Because We Are Snakes

Chapter 2

Because We Are Snakes - The Basilisk

He landed on the ground like a proverbial sack of potatoes as the TriWizard cup rolled away from him with a loud clank in the deafening silence his abrupt appearance with the very limp body of Cedric had caused. The crowd was deadly quiet and Cedric's body lay uncomfortably on top of him, one of its arms bent at an impossible angle probably caused by the tumble they took as they flipped over a couple times before the end of the momentum from their portkey entrance caused them to stop rolling.

There was an undignified moment in which the slandered Savior screamed and wailed the loss of Cedric Diggory, even as he was blamed for his fellow champion's death. He was taken by Moody, who turned out was actually not Moody, and apparently had not been Moody from the beginning.

'Go figure.'

Things were crazy for several minutes which he barely registered; but he was sure Dumbledore, Snape and Veritacerum had been involved at somewhere during the encounter. He was also sure Crouch Jr. had escaped at some point as well, which was seriously disappointing since Crouch Jr. is certainly that side of crazy and... it was Dumbledore and Snape for Merlin's sake!

'Sometimes they can be so useless!'

To Harry it seemed as if half the time the old man was just waiting to see how much metaphorical shit can be piled up on top of him. Through it all and while Madam Pomfrey mended his cuts and healed his bruises, Harry still saw Credric's soulless eyes. It was all he could think about at the moment because thinking of everything else that had happened at the graveyard would prove to be too much and do no good for his already questionable sanity. Not to mention for his rapidly deteriorating mood after Fudge had pretty much declared Dumbledore insane, Harry an pathological liar/attention whore and everything that came out of their mouths nothing but a collection of hogwash that boiled down to a deep rooted need for the spotlight. All of this right after Dumbledore had related to him Harry's severely edited account of the events at the cemetery and the assurance that the Dark Lord was back... which the Minister of Magic did not want to believe or make public.

Harry was pissed at Dumbledore for putting him on the spot and spewing his words to a fool like Fudge without even consulting with Harry the use of his name and person as the witness and proof of the return of the boogieman no one wanted to talk about much less believe was back.
So there he sat, in what he had deemed 'his bed' in the hospital wing -because he simply spent so much time on the damned thing it might as well be his by now and have a large plaque announcing it as such- thinking about Cedric rather than about the cemetery or how pissed he was that Dumbledore had tried to use him to get the Minister to do his bidding and see things his way which had royally backfired and would probably come back to bite Harry on the ass much like Aunt Marge's dog had done several times.

His mind kept going to how much he wanted to smack the twinkle right out of Dumbledore's eyes and in his attempt to get those thoughts out of his head Harry kept going back to thinking of Cedric. It was becoming a vicious circle and he was beginning to wonder when the hell Pomfrey would show up with the dose of Dreamless Sleep that had become their standard -because she just knew if she did not put him out of it he would end up sneaking out of the Hospital Wing and she was not up to chasing him about the school. Harry liked this arrangement, if only for the blissful nothingness which overtook him when the potion deigned to work and the floaty feeling he sometimes got when the stupid potion didn't. He was sure he was becoming rather addicted to it but that was a secret he was keeping between himself and... well... himself.

'Back to Cedric you disjointed mind.' He thought to himself when he realized his internal musings had led him away from his current diversion and into an area he would rather not explore at the moment.
'We can worry about my supposed-most-likely- addiction to sleep aids later.'