Cedric's death

There is a girl that follows Cedric wherever he goes. She has done so for a long time now, but he has never noticed. Who does - in a world so filled by colours and marvels? Who cares, when he is still a young man, so filled by life and with a future stretching out to eternity, about that distant end? There are so many wonders to experience in the world of the living, after all.

But she follows him, silent, colourless and unobtrusive. She watches him as he socializes with his friends, as he sleeps, as he walks, sometimes, alone at night through the dark corridors of Hogwarts and thinks of all the things that lean heavily on the mind of youth. She is, in her silent way, proud of what a fine young man he has become. She feels sad for him, though, that he won't be able to stay longer in the world that is his home.

And it all happens so fast. The adrenaline, the fear, the triumphs - the thrill of the third task, and then the hand on the portkey, the moment of terror and the green flash of death - and she steps forward. Because now it is time for Cedric to leave the world of colours, his friends, his family and the lovely girl whose good luck kiss still burns on his lips. It is time for him to leave his future, his hopes and his fears and go on to the land without any colours, the land of the dead. And she is there for him, to help him on that last, sad journey.

But Cedric is scared and angry and lost, and he steps back from her. It isn't fair, he says. He doesn't want to go, he says. Could she please keep away from him, he says. The girl looks at him with sad, colourless eyes and whispers to him with her hoarse voice. Tries to talk calmly to him, tries to ease the terror and the pain, tries to force away her own fear. Because if he refuses to follow - what will she do then? Where will her place be then? And perhaps something of this shows in her face, because the boy hesitates, and looks at her as if he sees her, not as if he fears her.

He asks her, with trembling voice, what will happen to him. She doesn't know, but she smiles, and her smile tells him that perhaps things won't be that bad, after all. After all - finding your place to be is always an adventure, and at least, he won't have to face it alone. Neither will she.

The girl that is Cedric's death holds out her hand, invitingly, and he smiles at her. He takes the hand, and together they leave, boy and girl, Cedric and his death. Who knows, perhaps they did find what they were looking for, in the end.