The train came to a halt as we arrived in London. I had woken up around halfway through the train ride when the trolley lady came around asking if we wanted anything. Draco and I politely declined, and the sweet old lady shut the door to our compartment before she walked off. Me and Draco hadn't spoken much, he had comforted me about Cedric, and we had spoken about Pansy. He still hadn't told her, and now he didn't know if he wanted to at all. We grabbed our bags and stepped of the train, this time however, the platform wasn't full of hundreds of squealing students all excited to see their parents, this time it was completely empty, and our parents were all stood next to the wall that took us back into the muggles Kingscross station. They were actually early, they were waiting for us, I suppose it went to show how important this was to them. I was shocked when my mum came over to me and tightly hugged me, kissing me on top of my head. Oh, if only she knew who had kissed me there before I left. Draco's mum hugged him as she often did when we came back, and our fathers both said hello. My mum let me go and we all started to walk through the wall. Once on the other side, we found our way through the hurrying muggles, it was obvious that our parents felt uncomfortable and I wondered why we hadn't just disapparated. When we got outside there were two black cars waiting for us, and it occurred to me that we weren't going home, or to the Malfoy Manor. Me and Draco were put into one car, our parents in the other, this was even stranger but neither of us said anything. Before we left, Draco's father explained what was happening.
"We're going straight to Knockturn Alley, there are some things that need to be set up first. You two will arrive later, when you get to Diagon Alley occupy yourselves until the sun sets, then come straight to Borgin and Burkes. Make sure that nobody sees you, that is vital, do you understand." Me and Draco nodded, and Lucius shut the door to our car and got into the one in front. Neither me nor Draco said anything the entire car ride, I assumed he was thinking the same as me by the expression on his face. I was absolutely terrified, I knew it was going to hurt, I'd heard my parents complaining about it before. Their entire lives were consumed by serving The Dark Lord, they didn't even have time for their daughter. I was sure that now he was actually back things would be even worse, this was a punishment. My parents knew I was wavering, and they were punishing me for it, out of panic. I hated them in this moment, they were ruining my life all because they were scared I would 'betray' their beliefs. I wanted to shout and scream at the top of my lungs that I loved Cedric Diggory. Oh Merlin, what was Cedric doing right now? I really hoped he wasn't feeling even half as bad as I was.
Cedric Diggory's POV:
I felt completely lost. I had walked away from Parisa, I couldn't bear watching her walk away from me. I had gone straight to my dorm, got into to bed, and hadn't moved since. I felt broken, Parisa and I had only been together for two months, but my feelings ran so deep for her I felt like part of me had left with her. None of my friends understood what the hell was wrong with me, they assumed I was just traumatised from the maze. But to be honest the pain I felt from Parisa leaving, from saying goodbye, had completely consumed me to the point where I had almost forgotten. I knew I would remember as soon as I got up, or saw Harry but for now, Parisa was all I could think about.
I longed to know how she was feeling, and I longed to know what the hell she was doing that was so bad she was convinced I would hate her for it. I had thought about possible reasons of course but all of them seemed impossible, nothing could make me hate her. I really hoped she was okay, and I really hoped she didn't feel even half as bad as I did right now.
End of Cedric Diggory's POV.
The car came to a stop and me and Draco got out, we were stood outside of The Leaky Cauldron, it was built to act as the gateway between the muggle world and Diagon Alley. We walked in and through to the back, the man behind the bar recognized us immediately and let us through nodding to us, "Good evening Mr Malfoy, Miss Rosier." I smiled at him and tapped the right brick in the wall, I remembered my parents doing it, the bricks started to move and I was reminded of the first time I had come to Diagon Alley, all those years ago, normally my parents would use floo powder, but on the first day, we had come through The Leaky Cauldron. I remembered the day I met Cedric for the first time and tears returned to my eyes. He had been there for me when my parents left. I forced my thoughts elsewhere as the wall opened and we walked through instantly being hit with the warm smell of butterbeer. Me and Draco had until sundown, so we decided to go and find somewhere to sit until then. Draco suggested Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and I gulped nodding reluctantly. Admittedly, there weren't many places to sit in Diagon Alley but this was the one place I didn't want to go to right now. We walked over to the little shop and sat down, I was immediately engulfed by the smell of bubblegum and lavender and all I could think about was Cedric. I would give anything just to speak to him right now, lay in his embrace and tell him everything and let him comfort me and in my dream world he would understand, he wouldn't hate me and he would still love me. Even if he knew the truth. I would give anything for that. Draco ordered us two vanilla milkshakes, we both paid, Diagon Alley was practically empty, it was working hours but there were the odd witch or wizard coming out of Gringotts every now and again. "So, do you know how this is all going to work?" Draco asked me, I had read about it a few times in the past eight months, I knew how the basics worked, it was essentially a ritual. "I read that getting the mark, is the most painful part, it's like a ritual, some describe it like being branded with an iron." I said in a hushed tone and Draco gulped, fidgeting with his tie. "Oh, well maybe they were just exaggerating." He replied, although we both knew the chances of that were not very high.
We finished our milkshakes and spent the rest of the day looking in all the shops, I had been here every year before the new year of course to get school supplies but I had never properly seen everything. It was really cute, that was the best way to describe it, it made me feel so cosy, all of the shops were bright and colourful, and they all had their own unique smell. Olivander's like sawdust and parchment, Potage's Cauldron Shop like Snape's class room. We haven't studied it yet, but I've read about it, the shop smells faintly like Amortentia, which I've noticed smells an awful lot like Cedric. Flourish and Blotts smells like old books and vanilla and The Leaky Cauldron smells like butterbeer and fire whiskey. I had managed to get Draco to spend some time in Flourish and Blotts and we were just leaving as the sun began to set. We looked at each other and I'm sure he could see how scared I was, I could see he was too, and he gave me a reassuring smile before we started heading in the direction of Knockturn Alley. Knockturn Alley was a small alleyway off from Diagon Alley, but it was the complete opposite. It wasn't bright or colourful, instead it was dark and gloomy, it was frequently populated by Dark Wizards, and many of the shops there were dedicated to the dark arts. One in particular; Borgin and Burkes was where we were headed. Borgin and Burkes was an antique shop, which specializes in Dark Objects, one of these being half of a vanishing cabinet. I knew that my dad's most recent task from The Dark Lord was to locate the other half, why? I didn't know, but I wanted to. We looked around before sneaking off down Knockturn Alley, we passed a few wizards but didn't dare look up at them, as we got to Borgin and Burkes we took another look around before walking in, the door locking behind us.
I was shaking, and I could hear Draco gulp beside me as Bellatrix Lestrange appeared at the bottom of a set of stairs. "Aweee look it's Parisa and Draco all grown up! I haven't seen you two since you were little" Me and Draco looked at each other, I hadn't seen Bellatrix since I was very little and I was certain Draco hadn't either, she had been in Azkaban Prison. How did she even escape? I knew she wasn't an Animagus like her cousin Sirius, so I had no idea. Me and Draco both knew that she was very dangerous, maybe even more dangerous than The Dark Lord himself, she was fanatically loyal to him, I knew it even scared Draco. "Well, aren't you happy to see your auntie Bella?" We both smiled automatically, I spoke first, "Of course we are! H-How are you?" Bellatrix rolled her eyes, "Don't small talk me Ris, are you two excited?" I cringed slightly when she called me by my nickname, Draco spoke this time, "We're honoured of course." He cleared his throat and Bellatrix turned and started walking up the stairs. "As you should be, follow me." Draco started to walk, and I followed him grabbing his hand, I was scared, and I needed comfort, and as Draco gripped my hand back I assumed he felt the same way too. We both climbed the stairs hand in hand and when we got the top, we both inhaled quickly.
I didn't know where to look first, in the middle of the room was an old cauldron with a weird green liquid sloshing around inside. Surrounding it were Narcissa, Lucius, Fenir Greyback, my parents and to my surprise, no to my horror, him. Here me and Draco were stood in front of The Dark Lord, Voldemort. Draco gripped my hand tighter and I did the same, he was so scary. You could feel the power radiating off, of him. His skin was a ghostly white and he had the creepiest smile on his face. You could also feel how scared everybody else was in the room, he was so intimidating, and he towered over all of us. "Ah, Parisa, Draco my dears, welcome." Me and Draco walked forward together and the circle broke so we could pass them to stand in the centre. We faced him, not daring to turn our backs on him and he smiled down at us, "I am so glad you have decided to accept and join us, to give yourselves to me like this." We lightly smiled back at him and Voldemort held out his hands, "Your left arms." I held up my left arm and Draco dropped my hand to do the same. I looked at Draco and he turned to me and nodded in reassurance. I looked back at Voldemort who had started saying something in Parseltongue, the others surrounding us started chanting something else, but I could barely hear them over my heart beat. I had time to gather my thoughts now, and I realised who I was actually stood in front of, he wasn't a god to me anymore like he had been for years, no now, he was a monster, he tortured Cedric for no reason. He was the reason me and Cedric couldn't be together, he was the reason my life was ruined not my parents, my parents were just stupid enough to follow him. It was all his fault. I felt my blood begin to boil; I wasn't nervous anymore I was angry. I wanted to shout and scream, I wanted to ask him why he was doing this to me, to Draco, I wanted to run away and drag Draco behind me. I wanted to be in Hogwarts, I wanted to be with Cedric. I did none of this of course, I said nothing, I just stood there with my left arm extended to him. It was too late to do any of that, it was hopeless. Then, the cauldron exploded with light and it felt like my arm had gone up in flames. I stifled a scream with my other hand, and I notice Draco do the same. The flames spread to the rest of my body and I wished I really was burning, I just wanted it to end, tears began to silently stream down my face but they didn't put out the fire, then after what felt like hours the pain was gone, all at once, it left as quickly as it had come. I quickly wiped my face and I looked at my arm for the first time. It was there, it was jet black, at the top of the mark, there was a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth, the snake wrapped round itself in circles and its head was at the bottom of the mark. It looked like it was moving, like jet black water. It was there, I was marked, I was his, I looked over at Draco's arm and so was he. We no longer belonged to ourselves. Me and Cedric could never be together now.
authors note: I'm learning so much about death eaters by writing this haha, I realise you probably just want to hear about Cedric but personally when I read something, I like a proper storyline so when they are together it means so much more, anybody else? Or are you all just skipping this chapter right now haha. She will be going back to Hogwarts soon and I hope you don't think this chapter length is too long. Thank you all so much for ready and please vote! May I remind you again that Cedric and Parisa's story is NOT over.