Cedric looks out his window, a pained grimace on his face. He hates being here, locked up and with no way of communicating with the outside world, at least not anymore. His father, Amos Diggory, found almost all his parchment, he still has some hidden, and about the necklace. The one with the golden egg, the only way he could've still been in contact with Harry. Cedric bites down on his lips. The pain of not knowing what's going on almost unbearable, he misses Harry so much. He has a deep seated need for the teen. His mate... He must seriously be mad at him for not keeping in touch. Cedric feels responsible and terrible for what he's putting Harry through.
There's a light breeze outside and the late summer sun beats harshly down on the dry earth. Overall it's been a very dry and hot summer. Speaking of dryness, he licks his chapped lips. He's thirsty but won't dare to ask, Cedric wants to stay as far away from his father as possible. That man has made his life miserable for so long. Feeding his prejudice and homophobia into Cedric. Abused him physically and emotionally. Cedric just feels drained beyond belief.
His empathy has also grown stronger over the summer, now he can feel emotions within a hundred metre radius. It's due to this fact that Cedric knows Amos hates him. There is no love only loathing and pure hatred. It makes Cedric flinch every time and he hates it. A sob shudders his body, when will this misery stop? When will he finally be free? Cedric wants to be free and leave his past behind, he no longer wants to be tortured. Doesn't want to be so...so...submissive. He pauses for a second. There...steps are approaching his room. His breathing strains as his chest constricts in terror. It's his father. Cedric shakes with fear, he has nowhere to run, no way of escaping. His eyes run from one side of the room to the other. His breathing picks up in pace and pearls of cold sweat run down his face and neck. There's no stop to his trembling, no end to the fear.
You should've died in that tournament, you ungrateful brat!
The brunette flinches at the memory and then at the thought of his mother, battered and bruised, bloodied and unconscious. No one knows what goes on in the Diggorys' house. No one will ever know. Just pretend to be perfect. Be the good boy and do what you are told. You are too stupid to think for yourself, let your big man do all the talking.
The steps are so much closer now. Heavy and loud. His heart races and his eyes blow wide in fear.
Stupid boy! Hufflepuffs are known to be unremarkable! How did I deserve such a useless son!
Tears continue to flow down his cheeks. His eyes are puffy and red, snot covering his sleeves. This is the miserable heap that Cedric has been reduced to. The only time he can remotely get away from his father is when the young man is at Hogwarts.
Blood spurts out of his nose, the hatred and loathing behind his door are so strong and all encompassing. His heart tightens in his chest, there is so much fear.
The door handle goes down, one flinch. The door opens and a man, stocky build and brown bearded, comes in. Another flinch and a whimper. Cedric takes shy slow steps backward. His body going rigid.
Amos quickly closes the gap between them and continues invading Cedric's boundaries.
There is an emotion even stronger than the deeply rooted hate and it's suffocating. His knees tremble, barely able to hold his weight. There are no words exchanged and a wicked gleam lays in those brown eyes. It's dark and cold. The brunette shivers as he finds himself pressed flatly against the wall. His breath hitches and catches in his throat. It's cold yet hot at the same time. He feels numb, there's nothing left...he will just suffer...it's agony and he can't even muster fear, can't acknowledge. His mind just won't wrap around the things that happen. How long, he doesn't know, nor does he want to know.
His back arches as the wind picks up, just like his confusion. Strong, fast and overwhelming. Too much is happening and his mouth falls open.
"Be a good boy now. This is the only thing you are good for."
It sends a jolt of disgust and pain through his body. He thinks he screamed but isn't certain. His mind disassociates as a fog covers his coherent thoughts. Grey eyes cloud over with a sheen of new tears, becoming dull with the seemingly endless hopelessness.
He's left panting, dirty and absolutely revolted by himself. His body aches all over, sore and raw. But most notably it's bare, he is bare, just like the day he was born. But a person isn't born filthy or disgusting... Blood oozes out of freshly torn wounds. A black eye present and a blistered lip. He can't move... Can't do anything... Cedric is and will always be utterly hopeless. He can't face Harry like this he thinks as shame takes over his bare body. Clothes discarded to the side in a heap. The wind is still there. The room smells terrible and Cedric feels absolutely disgusted. His head faces the ground as all the contents in his stomach spill out of him. His stomach twists and knots, he whimpers pathetically. That's what he is...pathetic and useless. He's a Hufflepuff and Hufflepuffs are unremarkable and they always will be.
His mind turns blank and he falls to the ground exhausted and utterly hopeless. This is a new low...emotions keep beating down on him as he loses the last bit of conscience he's been grasping and clinging onto.
...
Cedric dully grasps the letter brought by Hedwig, Harry's snowy owl. Harry hasn't given up with the letters, but Cedric can't send any back. Somehow they all disappear as soon as he ties them to any owl. It's frustrating but Cedric can't bother with such emotion. He doesn't care anymore or at least that's what he pretends not to do.
He carefully opens the neat letter and as his eyes scan through the contents his mouth starts gaping and his eyes widen in fear.
Dearest Cedric,
I'm expecting an explanation for your prolonged silence the next time we see each other. I don't know why the notebook isn't working or the telepathic connection, but I hope you are well.
But this isn't why I'm writing you this letter, at least not fully. In any case, I cast magic with my wand fending off Dementors at little Winging. I also have a terrible feeling that the ritual in June did not go as smoothly as I had hoped.
So, as I was saying, the ministry send a letter of expulsion first and then a suspension from Hogwarts. My hearing at the ministry will be on the 12th of August. In roughly four days some Aurors will come to my house and take me to 12 Grimmauld place in London.
I truly hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely yours,
Harry
Ps. If your silence has something to do with your father I want to hear all the details. Cedric, I wish I could be there with you and get rid of all your worries. I love you and I always will, but I'm sick with worry over here. Just remember that you aren't alone.
Tears stain the white parchment. Cedric clutches the heartfelt letter close to his heart. He shouldn't think the way he has the past few days. Just remembering has him reeling and ready to vomit. He was so sore after that, so filthy, so scared and disgusting. He wants to hate...but with his empathy it's been getting harder and harder to do. He has too much love locked inside of him just waiting to come out.
Harry's hearing is soon. Cedric has to be there! Sitting, still hurts like hell but if it's for Harry, he will do anything. Maybe he can somehow convince his father to let him come along, using some form of favourable positivity for the Diggory image.
His head starts pounding again, there's just so much noise... He needs Harry...and soon. Cedric licks his dry lips. Over the past month he has been dreaming of holding his beautiful mate in his arms again, kissing him, feeling him and get a taste of his emotions. When he's around Harry, he feels complete, like he can master anything.
Cedric has been becoming more aware of his surroundings, the way people feel towards him and how vastly different his sense of perception has become since Samhain of 1994. He grimaces at the thought of the Triwizard tournament. While sixth year was the best year in terms of his relations, it was also the worst, what with the tournament going on. Sometimes Cedric finds himself wishing he hadn't put his name in the cup.
He sighs as he places the last letter from Harry with the rest. Maybe he should attempt to write one again. He wants to let Harry know that he hasn't been ignored. That Cedric still loves him and misses him.
He takes out a piece of parchment and a quill.
Dearest, Harry
I have not been ignoring you. My letters constantly disappear as soon as I tie them to the owl I'm about to send off. Do you think this could be Dumbledore's doing? I've been doing as best as I can with my father. Also, my empathy has become stronger over the last month, these emotions are a constant buzzing in the back of my head and sometimes it becomes too overwhelming. And that thing inside me has also been eerily silent. Do you think I will snap like that again? What if I do? I don't want to hurt you again.
Please be careful with what you say at your hearing. I'll try to be there, but unfortunately I can't promise anything. I really wish this letter reaches you. Never forget that I love you. You will always be the best thing I've ever had the pleasure of having, does this sound too possessive? In any case, I love you with all my might.
Sincerely yours,
Cedric.
He hopefully clenches the letter to his heart and closes his eyes. He wants this to reach Harry, wherever he might be right now. Please let this reach him. Cedric doesn't want to lose the younger brunette. He doesn't want to see Harry hurt by him or anybody else for that matter. He cares too deeply for the time traveller.
...
"It's all right, Harry. We've come to take you away."
Harry's heart leaps. He knows that voice, too well, though he hasn't heard it for such a long time.
"R-Remus?" he says disbelievingly. "Is that you?"
As Harry is about to go downstairs, Hedwig comes swooping in from his room and perches herself on his shoulder and nips his ear affectionately. Then he hears a silent pop and a letter appears in his hands, he quirks an eyebrow and upon unfolding it gasps loudly. This is a letter from Cedric! His Cedric! After so long. But he doesn't have time to read it at this instant. The black haired boy carefully slips the letter into his jacket pocket.
"Why are we all standing in the dark?" says a third voice, this one makes Harry smirk, Nymphadora Tonks. "Lumos."
A wand-tip flares, illuminating the hall with magical light. Harry blinks. The people below are crowded around the foot of the stairs, gazing up at him intently, some craning their heads for a better look.
Remus Lupin stands nearest to him. Though still quite young, Lupin looks tired and rather ill; he has more grey hairs than when Harry last said good-bye to him and his robes are more patched and shabbier than ever. Nevertheless, he is smiling broadly at Harry, who smiles back with a light pain in his gaze. This is his father, the very person he looked up to during third year, the one who doesn't remember him.
"Oooh, he looks just like I thought he would," says Tonks, who is holding her lit wand aloft. She has a pale heart-shaped face, dark twinkling eyes, and short spiky hair that is a violent shade of pink. "Wotcher, Harry!"
"Yeah, I see what you mean, Remus," says a bald black wizard standing furthest back; he has a deep, slow voice and wears a single gold hoop in his ear. "He looks exactly like James."
Harry grits his teeth and mentally tells himself to calm down. They are seeing Harry Potter not Harry Lupin. He looks with green eyes at his father. He's in pain, he wants to tell Remus so badly. He wants to be hugged by the man, the same way that Sev would do ever so occasionally. They should've never been separated in the first place.
"Except the eyes," says a wheezy-voiced, silver-haired wizard at the back. "Lily's eyes."
Harry rolls said green eyes. "Just because I look like them does not mean I am them or anywhere remotely close to how they were. I'm not a know it all, I'm not pompous, I'm not a bully and furthermore, I'm not petty. I may not remember much about them but I know enough to know that as I currently am I could never get along with either of them. Which reminds me, I saw them at the graveyard this June. Didn't go too well."
The room is left stunned at the coldness dripping from the fifteen-year-old's voice.
Mad-Eye Moody, who has long grizzled grey hair and a large chunk missing from his nose, is squinting suspiciously at Harry through his mismatched eyes. One eye is small, dark and beady, the other large, round and electric blue–the magical eye that can see through walls, doors, and the back of Moody's own head.
"Are you quite sure it's him, Lupin?" he growls, most likely seeing through the glamour. "It'd be a nice lookout if we bring back some Death Eater impersonating him. We ought to ask him something only the real Potter would know. Unless anyone brought any Veritaserum?"
Harry rolls his eyes. "Remus, before you ask about my Patronus the form changed. It happened after Samhain last year. It's a wolf now, his name is Lupus, not very creative, I know. I would show him to you but that would mean using underage magic. Do you perhaps have a different question? Perhaps the contents of the letter you send me back last year? Or the fact that I wanted to talk to you while Snape was around? Or maybe something about Sirius and Pettigrew?" At that Harry mentally face palms. He fucking did not! He's an idiot! He fucking let Peter escape. He forgot about the rat in his pocket. Granted he was too preoccupied being worried over Cedric and him being a vessel. He sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose.
"That's him, Mad-Eye." Remus says while turning to the ex Auror, who just grunts.
Seeing all the attention still on him, Harry gracefully descends the stairs. Remus offers him his hand and Harry takes it rather awkwardly. It hurts but Harry won't show that. Not to them or himself. This will probably lead to tears towards the night when everything has settled down.
Harry acknowledges all magicals present in the house and gives them a respectful nod. His eyes linger on Tonks, who notices and winks at him. "Like what you see?"
"Tonks!" Remus exclaims.
Harry giggles and waves his father off, "No, it's fine Remus. With all due respect Tonks, I prefer wizards over witches. But if you want the truth then, yes I do quite enjoy what I see."
The young woman laughs with a small blush, Remus squawks and the rest of the Aurors look at a loss for words.
"When will we go? Not to the Burrow I presume... No that isn't safe... A safe place, will you tell me where we are going?" Harry voices his thoughts aloud.
"Yes, immediately." Shacklebolt states and Harry nods with a small smile.
"We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off," says Remus, glancing out of the kitchen window. "We've got about fifteen minutes."
"Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles?" says Tonks, who is looking around the kitchen with great interest. "My dad's Muggle-born and he's a right old slob. I suppose it varies, just as it does with wizards?"
Harry nods, "It does. Privet Drive is just like that, it's all about normalcy and image. I do most work around the house, cooking, cleaning and gardening. Which now reminds me, I promised Neville to send him some seeds. I suppose I have to do that after the hearing. Is there anything else I need to know, regarding what happened in June?" He eyes the wizards before him critically.
Several of the witches and wizards make odd hissing noises; Dedalus Diggle drops his hat, and Moody growls, "Shut up!"
"What? Isn't that what silencing wards are for? We are wizards, we should know how to keep a secret, unless of course there's a mole between you," says Harry with a small grin.
"We're not discussing anything here, it's too risky, even with silencing wards," answers Moody, turning his normal eye on Harry. His magical eye remains focused on the ceiling. "Damn it," he ads angrily, putting a hand up to the magical eye, "it keeps getting stuck–ever since that scum wore it–"
And with a nasty squelching sound much like a plunger being pulled from a sink, he pops out his eye.
Harry stifles his giggles, "And yet Barty was able do subdue you and fool everyone. Who knows where he is now... Or if he even is guilty for torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom. If I remember correctly from the pensieve, then Raven Godwin could vouch for all four. Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Rabastan and Barty were never given a fair trial. Just because they were Death Eaters. If you ask me then Malfoy is worse, Nott isn't any better. But that's just my opinion. It's only a matter of time..." He trails off.
"What do you mean, boy?" Moody gruffly asks with a glare. Harry shrugs and secretively places his long index finger on his lips.
"Mad-Eye, you do know that's disgusting, don't you?" says Tonks conversationally after a while.
Moody sighs and then requests, "Get me a glass of water, would you, Harry."
Harry crosses to the dishwasher after a curt nod to the wizened man, takes out a clean glass and fills it with water at the sink, still watched eagerly by the band of wizards. Their relentless staring is starting to annoy him. His eyes twitch in irritation. "I don't fancy being stared at. Not to mention scrutinized, may I ask you to seize this nonsense at once? It's not like I can do much, I'm not allowed to do magic and running away is stupid."
Some look at him stumped and Remus looks at him more intently, causing Harry to tense up. He wants to tell the brunette so badly but he can't.
"Cheers," says Moody, when Harry hands him the glass. He drops the magical eyeball into the water and prods it up and down; the eye whizzes around, staring at them all in turn. "I want three hundred and sixty degrees visibility on the return journey."
"How're we getting–wherever we're going?" Harry asks. Please don't say brooms. Please don't say brooms...
"Brooms," (Damnit!) says Remus. "Only way. You're too young to Apparate, they'll be watching the Floo Network and it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorised Portkey."
"Remus says you're a good flier," remarks Kingsley Shacklebolt in his deep voice.
"He's excellent," says Remus, who is checking his watch. "Anyway, you'd better go and get packed, Harry, we want to be ready to go when the signal comes."
"I'll come and help you," says Tonks brightly.
She follows Harry back into the hall and up the stairs, looking around with much curiosity and interest.
"Funny place," she saye. "It's a bit too clean, d'you know what I mean? Bit unnatural. Oh, this is better," she ads, as they enter Harry's bedroom and he turns on the light.
His room is certainly much messier than the rest of the house. Confined to it for four days in a very bad mood, Harry hasn't had anything better to do than plunge himself into his potions. Most of the books he owns about potions are strewn over the table, stacked haphazardly on top of each other and many underlined and highlighted words on the pages. A few minor scribbles and notes are to be seen as well. He tried to distract himself with each in turn and and scratched a few notes out. Hedwig's cage is clean but his trunk lay open, revealing a jumbled mixture of Muggle clothes and wizards' robes that spilled on to the floor around it. Harry sighs,this always happens when he gets stuck on a potion he can't quite decipher, everything else gets neglected. Theo used to always give him an earful about cleanliness.
Harry starts picking up books and putting them carefully into his trunk. Tonks pauses at his open wardrobe to look critically at her reflection in the mirror on the inside of the door.
"You know, I don't think this garish pink's really my colour," she says pensively, tugging at a lock of spiky hair. "D'you think it makes me look a bit peaky?"
"Try a different shade, pink suits you, just not that shade. Perhaps a lighter one." Harry replies while carrying his Arithmancy book over to his trunk.
"You're a metamorphmagus, aren't you" he offhandedly says, not looking at the young woman. "I've heard from different people. Charlie Weasley being one of them. He speaks quite highly of you and dare I say...fondly." He lets the words sink in. And then hears a splutter coming from his wardrobe, he looks at her through the mirror and smirks at the blush present on her face.
"I don't think so... Charlie and I haven't talked in a while, I doubt he sees me that way." Then her demeanor changes, "But I would hope he speaks highly of me!"
Harry grins, "You seem quite fond of him, from what I can tell." He laughs at her startled squawk. Her face turning beet red.
"Don't worry, even if you haven't spoken in a while, there might be a chance for you to rekindle your friendship. You were yearmates, right? Together with Samuel Reyes and Ben Copper." His face softens with sympathy then, "I'm sorry for Khanna. Something like that shouldn't happen again, people shouldn't be sacrificed for a war. It's the reason I don't want to fight. I want to pursue a carrier as a potions master and open up business with Neville Longbottom and Theodore Nott."
"What type of business?" Her voice soft and somehow...tired. Harry can understand the pain, the pain of knowing someone close to you died. "You seem quite sure of what you want to do after Hogwarts."
Harry nods and walks over to the slightly taller witch. "I do. Neville wants to be a herbologist and Theo a healer. These professions overlap on many bases. Neville would provide ingredients for me and I would provide the potions for Theo. We've decided to talk more specifically during the year. You are an Autor, right?"
She nods but doesn't say anything. Harry sighs and places a hand on her shoulder. "You're thinking about Khanna. You weren't there when it happened and it's not your fault either, no one could've known. I've made many mistakes as well,but I've grown from them. I had to self study on magical law, no one thought it necessary for me to know. I was kept in the dark my whole life, I figured... I figured just how similar I was to Tom."
"Who is Tom?" She questions with a raised eyebrow. Harry laughs, it's strained and laced with deep sorrow.
"You know him better as the dark lord. Tom Marvolo Riddle, heir of Slytherin and Gaunt. He was a half-blood like myself. Grew up in an orphanage, not knowing he was a wizard. Over his years at Hogwarts he grew hateful of muggles. I hate them too. I don't want them to know about magic ever, I don't want to see magic suffer anymore than she already has. This war needs to end. And I want to prevent as much bloodshed as possible."
"How do you know all of that? No one knows about who the dark lord was before..." She ezes him suspiciously. Harry takes the opportunity, it's now or never. With a wave of his hand the glamour around him drops and he grows a few inches in height. He's grown over the past month. Tonks stiffens and stares shocked into the mirror. She didn't expect any of this, no less the next words said to her.
"Because I'm from the future."
"But unauthorized time travel is illegal. Where would you even get a time turner, or more specifically how are you still here?"
"I didn't use a time turner. I used an ancient ritual, which forced me to sacrifice half of my magic. I want to change what is to come. Tonks... I've seen what will happen if I defeat Voldemort, I've seen what will happen once the ministry reveals magic to the mundane world. People fear what they don't know and as such witch hunts started all over. People were killed left and right, there was a civil war within the magical world, war with the muggles and war with former Death Eaters. I was declared the next dark lord and forced into hiding. The people I held closest were killed one by one. Those who had survived the war against Voldemort died later on. Magic was almost completely wiped off the worl. And it all started during my fourth year. I had to come back...I had to right my mistakes and safe the people that had died. The first person who would've died is Cedric Diggory. In my past he didn't survive, he was killed by Peter Pettigrew under Voldemort's orders. I watched him die and the ministry wouldn't believe me. I know what's going to happen at my hearing and I plan on taking control over the conversation. I know how our laws work and I also know that the ministry doesn't often abide to them and twists them to their gain. Sirius was never given a proper trial and he's your cousin once removed.
Tonks, I hope I can trust you. I told you the truth because I need your help. More than anything, really. I was hoping I could get a few pointers about how to handle the ministry, I already have someone spying on them. They have received a promotion recently. What do you say?" His magic prods her mind and at sensing no shields in place he lets a few of the more significant memories seep into her mind.
She gasps and her eyes widen in fright, much like how Percy's did just a year ago. Tonks holds her head and then stares down at Harry.
"Is...is that what you went through? Fear and terror? So many will die... But why? Why are so many going to die, what lead to it?"
"Dumbledore and the ministry. I'm working on my own, neither with Voldemort or Dumbledore, I consider myself to be grey. My core is dark but my magic is mainly grey."
The woman turns around fully and hugs him, she hugs him like a mother would. Harry smiles and hugs back. "Is that a yes?"
Tonks laughs, "Of course it does, I'm not about to let myself be killed."
Harry grins and swiftly puts his glamour back on, this went better than expected.