Fic: Part Six (Of Partings and Promises)
Title: Of Partings and Promises
Rating: PG
Pairings: Harry/Cedric
Warnings: Timeline twist, technically AU; some OCs (that do not interfere with the ship, honest)
Summary: Cedric leaves a letter
Special thanks to my beta rotaryphones, especially for html help. All other errors are mine.
Links to previous parts: One, Two, Three, Four, Five
Harry waited until the others in the infirmary were asleep before he let himself cry. He buried his face in his pillow and sobbed as quietly as possible.
He couldn't shake the sensation of Cedric's cooling skin beneath his fingers, of Cedric's lifeless eyes gazing past him up at the sky.
"Cedric," Harry whispered. He could barely speak. "Cedric - don't go." Tears spilled afresh. "Don't leave me. Please."
He didn't even get to say goodbye.
Harry didn't notice a hand slip between the drapes behind him, didn't hear the softly cast sleeping charm. He merely drifted along with the charm into troubled sleep.
The hand placed a parchment beside Harry's head and stroked Harry's hair once, the motion slow and longing. A dark figure leaned over him, pressed a soft kiss in his hair, and whispered.
"Till we meet again."
Then the curtains settled back into place.
When Harry awoke in the morning, he found a letter beside him on his pillow. He fumbled for his glasses and pulled them on. The letter was sealed with red wax, though the seal was blank, a simple oval. Harry turned the letter over, and his heart leapt into his throat at his own name written in such a familiar hand.
Dear Harry,
I love you. Win or lose, champion or plain old Hogwarts student, I love you. Though I may miss your smile and your voice and those glorious moments when we kiss, I am by your side, in spirit if not in body. The heavens and the earth may move to tear us apart, but I would give my magic and my soul to come back to you. In the hard times ahead, I shall remember your smile. Keep smiling, Harry. My world is without hope when it is without your smile. Shed no tears for missing me, but know that when I am by your side I will kiss each drop away. I love you now and always. I'll be waiting for you at the other end.
Till we meet again.
Always yours,
Cedric
Harry stared at the letter and felt tears prick at his eyes once more. He reached up and wiped them away angrily. He hated crying and he was tired of crying. He wanted - he wanted this horrible, empty feeling to go away.
He wanted to see Cedric again.
"'Till we meet again,'" Harry murmured, tracing the words with his fingertips. "I'm sure you meant at the end of the summer."
***
When Harry took the parchment to Hermione later that day, she couldn't see what was written on it. But she knew enough spells to tell that the letter had been charmed to come to him at a certain time, originally after the last day of school. Then it had been set for some other event, some other default that she didn't understand.
Harry looked up the spell on his own and discovered it was usually meant for wills, to appear after the testator had turned a certain age. Or died.
He kept the letter tucked away in his trunk. On the nights he couldn't stand the loneliness and the nightmares he reread it and then closed his eyes, imagining he could hear Cedric's voice.
Till we meet again.
Seven
Rating: PG
Pairings: Harry/Cedric
Warnings: Timeline twist, technically AU; some OCs (that do not interfere with the ship, honest)
Summary: Cedric leaves a letter
Special thanks to my beta rotaryphones, especially for html help. All other errors are mine.
Links to previous parts: One, Two, Three, Four, Five
Harry waited until the others in the infirmary were asleep before he let himself cry. He buried his face in his pillow and sobbed as quietly as possible.
He couldn't shake the sensation of Cedric's cooling skin beneath his fingers, of Cedric's lifeless eyes gazing past him up at the sky.
"Cedric," Harry whispered. He could barely speak. "Cedric - don't go." Tears spilled afresh. "Don't leave me. Please."
He didn't even get to say goodbye.
Harry didn't notice a hand slip between the drapes behind him, didn't hear the softly cast sleeping charm. He merely drifted along with the charm into troubled sleep.
The hand placed a parchment beside Harry's head and stroked Harry's hair once, the motion slow and longing. A dark figure leaned over him, pressed a soft kiss in his hair, and whispered.
"Till we meet again."
Then the curtains settled back into place.
When Harry awoke in the morning, he found a letter beside him on his pillow. He fumbled for his glasses and pulled them on. The letter was sealed with red wax, though the seal was blank, a simple oval. Harry turned the letter over, and his heart leapt into his throat at his own name written in such a familiar hand.
Dear Harry,
I love you. Win or lose, champion or plain old Hogwarts student, I love you. Though I may miss your smile and your voice and those glorious moments when we kiss, I am by your side, in spirit if not in body. The heavens and the earth may move to tear us apart, but I would give my magic and my soul to come back to you. In the hard times ahead, I shall remember your smile. Keep smiling, Harry. My world is without hope when it is without your smile. Shed no tears for missing me, but know that when I am by your side I will kiss each drop away. I love you now and always. I'll be waiting for you at the other end.
Till we meet again.
Always yours,
Cedric
Harry stared at the letter and felt tears prick at his eyes once more. He reached up and wiped them away angrily. He hated crying and he was tired of crying. He wanted - he wanted this horrible, empty feeling to go away.
He wanted to see Cedric again.
"'Till we meet again,'" Harry murmured, tracing the words with his fingertips. "I'm sure you meant at the end of the summer."
***
When Harry took the parchment to Hermione later that day, she couldn't see what was written on it. But she knew enough spells to tell that the letter had been charmed to come to him at a certain time, originally after the last day of school. Then it had been set for some other event, some other default that she didn't understand.
Harry looked up the spell on his own and discovered it was usually meant for wills, to appear after the testator had turned a certain age. Or died.
He kept the letter tucked away in his trunk. On the nights he couldn't stand the loneliness and the nightmares he reread it and then closed his eyes, imagining he could hear Cedric's voice.
Till we meet again.
Seven