UNTOLD | D.M (UNRAVEL BOOK 3)

[ 31 ]

Hundreds of students abruptly rose from their seats and teachers and Aurors rushed towards the boys, their faces bruised, pale and drenched with sweat. Harry laid above Cedric Diggory's lifeless body, protecting it as he promised. He brought his body back but the trauma of watching him die before his eyes only got to him now, he couldn't think straight and he couldn't lift his head at all, he wasn't sure if he was back or that he had died and was hallucinating. He sobs, clenching onto his friend's yellow and black shirt, muttering the words 'I'm sorry', over and over again. There was nothing to ease his guilt and sorrow.

Aine's hand drew to cover her mouth, whimpering at the sight of the boys. She wished and prayed that her visions were wrong but now that they were in front of her, she couldn't hide the guilt and sorrow for them both. If only she had seen it coming earlier, if only she told the professors sooner so that they could get the boys out. It was her fault. It was her fault that Cedric was dead. "It's my fault... It's my all fault..." she whispers to herself, shaking her head in denial with the reality. Her body swooped to someone and she clutches onto the boy's jacket, weeping quietly into him as he strokes her head, hushing her as he tries not to let a tear slip out but he sniffled. 

"NO! NO! Don't!" Harry cried, throwing himself to shield Cedric as he felt someone pull him from behind, thinking it was the Deatheaters trying to pull them apart as he was still unable to differentiate what's real and what's fake. Dumbledore huffs, running the other side to face the boys, his heart stopped momentarily when he saw the Hufflepuff boy. 

"For gosh sake, what happened, Dumbledore?" shouted Cornelius Fudge, approaching the returned champions. He gasped and staggered when his eyes met Cedric's soulless ones.

"He's back! He's back..!" Harry told the Headmaster, tears streaming down his face as he spoke with desperation and fear, "Voldemort's back... Cedric. He asked me to bring his body back. l couldn't leave him, not there..." his voice cracks as he quivers with remorse. 

Dumbledore held his cheeks, wiping away the tears as he reassures the boy, "It's all right, Harry. It's all right. He's home. You both are." 

Aine glanced at Harry who Dumbledore was hugging tightly, her lips trembles, feeling even more sorry and yet thankful that they were back. "Shh... It's okay, love. It's alright, it wasn't your fault," she hears Draco muttering to her, planting a soft peck on top of her head as he held her tightly as if fearing that if he let go of her, she would crumble and slip through his touch. 

Ginny exchanged glances with her older brothers who were both looking at Aine with softened eyes, especially George who bit down his lips as he sees Draco consoling the girl, part of him was glad that he was someone who could calm her down but another part of him was conflicted because he wished that he was the one who could be there for her.

"Keep everybody in their seats!" Fudge instructed when McGonagall and Snape walked closer to them, "A boy has just been killed..." he said to them bitterly. Immediately, they rushed towards Harry and Cedric and sighed, "The body must be moved, Dumbledore. There are too many people!" urges Fudge, not knowing that the pitch had fallen silent ever since they heard Harry crying. Students loomed closer, realizing a student was murdered. Cheers, applause, laughter and whistling were all halted, replaced by gasps and faces that turned grave and unsmiling. 

"Let me through— LET ME THROUGH!" a single voice bellowed and Aine hitches, turning to the man who staggers through the crowd, sifting his way out. "Let me... T-hrough—" he barks, pushing his way forward until he witnesses the scene, shocked. His brows curled downwards as his frowning lips parted before a short painful 'no' escaped through, disbelief at the sight before him. He limps towards his fallen son, "That's my son!" he chokes up, tears falling from his eyes down to Cedric's cold face, "That's my boy! It's my boy—!" Amos Diggory bawled, knees buckled to the ground as he knelt before his son, cradling him as he rocks back and forth, sobbing into his uniform.