Disclaimer: I don't own the material in this story it belongs to J.K Rowling. I only own what I come up with.
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Chapter 12
Today was the day. Today was the 3rd task and it is pretty much the last day of school, the last day of school is only 2 days away. But they weren't going to teach anything to us the next 2 days so it was pretty much the last day.
I walked through the hallway making my way towards the Quidditch Field. I was feeling somewhat happy, regardless of my bad dreams, the footsteps, and having to keep something important from my friends, I get to spend the day with Draco. That made it all better.
Draco and I have been growing closer and closer together since I started talking again. He didn't hate me for becoming a zombie... which I was grateful for.
We have been spending lots of time together... secretly of course. We have found out that we actually have lots in common. We both were extremely stubborn and spoiled. We were fiercely loyal. And we were both secretly sensitive... wierd I know.
We planned on sitting close to each other in the back rows so no one wills see us and get suspicous. I was extremely excited. Probably more excited than I should be. We have only been dating for a little over 4 months, and we still haven't had our first kiss. I'm not complaining though. I'm kind of scared to kiss him. I feel such a pull toward him anyway... Lord only knows how it will make me feel when I actually kiss the boy. Kissing.... that could wait.
As I walked I could see that I was nearing the Quidditch field. I smiled. I was so close to Draco and Hermione. So close to talking to him during the task. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I almost didn't hear footsteps start up again.
I started to breath and walk on like I normally did when I heard them. Ignore them Ava, Ignore them. I was so clsoe to the field that I almost made a dash for it, but I didn't want to look stupid or paranoid as I showed up.
I felt this nervous feeling embrace my stomach. I made me feel nauscious. I had a really bad feeling that something was about to happen. Sure enough something did happen. The soft patting of footsteps behind me began to run. Run at me.
I twirled around to see if anyone was there and began to run like crazy when there wasn't.
Oh Crap. Some psycho is chasing me. Actually some INVISIBLE psyco is chasing me! CRAP!
I took off sprinting towards the field. I saw Draco and Hermione talking and waiting for me, by the enterance. They were to far away to see me.
I was still far away from them but I had to get their attention. The footsteps were growing closer, and somthing was telling me that this wasn't going to end well.
" Hermione!! Hermione!!" I screamed.
I was too far away. They couldn't hear me.
I sprinted faster and tried again " Hermione!!"
This time they heard me and they looked at me in alarm.
I knew that I wasn't going to run fast enough. I knew I was about to get caught.
Sure enough... I was. I felt as arms wround around my waist and lifted me up from the ground so I couldn't run.
I looked over at Hermione and Draco who came running toward me to help. Their eyes were full of fear.
" Her...." I tried to scream, but someone put their hand over my mouth so I couldn't scream.
" I see how this is going to be. I'll have to do this the hard way... He'll understand." a strangely familar voice said.
Suddenly I felt something hard on my head and I blacked out.
The last thing I saw was Hermione's eyes full of tears as she tried to run toward me, and Draco as he stared in astonishment and fear.
~*~
I woke up feeling confused. I opened my eyes and had to blink a couple of times before I could see clearly. What happened?
When I was able to see ok, I sat up and looked around and shuddered. I was in the exact same graveyard as my dreams. I could see the giant pot, and Tom Riddle's grave. I tried not to feel frightened but failed. I'm sure I looked like a total wuss.
I stood up rather clumsily due to the major headache I had and looked around for some sign of life. How the heck did I get here? Who captured me?
I looked around again and I saw some sort of building across from the pot. It was tiny and there was light coming from inside of it.
I walked toward it slowly and as quietly as I could manage. Right as I reached the door It opened and there... low and behold... was Wormtail.
I growled at him and yelled " Why am I here!! What's wrong with you! you freaking psycho!!"
" I'm sorry I knocked you out... there was no other way to keep you quiet." He said quietly. He looked scared.
" Uh huh... what's in there?" I asked as I made my way to go inside the lit room.
Wormtails arm stopped me and he said loudly " You aren't allowed in there!! You must stay out here for the time being... you'll see him as soon as the boy gets the cup."
I stared at him and said " Who's in there?"
I had a bad feeling that I already knew. I have seen this place before... and If I'm right... It's my father and they are going to give him a new body.
" Your father. Now Stay." He said sternly and went back inside the room.
A part of me really wanted to open the door and scream at Wormtail some more... and to see my father. But I decided against it, it wouldn't do me any good. If anything it would get my into more trouble.
I walked back into the graveyard and stood in front of my grandfather's grave. The ground didn't split open and devour me.
A trill of sadness went through me as I stared as his grave. I never knew him... he could have been an endearing man for all I knew. It sucks that he isn't alive anymore... I really would have liked to meet him.
My eyes went down and I recoiled from the grave. There was a bone sitting right on top of the tombstone.
" Bone of the father..." I whispered to myself feeling horrifed.
Shoot this is getting way to wierd.
I stared up beside the tombstone and analysed the grim reaper... Harry was being held by it when I dreamed this place. Well... he was also being stabbed. Well not this time... I'll do whatever I can to keep Harry safe.
But then I frowned... I'm supposed to act as a spy... I frowned further.... what kind of information is Dumbledore even after?? Wow I suck at being a spy, I don't even know what I'm doing.
I walked away from the offending grave and walked towards another and layed against it. I had a perfect view of the pot, the grave and the building where my father would come out.
I gulped. Just the thought of seeing my father made me extremely nervous. I was just now realizing how powerful and smart he was.
If he had the ability to send an invisible man to stalk me at Hogwarts... he was seriously the shiz.
I don't know how long I sat there thinking to myslelf and staring at the pot, but I all of a sudden heard a scream. Not just any scream... Harry's scream.
I spun around and looked around wildly to see where it came from.
I couldn't find the source of the scream but it sounded like it was getting closer...
I looked above me and gaped. Harry and someone else was flying toward the ground at rapid speed.
I flinched as they landed hard. I gaped between Harry, the other guy... who now I see was Cedric, and a giant glowing cup.
" The cup was a port key!" Cedric exclaimed.
" Harry! Cedric!" I yell whispered as Cedric was talking about how wierd this place was.
" Ava?! What on Earth are you doing here? How did you get here?" Harry asked as Cedric walked over looking confused.
" Ava Wilson?" Cedric asked confusedly.
" yes! " I said impatienly to Cedric " You guys have to get out of here! This place isn't safe! My father is here!!" I yell whispered at Harry.
Harry's eyes widened and said " How did you get here... did your father...?"
" He got Wormtail to kidnap me... Harry... whatever you hear me say or do while we're here... promise me you won't pay no mind to it." I begged.
Harry nodded mutely seeming to shocked or scared to talk.
" Would someone mind to tell me what's going on?" Cedric said confusedly " Is this another part of the task?"
" No it isn't..." I started.
Suddenly the door in the building opened and the wood under the pot caught fire. Wormtail walked out carrying a bundle of blankets. I looked away from them already knowing that they contained my father.
Harry all of a sudden clutched his scar in pain and Cedric looked so completely lost.
I backed away from Harry and went to stand by Tom Riddles grave, while Cedric aimed his wand at Wormtail.
" Kill the spare." an airy and feeble voice said. It came from the bundle of blankets.
I stared in fear at Cedric as Wormtail aimed his wand at him and said " Avada Kadavra."
I watched in horror as Cedric flew backwards and landed lifelessly on the ground. His eyes staring blankly toward me. I cringed and felt my knees buckle from under me. I collapsed on the ground and tried to control my frantic breathing.
I had just witnessed a murder.
I watched with bleary eyes as Harry shouted out to Cedric and as Wormtail dumped the bundle of blankets in the boiling pot. Deja vu.
Wormtail then backed Harry up against the Grave of Tom Riddle and the grim reaper came to life and held Harry there.
I was still sitting hunched over. Unable to control the waves of emotions come over me. I had just witnessed a murder. I saw Cedric Diggory die.
I tried to get rid of the tears... I had to save those for later... I had to put on a facade for my dad. He has to think that I'm on his side. Be strong, Ava.
I stood up and to my unhappyness my legs were shaking like crazy. I quickly sat back down. There would be no way to convince my father that I was on his side if I was shaking like a fool in front of him.
I watched feeling completely paralyzed as Wormtail gulped and said in a somewhat steady voice " Bone of the father... unwillingly given...."
I tried to ignore the bone that floated past my face and kept my eyes trained on the pot.... I was suddenly eager to see the man that gave me life. I recoiled from the thought... no they have to hurt Harry to give him a body. I wouldn't be eager to see my father. That's mental.
The bone dropped into the pot and then Wormtail gulped harder. " Flesh of the servant... Willingly sacrificed..."
With a cry of pain, Wormtail cut off his own hand.
I flinched and hid my head in my hands. I have seen enough gore to last me a lifetime.
I heard Wormtail walk toward Harry and I and refexively lifted my head up in fear. He won't stab Harry... Please don't stab Harry.
" Blood of the enemy... forcibly taken." Wormtail murmured as he lifted up Harry's arm and tore his sleeve.
I watched as Harry's face twisted in pain as Wormtail dug the knife into his flesh. Harry cried out in pain and it took all I had to not attack Wormtail right then and there.
Wormtail then proceeded to walk back to the pot and tap the blood off of the knife and into the pot. Suddenly the pot seemed to melt before my eyes and the only thing in it's place was a ball of floating liquid.
Wormtail ran as far away from the mass as he could and hunched over in fear.
I almost couldn't hear Harry's cries of pain, as I stared at the mass... It was beginning to take the shape of a person. I was so mesmerized in a sick way. This was the rebirth of my father.
Suddenly the darkness around us seemed to become solid as it slid onto the humaniod figure. It draped over him like a robe.
The figure was lowered to the ground and it stood up straight. I watched in bizarre facination as my father breathed in and out deeply and as his body perfected itself.
Suddenly it was all done. Everything was quiet except for the cries of pain coming from Harry.
My father stood examining his body. His hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly in the darkness.
He held up his hands and fleced his new fingers, his expression rapt and exultant. He paid no attention to the frightened Wormtail hidden in the corner, or of the pained Harry on Tom Riddles grave, he didn't even glance down at the huge snake that slid into sight and began hissing at everything in sight. His eyes went straight to me.
I stared up at him for the first time feeling totally unafraid. I couldn't be, not of my father. I had this dreadful urge... not to run in fear, or to scream.... but to hug him. I wanted to hug him.
I stood up from the ground unshakily... I was no longer afraid. I appraised him as he appraised me.
My father's eyes seemed to be watery, but he hid it well.
" You look so much like me Ava. You've grown up to be a fine young woman." He said warmly.
Like a normal child would, I blushed in embarrassment.
" Daaad." I said in embarrassment.
A spark of happiness ignited his eyes and he held his arms open for me.
Without another thought I ran into his open arms and hugged him tight. I thought of nothing else as I hugged him, not of how this would look to the rest of the world, not of what my mother would think, not even of Harry standing there watching me. I only thought about how much I wanted to meet him my entire life and here he was... in the flesh... granted, he wasn't the prettiest thing to look at... but he wasn't scary at all. Not to me. He would always just be my dad. Not Voldemort...not you-know-who... just good ol dad.
" I'm so happy to see you." he murmured happily to me.
I smiled and said " I'm pretty happy to see you myself."
He smirked down at me before motioning me to stand back by the grave.
I went back to standing by the grave and watched him with rapt attention.
My father walked over to Wormtail and said " My wand Wormtail... give me my wand."
Wormtail dug through his pocket with his one hand and pulled out a wand that looked like a bone. I refrained a shudder and continued to watch. My father held it fondly and said "Hold out your arm, Wormtail."
" Oh Master... thank you master... thank you." Wormtail said thankfully as he held up his bleeding stump.
" The other arm Wormtail." My father said coldly.
Wormtail sighed sadly and held up his left arm. My father pulled the sleeve of his robe up past his elbow so it would expose a strange mark on his arm. It looked like a light gray tattoo. It was a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth... it was the image that appeared in the sky at the Quidditch World Cup.... The dark mark. My father examined it carefully, ignoring Wormtail's uncontrollable weeping.
My father pressed his long white forefinger to the brand on Wormtail's arm.
Wormtail and Harry both let out sharp howls of pain when it was touched.
When My father pulled his finger away, the tattoo was a charcoal black. It was vidid against Wormtails pale skin.
A look of cruel satisfaction came upon my father's face as he mused " How many will be brave enought to return when they feel it? And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?"
He had his face turned upward toward the stars. I was wondering what he was looking for.
Before I could ask, he began to pace back and forth in front of Harry and I.
Suddnely my father turned a cruel smile onto Harry and he said " You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my father, a muggle and a fool... very much like your dear mother. But they both had their uses, did they not? Your mother died to defend you as a child... and I killed my father, and see how useful he as proved himself, in death..." My father laughed again and continued to pace up and down, looking all around him as he walked, as if he expected something to happen.
" You see that house on the hillside, Ava?" He asked me.
I looked up and there was a beautiful yet scary looking manor. It looked like it would have been a handsome house at one point... but it looked eerie and haunted now.
I nodded at him and he said " Your mother and I raised you there, when you were a baby.... But the night I went to kill Harry... I never came back... Your mother must have left with you... I suppose."
I nodded, not really knowing what to say.
" My father lived there, before we did. My mother, a witch who lived here in the village, fell in love with him. But he abandoned her when she told him what she was... He didn't like magic... my father. He left her and returned to his muggle parents before I was even born, and she died giving birth to me, leaving me to be raised in a muggle orphanage... but I vowed to find him... I revenged myself upon him, that fool who gave me his name... Tom Riddle... " Still he paced as he looked around, darting from grave to grave.
" Listen to me reliving my family history..." he said quietly " why, I am growing quite sentimental... but look, Harry! My true family returns!" He stared at me and then up at the sky where there was black billows of smoke landing around him in a circle.
The black smoke turned to people. Cloaked people with silver masks. They looked like a gang, with their hoods and masks.
They moved slowly toward my father like they could hardly believe their eyes. My father stood in silence, waiting for them.
I watched in shock as one death eater fell to his knees and crawled to my father and began to kiss the hems of his robes.
" Master... Master..." He murmured.
The death eaters behind him did the same and pretty soon the ground was covered with cloaked people kissing my father's hems.
I was stuck in utter shock. Look at the way they worshiped him, they looked at him like he was a god.
When the death eaters were done kissing his robes they went back to making a circle around my father.
My father looked around at the hooded faces and thought there was no wind, a rustling seemed to run around the circle, as though it had shivered.
" Welcome, Death Eaters." My father said quietly " 14 years... 14 years since we last met. Yet you answer my call as though it was only yesterday... we are still united under the Dark mark, then. Or are we?"
My father sniffed the air and looked around the circle with distaste " I smell guilt" He said.
A second shicer ran around the circle, as though each member of it longed, but did not dare, to step back from him.
" I see you all, whole and healthy, with your powers still intact... such prompt appearances! and I ask myself... why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore eternal loyalty?"
No one spoke or moved, except Wormtail who layed on the ground sobbing over his bleeding arm.
" And I answer myself." whispered my father. " they must have believed me broken, they thought I was gone. They slipped back among my enemies, and they pleaded innocence, and ignorance, and bewitchment... And then I ask myself, but how could they have believed I would not rise again? They, who knew the steps I took, long ago, to guard myself against mortal death? They, who had seen proofs of the immensity of my power in the times when I was mightier than any wizard living? And I answer myself... perhaps they believed a still greater power could exist, one that could vanquish even Lord Voldemort... perhaps they now pay allegiance to another... perhaps that champion of commoners, Of mudbloods and muggles, Albus Dumbledore?"
At the mention of Dumbledores name, the members of the circle stirred, and some muttered and shook their heads. My father ignored them.
" It is a disappointment to me... I confess myself disappointed..."
Suddenly a death eater flung himself from the circle and cried out " Master, forgive me! Forgive us all!"
My father laughed and raised his wand and said " Crucio!"
The man writhed in agony and I had to turn my head.
" Get up, Avery. Stand up. You ask for forgiveness? I do not forgive. I do not forget. 14 long years... I want 14 years' repayment before I forgive you. Wormtail here has paid some of his debt already, have you not Wormtail?"
He looked down at Wormtail who continued to sob.
" You return to me, not out of loyalty, but out of fear of your old friends. You deserve this pain, Wormtail, You know that, don't you?"
" Yes master..." Wormtail moaned.
" Yet you helped return me to my body." My father said cooly " Worthless and traitorous as you are, you helped me... and Lord Voldemort rewards his helpers..."
My father raised his wand in the air and a streak of molten silver flashed through the air and landed on Wormtails bloody stump. It formed into a hand, a silver hand.
" Wormtail stopped sobbing abruptly. He raised his hand and stared at it in disbelief. He flexed the shiny fingers, then picked up a small twig from the ground and crushed it into powder.
" My Lord." he whispered " Master it's beautiful... thank you... thank you."
He scrambled forward and kissed the hems of my fathers robes.
I tried to look like that wasn't weirding me out... but it was. The way that people regarded my father seemed so silly to me. But of course he only shows love and mercy to me... no one else.
" May your loyalty never waver again, Wormtail" My father said
Wormtail took his spot in the circle and stared down at his new hand. My father went and stood in front of the man on Wormtails right.
" Lucius, my slippery friend." My father whispered.
My ears perked up... this must be Draco's father.
" I am told that you have not renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of muggle torture, I believe? Yet you never tried to find me Lucius.... your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were fun, I daresay... but might not your energies have been better directed toward finding and aiding your master?"
" My Lord, I was constantly on the alert. Had there been any sign from you, any whisper of your wherabouts, I would have been at your side immediately, nothing could have prevented me..." Lucius replied.
" And yet you ran from my mark, when a faithful Death Eater sent it into the sky last summer?" my father said lazily. Mr. Malfoy stopped talking immediately " Yes I know all about that, Lucius... you have disappointed me... I expect more faithful service in the future."
" Of course my Lord, of course." Lucius said thankfully.
My father went to the empty spot beside Lucius and said quietly " The Lestranges should stand here, but they are in Azkaban. They went there, rather than renounce me.... when Azkaban is broken open, the Lestranges will be honored beyond their dreams. The dementors will join us... and the giants... I shall have all my devoted servants returned to me, and an army of creatures whom all will fear."
My father went around the circle and talked to each death eater about doing better, to think twice before leaving him.
" Before I introduce you to Harry Potter I would like you all to meet someone more important." My father said proudly.
Death Eaters seemed to realize that Harry and I were here and were looking between us questioningly... except for Lucius... he stood there staring at me.
" My dear..." My father said raising his hand out to me for me to take.
I stepped up and grabbed his hand.
He put his arm around me and the Death eaters gaped between us. Apparently it was out of character for my father to show any kind of affection.
" Death Eaters... I want to introduce you to someone that is extremely important to me. She has been separated from me for far to long, and I ask you to show her the upmost respect... the same respect that you show to me. For this is my daughter... Ava Riddle." My father said proudly.
I noticed that the deatheater traded glances and gasped and looked harder between us. I also noticed that he gave me his last name instead of my mothers.
" She does look alot like how he used to." One death eater murmured.
" I wondered why she looked familiar." another said.
" You had a child??" one said.
" Hello, Ava... Welcome to the family." Lucius said
My father looked pleased and told them the story of how he kept my mother a secret so no one would find out about her, and how she became pregnant with me.
The death eaters bowed to me and Voldemort said proudly. " My little Dark Princess."
Is that what I'm going to be called now? Him the Dark Lord and I the Dark Princess? I hated to admit this... but it wasn't that bad... I actually liked the power my father held. I liked the fact that I was now to be respected like my father. I found it all so mesmerizing.
" Now I'm sorry to take away your spotlight my dear, but there is someone alot less important that I need to deal with now...." My father said looking apologetically down at me before looking at Harry with a cruel smile.
My father motioned me to go stand by Lucius, and I walked slowly over beside him. I felt tense and nervous... I mean this was my boyfriends father...I never met him and I wasn't sure if he suspected me to be his son's girlfriend... I doubted it.
As I stood beside him, he put his arm comfortingly around me. It comforted me somewhat and I went back to listening to what my father was saying.
My father was talking about how unlucky it was that Harry survived that night and how my father survied afterewards.... he talked until he got to the point where he said " And here he is... the boy you believed had been my downfall..."
My father moved slowly forward and faced Harry with his wand.
Somehow I knew what was going to happen... and it wasnt' going to be fun for Harry.
"Crucio!"
I watched as Harry began to shake and scream uncontrollably. I held in the tears that threatend to spill and stared at the scene like it wasn't making my insides churn. Poor Harry.
The death eaters began to laugh at Harry's pain and I laughed silently to myself to make myself fit in. My father stopped tormenting him and said " You see, I think, how foolish it was to suppose that this boy could ever have been stronger than me, but I want there to be no mistake in anybody's mind....Harry Potter escaped me by a lucky chance, and for no other reason. He will be allowed to fight, and you will be left in no doubt which of us is the stronger. Just a little longer, Nigini." My father whispered to the snake.
I cringed. Oh crap, he plans to feed my best friend to a snake.
Suddenly the grim reaper statue let Harry go and he fell to the ground.
" Get up! Get up!" My father said eagerly " Pick up your wand boy!"
Harry scrambled to get his wand and stood up shakily.
" You have been taught how to duel, I presume?" My father said quietly yet menacingly.
I felt bad for Harry, My father was a sight to behold... he must be so scared of him.
Harry stood motionlessly as he stared at my father with wide scared eyes.
" We bow to each other Harry." My father said bending a little.
Harry stood there difiantly, not bowing.
I would have been proud of him, if it wasn't the fact that this was my father and my father would kill him.
" Come now Harry, the niceties must be observed... Dumbledore would like you to show manners... bow to death Harry...." My father said smiling cruely.
Harry still stood there motionlessly and defiantly.
" I said BOW." my father said raising his wand. Suddenly Harry was bowing.
" Very good." My father said softly
Suddenly Harry stopped bowing and he stared up at my father with bewilderment.
" And now you face me, like a man... straight-backed and proud, the way your father died.... and now we duel." My father said .
Before Harry could even lift his wand to defend himself, my father hit him with the cruciatus curse.
Harry fell to the ground and started to shake uncontrollably. My father moved his wand away and Harry stood up again looking terrified.
" That hurt didn't it Harry... you don't want me to do that again, do you" My father said.
Harry didn't answer. He stared defiantly back at my father.
Harry wasn't going to beg for death... he wasn't going to play along with what my father was doing to him. I realized this as my father said " I asked you whether you wanted me to do that again. Answer me... Imperio!"
I could tell that Harry was fighting against the imperious curse, and suddenly Harry yelled " I won't!"
" You won't say no? Harry, obediance is a virtue. I need to teach you before you die... perhaps another dose of pain?" my father said softly.
I gulped I couldn't bare this. Harry can't die, he just can't.
" Crucio!" My father yelled. This time Harry was ready and jumped to the side and behind a headstone.
" We are not playing hide-and-seek, Harry." Said my father's soft cold voice " You can't 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? Come out, harry, come out and play, then... it will be quick... it might even be painless... I wouldn't know... I have never died."
Suddenly Harry shot out from behind the headstone and shouted " Expelliarmus" and the same time my dad said " Avada Kadavra."
I gaped between them as their spells collided and made colorful sparks shoot around them. The wands seemed to be vibrating... The green light that came from my fathers wand and the red one that came from Harry's became a gold thread that connected the wands.
All the death eaters and I gasped as Voldemort and Harry lifted into the air by at least 2 feet.
The death eaters began to get frantic and started to shout at my father for directions and instructions. Some even pulled out their wands.
"Do nothing! Do nothing unless I command you to do so!" My father yelled at them.
Suddenly sparks emenated from the gold light and made a weird dome of gold surrounding them.
I was scared for them, scared for my father and Harry.
Suddenly a figure came out of My fathers wand.. Cedric... then another... an old man... and then two more.... Harry's parents. I recognized them, through a picture Sirius showed me last year. These were people my father had killed.
The rest of everything was a blur... I watched as the ghosts talked to Harry.. and suddenly Harry disconnected his wand from my father's.
He ran off and thought to me.
" Ava!! Come! We need to leave now!!"
" I can't Harry! I have to stay here a little while longer! You need to get yourself to safety now!!"
" I can't leave without you, Ava! Please come with me! You could get hurt!"
" I won't get hurt! He's my father, I'll follow behind you as soon as I possibly can! I promise! But I can't do anything without making myself look suspicious! Im surrounded by death eaters... they would catch me anyway!"
" Ava...:"
" Harry just go! Get somewhere safe... tell Dumbledore what happened...don't worry about me."
" I won't!"
" Just go!!!"
I watched the indecision on Harry's face, but suddenly he touched Cedrics body and pointed his wand to the cup and said " Accio!"
Harry looked at me one last time before he said in his thoughts " Be safe, Ava. I love you."
" I love you too Harry... I will be safe." I said to him... but he had already disappeared into the sky.
I stared after him and heard my father's scream of fury.
The death eaters scrambled back to their places and looked down.
I looked at my father who proceeded to scream.
I timidly walked up to my father and put my hand on his arm.
He looked down at me, his eyes still wild with fury... though they grew softer as he stared down at me.
I said the only thing that I could think of. " Don't worry, you'll meet him again... and next time you'll get him."
I felt wrong saying those words but I let them flow from my lips like they were true. I had to make my father think I was with him.
My fathers eys dimed and he said " You're right my dear... we will meet again."
He looked back at the spot Harry disappeared at and stared at it with longing. " I will kill Harry Potter, it's only a matter of time.
" What do you want us to do master?" Lucius asked warily.
" We need to build up... like last time. We need to initiate more death eaters... we need more people on our side. We need to have a base, where we can meet... I need a place to stay... and I also need to find a way to penetrate the minitsry." My father said looking deep in thought.
My father looked up at Lucius and said " Lucius... you have a large house... surely you'd be able to lend it to us to use as a base, when we need to."
" Of course my lord." Lucius said.
"Of course it won't be now...I will be to busy to stay in any one place." My father mused.
" What about me?" I asked " What do I do?"
My father looked at me somewhat tenderly and said " I don't know..."
" How about I stay with mom for now." I started " You said yourself that you will be busy. I'll only get in your way... and it's not like I am able to be of use to you... I can't use magic out of school.... I still have the trace on me."
My father furrowed his brows when I mentioned mom. " I don't like that you'll be away from me... but I suppose that there really is no choice... you had a point... you're smart... just like your father." He said smiling down at me.
He hugged me and said " I should probably send you back to school now, before anyone notices that you're missing. When you get there... make sure Potter doesn't tell anyone who you are... no one needs to know just yet."
I nodded my head and watched as my father looked over at a death eater. " Nott, give me your shoe."
Nott looked at my father confusedly and my father repeated himself " Nott, Give me your shoe!!"
Nott frantically went down and pulled his shoe off and tossed it to my father.
I stared between the shoe and my father and asked " Uh... why did you need his shoe?"
" Port key." My father said simply.
My father sat the shoe down and said some sort of complex spell. The shoe glowed a blue light for a bried second before turning back to it's normal black.
"It will leave in a few minutes." my father said staring intently at me.
I nodded my head feeling slightly unhappy. I just met my father and now I have to leave.
" I hate that we just got together and now you have to leave... but I'll come back for you when I'm ready." He continued as he hugged me.
" I know what you mean." I said.
I hugged him back and watched the death eaters faces go from gaping to turning their heads to give us privacy.
I almost smiled. It was comical.
" I love you Ava. I'll come back for you." My father said as the shoe started to shake and turn blue.
" I love you too dad. " I said with tears in my eyes.
And I did love him. I loved him so much. He was my father after all, no one could change that.
My dad smiled tenderly at me and said " Now go... finish your school year, and have a nice summer. I hope to see you soon."
I nodded my head eagerly. I wanted to see him as soon as I could, as twisted as that sounded.
I bent down when the shoe began to emenate a bright blue light. I put my finger on the shoe and looked back up at my dad. His eyes were sad as I was yanked up into the sky by the port key.
I felt myself start to fall and suddenly I hit hard ground.
I breathed in and out heavily feeling slightly sick that I just fell from the sky.
" Ava!!!" Hermione yelled in astonsishment.
I looked up in utter surprise.
I had landed in the Quidditch field right in front of Dumbledore, Snape, McGongall, Hermione and Draco. Everyone else was no where to be seen.
" Oh...Hi guys." I said trying to look normal and like I didn't just fall from the sky.
" Where have you been, my dear are you alright!!" McGonagall said as she rushed toward me to look me over.
I looked over at Dumbledore and he looked grave.
" He's back Professor. I was there with Harry, he really is back." I stated.
" I had feared that, I feared that it was only a matter of time before he tried to make a grab at you... I didn't realize that it would be this soon though...." He mused.
I nodded and said " It wasn't to scary... he does love me... but I just feel bad that I couldn't do anything to help Cedric.... at least Harry made it out ok..." I said sadly.
Dumbledore nodded and said " I told you he loved you, and that he wouldn't harm you."
I nodded again and asked " Where is Harry?"
Snape said " Professor Moody took him up to his office a few minutes ago."
Suddenly something clicked inside Dumbledores head and he said " Severus, Minerva.. come with me!! Quickly!!"
McGonagall and Snape exchanged looks and quickly walked after Dumbledore.
" Sorry to leave like this, Miss Wilson, but this is truly an emergency." Dumbledore said looking back at me once before running as fast as his old legs could take him up to the castle.
" Oh my gosh your ok!!" Hermione shouted as she grabbed me in a hug.
When she let go Draco pulled me into him. I took in his scent, and it made me feel much better.
" When I saw you disappear... I swear I almsot died." Draco started.
" Where were you, what happened! Everything happened so fast! Suddenly Harry just popped in the middle of the field with Cedrics dead body!" Hermione sniffled... " You know how hard it was to sit through the last task knowing that you were missing!!"
" Wormtail kidnapped me... I told you I was being followed! But you wouldn't listen to me!" I said proudly " anyway I was in a graveyard... the graveyard that held my grandfathers remains.... Wormtail was making my father a new body.... it was really complex.." I started.
I told them about how I woke up in a graveyard, about Harry and Cedric, about how my father was given a new body, and about the wierd light dome... at the very end.
" Wow... That is alot to deal with... how are you copping?" Hermione said.
" I'm ok...but I've been better." I said.
Draco put his arm around me and kissed me on the forehead before walking Hermione and I to the castle.
~~~~
The last two days were depressing. The whole school was feeling the loss of Cedric and taking it badly. Harry won the Cup though... he got 1,000 galleons and honor, though I could tell that he would trade it all if it meant Cedric was alive. He blamed himself for his death.... it must be really rough for him.
The first day Dumbledore had called me up to his office again so I could tell him everything my father told me. Everything that I saw.
The last day of school persisted of a school meeting. There were Black Curtains and banners hanging on the ceiling and Dumbledore talked about Cedric.
I could see people glancing at Harry every now and then. I could tell that they thought he was a liar. I wanted to get up and shout at them all for being stupid and to believe what Harry was saying but I knew that they would never listen.
The rest of the day went by quickly and it seemed like we arrived at Kings cross in no time. I had said my goodbyes to Draco before I got on the train, so we wouldn't make a scene at King's Cross. He promised me that we would keep in touch and that he would write me all summer.
When we all arrived at kings Cross. We all sat there for a few minutes, just staring at each other.
" So this is it isn't it... He really is back." Ron said talking for the first time.
Harry and I nodded in sync and Ron gulped and paled.
" How could this happen." He mumured.
" We better get ready..." Hermione said seriously " Times are about to get much worse from here on out."
I nodded somewhat reluctantly. I knew it was true but I had a hard time grasping the fact my father was a worldwide hated man.
" This is only the beginning." Harry said as he stood up and put on his jacket.
With that we exchanged goodbye's and hugs and walked out to meet our parents.