☤ Pseudonym ☤

~Chapter Fifteen~

After a couple of days in the hospital wing with only Madam Pomfrey for company I am finally allowed to leave. When I am released I walk slowly back to the Gryffindor tower. I am not sure what will be there to greet me. A group of loving friends, or hateful mob of angry peers, or... I enter the common room, no one. I sigh, this is the loneliest I've ever felt. 

It is already late and I am assuming that everyone is in bed. I don't want to face Hermione and all the questions she will have. So I skip the trip upstairs and I lay down onto the comfy, red sofa. I haven't spent the night down her for a while. The nightmares had faded under the blanket of security that Cedric brought. I miss him. I cry myself to sleep, silent and alone.

-----

The cold night air hits me like a train. I gasp for breath as I find myself in a dark, eerie graveyard. I take a step forward, the soft grass easily gives under my feet. No snow here. 

A black figure shoots past me and lands a few metres away. The shroud clears and my guardian is revealed. He licks his lips fervently and clicks his neck. 

'It's been a while, hasn't it, Florence?' I bit my lip. He's angry. And I don't know why. Or maybe I do. I still can't stop thinking about the look on Cedric's face when he saw my dark mark.

In a few steps he quickly reaches me and slaps me hard across the face. I fall to grass as a result of the force. The pain echoes around my face but I refuse to show any reaction. 

'You insolent fool!' Barty growls, 'You've been fraternising! You've been focused on that fûcking pretty boy instead of on the duty that was bestowed on your by the Dark Lord.' 

I refrain from speaking, although my whole body shakes in fear of Barty's retribution being taken out on Cedric. 

'No response, darlin'?' I rise slowly, knowing that defying Barty will evoke a painful response. 'Crucio!' the agony rips my body apart and I fall to ground again. But I do not make a sound, he does not deserve my screams. 

Barty leans down close to my tear-streaked face. 'Now, darlin', you are to return to Hogwarts and in the third task you must ensure that Potter reaches the triwizard cup first. There will be a maze filled with horrors and you will make sure that he survives those horrors. Do you understand, Florence?' he spits in my face, 'After the tournament begins you will follow me round the side of the maze and you will locate Potter. Got it?' I do not reply, so he punches my nose hard and I can feel a sticky substanc, 'Got it?' I nod my head shakily.

His mottled face distorts and I feel as if I am being sucked through a very small tube. 

-----

I sit up in shock. That didn't feel like a dream, it was too real to be ignored. My haggard breaths calm down and I remind myself that I am not in any immediate danger.

It is still nighttime and Gryffindor is silent as the grave. I need to find Cedric. I have to ensure that he tells no one about my secret. But also I must make sure that he is safe from Barty. 

The fat lady tuts at me for leaving at such an hour but I ignore her grumblings and make my way to Hufflepuff. The corridors are creepy at night and I find myself going very slowly and cautiously round every corner. 

As I enter the Hufflepuff common room I recognise Wayne Hopkins reading a book on the sofa. He eyes me carefully from behind Break with a Banshee. I wondered how people can still read Lockhart's books after his proven deceit. 

I ascend the stone staircase and reach Cedric's dorm. He is probably asleep by now. This was a stupid idea and I never should have come. My insecure thoughts are shattered by the creaking open of the door in front of me. 

The very boy who has consumed my thoughts for days is now standing right in front of me. His eyebrows are furrowed in anger and confusion. 'We need to talk, Ced.'

'Don't call me that.' he spits and I flinch at the venom in his voice. 

'Just please let me explain.' I plead. He does not reply but nods his head down the stairs. I follow him back into the common room and Wayne frowns at our intrusion. 'Scram.' I say to the boy and he reluctantly folds his page and leaves. 

I take a seat on one of the yellow sofas. The texture reminds me of the party in this room and the moment Cedric and I shared on this very sofa. Cedric sits on a wooden stool, reflecting how uncomfortable he feels around me. 

I rub my hands together nervously and try to figure out what I am going to tell him. I can't tell him everything. Maybe only that I was forced and I was no longer loyal to Voldemort. 

'Cedric I... I know that you saw my... mark.' he shifts at the mention of it. 'And I know that you are angry that I didn't tell you.' I shuffled a little closer to him. 'I was given the dark mark when I was seven.' Cedric gasped. 'I didn't want it. I still don't.' I looked Cedric right in the eyes, begging him to believe me. 

'But why did you get it then?' he looked so confused and vulnerable. I knew that he had been hurting just as much as I had. 

'The man who raised me was evil and vicious and cruel and sadistic and...' my voice started to rise and Cedric took my hand. 'He forced it on me. He... he made me do it.' tears started to escape my eyes and run down my cheeks. My shaky voice turned into sobs.

Cedric wrapped his arms around my shaky frame and rubbed my back soothingly. 'I believe you.' he whispered in my ear. Those three words relieved the greatest weight from me and I felt safe once more.