Dive in with your eyes closed
For the life you were born to claim
The water will be paralyzed
By the courage you contain
And the flutter of your earnest heart
It will fill the silent seas
And all will be restored in your melody

"Watermark"
Sleeping At Last

CEDRIC:

The night before the second task, my dreams were haunted by the merpeople's song. Over and over again it repeated, growing closer to me with each loop. When I thought it couldn't possibly get closer, I jolted awake.

It was morning.

I draped my arm over my eyes and took a deep breath to shake off the eeriness of the night.

"Everything alright, Ced?" Henry asked.

I nodded, stifling a yawn. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just nervous, I guess."

"Well, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," he replied with a laugh. "Come off it, you've known for the past two months what you're going to do today."

"I just hope it works for the whole hour. Or longer... if something goes wrong."

"There's always ascendio. Don't be nervous, mate. This is nothing compared to those bloody dragons. You just have to do the charm, go underwater, get your broom, and come back up."

I couldn't help but laugh at his matter-of-fact way of putting it. "Where did you get the idea my broom would be at the bottom?"

"What else would you 'sorely miss?' Your hair gel?"

I threw my pillow at him. "You know I don't wear any."

"My point exactly. Your broom is the only thing I can think of that you'd sorely miss."

"I think I'd sorely miss you, if you were at the bottom of the lake. I think."

He pressed a hand to his chest. "I'm touched. But I'm still here."

"How tragic," I replied jokingly. "Now can I have my pillow back, please?"

"Nope. Time to get up. You've got a broom to save."

I dug through my drawer for something else to throw at him, but he threw my pillow back at me --- hitting me square in the face --- before I got the chance.

"Rude," I said with a muffled voice, making him laugh.

"Someone's got to do it," he replied. "I'll see you at breakfast."

I lowered the pillow from my face. "Yeah, see you there."

With a heavy sigh, I pushed myself out of bed. One thing I had always appreciated about Henry was how normal he made me feel. I could tease him like that without worrying about hurting his feelings. I could confess my deepest insecurities to him without worrying about him turning around and telling the entire school about Cedric Diggory's inner world. Henry had never once put me on a pedestal, and I loved him for it.

The morning passed in a blur of "Good luck!"s and claps on the back. Nearly everyone had something they wanted to say to me, with one notable exception: Lucy was nowhere to be found. She always found me before Quidditch matches to give me a quick hug and wish me luck, even when we were playing Gryffindor. And after she had been so faithfully at my side before the dragon task, it was a bit unsettling not to see her anywhere. Scratch that... very unsettling.

I tried not to think about it. She was okay... she had to be.

Henry and Cho slipped out ahead of the crowd with me so we could head down to the Black Lake undisturbed. The stands that had been used for the dragon task were now erected around the lake --- and there appeared to be a first aid tent as well. I knew from experience it was better to be safe than sorry, but the sight of it still made me uneasy. The dock was a hub of activity, and Professor Dumbledore waved me over when he saw me.

"Well, good luck," Henry said, clapping me on the shoulder. "Not that you need it, of course."

I grinned. "Thanks."

Cho stood on her tiptoes to give me a kiss, and I snaked my hands around her waist.

I grinned as I let myself get lost in her eyes. "I know you like stealing my jumpers because you swear they're warmer than yours, but after an hour in that water..."

"Don't worry," she said sweetly, gesturing to the baggy Hufflepuff sweater she was wearing over her robes. "You can have it back once you're out of the water. Only for today, though, this one is my favorite."

"Deal," I replied, kissing her temple one last time.

"Be sure to get that broom back," Henry called as I walked away. "It'll be hard to win the Quidditch Cup next year without it."

"You'll have to get past me first!" Cho protested, punching Henry's shoulder.

I walked backwards for a second and grinned. "One thing at a time, sweetheart."

I turned back around and made my way to the dock. I was only waiting two more minutes before Fleur showed up, then only two more minutes for Viktor. We made small talk as the stands began to fill, though I'll admit I was fairly distracted trying to look for Lucy. I watched Henry and Cho find seats with Archie and Cam, but Lucy wasn't with them. To my surprise, she wasn't with the Weasley twins either, or with the Gryffindors in her year.

I tried to will away my worries so I could focus on the lake beneath my feet, but I couldn't.

I had been growing increasingly worried for Lucy over the course of the past year or so. Finding out we were never biological siblings had done nothing to change how we felt about each other --- we would always be brother and sister, genetically or otherwise --- but I could only imagine how she must have felt about herself. It certainly explained why Dad had always... well, been Dad. No matter how many times I tried to shift attention off of myself and onto Lucy, I was always the favored child. The hope of having another family out there that loved her as their own must have had a significant impact on her, for better or for worse, even though she never voiced this to me.

Then came the St. Mungo's internship. Not a day had gone by that I hadn't thought of her, hoping she was doing alright without me. The Weasleys took good care of her, as they always did, but it still made me anxious to be apart from her for so long. Every full moon was restless, and I always made sure she would have a letter from me waiting when she got back to the house in the morning. Surprising her the night before the Quidditch World Cup was great, and the match was by far one of the best experiences of my life.

Then came the attack afterward. I still had nightmares about the flames, nightmares where I woke up screaming her name. Nightmares about the Death Eaters, too, where I was sitting in the woods with my secretly Muggle-born sister under my arm and wondering if I would be enough to protect her if the Death Eaters came our way.

Then came the Rita Skeeter articles. It seemed with every article, she came closer to the truth, somehow. And then the monthly cycle of watching Lucy get worse and worse until the full moon, and trying to help through the couple days of recovery afterward.

To say her absence the morning before the second task was concerning would be an understatement. While on the surface there was nothing inherently bothersome about her not coming down for breakfast, the fourteen months of compounding worries... well, really, the fourteen months on top of the ten years since she was bitten... worrying for my sister was nothing new, but the weight of these compounding worries on the day of the second task was a lot to try to handle.

"Where is Harry?" Fleur asked suddenly, glancing around.

I blinked and looked around to see for myself. Surely enough, Harry wasn't there, either.

Half a second later, I spotted a fast-moving blur on the horizon.

"He's on his way," I said, gesturing with my chin in his direction.

"Little sleepyhead?" Viktor wondered aloud with a laugh.

"Possibly," Fleur giggled. "Well, we can probably strip to our swimsuits now."

I nodded and pulled my robes over my head to reveal the yellow jersey beneath. Harry had reached us by the time I had folded my robes back up and set them behind me.

"I'm here!" he panted, struggling to pull his robes off.

Percy Weasley scowled in his direction. "Where have you been? The task's about to start!"

"Now, now, Percy! Let him catch his breath!" Ludo Bagman said with a wide grin.

"Harry," I said under my breath as he balled up his robes and tossed them down.

He blinked and glanced up at me, still breathing heavily. "Yeah?"

"Have you seen Lucy this morning, by any chance?"

He shook his head. "No. Fell asleep in the library. She left with Ron and Hermione last night around eight, never came back. Figured they would be in the stands."

Before we could talk further, Ludo Bagman grabbed Harry by the shoulders and moved him further down the platform. All four of us were about ten feet apart. I swallowed my worry, a hot coal that burned all the way down my throat, and drew my wand. I had to survive this hour, then I would find Lucy. Maybe she had overslept, too, somehow. She had looked more tired than usual lately...

Ludo Bagman's voice rang out. "Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then." I drew a deep breath and released it in a shaky sigh.

Get to the bottom, and get the broom...

"One..."

Or whatever's down there...

"Two..."

And get right back up, nothing to it...

"Three!"

I performed the bubble-head charm and dove in.

The Black Lake was nothing like Lake Tahoe, I can say that much. In Tahoe, I could see several feet down without issue. In the Black Lake, I could barely see my hand in front of my face.

Harry was nowhere to be seen. Viktor --- who was now half-shark --- cut through the water and took an early lead. Fleur had used the same charm I had and kept pace with me for a while, but we got separated in the middle of what appeared to be a kelp forest. When I emerged from the kelp, I was alone several feet deep in the Black Lake.

I swam toward what I hoped was the center of the lake, looking for any sign of activity. But after swimming for what felt like an eternity, the only signs of life I had seen were small schools of fish and grindylows. I kept them at bay with a handful of useful charms I had found in a book written by a Latvian witch who had built herself an underwater mansion in the Baltic Sea.

I checked my watch. Thirty-seven minutes had passed.

I swore under my breath and laid my wand flat on my palm.

"Point me," I said, my panic levels rising.

My wand whirled around, confirming I had been swimming west when I should have been swimming south. The kelp forest must have disoriented me. I gripped my wand tightly and changed direction, swimming for all I was worth. I spotted Krum's shark head in the water behind me after about ten minutes, and Fleur, too. Both looked as if they'd had a particularly nasty time with the grindylows, because they were swimming more slowly than they had started and were bleeding out of a couple of minor cuts, but the three of us were all alive, alright, and heading in what we hoped was the right direction.

Finally, I saw the distinct dark green hair of merpeople. I put on a burst of speed, seeing that Harry was already there... but he wasn't the only person already there.

Lucy was there too. Her braids floated limply in the water, her chin resting on her chest.

She was what I would sorely miss.

I swam over to Harry, who was hacking at Ron's ropes with a rock. Ron was between Hermione and Lucy, and to Lucy's right was a little girl who looked like Fleur's sister.

I pulled a knife from my pocket and started sawing at Lucy's ropes, panting as I explained, "Got lost! Fleur and Krum're coming now, I think!"

Harry tried talking, but bubbles were all that came out.

"Sorry, didn't catch that," I said.

Harry pointed to Lucy emphatically. He then pointed up to the surface, then back at Lucy, then back at the surface.

"Go!" he said, that much being clear even through the bubbles. "Fast!"

"Aren't you going too?" I asked, cutting through the last bit of the thick ropes around Lucy's ankles. "Your ropes are cut."

He shook his head. He pointed to himself, then his watch, then out at the water, then at Hermione and Fleur's sister.

"You'll wait for the others?" I guessed.

He pointed at Lucy again, then up at the surface, then pushed me toward my sister. "GO!"

"Thanks, Harry," I said, grabbing Lucy around the waist and kicking up off the bottom. Just as I kicked off, Fleur arrived and started hacking at her sister's ropes. Viktor swam over once I was about six feet up, meaning all of the hostages would be safe. I pulled Lucy tighter to me and kicked with all I was worth up to the surface, praying whatever charm had been placed on her to keep her asleep would last just a couple seconds longer. I had no idea how much time was left in the hour, but it felt like it had been an eternity.

With a final strong kick, I breached the surface. The crowds erupted, and Ludo Bagman announced something, but my only concern in the moment was for my sister, who had just experienced her own personal hell. Lucy gasped beside me, then choked and coughed up a bit of water. The spell had been broken, and she was very much awake.

"I'm here, I'm here," I murmured, keeping a firm grip around her and heading toward the shore. "I've got you."

As soon as we had reached shallow enough water for Lucy to stand, I pulled her to her feet and wrapped an arm around her violently shaking shoulders. I pushed my wet hair back from my face and made my way over to a frantically-gesturing Madam Pomfrey, who ushered us into a tent.

"She's terrified of the water," I explained in a low voice to Madam Pomfrey. I guided Lucy to a chair and draped a blanket around her. "I'm right here. You're safe. You're out of the water."

Lucy nodded, but I could tell from how much she was struggling to breathe that she was hurtling toward a panic attack. I knelt in front of her and laid a gentle hand on her knee.

Madam Pomfrey draped a blanket around my shoulders. "Take care of yourself, too," she said in my ear.

I nodded and glanced up at her gratefully. "Thanks." I hadn't even realized how cold I was.

I looked back at Lucy and tightened the blanket around her. "I'm here, Lu. You're alright."

"I... I..." Lucy's voice was little more than a hoarse whisper. "Ced... th- the- the d- dr-"

She started gasping for air, unable to keep talking. I reached forward and took both of her hands in mine. "I'm here. You're safe."

I could feel her rapid pulse in her fingers as her grip tightened like a vice. This was getting bad.

I brought her hands to my chest, knowing that as long as I stayed calm, she would eventually be calm too. "Breathe with me, okay? Focus on what I do."

I inhaled slowly through my nose, then waited until she did the same. Then I exhaled through my mouth, and Lucy's grip loosened a tiny bit.

"Good," I whispered. "Good. Let's try again."

After four more breaths, a second eruption from the crowd informed me that someone else had broken the surface. Lucy jumped at the sudden sound.

"I'll bring bring everything out to them, you two stay here," Madam Pomfrey said, briefly touching my shoulder as she hurried from the tent.

"It's just us now, Lu. You're alright. You're safe." I rubbed my thumb against her hand. "It's okay. That loud sound just means someone else is back. You're alright. Let's take another breath."

After a few more breaths, Lucy lunged forward and threw her arms around my neck, clinging to me as if her life depended on it, still trembling violently.

"I wasn't scared last night," she said, her voice strained still but calmer. "I knew you'd come for me. You always do."

"I always will."

Her hold tightened. "I know."

After a couple more seconds, she shivered. Her blanket had fallen from her shoulders when she had launched herself at me. I released her and reached for it, draping it around her. I reached for the two cups of pepperup potion on the table as well, and made sure she drank all of hers before having my own.

I settled into the chair next to her and wrapped my arm --- and by extension, my blanket --- around her shoulders. She automatically buried her head against my chest, covering her eyes with a fist and taking a deep breath in sync with me.

"Good," I said. "Keep breathing like that. You're okay."

She nodded in response and took another deep breath. I rubbed my hand up and down her arm in time with each breath.

Henry and Cho's heads appeared in the opening of the tent, but when they saw Lucy, they glanced up at me.

"Later," I mouthed to them, and they nodded in understanding and disappeared.

The crowd erupted a third time, then a fourth time ten seconds later, meaning the last two people were back.

"That's everyone," I said softly to Lucy. "Everyone's back."

She nodded, relaxing a bit more.

I peered through the opening to see what was going on. Harry and Ron were staggering to shore. As soon as Harry reached the rocks, he scanned the crowd of people in blankets and called out to Hermione, but before he could reach her, Madam Pomfrey wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and poured the pepperup potion down his throat.

A boy I faintly recognized from the Quidditch match in January appeared in the opening less than a minute later, but only for a second. A hand grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back with an impressive amount of force. I was even more impressed when I saw the hand belonged to Harry, whose other hand was holding his wand in such a way he looked ready to duel him on the spot.

"You don't get to show up only when it's convenient for you," Harry spat. "You don't get to pick and choose when you're a friend and when you're not. If you really care about someone, you're there even when you have a million reasons not to be. You left her in the cold on Valentine's Day. Now clear off before Fleur sees you here and decides your knees would look better bending the other direction."

Harry shoved his wand into the pocket of his swim trunks and hurried into the tent. He made brief eye contact with me before dropping to a knee in front of Lucy.

"Hey, Lu," he said in a completely different voice than the one he had just used with the Beauxbatons boy. "You alright?"

Lucy lowered her fist from her face and sat up a bit straighter. She managed a small smile. "Do you remember what I told you the night you lost your bloody egg by throwing it down the stairs?"

"I didn't-" Lucy raised her eyebrows, and his protest died on his lips. He sighed resignedly, trying not to smile. "That you'd never go underwater willingly no matter how pretty the merpeople's song was? And that you hated water in general?"

"Yeah. That's it."

"And all this time, you were worried about me. You're lucky you didn't decide to sleepwalk last night, you know. I know you can deal with grindylows while awake, but asleep?"

To my surprise, Lucy started laughing. "How dare you. I think I would be perfectly fine, thank you very much."

Harry grinned. "Yeah, you're alright." He glanced at me. "Want to go get our scores?"

I turned to Lucy. "Are you ready to head back out there?"

She nodded and sat up, pulling her blanket around her shoulders. "Yeah. Let's go see how you two did."

As soon as we stepped out of the tent, Hermione rushed over to Lucy, firing about ten different questions at her at once. With her distracted, I grabbed Harry by the elbow and pulled him off to the side.

"Who was that kid?" I asked in a low voice. "The one who tried to come in?"

"Lucy'll kill me for telling you, but that was Maxence I-don't-know-something-French. Draco Malfoy paid him 50 Galleons on Valentine's Day to ask Lucy to go on a 'date' with him then never show up."

I raised my eyebrows, hand going instinctively to my wand. "He what? Where is he, I just want to talk-"

"Don't worry, I think Fleur reversing his kneecaps sent a clear enough message on Valentine's Day. Hopefully he's gone for good after I..." He paused and cocked his head at me. "I was a bit harsh, wasn't I?"

I chuckled. "I can guarantee I would have said something very similar, though I probably would have been far less eloquent."

"I've been waiting for my chance," he admitted with a sheepish shrug. "She didn't tell me herself about what he did, so don't feel bad about not knowing. I only know because I happened to walk by while Fleur was hexing him. I found Lucy in the Quidditch Pitch and stayed with her for a while. She-" He cut himself off with a laugh. "She didn't want you or the twins to know because she was worried the three of you might kill him."

I considered this for a moment. "I wouldn't have killed him, but I would have taught him a new hex or two. The twins, however..."

The two of us laughed, vivid images of various forms of Weasley twin revenge flitting through our heads. Just before the scores were announced, I turned to Harry.

"Thanks for taking care of her," I said. "That night, and down in the lake."

He shrugged me off, glancing away --- in Lucy's direction, I noticed. "Of course. I know she hates the water. I was worried the charm would wear off if she was under longer than an hour. And Maxence... well, Lucy deserves better than that."

In the silence that followed, I studied Harry with new interest. I had never disliked him, but I reckoned I had never liked him more than I did in that moment. He would be good for Lucy. Really good.

I nodded. "Yeah, she does." And I think you could be that person, I added to myself.

Ludo Bagman started speaking then, effectively ending the conversation. I went to stand with Henry and Cho, giving Cho a quick kiss before pulling my blanket tighter around my shoulders. It really was cold.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows. Cedric Diggory, who used the bubble-head charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We therefore award him forty-seven points."

"That puts you at 85!" Cho informed me over the roar of the Hufflepuffs in the crowd.

I smiled and waved appreciatively, glad my score was the first to be announced.

"Fleur Delacour, who also put the bubble-head charm to excellent, was second to return with her hostage. We therefore award her 43 points!"

"81 total," Cho said. "You're still in the lead!"

"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

"I got this one," Henry said with exaggerated bravado that made me laugh. "I do believe Mr. Viktor Krum is now at 80 points, because 40 plus 40 equals 80."

"You can add!" I teased him, earning myself a swat to the back of my head.

"Shove off, Diggory," he replied.

"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect. He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own. Most of the judges feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However, Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."

"You two are tied!" Cho exclaimed.

I flashed Harry a thumbs-up, which he returned. Lucy looked back and forth between the pair of us, still looking pale and a bit shaken but definitely better.

Ludo Bagman made one last announcement. "The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June. The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

"The eight of you need to head up to the castle to get into warm, dry clothes now!" Madam Pomfrey called.

We all nodded, shivering in the chill breeze. Henry jumped on my back suddenly, wrapping his arms and legs around me.

"Now you can warm up with exercise and steal my body heat!" he announced. "You're welcome!"

"Gee, thanks," I grunted, rolling my eyes. I looked at Cho. "I think I'd rather steal my jumper back, if you don't mind."

"Only for today," she reminded me.

I nodded. "All I need."

Lucy ran up to me. "I'm going to start with Harry's party today since I'm heading up to my dormitory to change anyway, but I'll come down in a couple of hours, I promise."

"No worries, Lu, you can stay up there the whole time if you want. I won't be offended."

She shook her head. "I'm 50/50 on the celebrations. I made that rule for myself the night you were both chosen."

"Oy, Cub, stop fraternizing with the enemy!" came the call of a Weasley twin.

She stuck her tongue out at whichever one it was and turned back to me with an innocent smile. "See you later!"

With that, she turned on her heel and went to join her brothers and sisters in Gryffindor red.

"You know you're a miracle worker, right?" Henry asked as we watched her go.

I leaned my head back in a vain attempt to make eye contact with the monkey on my back. "What?"

"You brought her from panic attack to that in a matter of minutes."

"Harry did it, really," I said. "He made her laugh."

"Are they a couple yet?"

I shook my head. "Not yet."

"Well, they should be," Henry asserted. "They're best friends, that much is obvious. But anyway, Ced, you were the one who got her to a place where she could laugh. We heard the whole thing, we just waited until she was calm to see if we could come in. Oh, by the way, who was that kid Harry was talking to? Something about Valentine's Day?"

I pursed my lips, debating how much to say. "Have I ever told you how much Lucy hates Valentine's Day?"

"I don't think so." Henry's voice seemed a bit flat. Did he hate Valentine's Day, too? But when he spoke again, his tone was back to joking. "Did the love potion incident her first year traumatize her?"

"I will drop you," I threatened. "I would like to forget that night ever happened. But yeah, that's probably why."

"Oh, you know I'll never let you live that down. You should give that girl a snickerdoodle at her graduation this year. Jenna, was it?"

I laughed. "Henry Furls, you have the worst ideas. And I love them."

I did see Cam come into the common room, grab Archie by the arm, and leave in a hurry. I just assumed they were going to have a quick snog in the privacy of the hallway and come back. They did it often enough; it wouldn't have surprised me. But when the party was winding down and they still hadn't returned, I began to think their snog had turned into a shag.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Cho left the common room with ten minutes left to curfew. As soon as she left, Archie and Cam came back in.

"What's wrong?" I asked, knowing all too well the haunted look they shared. Something horrible had happened.

Cam opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Archie looked at her a second longer before turning to me.

"Her brother got sick in December," Archie said, more serious than I had ever seen him. "He- well, they thought he was doing better. But last night... she just found out today..."

Cam sobbed suddenly, and Archie immediately wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders.

I immediately cleared a spot on the couch for the pair to sit, while Henry and I --- the only other people in the common room --- took seats in the nearest armchairs. The two of us exchanged a look rife with meaning.

"I'll go talk to the house elves about hot chocolate," Henry said softly.

I nodded, hoping he understood my unspoken message of Good idea. "Cam likes hers with peanut butter," I called after him, earning myself the tiniest bit of a smile from Cam.

"Nobody really knows she even has a brother," Archie whispered. "And the girls in her dormitory would tear her to shreds just to get a rise out of her. We... well, we thought it would be safest here."

I nodded. "I'm sure Hannah and Susan and the others wouldn't mind if you stayed with them for a couple of days, Cam."

"B-But Professor... Professor Snape..."

"I'm a prefect," I said. "I'll talk to Professor Sprout first, get her approval, then tell Professor Snape. He won't be able to undo what Professor Sprout agreed to, and I know for a fact she will agree."

"I c-can do it tonight?" she asked, looking up with tears coursing down her olive cheeks.

"As soon as you're feeling better, I'll go straight to Professor Sprout's office," I replied. "I'm guessing the peanut butter hot chocolate Henry's fetching will help a little bit." I inched my chair closer to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Just let it out, it's alright. You're safe here. Don't bottle it up, or you'll explode."

"He... he was too young," she choked out. "He was... he was... just three more days..."

"He would have turned eleven on Monday," Archie explained in a low voice. "Frankie couldn't wait to get his letter. It was all he could talk about."

"He said he wanted to be just like me, he didn't care that I was a Slytherin," Cam sobbed.

Archie stroked Cam's hair as her cries intensified. "Green was his favorite color."

"And he... he would always tell me that snakes are cooler than lions... Mum got him a book full of facts about snakes when he was really little, and he would... he would ask me to read it to him... that's how he learned to read, really, he memorized it when I read it to him and... and... and now he'll never get to... he..."

"Shh." Archie pulled her close to himself and rocked her slowly back and forth. I absorbed the scene in silence, trying to think of something, anything I could do to help. I had been the one to comfort a number of grieving family members over the summer, but it was so different when you knew the mourner even if you didn't know the mourned.

Henry returned a couple minutes later with four mugs full to the brim, but I couldn't bring myself to bring it to my lips. My stomach hurt with the grief I felt for Cam. She was the happiest, giggliest, bubbliest person I had ever known. To see her sobbing so brokenly broke me, too. I couldn't even begin to imagine how Archie felt, holding the girl he loved as her world fell apart. If something like that ever happened to Cho...

"I'm going to go talk to Professor Sprout now," I said softly. "I'll talk to Professor Snape in the morning."

As I expected, Professor Sprout wasted no time in making the fourth year girls' room as comfortable as possible for Cam. Archie walked her up to the dormitory, leaving me alone in the common room with Henry.

He nudged my untouched cup of hot chocolate closer to me. "You've done everything you can for tonight, Ced. Come on, I kept it warm for you for a reason."

"Thanks, Henry." I reached forward and held the mug in my hands for a moment longer before taking a sip. Surely enough, the sweetness and the warmth did help. I leaned my elbows on my knees and sighed. "Well, today wasn't quite what I expected."

"Yeah, what kind of psychopath puts four kids at the bottom of the Black Lake?" Henry took a sip of hot chocolate. "Is Lucy alright now?"

"She still seems a bit shaken, but I know she'll be alright with a bit of time." I smiled to myself. "She did say she wasn't terribly scared last night because she knew I'd come to get her. Something about waking up actually in the water must have been alarming, though. I can't blame her. Even if I weren't as terrified of the water as she is, I can't imagine that would be a particularly pleasant experience."

Henry nodded, grinning. "Thank Merlin for Lucy. She spared Cho an unwanted bath."

"Yeah, either her or you."

"Me?"

I paused and looked up at him. "Of course, you. She's my girlfriend, sure, but you're my best friend. Lucy was the most obvious person, being my sister, but if she hadn't been able to do it, I bet they would have gone for you next."

Before he could reply, Archie returned.

"That was a good idea you had," he said as he flopped back onto the couch. "The girls practically shoved me out the door, and I heard something about coloring books. I think she'll be okay."

"She's got you," I said, "so she will be."

He dragged his hand down his face. "I feel so helpless. I don't know what to say, or what to do, and just holding her while she cries feels..."

"You're not helpless just because you were thrust into a difficult situation suddenly."

"Yeah, Archie, we know you," Henry said, turning in the chair to face him better. "You'll do anything --- and I mean anything --- for the people you love. Cam is in good hands with you, even if you don't know what to do right away. You'll learn."

Archie looked at me. "He was just so young. Cam is still so young. We are still so young. It's just... just not fair."

I shook my head. "Life isn't always, but I've learned that some things never change. The world can fall apart, yet keep spinning."

"That seems cruel," Archie said, reaching for his mug of hot chocolate.

"It doesn't have to be," I replied. I bit my lip, trying to think of a way to explain this. "My first year, there was a girl in Hufflepuff who died. Her portrait is across the hallway from the History of Magic classroom. I remember feeling that night like morning would never come again. I remember feeling like it should stay dark, that the world should stop turning long enough to let us grieve. But the sun rose in the morning, and it was one of the most beautiful sunrises I've ever seen." I paused. "I know it feels wrong to think of the sun rising tomorrow, like nothing happened tonight, but I think it can be a source of hope, too. Even if everything else in the world changes, you can still count on the sunrise, and the sunset, and the stars, and friends, and family, and this room being a safe place, just to name a few things. Some things never change."

Archie nodded slowly. "It doesn't sound quite so bad when you put it that way."

"It's still horrible, of course," I said. "I... I had to see a lot of people die over the summer. A lot of people who were too young, with so much more life left to live. I had to see a lot of people left behind, too, and do my best to comfort them. I know how much it hurts now, in the darkest part of it all, but when she's ready, there will be light again."

A brief moment of silence followed, and I wondered if I had said something wrong. But when Archie spoke again, a part of his typical goofy grin was back.

"Can you say that all again so I can write it down? I want to tell her what you just said word for word, unless you want to tell her yourself in the morning."

"I can tell her if you want me to, but I think it would be best coming from you."

"I bet you could do it better."

"There's nobody better for her than you right now. She came in here to get you, not me."

Archie nodded, taking the hair tie out of his hair so it cascaded around his shoulders. "You're right. Well, I don't want to get scalped by Snape for trying to sneak back into our common room after curfew, so I'll probably just crash here tonight, if that's alright. I've been growing my hair out for too long now to let it go to waste."

I chuckled. "You know you can crash here anytime. Do you want some company, or would you rather be alone with your thoughts?"

"I can handle being on my own, don't worry. See you in the morning, and thanks for helping us out."

"Always have, always will," I said with a smile. "See you in the morning."

Henry and I took our mugs of hot chocolate, still half-full, and headed up to our dormitory. Our roommates were already sound asleep, so we changed into pajamas and got into bed as quietly as possible. I thought about getting into bed, but something held me back. So I sat on the edge instead, hot chocolate between my hands, and stared into space.

Henry pulled the curtains around us, sat next to me, and whispered a silencing charm.

"Alright, what is it?"

I closed my eyes. "I just haven't felt like this since St. Mungo's," I admitted.

"Like what?"

"Like... I don't know exactly." I opened my eyes again and looked into Henry's. "When you're surrounded by so much death, so much sorrow, you learn to put all of your hope in the light. You have to, or else you'll drown in the darkness around you. But... but even when you're doing that, the darkness is still there."

Henry was silent for a moment, eyes full with an emotion I couldn't read. "I remember that sunrise too. You were right, it was... beautiful."

I nodded. I reached over with one hand and grabbed my pillow, digging into the pillowcase in search of the piece of parchment I knew would be there. I pulled it out and showed Henry.

"'Have faith in the sunrise.'" I swallowed hard. "I've kept it in here for... years. I pull it out whenever I have nightmares. I never used it more than I did last summer. I just needed the reminder nearly every night that no matter how long the night is, the sun will always rise."

Henry nodded. "You're right." He was still looking at me in a way that suggested he was searching for something.

"I'm alright," I said, tucking the parchment away and returned my pillow to its position at the head of my bed. "Really. The second task is over, I have three months before I have to worry about the last one. Tonight just... brought me back to one of the darker times of my life. I'm glad I had that experience," I added quickly, "and I really do want to be a healer, honest I do. Making a positive difference for people makes me happier than anything else, and being a healer is the easiest way to do that consistently."

"It's okay," he interrupted gently. "You don't have to explain yourself, or defend yourself. I know." He looked down at his hands. "I would be shaken up, too. I mean, I am, but more so if I were in your shoes. He just... well, it's like you said. So much life left to live." He paused again. "Death has a way of making you think about life."

I nodded. "I thought about both last summer, far often than I probably should have. And, well, I think I've lived this past year more intentionally than any other."

"How so?"

"Well... I've tried to make every moment more meaningful, so that I could look back one day and say I did everything I could to make the most of what time I had. Because... like Cam's brother, we don't always have much."

Henry nodded, still not glancing away from the cup in his hands.

The two of us sat in silence a bit longer, lost in our own worlds. That's another thing I loved about Henry --- he understood the importance of silence, and the volumes it could speak.

"If-" he said suddenly, looking up at me. "If for whatever reason, something had gone wrong in the lake today... how would you have felt? About the life you lived?"

I finally recognized the emotion in his eyes. Desperation.

"Because if I were the competitor," he continued, "you would have been at the bottom of the lake. And, well, if I hadn't been able to get there in time, if something had gone wrong... how would you have felt?"

I paused for a moment. "I would be proud of the way I've lived this year. Listening more to myself than to my dad. Loving people more fearlessly and honestly. I... well, nothing did go wrong, Hen, so I want to live like this again next year, and every year after we graduate. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, well, if I were to have died today somehow, you could have known I was happy. Because I am, I really am. With you, with Cho, with Lu. With everything right now."

Henry nodded, looking away from me again.

"What about you?"

He blinked. "Me?"

I nodded. "If you were in the lake today, and something had gone wrong, what would you think about your life?"

"I-" He glanced at me for a second, looked away, then looked back. "I would be happy, too."

I smiled. "Well, that's good. I'd hate to think I've ruined your life these past five years."

He snorted. "Hardly." He lifted his mug to his lips and downed the last of his hot chocolate. "You said some things never change, right?"

"Right."

He grinned at me. "Add hot chocolate to that list."

"And snickerdoodles," I said, downing the last of my hot chocolate, too. "I can't wait for summer this year. Lucy's going to teach me how to make the recipe she perfected over summer. Merlin, hers are the best snickerdoodles I've ever had."

If I die young bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors
Life ain't always what you think it ought to be
Ain't even grey, but she buries her baby

And I'll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom
I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger
I've never known the loving of a woman
But it sure felt nice when she was holding my hand
There's a girl here in town says she'll love me forever
Who would have thought forever could be severed by
The sharp knife of a short life, well
I've had just enough time

If I die young bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song
The sharp knife of a short life, well
I've had just enough time

"If I Die Young"
Michael Henry And Justin Robinett