Always - Welcome to the Wizarding World

Part 3

Once the game had finished, we headed back to our tent, trying desperately not to get trampled by the crowds. When we got back, I lay down on my bed and Cedric bounded over to sit on the end of it. I sat up to face him; his face was bright red from cheering and screaming.

"Blimey, that was a good match, wasn't it? Kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time!" he exclaimed. I giggled at him. Suddenly, I heard an explosion outside and screaming, not far from our tent. We both paused and looked at each other.

"Did you hear that?" I asked him. He nodded nervously. There was another explosion, but it was so close to our tent this time that I felt the ground beneath me tremble. We ducked as flying rubble tore through our tent, ripping it like tissue paper. We both stood up to stare at the piece of the field that had nearly taken our heads off.

"Bloody hell" Cedric murmured. Amos rushed over to us, carrying his things.

"We have to go! Now!" he shouted. Quickly, Ced and I both grabbed our rucksacks and ran out of the tent.

Fire and darkness had enveloped the Quidditch grounds. Smoke rose from every corner of the field and I knew we had to escape. I felt a sudden burst of heat behind my head and I swung around to see our tent up in flames. I stood there as the heat rose, my mouth aghast. I couldn't breathe as the smoke began to line my lungs. All I could hear was the screams of desperate witches and wizards trying to escape.

Then, I heard chanting. It sounded almost satanic. That's when I saw them. The Death Eaters. They were hooded and dressed in all black, their faces covered by white masks made of bones. That was all I managed to get a glimpse of before Cedric yanked me away and we began to sprint. But the image of the Death Eaters was still fresh in my mind and frightened me to my very core.

I don't know how long we ran for, but when we stopped, I felt like my heart was stuck in my throat. As we ran through the fields, I could have sworn I saw Harry Potter lying on the floor a few feet away from me. I'd screamed his name, but he didn't reply and we couldn't stop for him. I didn't see Mr Weasley and his family, nor did I see Draco Malfoy and his father. I did have a funny feeling about Lucius Malfoy, when I saw him before the Quidditch match, he had such a presence about him that made me feel like he was someone to be feared. I sincerely hoped he was drastically different from his son.

I still had Draco's bewitching smile engraved into my mind, to me he was just so fascinating. I hardly knew him, which just made me more curious about his mysterious nature. But looking at Cedric, panting from exhaustion, I felt guilty for feeling like this about Draco. I had to keep convincing myself that Cedric was the only boy I could ever be interested in like that, but the darkness in Draco kept creeping up on me. Even as we ran away from the dreadful scene, all I could think about was how I was betraying Cedric by feeling this way. I had to remember that Cedric probably didn't care about my feelings for other boys, but I couldn't stop feeling ashamed of myself.

Once we got home, Amos told me that the Death Eaters' attack at the Quidditch field had been a worry before the match, but people thought the possibility of it happening was so small, it wasn't worth calling it off. I was just glad we were all home and safe. A few days later, Amos received a letter from Arthur Weasley, saying that, after we left, Ron, Harry and Hermione were found in the Quidditch field and in the sky above them, betwixt the looming clouds, was the Dark Mark. Cedric told me this was You Know Who's mark, a skull with a writhing snake emerging from its open mouth.

"Yes, but surely it's impossible for You Know Who himself to have cast it because he's dead, isn't he?" I asked Cedric. He just shrugged.

"I don't know, Ray. I thought he was too, but what with the Death Eaters attacking the Quidditch field and the Dark Mark appearing not long afterwards, I'm not so sure anymore". Amos told us that we shouldn't worry ourselves, it was probably just someone playing a trick, he insisted. But I wasn't convinced and neither was Ced. Whatever it was, I was starting to get worried, especially about Harry. It didn't take a genius to work out that if You Know Who did come back, then he would want revenge on the one who caused him to disappear in the first place.

When September came around, it was time for Cedric and I to go to school. We'd been to Diagon Alley a few days earlier to get all our supplies and, as a surprise, Cedric bought me a white eagle owl with delicate tawny markings. "A "Welcome to Hogwarts" present" he said when he gave the magnificent bird to me. She was such a pretty and friendly bird, I saw a lot of kids with rats and cats and frogs, things like that, but my owl was the most beautiful I had seen. I called her Noctem because she moved so gracefully, like a floating cloud. I was very fond of her, even more so because Ced had bought her for me.

Amos came with Ced and I to Kings Cross station in London to watch us depart. I was dressed in the proper Hogwarts attire, except I didn't have my tie because I was yet to be placed in a house. I was praying for Hufflepuff, same as Ced, but Gryffindor would be good too because I knew Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Amos drove us to Kings Cross very early in the morning, I was still half asleep. I tucked my trunk in the boot and held onto Noctem's cage as I sat in the back seat next to Cedric.

"So, are you nervous?" he asked me as we drove along.

"Yeah, I suppose. It's going to be strange, getting there and not having any friends" I told him.

"Well, you'll have me and I think that Granger girl quite likes you. Potter and Weasley too". When he said that I'd "have" him, I couldn't help but think "I wish". I wasn't as bothered about having Hermione, Ron and Harry as friends as I was about keeping Cedric as one.

"Yes, but you'll be years above me, Ced" I protested, clinging on to Noctem's cage as Amos swerved haphazardly around a corner, nearing the station. Wizards were notoriously awful drivers.

"Well, I promise that I'll try and look out for you. I'm a Prefect, anyway, so if anyone gives you any hassle, send them straight to me" he told me very matter-of-factly. I nodded and smiled at him. It was nice to know that he cared about my well-being.

"Okay, here we are!" Amos said, screeching the old car to a halt. I took a deep breath, clutched the cage in my fist and I opened the car door.