MAGIANIMA // Hermione Granger

Let Go

A torrent of sounds deafened them as Harry and Atlas fell from the sky, Cedric in the girls clutches as she continued to cry, holding onto her brother, his body cold, their foreheads still connected. And then those sounds turned distressed, they multiplied so that they were everywhere, footsteps, screams but Atlas remained where she was, as did Harry who simply turned himself on his back.

She couldn't bring herself to open her eyes, because she knew Cedric's dull ones would be staring right back and that thought, it made her cry harder, her shoulder shaking from how she sobbed. More footsteps now, closer while urgent voices shouted and yelled above her, calling her and Harry but Atlas could not focus on them, would not. Because all she could think about was Cedric, a boy who called her sister, a boy that loved her and who she...she felt the same for. Atlas felt the same yet she could never tell him, would never be able to tell him.

Not anymore.

A pair of hands seized her softly around the shoulders and tried to peel her away but Atlas relented, sobbing louder when she briefly opened her eyes and saw him, dead, bloodied and gone. He was gone and it was because of her. She would never see his smiles, she would never fly with him in the sky, she would never bump into him the corridors, she would never see him in the Great Hall, she would never think of him the same as, now, all she could see when she thought of Cedric, was his final words and the look on his face as the green light encompassed him.

She vaguely heard Harry tell Dumbledore Voldemort was back, heard how the screams were growing louder in the stands as Fudge announced Cedric's death, heard how her heart thundered in her mind at the declaration because it made it real, so real. She knew he was gone but hearing it. It nudged her over the edge and she fell into a deep abyss, splashing down into a pool beneath that encompassed and swallowed her, drowned her and clawed at her throat.

She couldn't swim to the surface, so she let herself sink to the bottom of the lake she called despair.

"Atlas. Atlas, my dear, you must let go..." A soft voice whispered, echoed in her mind and it stirred her, opened her eyes in the water so she saw, through blurry vision, the colours of the world again. "Sweetheart, let go...it's over. Let go."

It was Minerva and at the sight of her Atlas collapsed, falling into her chest to cry as Fudge insisted Cedric's body be moved because his parents were in the stands. His parents. Merlin, he wasn't even supposed to be part of the games and yet...yet he was gone. How would they react, his parents? With anguish, yes but toward Atlas? Would they blame her? They would blame her, she knew. After the Cup Amos's opinion on her had flipped, Cedric had told her that, a few days into the year before this whole sick and twisted game had started.

Her question was soon answered as soon, two figures had run onto the pitch, dropping to their knees before the body of their son. Joane - Cedric's mother - cried, she wailed, falling, collapsing into the arms of a bystander while Amos simply stared down into his son's eyes, sobbing as he cradled his boy's cheeks. He cried, as Atlas did, but as a father, not as a sister and then he turned, when he finished, wiping his eyes, red-faced and he pointed at Atlas, the girl flinching back in shock as Minerva tried to remove the muzzle from her mouth.

"You!"

"Mr -- Mr Diggory --"

"I knew -- I knew you -- ! I told him to stop talking to you! After those rumours, I had heard! That you were a monster! And now look at him, my boy...my boy he didn't listen to me..." Amos wailed as Atlas blanched, more tears forming in her eyes as they widened. "My boy! My -- my boy! My son! He's gone! Because of -- Because of you -- !"

"Amos, would you please -- " Mrs Diggory could not finish her sentence before crying again, her head in her hands.

"Mr Diggory!" Minerva yelled, tears in her eyes as she clamped her hands over Atlas's ears. It was useless, Atlas was sure Minerva knew it was useless as well because Atlas could still hear everyone, everything and the lady knew that. So maybe it was for comfort, the idea of it but it did not comfort her in the least, instead, she stared up numbly at the sky, turning to look at Harry. But Harry was gone and Harry was walking away, with Moody.