a rose by any other name

chapter sixteen ❃ the cruciatus curse

Nothing had happened in 20 minutes. Dumbledore explained that there was no way to know what was going on inside the maze until somebody withdrew or won. It was horrible, waiting, there hadn't been any screams although, I wasn't sure you'd have been able to hear them over the grumbling of the maze's walls if there were. That was when red sparks lit up the sky, everybody's heads turned to them immediately, they were near the middle and sooner or later Professor Snape came around the corner followed by Fleur. I was relieved and saddened that it wasn't Cedric. I was relieved because it meant that was still going at that he hadn't gone insane yet, but I was saddened because I just wanted this waiting to be over, it was driving me insane. However, when I saw the look on Fleur's face I got scared, she looked horrified, she was shaking and crying and her hair was flying everywhere. She spoke to Dumbledore and he nodded before patting her on the back and walking her over to the other people from her school.

We waited another 20 minutes before anything else happened. I was staring mindlessly at the opening to the maze when there was a flash of light. I couldn't make out their faces, but there were two people, one led on the grass while the other was clutching the cup and hovering over the one led down. When the light faded, I almost cried with joy, it was Harry and Cedric. Admittedly, Cedric didn't look like he did when he went in and neither did Harry, but this didn't stop me, along with everyone else getting up and cheering. The Hogwarts March began again, when Harry started shouting, I noticed now that he was weeping. My heart sank slightly, was it that bad? Harry was crying uncontrollably when people started to leave the stands and surround the two boys, as I got up it occurred to me that Cedric hadn't said anything yet. I pushed my way to the front of the crowd surrounding Harry and Cedric and immediately stopped when I could see them. Cedric's face was bloody, and he was clutching his stomach now rolling around moaning quietly. Harry was still crying holding him and had chucked the cup to the side now. My heart was thudding so much I thought it was going to break my ribcage and I felt a lump build in my throat. Cedric was sobbing now and looked like he was in agony, I longed to reach out and grab him, hold him but of course I couldn't.

"Harry! Harry! Tell me what happened!" Dumbledore shouted over the sobs of the students. They were crying for Cedric and so was I, I could just hold myself back from running up to him and wrapping myself around him, but I couldn't stop the tears from running down my face. "He's back, he's back! Voldemort's back. Cedric, he was trying to protect me. They used The Cruciatus Curse on him. I couldn't leave him, not there, I had to get him help, please help him!" I was in shock. Cedric was, he was tortured by Voldemort. I knew, from my reading, what The Cruciatus Curse could do to a person, it was why I didn't want to practice it even on birds. I thought it worse than the killing curse, at least with the killing curse it was just over straight away, the torture curse was so much worse. When cast successfully the curse will inflict intense, excruciating pain on the victim, if the victim is left subject to the curse for too long it will lead to... insanity. I wanted to be sick, I wanted to crawl up next to him and cry, I felt like I was going to break. The only people in this world who deserved to be victim to that curse was the people who had the guts to use it. Cedric Diggory was the last person in this world, and probably in the muggle world too who deserved it. He was the purest, kindest, truest person I had ever met, why was this happening to him? Was it my fault? Had I cursed his world forever? My thoughts were interrupted, "It's alright Harry, it's alright, he's home, you both are. We're going to help him." Harry continued to sob whilst Dumbledore tried to pry him off Cedric, when my heart sank even further "Let me through! That's my son! That's my boy!" It was his father. I felt terrible and I couldn't even imagine how he was feeling right now. Amos broke down sobbing over Cedric mumbling things to him over and over. This was when Cedric spoke for the first time; "Dad. I-it's okay I'm fine." Cedric tried to sit up, but he whimpered and led back down. "Don't move Cedric, it's okay my boy, help is coming." Suddenly, Madam Pomfrey came running through the crowd with a magical stretcher behind her. Dumbledore and Amos helped Cedric onto the stretcher and followed Madam Pomfrey as she walked towards the school with Cedric floating on the stretcher in front of her. The rest of the school followed behind.

"Everybody, back to your common rooms! Lessons for the rest of the week are cancelled." Nobody said anything as we walked back to the school, the only sounds being from everybody's sobs. I didn't go back to the common room though, I followed everyone until I saw Draco and Pansy, they started chatting to me of course about what had just happened and where had I been, but I wasn't listening. I told them I wasn't going back to the dorm tonight because I needed to prepare for something, Pansy was clueless and just smirked at Draco who I gave a look too. He nodded, "We'll see you tomorrow then." I was glad my little plan had worked, Draco thought I was going to 'prepare' for my birthday and Pansy was too busy thinking about how this meant Draco could stay over with her. I wondered what Draco had told Pansy about my birthday. Pansy's parents weren't death eaters, but she knew that mine and Draco's were, we had told her purely because she was our best friend and we knew she'd approve. I doubted Draco would want her to know about him though, although she wouldn't necessarily disapprove, death eaters had a certain stereotype around them that Draco wouldn't want her to think of him. I said goodbye to them and left, I was heading towards the clock tower, I was going to hide in there until it was past hours, and then I was going to sneak into the hospital wing to see Cedric.

authors note: this made me SO sad to write honestly, Cedric isn't going to be in for like a chapter or two soon but bear with their story isn't over yet, it's far from over. Im posting another chapter today! I don't think you understand how excited I am to finish this; I can't wait to see how it turns out I'm enjoying writing it so much!!! Thank you all so much for reading and please VOTE!!!!