CEDRIC:

I felt guilty drinking the dreamless sleep potion Madam Pomfrey had given me, knowing what my sister was going through that night, but I drank it all anyway as soon as I returned from dinner. I knew it was the only way I would get any sleep at all, and I had a Herbology test the next morning. I needed to be awake for that, even if it was one of my best subjects.

I slept clear through the night until the sun was up. I rushed to get ready and practically ran to the Great Hall, anxious to see Lucy. Anxious to see that she had made it through the night too.

She wasn't there yet. Very few people were, really. Fred and George waved at me, so I waved back and made my way to the Hufflepuff table, striking up a conversation with my favorite roommate and the Hufflepuff Keeper, Henry, while constantly looking over my shoulder for any sign of my sister.

"You alright, mate?" he asked at one point. "You look like you're about to bolt."

I nodded. "Yes, I'm fine, sorry."

"Nervous for the Herbology test?"

I nodded emphatically. "Must be."

As I walked from the Great Hall to the greenhouses without seeing Lucy, I tried to offer myself what consolation I could. Maybe she was just tired and resting in her dormitory. Or maybe she was in the Hospital Wing, and she was genuinely sick. The wolfsbane potion had never made her so physically ill before, so maybe she merely had the stomach flu or something along those lines. She was fine, I kept telling myself. She had to be.

I stumbled through the test. Despite my attempts to reassure myself, my hands were shaking so badly my writing was more or less illegible even to myself. When it came to the practical portion of the test, I nearly overwatered my puffapod, saving myself at the last possible second. I was about to begin to trim it when the greenhouse door opened and Professor McGonagall walked in. My heart dropped to my toes. Lucy's Head of House. Something had happened.

"Professor Sprout?" she called, her eyes flicking to me then back to the front of the room where Professor Sprout was helping a student. "Professor Sprout?"

She turned around the second time, beaming. "Why hello, Minerva! What brings you here this beautiful September morning?"

"May I borrow Mr. Diggory, please? It's quite urgent."

"Yes, of course!" Professor Sprout replied. She turned to me, and I could see in her eyes she was thinking the same thing I was. "See me later about finishing your test, will you, please?"

I smiled and nodded before turning to follow Professor McGonagall. My mouth was too dry to speak.

"Your sister has not returned from the forest," she said as soon as the door was safely closed behind us. "I didn't want to have to bring you out of class, but Professor Dumbledore insisted that you should go into the forest with Hagrid to find her. We're quite sure she's fine, perhaps more tired than we expected, but just the same, Professor Dumbledore wanted you to know. Hagrid is already in there searching. Poppy, I mean Madam Pomfrey, will be waiting near Hagrid's hut for you when you return. I must return to my class, though I am sure the headmaster is having a fair bit of fun teaching Transfiguration again."

I nodded. "May I run?"

"Of course, go."

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall," I said as I sprinted ahead in the direction of the forest. I burst into the trees and immediately began screaming my sister's name. The forest quickly grew dark and cold. I tried not to run through the list of the dangerous creatures in the forest, but I couldn't help it.

Trolls. Acromantulas. I had even heard whispers of dragons.

I kept shouting for Lucy, but no reply came. I stumbled deeper and deeper into the forest, past spider webs and dark holes in the ground. I drew my wand for the first time, feeling more and more afraid, for both my sister and myself.

I spied a massive figure in the distance and froze. I wanted to run and hide, but I couldn't. I couldn't risk letting it find Lucy first, whatever it was.

"Hello?" I called instead, which perhaps was not the best idea.

The figure turned its head.

"Lumos maxima!" In the glow of my wand, I could see it was Hagrid. "Thank goodness," I said softly, extinguishing the light and walking towards the massive man. "Hagrid, have you seen my sister yet? By any chance?"

"I'm sorry ter say I haven't," he replied. "Fang's out here lookin', too."

"Fang?" I wasn't quite convinced that I wanted Fang, whatever creature it was, to find my sister before I did.

"My puppy," he elaborated. "Great tracker, that Fang."

"Oh. Oh, alright. Shall we keep looking, then, together?"

Hagrid nodded, and I recast the light spell.

Ahead of us in the gloom, I spied a tangle of robes on the ground.

"No, no, no," I whimpered as I rushed toward it. I pulled the hood back from Lucy's face to find that it was covered in blood. I dropped to the ground and scrambled for her wrist, which was covered all the way around in the thinnest lacerations I had ever seen.

Her pulse raced wildly under my fingers, and her breath was coming in pants. Hagrid was at my side in an instant.

"She's alive," I gasped, "but barely." I lifted my wand and swirled it in a circle above her. "Episkey."

A shower of golden sparks fell around her, but her eyes did not open.

"We need to take her to Madam Pomfrey," Hagrid grunted, scooping her in his gigantic arms. "Let's go."

I had to jog to keep up with Hagrid, but I kept sending various healing spells to Lucy, who still did not stir. Her hood fell from her head completely, and revealing that every square inch of her skin as far as I could see was covered in thin cuts, almost as if someone had taken a razor to her skin over and over and over. I had never seen anything like it in my two years of helping in the Hospital Wing.

When we emerged from the forest, Madam Pomfrey immediately rushed over, looking near hysterics at first but taking a deep breath to calm herself as she looked for Lucy's pulse.

"She's alive," I panted. "She's alive."

"We need to take her to the Hospital Wing immediately," she said, casting a healing spell of her own. Still Lucy's eyes remained closed.

"I can carry her." I held my arms out and accepted her body weight. She instinctively burrowed her head against my chest, her first movement since we had found her, and my heart managed to break even more.

As I trudged to the castle, Madam Pomfrey right behind me, I whispered to her and prayed she could hear me. "You'll be okay. You'll be alright. I've got you. Cedric's got you."

"Put her in the furthest bed and pull the curtain around her, please, Cedric," Madam Pomfrey said right before we entered the Hospital Wing. "We need time to think of a story."

I nodded and entered the room, shifting her body to hide her face from the other patients, who were very much intrigued. I gently laid her on the last bed at the end of the row and pulled the curtain around her. Madam Pomfrey rushed over with a set of clean white pajamas.

"I know you'd love to help, Cedric, but will you please go get Professor Dumbledore while I see the extent of these cuts and get her fully out of those filthy robes?"

"I will," I replied, understanding immediately what she meant. I ducked quickly from the room, avoiding eye contact with everyone else there, and was nearly to his office when I heard his voice from behind me.

"Mr. Diggory, are you looking for me?"

I whirled around. "Yes, sir. We found Lucy."

He came to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, leading us in the direction of the Hospital Wing. "How is she?"

"Alive. She's alive."

"That is always a good place to start. Do you have any idea what happened?"

"No. She was unconscious when I found her, and covered in cuts. You will see soon."

"Do forgive me, Mr. Diggory, but I believe I've disrupted enough of your learning today. Professor McGonagall would not want you to miss her class, and your sister is in good hands now."

I wanted so desperately to argue, to fight to stay by her side, but I didn't. "Yes sir," I said instead, turning to go. "Thank you for letting me help find her."

"Of course. And one more thing?"

I turned back, and he flicked his wand in my direction before stepping into the Hospital Wing. I hadn't even noticed the blood stains on my robes.

"Allergic to dittany?" I asked incredulously. Lucy lay motionless in the bed, everything except for her face wrapped in delicate white bandages. What little skin was exposed was splotchy and red from fever. "I didn't even know that was possible."

"It's incredibly rare," Madam Pomfrey replied. "It was the first thing I tried, seeing the extent of her injuries, but it only worsened the situation. The healing spells I performed in lieu of dittany seem to have stopped the bleeding, but the healing with be slower."

I nodded slowly, trying to wrap my head around everything she had just told me. I had practically sprinted to the Hospital Wing as soon as Transfiguration was over, to see how Lucy was doing. I had seen firsthand the powerful healing magic of Madam Pomfrey many times and did not doubt that she would be able to help my sister, but just knowing it was my sister and not just my schoolmate lying in the Hospital Wing filled me with new fear and uncertainty. I swallowed past the lump in my throat. "Do you know how long it will be before she's alright again?"

"Oh, it shouldn't be more than a couple of days, now that I know to use spells rather than physical remedies."

Before I could reply, the curtain behind me parted slightly. I turned to see Professor McGonagall.

"Has she awakened yet?" Professor McGonagall asked. She spun her wand in a circle around the curtain, mumbling a soundproof charm so we could speak freely.

"Not yet," Madam Pomfrey answered. "There were some... difficulties. It turns out she's allergic to dittany."

"That would explain why she seemed so ill in class this past week. Isn't that allergy rather rare?"

"Extremely! Oh, Cedric, I meant to ask you. Has the wolfsbane potion made her so ill every time?"

I shook my head. "Never quite this ill. I have been trying to figure out why this whole week. I suppose being allergic to dittany would explain it in this instance, but it fails to explain why she was better in the past. I told her at first it was likely just the added anxiety of transforming here for the first time, but now I'm not quite so sure." I fell silent, crouching by her bedside and gently resting my shaking hand atop her bandaged one.

"The most important thing now is protecting her secret," Professor McGonagall said after a moment. "Would you happen to have any ideas, Cedric? For protecting her?"

"Stories, you mean?"

"Precisely. You know her better than any of us, after all. The easiest option, of course, would be to refuse to answer any questions about what happened, but I'm afraid we all know far too well how rapidly rumors spread here. I would like the rumors to at least be as far from the truth as possible in such a sensitive instance."

"I understand. Well... she does sleepwalk."

Both Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall were at a loss for a moment.

"She does?" Madam Pomfrey asked, a hint of humor in her voice.

"Oh yes. It's quite remarkable, really. She's wandered kilometers away from home before, completely and utterly asleep. I know that wandering into the Forbidden Forest while asleep seems ridiculous, but I honestly believe that if anyone would, it would be Lucy."

Professor McGonagall laughed. It was quite strange, truthfully, to hear my most serious professor laugh at the thought of Lucy sleepwalking into the forest. I cracked a smile as well.

"A first-year sleepwalking into the Forbidden Forest," she chuckled. "Well, that seems like a rumor plausible enough to be believed and crazy enough to spread like wildfire."

"And far enough from the truth that Lucy is safe from the flames," I added.

"It's settled, then," Madam Pomfrey said, opening the curtain and gesturing for us to leave. "Now you two run along and eat lunch. Lucy could use some peace and quiet."

"I'll be back as soon as possible," I whispered to my sister, brushing back a piece of hair from her face. Her forehead was fire to the touch. Before I left, though, I had one more question. "Has anybody else been by to visit her yet, Madam Pomfrey?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. No visitors outside of family, prefects, or professors until at least tomorrow."

The thought of family made my heart sink. What would Mum and Dad say? "Do our parents know yet?"

"Professor Dumbledore said he would send them an owl. I'm sure he will let at least one of us know when he receives a reply."

I stole one last glance of my sleeping sister before I left for the Great Hall.

I recalled what Professor Dumbledore had told me after the meeting we had concerning this whole plan. He had pulled me aside, away from everyone, and looked into my eyes.

"Cedric, I'd like to share a bit of hard-earned and well-learned wisdom. Your parents' love for your sister often manifests itself as fear-driven control. No matter what happens to her as each full moon comes and goes, let your love for her manifest itself as just that: love."

I had been confused at the time. But now, as I found myself wondering what my parents would say, praying that they would let Lucy stay at Hogwarts and not take her home, I think I began to understand.

Once again, as soon as my last class was over, I hurried to the Hospital Wing, but this time, Madam Pomfrey shooed me away before I even got to my sister's bed.

"She isn't awake yet, go eat first!" she insisted. I obliged, though my worry had drained my appetite. I ate quickly and was about to leave when I felt a small tap on my shoulder. I turned to see a bushy-haired girl in Gryffindor robes who looked like she was trying to be brave though her face was pale with the same worry I felt deep in my bones.

"Hi, my name is Hermione Granger, and I'm Lucy's best friend. Are you her brother?"

Ah, so this is the famous Hermione. I nodded. "I am. It's nice to meet you, Hermione, I've heard a lot about you from my sister."

"Oh, I hope nothing too recent," she said, bringing her hands to her face. "I... well, I made a mistake and... well, that's not important now. I wanted to ask you if you knew what happened to her. I tried to visit her in the Hospital Wing earlier, because that's where she was yesterday afternoon and she never came back to our dormitory because she was quite ill, you know, and then she wasn't in any of our morning classes, or our afternoon class, but when I went to see her just now Madam Pomfrey said I wasn't allowed to see her and oh, I'm dreadfully worried something horrible happened!"

I reached forward and laid a comforting hand on her arm. "Lucy will be okay." I took a deep breath. It was time to lie better than I ever had before. "She somehow managed to sleepwalk into the Forbidden Forest last night."

Hermione gasped. "I knew she sleepwalked, she did just a few days ago, but I didn't know she went so far!"

"She does at home as well. Something attacked her, but we don't know what exactly yet because she's been asleep so far today. I was actually just about to go see her."

"Can I come with you? Please?"

"I'm sorry, but Madam Pomfrey is only allowing family today. Have you eaten dinner yet, Hermione?"

She shook her head. "I went to try to see her first."

"How about you eat dinner, then, and try to take your mind off of it? Madam Pomfrey is a brilliant healer, I'm sure Lucy will be back in no time."

"I sure hope so," she said, biting her lower lip. "Thank you for talking to me."

"Thank you for being such a good friend to her. I'm glad she has someone who has her back in her own house."

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but she closed it instead and nodded before finding a place to sit. I left the Great Hall and headed immediately to the Hospital Wing, this time heading straight for Lucy's bed. I pulled the curtain back just wide enough for me to slide through, and pulled up a chair at her bedside. I reached again for her bandaged hand and just rested mine there, rubbing my thumb in small circles. With my other hand, I practiced for the week's charms test, shooting small streams of red sparks into the air.

"Those are pretty." I whirled around to see Lucy's eyes opened a crack, a small smile on her face.

"Hi there, Lucy," I said as casually as possible, squeezing her hand gently. "How are you?"

"Do it again."

I obliged, sending another stream of red sparks into the air with a quiet "Vermillious!"

"Will you teach me how to do that before the next full moon?"

I nodded. "Absolutely."

She smiled a little wider and closed her eyes again. "I knew you'd find me. You always do."

"I always will," I replied, trying not to let myself get choked up. "I promise. No matter what happens."

"I was hoping you would say that." With those words, her smile faded and she slipped away into sleep.

Rising softly from my chair, I spun my wand in a circle over her. "Episkey," I whispered, extinguishing the candle by her bedside as golden sparks fell around her.

Wednesday and Thursday were much of the same for us as Lucy slowly healed. I checked in on her after every meal, and every time, she was a little more alert and a little more mobile. After lunch on Friday, when I parted the curtain, she was fully sitting up and reading. She glanced up and immediately slammed the book shut; I could see now it was her potions textbook.

"I missed a whole week?" she asked indignantly.

I nodded, smiling in spite of her annoyance. It was the most lively she had been in a week and a half. "You see, you weren't doing very well, Lucy."

"How will I ever catch up?" she groaned.

"I'm sure your classmates will help you. They've been asking me all week how you were doing, since Madam Pomfrey hasn't allowed visitors outside of me."

"And Percy. He came after you left last night. Good thinking on the sleepwalking story, by the way. He had already heard from the Fat Lady about my sleepwalking, so he was an easy sell."

"I'm glad Percy was able to come see you."

"Yeah. Who's been asking about me?"

"Hermione, Harry, Ron. Your other two roommates. Once the twins heard the sleepwalking story, they wouldn't stop asking me when you were going to be released."

"Tonight, I believe. But wait, Hermione asked about me?"

I nodded. "She told me that she made a mistake. Did something happen?"

Lucy sighed, sinking into her pillows. "I wasn't feeling well on... Wednesday or Thursday of last week, I can't remember which, but I told Hermione I couldn't study with her because I was going to bed. But Ron was lonely when I got to the common room, so I sat down to play chess with him, but I got carried away and played for nearly an hour. She hasn't spoken to me since."

"Is this about the argument you told me about last week?"

"You have good memory," she remarked with a smile. "Yes, it was."

I nodded thoughtfully. "Well, as soon as you're back, I'm sure all will be well again. Hermione sure has missed you terribly."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well, that's a relief," she replied, picking up her book again. "If anyone can help me get caught up with all I missed, it would be her. You can go, Cedric, I have some studying to do."

I chuckled to myself as I closed the curtain behind me. Lucy was almost back to herself.

Before she could be released, however, one more thing needed to be done. Shortly before dinner, I found myself around her bed again with Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Madam Pomfrey. It was time to ask Lucy what had happened.

"The potion worked," she said, her brow furrowed with concentration as she tried to recall Monday's events. "The wolfsbane, I mean. I know that for certain. I was aware of myself, but I was so sick it was almost as if I were in a dream. I settled down to find a place to sleep for the night, on the edge of the forest, but at some point in the middle of the night, I saw someone coming toward the forest, directly at me. I know the potion worked because I didn't try to attack them, I ran away from them instead. But they saw me and chased me." She shuddered. "I thought I lost them, but I had become quite lost myself. I started to go back the way I came, trying to hide in the shadows, but whoever it was caught me again and cast a spell."

"Do you happen to know what that spell was?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

Lucy shook her head. "I didn't hear any words spoken. All of a sudden, it felt like I was transforming again, but when I looked, I was still a wolf. Before I fell asleep, I saw the figure running away. The next thing I knew, Cedric was carrying me and telling me it would be okay. I fell asleep again, then I woke up to see Cedric making pretty red sparks with his wand. He said he'd teach me before the next full moon. Didn't you, Ced?"

I nodded and managed a smile. I knew transformations were painful, but the fact that Lucy could mistake her entire body being covered in cuts for transforming hurt my heart. Everything about her story, really, shook me to the core. I knew what lingered in the forest. I had known someone my first year who had died there. I thought the forest was safer now, but standing there, I was suddenly aware that it was perhaps more dangerous than ever.

My sister couldn't go back. I had to find another way. And I had less than a month to find it.