by my side¹ - d. malfoy

Twenty-Eight

LAURA FELT her feet slam into the ground; her injured leg gave way.

She fell forward, her hand finally letting go of the Triwizard Cup. She started panicking as she looked up to see where they had been transported to.

"So... where are we?" she asked.

Cedric shook his head. He got up, pulled Laura to her feet, and they looked around. Laura heard a sound.

She whipped around to see Harry standing there.

"Merlin's beard- Harry- what are you doing here?"

"I told you what I saw, Laura," Harry said, grimacing slightly. "I couldn't let you go with the feeling that something was going to go wrong."

Laura sighed, Cedric's arm still held onto her as she looked around.

They definitely weren't at Hogwarts anymore. They had traveled miles- perhaps hundreds of miles- even the mountains surrounding the castle were gone. Instead, they were standing in a dark and overgrown graveyard; the black outline of a small church was visible beyond a large yew tree to their right. A hill rose above them to their left. Laura could barely make out the outline of a fine old house on the hillside.

Cedric looked down at the Triwizard Cup and then up at Laura and Harry.

"Did anyone tell you two that this cup was a Portkey?" he asked.

"I wouldn't have grabbed it if I knew," Laura sighed.

"No, and I don't think this is part of your task."

"Wands out, d'you reckon?" Cedric asked, looking slightly nervous now.

"Yeah," Harry said, and the three of them pulled out their wands.

Laura then felt they were being watched, her eyes darting around.

"Someone's coming," she said suddenly.

Laura looked only to see a figure drawing nearer, walking steadily toward them between graves. Laura couldn't make out a face, but she could tell they were carrying something. Whoever it was, they were short and wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over their head to obscure their face. As they got nearer, the gap between them closed- Laura saw the thing in the person's arms looked like a baby... or was it merely a bundle of robes?

Laura shared a sideways glance with Cedric and Harry, who shared the same look. They all then turned back, watching as the figure kept approaching them.

It stopped beside a towering marble headstone, only six feet from them. For a moment, Laura, Harry, Cedric, and the short figure simply looked at one another.

From far away, Laura heard a high, cold voice say, "Kill the spare."

A swishing noise and a second voice screeched the words into the night:

"Avada Kedavra!"

A blast of green light passed Laura, and she lost support on her left side, quickly grabbing onto Harry. She looked over to her left in horror.

Cedric was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside her. He was dead.

Laura's heart fell, and her breathing became rapid.

"No, no, no, not again," she said, her eyes wide. She was frozen in fear; even if she wasn't frozen, her leg was in no condition to do anything reckless.

Tears fell from her eyes as she held on tightly to Harry.

Cedric lay there, his gray eyes blank and expressionless like the windows of a deserted house, his mouth half-open, looking slightly surprised.