The Heart's Thorn

~ 11 ~

"Alright there, dear?" Celeste looked behind Fred and George's heads to see Mrs Weasley smiling comfortingly at her.

The Hufflepuff smiled but it didn't hide her true emotions "I'm fine, I'm just... I hope they'll be okay"

"Don't you worry, Harry Potter's not been in a spot of trouble yet that he couldn't get out of, I'm sure he'll be fine" but Celeste wasn't just worrying over Harry, she knew he would be okay somehow, but there was a pang in her head that kept telling her to run at Dumbledore and demand that he pull Cedric out.

Mrs Weasley turned her head back around to eavesdrop on what her boys were saying, meanwhile Celeste stared at Dumbledore, wondering if he had the same feeling in his gut. Not long after, red sparks soared into the air and Celeste almost felt herself go faint, but it was Fleur, not Cedric or Harry, so far they were still okay. But, Fleur looked utterly traumatised, she was shivering with wide eyes and a trembling bottom lip, soon gossip traveled up the stands until Celeste and the others heard it "apparently it was Krum! He's been trying to hex people left, right and centre! Fleur said that it was Harry who saved her, how awesome is that?! He's so going to win this, he just has to!" Called Collin Creevey excitedly up to the Weasley's, Hermione and Celeste.

"Why would Krum start hexing people?"

"Durmstrang play dirty, you should have seen them playing Quiddich, it was brutal" Fred said to her across George with twinkling eyes, apparently brutal Quiddich was exciting to him.

There was more waiting after that, the sky was getting darker and the mist had settled, the crowd was speaking in low chatters, waiting excitedly for a victor to emerge from the maze. Celeste was squeezing George's hand as noises were coming from the maze. Then they waited for a while longer after Viktor Krum showed his face, clearly recovering from something "any minute now I expect" she heard Seamus say from the seats in front of them.

Celeste's eyes had glued themselves to the entrance of the maze, and suddenly there was a deep amount of sadness that washed over her like a wave, something was wrong. They should have been back by now "something's wrong, George. Something's wrong I can feel it"

"I bet Diggory's just broken a leg or something, Harry's probably got that cup in his hand as we speak, he's probably coming back now" he sounded unconvinced by his words. Suddenly Celeste caught the eye of Dumbledore, he must have seen what she was feeling because he looked more worried than the rest of them.

"Get them out" she whispered, hoping that somehow he could have heard her.

Only moments passed before there was a dim flash of blue light, Harry was tossed onto the grass with Cedric under his arm lying flat on his back, the crowd roared with cheers and George grabbed Celeste's hand, they ran down into the crowd and pushed through to the very front, there was a shrill scream from Fleur and Celeste felt herself go blank. Cedric wasn't moving. His eyes were staring blankly off into the starry sky and Harry was clutching him while he cried.

Slowly the crowd stopped cheering as everyone realised one by one that this was nothing to be celebrated. Celeste grabbed George for support as her legs went weak, tears were flowing freely down her face and only the word 'Voldemort' pulled her out of her head "Cedric" Harry cried "he asked me to bring his body back, I couldn't leave him, not there"

"It's alright, Harry" Dumbledore implored as he grabbed Harry's face "it's alright. He's home. You both are" Celeste buried her head in George's chest for a moment, sobbing loudly as he wrapped his arms around her. She could hear gasps from the crowd, cries from Cho who was standing near Fred.

Then came the words "let me through" and Celeste looked up, it was Cedric's father "that's my son! That's my boy!" He cried as he pushed through the people "MY BOY" it was heartbreaking to watch him hover over his sons now lifeless body, the last look of bravery and terror etched onto his still face. The helpless cries of a devastated father filled the stands and Celeste felt herself go numb, Mad-eye grabbed Harry as he whimpered and started to drag him away from everyone, Fudge was running around like his career depended on none of this getting out to the public, but it was too late, everyone had seen it.

George wrapped his arms around Celeste and started to guide her away as she cried, he led her away from the stands and towards the castle, Draco tried pushing passed everyone to get to her, but there were too many people between him and her, he soon stopped when he caught a glimpse of her over the other heads, being held tightly by George, and as much as it pained him he decided she was well looked after, she didn't need him.