Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
...
Cedric landed atop an enlarged pillow, the object softening his landing significantly and allowing him to get some manner of ideas regarding his surroundings. A swift cast of Lumos illuminated the room around him and showcased just what was to be expected of him.
He could hear a couple of people above him question whether or not he had survived but he chose not to answer them. If they wanted to come down then they would have to do so on their own merit. If this was to be a challenge of bravery then any who wished to test their strength of will would have to take the same leap that he had.
Surely the next person would be from Gryffindor and then shout up to his friends that it was safe.
If it wasn't obvious, Cedric could tell where he was to venture forth next due to the giant floating arrow pointing to a door. Looking around behind him there was a secondary sign, accompanied by what looked like a crude painting of a chicken, done so in neon pink on the wall. Cedric hadn't particularly ever seen a sign which proclaimed to be the cowards way out but that by far was it.
Taking in a deep inhale of breath, he stepped forth into the next room and to whatever else this trial would ask of him.
...
"How's it going Hermione?" asked Harry as he sat in the corner of the Gryffindor Common Room where his companion had found herself. The area was pretty vacant at the moment with the only other people being a couple of fifth years who were face deep in study.
"Not too bad," answered Hermione as she focused on the parchment in front of her.
Even from his position on the other side of the table, it was relatively easy for Harry to figure out what Hermione was looking at. "Do I want to know why you're tracking Cedric...or why there is a heap of students crowded together outside of Fluffy's door?"
"Fluffy?" repeated Hermione.
"Hagrid's pet Cerberus," answered Harry, only to look up and see Hermione staring at him with wide eyes. "What? Did you think when Dumbledore warned us last year about painful death that there were a pack of pixies in there?"
"You...a cerberus...how?"
"It's honestly better that you don't try and overthink it," proclaimed Harry, much to Hermione's anguish.
"I'm just going to file that under reasons why you're an idiot."
"That's probably a pretty big file," chuckled Harry. "So is there a reason why Cedric is darting around like a mad man?"
"Well, if you must know I took the girls from Potter Club and went down the pathway that you last year was guarded by a cerberus," said Hermione, growling out the final word. "We had an idea to create a hall of horrors using that unused passageway. We even recruited Luna to help us out?"
"Recruited?" repeated Harry.
"Be sure to welcome her at the next meeting okay."
Harry blinked several times before shrugging his shoulders. It had been his intention to get Luna to join Potter Club at some point, he just didn't think that it would happen this way. "Alright then, so what's in room number one?"
"Knee high fog, runes that periodically release gusts of breeze underneath the fog and audible runes containing the sounds of crawling insects," explained Hermione.
"Giving the impression that there is something crawling around that they can't see," concluded Harry.
"Indeed," said Hermione. "It's far easier to be terrified of something that you can't see and have no idea of what it actually is."
"Creating the sense that they are in danger when there's nothing to be afraid of. So what's in the next room?"
"Well..."
...
Cedric closed the door behind him, leaning against the wooden structure as he tried to calm the rapid beat of his heart. It seemed as if Potter Club hadn't been messing about when they had proclaimed in that this would be a test of courage. He didn't know what it was that had been hidden beneath the fog but he hadn't been keen to find out. Part of him was aware that he could have cast a spell in an attempt to dispel the thick blanket obscuring his vision but in doing so he would have lost his only source of light.
It may have been a temporary lack of complete sight but that may very well have been all the time that was required for something sinister to happen. Part of him liked to believe that Potter Club wouldn't put something incredibly dangerous in a room to do as it wished but then again he had to remind himself that this was Potter Club. Standard logic would only get him so far.
Taking a deep breath in, Cedric finally took the time to examine the room in front of him. For the most part it seemed relatively complacent but he knew that there had to be some sort of trick behind it all.
It was then that he heard traces of what seemed like laughter, only if it had been severely distorted and sounded as if it had come out of the mouths of something tiny and nefarious. This was swiftly joined by the sound of, if he was guessing correctly, wings.
Cedric quickly turned his gaze upwards just as Cornish Pixie divebombed at him, veering it's direction at the last possible moment as Cedric flinched away. This was quickly followed as another Cornish Pixie made itself known, whipping past and grabbing hold of Cedric's wand. The Hufflepuff student's grip was firm however and with a flick of the wrist he sent the pixie careening across the room.
This did leave him momentarily vulnerable as a third pixie made itself known, landing atop his head before starting to pull at his hair. Cedric swatted it off before beelining towards the next door. Thankfully there was no trick or trap to get the door to open and he proceeded to the next room before slamming the door behind him. He didn't want to deal with those tiny demons any more than he had to.
It may have been better for him to have done so as shivers immediately spread throughout his body as he found himself staring at the one thing that horrified him most of all.
...
"Ah, I was wondering why Luna asked to borrow the Boggart," commented Harry. "I imagine when you girls went to collect it you harvested the Cornish Pixies as well?"
"Yes but that room is incredible," proclaimed Hermione. "A room that alters itself depending on what the person entering it needs at that time? It's astounding that something like that is possible."
"Magic," said Harry with a shrug of the shoulders. "I should actually go through that room sometime and see if there's anything else of relative value in there." After all he had already been into the room once this school year in order to collect Rowena's Diadem. It had been so much easier this time round when he hadn't had to contend with Malfoy and his cronies. That and the room not being on fire.
"Well this Boggart, Luna explained that it is a creature that takes the form of your greatest fear," said Hermione. "I wonder what Cedric's greatest fear is?"
"It's not exactly something that people tend to talk about," said Harry. "If it's something generic, say dragons, clowns, Professor Snape, then it's not too difficult to discuss. They're some common ones to be terrified of after all. If it's something a bit more obscure then sometimes people are afraid to talk about it because they don't want to be judged. There's nothing wrong with that."
"Still though, you can imagine wanting to be a fly on the wall in order to see just what Cedric was facing right now."
"Perhaps we'll never know."
...
Cedric barged his way into the next room, glad that the terrifying ordeal he had suffered through was finally over. That had been such a heinous task to overcome and he had been glad that he had gone through that on his own. The last thing that he needed his peers to know was that he was terrified of 'that.' If any of them got that far and asked, he'd tell them simply that he was afraid of spiders. That would be a completely justifiable answer that they'd all believe.
It was much better than 'that' after all.
"Congratulations on making it this far," said a voice far too sweet for his liking.
"Oh umm, hello there, Myrtle wasn't it," said Cedric, observing the ghost in front of him.
"Well isn't that nice that you know my name for me and not for my bathroom," cooed Myrtle, giggling lightly. "This is the final room before the finish line and you just have to await the allotted time before the door opens behind me."
"I see," said Cedric as he observed his surroundings, dread starting to fill his very being.
The room was pink. Painfully pink. In the corners of the room there were pillows shaped like hearts, an assortment of bright flowers in several vases and an incense stick releasing a heavenly aroma into the air.
It quickly became very clear as to what the horror in this room was.
"You're a rather handsome boy, aren't you," said Myrtle before giggling once again.
For Cedric, that was it. Every other challenge he could overcome, even having had to come face to face with 'that.' He would do so again on the way back to the start knowing full well that it was a lesser evil than what this room was asking of him. His peers could call him a coward all he wanted, there was no way that he was spending another second in this room.
He wished good luck to all who wished to endure this final torture.
...
"And that's the first one out," said Hermione.
"What do you expect?" asked Harry. "The Boggart is one thing, putting them through ten minutes with Myrtle, that's horrible. Well done."
"Why thank you but that idea wasn't my own, I'm not actually sure who it was that went and asked Myrtle to help out. All I know is that she was more than willing to lend her assistance," said Hermione.
"Nobody promised her anything in return did they?" asked Harry.
"Not to my knowledge," said Hermione. "I mean I don't even know who asked Myrtle in the first place so I don't know if they did anything to gain a favor from her. I guess I should probably use this opportunity to ask but, do you reckon we should keep everyone in the dark about who's in the club?"
"You're suggesting we all reveal ourselves," said Harry before watching a group of two students flee the chamber of horror after succumbing to the fear generated in the first room. At least they had the courage to jump down in the first place.
"Well I mean," started Hermione, turning away temporarily. At first Harry considered the possibility that she was making sure that nobody was listening in but it actually seemed as if she was a bit embarrassed. The way she was playing her hair leant heavily to the possibility of her being embarrassed. "I kinda comforted Susan when she was upset and let her know that I was part of Potter Club and was there for her. Luna kind of overheard us..."
"Kind of?" repeated Harry.
"But also you know how Luna talks, it's very clear that even with a voice changed her way of talking if very unique and it would only be a matter of time before somebody figures out who she is," declared Hermione, desperately trying to justify her reasoning.
"We can put it forth at the next meeting," said Harry with a light smile. "However there has to be a third option where people who wish to remain anonymous can choose to do so."
"That's fair, though it all has to be done at the same time. Don't want somebody backing out because they realise that somebody they don't like is part of Potter Club. We should also have some sort of contingency plan in place to prevent people from ratting out other members of the club."
"How about signing a parchment that will curse them with boils," suggested Harry, recalling the charm Hermione had used on the original parchment for Dumbledore's Army.
"That could work, but I'll have to do some research beforehand regarding how to set such a thing up."
"You're Hermione Granger, if anybody can figure it out, you can," reassured Harry.
"Umm, yes, well, if you excuse me, I need to do...things," stammered Hermione, pushing the Marauders Map to Harry before making a hasty exit. Harry found himself lightly chuckling before turning the map around to look at it from the right way up. Momentarily he wondered what actually lie in wait for anybody who successfully made it to the end but that would have required any of the girls to come to the conclusion that somebody could make it to the end.
...
Sirius admired himself in the mirror. Or at least he admired the pompous rapscallion that he had become for the occasion. Frankly he didn't believe he looked half as good as he did when he was raggedly handsome but he was about to step in front of some very important people.
One person who wouldn't be in attendance was Lucius Malfoy, Amelia having informed him beforehand that after having brought Wormtail in he had taken a leave of absence. Officially it sounded as if he had done so to be by the side of a long lost relative through their final days. Said days had extended into weeks and now even months.
Said relative theoretically was taking their sweet time.
That being said, Sirius didn't believe that said relative even existed in the first place and it was all a cover for the real reason that Lucius was out of the country. Sadly, he had no clue as to what Lucius was doing out of the country and the longer he had contemplated the endless possibilities the more frustrated he had become. Inevitably, he had to give up knowing that he would only end up burning himself up over a fruitless endeavour.
Now though, now was the time to put such theories behind him. There was much more pressing manners to attend to as a member of the council beckoned him to follow.
It was time to prove his innocence.
...
Meanwhile, in a corner of Hogwarts a much more exciting thing was happening at that moment in time.
Or at least it was depending on who you asked.
Because right at that very second, Ron Weasley was about to compete in the semi final of the Hogwarts Chess Championship.
Ron would later return to the Gryffindor common room, disgraced in defeat.
...
Harry lay in his bed, hands tucked behind his head as he stared into the darkness surrounding him. Nearby he could hear Ron snoring away after having cried himself to sleep. The blubbering mess had been temporarily comforted in the common room Lavender which had done something to calm him down.
Harry hadn't even realised the two of them were still a couple. Or perhaps they weren't and Lavender had, because of their prior relationship, chosen to do what she felt was the right thing as a friend? When last the two of them had spoken on such matters Ron had proclaimed about his time 'with' Lavender. Was he referring to time he was still having or time that he had shared prior and never since?
Scrunching his features, Harry considered actually paying attention to the Hogwarts gossip wheel once in a while. From what he was aware of was that the chatter around he and Susan had crawled to a halt. Apparently without visual proof that the two of them were spending every waking moment in each other's arms the general populace had come to the conclusion that the rumours had been false. There were still some stout believers but he wouldn't crush their dreams.
Still though, the end of the year was fast approaching. He'd need to organize the last couple of meetings with Potter Club and see whether or not members wished to go public with their identities. He'd have to hand in his reports to Flitwick over the coming days to ensure that he got the extra time off classes next year. Wood wanted to go through a vast number of training sessions before their final Quidditch game of the year and at some stage he still had to organize this Art Exhibit as his last act for the year.
He really hoped that Penelope hadn't forgotten about that.
...
Susan sat in the Great Hall that morning with her determination steeled. Her eyes were focused on the large ornate doors. For far too long she had stewed on the conversation that she had shared with Hannah. In her defence, she had decided to invest a good deal of her time in helping the other female members of Potter Club plan their prior event (which had had some hilarious results with the older students bantering amongst one another regarding how scared they had all been).
Now though, now there were no excuses. She would confront Harry and confess her feelings. Nothing would distract her.
It was due to her state of mind that she couldn't help but be somewhat startled as the days paper landed in front of her. It also might have been because of her high level of focus that when her eyes landed on the headline she couldn't help but fall off her seat in shock.
Harry could wait.
The students of Hogwarts needed to learn of this development.
For Sirius Black was a free man.
...
Hope you enjoyed.