Anything that rings a bell belongs to JK Rowling

Chapter Thirty Eight: Pulled to the Light

"Bastian. Blishwick…."

Ky muttered the words softly. Her eyes slowly opened. Light seeped through. She saw the blurry outline of many figures. She searched for two.

Just two.

Slowly a figure near her came into view…. chocolate orbs laced with worry. She grabbed Mi's hand. "Bastian. Blishwick."

Ky then looked around the room. She ignored everyone else.

Searching for untidy black strands. Neat brown locks.

And then she saw it.

He sat up in a hospital bed to her right. His green eyes looking at her, mirroring her agony. He slowly shook his head in the negative, a frown so deep on his face she was afraid nothing could invert it. She hadn't been aware that she was muttering,

"Harry. Cedric. Harry…. Cedric…. Harry…Ced-"

She stopped.

And then she saw him.

Black hair, high cheek bones, aristocratic look.

Ky grabbed for her wand in her fondina but grasped at air, she felt gentle hands pin her down and Linus' voice.

"Stop Ky, the Old Man was just explaining that he's innocent. Sirius Black is not guilty for killing those people or involved in Harry's parents murder."

She had eyes only for that man though, not sparing Linus a glance. Then she saw it.

"It's okay, I won't hurt you. You're safe, love."

It was him. The stranger that saved her all those months ago.

He had grey eyes. Not black. Grey.

He was gaunt as well. Underfed. Shaggy.

A strange expression on his face as he took her in. Not once did he make a move to defend himself.

Sev stepped in front of him. His face blank but his black orbs dripping with emotion that he was keeping at bay. To the blind eye, he seemed nonchalant, uncaring. But Ky wasn't blind, after a year of knowing this man, she saw more of him than he allowed. She saw the slight clench of his jaw as he fought to keep his face impassive, she saw the tendons in his hands tighten… restraining himself from heaven knows what actions he was contemplating. She saw the rigidity of his stance, holding him in place, preventing him from coming towards her or fleeing…she saw it all.

Afterall, it was less painful to watch Sev's care than Harry's despair…

"Blishwick attacked you?" Sev spoke in his steady, deep baritone.

"No. Bastian. I didn't get his surname, but Barriston Blishwick called him Bastian."

She felt warmth around her shoulders that she never absorbed, keeping it away from herself yet feeling it at the same time.

He was dead.

Cedric was dead?

Lifeless grey eyes assaulted her mind with a vice grip hold, torturing every crevice.

She saw it all…and yet…that ever-present feeling that made a hot burning hatred churn in her stomach…that feeling of…

"She needs rest." Ky felt, rather than heard Linus' voice as his chest trembled against her ear.

"NO!"

She screamed at Linus. His face becoming so blurry, the only thing still in focus was the concerned blue eyes turning red as she spoke.

Red and empty.

Grey and cold...

Everybody's face was blurry, and she felt someone rubbing soothing circles across her back. She rubbed at her eyes, clearing the blur. "I do not need rest."

How could he not want to know? He must know…know what a failure he has as kin…Cedric was dead. It was all her fault. She saw everything. Her heart clenched and her tummy burned at the realisation that she had let this happen.

Nonno came into view, his eyes holding an expression that spoke his age more than the wrinkles on his face. "Kyrianna…maybe it is best-"

She looked away from him and to Harry. She searched for him like an oasis in a desert. She saw those glasses and her heart unclenched…she saw those haunting green eyes and delved deeper and deeper into them, voluntarily swimming in his water of anguish.

"He's back?" Subtle similar enunciation made her aware that it was her voice, yet it was alien in its deadly softness, in its fragility…

Harry nodded, never breaking her gaze.

It was all true. Whatever those things were. They spoke the truth.

Ky turned back to Nonno, staring into the familiar blue that was now fringed with unfamiliarity, he stepped closer to her and she could barely whisper her next words,

"I was sitting in the stands when I felt lightheaded, and I saw Harry and Cedric stand on either side of the goblet of fire." Ky felt a steady hand on her shoulder, but she pushed it away with her mind, her body too tired to physically do so. The words stacked together on their ascension through her throat but a soft warmth from her chest pushed them out, "In my head. In my head. I saw it in my head." There was no change to the blue hue, "They decided to take the cup together. I then saw a flash of green light and Cedric's empty grey eyes. I saw a cauldron, blood drip down Harry's arm, then flashes of red eyes and pale skin. When I came to, I couldn't move or speak, I was in pain. My head. I managed to move. I got down to the field but still couldn't talk. I fainted there and someone caught me and took me down to the secret passage that leads from the quidditch pitch to the dungeons. This someone was the same person who attacked me the last time. He looked like him."

Ky made a short glance to the black-haired unkempt stranger called Sirius Black, who had been staring at them, much like the other occupants in the room, in confusion. Nobody else could hear what she was saying, either because she was too soft, or because Nonno had made it so magically.

"Only instead of the grey, he had black. Black eyes. He had expensive clothes and a badge that said Eliot Hutchinson, media. That's when Barriston Blishwick arrived. Called him Bastian. The man…the same man from before." Ky looked at Nonno, ensuring he understood what she meant by this. "Blishwick said someone was looking for Bastian. He was initially angry at Blishwick for using his given name but then cooled down saying after tonight all would be clear. He left, leaving Blishwick in charge. I was still in pain. Though, I managed to fight Blishwick off."

Ky stopped, the pushing warmth in her chest halting her ten words per second speed, breathing heavy...if she was breathing at all. Something was telling her not to mention Nott. A niggling feeling at the back of her head…when she pretended to fight him off, Bastian said his father would have been happy that he tried to stop her from escaping…he was a Snake helping a Lion… she didn't want him to get in trouble and she felt it was safer to keep him out of this story.

"I managed to defeat Blishwick, but Bastian came back, and we fought. He was winning but I managed to run away… instead of fight him." Ky's voice dipped, guilty for fleeing, "I ran to my room and it didn't let him in. And then I ran to you."

The warm pressure fell away, and anger burned in her mind, somewhere her heart had promised her mind that there would be relief after talking.

There was none…

Ky tore her eyes away from Nonno's and stared at Harry, her breathing going back to normal, the other shapes fading away, only emerald processed as it shone with an emotion that was a clone to her grey.

"What is she saying?" Len's voice floated from beside her, as if hundreds of miles away. Ky didn't tear her gaze from Harry though, recalling that he had been tortured tonight, and she could see it on his lower lip that he had bit into. She looked at him as if he was her anchor to sanity. She said all that needed to be said. They knew who to look for. They knew that it was her fault that Cedric was dead.

More trembling at her ear as his chest rose, and Linus' voice, so near yet so far, spoke, "Did she have premonitions? Bastian…. we'll have to work on a surname."

"That isn't necessary." Everyone looked at Sev, except her. She continued to fall into green. "His surname is Blishwick. He's Barriston Blishwick's older brother. He didn't attend school here; I'm told he went to Durmstrang."

"Well, that's all we need." Len's voice was fire vocalised.

Sev turned and looked at Len, "Unfortunately that would not be so simple. I believe he may have been working with Barty Crouch Jr. It's probably why he was here today, to help him. And perhaps why he was in Hogsmeade…that night. He would be with his new master now. So would his brother. Barriston Blishwick is gone. Nowhere to be found in the castle." When did Sev even leave the room? Did he leave to check for those bastards once he found out their names?

"An easy enough task considering the situation we found ourselves in. Bane missing and then Mr Potter showing up with…with…all of the commotion…" Minnie…Minnie was here.

"I urge you not to look for him." If Len vocalised fire, Sev vocalised steel. "Bane?"

Ky tore her eyes away from the jet black strands and stared at Sev, not placating his wish. Her expression seemed to frighten him, the blank of his face falling away, and all rigidity evaporated as he came forward quickly, kissed her on the forehead and turned and walked away. Seems he chose both, to come to her and to flee.

Sirius Black followed suit, throwing furtive glances at her.

"Kyrianna." She turned to Nonno, she felt his presence all around her, yet he remained standing at the foot of the bed, "I need to go and speak to the Diggory's…" Ky felt her heart tremble at that look in his eyes, her Nonno didn't stand at the foot of her bed, who was this old stranger…he turned away, the silver of his hair shining more brightly than it ever did before.

She could hear Linus and Len fussing over her and other voices but none of it made sense. The only thing that made sense was pained green eyes and empty grey ones. Both lying heavily on her conscious.

-x-x-x-

Ky opened her eyes to find the hospital wing dark, it must be the middle of the night. She immediately turned over and spotted his green eyes glowing in the unlit room.

She felt the cold night air sting at her exposed legs as she tossed the sheet off of herself. The smooth tiles at her bare feet. His warm bedsheet as it crept between her fingers as she pulled it down.

She heard the creak of the mattress as she shoved a knee into it. The whispers of her hair as it billowed around her, tossed up at the impact of her head on the soft pillow.

She covered herself again. Her back to him. He hadn't said a word. And then they spoke at the exact same time,

"It's not your fault."

Ky saw it in his eyes from the moment she opened her own earlier, saw it because she probably had the same look.

"I made him take the cup with me." His voice just like Linus' rumbled at her ear.

"You didn't make him do anything. I saw the whole thing happen." She felt the hair on her right arm rise as his trepid fingers ghosted across it.

"You were being attacked. You tried your hardest."

"I keep thinking what I could have done differently. Maybe stayed and fought instead of run."

"Most likely there would be two dead bodies here tonight."

Ky turned around and faced a wall of white shirt. She pushed her heel into the mattress, moving higher up the bed and finally made eye contact. The words she wanted to say lay forgotten on her tongue at the look on his face, Len may have spoken fire, but Harry looked close to breathing it.

"Did Blishwick hurt you?"

"Nothing I can't recover from."

Ky dropped her gaze to his plain white pyjama top. She watched his chest rise and fall slowly. "He tried… ra…raping me in August." It was the first time she said those words aloud. "When I got split up from you guys. He…he tried but I beat him. He…touched me on my stomach." She placed her hand on his shit, flat against his abdomen, feeling his soft flesh through the thin material, and slowly worked it higher, roving his pronounced ribs, and stopped just below his chest. "I didn't let him get further. I threw him off. I didn't say before, because you know. The boys. They would freak out, not let me come to Hogwarts. And I thought he was just a drunk death eater. I had no idea that he would find me again."

Ky didn't realise that she had started clutching Harry's shirt until he placed a gentle hand on top of her own, the material jutting out her closed fist.

"The day before the second task I snuck into Hogsmeade to steal Gillyweed from Dogweed and Deathcap because I thought that Mi was the person you had to save. I was being stupid. I should have known Nonno wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. To any of you. I was sleepy though and I wasn't thinking straight…and that's where he found me again. He took me to the Shrieking Shack and tried…again."

His hand got tighter over hers and his chest started rising faster, she concentrated on that. She didn't stop though. "He stabbed me. And cut me. And kicked me and punched me and…he tried…but he couldn't. The locket and the bracelet, they protected me. But then he burned me…from within... A house elf, Kinky, saved me." Ky felt Harry move closer, her legs now tangled in his, but he still didn't speak. "I was unconscious for three months. Nobody could know because they didn't find who had done it. Thought it was safer to keep it quiet. I think Nonno didn't want anybody other than Mi informed because he wasn't sure if I'd want that to be known. They didn't know really, what exactly happened to me. He wanted it to be my choice, who I told."

Suddenly that relief that was promised to her mind earlier was delivered; it seems she was directing her words at the wrong source at the time. Ky closed the gap between her face and his chest, and she felt warmth wrap around her, all trepidation leaving his steady hands.

"I'm so sorry…I should have fought harder to get to someone. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Harry." It was coming out in muffled wet gasps, and he pulled her away from his chest and lifted her chin up and she met those green eyes that were her lifeline a few hours ago. They were not their usual crystalline clarity but coated with a thick layer of moisture.

His eyes were wet with fury, whilst hers were wet with guilt.

There was no crooked smirk, and his jaw was tight.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. None of this is your fault. You broke your head trying to get help. The majority of your injuries came from loss of blood, did you know that? It wouldn't stop gushing out from your nose…whatever you saw did that. And you still managed to stand up and fight. To keep safe." He grabbed her face, his lips against her forehead as he spoke, "Because that's what matters the most. You are safe." Harry moved his face away from hers, so that he could look her in the eye, conveying so many emotions. Her heart swelled and her tears stopped, her chest against him.

Ky had never felt safer.

A heat spread through her body, and they lulled in silence for minutes, as he ran his hands through her hair comfortingly, and she traced drawings on his chest with her fingers.

A churn of guilt throbbed in her tummy and she moved closer to Harry, as if to stifle it.

"What were those things?" Her words walked softly across the pillow and climbed into his ears.

"I think premonitions." He understood what she meant without explanation. "A year ago, I saw Professor Trelawney have one. Hermione said that your eyes glazed over for a few moments and the next thing she knew you wobbled off the seat and seemed to feel your way down to the grounds. She said she followed but you got lost in the crowd and then you were gone. Just like that. In front of everyone. Not a soul saw. How could they not see you? None of the champions they watched so diligently deserved their undivided attention…how could they not see you?"

He muttered into the pillow, as if it was absurd that anyone would not notice her… "Hermione went straight to Snape who was nearest and then that just lit the fire. Your brothers where here in five minutes…Mad Eye…"

He stopped, and Ky moved her head away from his chest so she could look him in the eye, pushing herself up on the pillow so she could stare at him directly, plead for the truth. She felt him sigh, and his breath brushed her lips… they were that close.

"Mad Eye…Barty Crouch Jr…an imposter who was on Polyjuice pretending to be Mad Eye, said that his partner's job was to cause a distraction so that nobody would notice Cedric and I disappearing off school grounds. He managed to break the barrier preventing portkeys in Hogwarts but not prevent the signal that notifies the Headmasters office that a student has left the grounds magically. When Fawkes arrived to notify Dumbledore of the security breach, everybody was so busy looking for you that they thought his distress was directed at the fact that you were gone, and not that we were gone."

"So, you were taken so easily because everybody was out looking for me?" The words came out bitter, and suddenly she understood his hesitation to tell her this, "That means it's all my-"

"No. Stop that. If it wasn't you as the distraction, it would have been-"

"But it was me! And I was weak! I am weak! I could have-"

"No." She felt fingers at her mouth physically stopping the words. "Please don't…enough of that." It was his face that made her stop, not his hands. It seemed she was not alone drowning in this sea of 'could haves.'

"The locket." She could feel it beneath his shirt, "If I went missing, they'd have looked for me using the locket. Is that how they found you?"

He shook his head, "Linus said he couldn't trace your locket when he tried earlier. It's why they panicked. They noticed you didn't have it on you when you sleeping earlier… I heard them talking about it. Dumbledore says the locket just amplifies your magical trace, so Linus is actually searching for you when he does that, he just didn't realise that's how it worked. I'm sorry… they'd have found you if I didn't take this from you."

"You didn't take it. I gave it to you." She said firmly.

He nodded, "And I came back to you. Like you wanted."

Her heart soared and plummeted all at the same time.

Why couldn't he have said that to her earlier.

They stared at each other, understanding this for what it was.

It was as if the universe had been playing music all year, but Harry heard one song, and Ky another.

And now… they finally were on the same frequency.

But neither of them could dance.

Exhaustion, grief, guilt weighed them down.

This wasn't their song.

Not yet.

"Is that what happened to Trelawney? The whole glazed over thing." Harry grabbed her change of subject like a lifeline.

"Yeah…but she was speaking as it happened. Hermione said you were quiet. That's what caught her attention."

"I could see flashes…I saw you…I saw you…It hurt…"

"I can imagine. My scar hurts sometime." He thought she was talking about the physical pain, and she nodded slowly, he didn't need the added guilt that seeing him in pain hurt her. He ran a hand through her hair, the rhythmic action soothing her. It felt so natural, as if he had done this before. Her fingers had stopped tracing over his chest, just lying there, feeling his heartbeat.

"Has this happened before?"

Ky stopped and thought about it. "There have been dreams. Dreams that could have been something more…I dreamed of dragons before any of you told me. And I had a dream about being underwater before the second task…I guess I didn't know they were that because I don't pay much attention to dreams…well I never used to."

He continued stroking her hair, the silence carrying them out of the depths of 'could haves' with each steadying breath. When they broke the surface, his voice trembled at her ear as she snuggled lower, leaning against his chest once more.

"The man that left earlier on, the one that you said looked like… Blishwick, was my godfather, Sirius Black."

The beating of Harry's heart soothed Ky as he spoke until his voice was raw, but he didn't stop. He spoke of possessed Defence against the Dark arts teachers, of diaries come to life, of persecuted Godfathers and werewolf teachers, of life debts and dementors and then death eaters. He told her names and filled in the blanks.

Everything.

Ky didn't know when she had snaked her arms around him, but she clutched the back of his shirt, he held her just as tightly.

And they lay there for hours, two broken souls, trying to keep the pieces together.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed that chapter - thank you for reading! I thought about that being their first kiss - but the night of Cedric's death didn't feel right, and I imagined them experiencing this physical closeness, that has the undercurrent of something more but they're both so riddled with grief, they're just enjoying holding each other. What do you think ?