The air above the front of the maze began to ripple and within seconds two bodies and the Triwizard Cup came spinning out of nowhere, slamming to the ground. Aria's breath caught as, for a moment, time seemed to slow. The choir and the band and the cheers became muffled and slow like they were being heard through molasses. Neither boy moved for what seemed like an eternity and she couldn't breathe.
Cedric moved first. He surged to his feet even as his parents, and Sirius and Remus rushed forward. He hauled Harry into his arms, pointing his wand at anyone who approached.
"Get back!" Cedric screamed. Harry clung to the older boy. Aria saw blood on Harr's arm, saw how his entire body shook uncontrollably. Mr. and Mrs. Diggory paused, and Sirius stepped a little closer, hands up with no wand. Flitwick cut the choir and band off abruptly, and a sudden terrible hush fell over the crowd.
"Stay back!" Cedric shouted again, this time, his voice carried over the whole crowd. "Don't touch him. It . . . it . . ." his gaze flickered to the Cup. "It was a portkey. Did you know it was a portkey?"
"A Portkey back to the front of the maze," Percy said, stepping forward with the same placating gesture. "It was guarded up to the moment the Third Task started."
Cedric shook his head.
"It was a portkey," he insisted. "Took us . . . I don't know where . . . a graveyard?"
Auror Kingsley approached cautiously.
"Put your wand down, Cedric," the man said soothingly.
"He . . . he . . ." Cedric stuttered. "He's back! Voldemort's back!"
A ripple of horror went up and down the stands. Several students shrieked hearing his name. Aria's body went cold, and she spun around to look at her friends. Her Slytherin housemates all had pale faces, Lavender and Parvati and Padma were clutching each other. Hermione hung onto Ron, Ron hung onto Ginny, and Ginny held onto the twins.
"Can you give me Harry, Cedric?" Sirius asked, stepping forward with his arms outstretched. Cedric pulled Harry closer.
"He hurt him!" Cedric bit out through clenched teeth. "He hurt him!"
"I'm not going to hurt him," Sirius said. "Let me have him. He's my godson." Cedric kept his wand pointed at Sirius. There was something in the boy's eyes, like he had seen things. Aria felt tears pricking at her eyes just looking at Cedric. For long agonizing moments, the former escaped convict and seventeen-year-old stared each other down before Cedric gave one sharp nod, lowering his wand enough to carefully transfer Harry into Sirius' waiting arms. Sirius lifted Harry like a bride, allowing the boy to wrap his arms around his neck and bury his face in his shoulder. Aria could still see her friend shaking.
"Let's get you both to the hospital wing," Sirius said, jerking his head at Cedric. Mrs. Diggory hurried to her son, wrapping her arms around his shoulders before steering in after Sirius and Remus. Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape rushed after them and Aria followed close at their heels, leaving the aurors and Dumbledore and Bagman and Percy to figure out what to do.
In the hospital wing, Sirius settled Harry on a bed though he was unable to fully release him as Harry refused to let go of him. Aria stood off to the side, forgotten and unseen, unsure what to do as Madam Pomfrey fluttered about with potions and wand waving. More people arrived including Professor Sprout and Professor Moody.
"Severus!" she snapped. "I need one of your Cruciatus potions! Mr. Potter has substantial damage."
Substantial? What did that mean? Aria began bouncing on her toes to give herself something to do. Snape, surprisingly, did not have to disappear to his office. Instead, he reached into his robes and shuffled about some bottles in his pockets and withdrew the appropriate vial. Pomfrey past the vial to Sirius who managed to get Harry to loosen his hold enough to drink the potion. Immediately, Harry's tremors disappeared, and he sank into the mattress with a sigh of relief. Madam Pomfrey waved her wand over him again, this time, bandages came out of her wand and wrapped around Harry's bleeding arm where a long gash had been sluggishly bleeding. Pomfrey turned her attention to Cedric. He did not have any obvious injuries, except the top of the Champion uniform that he wore was burnt, like a fireball had hit him in the chest.
"—we landed in a graveyard," Cedric was saying, more like babbling. His entire body heaved as he breathed, like he struggled to breathe. There were definitely tears down the normally bright and happy face. "And someone in a cloak appeared . . . and . . . and . . . I didn't see . . . someone said, 'Kill the Spare' and then the cloaked figure he . . . he shot the Killing Curse at me!"
Mrs. Diggory gave a horrified cry, bursting into tears. Madam Pomfrey's wand moved faster than ever. Aria felt her body go cold again. Her vision had come true.
"Then how are you alive, Mr. Diggory?" Snape asked.
"I swear I'm telling the truth!"
"I didn't say you weren't," Snape replied, "I'm asking if you know how you survived."
Cedric sputtered.
"I . . . I don't . . ." his voice trailed off as his eyes suddenly rested on Aria. For a second their gazes met and the only thing that existed was them. Everyone else faded away.
With a burst of energy, Cedric tore at his uniform shirt, hands shaking so badly he could hardly get his fingers to work. After a few seconds he managed to pull his protection amulet out from underneath the uniform shirt. The deep red of the protection amulet had turned black, and the brass had twisted and deformed. Aria could see that any protection she had placed on the amulet, either from runes or the Elixir of Life, was gone.
Professor Moody's magical eye whirled and twisted as he leaned closer to the amulet. Cedric carefully handed it over to the ex-auror who held it up to the light, poked it with his wand, hummed and huffed and finally, looked back at Cedric.
"You're very, very lucky to be alive right now," Moody said. "The Unforgiveables leave traces, like all spells. Lucky I've got this, eh?" he tapped his magical eye. "Every bit of protective magic that was on this has dissipated. You won't be able to use this again." He handed it back to Cedric. "Where'd you get it?"
"We all got one," Cedric said, his breathing no longer as labored though he still trembled, his eyes still too wide, and his face too pale.
Everyone looked over at Harry who was crying quietly in Sirius' arms. Sirius carefully lifted a hand, feeling along Harry's neck until he exposed Harry's amulet. It too was black, though some red brass still remained, and the metal was twisted slightly.
"There's still a bit of magic left," Moody murmured.
"Harry," Sirius murmured, "Harry, look at me." Harry raised a tear-stained face. "Did someone cast an Unforgiveable on you?"
Harry's breathing hitched.
"V-Voldemort," he said, voice scratchy. "He cast . . . it was . . . um . . ." he sniffed and Sirius gently ran his fingers through Harry's wild hair. The boy pressed his entire body against his godfather, as if trying to be absorbed into the other man's body.
"He put me under the Imperious," Harry managed to say. "He . . . he wanted me to duel him, and I didn't want to so he . . . he made me. But I . . . I somehow threw it off, but it was too late I couldn't . . . I couldn't go anywhere. There were Death Eaters, and they were cheering him on and . . . and . . ."
Harry dissolved into tears again.
The infirmary doors burst open, banging against the stone walls before slamming shut. Minister Fudge arrived with Dumbledore, Madam Bones, Auror Kingsley and several other scarlet robed aurors, Percy, and Bagman. The minister's face was bright red, but he was not huffing or puffing, so Aria did not think he was red in the face because he had run to the infirmary.
"Cornelius," Dumbledore was saying, "you must at least listen. If Voldemort is back—"
"Stop saying his name!"
"—then we must prepare ourselves!"
Minister Fudge glared at everyone in the room, even Harry who desperately tried to stop crying under the man's angry gaze.
"Now," the minister said to the two champions, "I don't know what you two are playing at, but this country has been at peace for years and it won't do to frighten the populace."
"But it's true, Minister!" Cedric cried. "Harry could tell you much more as I was knocked out briefly, but—,"
"I will need to speak to you, Mr. Diggory," Madam Bones said, cutting him off. "And Mr. Potter but I will let you rest for now while we figure out—,"
"No!" Minister Fudge cried, stamping his foot. Aria was sure her face twisted into some kind of disbelief. "I will not have you feeding into their delusions!"
"It's not a delusion!" Harry cried, tears still rolling down his cheeks. He pulled out of Sirius' arms and staggered to his feet. "It's true! The Cup was a portkey, and it took us to a graveyard and Lord Malfoy—,"
"Enough!" Fudge shouted. Harry stumbled back. Aria jerked forward. Harry hated people shouting at him. Sirius and Remus were faster. They stepped in front of Harry, leveling Fudge with glares that made the outraged man take his own steps back.
"I will not have you boys besmirching the name of a respected member of the public," Fudge said after a minute.
Aria snorted. Lord Malfoy's name besmirched? Too late. Respected? Had he ever?
Remus and Snape shot her looks that told her to Be Quiet.
"It is clear that you two boys have suffered some kind of terrible event in the maze," Fudge continued, a little calmer, though he eyed Remus in a way that made Aria uncomfortable. "Clearly the Third Task was too much for you. We will leave you to rest."
"Cornelius," Dumbledore started.
"Enough, Albus! There is no way Voldemort has returned. No way! I won't believe it!" He pointed at the other ministry workers in the room. "And I won't stand for my own people and administration feeding into such hysterics. The people are at peace and peace is what they will get!"
The adults descended into more squabbling, but Aria was distracted by a bed in the far corner of the infirmary, which had previously been empty, suddenly gaining a body. Slowly she approached the bed, realizing that not only was someone in the bed, but someone was sitting beside the bed, their back turned to Aria.
"Oh, Tom!" she overheard the person at the bedside say. It was a young McGonagall! In the bed lay Tom Riddle, who looked like he had gotten on the wrong side of a gang. His head was bandaged, and one arm was in a sling while his face was one massive bruise that was slowly fading due to the Bruise Balm on it.
"It doesn't hurt as bad as it looks," Tom murmured.
"What happened?" Minerva asked. Tom sighed.
"I don't remember," he said.
"I don't believe it," Minerva replied, "you remember everything."
Something crunched under Aria's foot, drawing her out of the Shadow and back to the present. Tom and Minerva faded until the bed was empty again and she could hear loud and clear the arguments behind her.
Beneath her foot lay a large beetle. With a disgusted frown, she banished the squashed bug, idly wondering how a bug had managed to infiltrate Madam Pomfrey's sterilized infirmary.
She did not have long to contemplate it though. Fudge stormed out of the infirmary, the aurors following after him, as were Bagman and Percy. Snape took her by the shoulders and also chivvied her out of the infirmary, depositing her just outside the doors before the doors closed.
How rude!
Aria had no time to glare at the doors before she realized she was being stared at by a group of students and that Percy was scolding all of them for being out of their dorms, that they shouldn't be hanging out in front of the infirmary, that Harry and Cedric were not taking visitors, and that they should all go back to their common rooms.
Once a Head Boy always a Head Boy.
Ginny threw her arms around Percy and even the twins edged closer to their older brother.
"Are they okay?" Susan asked Aria.
"No," Aria answered. "They're not."
"Is . . . is it true though?" Hannah asked. "About V-Vold . . . He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back?" Her face was pale, and her freckles stood out, much like Ron's.
Everyone turned to Percy. He hesitated.
"I . . . don't know," he settled on saying. "Harry and Cedric are in no state to give the whole account at the moment. All I am sure of, is that something went wrong, and Cedric and Harry were hurt."
"Minister Fudge didn't seem willing to listen to them," Aria muttered, folding her arms. "If Voldemort is back, shouldn't he care and want to know the truth?"
Percy ran a hand through Ginny's hair.
"Yes," he said. "He should want to know the truth." He pressed a kiss to Ginny's head before extracting himself from her grip and saying good-bye to the students.
Remus slipped out of the infirmary.
"Harry and Cedric are not taking visitors," he told the students. "You should return to your dorms." The students groaned but Remus leveled them with his best "professor look" and they began trickling away. Aria hesitated. None of her Slytherin housemates were here except for Ginny. What was the reaction going to be in Slytherin?
"Aria," Ron said just before he and Hermione headed back to the Tower, "the Gryffindor password is 'Tarantella'. You know . . . just in case."
Hermione looked like she was going to cry.
"I'm sure I'll be fine," Aria stated, sounding much braver than she felt. "And I've got Ginny to protect me." Ginny nodded, also trying to look much bravery than she probably felt.
Remus set a hand on Aria's shoulder.
"If there are problems, you can also go to Professor Snape's office," he reminded her. Aria nodded. "Use your head, okay?"
She nodded again.
The walk to the Slytherin common room was silent. Neither she or Ginny felt like talking too much, their minds far away.
What would the possible return of Voldemort mean? Aria had no doubt that he was back. Cedric was not the sort of person to lie about something of that magnitude, nor would Harry have been so hysterical if something bad hadn't truly happened. She also had to consider the vision of Cedric she had had and had managed to thwart with the protection amulets which, if she were honest, shocked even her. She had made the amulets on the off chance that Flamel's hypothesis in his journals was right, that the Elixir of Life could be used to amplify magical components within objects like amulets.
They approached Slytherin's portrait. The wizard looked down his sharp nose at them, judgmental as always.
"Diffindo," Ginny murmured, and the portrait swung open.
Slytherin students gathered in the common room, speaking in hushed whispers that immediately fell silent as Aria and Ginny stepped into view. A palatable tension fell over the common room. Ginny stepped close to Aria, pressing her shoulder against Aria's. Aria felt her wand in its holster against her forearm where she always kept it, ensured her arm was hanging loose by her side in case she had to make a quick draw.
Blaise dared to speak first.
"Is Harry all—,"
"Surprise you dared show your face in Slytherin," Astoria interrupted. Blaise looked just about ready to show emotion and hex the girl. Aria counted to ten then backwards to negative ten.
"What do you mean by that, Astoria?" Aria asked instead, smiling sweetly at the third year. Even Seraphina and Harper refused to look at Aria with that smile on her face.
"You don't belong here," Astoria replied, "and you never have. Coming back is just asking for the Dark Lord to take you out."
"What on earth are you talking about?" Daphne demanded though Aria could tell her friend was just as spooked as the rest of them.
"Don't be daft, Daphne," Astoria drawled, exasperated. "We all know the Dark Lord's back."
"We do?" Daphne cried. "How do we know? Did he send you an owl? An announcement in The Daily Prophet?"
"Cedric Diggory wouldn't have been going off like that if he wasn't back," Astoria said. "I thought you were supposed to be the smarter of the two of us, Daphne."
What was more terrifying was that Astoria was smarter than Minister Fudge, Aria thought.
"Well, I don't know why Aria wouldn't come back to the common room," Pansy suddenly piped up. She was lounging on the sofa, her feet in Draco's lap, filing her nails like she was discussing the weather. "She's a Slytherin, after all. This is her dormitory."
Astoria gasped. Several older students raised their brows and peered over at Pansy like they were noticing her for the first time.
"As it is," Pansy continued, seemingly unaware of the growing shock surrounding her, "Aria's earned her place within Slytherin, Hogwarts, and the wizarding world ten times over compared to witches like you, Astoria."
Should she thank Pansy? What was even happening? Had she somehow died, and this was an alternate universe? Maybe she needed to go back to the hospital wing and get Madam Pomfrey to check to make sure she wasn't on some kind of hallucinate drug.
Aria met Draco's gaze. His eyes were worried. She looked over at Theo who stared broodily into the fire crackling in the hearth.
"You . . . you can't mean that, Pansy!" Astoria cried.
"Astoria, do shut up," Theo said, standing. "Your voice is tiresome. Muggleborn or not, Aria Bourne is the greater witch. Unless you can suddenly create a semi-solid corporal Patronus or cut of five cocks with a mere thought and no wand?"
"Theodore," Daphne scolded. "There are ladies present."
"I'm sorry, my dear," Theo replied. "But I wasn't speaking to a lady, therefore I felt my words were appropriate."
Astoria's chin began to quiver. If she was going to cry, Aria didn't want to be around to have to see or hear it.
"I'll just go to bed shall I?" she questioned, gesturing to the stairs leading to the dormitories. "Harry's alive. Cedric's alive. Highly traumatized. Minister Fudge is an idiot, that's all I know."
"Well, we knew the latter," someone muttered.
"No, don't go yet," Daphne said. Tracey hopped up and ushered Aria and Ginny over the seats. Theo took up a stance behind Aria. "You are not the one who ought to leave first." She glared at her sister whose face twisted like she was going to cry, but instead she gave a sharp, frustrated cry and stomped off to her dorm.
"Anyone else like to say anything?" Draco asked, the warning clear in his voice. The rest of the Slytherins dispersed.
"How are they really?" Blaise asked Aria.
"Alive but traumatized," Aria repeated. "I didn't get the whole story. Minister Fudge quite loudly declared that whatever they had to say was false without hearing their side of the story. Astoria actually had it right when she said Cedric wouldn't lie about this sort of thing."
"Fudge is a peace time politician," Draco said. "And he's been minister for nearly a decade now. I doubt he'll want to go to war or anything."
"No, but he should still listen," Aria argued.
"I don't disagree with you," Draco told her. "I'm just explaining why he is the way he is."
"And he's always afraid that Dumbledore'll come and take his position," Theo added. "People wanted Dumbledore as minister after the war, but he declined because he was already the Headmaster of Hogwarts, and soon afterwards he became Chief Warlock because he claimed to be Harry's magical guardian, and that allowed him to be nominated and selected as the ICW Supreme Mugwump. Why be minister when you can be even more powerful?"
"I don't . . ." Aria huffed, frustrated, trying to figure out what she wanted to say and how she wanted to say it. "I don't care about Fudge right now. I know I probably should and all . . . but . . ." everyone leaned closer to each other, voices lowering even though Blaise put up a Privacy Ward around them. "How . . . I mean . . . should I . . ." she frowned, growling in frustration.
"What does the next few months look like?" she finally managed to say. "How are you and I meant to interact and live as friends and housemates when some of your families are followers of Voldemort?"
Draco and Theo shared a look with each other, then Pansy and Millicent. Millicent shrugged, not looking particularly worried about the future. Pansy too, looked unbothered. She had moved onto coloring her nails a deep red wine color.
"We don't know," Draco admitted. "We just . . . have no idea."