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Dumbledore sounded, snapping Y/N out of her thoughts as he turned to look at the group, "There is work to be done." he told, "Molly, Arthur ..am I right thinking I can count on the both of you?"
"Of course you can." Mrs Weasley replied, she was white to her lips, though the look she held was incredibly resolute. Dumbledore formed a small smile as he clicked his tongue, "All those that we can persuade of the truth must be notified immediately , and Arthur, I believe you are well placed to contact those at the Ministry who are not as short-sighted as Cornelius."
Arthur immediately nodded with a determined look, "Definitely."
Dumbledore turned towards Y/M/N who was still seated beside the Ravenclaw, "Y/M/N I believe you and Y/D/N, could help on this matter too."
She as well, instantly nodded in response, "I'll do whatever that needs to be done." she responded genuinely. A sudden determination flashed through the Ravenclaw at the mention of her father as she attempted to hop off her bed, "I'll get to dad-"
"No, you stay here." Y/M/N ordered as once more she was pushed back onto the bed, "What you need is rest, let us handle this okay? You've done more than enough tonight."
The Ravenclaw let out a scoff as she once more tried to pry herself up from her mother's grip, though she was pushed back more harshly as her mother shot her a pointed look. Finally and very unwillingly she obliged, "Fine."
"I'll get in contact with Y/D/N, right now." Y/M/N stated, she pecked the Ravenclaw on the forehead, and, without another word, left the hospital wing.
"Minerva." Dumbledore called, turning towards Professor McGonagall, "I want to see Hagrid in my office as soon as possible. Also, if she will consent to come, Madame Maxime."
McGonagall nodded and left the hospital wing without another word. Madam Pomfrey had also left to her office, which Dumbledore made sure of as he moved to shut the doors of the hospital wing.
"And now." Dumbledore voiced, "It is time for two of our number to recognize each other for what they are. Sirius...if you could resume your usual form."
Just then, the black dog had transformed back into a man as Mrs Weasley let out a shriek,leaping back from the bed, "Sirius Black!"
"Mum, shut up!" Ron yelled as she grabbed his mom by the wrist, trying to get her to calm down, "It's ok!"
Snape however, had not yelled or jumped backwards, but the look on his face was one that mingled fury and horror, "Him!" he snarled as he glared at Sirius whose face showed equal dislike, "What is he doing here?!"
"He is here at my invitation." Dumbledore told, flickering his gaze between them, "as are you Severus, I trust you both. It is time for you to lay aside your old differences, and trust each other."
Though, the two only continued to stare at each other with the utmost loathing, even the Ravenclaw thought if they two were to make up it'd be a near miracle.
"I will, settle in the short term." Dumbledore stated, with a hint of impatience in his voice, "for lack of open hostility. You will shake hands. You are on the same side now. Time is short, and unless the few of us who know the truth stand united, there is no hope for any of us."
Very very slowly, Sirius and Snape moved towards each other and shook hands, they were still glaring at each other and after just one shake, their hands let go extremely quickly.
"That will do to be going on with." Dumbledore sighed, "Now I have work for each of you. Fudge's attitude, though not unexpected, changes everything. Sirius, I need you to set off at once. You are to alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher...the old crowd. Lie low at Lupin's for a while, I will contact you there."
"But-" Harry sounded, the Ravenclaw could tell by the look on his face, he wanted Sirius to stay, he didn't want to say goodbye so quickly, "You'll see me very soon, Harry." Sirius told softly as he turned towards him, "I promise you. But I must do what I can, you understand, don't you?"
"Yeah..." Harry responded with a slow nod, "Yeah...of course I do."
Sirius then motioned to grasp his hand and turned to the Ravenclaw to grasp hers as well, "You two take care of yourselves, I promise I'll see you both very soon."
Just then, he had transformed back into the black dog, and ran the length of the room to the door, used his paw to the handle, and there, he was gone.
"Severus." Dumbledore called, turning towards Snape, "you know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready... if you are prepared.."
"I am." Snape concluded, his face looked slightly paler than usual, his cold eyes, glittering strangely.
"Then, good luck." Dumbledore responded, and he watched, with a trace of apprehension on his face as Snape swept wordlessly after Sirius.
There was several minutes of silence, before finally, Dumbledore spoke again, "I must go downstairs," he told, "I must see Mr Diggory-"
"Could I come too?" Y/N questioned genuinely, she wanted to apologize, ever since she came back from the graveyard she had been feeling extremely guilty, she needed to apologize, she needed to get it off her chest.
Though, Dumbledore didn't seem to approve, shaking his head, "What you need now is rest, Y/N, Madam Pomfrey has prepared another bottle of the potion for you, take it. I will see you all later."
Y/N irritatedly slumped down onto her pillow as Dumbledore disappeared, it was silent for a very long time, everyone around was just staring at her as she had her palms over her face.
"You've got to take your potion, Y/N." Mrs Weasley said at last as her hand nudged the sack of gold on her bedside cabinet, reaching for the bottle and the goblet, "You have a good long sleep. Try and think about something else for a while...think about what you're going to buy with your winnings!"
"I don't want that gold." Y/N grumbled in an expressionless voice, "You can have it, anyone can. I shouldn't have won anyways. It should've been Cedric's."
Once again, she could feel the burning, prickling feeling in the inner corner of her eyes, slumping further into her bed as she stared emotionless into her ceiling, the feeling of remorse flooding through her entire body as she sunk deeper and deeper into the mattress of the bed.
"It wasn't your fault, Y/N." Lizzy comforted, earning a scoff from the Ravenclaw, "No. It is." she growled, "If I hadn't told him to take the cup with me, if I hadn't suggested that stupid idea..."
The burning feeling has crept down to her throat too, she could feel her eyes beginning to swell up, the feelings she had tried to suppress throughout the entire night was all coming back to her.
Suddenly, she felt a pair of arms wrapping themselves around Y/N, it was a touch she recognized,a touch that would always provide her with warmth, though that didn't stop the visions from coming back.
The sound of Lily and James Potter's voices, the sight of Cedric...Cedric dead on the ground, all spinning in her head as she buried her face deeper into the crook of her girlfriend's neck, her arms had wrapped themselves on her waist, it was too much for her to bear.
She heard a soft sniffle whispering past her ear, that was the line that broke her as a tear trickled down her cheek, onto the fabric of the bushy-haired girl's shirt as Hermione had tears trickling slowly down her own.
A few minutes has passed until Mrs Weasley gently pried Hermione away from the Ravenclaw as she quickly wiped away her tears, "Sorry." Hermione whispered out, earning a shake of a head from Mrs Weasley.
"Your potion, Y/N." Mrs Weasley sniffled quickly, wiping her own tear with the back of her hand. That was when the Ravenclaw noticed, it wasn't only her and Hermione who were in tears, it seemed that Lizzy, Caleb and Mrs Weasley had tears of their own.
"Thank all of you, honestly, thank you for being here." Y/N whispered quietly, earning a scoff from Lizzy along with a sniffle, "Of course, Y/N/N. We're all one big family, what'd you expect?"
Soft snickers escaped the Ravenclaw's lips as she sent the blonde haired girl a weak smile, "Here, sleep, you deserve it." Mrs Weasley told as she handed the goblet over to the Ravenclaw.
Y/N drank the potion in one shot . The effect was intantaneous. Heavy, irresistible waves of dreamless sleep broke over her, falling deeper into her pillows and thought no more.
♗♗♗
A week later, Y/N found herself having only a few memories of the following days, it was like her mind couldn't take any more in, she couldn't bare anything more. Though, the only recollections she had of these days were in fact, painful.
Especially when she had to meet Amos Diggory the day after the incident, he didn't blame her for what had happened, instead he thanked her for bringing Cedric's body back to him. Amos sobbed throughout their entire conversation, it took a lot of resistance for the Ravenclaw to hold back her own.
"He must've been happy." Amos sniffled, "He died when he'd won the tournament."
The Ravenclaw only response was to nod, she knew she could never understand the pain he had felt, not know that the last time he'd ever see Cedric was before the maze, this thought caused guilt once more to rush through her body, the guilt that she had been holding for so long.
"I'm sorry, Mr Diggory..." she told softly, "I shouldn't have asked him to grab the Triwizard Cup with me..."
She felt an arm being place on her shoulder, lifting her gaze she was met with Amos Diggory who was shaking his head, "It wasn't your fault, you've done more than enough, Cedric would be proud of you."
Y/N could only break a small, weak smile as she watched him get up onto his feet, though she quickly stopped him as she seized the sack of gold on the bedside table and handed it to him.
"You take this," she muttered to him, "It should've been Cedric's, he got there first, you take it-"
But he backed away from her, "Oh no, it's yours, I couldn't... take it...you keep it."
The days after that were horrible, even though Dumbledore had made an announcement for everyone to not badger her with any questions of what had happened that night, she'd still get plenty of whispers and looks from students passing by.
She reckoned they had made their own versions as to how Cedric had died, considering almost everybody in the wizarding world must've known about her sharing blood with Voldemort, but she found that she didn't care really much.
The only best times she had was when she'd be either in the Ravenclaw or Gryffindor common room, where her friends were at, ever since that night, they hadn't talked about it at all, they have been talking about everything but that night.
She was definitely grateful,but they all had this understanding without words that they wanted some information about what was happening outside of Hogwarts, what is going to happen now? What does this mean for Y/N and Harry?
Besides all that, Hermione had been a great support throughout the days. She was constantly trying to be by Y/N's side, having mutual conversations about the usual books, muggle movies, their school subjects and all the usual, just like nothing had ever happened.
There were even a few nights where Hermione had invited her to sleep at her dorm, and those nights were always the most calmed and peaceful ones, those were the nights where she'd have close to no dreams about Voldemort or Cedric.
Though, there was this one time where Ron did touch on the topic in the slightest bit, he told the group that Mrs Weasley had a meeting with Dumbledore, "She asked if you two could come to stay with us at the Burrow."
"What'd Dumbledore say?" Harry asked curiously as Ron's lips pursed together, shaking his head a no, but Harry didn't seem all too disappointed about it, "Well, at least I'd be able to stay at the Y/L/N's instead of the Dursleys."
"About that...." Ron trailed off, earning a very quizzical glare from the raven-haired boy and the Ravenclaw as Ron sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "Mum told me that Dumbledore wanted the both of you to stay at the Dursleys"
Y/N and Harry's jaws instantly dropped wide open, was she hearing this right? She and Harry going to the Dursley's during summers? "Wait, me and Harry? Why can't we stay at my place?"
"She said Dumbledore got his reasons." Ron told, shaking his head darkly, "I suppose we've got to trust him, haven't we?"
The Ravenclaw couldn't even stand five minutes with the Dursleys, and now she had to stay there for the entire summer holidays. But she couldn't get herself to argue about it, she was still all too exhausted to fight.
During her last week of term, she and her friend group would often head down to Hagrid's for some tea or to catch up, the Ravenclaw did ask Hagrid about what Dumbledore had asked him to do, but obviously he didn't give a straightforward answer.
Though, he did comfort her about the situation, "No good sittin' worryin' abou' it." he said, "What's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when it does."
"Yeh did as much as yeh can, Y/N, everybod' , alive or dead, are proud o' yeh." he praised, earning a smile from the Ravenclaw, smiling seemed to become rarer within these days, it felt good to be able to break out a smile.
Despite that, she agreed with Hagrid, he was right, only time can tell what the future for her and Harry holds.
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