The Family That Lived

¹⁵|ʏᴜʟᴇ ʙᴀʟʟ

Both boys had returned with a flash. In the middle of the ground, there was a blinding flash as Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory appeared in front of the crowd. Gasps rippled and there was a short lived sense of joy within the home school students before they paid attention. 

Cedric's eyes were devoid of any joy, so were Harry's. Something was terribly wrong, everyone had started getting the sense of that. Then Cedric's lifeless body slumped to the floor beside Harry, who stumbled, his face pale and eyes wide with shock.

A silence took over, only to be broken by the wail let out by Cedric's father. 

'What happened?' 'Merlin who did this?' So many questions rose in the crowd. People could not quite process such a loss, but as for Harry, he did not know how to contain his rage. All the questions seemed to have a very obvious answer but still because Harry wanted to vent, he wanted to yell. 

With a voice that was fierce, yet shaky, he yelled 'He killed Cedric! Voldemort killed Cedric!'

Dumbledore and Professor McGonagal tried to get Harry away from the dangerous man behind him. But Harry stood his ground, staring at Voldemort with a dangerous combination of grief and anger. 

'You should have left it alone Potter, but now they will all know. Everybody will witness the power I hold.'

Harry laughed with disgust, 'do you believe people will cover? You have been chasing children for your own resolve. You killed a boy with such a bright future, all because you were incapable on your own.' 

Voldemort seemed to anger more but when Dumbledore stepped in to say 'leave this place, Tom. You will not harm anyone else today.' The pale man visibly flinched. 

'Tom Marvolo Riddle,' Harry said. 'You flinch when you hear this name because it ties you to your past, to back when you were a human. You wanted a new identity, one that would be feared and respected but all I see is a being struggling all alone.' 

'I pity you in your loneliness and solace. You wanted to reinvent yourself with a name that will never be forgotten. But all you would ever be remembered as will be a pathetic man with sad followers who could never achieve anything.'

Harry knew he was instigating, he was probably fanning a simmering flame. But none of those reasons could reduce the anger he felt for Cedric, for Cedric's family. 

Voldemort's rage grew and rather than saying anything he vanished into black smoke.

The Locomotor Mortis spell held no chance against the man who still had 7 chances at life. His legs might have been locked but he could still transport himself like the other death eaters. It was surprising that he had even stayed for this long, but maybe he wanted a little confrontation. Soon other black rays of smoke had also joined in.

After all, when Harry was young his mom had taught him that cowards always flee. 

_______________ᴅᴜᴍʙʟᴇᴅᴏʀᴇ'ꜱ ᴏꜰꜰɪᴄᴇ________________

The three young students and the adults once again found themselves in the office. If any of them had foreseen such a gathering, they probably wanted it to be in celebration of Harry's win. Nobody saw this coming, nobody wanted to. 

Dumbledore began questioning as soon as the door had closed behind them and the raven had managed to settle his nerves. 

Harry told them everything from the sudden surprises, to Lucius Malfoy's vows to the Dark Lord. He tried to go into most details, even those that he deemed to be useless like Tom's slip up when he almost said a word that sounded like 'horc'. Everything was important, anything could be helpful.