Starbeam - A Wizarding World Story - ON HIATUS

Chapter 25

I Now Pronounce You: Alive

It was Hannah who noticed that Cedric started to move a little. His nostrils flared as he took a breath, his eyes blinking as he came back to life. A twitch of the hand, the foot, the arm. Hannah started tugging at Ellie's shirt, pointing at the now-living boy. The older girl shook her off, still trying to get in her head the fact that her best friend was dead.

"He's alive! Holy Helga, would you all just look!" Hannah cried out. Claire's head shot up, and her gaze landed on her very alive brother.

"Cedric!" she shrieked, pulling him up into a bear-hug. He patted her back, confused.

"What's going on?" he tried to ask, but more and more people came and yanked him into hugs, saying that they thought he died? Yeah, that made no sense. When he finally got free, he turned to his sister, tears of joy now streaming down her face. He wiped them away and looked deeply into her eyes.

"Claire, what happened? Why is everyone saying I was dead?" he inquired. She bit her lip.

"You might want to ask Harry that... Wait, where's Harry?" her joy turned to panic at the flip of a switch as she searched the crowd for the Boy-Who-Lived. Cedric frowned, concerned as well for his fellow Hogwarts champion. But Dumbledore obviously had it under control as he stormed into the castle with Snape and Mcgonagall.

Cedric was beyond confused, especially as Madame Pomfrey whisked him away to the Hospital Wing for a "lie down" after everything he just went through.

Claire felt a whirlwind of emotions. Her brother wasn't dead. The socks, most likely, worked. But, why did she get the sinking feeling that once Voldemort finds out Cedric survived, he'd target him again, and by extension, their family too? 

She was squeezed by a tight hug by Amos, who was relieved about his son not really being dead. Claire pressed her face into his chest, muttering "he's not dead" over and over. He repeated "I know."

Marie, Marnie and Hannah made their way down from the stands and surrounded Claire and Amos with hugs, all three crying joyfully as well. Ellie was being held by a certain redheaded twin. 

Harry wanted to give Cedric all his winnings from the Tournament, partially because he'd died and come back, but Cedric would have nothing with it. Instead, the Hufflepuff boy suggested that Harry give the money to the Weasley twins, who were looking to start their own joke shop and needed money to buy the ingredients for their products. The Boy-Who-Lived agreed. 

Pansy found Claire soon after Cedric was ushered to the Hospital Wing, pulling the Hufflepuff girl into a tight hug. When the two pulled away, Claire's eyes were wide with a wild sense of relief. 

"He's alright. Pans, he's okay. THANK YOU MERLIN FOR THAT!" she shouted to the sky. Thankfully, mostly everyone had gone back inside the castle, most of the younger years still in shock that someone had died and come back to life. Pansy chuckled.

"Calm down, C." was all she said, a smirk wide on her face as the Slytherin girl noticed a certain platinum-blonde haired boy striding over to the two girls. He tapped Claire's shoulder, making her whirl around in surprise. When she saw who it was, a flash of annoyance and... some unreadable emotion crossed her face, but she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into an embrace. This surprised him, but he wrapped his arms around her torso anyway. 

"Thanks." she whispered. He frowned.

"For what?" she shrugged, leaning back a little so she could see his face.