it!" Harry howled as Cedric's pain-filled screams once again filled the graveyard, along with the insane, evil, demonic laughter of the Death Eaters.
Once Voldemort removed the curse, he taunted, "Are you going to talk, Potter?"
"Don't ... tell ... him ... anything!" Cedric managed to choke out between gasps for breath. "Fight him, Harry!"
"I'm sorry, Cedric!" Harry cried. "I don't know! I don't know what the prophecy is, all right? Hurt me instead, leave Cedric alone! He's not involved in this! This is between you and me!"
"Harry, no!" Cedric pleaded. "I don't ... want you ... getting hurt ... either!"
"How touching," sneered Voldemort. "However, as sickening as this scene is, Potter, your wish is not fulfilled. Crucio!" he cast on Cedric again.
After the next round of torture, Cedric struggled within his bonds and shouted, "I don't ... care if you ... hurt me, but if you ... hurt Harry ... you bastard ... I'll fight you!"
Voldemort's smile grew even more sinister, if it could possibly do so. "You'll fight me?" he said quietly. "Maybe I should give you the chance." He cruelly freed the ropes from Cedric. The boy immediately struggled to his feet, still panting heavily from the curse.
"Cedric, no!" Harry screamed in terror. "He'll kill you!"
"I'd rather go down helping you!" Cedric answered stubbornly, walking over to Harry and touching his hand. He bent down and whispered in Harry's ear. All the while, Voldemort and his servants gave them cruel, mocking stares. "If I die tonight, mate, remember your promise to me from last month. And don't you dare blame yourself. This wasn't your fault in any way."
Harry once again felt tears spring into his eyes. It was because of him that Cedric was here at all! How could he say it was not his fault? And Harry couldn't just watch him get killed! He had to do something!
"Please, Cedric," Harry whispered back. "Please don't fight him. He'll kill me anyway. And I don't want you to die!"
"Harry, I have to," Cedric said, fear in his eyes. He was terrified of Voldemort but was showing true bravery by standing up to him. Harry suddenly had a flashback of the confrontation with Mr. Diggory this morning where Cedric had shouted, "Do I have to fight Death Eaters to show my worth?" Ironically, this statement was coming to fruition in the worst way possible.
"Listen, Harry, I'm going to fight him," said Cedric. "It's the right thing to do." No matter what Harry said, he couldn't get the older boy to budge. Cedric squeezed Harry's hand gently and stood in front of a smirking Voldemort. Crouch handed him back his wand with a truly awful smile.
"Do your worst, Diggory," Voldemort taunted.
Harry struggled in his bonds, but Voldemort just laughed. So all he could do was watch in horrified silence as Cedric and Voldemort threw spells at each other. Cedric was doing well, dodging every spell the Dark Lord threw at him, but after minutes of this, the seventeen-year-old was tiring. None of his spells had hit Voldemort, and the older man finally got him with an expelliarmus.
"Noooo!" Harry cried, knowing what was about to happen as one of his best friends was forced to his knees by another spell from the Dark Lord. He tried to get up but the spell held his knees in place. The older teen looked to Harry with a pleading expression, and Harry knew he was pleading with him that this situation wasn't his fault. There was also fear on his face, and this was perfectly normal, for death was practically staring at him. Without being able to stop them, Harry felt more tears enter his eyes and this time, they fell down his cheeks as he repeated Cedric's name over and over again.
"You are a brave boy, Diggory," Voldemort said softly. "But bravery comes with a price. Any last words?"
Cedric courageously looked at the Dark Lord and took a deep breath. "Go to hell." he said softly. "Harry will get you in the end. He's more of a wizard than you'll ever be."
Voldemort just snickered. "Very well," he spat. Pointing his wand at Cedric, he screamed, "Avada Kedavra!"
"Noooo!" Harry wailed. The Death Eaters snorted with laughter as the green light rushed towards his big brother, someone who Harry cared about with all his heart. More tears spilled over as Cedric collapsed to the ground beside him and didn't move again.
As the tears fell continuously, Harry stared into his big brother's face. He tried to will him to move again, to be all right, but he didn't. As he stared into his wide-open, lifeless gray eyes, he flashed back to in his dreams, and to the Quidditch World Cup. Those deaths had been terrible too, but he hadn't known those people. But Cedric ... Cedric, oh God, he had been the brother he never had. As he continued to stare into his unblinking eyes, and he saw his face fixed in an expression of helplessness and fear, he felt hysteria seize him. At that moment he didn't care if he was crying in front of his enemies. One of his best friends was gone.
"Awwwww, are you cwying, Hawwy?" jeered Bellatrix. "Are you sad now that your little fwiend is dead? Your pwotector is dead, Potter," she sneered, going over to Cedric and stroking his face. "He was a very handsome boy, wasn't he?"
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Harry screamed through his sobs.
"Now, now, Harry," said Voldemort. The guilt inside the teen was unimaginable. He'd led his friend right to his death. How was he going to explain it to Cho if he ever got out of here? She'd never speak to him again! This would devastate her! And how was he going to tell the teachers, his friends, Sirius and Remus, Dumbledore, Cedric's parents? Anger filled him, anger at Voldemort, at Bellatrix, at Crouch, at every single Death Eater there. Recklessness filled him; he'd just watched his big brother die. Now he wanted to die too, and he wanted to die heroically and bravely like Cedric had. Furiously wiping his tears away, he spat at Voldemort, "Give me a chance to fight too!"
"Ah, I was planning on it," sneered Voldemort. "But before I give you that opportunity, I have one more piece of information to share which you will probably find most interesting."
"I don't want to hear it," Harry snarled, wiping the last of his tears and forcibly stopping his sobbing.
"Ah, I think you will," said Voldemort quietly. "When Sybill Trelawney gave Dumbledore the prophecy which predicted your fate, you will not believe who overheard the first half of it and came right to me to deliver it." After a long silence, he looked straight into Harry's eyes and said cruelly, "It was Severus Snape."
"You liar!" Harry screamed, but Voldemort just smiled at him. His whole body went cold and numb as he realized, by the look on Voldemort's face, that he was telling the honest truth. Voldemort then undid the ropes from Harry. Harry gave one last look to his departed friend before struggling to his feet. He would join him soon.
"Yes, you will," said Voldemort, reading Harry's mind. "Do you want to die Harry? Are you giving up?"
"Go to hell," Harry said furiously. Crouch handed Harry back his wand, and all the Death Eaters watched in fascination.
"You do know," said Voldemort, "that if you weren't close to Diggory, we would have made him suffer less. You know very well that no matter what he said, it was all your fault. Your fault alone. I had to kill him because of you. And your parents also died because of you. Avada Kedavra!"
But Harry was ready. Despite Voldemort's taunts, the anger and hate still churned inside of him. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled, knowing that at least he'd go down fighting, like Cedric had.
But something very strange happened. The red and green spells met in midair, and all of a sudden, Harry and Voldemort's wands began to shake. Harry held on with all his strength, more shock filling him.
"My Lord! My Lord! What's happening? How can I assist you? My Lord!" Bellatrix shrieked, for once looking truly stricken.
"Be quiet, Bella, and let me be!" snapped Voldemort. "A wizard of my caliber can handle this!"
Harry and the Dark Lord were suddenly lifted into the air and dropped down at a patch of ground which was free of graves. Then, a wonderful flood of music emanated through the graveyard. Harry had heard it before; it was phoenix song. He remembered it from two years ago at the confrontation with Tom Riddle in the Chamber of Secrets. It was as though the music was saying: don't break the connection, young one, don't break the connection. Harry obeyed the command and held on tighter as his wand vibrated even more powerfully. The Death Eaters were circling the two fighters, asking for instructions, and Voldemort screamed at them to do nothing.
There was a cage of light connecting the two wands, which then became a golden dome. The two continued to hold their wands tightly, and the phoenix song continued to echo around them. The cage then broke into beads of light. The phoenix song then seemed to tell Harry that he had to move the beads of light to Voldemort's wand instead of his own.
So Harry did just that. He struggled and fought, but managed to do it. All of a sudden, a figure began to come out of Voldemort's wand. It seemed to slither out, and it had arms, legs, a body, and a face. Harry couldn't help bursting into tears again as he saw Cedric Diggory burst out of the wand. He knew that Cedric was still dead, that somehow this was some kind of ghost, or memory, coming out of the wand. He could still see Cedric's body a little ways away.
"Hold on, little brother," Cedric said softly. "Don't worry, more help is on the way."
Then, a silver hand shot out of the wand, the hand which Voldemort had conjured for Wormtail. Then screams echoed from the wand, and Harry realized it was dredging up every spell the Dark Lord had done in reverse order. Lots of screams were heard, from many different servants, for those were the spells he had done last.
Then, another figure slithered out of the wand. Harry recognized her; she had also been featured on the front page of the paper. It was Bertha Jorkins.
"I know you feel like you want to give up, Harry," she said, "but please don't. We'll help you escape."
Frank Bryce came next. "Wow, he was a real wizard," he exclaimed, staring at Voldemort. "He murdered me. Fight him, boy!"
In his heart, Harry knew what was coming next, but it still didn't prepare him for the sight that met his eyes. He was openly crying as a beautiful woman with red hair and emerald eyes just like his own came out of Voldemort's wand. This was too much for Harry to take. He almost let go of the wand, but managed to hold on in the end.
"My boy," Lily Potter said, her voice full of emotion. "My wonderful, beautiful, precious baby boy. Hold on, everything will be all right. Your father's coming, he wants to see you."
Guilt gnawed inside Harry as he remembered what Voldemort had said before, and he knew it was true. His parents had died because of him. Why were they helping him?
"My darling, it wasn't your fault," Lily soothed, and Harry could see tears shining in her emerald eyes. "Please don't ever think it was. Voldemort is just trying to hurt you."
James Potter materialized then. "Harry, my son," he said, smiling sadly at him. "Lily and I have very little time, but we need you to do something for us. As soon as we tell you to, break the connection. Then go to the Triwizard Cup and shout, "Portus reverso!" It should make the portkey go back to Hogwarts, where it was last. Okay?"
"Mum, Dad, I'm sorry," Harry gasped out.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Harry. We love you," James said sincerely.
"Harry," Cedric said softly. "Take me back with you, please, won't you? And please, tell Cho I love her. Take care of her. And tell my parents I love them as well. Stay strong, my friend."
"We love you so very, very much, sweetie," Lily said, tears running down her face. "Always know that, all right?"
"And tell Padfoot Adelina sends her love, and also tell him I don't blame him at all," said James. "And tell Moony Julia says she's sorry."
Harry swore he'd heard the name Adelina before, but he didn't know who Julia was. But he promised his father he'd give them the message.
"Are you ready, Harry?" Cedric said. "one, two ..."
"Sweetheart, let go," Lily said, and Harry immediately did. Still sobbing, he shouted, "Portus reverso!" pointing his wand at the portkey. He then ran over to Cedric's body and made his limp hand touch the portkey. Voldemort let out a scream of pure rage as the two boys disappeared.
Lily, James, Frank, Bertha, and Cedric's ghosts gazed at Voldemort and the Death Eaters. "You will not win, Voldemort!" Lily said as she glared at him.
"He'll definitely get you, you can be sure of that," said James.
"Yeah, he's a good friend, and you won't destroy him," Cedric said as the five figures began to fade. Within a few seconds, they were gone.
Voldemort let out another scream as he furiously glared at his Death Eaters. "You incompetent fools!" he screeched. "But let Potter go back to Hogwarts and tell Dumbledore I have returned! Let Dumbledore tell that blibbering idiot Cornelius Fudge! Fudge and the Ministry will not listen, they are pathetic and believe only what they want to! They will think that there is no spell that could bring me back to full power from my deformed state. We will get Potter next time, and totally by surprise as well! The Ministry will play right into my hands! And we will then win a glorious victory!" With this last statement, cheers and laughter filled the graveyard. Then Voldemort disapparated back to Riddle Manor, his followers disapparating a moment later.
All was still.
Author's Note: Please, please don't kill me! Cedric is one of my favorite characters but in order to move the story along, he had to go. I beg of you, please don't stop reading this story! It gives me pleasure to write it when I know people like you read it. After all, you can bring Cedric back by rereading previous chapters! You will also be happy to know that you will be seeing him again much later on in the story. No, he won't come back to life, because no spell can reawaken the dead, but you will be seeing him somehow. You can count on that.
Also, I needed to kill Cedric in order to set up the Umbridge storyline, which will be somewhat different than it was in canon. Also, I hated the way Cho was treated in canon. I felt that no one was there for her after Cedric's death. In this story, of course, I will have more people there to support her.
Please review and let me know what you think! Thank you!