The Era of Aria Snape

79

Chapter Seventy-Nine

ARIA, HARRY, AND Cedric huddled together in the new, unfamiliar place that had the hairs on Aria's arms standing up. "Where the bloody hell are we?"

"The cup was a portkey," Cedric mumbled. The three all turned to stare at the cup that now lay, no longer glowing, on the ground.

"And what's all these terrible stone things? Graves?" Aria whispered as she took them in, one by one. She was scared, terrified of where they might be and who they might be with.

"I've been here before!" Harry exclaimed suddenly. "We have to get back to the cup."

"What are you talking about?" Cedric asked, concerned.

"Get back to the cup!"

Before Aria could even process running to the cup, a cold feeling made its way up her spine. The feeling of absolute and complete evil. She shivered and slowly turned around.

A figure approached them.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Cedric yelled out.

"Kill the spare!" A voice hissed and no sooner than it did, green light erupted from the figures wand and hit Cedric square in the chest.

The boy fell lifeless to the ground.

Aria screamed his name as she fell to her knees beside him, tears streaming down her face as her body quivered. Aria released a sob as her hands trailed over Cedric's face. A few of her tears spilled onto it. His dead eyes were enough to make her scream. "Harry." She called softly, eyes not leaving Cedric. The light had vanished from his eyes that rested, still wide open even in his death. She leaned towards him and rested her forehead on his, taking in a deep breath before she found the courage to pull away. She didn't love him, she hadn't felt anything for him for years, but seeing him die like that... It was all so quick, so close to her.

She grabbed her wand between her fingers and stood to her feet.

She was going to kill whoever had killed him. She didn't care who it was. They deserved nothing but death for killing her first love!

A hand wrapped itself around her and she found herself pinned against one of the statues, unable to remove herself from its grasp. She recognized the face. She had met him the previous year. "What the bloody hell are you doing, Wormtail?" She spat his name as she squirmed, but he ignored her and turned to Harry was also being held captive against another statue.

She wanted to call his name, but couldn't bring herself to talk. And no matter how hard she fought against the statue, she remained stuck.

"Do it now!" That voice hissed again.

Wormtail turned to the cauldron at his side and emptied his cloak into it. A figure had fallen in, one that Aria hadn't seen before. Pale and small, dead almost.

"Bones of the father, unwillingly given." A bone from a nearby tomb levitated and was dumped into the cauldron.

"Flesh of the servant, willing sacrificed." He lifted a knife to his hand, slicing it off into the cauldron.

Aria gulped and closed her eyes, struggling to breathe. The insufferable gut feeling like she might die was overwhelming. All she wanted was to see her father one last time. To see Draco one last time.

Wormtail turned towards Harry, revealing a knife as he approached him and stuck it into Harry's wrist. "Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken." Harry released a scream.

"Harry!" Aria yelled out. He looked at her, the same fear in his eyes that she felt mirrored her own.

"Silence." Wormtail snapped as he turned towards the cauldron once more. "The dark lord shall rise again!"