What Voldemort Left Behind

Chapter 14 - Some of the Kindest and Bravest Wizards

Their grandfather walked towards them. "James, Lily, come inside. We need to talk to you." The kids trudged back into the house, this can't be good. They were sat at the kitchen table with their brother and cousins, uncles and aunts, and Teddy, which James and Lily never knew what to call him, he was kind of a brother, cousin and uncle to them. Their Granny and Grandad were standing up clearly where everyone could see and their faces were unusually somber. "We just talked to Ron, he told us Harry collapsed and fell unconscious earlier and no one seems to be able to wake him." Their grandmother stood there as their grandfather talked and then hurriedly started to offer people tea and hot chocolate, clearly not knowing what to do and trying to keep busy. Their grandfather called the three Potter children over. "Your uncle told us that your mother didn't mind if you all wanted to go in and sit with them for a while, but be prepared, your dad isn't moving and he looks quite ill, it may come as a shock." They nodded at him solemnly and made their way through the door.

"Hi mum." Albus said quietly as they sat down on a spare sofa, their mother was kneeling on the floor beside their father who looked like a broken ragdoll on top of the mattress. Lily had never seen a dead body but if she didn't know better, her dad looked like one. She was scared by the silence in the room the most, it seemed tense and she didn't know why nobody made useless conversation to pass the time, not even Uncle Ron and that was his area of expertise. She felt awkward in front of her school's headmistress and nurse, like she was intruding on something private, she had never seen them look so worried, McGonagall looked elderly, well Lily supposed she must be in her 80s but usually the headmistress didn't look that old. Madam Pomfrey looked very stressed and this surprised Lily, usually the school nurse was calm and knew exactly what to do. This was clearly not the case today but if she knew what to do her father would be better already. Her mother wasn't speaking to anyone, she focused all of her attention on her husband quietly willing him to wake up. Madam Pomfrey casted many spells but either they weren't successful or whatever she was doing couldn't be seen. Eventually the Headmistress left as she had some urgent business to attend to over the holiday and a few minutes later Ron persuaded the children to leave with him as dinner was almost ready and there was nothing they could do for their father.

The next few days at the Burrow were quiet, Uncle George left on Easter Monday with his family to reopen the shop for Hogwarts kids on break, Uncle Charlie left later that day to return to Romania, and Teddy took Victoire back to his place for a day or two for some alone time with no siblings or cousins, she was due to move in with him soon. This left the five Potters and four Weasley-Grangers staying. The five children spent most of their time together playing exploding snap and chess, there wasn't much opportunity or desire to leave the house as Harry was still unconscious and everyone was worried. The five were sitting round the table with their grandmother, munching on sandwiches while they took turns playing chess.

"Granny, why is it that we're not allowed to swim in the big lake at Hogwarts? Whenever we go back in the summer term it's always so hot and the lake looks so fun but McGonagall's so strict about it, could you swim there in your day?" Lily asked absentmindedly, she loved to swim at home in the summer, especially in the sea near her Uncle Bill's house, it was her favorite part about getting off school.

"Actually Lily, your father was probably the last to set foot in the Black Lake, along with your Aunt Fleur, and also two other boys, Cedric Diggory I'm sure you've  heard of and another called Krum."

Suddenly James whipped his head around to face them. "Viktor Krum??? The Bulgarian Quidditch legend????"

"Yes, Viktor, that was his name.... Nice man but a bit strange, your father and Aunt Hermione kept in touch with him, they seemed to get along well enough."

"AUNT HERMIONE? What's she got to do with Quidditch?" James shouted, Hugo and Albus who were sitting close by covered their ears, he was always extremely loud when talking.

"Never mind that James, I asked about swimming, why were they all in the lake?"

Their grandmother paused for a second before she spoke. "Your father would like you to know all these stories but there are some he just can't face retelling. Have any of you heard of the Triwizard Tournament?"

Rose jumped in, the same way her mother would when asked a question. "I've read about that somewhere, it's apparently a competition between 3 schools including Hogwarts, but I always assumed it was made up since it never happens and it sounds too dangerous to be true."

Their grandmother nodded. "Sadly it is real, but the last time it happened, one of the four competitors was murdered. Cedric Diggory." She glanced at Albus who's middle name was Cedric after the boy. The children looked shocked with wide eyes. Lily looked confused, "I thought he was killed by Peter Pettigrew," James snarled as she said the name, "On the night Voldemort returned?" she finished.

"Yes, the reason your father was involved at all in this contest, he didn't choose or want to be, unlike the others, was because a Death Eater submitted his name in order to make a Portkey for the winner, he rigged it for Harry to win, so that Voldemort could kidnap Harry and take his blood to give himself a body again. Harry didn't want to win, never one for glory and drew with Cedric, who was murdered on the spot and Harry was meant to be killed as well but for the fourth time, he won and escaped. Lily, to answer your question before, the lake was the second task in this awful contest so I excpect your Headmistress just has too many bad memories surrounding it and feels it's unsafe for students."

Lily was shocked, she'd known how Cedric Diggory had died but she had never once heard about this contest thing. Albus was the same age as her father was when this all happened and Lily could never imagine her brother being forced to play in this contest against his will and almost dying in it.

Albus spoke for the first time, "Wow, Dad's life was seriously messed up, was there no teachers who could have stopped it? It's kind of their responsibility to keep students safe if he was only a teenager, we're not allowed to do anything important until we're of age."

Their grandmother shook her head. "That's the way the world was for him, his life was controlled by Voldemort who had no feeling for anything, he didn't have a heart to care what age anyone was, he wanted Harry destroyed, the earlier the better. Once the war had started properly, everyone was in danger but none more than him, it was an awful time, especially the night Harry came back holding Cedric's body." She shuddered, as if picturing this awful scene and looked like she was about to cry. "This is why your father is like what he is now, the terrible memories of the war are getting to him, we don't even know some of the horrors he faced. I don't mean to scare all of you but he'd want you to remember all the people we lost then. I'm so proud of all of you, you have grown up so quickly into understanding and empathetic people, it must be hard when the people who are supposed to care for you have difficulty adjusting to normal life themselves. You weren't born into a normal family, you never will be normal, but all of your parents are some of our world's kindest and bravest people and they definitely love you more than anything."