Aurora | Harry Potter

chapter sixty-seven

"Harry?" The dark haired boy turns around when he hears me call his name, his arms shivering slightly and his wand gripped tightly in his hand. I can't help but chuckle at him, as I walk over to him, Cedric's scarf wrapped around my neck. 

"Why are you sat out here in the cold? And without a scarf or anything?" I comment as I sit down beside him and take his wand, aiming it at the floor just in front of us, a few sparks from the tip create a small fire in front of us. Once I feel the heat on my face, I unwrap the scarf from around my neck and place it around Harry's, receiving a grateful kiss and smile in return.

"How's Hermione doing?" He asks, as she's been struggling a little since our experience at Godric's Hollow. "She's okay, she's now trying to get some sleep so we can take it in turns staying up tonight, if you'd like?" He nods his head and I lean against his shoulder, the charm on Cedric's scarf still clear as day, adding a further sense of comfort.

"Do you miss him too?" I ask Harry, knowing that he can smell Cedric's scent too. I hear him sigh as he takes back his wand and interlaces his fingers with mine, squeezing them tightly. "Obviously not as much as you do, but I do miss him every now and again. He was a good friend and..." He inhales sharply and his breath hitches, so I look up at him to see his jaw clenched slightly, which instantly makes me look at him with concern. 

"I never told you about this just because there was never a right time, but after he was killed and I was fighting You-Know-Who, there was a moment when I saw a couple of ghosts... including Cedric and my parents."

A gasp now leaves my lips, shock flooding my system. "Did he say anything?" I ask and when Harry nods, I feel a few tears start to form in my eyes. "He told me to take his body back to you and your dad, but also that he..." Harry then just trails off and seemingly stares off into space, but when I follow his eyeline, I have to do a double-take when I see the Patronus of a doe forming in the distance. 

The same Patronus that his mother had. 

"You see it too, right?" Harry asks in astonishment and I simply nod in return, clenching his hand tightly. For a moment, we simply stand perfectly still in utter disbelief, but then we both start to make our way towards the glowing doe figure. We follow it through the forest until we reach the nearby lake, which has completely frozen over.

"Watch your step," Harry whispers as we step onto the solid ice, his eyes still focussed on the Patronus. "Harry, look!" I exclaim as I point to the doe, which has begun to sink underneath the ice. We both rush forward as the charm nears the bottom of the lake, highlighting something underneath. I kneel down and rub away some of the snow to reveal what object is hidden underneath, to which we gasp in unison.

"The Sword."

"Do you have your wand on you?" Harry asks as he looks at me, so I pat my pockets to realise that I don't have my wand on me. I groan slightly, remembering that I'd lent mine to Hermione whilst Harry was borrowing hers. "No, Hermione has it back in the tent."

Harry nods, withdraws his wand and aims it at the ice. He tries Accio and the Sword doesn't come through the solid structure blocking it, but when he uses Diffindo and creates a hole in the ice, I look at him as if he's going mad.

"Harry, you're not going to get into the lake to get it, are you? It's going to be freezing in there," I remark as my fingertips touch the water, which is extremely cold. Harry recounters my statement with the fact that there's no other way to get it, before he starts to strip down to his boxers. I take his removed clothes and glasses which I place down on a nearby tree trunk, before I turn back around to see him perched over the hole, his legs dangling in the water. 

I walk around in front of him and when he looks up at me, I give him a confident smile, which he returns before he plunges into the water. I watch as he nears the bottom of the lake and reaches out to grab the Sword, but panic instantly takes over me as I see him start to flail about.

I immediately go to get into the water myself, but within seconds, the hole has closed up and Harry is completely stuck underneath. "Shit, shit, shit!" I mumble, panicking even more as I try to break the ice with my fists, to no avail. The ice is as hard as rock and extremely thick, so there's no way of me getting in.

I keep trying to break it though, smashing my fists against the ice as hard as I can, blood starting to cover them. As I raise my fists and go to bring them down once more, the ice parts away, giving me an entrance to the water. Without any hesitation, I jump in and when I see Harry's still slightly flailing body, I grab him and use all my strength to get him out.

I only just manage to heave him out of the lake and I start to pull him towards the tree trunk, choked gasps and gurgles of water leaving Harry's mouth, his heart beating faster and faster. "It's okay, it's okay," I groan as I reach the trunk and help to sit him up against it. I keep one hand on his chest, with his hand clutching it tight, as I grab his glasses and help him put them on.

His face is very tense and he continues to gasp a little more until I see his eyes focus on my face, to which he face relaxes and his gasps practically disappear. "Hey, you're okay," I whisper, clutching his hand as he tries to stand up. "Thank you, I-- Ron?!"

Incredibly confused, I spin around to see Ron standing behind us, just to the side of the hold in the ice. His backpack is by his feet and in his hand is the Sword of Godric Gryffindor.