Wormtail approached Harry and Antheia. Antheia tensed her legs so she could support herself when the ropes were untied. Wormtail raised his new silver hand, pulled out the wad of material gagging them, and then, with one swipe, cut through the bonds tying the two of them to the gravestone.
There was a split second, when Antheia considered making a run for the Portkey, but she glanced at Harry, who's injured leg shook under him as he stood on the overgrown grave. The Death Eaters closed ranks, forming a tighter circle around them and Voldemort, so that the gaps where the missing Death Eaters should have stood were filled. Wormtail walked out of the circle to the place where Cedric's body lay, and returned with Harry and Antheia's wand, which he thrust roughly into their hands without looking at them. Then Wormtail resumed his place in the circle of watching Death Eaters.
"You have been taught to duel, Harry Potter, Antheia Lupin?" said Voldemort softly, his red eyes glinting through the darkness.
At these words, Antheia remembered the Duelling Club at Hogwarts she had been to during her second year. All she had learnt there was the Disarming spell, "Expelliarmus" ... but that spell wouldn't be of much use here, she thought. Even if she or Harry had somehow managed to rid Voldemort of his wand, his Death Eaters would surely outnumber them.
"We bow to each other," said Voldemort, bending a little, but keeping his snake-like face upturned to them. "Come, the niceties must be observed ... Dumbledore would like you to show manners, bow to death, now ..."
The Death Eaters were laughing again. Voldemort's lipless mouth was smiling. Antheia and Harry did not bow. She was determined to not let Voldemort play with them. She refused to give him that satisfaction.
"I said, bow," Voldemort said, raising his wand - and Antheia felt her spine curve as though a huge, invisible hand was bending him ruthlessly forwards, and the Death Eaters laughed harder than ever.
"Very good," said Voldemort softly, and as he raised his wand, the pressure bearing down upon Harry and Antheia lifted too. "And now you face me, straight-backed and proud ..."
"Who to kill first ..." Voldemort said, twirling his wand in his fingers. He then turned to Antheia with a slick smile on his face. "Your mother put up a fight. Let's see if you will too."
Voldemort raised his wand, and before Antheia had even raised her wand, she had been hit again with the Cruciatus Curse. The pain was blinding, quite literally. She could not see where she was and white-hot knives seemed to be piercing every inch of his skin. She was aware she was screaming but she could barely hear herself, or the horror-filled yells of Harry beside her.
And then it stopped. Antheia jumped to her feet; she was shaking uncontrollably. Antheia turned to Harry but as soon as she did, Voldemort had hit him with the Cruciatus Curse. Harry was on the floor, screaming louder than she had ever heard him scream before.
"A little break," said Voldemort, the slit-like nostrils dilating with excitement as he removed the curse from Harry, "a little pause ... that hurt, didn't it, Harry and Antheia? You don't want me to do that again, do you?"
Antheia didn't answer. If she was going to die in this graveyard, she wasn't going to die being teased by Voldemort.
"I asked you whether you want me to do that again?" said Voldemort softly. "Answer me! Imperio!"
And Antheia felt the sensation that her mind had been wiped of all thought ... it was blissful, to be away from her mind, it was as if she was simply dreaming ... just answer "no" ... say "no" ... just answer "no" ...
I won't, said a voice in the back of her head, I will never ...
Just answer "no" ...
I will not ...
Just answer "no" ...
"I WON'T!"
And these words burst from Harry's mouth; they echoed through the graveyard, and the dream state Antheia was in was lifted as suddenly as though cold water had been thrown over her - back rushed the aches that the Cruciatus Curse had left all over her body - back in the realisation of where she was ...
"You won't?" said Voldemort quietly, and the Death Eaters were laughing now. "You won't say 'no'? Harry, obedience is a virtue I need to teach you before you die ... perhaps another little dose of pain?"
Voldemort raised his wand, but this time Harry was ready; with the reflexes born of his Quidditch training, he took a hold of Antheia's arm and flung them sideways onto the ground; they rolled behind the marble headstone of Voldemort's father, and Harry heard it crack as the curse missed them.
"Antheia, are you okay?" whispered Harry quickly, looking down her bruises. "I'm sorry, there was nothing I could do, I -"
"Are you okay? You're the one he's after," whispered Antheia, "We've got to find a way back to the Portkey."
"What if I try to hold him off for a bit, and you make a run for it?"
"I don't know if that spell did something to your head, Harry, but you're mad if you think I'm leaving you here," said Antheia looking him straight in the eye. "This is as important to me as it is to you."
"We are not playing hide-and-seek," said Voldemort's soft, cold voice, drawing nearer, as the Death Eaters laughed. "You cannot hide from me. Does this mean you are tired of our duel? Does this mean that you would prefer me to finish it now, Harry, Antheia? Come out ... come out and play, then ... it will be quick ... it might even be painless ... I would not know ... I have never died ..."
Harry and Antheia crouched behind the headstone. Antheia didn't know what she could do. There seemed to be no hope ... no help to be had. And as she heard Voldemort draw nearer still, she knew she was not going to die crouching behind a gravestone, cowering in front of Voldemort. She was going to put up a fight, just like Voldemort said her mother had done.
Before Voldemort could stick his snake-like face around the headstone, Harry had stood up ... he gripped his wand tightly in his hand, thrust it out in front of him, and threw himself around the headstone, facing Voldemort.
Voldemort was ready. As Harry shouted "Expelliarmus!", Voldemort cried, "Avada Kedavra!"
A jet of green light issued from Voldemort's wand just as a jet of red light blasted from Harry's - they met in mid-air - and suddenly, Harry's wand was vibrating as though an electric charge was surging through it; his hand had seized up around it; he couldn't have released it if he'd wanted to - and a narrow beam of light was now connecting the two wands, neither red nor green, but bright, deep gold - and Harry, following the beam with his astonished gaze, saw that Voldemort's long white fingers, too, were gripping a wand that was shaking and vibrating.
And then - nothing could have prepared them for this - Antheia and Harry felt their feet lift from the ground. The three of them, Voldemort included, were both being raised into the air, their wands still connected by that thread of shimmering golden light. They were gliding away from the tombstone of Voldemort's father, and then came to rest on a patch of ground that was clear and free of graves ... The Death Eaters were shouting they were asking Voldemort for instructions; they were closing in; re-forming the circle around Harry, Antheia, and Voldemort, the snake slithering at their heels, some of them drawing their wands -
The golden thread connecting Harry and Voldemort splintered: though the wands remained connected, a thousand more offshoots arced high over them, criss-crossing all around them, until Harry, Antheia, and Voldemort were enclosed in a golden, dome-shaped web, a cage of light, beyond which the Death Eaters circled like jackals, their cries strangely muffled now ...
"Do nothing!" Voldemort shrieked to the Death Eaters, and Antheia saw his red eyes wide with astonishment at what was happening, saw him fighting to break the thread of light still connecting his wand with Harry's; Harry held onto his wand more tightly, with both hands, and the golden thread remained unbroken. "Do nothing unless I command you!" Voldemort shouted to the Death Eaters.
And then an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air ... it was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around the three of them. It was a sound Harry recognised, though he had heard it only once before in his life ... phoenix song ...
It was the sound of hope to Harry ... the most beautiful and welcome thing he had ever heard in his life ... he felt as though the song was inside him instead of just around him ... it was the sound he connected with Dumbledore, and it was almost as though a friend was speaking in his ear ...
Don't break the connection.
I know, Harry told the music, I know I mustn't ... but no sooner had he thought it, than the thing became much harder to do. His wand began to vibrate more powerfully than ever ... and now the beam between him and Voldemort changed, too ... it was as though large beads of light were sliding up and down the thread connecting the wands - Harry felt his wand give a shudder under his hand, as the light beads began to slide slowly and steadily his way ... the direction of the beam's movement was now towards him, from Voldemort, and he felt his wand shudder angrily ...
As the nearest bead of light moved nearer to Harry's wand tip, the wood beneath his fingers grew so hot he feared it would burst into flame. The closer that bead moved, the harder Harry's wand vibrated; he was sure his wand would not survive contact with it; it felt as though it was about to shatter under his fingers -
He concentrated every last particle of his mind upon forcing the bead backwards towards Voldemort, his ears full of phoenix song, his eyes furious, fixated ... and slowly, very slowly, the beads quivered to a halt, and then, just as slowly, they began to move the other way ... and it was Voldemort's wand that was vibrating extra hard now ... Voldemort who looked astonished, and almost fearful ...
One of the beads of light was quivering, inches from the tip of Voldemort's wand. Harry didn't understand why he was doing it, didn't know what it might achieve ... but he now concentrated as he had never done in his life, on forcing that bead of light right back into Voldemort's wand ... and slowly ... very slowly ... it moved along the golden thread ... it trembled for a moment ... and then it connected ...
At once, Voldemort's wand began to emit echoing screams of pain ... then - Voldemort's red eyes widened with shock - a dense, smoky hand flew out of the tip of it and vanished ... the ghost of the hand he had made Wormtail ... more shouts of pain ... and then something much larger began to blossom from Voldemort's wand tip, a great, greyish something that looked as though it was made of the most solid, densest smoke ... it was a head ... now a chest and arms ... the torso of Cedric Diggory.
Antheia's mouth opened in shock and she was grateful that Harry's instinct kept him clutching his wand tightly, so that the thread of golden light remained unbroken, even though the thick grey ghost of Cedric Diggory (was it a ghost? It looked so solid) emerged in its entirety from the end of Voldemort's wand, as though it was squeezing itself out of a very narrow tunnel ... and this shade of Cedric stood up, and looked up and down the golden thread of light, and spoke.
"Hold on," it said.
Its voice was distant and echoing. Antheia looked at Voldemort ... his wide, red eyes were still shocked ... he had no more expected this than Harry and Antheia had ... and, very dimly, Antheia heard the frightened yells of the Death Eaters, prowling around the edges of the golden dome ...
More screams of pain from the wand ... and then something else emerged from its tip ... the dense shadow of a second head, quickly followed by arms and torso ... an old man Harry had once seen in a dream was now pushing himself out of the end of the wand just as Cedric had done ... and his ghost, or his shadow, or whatever it was, fell next to Cedric's, and surveyed them, and the golden web, and the connected wads, with mild surprise, leaning on his walking stick ...
"He was a real wizard, then?" the old man said, his eyes on Voldemort. "Killed me, that one did ... you fight him ..."
But already, yet another head was emerging ... and this head, grey as a smoky statue, was a woman's ... Antheia saw her drop to the ground and straighten up like the others, staring ...
The shadow of Bertha Jorkins surveyed the battle before her with wide eyes.
"Don't let go, now!" she cried, and her voice echoed like Cedric's, as though from very far away. "Don't let him get you, Harry - don't let go!"
She and the other two shadowy figures began to pace around the inner walls of the golden web, while the Death Eaters flitted around the outside of it ... and Voldemort's dead victims whispered as they circled the duelers, whispered words of encouragement to Harry, and hissed words Harry and Antheia couldn't hear to Voldemort.
Once again, a head was emerging from the tip of Voldemort's wand ... and Antheia knew who it would be before they had even emerged.
The shadow of a woman started to fall to the ground and Harry thought at first that she was Antheia. He then saw that the woman was older than Antheia and with slightly different eyes. Harry realized that she was -
"Mom," Antheia whispered. Frozen with disbelief, she stared at the woman whom she had almost no memory of. Mary straightened up, glancing quickly at the scene around her. Her eyes landed on Harry and Antheia.
"Don't give up, now," she said firmly. "They're coming ..."
And now another head was emerging from the tip of Voldemort's wand ... and Harry knew when he saw it who it would be ...
The smoky shadow of a young woman with long hair fell to the ground as Mary had done, straightened up, and looked at them ... and Harry, his arms shaking madly now, looked back into the ghostly face of his mother.
"Your father's coming ..." she said quietly. "He wants to see you ... it will be all right ... hold on ..."
And he came ... first his head, then his body ... tall and untidy-haired like Harry, the smoky, shadowy form of James Potter blossomed from the end of Voldemort's wand, fell to the ground, and straightened like his wife. He walked close to Harry and Antheia, looking down at them, and he spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear ...
"When the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments ... but we will give you time ... you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Hogwarts ... do you understand, Harry, Antheia?"
"Yes," Antheia said. Harry was fighting now to keep a hold on his wand, which was slipping and sliding beneath his fingers.
"Harry ..." whispered the figure of Cedric, "take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my parents ..."
"I will," said Harry, his face screwed up with the effort of holding the wand.
"Do it now," whispered his father's voice. "Be ready to run ... do it now ..."
"NOW!" Harry yelled; he didn't think he could have held on for another moment anyway - he pulled his wand upwards with an almighty wrench, and the golden thread broke; the cage of light vanished, the phoenix song died - but the shadowy figures of Voldemort's victims did not disappear - they were closing in upon Voldemort, shielding Harry and Antheia from his gaze -
And Antheia and Harry ran as they had never run in their lives, knocking two stunned Death Eaters aside as they passed; the two of them zigzagged behind headstones, feeling their curses following them, hearing them hit the headstones - they were dodging curses and graves, pelting towards Cedric's body. Antheia, out of breath and legs burning, was concentrating her whole being on what she and Harry had to do, and it seemed Harry was doing the same -
"Stun them!" Antheia heard Voldemort scream.
Ten feet from Cedric, Antheia and Harry dived behind a marble angel to avoid the jets of red light and saw the tip of its wing shatter as the spells hit it. Gripping their wands more tightly, they dashed out from behind the angel -
"Impedimenta!" Antheia yelled, pointing her wand blindly over her shoulder at the Death Eaters running at him.
From a muffled yell, she thought she had stopped at least one of them, but there was no time to turn and look; they jumped over the Cup and dived as Antheia heard more wand blasts behind them; more jets of light flew over their heads as they fell, stretching out her hand to grab Cedric by the arm -
"Stand aside! I will kill them! They are mine!" shrieked Voldemort.
Antheia's hand had closed on Cedric's arm; one tombstone stood between them and Voldemort, but Cedric was too heavy to carry, and the Cup was out of reach -
Voldemort's red eyes flamed in the darkness. Antheia saw his mouth curl into a smile, saw him raise his wand.
"Accio!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at the Triwizard Cup.
It flew into the air, and soared towards them - Harry, gripping Antheia by the wrist, caught it by the handle -
They heard Voldemort's scream of fury at the same moment as they felt the jerk behind them that meant the Portkey had worked - it was speeding them away in a whirl of wind and colour, Cedric along with them ... they were going back ...
─ ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─
a/n: I'll add more to Mary's character later on, I promise :)