Marked

Cedric Returns

Panicking, he tried moving to the best of his abilities away from the large serpent. While scooting away, his back bumped into the forgotten Triwizard Cup. Cedric felt the telltale pull on his navel as he was portkeyed away, still bound by the ropes.

Cedric slammed into the ground in front of the maze. His Hufflepuff-coloured robes torn and muddy, his hair uncharacteristically messy. The Triwizard Cup rolled away from where he laid on the ground, bound by ropes. The crowd roared with excitement at the sight of a champion finally Portkeying into the clearing, but it soon dissipated at the sight of the state of the older Hogwarts Champion.

Cedric blinked once; Then again; Before finally regaining his senses. "Help! It was a Portkey! Harry is still there! Help Harry! Cedric cried out while fighting against the ropes. The first person to come to his aid was his father, Amos Diggory, Dumbledore following closely behind. "Are you all right, Mr Diggory?" Dumbledore asked the youngest Diggory, whilst his father swiftly cut the ropes surrounding Cedric with a quick slicing spell. "I'm fine Professor, it's Harry who needs help, he-" but he was cut off.

"My boy! Thank Merlin you're okay! Are you hurt? Do I need to get Madam Pomphrey? Are you bleeding?" "Dad, I'm fine! Now is not the time?" Cedric replied before his father could continue. He turned back to Dumbledore, "Harry needs help! The cup brought us to some graveyard. There was a man there... his name was Wormtail. (At the name. Dumbledores eyes widened) He tied Harry to a headstone and started to perform a ritual, I don't know what but it was very dark. They're gonna kill him, Headmaster! They tried to kill me!"

At that last revelation, Mr Diggory squeaked and latched onto his son, who had sat up in the course of the conversation. The Headmaster nodded seriously, "Thank you, Cedric. You may go. I would highly recommend paying a visit to Madam Pomfrey." Dumbledore turned towards his fellow professors. "Minerva, in Hagrid's pumpkin patch you will find a large, black dog. Would you take it into my office?" McGonagall seemed confused but went to do it anyway. "Filius, please go to the Ministry to retrieve Amelia Bones, and have her bring some Aurors along. Severus, please inform me if you feel anything on your arm." At that, he turned away from the other professors, trusting that they would do as asked. He picked up the muddied cup and started on the incantation that would lead him to Harry. And Voldemort.

Over in the Gryffindor stands, the many Weasleys were trying (unsuccessfully) not to freak out. Hermione was clinging onto Ginny like a lifeline. Ron was staring back and forth between the place between where Cedric appeared looking like he'd been attacked, and between the medical tent where Krum had disappeared into earlier. Worry for his best friend and his boyfriend nearly overwhelming him. Fred and George looked calm from the outside, but internally were freaking out in worry for their honorary little brother. Bill was busy trying to comfort Mrs Weasley, who was positively freaking out over Harry's disappearance. All in all, it was a mess. The same thought repeating over and over again in their heads. 'Where is he?"

While things looked very different in the Slytherin stands, there were a lot of similar emotions. "What's going on Pansy? Why is it only Diggory back? Where's Potter?" A white-haired boy asked a very done black-haired girl. "I don't know Draco, But I'm sure your crush is fine," Pansy answered in a very bored-sounding voice. Draco sputtered "I don't have a crush on Potter! What would make you say such a thing!" He replied indignantly. Pansy looked at Draco pointedly, "Oh, nothing. Just the fact you constantly try to get his attention and do things like jump out of trees, spend way to much time in the common room making those pins with his name on it to get it. You stare at him from across the great hall. You constantly talk about him in the common room. Every day it's 'Potter did this" or "Potter did that." Draco started to open his mouth to object but a glare from Pansy is all it took to shut him up again. "Not to mention the Yule ball. You were practically drooling over him, and you seemed ready to kill the girl Weasley for being his date. What was her name again? I think it was Jenny. Anyway, the point is, you definitely have a crush on Potter"

Draco huffed and turned away, turning his focus to Dumbledore. He was still trying to track down the location of wherever the cup was sent too. Draco peered over at the judges and noticed a distinct lack of Karkaroff. He voiced this to his friends. "He probably went to check on Krum. He seemed bad when he got in here. Weasley looked like he was about to jump out of the stands to get to him," answered Pansy as she inspected her nails. From Draco's other side, a new voice spoke up. "Well, of course, Weasley looked like he was going to jump from the stands, Viktor is his boyfriend." Draco quickly glanced over at Blaise, "He is?" Blaise peered up from his book, "Yeah. They have been since the Yule ball. How have you not noticed?" Draco shrugged as Pansy answered "Because he is oblivious and was too busy staring at Potter. Luckily, Potter is even more oblivious than Draco. So far I think of the three of them, only Granger noticed your little crush."

Draco turned to glare at Pansy again. "It's not a crush," He mumbled. "Yes it is" Pansy and Blaise responded in unison. "Fuck you. I need new friends," Draco replied. "You said that yesterday," Blaise stated. "And the day before that," Pansy continued. "And the day before tha-" "Okay I get it!" Interrupted Draco, earning himself a glare from Blaise, "Look what's going on with Professor Moody!" He said, pointing at him. They watched as Amelia Bones and a few Aurors they didn't recognize, including one with bright pink hair, were seeming to arrest Moody. Moody looked furious, and Draco could swear he saw his wooden leg fall of as a new one began appearing as he was escorted away. "I wonder why we are still here. You think they'd have escorted us back to our common rooms. People seemed to really freak out when Cedric appeared looking like he got hit by the Knight Bus. I think I still hear a few first-years crying." Pansy whispered.

As if on cue, Dumbledore announced that the Prefects should lead their classmates down to their common rooms and while they do that he would take care of something. Many students speculated about what he was doing (most agreeing it was something to do with the missing Harry Potter). It took the students a while to actually sleep, as many were shaken up by the nights' events. Draco sat on his bed, staring out the window, into the lake. The same lake Potter had to retrieve Hermione from. Draco sighed, and not for the first time regretted how he acted on the first train ride. Maybe if he'd gotten there before Weasley, maybe if he hadn't insulted his friend, maybe if he hadn't tried to steal Potter's candy, maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe Harry would be his friend. 'But noo. I had to be a dick. I had to insult him. I had to try and fire his friend. I had to call the Granger girl a mudblood. And for what? To get his attention? And what now? Now it's my status quo. If any do anything differently, people would notice. People would talk.'

Draco sighed, looking away from the window. 'I do hope he's okay. Cedric seemed really frantic when he arrived. He didn't even care he won. If that's not a sign something is up I don't know what is.' "Stop brooding and go to bed Malfoy!" Whisper-yelled a voice from across the dorm. He flipped off the source of the voice (Theodore Nott) but whispered a quick "Nox" and laid down on his bed, still filled with concern for his (not-so) secret crush.