When I looked back, even a month later, I found hehad only scattered memories of the next few days. It wasas though I had been through too much to take in any more. Therecollections he did have were very painful. The worst, perhaps,was the meeting with the Diggorys that took place the followingmorning.
They did not blame us for what had happened; on the contrary, both thanked us for returning Cedric's body to them. Mr.Diggory sobbed through most of the interview. Mrs. Diggory'sgrief seemed to be beyond tears."
He suffered very little then," she said, when Harry and I had told herhow Cedric had died. "And after all, Amos . . . he died just whenhe'd won the tournament. He must have been happy."
When they got to their feet, she looked down at Harry and me and said,"You look after yourself, now."
Harry seized the sack of gold on the bedside table.
"You take this," he muttered to her. "It should've been Cedric's,he got there first, you take it —"But she backed away from him.
"Oh no, it's yours, dear, I couldn't . . . you keep it."
I returned to Slytherin dungeons the following evening. Fromwhat my friends told us, Dumbledore had spoken to theschool that morning at breakfast. He had merely requested thatthey leave Harry and me alone, that nobody ask us questions or badger us to tell the story of what had happened in the maze.
Most people, I noticed, were skirting me in the corridors, avoiding my eyes. Some whispered behind their hands as I passed. I guessedthat many of them had believed Rita Skeeter's article about howdisturbed and possibly dangerous Harry was. and therefore, I was too. Perhaps they were formulating their own theories about how Cedric had died. I found I didn't care very much.
I liked it best when I was with Draco, Nicholas and Zoe and we were talking about other things, or else letting me sit in silence while they played chess. I felt as though all 4 of us had reached an understanding they didn't need toput into words; that each was waiting for some sign, some word, ofwhat was going on outside Hogwarts — and that it was useless tospeculate about what might be coming until we knew anythingfor certain. Draco was shaking sometimes, I knew he did not know about his father being a death eater. Sometimes, now we just looked at the stars. And didn't talk; but then the best friendships don't need words.
The only time we touched upon the subject was whenRon told Harry and me about a meeting Mrs. Weasley had had with Dumbledore before going home.
"She went to ask him if you could come straight to us this summer," he said. "But he wants you to go back to the Dursleys, at leastat first."
"Why?" said Harry.
"She said Dumbledore's got his reasons," said Ron, shaking hishead darkly. "I suppose we've got to trust him, haven't we?"
The only person apart from Zoe, Nicholas, Draco, Harry, Ron and Hermione that I feltable to talk to was Hagrid. As there was no longer a Defense Againstthe Dark Arts teacher, we had those lessons free. We- me and Zoe-- used theone on Thursday afternoon to go down and visit Hagrid in hiscabin. It was a bright and sunny day; Fang bounded out of the opendoor as they approached, barking and wagging his tail madly.
"Who's that?" called Hagrid, coming to the door. "Emma!"
He strode out to meet us, pulled me into a one-armedhug, ruffled my hair, and said, "Good ter see yeh, Emma. Good tersee yeh."
We saw two bucket-size cups and saucers on the wooden tablein front of the fireplace when we entered Hagrid's cabin.
"Bin havin' a cuppa with Olympe," Hagrid said. "She's jus' left."
YOU ARE READING
Emma Potter
Fanfiction---- "Potter, Emma!" Whispers filled the Great Hall "Potter did she say?" "THE Harry and Emma Potter?" -- Emma Potter is Harry Potter's twin. What happens when she befriends his worst enemy? When she doesn't belong in Gryffindor? Will the two loose...