Keogh

~***~



Harry’s skull felt as though it would split wide open, and he knew it was because he was this close physically to Voldemort. He was finding it difficult to think through the pain and was just managing. With every passing moment his fear grew, as did his understanding that he needed to get free and run. He needed to get back to the port key before he was killed just like…



… just like Cedric. Noble, heroic Cedric who had been willing to walk away from victory because he felt that Harry deserved it more. Cedric, who just before entering the maze Harry had teased by suggesting that his father likely would not mind if he dashed up to the stands to steal a good luck kiss from Hermione. Cedric who was more popular and more well thought of than Harry had ever been, but who was now gone. Struck down by Wormtail, the same man who had betrayed James and Lily Potter so long ago.



Another family destroyed by Voldemort. Amos Diggory was so proud of his son, as though not quite believing that he had fathered such a clever and talented boy. And Harry did not doubt that his mother loved him just as much. And poor Hermione! His clever friend was so bent on getting good grades and helping him through the tasks that she never stopped to admit that she did fancy the other champion. He had thought that once this was all over she might finally slow down enough that Ced would finally be able to bring her around. He knew Ron would bristle at it, but he had always figured that Ron’s feelings towards Hermione were in truth much like his own; brotherly. It had been his belief that Cedric would be a good match to Hermione. Someone who shared her love of learning and adhered to the rules, but more easy going about it all.



Voldemort was still talking, boasting about how he had come to get his new body as Harry struggled against his bindings. He needed to get free. He had to get out of here before Voldemort killed him. Now would be a good time, while he was still yammering on about his successes. If he could just manage to get free!



He thought he saw movement from the corner of his eye, but could not turn his head to look. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking on his part, but he thought he had seen Cedric’s body move. It had to be the stress and strain of the moment, but he still rolled his eyes in that direction until they hurt from the strain, watching.



There it was again, the bright yellow of Cedric’s shirt seeming to surge upwards as if he were taking a deep breath. And then the air was filled with the most horrible sound. A long, loud scream, filled with agony and torment.



Voldemort stopped talking as he and all the Death Eaters turned their heads in surprise. Harry saw him take a curious step towards Diggory, his robes rustling over the bare earth. “I believe you did not quite hit your mark, Wormtail. The boy still lives. How remarkable.” He took another step towards Cedric.



“You leave him alone!” Harry struggled harder against the bonds, but his shout had drawn Voldemort’s attention.



“Harry! I had almost forgotten you were there! Don’t worry, I’ll be with you soon enough. Right now, however, I need to put this poor boy out of his misery. I imagine a failed killing curse must be quite agonizing.”



The thought of having to watch Cedric die a second time sickened him. Harry struggled harder. “No! Keep away from him!” He saw Voldemort raise his wand up, but before he could bring it down a jet of bright blue light shot out from somewhere in the darkness, cutting across his spider-like hand and leaving a bloody gash there.



Voldemort howled in surprise and pain. Cedric forgotten, he whirled towards the direction the spell had come from. The Death Eaters followed suit, drawing their wands. For a brief moment there was nothing more, but then the gloom was pierced by a flurry of spells, all headed towards Voldemort and those Death Eaters closest to him. They answered by sending their own spells into the darkness, towards the spot the attack had hailed from.



Everything fell silent as the spells died off. Had they hit the attacker. They were all watching, cautious, but nothing else happened. “Lucius, go and see who…” He was interrupted as another volley of spells came at them, but this time from an entirely different direction. Two of the Death Eaters were knocked down, crying out in pain. The others managed to throw up shield spells just in time. Harry tried to peer out into the darkness to see who was there, but just as soon as the spells lit the darkness, the gloom swallowed the wizard back up again, giving him on a glimpse of a shadowed silhouette.



“Who is there! Show yourself!” Voldemort kept his wand at the ready, now turned away from Harry and Cedric, who had stopped screaming but was still moving off to the side. “I demand to know who is there!”



His only answer was another volley of spells, and from yet another location. This time, however, there was no break of silence. As soon as the Death Eaters had turned to face the new attack, one of them falling as the previous two managed to get back onto their feet, another set of spells came from another location. The attacker, or attackers, kept the volleys random in number, spell type and direction, and pushed things to such a rapid pace that the Death Eaters barely had enough time to throw up defensive charms before things changed again.



He saw a jet of light come towards him, but it missed by a few inches. Powdered marble and concrete from the headstone to which he was bound flew off and he felt his restraints slacken a bit. Harry’s heart gave a little jolt. He continued to watch the frantic scene before him and, after a round of three spells from the left followed by a round of five from somewhere off to the right, another jet of light shot out and struck at his bindings again. The mysterious attacker was cutting him loose! Using the excitement and disorientation of the moment to get him free without being noticed. Another few volleys and another bolt of light, and the rest of his restraints fell free.



Harry forced himself not to cry out as he rolled over onto his injured leg, his hand feeling the ground until he found his wand where it had fallen. Clutching it in his hand, he kept low to the ground as he scrambled towards Cedric. The older boy had managed to roll over onto his side and was trying to get to his hands and knees. Harry saw a good deal of blood on his chin and felt a stab of fear shoot through him, but as he drew closer he realized that Cedric had bitten through his bottom lip to keep from crying out again. His skin was waxy and slick from sweat. Agony was etched into his face and Harry realized it was taking a great amount of determination and self-will for him not to pass out.



“Cedric, can you hear me?” Diggory forced open his eyes and peered back at Harry. He nodded, his body shaking. Harry felt around the ground and found his wand. Finding it he put it into the other boy’s hand. Cedric’s fingers closed around it automatically. “We have to get you out of here.”



“H… Hermione.” He tried to move again, tried to get his knees under him so he might get up, but Harry stopped him.



“She’s back at Hogwarts.” Cedric shook his head. “We’re not at the school any more, Cedric. The cup was a portkey. We have to get it to get back.”



The combat continued with the Death Eaters unable to tell where their attackers were. They managed a few hexes, but mainly they were kept on the defensive, forced to keep watch and try to keep up with each change of direction. Voldemort let out an angry snarl, his cold, high voice calling out into the gloom. “Keogh!”



Everything fell silent and the shadows ceased to be illuminated by spells. The Death Eaters kept their wands at the ready, mindful of another attack. Harry swallowed and watched them, not certain he should move now that the noise and confusion that had been shielding him had stopped. Voldemort was turning slowly in place. “Show yourself, Witch!” Harry frowned. Clearly he knew who his attacker was, and he did not sound at all happy. In fact, he thought he might detect a hint of trepidation in the wizard’s voice.



Voldemort continued to turn until his examination brought him around to his father’s headstone. He stopped, red eyes flaring as he saw the damaged marble and severed bindings, and no sign of Harry. He swung his head around again and found him where he crouched, one arm on Cedric’s back, looking back into his eyes. “Potter!”



Harry’s wand hand shot out. “Accio Cup!” The portkey sailed into his hand as his fingers bunched into Cedric’s tunic. There was a jerk behind his navel and they were pulled away even as another volley of spells came out of the darkness to cut Voldemort off from advancing towards them. They were caught up in a spinning vortex but Harry was still too high on adrenaline and fear to feel any of the usual queasiness he got from magical travel. Not nearly soon enough they landed back in the arena.



~***~



“Where is he?”



“Where is who?” Hermione had ducked back into the Continuum the moment Harry and Cedric were away. She was still there, floating in the dark light while trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened.



“His thread! Voldemort’s thread! I can’t find it!”



She frowned and started to examine the threads still concentrated around the ‘point’ of the graveyard. Mulciber. Knott. Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy. She could identify them readily enough, and it helped that they were all still where she had left them, but she saw Kathryn’s dilemma. She could not find a bright strand that belonged to Voldemort. Or one that belonged to Tom Riddle for that matter. She found the faded strand of the late Tom Riddle, but there was no sign of the one that would help them track his son. “But that makes no sense. He has to have a thread, doesn’t he? I mean, he exists.”



“That would be the general rule.”



But something else was bothering Hermione. “How did he know to call out ‘Keogh’? And how did he know he was fighting a witch and not a wizard? Did you fight him?”



She felt Kathryn’s frown. “No, and I never used wands. You’re the witch, not me. It makes no sense.”



“Like the people under the lawn. They said someone asked them to move from the cemetery in Hogsmede to the school decades ago. Are you certain that I’m the only witch in the family?”



“There have only been four of us in all! And two of those were men!” Kathryn made an impatient noise, clearly not happy to have this odd little mystery on their hands.



Hermione finally felt herself calming a bit, which made her thoughts turn to Harry and Cedric. “The school!” She turned on the spot and threw herself forward, moving along the path until she could open the door under the bleachers again. She stepped out and paused, straining her ears to hear what was going on above her. The crowd was oddly restrained, but she could feel an undercurrent of tension here. What was going on?



She moved out from under the stands, exiting through a gap in the scaffolding and running behind it towards the school. Stopping just as she was where she could see, she just saw Dumbledore levitating what looked to be the end of a stretcher with a pair of booted feet showing, the rest of it already through the doors. Mr. and Mrs. Diggory were right behind him, clearly worried. A bit of movement further along caught her eye and she glanced over to see Professor Moody helping Harry inside. She relaxed a bit, knowing her friend would be in good hands for the time being. Besides, Moody likely needed to know what had transpired after the portkey had taken them.



She was about to push off from the wall and follow when something crawling along a stone ledge not to far from her caught her attention. Hermione’s eyes narrowed, anger lancing through her. She palmed her wands together in the same hand before bringing her now free hand in a cupping motion over an interesting looking beetle. The insect’s wings buzzed in alarm against her skin as she leaned over to whisper to it. “Oh no you don’t! I’ve had just about enough of you!”



She sent a silent summoning charm to get a specimen jar from Severus storeroom. It sailed from the school and she caught it against her belly. Setting it down onto the stones she used her wand to unscrew the ventilated lid before grabbing up some random sticks and leaves and tossing them inside. Satisfied she cast an unbreakable charm on the glass before picking up the beetle and dropping her inside. She screwed the lid back on quickly before picking the jar up and lifting it to eye level. The beetle with its eyeglass shaped markings seemed to be glaring right back at her.



Hermione only smirked. Grabbing up the jar she hurried inside the castle and practically ran all the way back to Gryffindor Tower. She hurried up the stairs to the dorms and deposited the jar on her closed trunk. “I’ll deal with you later,” she told the bug before giving the glass a firm thump, not caring if it caused a loud ringing inside the makeshift habitat.



“Why are you wasting your time collecting bugs now?”



Hermione hurried back out the dorms and a near run. She needed to get to the hospital wing. “That’s Rita Skeeter. I set one of the ghosts on her to find out how she was getting onto the grounds without being seen and they found that she’s an unregistered animagus. I wanted to get her out of the way before she saw too much.”



Kathryn made no response as she continued to hurry towards the hospital wing. Her heart threatened to tear itself out of her chest it was hammering that hard. Her feet nearly skidded out from under her as she turned a corner a bit too sharply, but she recovered just in time to be caught up by a firm hand. “Miss Granger!”



She stopped and looked up into the wizened face of Albus Dumbledore. The Headmaster peered down at her curiously. Several yards behind him were the closed doors of the hospital wing. She saw silhouettes moving back and forth through the frosted glass of the doors, but she continued to stare at them as if she thought she could see through them to spy Cedric. She heard him however. Just then he let out another pain filled scream. It sounded so much worse now, with all the walls and hard surfaces to echo back from. She gave a gasp, her entire body flinching in reaction.



Dumbledore gripped her shoulders and made her look up at him again. He studied her eyes for a moment before pulling her into an abandoned room off to the side. “Miss Granger, I need you to tell me what happened tonight. Everything you know.”



She looked at the shut door, then back to the headmaster. “They were taken to a graveyard. The cup was a port key. Kathryn… she called for me and told me they were there and that I needed to come. When I got there, he was back. The Dark Lord was back. They had Harry bound to a grave stone and there were Death Eaters standing around him while he told them how he got there. And Cedric.” Her stomach lurched and she forced herself to take a breath. “Cedric was dead.”



Dumbledore’s gaze widened a bit. “Dead, Miss Granger?”



She nodded, forcing a swallow. “He was dead. I could hear him with the others. I… I froze. I couldn’t act straight. I just couldn’t get past him lying there. Not moving.” She closed her eyes and shook her head in dismay. “I bungled everything! All my training and practice and I screwed it all up!” Cedric screamed again and Hermione’s hand flew to her mouth as her stomach threatened to rebel on her. She did not even notice the two double wands she still held until Dumbledore snatched them from her grip and slipped them into his sleeve for safe keeping.



“What happened to Mr. Diggory, Miss Granger?”



“The others. They… put him back.” She swallowed down the bile in her throat. “They said that it had been done before and that he wasn’t so far gone that he could not be put back. Kathryn was yelling at me not to do it, but I… I couldn’t leave him like that. I told them to put him back and he came to. And then he started screaming.” Her eyes burned with tears. “I did this to him! I did this!” Another scream made it through both the hospital doors and the door of the side room, and she could not keep from sobbing.



“Miss Granger, look at me.” He forced her to look up, his expression searching. “It is the curse they used that is causing his pain, not the fact that he is alive. You are not the cause of his suffering.” She sniffed, trying to will the tears not to fall and failing. “You have nothing to feel guilty for and right now your friends need you. Dry your eyes. I need you to go and join Harry at the pitch, to stand with him against the questions.”



She tried to calm her breathing, her mind working. “He’s with Professor Moody.”



Dumbledore’s brow furrowed. “What was that?”



“Harry’s with Professor Moody. I saw him leading him away from the pitch and take him back into the castle.”



The headmaster stilled, his eyes inscrutable as he took in this new bit of information. “In that case, Miss Granger, I need you to stay here. I don’t think I have to tell you not to tell anyone else what happened tonight. We don’t want your involvement known if it is at all possible to avoid it. The Ministry of Magic would not understand and I fear it could go badly for you if they found out what you have done this evening. Do you understand?” She nodded, hugging herself with her arms. He nodded and left her in the room. She stayed there for a few minutes, uncertain of what to do with herself. Cedric had not screamed in a bit now. Perhaps they had stunned him, or drugged him so that he would fall unconscious. Or maybe, just maybe, they had stopped the pain all together.



Unable to stand it any longer, she left the room and crossed the hall to the hospital doors. She edged her way along the wall as though she were creeping through an old house and did not want to be heard. She needed to get into that room and see Cedric, to see for herself that he was all right. She had just reached the door when he screamed again. The sound tore through her like a hot knife and she flattened herself against the wall, eyes screwed shut. In spite of what the headmaster had said, she could not help but feel that this was her fault.



“This is what happens when you play God! I told you not to do this. You stupid, vain, idiotic child!” She felt every one of Kathryn’s words as though they were physical blows. What was worse, she could not find it in her to disagree. Her legs lost strength and she slid down the wall, her fingers scraping against the stone uselessly as she lowered. “I knew it was a mistake to unlock you! I should have let them have you the day you were born. Let them put you down and be done with it!”



“SILENCE!”



Hermione flinched, her eyes opening wide. The voice was unknown to her. It was freezing cold, masculine and very powerful. It seemed to be both inside her head and ringing out from the stones of the school all about her. Even though it was only a voice it somehow made her feel very small. Kathryn clearly did not like him, whomever he was, nor did she care for being ordered around. This much was evident in her hissed response. “You dare to tell me…”



“I dare! I have had enough of listening to your venom! She does not need that viper you call a tongue lashing into her. She is suffering enough as it is.”



“Do not presume to tell me how to…”



“I said SILENCE!”



The corridor began to swim in front of her eyes as Hermione felt herself being pulled downward into blackness. She felt as though she had been plunged into ice water, or back into the Black Lake. Dimly she realized that she was being pulled inside her own mind, into dream, but she did not have it in her to call up her bedroom at home or some sunny hillside. She was falling into darkness and, at the moment, darkness was what she felt she deserved.



She opened her eyes to find herself in a cavernous chamber, seated on a wet stone floor. The place was unfamiliar to her, and yet somehow familiar. Turning her head this way and that she noted statues of snakes, poised as if to strike. To her left were feet carved from stone, and as her head tilted up, she saw that the feet were the base of a tall statue. Realization washed over her as the clues clicked into place. Slowly, she got to her feet and looked around the rest of the chamber.



Several yards away from her stood Kathryn in all her terrible glory. Gone was the teasing smile that she sometimes wore when she visited Hermione in her dreams and teased her about her non-existent love life. Her jaw was firmly set and her hands loose at her sides, but her eyes were not narrowed at Hermione. She was glaring at the slender, robe-clad figure of a man who stood at a point to the side that was half the distance between the pair of them.



The man swiveled his head from Kathryn to turn a dark-eyed look on Hermione. “Better grounded, now?” She swallowed and gave a little nod. “Good.” He turned his gaze back to Kathy. “You will cease your abuse of her. It will no longer be tolerated.”



Kathryn hissed and took a step towards the man. A pair of kamas materialized in her hands, but he only laughed. “I would consider my actions carefully were I you. Wizards continue to do in death what they did in life, just as normal men do.” He drew a wand from his robes, twirling it in his fingers. “I imagine that I have gotten quite good by now. And here inside Hermione’s mind, why, who knows how that might go? She is a witch, after all.”



Her mother gave a soft snarl. “And just who the hell are you?”



Hermione was riveted to the pair before her. “Salazar Slytherin.” It was very soft, even to her own ears. She looked from the man to the statue. “He’s Salazar Slytherin, one of the school founders. This place… it’s the Chamber of Secrets.” The wizard gave a bow and a jaunty salute made by one hand flicking aside his temple. His wand remained ready.



“And this matters to me how?”



“It matters, St. James, because I have the power and the pull to put an end to your brutality. You’ve tarried too long as it is.”



“You dare…”



“Yes I dare!” He stepped until he was effectively blocking Hermione’s view of her mother, and thus Kathryn’s view of her. “You have served your purpose, Kathryn. You’ve unlocked the girl and trained her to understand her gift. Unlike the others I do not disagree with your action of denying her access to her birthright, though for different reasons. You and your father are examples of what can happen when a child’s only friends are dead and cold. The delay in her development allowed Hermione to learn how to interact with the living, and she’s a better person for it. Far better than you.”



Kathryn answered him with a bitter laugh. “A better person? Perhaps you have yet to be informed of her actions tonight. Hermione suddenly thinks she knows best about who should live and who should die. She interfered where she had no business!”



Hermione watched as Slytherin’s shoulders seemed to widen. “I am aware of what happened tonight, and I seem to recall that it was the dead who suggested that Cedric Diggory be returned to the living. And with good reason. However, since you have never truly been in love, I doubt that you could appreciate their justification.”



“Love.” The word dripped from Kathryn’s lips as though it was something bitter. “Love is for fools and idiots. Love will get her killed.”



“Love is what gives her strength you never had.” He shook his head sadly. “It’s time for you to go, Kathryn. You are not welcomed here.”



“You’re kicking me out of my own child’s mind?!”



“Until you can speak to her with civility and respect. You have put down the foundations, but Hermione is a blending of your world and ours. You cannot help her from here on out. She has to find her own way.”



“She can’t be trusted.” The words were spat out and cut as deeply as knives. Hermione flinched, but watched as Salazar stalked forwards. He blocked Kathryn from view completely, but she knew they were toe-to-toe before he stopped.



“You should stop confusing her with yourself, St. James, or should we discuss just what actions you took that resulted in her being here in the first place?” The chamber fell silent save for the dripping of water from where it seeped down from the lake above. “Be gone.”



She heard Kathryn draw a breath and imagined that she was trying to be intimidating. “Fine. On your heads be it. I wash my hands of the little bitch.” For some perverse reason Hermione wanted to call out to Kathryn and beg her to stay. She held her tongue, however, her gut telling her that this was for the best. She did not see her mother’s memory leave, but knew the moment she was gone. It was as though there was a hole in her mind where the woman had resided since the day she had unlocked the door.



She knew that Slytherin was watching her, waiting for her to say something. She swallowed and hoped she did not make a fool of herself. “I didn’t expect you to be so… well that is to say…” No, definitely a fool.



The dead wizard chuckled. “I understand that my reputation has been much maligned since my passing. A pity, that, and I look forward to disabusing you of false notions regarding me in the very near future. Now, however, I think it is time you rested. It has been a trying day for all concerned.”



She took a breath to say something more, only to find herself gently ‘pushed’ from her current dream/vision and into one which was far less intimidating. One that involved a sunlit hillside and a cheery red kite.



~***~