Go get the girl, Ced.
***
Athena's heart had dropped upon reading George's note.
This was the harsh reality of the war, she realized. It had gotten to the point where she and Fred couldn't even go out for a couple of hours without something horrible happening.
"H-how is this possible? Why would she be at Hogwarts instead of St. Mungos?" Athena asks, her voice shaky as she spoke. "I don't know, love," Fred says behind her- he had been reading the note as well and seemed to be just as concerned. "But we better get going, I'll set up the network now." He says, ushering over to their fireplace.
While Fred had begun to set up their transportation, Athena froze in place. Her mind began to wander to the worst case possible, and part of her began to wonder the reasons as to why Isabella had been attacked.
Apparently, Athena's thoughts had drowned out Fred's words, because once she had snapped out of them, she heard Fred repeatedly calling out to her. "Love?" He asks, "Are you ready to go?"
Athena nods weakly, "Yeah... sorry, it's just-" Fred cuts her off, "I know, me too. But the sooner we get there the better," He tells her.
The two-step inside the fire-place, the power inside Fred's hand and ready to be thrown at any moment.
"HOGWARTS!"
***
When Athena and Fred had arrived at Hogwarts, the two wasted no time rushing over to the Hospital Wing.
However, to their surprise, they had run into a tear-stained Cedric instead.
He had been sat on a bench in front of the Hospital Wing, looking more tired than Athena had seen him in a long time. His hair messy, hands shaking, and although she couldn't see his eyes, she already knew they would be bloodshot.
"Ced?" Athena asks, making the man in front of her lift his head out of his hands. "Athena?" He asks, his heartbroken expression making Athena's face soften, "Hi, love," She says calmly, taking a seat next to him, a reassuring hand on his knee.
"How did you guys get here?" He asks, "We wanted to send a Patronus, but Remus said that you guys were-" Fred cuts him off, "George put a note in the flat before leaving," He answers, "How is she?" The Weasley asks, making Cedric take a sharp breath.
"N-not so good," He says, "S-she, sh-she got hit with an unforgivable." He continues, making Athena audibly gasp as tears filled her eyes. "What?!" She exclaims, a horrid feeling rising in her throat as her mind began to think about the Ravenclaw getting tortured, a shudder running through her spine.
Fred's eyebrows furrow together, "How's that possible?" He asks, "I- I," Cedric began to speak, but he was clearly in no state to be re-telling the story, and that was clearer than ever with Athena. "Freddie," She says, looking at her boyfriend, "You go inside. Get the details from whoever is there, I'll be there with Cedric in a moment."
Fred nods in response, opening the doors and heading inside the Hospital Wing.
Not even mere seconds after Fred had left, Cedric had crumbled down completely. His head landed on Athena's lap as he began to openly sob.
"A-Athena, I couldn't- I couldn't protect her," Cedric chokes out, making Athena's heart tug. "T-they did it- because," But Athena cuts him off, "No, love," She tells him, "You don't need to tell me what happened, not right now," She says, wanting nothing more than to calm her friend down.
Cedric doesn't respond, he just hugs his friend's waist even tighter, sniffles, and choked sobs being heard every other moment. Athena on the other hand had been playing with Cedric's hair, it seemed that stroking it was calming him down immensely, which was all that was important to her right now.
There were multiple people tending to Isabella right now, but nobody was tending to Cedric- who by the looks of it, needed somebody looking after him at the moment more than ever
After a while, Cedric seemed to have visibly calmed. "Are you alright, Ced? Do you think we can go back inside? It's completely fine if you feel like you can-" Cedric cuts her off, "W-we can," He says, slowly getting off of her lap, "You should get to know what had happened."
***
After Cedric had recomposed himself, the two went back inside the Hospital Wing. Where Athena was fairly surprised to see a decent amount of the Order there.
Dumbledore and McGonagall had been there, of course. But so were Tonks, Remus, Lupin, Sirius, George, and Fred as well.
"Athena," Elliot breathed out, spotting his friend not long after she'd come in. The two embraced into a bone-crushing hug without moments hesitation. Athen had visibly relaxed in the arms of her friend, it'd been a few months since she had seen him, and upon being in his arms again, she had instantly felt better.
Elliot and Athena had always shared a bond that no one around them would ever understand. They were close in a sense that was beyond friendship, yet always remained purely platonic. It was moments like these that had reminded everyone of the fact.
Athena tightens her grip around her best friend, before slowly beginning to pull away to face the rest of the group. "How is she?" She asks, getting closer to the hospital bed Isabella had been unconscious on, her eyes brimming with tears as the horrid image of her getting tortured ran through Athena's mind once again.
"We're not sure," Sirius answers honestly, his blunt words making Remus narrow his eyes at the man. "What?!" Sirius exclaims hastily, "There's no point in lying to them, Moony. They aren't kids anymore," He says, his words making a harsh reality sink into Athena.
Sirius was right, they truly weren't kids anymore. They were adults, adults in a war where they might not come out alive out of it. They were adults in a war, but Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the rest aren't- yet they're still going to have to fight this thing.
"What happened?" Athena asks, making everyone look around before Remus began to speak. "Her and Cedric had been in Hogsmead, on a date, I suppose," He says, his revelation making Athena look at Cedric surprised- although she knew it wasn't the time to bring it up. "Death-eaters had run into them and..."
Remus sighs, unable to continue his sentence, so Sirius did for him. "She got hit with the Cruitatius curse." He says point-blankly, making many around him flinch at his sentence.
"I-it's because she's a muggle-born, isn't it?" Athena asks sharply, she already knew the answer, she just didn't want to come to terms with it. An uneasy glance between Tonks and McGonagall before Remus begins to speak, "Well, we assume that was the main reason. Isabella has also been quite clear on which side she's on in the Quibbler, I guess it made her an easy target."
Athena's heart ached at her god-father's words, wondering how people could still be so unbelievably predjuice. "Once she wakes up, we'll assume she has to keep low, most muggle-borns will," Remus says sadly.
At Remus's words, anger coursed through Athena's veins, not at the Werewolf- but at everything they were speaking of. "But what about Hermione?! Or Collin Creevy? Or the hundreds of other muggle-born students at Hogwarts?!" She cries out, "What, are they just supposed to spend the rest of their lives worried about something they can't control?"
Tonks sighs, putting a hand on the distressed girl. "For now, unfortunately yes. But that's why we became Aurors, to put an end to things like this." She says, making a glimmer of hope surge through Athena.
If Athena couldn't change anything right now, she sure as hell would later.
***
Hours had passed since Fred and Athena had arrived at Hogwarts.
People slowly had begun to leave. The first was Tonks, she had an Auror mission with Kingsley early tomorrow morning. Then Sirius and Remus had gone back to Grimmuald Place as well, even offered Elliot to stay with them until he went back to Germany- however, he'd politely declined, said he wouldn't leave Isabella's side until she had woken up.
The only people left now were Cedric, Elliot, Fred, George, and Athena. However, Fred and George had left the other three to have some privacy. Knowing that they were significantly closer to Isabella than they were, and reckoned they needed a moment of privacy.
"So this is how it's going to be like now, isn't it?" Athena sighs, placing her head on Elliot's shoulder. "Muggle-borns in fear for their life, death-eater attacks... nobody is safe anymore."
Cedric puts his hand over Athena's, squeezing it tightly. "But it doesn't have to be like this forever. That's why we're fighting this war in the first place. We are choosing to not let Voldermort win, so that this, it isn't the life our children are going to have to live."
"He's right Thena," Elliot chimed in, "We have to stay strong too, we can't let ourselves crumble apart each time something difficult happens." The Slytherin then looks over at Isabella, "We have to do it for her," He says.
Athena looks down on her lap, "It's so unfair what happened to Bella," She mumbles, tears threatening to spill down her face, but this time she had refused.
"Merlin, you guys look rough. Who died in here?" A new voice says. Athena's head immediately snapping upwards when she realized who it belonged to.
"You idiot!" Athena cries out, "You nearly got tortured to death and that's the first thing you say?!" The Potter shouts out, running up to Isabella as Cedric and Elliot followed suit.
Athena wasted no time engulfing Isabella into a hug- who by surprise, was able to stand. "Never scare us like that again," She breathes out, hugging the girl so tight as if she let go Isabella would disappear.
Elliot watched the two girls embrace, tears spilling down his face as he began to speak, "I can't imagine if we lost you, Bells," He says, joining the hug and holding the both girls with an amount of tightness Athena had never experienced before.
However, in the midst of their group hug, Athena couldn't help but notice a person had been missing. She looked over at Cedric, who had been oddily distant the either time. He hadn't even looked in Isabella's direction once, in fact, he had been looking down at his feet the entire time.
Athena smiles softly, excusing herself from Elliot and Isabella, heading over to Cedric instead. "Hey," She says softly, placing her hand on his bicep. Her touch making Cedric look up at her, "Why haven't you gone to her?" Athena asks.
"Because it's my fault she got tortured in the first place. I failed to protect her," He says, looking back down at his feet once again and refusing to look back up.
Athena narrows her eyes at her best friend, sighing before beginning to speak. "Cedric Amos Diggory, listen to me this instance." She says sharply, reminding Cedric of a mother. "You did absolutely everything you could to help her, don't beat yourself over it. She's alive, we're all alive."
Athena then glances back at Isabella, who despite having Elliot ramble to her- had only been looking at Cedric, "Now, go get the girl, Ced. You two deserve each other after everything,"
***
A/N: I'm gonna be honest. This is probably one of my favorite chapters I've written in a while.