The Hero of Hufflepuff
Every war needs its first casualty – a first death which signals to all concerned that the stakes have reached their apex. In the Second Wizarding War, that death belonged to Cedric Diggory. Cedric was a kind boy, a hero of his house and above all, a fierce friend. He was innocent. He didn’t have skin in the game – but he died all the same, in a bleak English graveyard, for no reason besides being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
His death inspired others, but eventually it passed into statics, drowned out by the countless other lost lives. He was remembered by those that knew him best, but for the rest, his memory was marked as afterthought in fleeting conversations. All too quickly, the world moved on.
But what if things were different?
Well, in a handful of worlds, it is. Only a few, mind – but a few is all Cedric Diggory needed to demonstrate his importance.
Let’s take a minute to remember who Cedric Diggory is. The hero of Hufflepuff. Words often used, but not often appreciated. Hufflepuff house is a house which exists quietly in the background. It doesn’t fanatically hunt glory, it doesn’t boast of its storied alumni, nor seek to fill the ranks of the great and powerful. It exists to churn out thoroughly decent witches and wizards. It’s in this that Cedric is the house’s hero. Oh, sure enough he brought them glory – he beat the great Harry Potter at quidditch, he was tri-wizard champion – but his heroism came from his decency. Kindness, loyalty, a fierce friend. It was these qualities that Cedric embodied like none before.
For these reasons and a hundred others, Cedric didn’t deserve to die. Thankfully, in this world he doesn’t. Mad-eye-moody (or rather Crouch JR.) is ever so slightly more effective. He plays the third task smarter. He doesn’t make the obvious choice for his imperious stooge, he chooses Fleur instead. Cedric has a better relationship with Fleur, he isn’t immediately wary, so she gets the drop on him. He ends up stunned. Krum finds him and sends up sparks. Cedric’s rescued, battered and bruised, but very much alive.
The first change this particular permutation causes, is that when Harry finds the centre of the maze, it’s Krum standing beside him, not Cedric. Krum is the one attacked by the Acromantula. Harry helps him defeat it, but Krum’s leg gets slashed. Krum’s a good lad sure enough, but he isn’t Cedric. He’s from a different school. Harry likes him, but they didn’t help each other all year, he isn’t about to drag him towards the cup. So, Harry goes and takes the cup for himself.
The story unfolds as it always does – flesh, bone and blood – a dark lord reborn. This is a fixed point, immutable and inevitable. But, when Harry spins back to the Hogwarts grounds, things are diffrent. Cedric Diggory’s body was the one thing the Ministry couldn’t neatly explain away – the one marker that something had happened out of the ordinary. But, there’s no body this time. Now, all Dumbledore has is Harry’s word. Well and Mad-Eye’s tale of his kidnapping, but the Ministry’s never believed that old maniac – why would they start now? Worse still, a lot of the people on the fence don’t side with Dumbledore. The core membership of the Order is intact, but their already small circle of allies, thins dramatically.
Then there’s Barty Crouch JR.
When Harry returns, the focus is all on him – not on Cedric’s corpse and the wailing Amos. Barty can’t grab Harry, can’t interrogate him. What he can do though, is slink off. Into the forest, then back to his master. Just like that, Voldemort is handed his most loyal and most effective servant. For Harry, things are so, so, much darker.
But, there is a light-spot amongst the dark. A fierce friend. Cedric believes Harry. He sits with him in the hospital wing while he’s on the mend. He stands up for him.
“Am I to believe all this, on the words of an addled ex-Auror and a boy who is at best… well…”
“If I didn’t know better, Minister, I’d think you’ve been reading Rita Skeeter. Hardly a display of competent governance, to base policy on the word of a gossip columnist.”
Everyone’s a touch shocked by that, most of all Cedric. But, his friend was being maligned, so of course he piped up.
Amos isn’t happy though. Not one bit. Cedric’s father is a ministry man and above all, far too narrow minded to see beyond the prejudices which society has drummed into him. Blazing, festering, rows haunt the Diggory house. At last, a week in, Cedric’s had enough. He’s of age, so he packs his bags and heads to his girlfriend’s house.
Another little quirk in the timeline, is that Harry’s not so lonely that summer. While all Harry’s other friends are silent, Cedric writes every week. Harry doesn’t have to rummage in bins for newspapers. Cedric keeps him abreast of everything and makes sure he reads the Prophet thoroughly.
Honestly Harry mate, there’s more to a paper than the front page, y’know.
Of course, Harry still gets attacked by the dementors. Cedric convinces Dumbledore to let him come to Grimmauld place. Harry needs as many friends as he can get, especially since most of them haven’t written to him in months. When Harry goes for his hearing, Cedric accompanies him, because of course he does. Cedric is the shoulder to lean on and right now, Harry bloody well needs to lean. Cedric passes his father in the Ministry Atrium. He looks Amos dead in the eye as he walks side by side with the ‘boy who lies’.
To be honest, not much changes at Hogwarts that year. Umbridge is still Umbitch. Cho is happier of course, much happier. Harry doesn’t nurse a crush on her anymore – she’s dating one of his closest friends, after all. In one class, Harry stands up to Umbridge. In another, Cedric does the same, just a touch more delicately. Being Amos’ son means that he gets a rant on ‘familial loyalties’, rather than a cut open hand. When the DA is formed, he’s one of the first to be told. In the Room of Requirement, Zacharias Smith suggests Cedric should be their leader. Cedric shoots it down immediately.
“When someone else has slain a Basilisk, we’ll open it up for discussion. But until then, Harry’s our leader.”
But, Cedric is Harry’s second – a teaching assistant of sorts. When the time comes to cast a Patronus, Cedric thinks of his time in Grimmauld Place – of being surrounded by his friends and allies, all of them united by that fierce glint of determined rebellion in their eyes. A silver border collie bounds from his wand.
Cedric meets back up with the others at Grimmauld Place for Christmas. There, Sirius extracts a promise from him – look out for Harry. Harry has Ron to get into trouble with, has Hermione to help get him out of it, but he needs an older brother – someone to teach him life’s lessons and remind him that solitude is almost never the right solution. Cedric doesn’t need to think twice.
There’s another lost boy that needs to be taken under Cedric’s wing, though. He finds him in the Janus Thickey Ward, holding onto a Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum wrapper, with a defiant look in his eyes. From that day onwards, Neville Longbottom will never want for a friend.
Back at Hogwarts, things go pear shaped for the DA. Marietta Edgecombe, a friend of Cho, rats them all out to Umbridge. In the blink of an eye, the group Cedric is so fond of is disbanded, Dumbledore flees the castle. Of course, this complicates matters with Cho.
“It was a horrible trick – she should have told us the list was jinxed!”
“I think it was ingenious and clearly, highly necessary.”
In the end, he and Cho can’t repair the damage and they split up. Neither of them are happy about it, but Cedric knows that the war is what matters.
He captains Hufflepuff to their first Inter-House Quidditch Cup in one-hundred and fifty-three years. Gryffindor is without their star seeker and beaters of course, but a win’s a win. Hufflepuff puts on a party the likes of which Hogwarts has never seen. Professor Sprout arrives at eleven, but rather than send them to bed, she donates fifty bottles of butterbeer, half of Honeydukes and allegedly, a single bottle of firewhisky for the seventh years. Cedric revels in the rewards that kindness brings.
Until that is, a few weeks later, his DA galleon grows hot. Harry needs him. He’s a bit late. By the time he arrives at Umbridge’s office door, she’s just finished threatening to use the cruciatus curse on Harry. Cedric bursts in and fires a well-placed blasting curse right at Umbridge’s sternum, ending the reign of Hogwart’s most despised teacher (and that’s saying something).
Of course, Harry and his cabal still can’t get in touch with Sirius, they still end up at the Department of Mysteries. The difference is, Cedric is with them. Oh and of course, Barty’s there too. After the prophecies are smashed, the lot of them scatter. In the time chamber, Cedric sees Dolohov fell Hermione. That old rage settles in him. He hits Dolohov with an exploding charm, sending him flying into the Bell Jar. Only, he doesn’t fluctuate between man and baby. No, a piece of broken glass jabs into Dolohov’s neck. He bleeds out, dying a muggle death. Cedric didn’t mean to kill him, but he did it all the same.
They reach the death room, Cedric hauling Ginny along with him. Harry and Cedric stand back to back on the dais as the Order arrives. Cedric fights McNair, bests him, then Barty engages him. Cedric can’t hold a candle to Barty, he’s losing – badly. Then all of a sudden, just as Barty’s about to land the final blow, out comes Alastor Moody. Mad-Eye and the man who was once him face off. The battle shakes the entire room. Cedric staggers off to save Neville and Harry from Rabastan, only to watch in disbelief as Sirius Black tumbles through the veil. Dumbledore’s there, but Cedric can’t help but feel like they’ve already lost. Cedric goes to try and find Moody, to help finish the duel. He finds him on the floor, dead, missing his electric-blue magical eye. The dust settles. Twelve death eaters are captured and the ministry is forced to admit that Lord Voldemort has returned. But to Cedric, it all seems like too high a price.
That price accrues interest. Harry’s devastated at loosing Sirius. Cedric tries to be there for him, but the walls go up. Eventually, Harry tells him about the prophecy. Cedric doesn’t know what to say to that, it’s all a bit above his paygrade. But he tries his best, takes Harry flying across the tops of trees in the Forrest, convinces him to sneak out through the One-Eyed Witch’s hump and go on a Honydukes binge (they leave a few galleons in the till). Harry holds on to the ghost of happiness as he heads back to the Dursleys. Cedric decides to make sure of it. When the Order marches towards the Dursleys on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, Cedric leads them. He fronts up to Vernon, pokes the man in his chest.
“You should know there are people who care very much about Harry Potter. I wouldn’t suggest mistreating him this summer.”
“Are you threatening me, boy?”
“Well… yeah I am actually.”
Unlike the rest of the order, Cedric doesn’t leave it to chance. Rather than just write to Harry, he visits him as well. After Cedric’s customary scowl at Vernon, he and Harry spend evenings talking in muggle parks, coffee shops and even once, go see a movie. Mission: Impossible – which they both agree, is very fitting. Then, Dumbledore comes to whisk Harry off to the Burrow. Cedric can breathe easy, he knows Harry won’t creep back towards solitude.
But, there’s a problem. Harry isn’t the only one hurting. The same day that the Hogwarts Express trundles into King’s Cross, Cedric decides to head home. He still has issues with his father – significant ones – but he hopes they can move past them. He doesn’t get the chance. Upon stepping into his childhood home, Cedric finds the bodies of both his parents. The body of his father, from whom he gets his rage and the body of his mother, from whom he gets his kindness. In the space between them both, spinning on the herring-bone oak floor, is an electric-blue magical eye.
Fate has a funny way of working. It binds people together. Sometimes friends, sometimes lovers, sometimes enemies. In this world, it bound together two men who should’ve died (or worse). Barty Crouch doesn’t like being denied his prey, so he took his pound of flesh from Cedric’s parents. But now, Cedric isn’t going to stop until the bastard’s dead. Cedric bottles up that pain inside of himself. He has to. He doesn’t have anyone to lean on. That’s all too often the problem. The people who are always there for others, end up with no one there for them when it really matters. He buries his parents, he sells the house, he joins the Order. He doesn’t bother thinking about the future. All that matters is the war.
He ends up working for the twins in their new shop in Diagon Alley, working the tills and taking one of the attic bedrooms. He starts hunting Barty. It’s not difficult to find him, he’s holed-up in Malfoy Manor, where Cedric can’t get to him. Not even Bill, the best curse breaker the Order’s even seen, can breach those wards.
Barty’s getting married.
That pisses Cedric off and then some. But not half as much as it pisses off the bride-to-be. Patricia Stimpson was a Slytherin girl in Cedric’s year and she’s not exactly made-up about the impending nuptials. In fact, none of this was her choice. The Stimpson’s are a pure-blood family lacking the sufficient pedigree to be included in the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Normally, they languish in neutrality. But in this world, Voldemort is just too powerful to ignore. Voldemort wants Barty to continue on the Crouch line, so that’s the price he extracts from the Stimpsons.
Cedric never really talked to Tricia, besides the odd terse hello. Cedric doesn’t associate with Slytherins, he’s had to put up with one too many comments about his ‘mud-blood mother’ over the years. All he really knows about her, is that she started fainting during their OWLs. But, one thing he does know, is that no woman should have to endure a psychopath like Barty. So, Cedric sneaks into the Stimpson’s house and rescues her. Well, kidnaps her more than anything. Tricia doesn’t really know what to think when she regains consciousness in Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. On the one hand she never wanted to breathe the same air as Barty Crouch, let alone marry him. On the other, she’s worried for her parents. Cedric reminds her, rather harshly, that those are same parents who sold her to a psychopath. But, he has a plan to sort it out anyway. While casually dismembering a peacock in Malfoy Manor, Barty Crouch JR. receives a ransom picture of his would-be bride. Cedric offers to duel him, winner gets Tricia. He’d never actually hand her over – he just wants his chance at Barty. But, the mad bastard just laughs it off. He tells Cedric to keep her, he’ll find another bride. Barty’s Voldemort’s right hand, Cedric’s a boy barely out of school. Cedric’s a gnat who doesn’t warrant his attention.
Cedric’s furious of course, but he sets his vendetta aside. For now, anyway. Tricia’s still hiding in the attic. They become friends. Now, Tricia’s there when de drags himself back from Order duty – back from finding the bodies of his friends, from seeing the blood, gore and carnage. Cedric finally has someone to talk to. It surprises him how good that feels. They both go to the burrow for Christmas. Harry wastes no time in telling Cedric about Malfoy’s trip to Borgin and Burkes. Unlike Harry’s other friends, Cedric doesn’t dismiss him out of hand. Instead, he remembers that Barty joined the death eaters when he was a teenager. He takes the threat very seriously.
Only, nobody else does. Cedric expresses his concerns to Lupin, to Kingsley, to McGonagall and even Snape. Each and every time, he’s assured that Malfoy isn’t a threat. Cedric becomes just as infuriated as Harry. Like Harry, he takes matters into his own hands. Cedric doesn’t have two house elves at his beck and call, nor can he tail Malfoy in Hogwarts. But, he was once the DA’s second in command and he does live in Diagon Alley. Recruitment isn’t difficult. The Gryffindor quidditch team sticks together. Alicia Spinet and Angelina Johnson rent a flat on the cusp of the unofficial boundary between Diagon and Knockturn Alley. They want blood after what happened to Katie.
For the next two months, the three of them keep silent watch on Borgin and Burkes – in the shadows of an adjacent alleyway and under disillusionment charms. Tricia joins Cedric sometimes. She doesn’t like the idea of him in Knockturn Alley all alone. They all know Greyback’s face, he’s been snarling down at them from wanted posters for months now. They see the werewolf twice, both times a day before the month’s full moon. He stays for exactly ten minutes and leaves. After every visit, Borgin flips his shop’s sign from ‘open’ to ‘closed’. Which is interesting, but still leaves Cedric with no clue of what’s going on inside that shop.
In March, Ron drinks poisoned mead and the stakes rise again. Fred and George join the Diagon Alley crew. The twins, never ones for heeding the law too closely, suggest a break-in. Cedric’s reticent. Short of smashing up every item in the shop, there’s no way they can be certain of foiling Malfoy’s plan. Besides, with the sheer number of dark artefacts crammed into those four walls, they’d probably just blow themselves up. In the end, Cedric might’ve caved to the bold and brash Gryffindors. But, Tricia has other ideas and these days, Cedric tends to listen to her. Tricia’s convinced that a man like Borgin – miserly, exacting, grasping – has a record of his stock. A catalogue or ledger. She also advocates cunning, not rash action – an actual strategy rather than rushing in and mending the damage later.
Briefly though, it might be worth noting the changes that have been brewing Cedric and Tricia. Cedric listens to Tricia, because she’s right more often than not. But, she’s also starting to annoy him. They argue constantly. She doesn’t like that he takes extra Order shifts. She doesn’t like that he spends his weekends hunkered down in Knockturn Alley. She doesn’t like when he takes Moody’s eye out for a polish. Particularly infuriating, in Cedric’s opinion, is the rows over Hogsmeade weekends.
“I don’t see why I can’t come to the Three Broomsticks – I’ve met all your other friends.”
“I don’t know, maybe it’s because Barty Crouch wants to skin you alive and make your mother wear you like a suit. That’s an actual bloody quote, Tricia!”
Then there’s the fact she gets all sulky when Cedric’s comes back from Order duty. Every time without fail, she’s waiting for him on the couch, arms folded and morose. She even gets angry whenever Cedric picks up an injury. This baffles him beyond belief. He’s a member of the Order of the Phoenix, for Merlin’s sake. He’s tailing Death Eaters, he’s protecting Ministry Officials, he’s duelling wizards double his age. But, Tricia still scowls at every cut and grumbles at every bruise. She’s also far to heavy handed when she’s patching him up, in Cedric’s opinion. He’s fond of Tricia and all, but there’s just something between them he can’t quite place.
Still, he’s protective over Tricia. He doesn’t like when people treat her differently for being a Slytherin. He doesn’t like the looks Fred gives her every now and then – looks that suggest he’s after more than just friendship. He doesn’t like the way Verity refers to her as the ‘runaway’; nor the mistrustful looks the other Order members gave her on Christmas. That’s natural though, Cedric’s a protective person – especially over his friends.
All this is to say, that the entire world, their nans, their dogs and their long-departed ancestors knew that Cedric Diggory fancied the pants off Patricia Stimpson, long before he did.
It took a Boggart to make him realise. When Remus Lupin had first stuck a oggart in front of Cedric in his fifth year, the thing had become a Bogeyman. A simple, cartoonish, semblance of the bedtime stories his mother had read him as a child. The monster under the bed. When Cedric had faced another boggart, this time stepping in front of a blubbing Molly Weasley in Grimmauld Place, he was faced with his father – leering, angry and disapproving. The next time he encountered one of the creatures, he was unpacking a crate of doxy eggs for the twins. The boggart became not a bogeyman, nor his father; but instead the bodies of Harry and Tricia splayed on an oak herring-bone floor, an electric blue eye spinning between them. He’d dealt with it, but from that moment on, he couldn’t deny that Tricia was something more than a friend. Not when the sight of her cold dead body made his whole existence curl up into his diaphragm, not when it made him so slack and sweaty.
But then… what is she? Harry’s his little brother in all but blood. But Tricia… Tricia he can’t explain. Until he starts noticing her smile, as if it was the first time he’d seen it. That little slant of her gorgeous full lips whenever she was amused. He starts noticing just how appealing it is when she pouts every time he comes back late, starts liking that she stayed up just to take care of him. He waits anxiously for every trip to Knockturn alley now, craves every hour he can get where it’s just the two of them, even if they’re both disillusioned and he can’t see the endearing way her nose scrunches mid conversation. At some point, they kiss. Cedric doesn’t remember who started it, he’s just too lost in the moment. They kiss more. They shag. But, they’re still just friends of course. Cedric is a soldier – a vital member of the Order. The war is all that matters. He can’t have the luxury of a relationship, of love, of caring for something more than he cares for his mission and his purpose. So, they can’t do it again – once is a mistake, twice is a pattern. But a week later, Hestia Jones steps in the way of a vivisecting curse headed straight for Cedric’s turned back. He has to wash pieces of her from his hair that night. Tricia finds him in the shower, slumped against the wall, completely lost. It happens for a second time. They both suppose, it might as well be a pattern now. Their still friends, but what’s the problem with being friends who shag? They both need that release these days.
“As friends though, Tricia. Either of us could be dead tomorrow – emotion will just get in the way.”
“Obviously, Diggory – just friends.”
But, back to Borgin and Burkes. Cedric wants to take the subtle approach. He realises he needs to access the ledger legally, without Borgin twigging what they’re up to. Luckily, he happens to know the Junior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic. Percy Weasley has a lot in common with Cedric. Both of them chose a side and defied their parents, both of them left their childhood home and both never reconciled with their families. True enough, they chose different sides, but the circumstances are the same. Cedric’s seen what Percy’s absence has done to the Weasleys – Molly’s grief, Arthur’s anguish and the quiet sorrow hidden in the twin’s uncompromising fury. So, since Christmas, when he witnessed mash potato being splattered across Percy’s glasses, he’s been trying to talk him round.
“Y’know Percy mate – it’s easier to forgive than except forgiveness sometimes. And what I mean by that, is stop being such a proud bastard and talk to your damn family. You don’t know how long any of us have anymore.”
They get pints sometimes in the Leaky Cauldron. More often than not, they’re joined by Audrey Hopkins – a friend of Percy’s who works in the Department of Magical Artefacts. She quite obviously fancies Percy something chronic – not that the git would ever notice. Some blokes, thinks Cedric sagely, are absolutely clueless about women. Between the two of them, they manage to convince Percy to talk to Bill. Bill forgave Percy for a laundry list of infractions growing up – like when Percy told the entire family that Bill was snogging a village girl in the pumpkin patch. Percy finds it easier to accept Bill’s forgiveness. Slowly, he starts working towards returning into the Weasley family fold.
Cedric persuades Audrey and Percy to help with Borgin and Burkes. Which culminates in an incredibly awkward meeting in the flat above Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. George is staring at Percy with the intensity of a basilisk. Fred is casually strolling around the room, carefully picking up increasingly dangerous looking magical instruments, as if appraising them for impending usage. Cedric clears his throat and starts to explain that Percy’s in on the plan. Fred and George are having none of it.
“Why on earth are we trusting a traitorous little cockroach, who has a stick shoved so far up his ass that he’s basically an extremely poncey kebab?”
“Because Ron was poisoned and I’ve been an idiot.”
“Well… can’t say fairer than that I suppose.”
After that, they’re all business. Percy slips in a form among Scrimgeour’s papers requesting a full audit of Knockturn Alley. Audrey makes sure she’s assigned to Borgin and Burkes. Tricia takes polyjuice potion and impersonates a ministry official, she’s the only one that can do a doubling charm properly. The hours Tricia spends in Borgin and Burkes feel like the longest of Cedric’s life. But in the end, the plan works perfectly and they come out with a copy of Borgin’s ledger. Immediately, the lot of them start working to whittle things down. They know from Harry’s account, that the object is too bulky to be carried down the street. They know it’s on the shop floor, but wouldn’t have been sold. Plus, they’d figured out that Malfoy’s reference to ‘that one’, meant the object was likely part of a pair. In the end, it was Cedric who fixated on the Vanishing Cabinet. As a prefect, he was one of the first on the scene when the twins shoved Montague into the one in Hogwarts.
“The one… in Hogwarts. Fuck me.”
The pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Much to the twin’s delight, the break-in’s back on. That cabinet is getting smashed up. Or it might have, if it wasn’t already the end of June. Orders come in from Dumbledore, he needs guards for Hogwarts while he runs an errand with Harry. Bill goes, so does Cedric and the twins. Percy as well, he’s remembering his Gryffindor roots and isn’t about to cower while Ron and Ginny might be in danger. History trundles on and this time, fate can’t be defeated. Malfoy sneaks his Deatheater cronies into Hogwarts, Snape kills Dumbeldore. The Battle of the Lightning-Struck Tower unfolds. The Order has Cedric this time, with the twins and Percy to boot. But, inevitably, the Deatheaters have Barty Crouch. The twins scythe down Gibbon, Bill holds off both the Carrows alone, Percy tangles with Greyback. Lupin and Tonks are back to back duelling Yaxley and Rowle, Flitwick’s got Bellatrix.
Cedric – well – Cedric only has eyes for Barty. Cedric wants vengeance – for Moody and his parents – but that’s a cool and calculating desire. Now its personal, white hot and angry. Tricia. According to Snape, Barty’s spent the last few months loudly declaring in painstaking detail how he’s going to torture Tricia. Cedric knows what’ll happen if Barty ever gets his hand on her. Staring down Crouch in a cramped Hogwarts hallway, Cedric realises Tricia is so much more than ‘just a friend’. The battle fades away, the war slips his mind. None of that matters anymore. Killing Barty – that’s all there is.
The duel unfolds. Barty bested Cedric when he was still a student, but Cedric’s battle hardened now and powerfully magical. In a world where Cedric kept his head, kept emotion out of the equation, he might’ve found a way to win. But he didn’t. Cedric’s duelling ability is formidable because he plays it smart, cool and calculating. Now he’s just chucking as much raw power at Crouch as he can. In that sort of a duel, Barty’s miles better. Cedric ends up flat on his back, wand scattered down the hallway, looking straight up at his enemy. Fate loves symmetry and so does Barty. Once upon a time, Barty took an eye from one of Hufflepuff’s great heroes – Alastor Moody. Barty can’t help but smile at the serendipity.
“I think it’s time you put my little gift to good use.”
Cedric’s body stiffens beneath a body bind curse. Barty hunkers over him, the tip of his wand glowing a searing red. He pushes his wand down into Cedric’s right eye. He doesn’t bother killing Cedric. To him, Cedric is just a fly. He doesn’t see a point in killing flies, not when so much fun can be had by slowly pulling off their limbs. By making them suffer.
Hours later, what remains of the combatants are cramped into the hospital wing. At the back of the room, covered with a simple white sheet, is Filius Flitwick. Bellatrix got him. The Weasleys are cloistered about Percy’s bed. Audrey’s there, dabbing at the scars now slanting across Percy’s face, curtesy of his tussle with Fenrir Greyback. Greyback was loudly declaring that he wanted Potter’s ‘little girlfriend’ for himself and detailing exactly what he wanted to do to her. Of course, if she’d been able to duel him, Ginny would have cursed him into oblivion. But instead, up stepped an angry Percy. Just about every bit of shame and self-loathing he’d been feeling for the past two years bubbled out of him. Greyback’s dead now – Percy is his last victim. For the rest of his life, Percy would maintain it was a worthy trade. Especially since Audrey’s bold proclamation that she still loves him, prompts a similar declaration from Tonks towards Remus.
Then there’s Cedric. Barely conscious, head skewed to hide the horrifically ugly wound where his right eye used to be. Tricia arrives. She scoots gently onto his bed, takes his chin and tilts it to see the damage. She smiles gently.
“Well, at least you finally have a use for that ridiculous eye.”
Those were about the same words Barty used. But, Cedric rather likes them coming from Tricia. That little bit of levity takes away the doubt, the pain and the trauma. She kisses him gently and Cedric finally admits he loves her.
Harry sticks close to Cedric as he mends up in the hospital wing. It gives Cedric the opportunity to drive home some rather vital advice.
“Look Harry mate, the Deatheaters aren’t gonna care if you break up with Ginny, they’ll still target her – and breaking up with her isn’t gonna make it easier if you die. Use the next few months to make sure she’s safe and have some happiness. Lord knows, you’re gonna need it.”
Dumbledore’s funeral passes in a blur – quite literally for Cedric. The dust settles and eventually, Cedric slots the electric-blue magical eye into his ruined socket. He’s surprised at just how comfortable it is, how natural it is to wear it. Above all, he’s highly relieved to discover that it cannot in fact see through clothing. That would have coloured his opinion of Mad Eye and then some.
With Dumbledore gone, Cedric is one of the Order’s most prominent members, alongside Remus and Kingsley. He uses his position to make things easier for Harry. The Dursleys are ushered away from Privet Drive much earlier, Harry gets the house to himself and Ginny. A few weeks of happiness before the impending darkness sets in. He moves Tricia as well – into Grimmauld Place. The safehouse’s been abandoned by everyone else, they’re too scared of Snape. But, Cedric doesn’t have any other options and it’s a hell of a lot safer than the shop attic. Besides, alone among the Order, he’s not convinced by Snape’s betrayal. He doesn’t tell the others of course – they’d dismiss it as Cedric’s usual inability to see the bad in people. Typical Hufflepuff. But Cedric remembers all the times Snape would recount Crouch’s threats against Tricia. The others thought Snape was trying to needle him, but Cedric saw through the bravado. He couldn’t help but feel that Snape was trying to warn him. He couldn’t see Dumbledore’s murder bothering with that.
On the night of the Seven Potters, Kingsley pairs off with Mundungus, Percy’s with Hermione, Cedric takes the place of a pregnant Tonks. Things happen as you might expect, the Order’s ambushed and all hell breaks loose. Believing the real Harry to be with the most formidable Order member, Voldemort hunts Kingsley personally. Mundungus apparates, Voldemort kills Kingsley. In the meantime, Ron and Cedric are tangling with Bellatrix Lestrange. She’s powerful – ridiculously so. But, so is Cedric. He gets her with a blasting hex to the chin, she flips of her broom. Her neck’s already broken, but Rodolphus streaks after her anyway. Ron hits him with a stunning spell on the way and Rodolphus falls to his death along with his wife. Which is all well and good, but Cedric and Ron now have a big problem. Having either sensed the death of his beloved Bella, or else simply adjudging Cedric to be the next most powerful Order member, Voldemort is bearing down upon them. Cedric knows he’s about to die. He tells Ron to go, to apperate, to flee. The brave bastard refuses. Gryffindor to the last.
But the battle shifts again. Shouts go up, suddenly Voldemort’s turned tail, flying off into the night. Cedric can’t help but breathe a shaky sigh of relief. They touch down at the Burrow. Bill is missing an arm, the result of Snape’s sectumsempra. Molly and Fleur are tending to him.
“Oh, and he was going to get married...”
“What do you mean, going to be?!”
From that moment onwards, Molly Weasley tended to give Fleur Delacour the benefit of the doubt.
Cedric splits the days before the wedding, between Grimmauld Place and the Burrow. Tricia’s joined the Order now, it’s Cedric’s turn to wait up anxiously for her to return from duty. He struggles to find a present for Harry’s seventeenth – he can’t exactly go for a stroll down Diagon Alley these days. In the end, he gets a picture of the DA from Colin Creevey and writes a simple message on the back.
Some things are worth fighting for.
Scrimgeour interrupts Harry’s birthday to read Dumbledore’s will and to Cedric’s shock, he’s included.
To Cedric Diggory, I leave my watch, as a reminder that time is a currency wealth cannot measure
Cedric feels oddly touched as Scrimgeour hands Cedric a beautiful golden pocket watch, complete with nine planets and twelve long spindly arms. The minister doesn’t bother questioning him. Cedric enjoys the wedding immensely, dancing and laughing with Tricia. Somewhere deep in the back of his conscious, he starts to wonder what it might be like when it’s their turn. Then, from nowhere, a great lion Patronus comes bounding beneath the marquee. In the booming voice of Scrimgeour it declares that the ministry has fallen and that they are coming. Cedric grabs Tricia’s hand, stops just long enough to shove Harry into the path of an oncoming Hermione. He cuts down three Deatheaters as he and Tricia sprint for the Burrow’s boundary. He knows Barty Crouch will be there soon, he can’t risk him even noticing Tricia. They get away, back to Grimmauld Place. They wait anxiously for the dust to settle. Eventually, Lupin arrives – strained and wincing from the after effects of the cruciatus curse. By some miracle, no one was killed, though a lot of them were tortured. Most importantly, Ron, Hermione and Harry got away.
Cedric had been expecting to fight a war, not lose it on day one. But he settles in and gets down to business. He doesn’t have the luxury of fear, nor of hopelessness. By some cruel twist of fate, he’s leader of the Order now – him and Remus. They divide up the workload – Cedric takes strategic operations, Remus works on securing their defensive positions. In most worlds the Order is led by pure-bloods – Kingsly in most, a surviving Moody in some. But here and now, the Order and the resistance, are led by two men with mothers from the muggle world. Perhaps most importantly, mothers who were fiercely intelligent. Both remember their mothers telling them of muggle history, of wars and strategy. They loosely know about guerrilla warfare and unconventional tactics. Cedric uses Mad Eye’s invisibility cloak to sneak into a muggle library, steals books on the topics – handbooks, histories and philosophy. The result is highly effective. The Order has leaders who fiercely understand the realities of the war they are waging.
Remus works tirelessly on war time propaganda. Potterwatch is no longer some start-up of the twins, it’s an official, powerful, agent of rebellion. The twins still spearhead it, of course and they are brilliant. Cedric pioneers the insurgency. He organises his men into independent cells, each one taking orders only from him. From Grimmauld place, he masterminds daring attacks on critical Ministry infrastructure, targets prison conveys on their way to Azkaban and wages a quiet war against the snatchers. Then there’s the assassinations. They can’t get at most of the more powerful Deatheaters, but they can go against true collaborators. Runcorn, Dawlish and Borgin are the first to be taken out. Cedric goes after Argo Pyrities personally – Voldemort’s oldest associate and quite possibly the first Deatheater. He finds an old man, who simply nods his approval as Cedric ends his life. That hurts Voldemort. He didn’t care for Pyrities – he doesn’t care for anyone – but the killing of his oldest servant is a statement he can’t ignore. Harry Potter is Undesirable Number One, but now, Cedric is number two. When the Giants arrive on the beaches of Kent, it’s Cedric and his soldiers who greet them. The battle shakes the Cliffs of Dover so much, that the muggles start talking about earthquakes and fault lines. Their losses are substantial, but in the end, Cedric personally deals Golgomath the killing blow, while Grawp and Hagrid are pinning the gurg to the ground. The Giants are driven back into the sea. Potterwatch jokingly calls him Cedric the Giant Slayer, only the name ends up bloody sticking.
Cedric’s recovering from the Battle of the White Cliffs, when Moody’s trap springs into life.
“I didn’t kill you, Albus.”
As the sallow face and hooked nose of Severus Snape materialises in the hallway of Grimmauld Place, Tricia tries to shout out a hex. It’s Cedric who disarms her. In his pocket, Dumbledore’s watch glows. When he flips it open, Mars shines bright and the hands whir about to point directly at Snape. A message burns into life on the watch’s face – trust him.
“I suppose this means you were a triple agent or something?”
“Obviously.”
Snape goes into Sirius’ room for a moment and if Cedric didn’t know any better, he could have sworn he comes out a little teary eyed. Snape doesn’t say much, only that he needs to get the Sword of Gryffindor to Harry and that Harry can never know he was involved. Ever the Slytherin, it’s Tricia who suggests getting the Diagon Alley crew back together and staging a break in. The twins finally get their heist, leading the lot of them through the passage in Honeydukes and into the castle via the One-Eyed Witches Hump. When they reach the Headmaster’s Office, they stone Gargoyle simply steps aside. Percy picks up the sword, as carefully as he would a new-born baby. They turn to leave, but Cedric hesitates, casting around for a sight of Dumbledore’s portrait. To his immense disappointment, he finds it empty. They head back to Grimmauld Place and toast their successful thievery with a bottle of oak matured mead. Now, they wait for Harry to pop up again.
But, Harry comes to Cedric. Moody’s dust Dumbledore springs to life again. Things go as they normally do, only this time Harry has the Saord earlier and Cedric to help him get the locket. They’re all sitting there, loudly plotting a daring infiltration of the Ministry, when Tricia produces a ‘hem-hem’ that Umbridge would have been proud of.
“Why in Merlin’s name are you idiots plotting to break-into the most heavily guarded building in the country, when Cedric’s been planning to assassinate Umbitch in her home for months now?”
The three Gryffindors turn to Cedric rather sheepishly. The best he can manage is a forlorn ‘oh’. So, the plan shifts, it’s Umbridge’s home their going after. It’s pathetically easy. Umbridge is extremely unremarkably magical. Bill pisses himself laughing when he sees the state of her ‘wards’. Umbridge just about shits herself when she sees Cedric, Tricia and the Trio glowering down at her. They recover the locket – easy as you like. Well, almost. Cedric wants to take Umbridge out at the same time, deal a deadly blow to the Muggle-Born Registration Committee. Umbridge hears him arguing with Harry over it and gets desperate.
“Voldemort.”
The taboo breaks. Snatchers and Deatheaters descend upon them. They get away, but Yaxley grabs hold of Hermione at the last second. Grimauld place is compromised. Cedric chooses Shell Cottage as his new base of operations. The war trundles on. In this world, Ron doesn’t turn up on their doorstep humiliated and shame-faced. Instead, Hermione uses the sword to destroy the locket the second she’s finished patching up Ron. The horcrux never spurs Ron into deserting his friends. Other things are different to. Lupin never abandons Tonks. He’s leading a war effort, he doesn’t have time to indulge in his mortal fear of being an inadequate father. Plus, he’s got Cedric to tell him to stop being a daft bastard. Cedric has to bury Lavender Brown, one of his better operatives. Same with Ted Tonks, Dirk Creswell and Dean Thomas. Charlie Weasley and Alicia Spinet go out fighting back to back after an ambush – it takes McNair, Yaxley and Rookwood to bring them down. Those deaths hit them all the hardest. A snatcher called Scabior kills Cho while she’s trying to help some muggle-borns flee the country.
That pushes Cedric to do something he never thought he’d do. Marry Tricia. He knows it’s stupid, he knows it’s an indulgence, but he can’t bear the thought of leaving this earth without Tricia knowing exactly what she means to him. It’s a simple ceremony in Shell Cottage, witnessed only by the few members of the resistance who are passing though at the time. It’s still the best night of Cedric’s life, though. In fact, he and Tricia enjoy it a bit too much. The pair of them forget to cast the birth control charm. By mid-February, Tricia realises she’s pregnant. Cedric expects himself to be terrified, distraught at the notion of bringing a child into a world like this. But he’s not. He’s happy – completely so. This is what he’s been fighting for, the chance for a future. The second Tricia tells him she’s carrying his child, he knows deep down inside that they’re going to win.
Now, it’s worth remembering that both Lestranges are dead in this world – Ron and Cedric polished them off during the Battle of the Seven Potters. A very curious thing happens. Absent a living Lestrange, the family vault reverts to the Black line – passing to the oldest surviving male heir due to the horrifically antiquated inheritance laws of the Wizarding World. That would be Sirius, only, he’s dead. His heir is Harry, so quite by chance, Voldemort’s mortal enemy ends up the rightful owner of one of his horcruxes (well, two, depending on how you look at things). Voldemort’s not about to let that stand, the cup is retrieved and entrusted to his most loyal servant – Barty Crouch Jr. The Trio also never end up at Malfoy Manor. They learnt about the taboo first hand at Umbridge’s house – that drilled the lesson into them far better than Ron’s warnings. But, they do know that Luna’s there, suffering. They get that information to Cedric.
Cedric Diggory has one hell of a soft spot for Luna Lovegood. When a fierce friend stumbles across someone as friendless and misunderstood as Luna, they’ll end up looking out for them till their dying day. When Cedric first found out about stolen shoes, taunts of ‘Loony Lovegood’ and attempts to stick her head down toilets, he just about cursed every bully in the castle. Luna Lovegood is getting rescued. The Diagon Alley crew assembles. The wards in Malfoy Manor – where Barty Crouch now holds court – are still impenetrably thick. But, Tricia is still just as cunning, just as meticulous and just as intelligent. She remembers Dobby the house elf from Grimmauld Place, remembers exactly who he used to work for. In the end, its easy. Dobby gets them in. The Twins duel the Malfoys, Angelina and Audrey fight Pettigrew, Percy goes to get Luna. Cedric goes for round three with Barty. Only this time he has a power that Barty Crouch knows not. Love. It’s a different sort of love than what he had for Tricia in the halls of Hogwarts, which turned his rage white hot and made him throw away every advantage he had. It’s the love which he has for his unborn child. It’s this warmth of absolute joy that settles in him, that lets him smile and laugh as he duels Barty Crouch. Cedric’s happiness no longer resides within his own chest, it’s with Tricia and their child. That makes all the difference. Love bursting out of him, Cedric batters away at Barty Crouch until the coward turns and runs. But, just before the wards come crashing down and Barty apparates away, he flings a cursed knife directly into Cedric’s stomach.
Screams go up. The Malfoys have fled, but, Pettigrew is trussed up in golden ropes of Audrey’s making. The crew descend upon Cedric, who’s desperately trying to stop the blood pouring out of him. Angelina tries to seal the wound, but cursed wounds can’t be solved by magic. The twins are in disbelief, Percy’s crying quietly. Peter Pettigrew looks on to see a group of young witches and wizards crying over a fierce friend. He remembers James – a fierce friend himself – who brought together a rat, a run-away and a werewolf. He remembers he was once a Marauder. Fate chuckles again. The man who might once have killed Cedric, becomes the man who saves him.
“Cup – in the safe beneath that rug – the password’s peacock.”
Pettigrew’s silver hand reaches up of its own accord and strangles him. Percy leaps into action, ripping off the rug, shouting peacock over and over. He retrieves, the cup and thrusts it into Cedric’s hand. Horcruxes are a curious type of magic and so too are the Founder’s relics. Slytherin’s locket relished the shard of Voldemort’s soul, strengthened by it, brought to new heights of infectious evil. Ravenclaw’s diadem accepted it – knowledge doesn’t know morality – it simply is. But, the relics of Hufflepuff and Gryffindor abhorred the darkness – a horcrux is the anathema of both kindness and bravery. Had Voldemort managed to turn the sword into a horcrux, it would not have survived the first time Harry pulled it from the sorting hat. Under the touch of a true Gryffindor, the sword would’ve fought back, shattered Voldemort’s soul under the weight of its true allegiance. The same is true of the cup. It was waiting for a Hufflepuff. At the touch of the house’s hero, Voldemort’s soul runs screaming, a shattered wave of darkness. Unwelcome hitchhiker banished, the cup fills with a golden liquid. Cedric drinks deep. Then he passes on.
Cedric expects to see his parents when a white washed version of his childhood home, complete with oak herring-bone floor, materialises all around him. He wants to see them, wants the chance at a reconciliation he never got in life. Instead, he gets Albus Dumbledore sat in the family armchair, fingers tempeled and eyes twinkling.
“I was expecting my father, professor.”
“Naturally Cedric, but I’m afraid those are the sort of reunions reserved for the joys of death.”
“So, I’m not dead then?”
“Well, I suppose that very much depends on you. It’s your choice. Leave through the front door and you shall pass on, into bliss and into memory. Through the back and you will return, to the pain and the suffering-”
“To life, to love and to my child.”
“Quite. It is my duty to offer you the choice, even if your mind is already made up.”
“It is made up. I’m curious though professor… the watch?”
“I felt perhaps that Severus might find his job easier with aid from inside the Order. I chose you Cedric, because you have always been a man unafraid to see friends where all others see enemies. Oh, but it was more than that. It was a token of my appreciation. My pride in the man you have become. I hope you understand the ferocity with which you parents share that pride. As does Alastor Moody.”
“I… I know professor… but thank you for telling me.”
Cedric turns away and notices, mewling in the corner, what looks like a flayed child.
“That’s what was in the cup, before I touched it?”
“Exactly, Cedric. A fragment of Voldemort’s soul, hidden away for safe keeping. You, a hero of Hufflepuff, burned it away.”
“That’s what Harry’s been searching for then? All alone out there in the world. Pieces of Voldemort’s soul.”
“Yes, but he has hardly been alone, Cedric. He’s had you and your fierce friendship all these years. I cannot put to words the gratitude I have for that. You have eased his burden in more ways than you can possibly imagine.”
“What’s left? Of Voldemort’s soul?”
“Four pieces. One is in Voldemort’s snake – Nagini. The other is in Hogwarts, I am certain of it, though I realised far too late to tell Harry. The third… Severus knows where the third is, he will guide Harry. The last is in Voldemort himself”
“Then that’s where I’ll go – to Hogwarts – Harry will need me, he’ll need all of us.”
“Indeed. He will need you. This war has already taken much from you, Cedric. If you go to Hogwarts, I cannot guarantee you will ever see your child. That is a high price-”
“My child’s the reason I have to go, Professor. The reason why I have to finish this. I don’t just mean Voldemort – Barty Crouch can’t be allowed to hurt my family ever again.”
Cedric draws himself up properly. He feels the weight of the last year pressing down upon him. A tiredness which seems to seep into his bones. Something tells him that if he delays any longer he may never leave at all.
“Goodbye, Professor. I know you think you’ve made mistakes – but we all do that. It’s what makes us human. Great men are the ones who turn those few moments of bad, into a life time of good.”
Tears pool in the old Headmaster’s eyes.
“Ah, but Cedric, the best of us don’t have those moments to begin with.”
When Cedric comes to, Tricia is crying over what was moments ago his lifeless body. He gently extends his arm, to place a hand on her stomach. Tricia gasps, grabs his head between her hands and turns it to her, disbelieving. Cedric snorts.
“Like I was going anywhere.”
He can’t enjoy the moment though, not when there’s a war to win. Cedric’s first problem is getting word to Harry, to tell him about the cup and of Hogwarts. Thankfully they still have Dobby. The house-elf disappears with a crack and Cedric gets to work marshalling his forces. As one, every agent of the light leeches into the castle ground through the forbidden forest. Cedric goes to see the headmaster, they stand back to back and duel the Carrows into oblivion. In this world, Severus Snape is vindicated while he still draws breath. Together, Snape, Bill and McGonagall cast every ward they can muster, shielding the castle and buying time. Cedric and Lupin organise their defences, prepare their troops, create ambushes, traps and choke points. They wait for Harry. Eventually, he arrives in the Room of Requirement. Cedric’s there to greet him.
“Sorry to say mate, but you’re not the only boy who lived anymore.”
He proudly shows him the cup and tells him of what Dumbledore said – of the other four. They find the diadem as they always do, only this time there’s no ambush from Malfoy and his cronies – no fiendfire. Ron destroys the Diadem with the sword. Then, Harry, Snape and Diggory enter the Headmaster’s office. Dumbledore’s missing again, but Snape’s enough, he and Harry enter the pensive together. When they emerge, Harry can’t even look the former potions master in the eye. He explains about the final horcrux, he explains he has to die. Harry turns to Snape.
“It should be you. You started this, all those years ago. It’s only right you should be the one to finish it. Cedric, you’ve got to be the one to get him. Get the Snake, then get the man. This has been your war, all these months, there’s no one better to end it. Do it – quickly.”
As Cedric says his goodbye, as he turns away unable to watch and leaves the headmaster’s office, he can’t help but feel it’s easy. Too easy to leave the side of a man who’s the brother he never hand. Something in him knows this isn’t the end – not for Harry Potter. Cedric died once, it didn’t take then and Cedric Diggory isn’t half as important as the Chosen One. But, for now, he needs to lead the defenders of Hogwarts against the oncoming army of darkness. He assembles the DA, gives each of them one of the Basilisk teeth Ron and Hermione recovered. Neville, the grizzled and battle-hardened leader of the DA, gets the sword of Gryffindor. He wields it so naturally that absolutely no one considers suggesting an alternative.
“The snake. The snake must die. That’s the only way Harry can end this.”
Cedric sounds confident enough and in a way he his, but he’s also learnt the need for redundancy these last few years. He gets Slughorn, McGonagall and Sprout together – tells them that if Harry hasn’t reappeared by the time Nagini is dead – they’re to go after Voldemort. As for Cedric, well he has unfinished business of his own.
Here, in the lull before the last great battle, in the moment of calm before the storm, it is worth settling Cedric’s ledger. It may be tempting to suggest that his survival worsened things. After all, without Cedric’s body as proof, fewer believed Harry – Voldemort augmented his strength considerably. Certainly, people died who might otherwise have lived. Kingsley, Dean, Alicia, Charlie, Cho, Flitwick, to name just a few. But, if you went and explained the score to the defenders of Hogwarts – if you gave them the choice and offered to remove Cedric Diggory from the equation – not one single one of them would agree. In fact, you’d probably suffer a good hundred hexes at the very suggestion of harming their fearless leader. Anyway, the suggestion that Cedric made things worse is delusional to begin with. People died who could have lived, but others will live who might have died. Cedric’s spent the last few months thinning the ranks of the snatchers. There aren’t any giants, not after Cedric killed they’re gurg. The few werewolves present aren’t particularly effective without Fenrir Greyback leading them.
In this world, Cedric Diggory personally trained the younger members of the DA. He taught Colin Creevey that ducking and diving is often far more important than a well-placed protego. So, when McNair sends a killing curse at Colin’s head, he drops to the floor and while prone, sends a well-placed stunned in his opponents’ direction. He survives. Once upon a time, in the Department of Mysteries, Cedric killed Dolohov. Dolohov never gets the chance to kill Remus – one of the Marauders gets a happy ending. One day, he gets to teach his own son how to produce a Patronus, as he once taught Harry. Rookwood doesn’t get the chance to kill Fred. Cedric duels and defeats him almost the moment the battle begins. Instead, Fred dies old, happy and completely unmarried – a tribute to his dear departed older brother. When George names the first of his twin sons, it’s after Charlie, not Fred. Cedric killed Bellatrix on the night of the Seven Potters. Now, Dobby the house-elf will serve the Potter family until he passes on at an impressive old age. He’ll bake cookies for James, have faux tea-parties with Albus and help Lily chose Christmas gifts for her parents – always miss-matched socks. Tonks survives. Teddy doesn’t grow up an orphan, he has his parents to take him to King’s Cross.
But this is still a war and people do still die. Andromeda Tonks dies with a smile on her face, stepping in front of a killing curse aimed for her daughter, before going off to join her beloved Ted. Ginny almost gets hit by a vivisecting curse from Travers. With a great roar, Horace Slughorn saves her – saves the girl who reminds him so much of Lilly Evans. He and Travers take each-other out in the end. Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ernie McMillan, those old friends, crumple under an onslaught of Acromantula. Snape joins the battle, Voldemort gives a great cry of delight thinking his greatest servant has arrived. Only, Snape engages the Dark Lord in a duel and remarkably, holds his own. Until, that is, Nagini slithers towards a distracted Neville.
“No!”
Snape flings himself at the snake, grapples it to the ground. Nagini kills Snape, only for Neville to chop the creatures head off in the next moment. Voldemort screams in horror, now duelling McGonagall, Sprout, Lupin and Bill all at once.
Meanwhile, Cedric’s found Barty. It should have been a battle for the ages, full of furor and fate. But, it isn’t. Cedric’s better, he’s already proved that at Malfoy Manor. Beyond that, Barty’s weak. Voldemort punished him horrifically after he lost the cup. History repeats itself, only this time it’s Cedric standing over Barty in the cramped halls of Hogwarts. Unlike Barty, he doesn’t draw it out or gloat. Cedric gets it done. He allows himself a moment of contentment – a moment of fulfilment now that Moody and his parents are avenged. Above all, that Tricia and his child are safe. Then, he hunts down Voldemort. But, Cedric never gets his chance to duel the Dark Lord. Harry Potter emerges in the great hall. It happens as it always does. The battle stops, Harry Potter and Tom Riddle circle one another. The war ends.
Nineteen years later, Cedric and Tricia stand on platform nine and three-quarters. They watch as their oldest son – Alastor – pushes a nervous Teddy Lupin towards a confused Victoire. Alastor’s watched Teddy’s crush grow as they shared a dormitory, he’s a fierce friend just like his father. Tricia and Cedric leave the youngsters to it, head off up the platform where the others are cloistered, trying to be inconspicuous and failing miserably. Harry provides some words of wisdom to his youngest son. James comes running up to them on the platform, ratting out Victoire and Teddy. James’ best friend and fellow Gryffindor is right behind him, Cedric’s other child – Amos.
Cedric steps back, takes a moment to himself. He sees his wife and his children. He sees his friends. The darkness is gone, all that’s left is happiness. A ghost of a smile plays across his lips, he whispers to himself quietly, as if he’s afraid that any louder would wake him from this perfect dream.
“All is well.”
[---]
A/N
Been getting back into writing some original stuff after a good four years away from it. Bloody hell am I rusty. So I decided to write some fanfiction, since that what gave me my love of writing to begin with.
A Harry Potter 'what if' series is something I've always wanted to do - focusing specifically on more existential contexts and less prominent characters. Obviously, this is inspired by Marvel's what if and some of the SuperCalinBros stuff. Plus, it influenced quite a bit by Dirgewithoutmusic's boy with a scar series - which is probably my favourite hp fanfiction.
When I first read Goblet of Fire, Cedric kind of annoyed me - he stole Harry's crush for gods sake! Now I'm a bit older and arguably wiser, I can appreciate the importance of a fierce friend. I'm lucky enough to have had a few over the years. So, this is my little tribute to Cedric Diggory, who has become one of my favourite characters in adulthood.
A brief note because I know someone will pick up on it - Harry's return after the destruction of the horcrux. My understanding - and I could be wrong here - is that it's his blood in Voldemort's veins which anchors him to life. As such, he could theoretically come back even if its not Riddle who kills him.
Also, there's a few things I didn't spell out word for word - notably the powers of the cup. My headcannon is that the cup inspired the myth of the holy grail - I'm sure you can fill in the blanks from there.
I'm not 100% sure I'll be adding to the anthology, all though most likely I will. I'll admit to having a bad habit of abandoning fics back in the day. In my defence I was 15.
But, all things being equal the next one should be entitled "The Good Man Severus and the Scoundrel Snape" so keep an eye out.
Oh and let me know what you think!