The Boy Who Made the Right Choice

15- Lord Voldemort

It all happened in the flash of a blinding light. Draco's feet left the ground and he felt himself go flying like a bludger through the air, his fingers still wrapped tightly around one handle of the cup. All drowned out sounds became more audible as he and Cedric stumbled onto the wet, grassy ground, the cup springing free from both boys' grasp.

Draco spat out a few blades of grass that'd got caught in his mouth and looked around, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand. The landscape around them was completely shrouded in fog, with only a couple dozen meters of visible scenery; tall black stones stood in jagged formation in rows upon rows, each with its own engraving and details.

The blood in Draco's veins ran cold. He heard Cedric wonder over to the cup and say something over to him but the thoughts in his head drowned out the older boy's voice.  

It's a Port-Key. That's not the task. The Death Eaters are involved.

"Diggory," He said seriously, turning on his heel. "We have to leave. Now."

"Like I didn't notice," the Hufflepuff retorted, and Draco rolled his eyes.

Cedric's brunette head whipped around at a sudden noise from the foggy darkness. He drew his wand, aiming it at nothing in particular. Then a black, raggy figure emerged from the fog.

"Who are you? What do you want?!" Cedric demanded, his voice in a tangle with the man's as he shouted out a spell, directed at him.

"No, WAIT!" Draco launched himself forward, shoving Cedric to the wet ground as the beam of light dodged his head by an inch.

The two boys stood back up, regaining their composure and their stance with their wands pointed at the mysterious, shabby man. Cedric noticed the wizard was carrying a bundle of blankets of some sort but didn't pay any attention to what was in the freak's grasp besides his wand pointed at them.

"I'll ask you again," Cedric gritted through his teeth, keeping up a threatening tone. "Who are you?"

Draco shook a fallen lock of white-blonde hair out of his face, revealing the scowl you could never mistake for being a Malfoy's.

The man's eyes instantly flickered to Draco's face when he saw him. "Oh...." He chuckled, smirking evilly which made Draco want to gag. "This will be fun. Expelliarmus!" Instantly the boys' wands were tossed into the unseeable fog bank surrounding them, which seemed to be closing in like a dome now. Draco wouldn't let his fear show. His face was emotionless, yet far from bored looking.

"What are you-"

"SILENCE!"

The wizard aimed his wand back at Cedric, sending him spiralling through the air to the other side of the graveyard. Draco had the urge to rush over pull at him, but he felt the man's wand pointed at him before he saw it.

The guy gave another one of those disgusting, evil snears that made his eyes look like they were about to pop out. "Draco Malfoy... daddy will be happy to see you here, won't he?" He started creeping closer and closer to Draco, who was frozen to the spot, afraid of moving for the wand directed pointedly at his chest was only a few feet away.

Draco tried to sneak a glance at what was wrapped in the blankets in the man's other arm, but he quickly covered the top before he could get a look. He aimed his wand back at Draco as he walked further toward a type of distinguished fireplace in the middle of the graveyard.

"You know, I don't think my father would respond very kindly to your threats toward me," Draco said boldly from behind the man's back. "Or my friend."

He new Cedric was looking at him from wherever he was behind a gravestone, but he didn't care. Harry's safe. That doesn't mean we are.

The guy, whom Draco decided to call Ratface by the creepy rodent resemblence on his features, didn't turn around, and instead focused on what seemed to be a massive cauldron he was conjuring up in front of him as he spoke back behind his shoulder.

"Where is the boy?" Harry.

"Not here." Draco bit his lip so hard he drew blood. Protect Harry at all costs. 

Draco looked to see Cedric trying to get his attention silently in the corner of his eye. He made a series of symbols and movements with his hands, then repeated the message, and Draco understood. Since when does the guy know sign language?

"Why does he want Harry?"

Draco signed back, "When haven't we had a year where no one wants him dead?"

Cedric rolled his eyes. Draco Malfoy using sarcasm in the face of danger. Weirdo. He didn't really answer his question, but it was a fair enough reason why he hardly needed to question it.

Ratface dropped whatever unknown object was in the blankets into the massive black cauldron, and Draco saw smoke rise out from the top of it. The smoke rose higher and higher into the air, colliding with the fog above as it grew bigger and greener. In a second, the smoke had shaped itself to the crest of the Dark Mark.

Draco shivered at the sight. Many would think that knowing his father was a Death Eater would make him used to signs of evil, but it hadn't. It never would. His palms grazed the wet, muddy grass as he searched for his wand in the semi-darkness. Out the corner of his eyes, Cedric was doing the same, and they were slowly making their way toward eachother behind the rows of tall gravestones.

Ratface was still too engrossed in his concoction to pay attention to the roughly dozen black silhouettes that had suddenly appeared from the fog, surrounding him and the cauldron with the mystery substance in it.

As they came closer, the wizards revealed to be cloaked with masks covering their faces. Death Eaters. Draco hated knowing they were here now, even though seeing Ratface indicated there would be company. He hated knowing his father could be -and very well may be- among them.

He continued watching Ratface and the Death Eaters converse unaudibly as his hands felt around for his wand. Draco looked up to see Cedric's face one of utter shock. He looked expectedly at Draco, who just looked back as if to say, I had no idea. Even though that wouldn't have been entirely true - he'd had suspisions all year.

"Death Eaters?!" He hissed. Draco didn't say anything back.

Ratface said an incantation while adding a few more chemicals - one of them being a deep red liquid in a vial that Draco was disgustingly sure was blood. But whose?

"Bone of the father willingly sacrificed..." Both Draco and Cedric looked away as Ratface dropped in what had to be the 'bone'. "Flesh of the servant willingly sacrificed..." 

Ew. Was all Draco could think of. How bad are these guys' heigene? Despite the disturbing ingridients he'd overheard, Draco racked his mind for all the potions he'd ever read about containing humanoid body parts and blood... He couldn't remember any.

There was no potion.

"Blood of the enemy forcibly taken." 

Draco -who's pale, dirty fingers had just found his wand- and Cedric watched as Ratface poured the vial of blood into the cauldron. They both wanted to throw up.

Draco turned around to do so just then, when he overheard the last voice. It was his father's.

"Where is Potter? We have his blood. Wouldn't it be such a shame for him to miss the reincarnation of our Lord?"

The blood drained from the boys' faces as they locked eyes. 

Lord Voldemort was coming back.