August | Hermione Granger x OFC

Chapter Sixty-Six

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The three of them landed on grass with a hard thud.

Well, the two of them and a dead body.

The first thing Robyn noticed was the noise. People were cheering. Why were they cheering? Cedric was dead.

Potter had his face in the grass, and he was gripping both Cedric and the Cup so hard his fingers were going white. He wasn't moving. It was like he was in a catatonic state. She didn't blame him – she was feeling similarly. In fact, now that the adrenaline and immediate danger were gone, she was feeling seriously fatigued and also disorientated from the Portkey.

She looked at the stands, bleary-eyed, seeing people but struggling to recognise them. They were all looking at her. Or, well, in her direction. She didn't like it.

She let go of the Cup as if it were burning her and stumbled to her feet. She needed to see Dumbledore at once. Where was he? She was finding it really hard to focus on faces. Why?

Right, right – lack of adrenaline and immediate danger, fatigued, disorientated, et cetera.

She bent over to rest her hands on her knees, needing to take a breath – several deep breaths – before she passed out. Her ears were ringing and her head was spinning, but she needed to get herself under control because she had to see Dumbledore before- there was something...She was missing something...

There was more sound now, but it was no longer cheering. It was voices, screams, thundering footsteps as people approached. It felt like they were running at her, but, no, this wasn't about her. It was about Cedric – who lay dead on the ground next to her.

She couldn't imagine what it must be like to be an audience member right now. One champion comes back crying over the other's dead body and, hey, there's a random girl with them, too. How bizarre.

Spooked by the noise and rush of people, her knees caved and – yep, she was on the ground again. Leaning up on her good hand (well, better hand), she used the other to wipe her face of tears and sweat. Except, that hand was bleeding, and she ended up rubbing blood across her face instead. Gods, she probably looked a right state. Felt a right state, too.

"What's happened?"

"Cedric Diggory's dead!"

"He's dead!"

That was mostly what she could hear. But there was another. Someone was shouting for her.

"Robyn! Out of my way, Granger!"

It was a boy's voice, she couldn't tell who. So, she lifted her head, and just in time to see her brother. Dylan was hot on his heels.

Lloyd lifted her easily as if there wasn't only a year between them and she immediately sank into his embrace. He was practically holding her up, considering her own legs had been too weak to do the job. And he wasn't usually one for hugs, but the current circumstances were really quite dire. She was glad he decided to throw aside the, 'ew, don't touch me,' thing for now.

She felt the familiar sensation of Dylan stroking her hair and she was talking in her ear, too, but Robyn couldn't find the energy to focus.

She was vaguely aware of other people trying to reach her, but her siblings' glares kept them at a distance. For Lloyd, that was normal. For Dylan, it was quite uncharacteristic. She appreciated it.

But there was one person who would not be scared off.

"Come with me," growled Moody.

"No," said Lloyd simply.