I'm not a coward, just shy (Hogwarts fanfic)

ch 22 - goodbye

I clasped the smooth metal in my hand which hung for a chain around my neck. The weight reassured me as if it was anchoring me to this world. I felt sick to my stomach and bile rose in my throat as the champions lined up as I stood next to Dumbledore next to Bagman.

"Going back to your scores of the second task" Dumbledore started, "Tying in first place, Cedric Diggory and Harry potter will enter the maze first on the cannon. In second place Victor Krum will enter 10 minutes when the second cannon blast sounds. 5 minutes after Victor Krum, Fleur Delacour will enter one the third cannon sounding. The aim is to get to the middle of the maze first and retrieve the TwiWizard cup. This person will receive 1000 gallons prize money and the title of Champion" I scanned each of their faces. Victor Krum with serious, Fleur had worry in her eyes but she quickly swallow it. Harry was Determined and seeing that he had come so far it was easy to see why. But it was Cedric that made my breath catch in my throat. he was staring at me, as if seeing me for the first time. I reached up and took off my glasses, fixing the now yellow and black blurring with my amber eyes. I returned them and he was grinning at me.

"Champions, if you would take you starting positions" Ludo said and Cedric turned away and whipped back around and raced to me, embracing me tightly. I gripped the back of his robes.

"Wait for me" He Whispered in my ear.

"As long as it takes" And just like that, he was gone. Melting from my arms like the snow which had melted from the ground leaving it frozen and unforgiving. I begin to suck in all his features. His golden hair, his golden- brown orbs, his wide chest, his jaw line, his back muscles, the scent of broom polish he could never quite rid of. Harry and Cedric took their placing and I wanted to run after him, pull him away and run. I wanted to run and never stop running but before I knew it the cannon had blasted and he disappeared into the shadows and was gone.

Soon the second and third cannon blasts had sound and all four champions had gone into the maze. I sink to my seat, as did Dumbledore, I'll admit far more gracefully.

"Will you keep an eye on them" He asked and I nodded.

"I just need to concentrate" I said closing my eyes and watched the maze though the different pair of eyes, as if I was watching from the sky but I could still feel my feet on the ground and my body against the chair.

"Harry is about to bump into a blast ended skrewt, Fleur will be alright but turned around, Cedric is about to go to war with some come to life tree roots and win... hold on a minute, something is not right with Krum. I-I think he has been enchanted" I gasped, Why hadn't I seen it before.

I went on to see Krum attack Fleur and then Cedric, using the cruciatus curse to my horror but luckily harry was able to knock him out. I Gripped into the handle of the chair I was sitting it. I wait as Cedric and Harry may it to the circle. They encircled the cup and agreed that they would take it at the same time. My stomach drop to the floor and I was going to be sick. This wasn't happening, it was impossible right. I had seconds if that to spit out.

"The cup has been turned into a port key, they are going to be taken to the graveyard" I stood before it happened. Light burst from the centre of the maze and I gasped at the static pressure that build in my head. My body fell limp, cracking my head hard on my chair hard as I fall. Slumping to the ground before rising slowly again not of my accord. It was like I was watching from out of my body but it wasn't my voice that came. It was the voice of the Static with rang loud and clear.

"The badger will fight and fall, his body left to rest, the first of many. Heed my warning, Life and death will dance with claws raised. A storm of rain of crimson with heart of stone. The song will end when the one who lives will be reborn a new and only then will peace sing again. Both seed and plant will be torched in flame and No soul will be safe from death's frozen grip" the static yelled with such fury that I was shocked myself, I have never heard so much as whispers and now this.

My body was dropped once more and I was sucked back into the chaos that was my mind. Everything was spinning and I had just managed to twist onto my side before I retched onto the grass. Voices both close and far called my name and I close my eyes, only to open them as I was being carried into the school by Hagrid of all people, the smell of earth and wood smoke told me so.

"He is going to die" I said weakly, I couldn't take in anymore I wanted to scream until my throat was shredded.

"Shh, right now, you whacked your head something terrible." He said. I was laid on a bed and was barley aware of madam Pomfrey around me. It had already happen, I knew that. There was no way I could change it. He was gone. I was left alone and I weakly rolled over and reached for the watch a my neck. I clicked it open and its melody drifted out. I closed my eyes and imagined us, lying in the room of requirement with the fire roaring, it's greeting as we got drunk in each other's company. I felt his arms around me and he was lying with whispering sweet nothings in my ear. This music was Cedric and Cedric was alive in this melody and only in the melody. I hummed along and didn't move even when Mum and the rest of the Weasley's came in. I didn't even move when Harry came in. The one thing that made me shut out the music, shut out Cedric, what the shell of what he used to be being magically laid down to rest on a bed.

No one tried to stop me as I moved towards him. As I pressed my hand to his cheek so unnaturally pale and still. As I pressed my lips to his and then to his forehead, as if I could breath life back into this shell. I could see the future but I couldn't save one I held dear. I pulled away, I closed his blank eyes, the golden brown I loved so much.
"Goodbye, Cedric, wait for me"