Through The Veil「 The Veil Trilogy Part Ⅱ 」✔

[16] Conspiracies Galore

The third task ended with a death.

Cedric's death.

I couldn't go to the grounds to see but it wasn't long after that the dead body was brought in to the Hospital Wing along with the rest of the Champions, minus Harry.

I felt sick, knowing that I had seen it all happen in my vision but couldn't warn Ced in time. And now it had gotten too late for he was no more.

With shaking steps, I left my bed and approached the other Champions who were crowded around Cedric, my heart sinking to see him lifeless.

Fleur had put her arm around my waist and she was probably telling me what had happened but I just couldn't hear her. My eyes were focused on my friend who was no longer alive.

And I felt as if it was my fault.

Ced's hazel eyes were glassy, he was not breathing and that snippet of him getting struck by the curse flashed in front of me again.

"Kill the spare," a raspy voice echoed in my head. Then another voice sounded and a blinding jet of green light flashed in front of me. "Avada Kedavra!"

I squeezed my eyes shut, turning to hug Fleur who was holding me close though she was crying as well. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I held onto her and I didn't quite realize when she had brought me back to the bed I had been in earlier.

"Katerina, are you alright?" She was looking at me in concern, "you almost fainted."

"Ced... What happened to Ced?"

Her eyes were sad and fearful as she recounted all that had happened in the Third Task and then also told me how Harry emerged out of the Labyrinth with the cup as well as Cedric's corpse.

"'Arry said You-Know-Who iz back," her voice had dropped low to a frightened whisper, "'e said 'e killed Cedric."

So the horrible face I had seen last night in my vision was indeed the Dark Lord... I shuddered, unwillingly recalling those serpentine features.

"Where's Harry? Where's Professor Dumbledore? What's going on now?"

"We don't know," she answered, taking my hands in her own reassuringly, "Professor Dumbledore must 'ave gone after 'Arry."

Shortly after, there seemed to be a commotion raging outside so both of us craned our necks to see what was happening. Ced's parents had been called and they had arrived but along with them, Ministry Officials had come to inspect the case as well.

"Everyone iz going crazy," Fleur whispered, "zey say 'Arry killed Cedric."

"But that's impossible! Outrageous even..."

"I know zat. 'Arry can not kill anyone. But the press people are 'ere and zey are making a lot of scandal about it."

Cedric's body was taken away along with his parents and two Ministry officials while the remaining two were questioning the Champions so Fleur had to leave me as well.

The entire nightmare I had had was coming back to me no matter how hard I tried to suppress it. Each event that had taken place in that morbid graveyard, each face that had been uncovered from the Death Eater Masks, and each curse that had been fired from both those wands was playing in my head on repeat.

There seemed no end to it until exhausted from the pain and sadness, I fell unconscious again.

***

The next few days at school had been horrible.

Exams had been postponed, Cedric's funeral had been carried out and yet the Daily Prophet was causing a huge scandal out of what had happened.

People were starting to blame Harry and none of them were ready to accept that You-Know-Who had returned.

Only our family, Hermione, and very few of Harry's friends believed him.

I believed him because I had seen everything in my vision. I knew he wasn't lying and I could seriously punch anyone who tried to accuse Harry of murder again.

Only the twins and Dumbledore knew that I had had a vision about it all. Percy had written to me asking about it but I hadn't yet replied to him though I knew he probably suspected that I must have had a vision regarding You-Know-Who's return.

On the other hand, the Ministry was also ignoring the entire situation. They were adamant about closing their eyes and kept on believing that Lord Voldemort had gone for good and wasn't back. They were all being stubbornly ignorant and we all knew it would cost them eventually.

Fudge had made no public statement whatsoever and all the rest of the Ministry workers were also threatened to stay very quiet about it.

I knew since I had noticed Percy had gotten a lot more busy and hardly came home the entire time of our Summer Break.

Sadly, he was on the Ministry's side regarding the scenario and though I understood his reasons, I knew deep down he was well aware that You-Know-Who had returned, and turning a blind eye to it wouldn't solve anything.

I could see Mum missed him a lot and wanted to talk to him but Perce had ended up shutting all of us out for goodness knew what reason. I tried to get the twins to come with me so that we could go to his apartment and have a talk about it but they refused.

So I had only two options; ignore the situation or do something about it.

I chose the latter and decided to go to Percy's apartment after work hours ended at the Ministry. Luckily, I knew where he lived since he had sent his last letter to me with the address enclosed so all I had to do was show up and ask him what was going on.

Surely, Percy wouldn't mind if I paid him a visit.

But after all that's happened in these few days, I am not too sure about it.

The last family dinner he had had with us had ended in an argument and ever since then, he hadn't contacted anyone of us. Dad said he saw him at work but Perce avoided him and didn't even acknowledge his presence.

All that was getting too much and I knew it all depended on me to get to know both sides of the picture and set things right between our somewhat annoying but still caring brother and the rest of the family.

Plus going to meet Perce could prove to be a worthy distraction from all the dreadful thoughts about You-Know-Who that had been plaguing me ever since the horrifying night of the final Triwizard Tournament task.

***