The Slytherin Champion (The Four Maidens of Hogwarts #1)

Chapter Twenty Seven

THE AFTERMATH - HARRY

He couldn't unsee the Slytherin Champion falling. He didn't even see what had happened before that. The golden light had nearly blinded him. But the next thing he knew, Jade was screaming, and then she stopped.

He had dueled with Voldemort after that. Their wands had done something funny. There had been more golden light, though it had been more yellow this time, and he had seen his mother and father, as well as tons of other people he didn't know. They all seemed to be dead.

He hadn't seen Jade, but her body felt extremely cold for her to be alive. Harry was shaking uncontrollably as he held onto Jade's body, the wind howling as they were about to return to Hogwarts. He had barely escaped, and it was thanks to not only what had happened with his wand, but also thanks to the girl who continued to surprise him.

Harry suddenly slammed into the ground, his face pressed against the familiar Hogwarts grass. His head was swimming; drowning in an endless ocean of emotions. He clutched Jade's body tighter, afraid of letting her body drown in that deep ocean.

Then, a pair of hands seized him, roughly turning him over.

"Harry! Harry!"

He opened his eyes to see Dumbledore's familiar face. Though it didn't make him feel much better.

"He's back," Harry whispered, letting go of the cup to clutch Dumbledore's wrist. "He's back. Voldemort."

"What's going on? What happened?"

Then, Cornelius Fudge loomed over him, his face upside down from Harry's view.

"My God! Is she... dead?" He whispered.

Harry wanted to choke.

Dumbledore calmly reached over, feeling Jade's wrist. He shook her head. "There is a pulse."

All the emotions crashed into Harry all at once. They transitioned from him questioning whether or not Jade was dead to him telling himself that she was alive.

Pulse. Pulse means alive, but why isn't Dumbledore happier?

"Jade!" Harry turned to see a rush of people hurrying towards them. Two Chinese parents were shoving people out of their way. Cho, A Hufflepuff girl, as well as a Slytherin boy were shortly behind them.

The older woman fell to her knees and screamed when she saw Jade, proceeding to sob.

She's alive! Harry desperately wanted to scream, but he felt too ill and injured to raise his voice.

"Harry, stay here -" Dumbledore patted his shoulder before heading to console the ongoing mass of people.

She's alive... she's alive... please stop crying. Harry silently pleaded. Though when he looked at the Slytherin Champion, she looked anything but alive.

--

Harry needed to rest after all the chaos. He just found out that his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year was actually a crazed Death Eater; a clever mastermind that had set up his treacherous journey as a Triwizard champion.

Dumbledore had explained to him what his wand had done while he was dueling Voldemort. It had been a Priori Incantatem effect, where the spirits of Voldemort's recent victims appeared. Seeing his mother and father among them, Harry wanted to sit in front of the Mirror of Erised again.

To make matters worse, Minister Fudge wasn't buying that Voldemort was back. They no longer had access to Barty Crouch Jr.'s testimony, since Fudge executed the dementor's kiss on him. On top of that, Fudge had accused Harry as deranged and basically rendered anything related to Voldemort coming back, or how Jade had fought against him and almost died, as a delusional story.