"Are you playing hard to get?"
"Oh please, you think I'd play anything for you? I'm just simply hard to get"
"Just admit it, you're in love with me LeStrange"
"Don't flatter yourself, Diggory"
...
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Amora sighed in relief when she saw Cedric's worried face standing over her. Everyone was alive and alright. Well, maybe everyone except for her. The pounding in her head along with the dull ache throughout her body made it difficult for her to stay awake, but she clung to Cedric's hand like a lifeline. Her newly discovered older brother helped to get her to sit in an upright position as he gently stepped away, giving the pair space.
"Amora, what the hell were you thinking?" Cedric murmured, his grey eyes locking with her brown ones.
Amora sighed and her shoulders sagged in defeat before she whispered hoarsely, "I don't know. I don't think I thought at all."
"You didn't need to protect me," Cedric muttered. Amora then craned her head up and took in the surroundings. All of the students had been dismissed from the stands, their banners still left on the seats. She looked over to all of her friends and family and sighed.
"It wasn't just you. It was all of them. He was going to hurt all of them and if I hadn't done anything it... it would have... it would have been my fault," she choked out, tears forming in her eyes. She began to feel awfully light headed and the world began to spin.
"Amora I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Cedric whispered, his fingers lacing with hers.
"I watched you die Cedric. I watched you all die, and... and I couldn't do anything to stop it," she sobbed as her body began to shake in exhaustion and emotion. Her limbs felt weak as the multiple scars and bruises she had gained from one night took their toll. The world became a tornado as waves of darkness swam about her vision.
"Cedric, I think she's going to pass out," Ned muttered.
"What?" Cedric asked, caught a bit off guard.
"Someone catch her!" Aaron shouted as he began to run back over.
The last thing she remembered was falling onto the grass and the night sky. The beautiful night sky that was dancing with stars, diamonds among a navy backsplash.
☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎
Cedric once again found himself spending nights inside the Hospital Wing. Amora had been asleep for three days now and Madam Pompfrey concluded that it must have been from pure exhaustion. Cedric rarely left her side, only taking his meals next to her bed.
"Hey," an unfamiliar voice spoke from behind him. Cedric turned around and was met by the strange man that had accompanied her and Harry.
"Hello," Cedric said, feeling a tad awkward. The young man simply pulled a chair and sat next to her bed as well, his face sunken with concern. The man reached his hand out and wrapped his own around her's.
"I'm sorry, but how do you know her?" Cedric asked, confused.
"I'm actually her older brother. I'm Aspen LeStrange," he said, extending his other hand to shake Cedric's. Instead, Cedric raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"I didn't know she had an older brother," he explained, darting his eyes between her and Aspen.
"Well, she didn't either," he smiled weakly as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. Cedric noticed that just like Aaron, Aspen looked nothing like Amora. Aspen's light brown hair and tan skin didn't match any of Amora's features, so Cedric was led to assume that Aspen took after their father.
"Well, did you ever try to reach out to her?" Cedric asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"We actually grew up together. All of us. I left right before her fifth year, and used a Memory Charm to alter her, Aaron, and Tyler's memories. I basically just erased myself from their lives, leaving some blank spaces instead," Aspen explained.
"But, why would you do that?" Cedric asked.
"Well, my uncle Lucius had been pressuring me that, as the oldest LeStrange, it was my birth duty to become a Death Eater. What he wasn't aware of was that I was already a member of the Order of the Pheonix. I went to Dumbledore and confided in him, and Dumbledore gave me the choice to become a spy for the Order. I'm already an Auror, so I know how to really tango with danger, so I agreed of course. He promised to keep my younger siblings safe so that left me with not much to worry with. Everything was going fine until I got word that my younger sister was at the graveyard, so my first instinct was to get her the hell out of there," Aspen told Cedric.
Cedric sighed and grit his teeth. He knew that he had to ask this question, no matter how painful the answer would be.
"What happened in the graveyard?" Cedric asked quietly, bracing himself for whatever was to come out of Aspen's mouth.
"Well, I'm lucky I arrived when I did. Peter Pettigrew, a right foul git, almost killed her. She barely dodged the spell since I arrived there just in time. I knew that she was there to help Harry but she would have gotten herself killed if I hadn't held her back. We watched Voldemort rise again and then she...well...spit in his face," Aspen shook his head in disbelief.
Cedric's jaw dropped when he heard that she had spit in his face. Borderline brave or stupid, Cedric's chest swelled with pride. That was the Amora he knew.
"Anyways, after that it was awful. He used Crucio on her and Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse is different. It doesn't just hurt the body, it twists the mind. Takes out your deepest fears and uses them to drive you absolutely mad," Aspen mumbled, eyes wide with the horrors of the past.
"That's what she meant when she said she saw all of us die," Cedric sighed, looking back over to Amora. He reached out gently and held her hand, mortified with what she had to endure.
"It was awful," she croaked out. Cedric shot out of his chair as he stood over her bed.
"Amora? Are you awake?" he asked quietly.
"I'm fine you big baby, jeez," she chuckled weakly. Her eyes opened and squinted, trying to adjust to the sunlight.
"Please forgive me for what I'm about to do," Aspen sighed through gritted teeth. He then pointed his wand at her head and she cried out in pain. Cedric tackled him to the ground, grabbing his wand out of his hand.
"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed to Aspen.
"Aspen?" Amora's voice asked quietly from her bed. Cedric and Aspen stood up from the floor and Aspen grinned.
"Hey Amora," he smiled softly. Cedric then understood what his spell was. Aspen helped Amora remember him.
"Aspen!" she cried out as he wrapped her in a hug and Amora felt tears form. She remembered him, and the missing hole in her heart was filled again.
"I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving you this time," he whispered softly to her.
