a rose by any other name

chapter twenty ❃ the dark mark

The train came to a halt as we arrived in London. I had woken up around halfway through the train ride when the trolley lady came around asking if we wanted anything. Draco and I politely declined, and the sweet old lady shut the door to our compartment before she walked off. Me and Draco hadn't spoken much, he had comforted me about Cedric, and we had spoken about Pansy. He still hadn't told her, and now he didn't know if he wanted to at all. We grabbed our bags and stepped of the train, this time however, the platform wasn't full of hundreds of squealing students all excited to see their parents, this time it was completely empty, and our parents were all stood next to the wall that took us back into the muggles Kingscross station. They were actually early, they were waiting for us, I suppose it went to show how important this was to them. I was shocked when my mum came over to me and tightly hugged me, kissing me on top of my head. Oh, if only she knew who had kissed me there before I left. Draco's mum hugged him as she often did when we came back, and our fathers both said hello. My mum let me go and we all started to walk through the wall. Once on the other side, we found our way through the hurrying muggles, it was obvious that our parents felt uncomfortable and I wondered why we hadn't just disapparated. When we got outside there were two black cars waiting for us, and it occurred to me that we weren't going home, or to the Malfoy Manor. Me and Draco were put into one car, our parents in the other, this was even stranger but neither of us said anything. Before we left, Draco's father explained what was happening.

"We're going straight to Knockturn Alley, there are some things that need to be set up first. You two will arrive later, when you get to Diagon Alley occupy yourselves until the sun sets, then come straight to Borgin and Burkes. Make sure that nobody sees you, that is vital, do you understand." Me and Draco nodded, and Lucius shut the door to our car and got into the one in front. Neither me nor Draco said anything the entire car ride, I assumed he was thinking the same as me by the expression on his face. I was absolutely terrified, I knew it was going to hurt, I'd heard my parents complaining about it before. Their entire lives were consumed by serving The Dark Lord, they didn't even have time for their daughter. I was sure that now he was actually back things would be even worse, this was a punishment. My parents knew I was wavering, and they were punishing me for it, out of panic. I hated them in this moment, they were ruining my life all because they were scared I would 'betray' their beliefs. I wanted to shout and scream at the top of my lungs that I loved Cedric Diggory. Oh Merlin, what was Cedric doing right now? I really hoped he wasn't feeling even half as bad as I was.

Cedric Diggory's POV:

I felt completely lost. I had walked away from Parisa, I couldn't bear watching her walk away from me. I had gone straight to my dorm, got into to bed, and hadn't moved since. I felt broken, Parisa and I had only been together for two months, but my feelings ran so deep for her I felt like part of me had left with her. None of my friends understood what the hell was wrong with me, they assumed I was just traumatised from the maze. But to be honest the pain I felt from Parisa leaving, from saying goodbye, had completely consumed me to the point where I had almost forgotten. I knew I would remember as soon as I got up, or saw Harry but for now, Parisa was all I could think about.

I longed to know how she was feeling, and I longed to know what the hell she was doing that was so bad she was convinced I would hate her for it. I had thought about possible reasons of course but all of them seemed impossible, nothing could make me hate her. I really hoped she was okay, and I really hoped she didn't feel even half as bad as I did right now.

End of Cedric Diggory's POV.

The car came to a stop and me and Draco got out, we were stood outside of The Leaky Cauldron, it was built to act as the gateway between the muggle world and Diagon Alley. We walked in and through to the back, the man behind the bar recognized us immediately and let us through nodding to us, "Good evening Mr Malfoy, Miss Rosier." I smiled at him and tapped the right brick in the wall, I remembered my parents doing it, the bricks started to move and I was reminded of the first time I had come to Diagon Alley, all those years ago, normally my parents would use floo powder, but on the first day, we had come through The Leaky Cauldron. I remembered the day I met Cedric for the first time and tears returned to my eyes. He had been there for me when my parents left. I forced my thoughts elsewhere as the wall opened and we walked through instantly being hit with the warm smell of butterbeer. Me and Draco had until sundown, so we decided to go and find somewhere to sit until then. Draco suggested Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and I gulped nodding reluctantly. Admittedly, there weren't many places to sit in Diagon Alley but this was the one place I didn't want to go to right now. We walked over to the little shop and sat down, I was immediately engulfed by the smell of bubblegum and lavender and all I could think about was Cedric. I would give anything just to speak to him right now, lay in his embrace and tell him everything and let him comfort me and in my dream world he would understand, he wouldn't hate me and he would still love me. Even if he knew the truth. I would give anything for that. Draco ordered us two vanilla milkshakes, we both paid, Diagon Alley was practically empty, it was working hours but there were the odd witch or wizard coming out of Gringotts every now and again. "So, do you know how this is all going to work?" Draco asked me, I had read about it a few times in the past eight months, I knew how the basics worked, it was essentially a ritual. "I read that getting the mark, is the most painful part, it's like a ritual, some describe it like being branded with an iron." I said in a hushed tone and Draco gulped, fidgeting with his tie. "Oh, well maybe they were just exaggerating." He replied, although we both knew the chances of that were not very high.