Knockturn Alley

"I am delighted to tell you all that the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts this year!"

The long tables in the banquet hall were crowded with people. Clara noticed that, besides the students from Hogwarts, there were also students in other school uniforms.

"The Hogwarts Champion," Dumbledore stood at the very front of the Great Hall, an enormous cup burning with blue flames before him, "is Cedric Diggory!"

The Hufflepuff table where she sat erupted in thunderous applause. Cedric strode toward the headmaster with a somewhat shy smile on his face.

She wandered through the crowd like a spectator.

Another slip of paper flew out of the cup.

Dumbledore's face stiffened.

"Harry Potter!"

A man with a false eye was always watching her?

He sat at the High Table?

A professor? She had never seen him before.

How strange. This feeling was so strange.

The Quidditch Pitch.

It could hardly be called a Quidditch Pitch anymore. A jagged mountain of stone stood on it.

And a dragon was breathing fire.

A figure in black and yellow kept moving around.

Was that-Cedric?

The Yule Ball.

Cedric and Cho Chang were dancing on the dance floor.

Where was she? Was she dancing too?

Cedric emerged from the Black Lake, holding Cho Chang.

An enormous maze, with hedges twenty meters high.

Clara sat in the stands and suddenly found it a little hard to breathe.

She opened her mouth, trying to make a sound, but her throat was terribly dry and hoarse.

A flash of blue light.

Harry was kneeling on the ground. Cedric was lying there.

"Diggory is dead!"

"No! No!" Clara shot upright in bed. The light in her room came on, and Mr. and Mrs. Albert stood in the doorway, watching her with worried expressions.

"Lyla? Are you all right? Did you have a nightmare?"

Mrs. Albert came over, sat on the edge of the bed, and gathered her into her arms. Mr. Albert turned and went downstairs to warm her a glass of milk.

"Mom, why did you come over?"

"Your dad and I heard you shouting no. We were worried something had happened to you." Mrs. Albert touched her face with one hand and said gently, "Lyla, is it because of what happened a couple of days ago?"

Although Mr. and Mrs. Albert didn't know about certain things in the wizarding world, they could always pick up on changes in Clara's mood.

Clara had been out of sorts since returning from the Quidditch World Cup. She had only gotten a little better yesterday, when an owl delivered her wand back to her.

As Mr. Albert put it, a wand was like a gun in their world. If it had been taken away, something serious must have happened.

But they had never forced Clara to tell them anything. If she wanted to talk, though, she could always confide in them.

Clara shook her head. She didn't want her mother to worry. Mr. Albert came upstairs carrying the milk and leaned against the door, smiling. "Probably because school's starting? I remember I used to have nightmares all the time before school started too. It's all right, Liz."

Clara smiled at her dad. Mr. Albert had clearly sensed her hesitation and deftly covered for her.

Clara finished her milk and lay down again. The plane tree forest had gradually turned white.

She pretended to close her eyes, then opened them again after her parents left the room and looked out the window.

This was the second time these strange images had appeared in her head.

The same thing had happened with the Dark Mark last time, but this time the images had lasted longer, and the events in them had been more numerous and detailed.

Two little figures were furiously tugging back and forth in her mind.

It was just a dream! Lyla! Stop thinking about it! How could Cedric die? Use your brain!

But... it really seemed like something that actually happened... I can't describe the feeling, but it wasn't quite like an ordinary dream...

Fine, if you don't believe in Cedric, you have to believe in Dumbledore, right? The greatest white wizard in the world today! Would he let his own student die at school?

But what if... what if it wasn't at school? That day at the Quidditch World Cup, Dumbledore couldn't get there either...

Clara rolled over and pulled the covers over her head, trying to force herself to fall asleep.

But the two voices kept pulling back and forth in her head, crashing over her in waves like the tide. She couldn't get to sleep at all, and the next day she appeared at the breakfast table with panda eyes.

Fortunately, the dream didn't bother her again after that day.

She would just treat it as a dream, then. Maybe it really was what Mr. Albert had said, that thing called back-to-school syndrome.

Two days before school started, Rowle sent her another letter, asking if she wanted to go to Diagon Alley together to buy their fifth-year textbooks.

The letter also said that Mr Collins and Mr. Diggory had work to coordinate again, so the two families had arranged to go together.

Mr Collins seemed to be trying to set up a Fantastic Beasts section in Witch Weekly recently, and Mr. Diggory worked in the Fantastic Beasts Division, so it made perfect sense.

Diagon Alley was much the same as before.

Owls dozed in their cages, the sign of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour gleamed in the sun, and a few little first-years were peering through the window of the Quidditch supplies shop.

The moment Rowle saw her, she looked as if she'd found a savior. She greeted Clara with a hug tight enough to break her bones, then pulled her toward Flourish and Blotts without another word.

"You have no idea, that Kneazle of mine is a demon—it not only chewed up my Potions Class notes, it also ran off with the new quill I bought!" Rowle said as they walked, her tone suggesting she wanted nothing more than to throw the creature into a cauldron and boil it.

Clara was dizzy from all her shaking.

They bought notebooks at Flourish and Blotts, then went to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop to replenish their supply of quills. When Rowle passed the Quidditch shop, she bought a whole set of new Krum merchandise: a moving poster of the moment Krum caught the Golden Snitch at the Quidditch World Cup, and a scarf that shouted "Krum!" She said it would come in handy now that the weather was getting colder.

Clara suddenly remembered that Krum seemed to have been in that dream too?

Then it was even less likely to be real. Why would a Quidditch superstar come to their school?

When they came out of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, Clara spotted a familiar figure.

Cedric stood outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, holding three ice creams fresh from the freezer.

Amos Diggory was chatting with Mr Collins across the street, carrying several bags. He seemed to have been shopping for his son's school supplies.

Cedric wore a dark blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up above his wrists. He was a little more tanned than before the summer holidays, probably from practicing Quidditch at home again.

He saw the two of them and turned to wave. Rowle dragged Clara over, and as soon as they stopped, an ice cream was thrust into Clara's hand.

"Here, as promised. There's one for Rowle too."

Cedric pushed the honey butter one into her hand, then handed the vanilla one to Rowle.

Honey butter was Clara's favorite flavor, and she was a little surprised that Cedric had managed to buy her favorite.

"He secretly asked me just now," Rowle whispered in her ear. Clara felt that her heart must be even sweeter than the honey butter ice cream right now.

"Shall we have a look around? They obviously still have plenty to talk about." Cedric didn't know what the two girls in front of him were saying. He pointed behind him at Mr Collins, who had already begun gesturing animatedly, and said helplessly, "Come on, let's see if we can find any different books."

They took a side street past Gringotts and turned several corners. There were fewer and fewer people around, and the streets grew narrower.

Clara realized they had entered an alley she had never visited before. The shops on either side were all grimy, and their windows displayed things she couldn't name-shriveled monkey paws, jars sealed with black wax, and strings of bone wind chimes swaying gently without a breeze.

She realized this might be Knockturn Alley. The students at school who secretly discussed Dark Magic occasionally mentioned the place, their voices tinged with fear and excitement.

"Cedric, is this... Knockturn Alley?" Clara was a little unsure. As for Rowle, she had already taken a great interest in the eerie ornaments hanging by the roadside. Every time she tried to touch one, Clara grabbed her and pulled her back.

"Don't touch things, Rowle. What if there really is Dark Magic on them!"

Rowle merely pursed her lips and obediently returned to her side.

Cedric stopped.

He looked around and frowned. He had probably been so focused on finding the way that he hadn't noticed they had strayed from the main street.

"We'll go back around that way," he said, quickly finding their bearings.

Just then, a voice sounded from a corner.

"Interesting, interesting."

Clara stopped, and Cedri turned around too. A wizard wrapped entirely in black was huddled in a rather dark corner.

"Are you talking to me?" Clara asked quietly.

"The Gabriel Amulet? Such ancient magic... Oh, so there are still people in this world who can use it..."

The dark figure wasn't looking at her. His head was tilted slightly, and his mouth moved beneath his hood. He sounded as though he were talking to himself, yet also as though he meant her to hear.

"But defying the heavens and changing fate cannot come without a price... yet you have no choice either... what a pitiful child..."

Cedric grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him. It was a gesture he would normally have considered rather offensive, and he shouldn't have done it.

Clara was somewhat shocked. Cedric had abandoned his usual gentleness and looked a little frightening now.

"Oh, what is this? Another host of the amulet? How strange... how strange... how could you... how could you..."

He fell silent. Black cloth covered most of his face, but the slight movement of the fabric showed that his mouth was still moving, still muttering something soundlessly.

He paid them no more attention. He turned away and continued talking to himself, facing the wall.

"Cedric? Ced... are you all right?" Clara gently tugged at the hand he was gripping.

She had never seen Cedric like this, like a hound baring its fangs. Rowle was so shocked that she even dropped her ice cream on the ground.

"I'm fine," Cedric said somewhat stiffly. "Let's go."

He led them through the mouth of the alley and back onto the main street of Diagon Alley. Sunlight fell on them again. He kept hold of her hand the whole way, and Clara felt her ears growing hot.

Rowle trotted after them, muttering all the while.

"What on earth was that person talking about?"

"Oh, Merlin! Can he pay me back for my ice cream?"

"What a creepy place. I'm never coming back!"

Cedric didn't look back at the man. He just kept pulling her along until they reached the entrance to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. He let out a breath and only then suddenly realized he had been holding Clara's hand the whole time.

"Sorry, I... I just thought that man was too strange, and I got a little anxious." He hastily let go, his fingers rubbing awkwardly at the hem of his shirt, an unnatural blush on his face. "Oh, Merlin... are you all right? I mean, did I hurt you when I pulled you?"