Amortentia (OC / Draco / Fred Weasley Love Triangle) (A HP Francise Fan Fic)

Chapter Twenty-Two: The End of Fourth Year

All the blood in Gwen's body ran cold. She felt every nerve in her body grow numb. Her instrument fell from her hands and crashed next to her. She turned her head in the direction of the screams. The first person she saw was Cho pushing forward with two girls holding her arms. Cho was fighting her way closer to the field. People all around her were looking around searching for any instruction.

"That's my son!" Amos Diggory's desperate yells were the only noise filling the crowd. He had broken away from his wife and was running towards his son's body.

Gwen looked around her. She noticed students whispering to each other: He's dead. Her eyes were locked on Cedric's body. Harry was weeping over his still form. The professors had begun to huddle around him to obscure the scene from view. Her breath shuddered into her tight chest. She felt like she had been placed inside of a glass jar and she was running out of oxygen. Gwen started slowly creeping through the crowd trying to get closer.

"Stay seated! Please remain where you are!" called voices of many professors towards the stands. Their voices felt muffled in Gwen's ears. Her world spun more violently around her with each step she took closer to Cedric.

She felt a firm hand grab her shoulder as she tried to walk past. "Gwen," Her sister, Freya, pulled her close. She wrapped her arms tightly around her not saying another word. She could hear the rapid heartbeat in Freya's chest.

The stillness of chaos filled the air. They watched Professor Moody drag Harry away from the body. The professors continued to try and gain the attention of those in the stands, but to no avail. It was like everyone had been trying to listen underwater. Gwen couldn't hear anything except the blended sobbing and screaming of the girls around her.

Gwen's head was pounding. Her stomach curled into knots. She could see Cedric's face between the legs of various adults. His face looked scared and confused, a look she had rarely seen him express. Her throat closed. Tears streamed across her cheeks.

"We will be escorting everyone back to the castle now!" Professor Sprout shouted into the crowd. The words had barely registered in her brain when her feet began carrying her back to the castle. Her sister continued to hold her close. Gwen heard soft sobs escaping from Freya's lips as they walked away from the stadium.

"Hogwarts students return to your respective dorms! Durmstrang and Beauxbaton wait in the Great Hall for further instructions!" Professor Flitwick shouted as thousands of students crammed back into the castle. Gwen had never heard the students remain so silent as they moved through the halls. Everyone shared the same feeling of confusion, yet plainly understood Cedric was dead.

Gwen felt Freya squeeze her shoulder one last time before they split off to go to their respective common rooms. Every Hufflepuffs' face looked red and splotchy. Each face stared blankly ahead as they walked into their common room.

The silence was unnerving. Usually the Hufflepuff house was lively and smiley, but now it was dull. As they all filed into the room it didn't even feel recognizable, it still held its warm bread smell, the bright yellow couches, and plants from ceiling to floor, but was missing a very important member. Some of the students walked back into their rooms and went to bed, but most just sat and waited in the common room. Though everyone knew what they were waiting for would never again walk through the door.

James sat on the couch with a pillow held tightly in his arms. His face was bright red. His body was shaking. Behind him Susan had her head resting on his shoulder hugging him tightly. Lily, Matteo, and Zacharias were by the fire staring into it. Hannah was sitting on the floor with Ernie on one side of her and Gwen on the other. Justin had sat down on the other side of Gwen. The four of them were holding each other's hands. The crackling of the fire, the sniffling, and the silence was the loudest sounds Gwen had ever heard. Gwen was always observant, but it felt like the dial had been turned up to ten, as if she was searching for a sign that what had just happened had all been a bad dream.