A/N: it's here...

There was no news from either of his parents or other family members for months. Absolutely no news.

Not even any of those letters Alycia used to send him every now and then, telling any random fact she had learned, or something she had found out, or to tell him what she had done, and, sometimes, to show him one of the drawings she had made, since she had always told him how much she loved his paintings.

But Alycia didn't send him a single letter. He had sent her quite a lot, mostly in April and May but, given the fact that there was no reply, he gave up in June.

It wasn't the first time it had happened, so now he was rather certain that it didn't mean she was mad at him, something that he was glad about. However, he couldn't relax, since there was a high chance that it meant she was in trouble, too.

Everything was beginning to look darker, regarding the Death Eaters. There had been news about a couple more attacks, a disappearence, and the murder of Barty Crouch, which shocked the entire school.

Ben, Harry, Hermione and Ron agreed that there was no doubt that something awful was about to happen. The questions were; when would it happen? and what, exactly?

The only thing they could do was wait.

The wait was over on the 24th of June, the afternoon of the third and last task of the Triwizard Tournament.

Everyone was freaking out; the champions due to how nervous they were, and the rest of the students due to the excitement. They were all gathered in the Quidditch pitch, though it was no longer a Quidditch pitch... It had been transformed into an enormous maze.

It turned out that the third task would consist of entering the maze, getting to the center and then retrieving something that was there; the Triwizard cup. It didn't sound too difficult... At first.

They then found out that the maze was, of course, bewitched. It was full of spells, traps and tricks to make it harder. So, Hermione and Ben had been helping Harry practice every single spell they thought could come in handy.

The families of each of the champions had been invited to watch the task. But, since Harry's parents were... Unable to attend... It was Mrs. Weasley and Bill who came to support Harry.

"Ben!"

He spun around, and scanned his surroundings to see who had called him. His eyes stopped on Cedric, who was waving at him, standing in the grass. He turned to his friends. "I'll be right back."

"Okay."

Ben ran down the stands, approaching Cedric. The older boy was accompanied by a couple that he assumed were his parents.

"Hello!" he greeted.

"Oh, so this must be our other son?" asked Mrs. Diggory, her pink lips drawing a bright smile.

She was a beautiful woman, with light brown, wavy hair, and sweet chocolate brown eyes. It was clear whose genes Cedric had inherited, no offense to his father.

Ben, blinked, a bit confused. "W-What?"

Cedric's father let out one of those fatherly laughs. "Don't worry, Benjamin, it's just a joke."

"Ced has told us a lot about you," explained Mrs. Diggory kindly. "And he always says you're the little brother he always wished he had."

"Mum, I told you not to tell him that!" complained Cedric, looking both horrified and embarrassed at the fact that he heard it. "Please ignore them, Ben... I'm actually not that weird..."

Ben chuckled. "It's not weird, I like it... Big bro."

The Diggory family laughed, and Ben noticed their laughs were pretty much identical, with the only difference being the hue. They all looked so close to each other. It was clear they loved each other madly. Ben wished he was actually their other son, too.

"Would you like to come over to our home someday this summer?" offered Mr. Diggory, happily. "We would love to get to know our son's friends better... And I would really like to chat with your father."

"I'd love to, yeah!" exclaimed Ben, joyfully, although he wasn't sure if his parents would like the idea as much as he did.

"Lovely!" grinned Mrs. Diggory. "I'll send an owl to your mother as soon as I get home."

Rolf Scamander and Mei-Xing, whose foreheads read "CEDRIC", approached them so, after saying goodbye politely to everyone, Mr. and Mrs. Diggory left.

Mei-Xing scooted closer to Cedric, who wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her into a hug. Rolf and Ben exchanged glances and snickered.

"Once you're done hugging your girlfriend," Rolf cleared his throat playfully. "Remember your coolest friends are here, too."

Mei-Xing giggled, pulling herself away from Cedric, who grabbed Rolf by his shoulder and ruffled his hair, laughing.

"If you two need some privacy..." teased Ben, smirking.

Cedric rolled his eyes. "If you're saying that as an excuse to leave and go see your best friend Harry..."

"Ah, yes, I certainly am," he joked.

They chuckled, and Cedric suddenly lowered his volume. "Now seriously, go with him. If he's nearly as nervous as I am, now, he'd better be with you."

Ben looked up at his eyes. And he saw a glimpse of... Knowing? In them. He preferred to not think much of it.

"But don't you dare leave without hugging your new older brother!"

Ben let out a laugh, and took a step toward Cedric. The Hufflepuff boy tackled him into a hug, smiling broadly. Due to their height difference, Ben's head ended up buried in Cedric's chest. It brought him a sense of warmness. It felt like coming home.

"I'll see you after the task, okay?" asked Cedric hopefully, separating himself from Ben, but keeping his hands on his shoulders.

He nodded. "Of course."

"See you soon, Ben."

"See you soon, Ced."

And he sprinted back with the Weasleys, Hermione and Harry.

At first it was only them, but they were soon joined by Thomas, Neville, Leah, Luna and their Gryffindor roommates. Seamus and Dean had brought some face paint, and they began writing "Go Harry!" on their foreheads.

Harry was so embarrassed he had turned bright red.

Dean wrote both Harry and Cedric's names on Ben's cheeks, knowing he was supporting both of his friends. And, after a long time of having fun and hanging out, it was finally time for the task to actually begin.

Hermione, Ron and Ben accompanied Harry on his way down, and the four of them went into a group hug as they wished him luck. The redheaded boy, and the girl then left, but not back to the stands, yet. They seemed to just want to allow Ben and Harry to talk.

It felt slightly weird, in a way. He hadn't had a meaningful conversation with only Harry since the day he had received the letter from his parents. They had still been hanging out together, of course, and they had spoken to each other thousands of times. But neither of them had mentioned... it.

It was almost like being back to how they used to be around each other. But it wasn't, actually. Because now they both knew. Harry knew Ben was in love with him, and Ben knew Harry was in love with him. It was clear from the way their eyes met and refused to separate. It was clear from the way their voices got softer every time they spoke to each other. It was clear from the way they always relaxed as soon as the other was around. And it was also clear from the way that every brush of their hands when they were studying side by side, or every bump of their knees under the table, however slight, lasted longer than they normally would.

But, aside from that, they acted in a fully platonic way. They didn't ask each other to stay with them whenever they felt bad. They didn't hold hands when one of them was nervous. They didn't sleep together when they couldn't fall asleep. And they didn't kiss each other, of course.

"How are you feeling?" finally asked Ben, after one of their now typical silences as they simply looked at each other.

"Terrible, honestly," he confessed. "I'm really nervous."

"You've worked very hard to be prepared for this," Ben reminded him. "I know you're fully capable of winning, Harry."

"Do you, really?" asked Harry, lifting up his eyebrows. "Or are you only saying it because you're my... My friend."

"I'm saying it because I'm your... Friend, and I'm so proud of you," he clarified. "I'm so, so proud of you, Harry."

"Thank you."

"You better not die in there, by the way," he added, smirking.

Harry chuckled. "I'll try not to."

———————————————

Watching the task was as dreadful as the second one had been. As soon as the champions were out of sight, there was absolutely nothing to do for quite a lot of hours.

The only thing keeping Ben from going back into the depth of his mind, like he had been doing for the previous months every single time he was left on his own, were Thomas making jokes every now and then.

"Woah, I think that bush over there moved a little, this is so exciting!"

They were quite stupid, but Ben loved those kinds of dumb jokes. And Thomas knew it, and that was why kept doing them every time they were together and he felt Ben slowly drift away.

Thomas didn't know it, but he was keeping him sane.

He was the only one who knew how scared Ben actually was. The only one who knew how much every single day of not knowing what would happen was destroying him. The only one who knew the way that not knowing if Alycia was safe was eating him alive.

It wasn't because he was the only one to notice how suddenly Ben had changed, because Harry, Ron and Hermione had, too. But the difference was that Thomas was the only one he had told everything to.

Ron and Hermione insisted every single day. They wanted to help him, to be able to listen to him and find out what was wrong. Harry, instead, knew that trying to push him to tell them would be no use. So, he did his best to convince Hermione and Ron to not insist.

A red spark was shot up into the air. And, all of a sudden, Fleur Delacour appeared in the middle of the grass, almost on her knees, panting desperately. Her hair was messy, and her clothes were stained.

Madame Maxine rushed over to her, with Madam Pomfrey following her. Fleur began talking very fast in French with her headmaster.

"What's she saying?" asked Ron, smacking Ben on the shoulder.

"I don't know, mate."

"Aren't you half-french?"

"You said it; half-french... Not half-owl," he deadpanned. "I can't hear her from here."

And then they heard some of the Beauxbatons girls, which were now surrounding Fleur, calming her down, yell something about Krum attacking her.

Ron immediately looked over at Hermione, whose face was full of worry for the girl.

Her friends were leading her to the first row of the stands. And, now that she was nearer, Ben could see her face full of small cuts and wounds.

"Bloody hell!" exclaimed Ron.

Bagman's voice was heard, announcing what happened. "Miss Fleur Delacour, the champion from Beauxbatons Academy is out of the competition!"

The maze seemed to be much worse than they had expected it to be. Were Harry and Cedric alright?

Another red spark.

Viktor Krum's unconscious body appeared in the grass. Everyone gasped as Bagman announced Krum was eliminated, too.

So it meant either Harry or Cedric would win.

Ron and Ben looked at each other. And, without a single word, both of them knew the intensity of their fear was shared.

"It'll be okay," assured Ron, very quietly. "They will both be okay."

Ben nodded, desperate to believe it. And, to their surprise, Hermione clutched Ron's hand, making him turn as red as his hair.

She didn't let go. And neither did Ron, of course.

They all waited.

And waited.

Waited for so long it was driving everyone insane.

Until, well, it happened.

Harry and Cedric appeared out of the maze, carrying the cup with them, meaning they had won. Together. Loud cheers erupted everywhere, accompanied by the school band, which began playing the Hogwarts March.

Hermione pulled Ben and Ron into a tight hug, broken by a gruesome, high-pitched scream.

It all went silent after that. Everyone's eyes turned to the front. Fleur was standing, her hands over her mouth, looking at Cedric and Harry.

Both of them were on the floor.

"Oh no..." said Hermione, and she began making a way in the crowd for her, Ron and Ben to go through.

People were beginning to run towards the champions, screams and gasps being heard over and over again. It was becoming harder to go past the multitude of horrified people, and Ben's heart couldn't bear another second of not knowing what had happened.

And then he heard Harry scream. He heard him cry. He relaxed for less than a second, knowing it meant he was alive.

"He's back!" cried Harry, his voice full of desperation. "Voldemort's back! Cedric... He asked me to bring his body back- I couldn't leave him, not there!"

And he saw it.

Harry was sobbing, the side of his face full of little wounds. He was holding on to Cedric.

Cedric's motionless, stiff, frozen body.

"NO!"

The world slowed down. Time stopped going by. He couldn't react. He couldn't move. He couldn't think. He couldn't feel.

Someone hugged him, suddenly.

It was Mei-Xing. She clung onto him, crying so desperately she couldn't keep herself steady. Both of them fell to the ground, and Ben's first clear thought was to hold her. He covered her with his arms as her entire body shook madly.

He refused to let himself cry. Not now. Not in front of Mei-Xing, who had just lost the love of her life. Not while they could hear Mr. and Mrs. Diggory shouting their son's name, their voices burning in agony. Not while Rolf had broken down next to his best friend's parents, sobbing so hard it was unbearable to watch.

He had to stay strong for her.

Cedric would have wanted her to be safe. To be comforted.

He felt pairs of hands on him. Comforting him. Thomas, Hermione and Ron.

"I'm so sorry, Ben..." mumbled Ron, over and over.

"No!" he heard Harry. He was being taken away by Moody. "No! Let me go with him!"

"Harry!" he cried. "Harry!"

"NO!" yelled Harry, fighting with all of his will. "I need to go with him!"

"He's dead!"

It felt like being stabbed in the heart.

"Not Ben!" he shouted, though he sounded weak, incredibly tired. "I- I need to tell him something... Please!"

"Where is he taking him?" Ben asked Ron.

"I don't know..."

Moody, unmoved by Harry's pleas, continued on his way, disappearing alongside him into the dark expanse of the castle grounds. It was then, when he could no longer see Harry, when Ben could no longer hold back the flood of emotions within him, and allowed himself to finally break down.

———————————————

Hermione, Ron and Ben did their best to find Harry as soon as Professor McGonagall and Snape led them all inside the castle, but neither of the teachers spoke a word about where he was. They were told to wait in the Hospital Wing, and that was what they did.

Mrs. Weasley and Bill were there, too, when they arrived.

"Oh, Ron!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley. "Do you happen to know where Harry is?"

Ron shook his head. "McGonagall told us to wait for him, here."

"We were told the same thing," said Bill Weasley.

"Why's Moody there?" asked Ben, speaking up for the first time in half an hour, pointing at a motionless Moody who was lying in a bed at the far end of the room. "Didn't he leave with Harry?"

They all shrugged.

Madam Pomfrey came walking in, and everyone turned to her at once, startling her. Ron, Hermione, Bill and Mrs. Weasley grouped around her, and began an interrogation about where Harry was and what had happened to him.

Ben couldn't find the strength, so he simply stood on the side, staring at the floor, his mind clouded.

He couldn't believe it.

He couldn't believe he was dead.

Cedric, his first friend since Malfoy, was dead. He had told him he'd see him after the task, and they would've celebrated, whether he had won or not. And, now, he and Harry had gotten the cup, but Cedric was gone.

He could still feel the warmth he had felt when he had hugged him, just some hours ago. He could still smell his cologne. He could still hear his voice, the sound of his laughter. He could still recall the first time he had ever seen him, when Audrey and I were having an argument on his second day of school. He could still remember the way Cedric had defended him, and had cared about him without even knowing him.

He was, and had always been, such a sweet, lovely person. His heart was made of gold, and his soul was so kind that it radiated and glowed, illuminating everyone who surrounded him, and leaving a mark on the hearts of all who crossed his path.

Ben remembered how he had always felt about him. He had seen Cedric as someone he wished he was like when he grew up, because he had always thought of him as someone more mature, a grown up. And, him being two years older than him, it didn't take away from the fact that Cedric was, actually, a kid.

A bright, generous kid whose life, soul and future had been ripped out of him.

'You're still fourteen, Rolf. You still have time, we all have.'

The memory felt like being punched right on the face. There weren't even words to describe it. He could only hope Mei-Xing and Rolf were together, or surrounded by their own friends, having someone to support them.

He buried his face in his hands, breathing in deeply. And, it was the moment when he felt Mrs. Weasley wrap her arms around him, when he burst into sobs, again. The woman gently stroked his hair as he cried silently against her shoulder.

"It's okay, dear," she whispered into his ear. Her tone was the same as Ron's whenever he comforted someone. "He's safe now... You-Know-Who won't be able to hurt him anymore."

That was right, but the Dark Lord could hurt them all, now that he was back. He was quite surprised about the fact that he hadn't thought about that until now. Harry had announced that he was back, yet Ben had nearly forgotten about it.

The door was pushed open, and Dumbledore came in with Harry, and with a black dog following them. Ben and Mrs. Weasley pulled away, but the woman's hand was still on his arm, in a calming gesture.

"Harry!" gasped Ben, without thinking.

"Harry! Oh Harry!" exclaimed the woman, and began hurrying towards him. But Dumbledore stepped in between.

"Molly," he said, holding up a hand, "please listen to me for a moment. Harry has been through a terrible ordeal tonight. He has just had to relive it for me. What he needs now is sleep, and peace, and quiet. If he would like you all to stay with him," he added, looking around at Ron, Hermione, Ben, and Bill too, "you may do so. But I do not want you questioning him until he is ready to answer, and certainly not this evening."

Mrs. Weasley nodded, and rounded on Ron, Hermione, and Bill as though they were being noisy, and hissed, "Did you hear? He needs quiet!"

"Headmaster," said Madam Pomfrey, staring at the great black dog that was accompannying them. "May I ask what-?"

Ben had never seen Sirius in his dog form, but he had heard Harry describe it to him. However, it wasn't nearly as cool as seeing it in person.

"This dog will be remaining with Harry for a while," explained Dumbledore simply. "I assure you, he is extremely well trained..."

Madam Pomfrey nodded, although she didn't look less confused than before.

"I will be back to see you as soon as I have met with Fudge, Harry," said Dumbledore. "I would like you to remain here tomorrow until I have spoken to the school."

Harry nodded, and Dumbledore left. They all turned to look at the boy at the same time. He was incredibly pale. He was looking at Ben, and had obviously noticed the tears on his eyes.

At least Harry was there, now.

Madam Pomfrey led him to a nearby bed. She gave him some pyjamas and pulled the screens around him so he could change, before going back to her office, and returning with a small bottle containing a purple potion.

"Are you visible, Harry?" she asked.

"Yeah," came Harry's exhausted voice, and the woman pulled back the screens. He had gotten into bed. Everyone settled themselves in chairs around him, Ron, Ben and Hermione being the closest to their best friend.

"I'm alright," he told them after a long silence. "Just tired."

"That is why I brought you this," said Madam Pomfrey, pouring the potion into a goblet, and handing it to him. He took it, and didn't even seem to have the energy to ask what it was. "It's a potion for dreamless sleep... You'll need to drink all of this."

———————————————

Ben woke up the next morning, feeling a sense of... Nothing, actually.

He had fallen asleep on his own arms, which were resting on Harry's bed, near Sirius dog mode, who had curled up next to his godson's legs.

He blinked a few times, and sat up straight, looking around him. Mrs. Weasley and her eldest son, Bill, were gone. Ron was snoring, almost falling out of the chair he was lying in, and with a sleeping Hermione's head resting on his shoulder.

Harry was awake.

Ben couldn't bring himself to say anything to him. So they only looked at each other.

"I'm sorry," mumbled Harry, suddenly. "I didn't- I tried- I told him to take the cup, but he..."

He took his hand on his own very softly. "It's not your fault."

"But maybe if I-"

"No, Harry. Trust me. It's not your fault," he insisted. Harry looked at him with eyes that resembled Snowie's when she wanted him to play with her.

"There's... There's something I've gotta tell you."

"What is it?" he hummed, tracing a star over a small wound on Harry's hand.

"They were there, Ben."

He glanced up at him again. "Who?"

"Voldemort called the Death Eaters," he explained. "And... They were all there. Your parents, and her..."

"Audrey was there?"

Harry nodded. Ben didn't know how to react to that.

"But... It wasn't them who did it, right?" he asked hopefully. "They didn't- Kill him, did they?"

Harry shook his head. "No, they didn't do anything special, actually. They were simply there. Voldemort thanked them for your whole family's loyalty to him throughout all the years everyone thought he was gone."

Ben let out a laugh. "Whole family? Not quite..."

Harry smiled at him, for the first time since yesterday. He had such a beautiful smile. "Haven't you heard anything tonight?"

"Huh?"

"There was a bit of an interesting... Um, incident tonight," he told him. "You were asleep, though... I'll tell you later. I'll tell you everything later."

"Only if you feel comfortable speaking about it."

"I'm comfortable about speaking of anything, if it's with you."

Ben felt himself flush, and watched Harry smirk. For an instant, the weight of everything that had happened, and of what was coming, lightened. Because, at least, Harry was alive.

His best friend was alive.

———————————————

The following days were honestly awful. Ben didn't even remember all of it, just a deep sensation of emptiness in his heart, and very long sleepless nights in which he hid himself under the covers in order to cry, realising how much he missed Cedric already.

People were being weird with Harry, again, something that deeply enraged Ben. It was insane to think of how swiftly they went from hating him to adoring him, and then back to acting like he was a freak.

However, Harry didn't care at all.

And, this time, Ben didn't have the motivation to turn everything around and make sarcastic comments to make fun of the people who were rude to him. He didn't have the motivation to make sarcastic comments about anything, actually.

On their last day at school, he wasn't even scared of seeing his parents again. He didn't care. As far as he cared, they could do whatever they wanted to him, he didn't mind. Whatever was about to happen, would occur. He didn't feel strong enough to come up with some crazy plan to avoid consequences.

On the train ride back home, he didn't freak out. He didn't have to fight his leg to stop it from bouncing nervously. He didn't need to force himself to breathe deeply, steadily. He didn't bite his nails, nor did he dig them into his arm. And he didn't play with the little bits of skin on his fingers, raised from biting his nails, to the point of dripping blood, either.

The only thing he did, was take in every single thing he could of what it felt like to be with Harry, Ron and Hermione. He absorbed what being in their presence was like. He paid attention to the way they pronounced every word, and made sure to remember the sayings and phrases that each one had a habit of saying. And he did his best to memorise every single detail of their appearances he could. For example, how Hermione's cheeks and nose were covered in freckles, though not as many or as visible as the Weasleys'. Or how Ron scrunched his nose every now and then. Not because of anything special; it was just some sort of tic.

And, well, about Harry... He didn't worry in the slightest about forgetting anything about him. He was pretty sure he would never be able to forget him, no matter how much time went by.

But he still watched him in awe every time he spoke.

He didn't want to risk it. He didn't want to risk forgetting absolutely anything regarding them three, if something went wrong, if that was the last time he had the chance to be with them.

As soon as the quartet had said goodbye to each other, already in King's Cross, and he had lost sight of them, a deep sensation of coldness crept over him.

He caught a glimpse of Ebony, looking for him, a very worried expression on her face, which didn't fade away when he walked over to her. "Ben..."

"Hello, Ebony..." he said, his mood dropping even more the moment he realised Alycia wasn't there.

"I've got to talk to you about something very serious before we go back there, Ben," she told him.

"Okay."

"But it can't be here."

She took him by his arm and, a second later, they were in the middle of an empty street. Ben frowned, and glanced at the woman. "Where are we?"

"In the first place I could think of," she shrugged, her dark eyes frantically scanning her surroundings. "I used to live here when I first moved to England."

"What do you have to tell me, Ebony? I'm getting worried."

"What your friend Harry Potter is saying is true," she finally spoke. "You-Know-Who's back. He came back that night, when that poor boy, Diggory, was killed. He killed him."

Ben breathed in sharply at the mention of Cedric. "I know."

"They have been planning it for months. Perhaps even more than months, years!" she continued. "All those times your parents held reunions at your house, or left very late at night, it was because of it... But the Death Eaters aren't the only ones who knew this would happen, or had suspicions of it, at least."

She made a pause. Ben didn't speak.

"Do you know what the Order of the Phoenix is, Ben?"

He blinked. "Um... No, I don't think so."

"It's a secret society, created to fight You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters, back when the first war occurred," proceeded Ebony. "It was Dumbledore who founded it and, when the Potters were killed, and everything seemed to be over, most of the previous members were dead, so the Order was... Dissolved, let's say it like that. However, it wasn't, totally."

"Oh."

"It wasn't oficial, but there were some people whose loyalties were with Dumbledore, and he didn't think it was safe to let our gards down completely. Even though You-Know-Who was dead, he wasn't the first or only Dark Wizard in history with his views. And there were many pureblooded families which had found their ways to avoid ending up in Azkaban for being Death Eaters..."

"Like mine," guessed Ben.

"Exactly," she nodded.

It all clicked inside of his mind. His eyebrows raised as his jaw dropped. "Oh!" he gasped. "So you... You and all those people you said are spies, aren't you? Your mission was to spy on those families who had been Death Eaters, to find out everything you could about any possibilities of someone like The Dark Lord rising to power again."

Ebony was smiling brightly as she nodded.

"And that's why you've always been with us, right? Because you're part of the Order, and knew my parents would know if the Death Eaters or him were up to something. That's why you stayed with us, despite how badly my parents and sister Audrey treated you..."

"Yes, but it wasn't the only reason, though. Over the years, I grew very fond of you and Alycia. I saw how horrible your parents were to you, and didn't want to leave you completely on your own."

"Thank you."

"But now, there's something important I have been instructed to tell you," she said, her tone sounding slightly darker, more serious. "Keep in mind that you've got a saying in this, alright?"

"Alright."

"You have been offered two options after knowing all of this," she continued. "One of which is leaving."

"What?"

"We can take you and Alycia away. Away from your house. You won't have to come up with a plan to run away on your own, as we suspect you wanted to. We'll do it for you. You and Alycia won't have to spend a single more minute with that horrible family of yours. You'll be safe."

Ben nodded. "Alright. What's the second option?"

"You see, as you already know, since your sister told you, Audrey is getting married. It's going to be a very private ceremony, not even us housemaids are allowed to be there. Only the people your sister and her future husband have invited. And you are amongst those people."

He nodded, signalling that he was following.

"Dumbledore thinks that some valuable information might be shared between the guests during the ceremony. So, he said that you could perhaps try to act like a spy, too, and try to retrieve all the information you can."

"Can't anyone else do it?"

"Well, yes, we could come in contact with the boyfriend's parents, but Dumbledore said it would be risky to go around telling many people about the Order. The less people know, the better."

"Undestandable."

"But, remember, Ben, you don't have to do it. I know how much you've wanted to leave for years, it would not be fair of us to refuse to let you do it... You can take some time to think about it, but I need to know before we go back there, be-"

"I've already made up my mind."

"Really?"

"Yes," he stated. "I'm staying at home. I want to be able to help, and be useful for once. I want to fight against the D- Against Voldemort. I want to avenge Cedric."

Ebony looked at him in silence.

"But I don't want her to stay," he added. "I want you to keep Alycia safe, please."

"I don't think she'll want to be away from you..."

"Have they hurt her since they found out I lied to them?" asked Ben, out of the blue.

Ebony hesitated, but her eyes didn't. "Yes."

"Then take her away. I refuse to let her get hurt because of me, again. Not because of my decisions."

"Are you completely sure of this, Ben?"

He took a deep breath.

"Absolutely."

A/N: i was listening to my evermore and folklore playlist while writing this and it did not help at all with my mental health haha x 

anywayss i really don't know what to say but i can't wait to find out what you think of the storyline so far! what are your theories? any thoughts?

all i'm going to say now is, get ready...