| HIDDEN IN SECRETS |

chapter sixty-five

PEACE IN THE SILENCE

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Verena slammed into a body. She groaned, rolling onto the grass until she landed flat on her back. She was panting heavily, unable to find the will to move. Her legs were so tired that they were numb to her. Her head still ached and she was exhausted. She closed her eyes, listening to nothing but silence. It was a good silence; a peaceful one.

Then, she heard cheers. The band played music, people were yelling and screaming. There were cheers for both Cedric and Harry. Suddenly, chaos.

"Harry! Harry!" she heard Professor Dumbledore call. "Verena! Minerva, Filius!"

Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick came rushing to the scene. They shared horrified gasps upon looking at Cedric, then they kneeled beside Verena.

"Verena," said Professor Flitwick and Verena opened her eyes.

"Dear, child... " Professor McGonagall spoke, looking at the cut on her cheek. "What were— "

She stopped speaking, looking over to Harry who said, "He's back. Voldemort's back."

"What's going on? What's happened?"

Cornelius Fudge came rushing to see what was happening. His face turned pale after seeing the three. Verena was bleeding everywhere on her face, too exhausted to move, while Harry, cut and bruised, was hanging onto Cedric.

"My God – Diggory! Dumbledore – he's dead!"

It wasn't the way Verena would have liked Cho to know. She heard the crowd whispering amongst each other and then people began to scream it aloud.

"Cedric Diggory's dead!"

The music went away at once. There was silence, and then there was a voice. A man's broken voice as he called for his son. Verena couldn't look at Cedric or his father. She couldn't even look at Cho who she knew was crying into Marietta's shoulder.

There was another voice. Silas had been filled with worry. He had fought his way through the crowd, making his way to his daughter. It was a relief to see that she was still alive.

"My little deer— "

Verena had shot up after hearing his voice. She backed away from him, and Silas stopped advancing.

"Verena!" yelled Damien with worry, but Silas stopped him from getting closer.

"Verena— "

"Get away from me!" Verena yelled.

Damien reached out to her, but Verena pulled away saying, "Don't touch me! Stay away!"

"Father, what happened?" Damien asked, concerned. "Dad, what's wrong with her?! Was she in the maze? Father— "

Silas said nothing, slowly backing away into the crowd.

"Verena, what happened?" Damien asked, trying to reach out to her. "Verena!"

He grabbed her wrist which earned him a punch to the jaw. He just stood there, shocked, as Professor McGonagall tried to calm her.

"Please, if you could stand back," said Professor Flitwick to Damien.

"Get your hands off of me!" Verena yelled, pushing Professor McGonagall off of her.

"You're safe," she tried to assure Verena. "You're at Hogwarts."

Professor McGonagall glanced at Professor Flitwick and nodded. Professor Flitwick took out his wand and pointed it at her. A red light shot out from the end of his wand and hit Verena. There were gasps as Verena was hit by the spell and fell into Professor McGonagall's arms.