"so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." — ᶠᶦᵗᶻᵍᵉʳᵃˡᵈ
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1 ; a missing half
CELINE DIGGORY HAD not had a good night's sleep since two nights before the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. The night before the tournament had been filled with visions of all the worst possible scenarios, and she tossed and turned throughout the night, twisted in her sheets as her heart pounded in fear of her brother's fate.
Every night after that was plagued with images — memories — of Cedric's lifeless body as he lay just outside the maze, his eyes glazed over, looking up innocently at the unforgiving sky. She remembered the hushed gasps as her brother, held by Harry Potter, appeared on the Hogwarts lawn. She remembered how the gasps turned to screams, then cries, as hundreds of parents, teachers, and children saw such a youthful life full of bright possibility be extinguished.
She had been up in the stands, surrounded by her friends and friends of Cedric, many of whom were the same. At first, she had to fight her way through the shocked crowd, but eventually, the sea of Hogwarts students parted, giving her a clear path that ended at the cadaver of her brother. Her best friend.
She remembered screaming — screaming so loud that perhaps those in Hogsmeade could hear her shrill cry of anguish. She fell next to Cedric, the dewy grass dampening her bare knees, and she violently sobbed, clutching onto the person who meant most to her.
Celine remembered sitting up once her sobs no longer wracked her body, and she gently closed her brother's eyelids, allowing him to sleep in eternal peace. It was funny, she remembered thinking, because with his eyes closed, it didn't look like he was dead. His skin was still full of color, though indeed paling quickly. His body was relaxed, and there was not a mark on him, with no blood in sight. She remembered shuddering at the thought that it must have been the Killing Curse which ended his life.
Then he said it.
"He's back," Harry Potter had whispered so quietly that only those close to them could hear. His words were carried away with the wind, disappearing into the night. "He's back. Voldemort."
She remembered it all.
Celine woke with a start, covers caught around her legs, sweat beading along her temples and the back of her neck. Her room was a deep blue, only the tips of the sun's rays beginning to peek over the horizon. Just like every morning for the past few months, she woke up still tired and unrested.
There was a light tap on her bedroom door as her father, Amos Diggory, entered. He looked at her sadly.
"I heard you scream," he said knowingly.
Celine nodded, "All I see is him. Cedric."
Her father sat on the side of her bed and Celine hugged him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder. He held her just as close, tears in his eyes as he watched his daughter suffer so much with grief.
"I miss him, dad," she all but wailed. "Every day I miss him more."
"Me too, Cel," he cooed.
The door creaked open more, revealing Mary Diggory, her mother. The blonde woman smiled sadly at her husband and daughter before joining their hug on Celine's bed. The three of them hugged and cried until the sun was almost up and the sky a mix of pink and orange hues, at which point Celine had exhausted herself, falling back onto her pillow and letting out a few soft snores.
When she awoke again, the sun was fully risen and the country birds were chirping happily. The sunlight flittered through her half-open window, casting an orangey glow around the room as the morning fog from the summer heat rolled off the English mountains and down the countryside. Celine felt slightly better, though still was utterly exhausted. She looked in her mirror and saw bolts of purple lightning streaking across the bags which fell under her eyes. She looked so pale and sickly, and she briefly thought that perhaps part of her had died with Cedric that day.
She tiredly made her way to the kitchen, sitting down at the table as her father read the newspaper and her mother prepared eggs and toast. She looked at the paper her father was holding, noticing the cover: THE BOY WHO LIES? Celine scoffed under her breath, angered by the fact that the majority of the Wizarding World believed her brother to have died on his own accord. Cedric was one of the most brilliant wizards she knew. She wanted his death to be one which sparked a retaliation. She wanted justice. To say that Voldemort was not back demeaned her brother's death, and she was frustrated as to how she could make people believe. What did they expect, Voldemort to just stroll down Diagon Alley announcing his return?
Her mother placed three steaming plates on the table and the family sat around. Celine did her best to avoid looking at the chair next to hers, the emptiness of it unsettling and just serving as a painful reminder of her loss. The house had been so much quieter without Cedric, and though she had always yelled at him for being annoying, she now longed for his loud rants about Quidditch, or his roughhousing with his friends when they came over.
"How would you feel about staying at the Order headquarters?" Her father broke the silence, looking at her.
She furrowed her brows, "What do you mean?"
"Well, you know your mother has to go to France for work," he began. "And me, well I have my job as well as potential missions in the Order. I don't want you home alone here, especially with the Dark Lord back. Dumbledore and Sirius Black have already offered you to stay. I'll be there some days when I don't have a job, and maybe I'll stay the occasional night. I just want to know you're safe if I'm away for a few days."
Celine took it all in. She had known her mother was going away, but she did not know her father was so involved in the Order. The Diggorys were, of course, members, but the thought of her father being out on a mission for days on end made her nervous. She supposed she would rather be safe at the headquarters than home alone. At night she would no doubt be unable to sleep, perceiving every creak of the house to be a potential Death Eater. With all these missing persons cases, it was necessary to stay constantly vigilant.
"Yeah," she answered. "Yeah, I don't mind staying there."
That afternoon was spent packing her things, as she would be headed to the Burrow the following morning with her father. Her mother was set to leave that night. Celine packed various sets of clothes along with her summer work for her stay at the headquarters, then quickly packed her robes and school supplies in her trunk. She was not sure if she would be returning home before the school year, so she shrank her luggage and placed it in her rucksack just in case.
Celine began rummaging through her drawers for her photos, as she always brought things like that to Hogwarts for her bedside table and desk, and it was then that she stumbled upon a small polaroid of her and Cedric from the year prior. It was taken during the first week of his seventh year — her fourth. They were outside, sitting on the grass near the Black Lake, both smiling happily, their matching brown hair blowing slightly in the late-summer wind. Cedric had on a navy Puddlemere sweatshirt, with Celine donning a white and yellow Hufflepuff one. They both had an arm around the other, and Celine felt a tear pool out of her eye and fall down her cheek, hitting the photograph silently. Cedric was everything to her. She felt unable to function in a world without him.
Celine fell asleep with her cheeks still damp, and just like every other night, her dreams were filled with visions of her brother dying, and of Voldemort rising up, ready for war.
