Lose yourself [HarryxCedric]

Part 5: Love and Torture

"HARRY POTTER," he heard the cold, hissing voice he had been more too familiar in this last month. Suddenly Harry realized that he was in the long hallway, which led to an open door. He couldn't understand what the Dark Lord had in plan for tonight's 'torture' session. 

Will it be anything like the last time? Like the one where Dudley was the minister for magic and Harry was the muggle caretaker of Veron Dursley or the one where his friends and teachers saw him nothing more than an attention-seeking crybaby or the one where Harry was expelled from Hogwarts.

He slowly moved towards the light, each step feeling heavier than the last one. Suddenly the ground inclined, and he started falling. It was never-ending, dark and scary. But considering that this was the You-know-who he was dealing with, this wasn't bad at all.

"Harry..." his heart stopped, the voice, the deep and caring voice was... no. "... Where are you?" 

"Cedric!" he screamed, "NO! please leave him out of this... I beg you."

And suddenly Cedric came out of the shadows. His face was calm as if he had accepted his fate. 

"Where are you?" Harry shouted in every direction. "Don't do this, please."

Something else came from behind, a dark cloud that could move and had facial features that resembled a snake. "HARRY POTTER..." it hissed. "How many people must die for the boy who lived?"

A single tear fell from Cedric's face and he mouthed "I love you". 

"AVADA KADAVRA!" a green flash hit Cedric. Harry screamed he couldn't do anything about it. Cedric's body fell his face still had the look of compassion but no longer looked warm. The cloud started taking form. It changed into Cedric.

"How dare you!" he yelled and charged himself on him. But to his shock, there was an invisible wall separating them. The Dark Lord laughed and put his feet on Cedric's dead, rotting face. "Accept your fate," he said. "Everyone you love will die and there is nothing you can do to stop it."

And with that, the dream ended.

And with that Harry woke up to the feeling of a crying Cedric kissing him, just like every other night. Seeing that he was awake Cedric hugged him. Harry hugged back and cried hysterically. And in his broken sentences, he said, "I-I was fa-falling... a-and he-he killed you... he-he took your form... I-I can't please stop this."

They both could feel each other's tears falling on their backs. Nobody said anything, they just hugged and felt each other. That was all that Harry needed then, no one knew if tomorrow might be the day that Voldermort returned and killed them.

An hour passed just to calm Harry down. "There-there sleep now," Cedric said. He stood up and took the stance of the hex-deflection charm and moved his wand downwards, the palm of opposite hand held outward, "Nolite Cogitare... Nolite Cogitare... Nolite Cogitar" he whispered, hoping that the defense would be strong enough this time.

He looked at Harry, who was sleeping, his face was as white as a ghost, his eyes were black and baggy. He couldn't take it anymore, looking at him, he wanted to do something to help Harry but what.

He put on some clothes and went for some fresh air, he knew that the enchantment would last at least a few hours. He opened the door and head to the corridors. 

While walking he reminded himself what happened these few weeks. He reminded himself how Harry used the mind-linking charm to contact Sirius but harmed himself insted. He also wondered why Harry needed to contact him. Was he alone? Did he feel that he was alone even when he was there?

He still remembered how excited Harry was when he learned this charm... from him. "If anyone was to blame it's me," he thought. 

Walking in the corridors of Hogwarts he didn't even use the illumination charm. He had so much in his mind and no one he could talk to. Everyone who he asked advised him to leave Harry alone, that he wasn't safe around him. How could they say that?

"You shouldn't be alone here," a voice echoed from behind.

Without hesitation, he pointed his wand from where the voice was coming from.

"Incarcerous!" he said trying not to panic.

A spinning rope burst from his wand and flew forward until it passed a blue hue. 

"Objects like these cannot hurt us, boy," said the gray lady, the ghost of Ravenclaw house. Her feet were levitating inches above the ground and she wore an unusually warm smile.

He remembered that the ghosts of Hogwarts had taken the caretaker duty since what Bellatrix Lestrange did to Argus Flinch, which was so gruesome that anyone would die of shock. The poor man didn't even get to understand what was happening, the last thing he could possibly remember would have been of being shredded to pieces.

"I am sorry grey lady, it just that I... we..." he tried to say.

"Worry not," she said. "I know of what is happening currently in our world."

Cedric sighed and sat down as he was so damn tired. 

"You look, dear boy as if you have so much on your heart," she said.

"You wouldn't want to hear it."

"I am a good listener," she said as she levitated herself to sit next to him.

Cedric hesitated for a moment, but then started to talk. He talked about everything, how he feel in love with the most amazing person in the world, how his happiness came to an end, and how his love was being tortured by the most hated person to exist and there was nothing he could talk about. 

"My heart bleeds," she said. "I never imagined that such a young boy had to go through something so sinister."

"I just wish that Vol... Tom Riddle would die," he said.

Her face dropped. Her mouth opened, she wanted to say something but now only had a terrified look on her face. 

"Tom Riddle is Voldermort?" she said after a while. "Come with me to the Headmaster's office," she said getting up.

He looked puzzled, "Why?"

"I know how to kill him."