The Potter Twins and the Goblet of Fire {4}

31. Blood Of The Enemy

"I'm bruised and scarred, save me from this broken heart," ~ Bruised and Scarred, Mayday Parade

I feel my feet slam into the ground, and my injured leg gives way and I fall forwards; my hand lets go of the cup at last, and I raise my head, cursing under my breath. 

"Where are we?" Harry asks. 

Cedric shakes his head. He then stands up, and with Harry's help, pulls me to my feet. 

We've left Hogwarts, I decide as we look around, we're obviously hundreds of miles away - for even the mountains surrounding the castle are gone. We're standing instead in a dark and overgrown graveyard; the black outline of a small church is visible beyond a large yew tree to our right. A hill rises above of a fine old house on the hillside. 

"Did anybody tell you the Cup was a Portkey?" Cedric asks. 

"Nope," I reply, looking around anxiously. "D'you think this is a part of the task?"

"Dunno," Cedric says, and even he sounds slightly nervous. "Wands out, d'you reckon?"

"Yeah."

I pull out my wand, glad that Cedric made the suggestion rather than me. I look at Harry, and in this moment, one stare says a thousand words. He feels uneasy, too, I can see it in his eyes. Something isn't right. 

"Someone's coming," Harry says suddenly. 

Following his gaze, I squint through the darkness; there is a dark figure drawing nearer and nearer to us. I can't make out a face, but from the way he's walking, I'm sure he's holding something in his arms. Whoever it is, they're short and are wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over their head to obscure their face. 

And - several paces nearer, the space between us closing rapidly - I see that the thing in his arms looks like a baby...or is it merely a bundle of robes?

Lowering my wand slightly, I glance sideways at Harry and Cedric; Harry looks just as conflicted as me, but Cedric shoots me a quizzical look. We all turn back to watch the approaching figure. 

It stops beside a marble headstone, only six feet away from us. For a second, we and the mysterious figure simply stare at each other. 

Without warning, my scar explodes with pain. It's in such pain that I can only relate it to the Cruciartus Curse. My wand slips from my fingers as I cover my face with my hands; my knees buckle and I'm on the ground again. I can see nothing at all, and my head feels as if it's about to spilt open. 

Forcing my eyes open, I see Harry on the ground through my teary vision, in a similar position to me. 

And then, from far away, I hear a high, cold voice say, "Kill the spare."

It all seems to go in slow motion. There's a swishing noise, and a second voice, which screeches the words into the night: "Avada Kedavra!"

A bright green light flashes in my eyes, and I hear something heavy fall to the ground behind me. The pain in my scar reaches such a pitch that I retch. I turn my head to the side, my eyes stinging, terrified of what I'm going to see. 

Cedric is laying spread-eagle on the ground beside me. Dead. 

Every seems to freeze; a second contains an eternity. I stare at Cedric's face, unable to move, unable to speak. I stare at his open grey eyes, blank and expressionless. I stare at his motionless face, that I had once found so attractive. 

Before my mind can even process what I'm seeing, before I can feel anything but numb disbelief, I feel myself being pulled to my feet. 

The short man in the hood has put down his bundle, lit his wand and is dragging me towards the marble headstone. In my lapse of time, he already dragged Harry away, who is bound tightly to the headstone, looking terrified.