"That's my boy! That's my boy!"

Tori was positive those words from Amos Diggory would be engraved into her head for the rest of her life. It felt like everything was happening so fast.

She had screamed, other students began to panic and Dumbledore had to pry Harry off Cedric's body so some teachers take it to the hospital wing. She could feel someone tear her away, telling her that she needed to sit down. She also saw Cho Chang, sobbing.

Tori couldn't remember much from that night. The next few weeks were the worst. Mad-Eye moody turned out to be an ex death eater. Tori didn't seem to care. She seemed to lose all interests in basically anything.

"She's not eating, either." Fred sighed to George, running his fingers through his hair. The twins couldn't even get anyone spirits up. Cedric Diggory, a student, a kid who was just walking to halls not too long ago, was dead.

Everyone assumed Tori's mood was because she was so close with Cedric. That was most of it. She was devastated, she cried every night. But there was something else.

A few days after the last task, Harry approached Tori, looking anxious.

"I need to talk to you." He whispered to her. Tori nodded, letting the young boy lead her away. He seemed very nervous, causing Tori to feel uneasy.

"What's going on?" Tori asked him, running her red eyes. Harry took a shaky breath, slowly gaining the courage to talk. "The Portkey took me and Cedric to a graveyard... where... well..."

There were the quiet whispers You-Know-Who has risen. Dumbledore hadn't confirmed it yet, but instead, stayed away from students. That didn't mean he denied it either.

"Vol- Sorry, You-Know-Who summoned his Death Eaters..."

"Why are you telling me this?" Tori asked the boy, feeling a pain in her chest. Harry, who seemed like he was just trying to get this over with, sighed "This isn't going to be hard to hear... The Death Eaters came, some of them took off their masks... Tori, your brother and father were there."

Tori's blood ran cold. She stared at the boy, mouth hanging open. "Are.. are you sure?" She asked him, hesitantly. "Because... this isn't something you can be second-guessing Harry—"

"I'm sure," Harry said. His face was filled with such remorse Tori felt like she had just broken him bad news. "I'm sorry."

"They didn't..." Tori's voice died out. She wasn't able to finish her sentence.

"No. Cedric was already dead," Harry replied as Tori shriveled down onto the steps of the Boy's dormitory. Harry sat down next to her and the two sat in complete silence.

Tori sat on her dormitory floor, her body shaking with sobs. After that horrendous article about Hermione, Tori had retracted her subscription. Now, Katie had failed to hide the new article about Cedric. It seemed the only good thing about Rita Skeeter getting photos was Tori and Cedric's.

There was his obituary, with a few pictures around Hogwarts. There was one picture from the last task, where Tori was hugging him. She wished she would have stopped him, yell at him not to go into that stupid maze.

She wiped her face, taking a shaky breath as she heard the door open. Angelina entered the room, a sad look upon her face. She walked over towards Tori, taking a seat next to her against the bed.

"You don't need to pretend like you don't cry," Angelina said when Tori wiped her eyes. "I should have stopped him..." She said quietly.

"It was the last task... you wouldn't have been able to stop him..."

"I should have stopped him from doing the stupid tournament." Tori shook her head roughly. "I told him. I told him. I told him not to enter."

"Tori... you couldn't stop him. It was his choice." Angelina replied. "Are you going to the feast?"

Tori nodded. She had too. Dumbledore was going to honor Cedric. "I wouldn't miss it. I don't think I can."

✧    ✦    ✧

The Great Hall, which in any case had been less noisy than it usually was at the Leaving Feast, became very quiet when Dumbledore stood up at the end of the night.

"The end," said Dumbledore, looking around at them all, "Of another year."

He paused, and his eyes fell upon the Hufflepuff table. Theirs had been the most subdued table before he had gotten to his feet, and theirs were still the saddest and palest faces in the Hall.

"There is much that I would like to say to you all tonight," Dumbledore continued, "But I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here," He gestured toward the Hufflepuffs, "Enjoying our feast with us. I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory."

They did it, all of them; the benches scraped as everyone in the Hall stood, and raised their goblets, and echoed, in one loud, low, rumbling voice, "Cedric Diggory."

Tori felt tears pour down her face silently as she raised her glass. She caught a glimpse of Cho Chang through the crowd. She had tears running down her face as well.

"Cedric was a person who exemplified many of the qualities that distinguish Hufflepuff's house," Dumbledore continued. "He was a good and loyal friend, a hard worker, he valued fair play. His death has affected you all, whether you knew him well or not. I think that you have the right, therefore, to know exactly how it came about."

Tori raised her head and stared at Dumbledore.

"Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort."

A panicked whisper swept the Great Hall. People were staring at Dumbledore in disbelief, in horror. He looked perfectly calm as he watched them mutter themselves into silence. Tori let out a shaky gasp.

"The Ministry of Magic," Dumbledore said, "Does not wish me to tell you this. It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I have done so - either because they will not believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, or because they think I should not tell you so, young as you are. It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies, and that any attempt to pretend that Cedric died as the result of an accident, or some sort of blunder of his own, is an insult to his memory."

Stunned and frightened, every face in the Hall was turned toward Dumbledore now...
or almost every face. Over at the Slytherin table. Harry saw Draco Malfoy muttering something to Crabbe, Dove, and Goyle. Tori felt a hot, sick swoop of anger in her stomach. She forced himself to look back at Dumbledore. It seemed Harry had noticed as well.

"There is somebody else who must be mentioned in connection with Cedric's death," Dumbledore went on. "I am talking, of course, about Harry Potter."

A kind of ripple crossed the Great Hall as a few heads turned in Harry's direction before flicking back to face Dumbledore.

"Harry Potter managed to escape Lord Voldemort," said Dumbledore. "He risked his own life to return Cedric's body to Hogwarts. He showed, in every respect, the sort of bravery that few wizards have ever shown in facing Lord Voldemort, and for this, I honor him."

Dumbledore turned gravely to Harry and raised his goblet once more. Nearly everyone in the Great Hall followed suit. They murmured his name, as they had murmured Cedric's, and drank to him. But through a gap in the standing figures.

When everyone had once again resumed their seats, Dumbledore continued, "The Triwizard Tournament's aim was to further and promote magical understanding. In the light of what has happened - of Lord Voldemort's return - such ties are more important than ever before."

Dumbledore looked from Madame Maxime and Hagrid, to Fleur Delacour and her fellow Beauxbatons students, to Viktor Krum and the Durmstrangs at the Slytherin table. Krum, Harry saw, looked wary, almost frightened, as though he expected Dumbledore to say something harsh.

"Every guest in this Hall," said Dumbledore, and his eyes lingered upon the Durmstrang students, "Will be welcomed back here at any time, should they wish to come. I say to you all, once again - in the light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.

"It is my belief- and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken - that we are all facing dark and difficult times. Some of you in this Hall have already suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Many of your families have been torn asunder. A week ago, a student was taken from our midst.

"Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."

this chapters so sad
cedric deserves better

why do all the hot ones have to die