Memory

Clara found herself standing in the Headmaster's Office.

But there was another Clara in the office, sitting across from Professor Dumbledore.

They did not seem able to see her.

She was probably dreaming again.

She watched Professor Dumbledore walk over to his desk, open another drawer, and take out a very old book.

"There is a very ancient magic," he said softly, as though talking to himself. "...And so she created an amulet."

Clara walked over and saw a simple drawing on the page. She recognized it as a Gabriel petal, and sure enough, the book gave its name—the Gabriel Amulet.

In the language of flowers, Gabriel meant pure protection.

"The amulet's power allows its wearer to be transported instantly to another person's side when that person is in danger... You will be transported to Diggory's side when he is in danger."

So she had told Professor Dumbledore that Cedric would die?

Had she tried to save Cedric with the Gabriel Protective Charm?

Dumbledore paused, his tone growing more solemn.

"...Starting this month, you no longer need to attend the classes on your timetable. I will draw up a special training schedule for you. Rest assured, every professor involved in this plan is absolutely trustworthy."

Special training?

Did that have anything to do with Sectumsempra?

The scene shifted abruptly, and she found herself in a room she had never seen before.

She saw herself and Harry Potter standing in the middle of the room, dealing with spells Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape were firing at them from all directions.

Harry Potter?

Did they know each other?

Apparently, though, this was only one part of the special training.

Suddenly, a force pulled her away again, and she found herself standing in the Potions Class dungeon.

The other Clara was beside Professor Snape.

Snape turned to face a dummy, tracing an extremely fine arc with his wand.

A deep cut suddenly opened across the dummy's body, as though an invisible blade had slashed it from shoulder to waist.

"Sectumsempra."

Clara instinctively drew a sharp breath.

Snape had taught her Sectumsempra? So she really had learned the spell, and she really had taken Snape's Defence Against Dark Magic Class.

Oh, Merlin, did that mean she had been reborn?

She seemed to have saved Cedric once already. So why had she come back again? Had she failed to save him? Had Cedric died after all?

The scene in her dream gradually began to blur, but the sounds around her grew clearer.

"Miss Collins, Mr. Diggory, my patient needs her rest. It's nearly curfew, and you should return to the Hufflepuff Common Room."

"Madam Pomfrey, can't I really stay here with her? She's been getting headaches a lot lately. I'm worried something might happen to her." Rowle was pleading with her.

"Don't worry. I've examined her. Her headache was only brought on by too much stress. She'll be fine when she wakes up."

Madam Pomfrey was ushering Rowle and Cedric out of the Hospital Wing. Rowle kept looking back, protesting now and then, "I really don't feel comfortable leaving her alone-"

Clara slowly opened her eyes. It was already dark outside. Moonlight poured through the arched windows, spreading a layer of silvery light across the stone floor.

It seemed she had been unconscious for quite a while this time—she had slept from Defence Against Dark Magic Class during the day until nightfall.

She tried to push herself upright on the bed. Her arms felt a little weak, but she managed to raise her upper body.

"She's awake! Madam Pomfrey!" Rowle met her eyes and jumped up excitedly.

Madam Pomfrey turned around and saw that Clara had indeed opened her eyes. She sighed, and the stern expression on her face softened a little.

"You may visit for another ten minutes," she said, letting go of them and raising a warning finger. "Just ten minutes. When the time is up, I will throw you out, Prefect or no Prefect."

Rowle had already rushed over. Cedric smiled and agreed to Madam Pomfrey's terms, then saw her outside the curtain.

"Lyla! You scared me to death!" Rowle took her hand. On her wrist, where it had glowed, only a faint tattoo of a Gabriel petal remained. It had never been there before.

"I'm fine, Rowle." She looked up and saw Cedric standing nearby. A little puzzled, she asked, "How... did you come to be here?"

"By lunchtime, the whole school had heard that someone fainted on the first day of class," Rowle explained for him. "As soon as he heard it was you, he came over."

Oh, Merlin, the point was, the whole school had heard.

She was done for. Now she was going to be famous, in an extremely embarrassing way.

"Professor Dumbledore came by. He found out Professor Moody taught us the Unforgivable Curses in class and had a few words with him. Professor Sprout even pointed at his false eye and gave him a proper telling-off. I've rarely seen her so furious."

Rowle told the story with great animation. Clara hadn't expected one fainting spell to cause such a commotion.

"Professor Dumbledore asked me to tell you to visit his office when you're feeling better." Cedric, who had said very little while standing nearby, suddenly spoke up. "He wants to talk to you about your headaches."

"And were you dreaming just now?" After a while, he hesitated, then asked anyway. "We both heard you talking, though we couldn't make out exactly what you said."

Clara leaned against her pillow, looking at Rowle sitting beside the bed with a worried expression and Cedric standing a few steps away.

The candlelight flickered gently in the Hospital Wing.

She took a deep breath and turned to Rowle.

"Rowle, I'm a little thirsty. Could you ask Madam Pomfrey if there's any Pumpkin Juice in the Hospital Wing? There might still be some left at this hour."

Her voice was still a little hoarse, probably because she had slept so long.

Rowle glanced at her, then at Cedric.

She shrugged. She knew Clara was sending her away because she wanted to speak to Cedric alone. But she didn't press her. Clara had promised she would tell her, so she wasn't in a hurry.

"All right, if you don't want me to hear, just say so. If you faint again while I'm gone, I'll never forgive you when I get back." She pointed at Cedric. "Keep an eye on her. I'll head back first."

Then she strode out past the curtain, the sound of her shoes gradually fading down the corridor.

Clara watched Rowle disappear beyond the curtain, then turned to Cedric.

The moonlight fell directly on him, as though he stood in a pool of silvery light.

"I dreamed about the Gabriel Protective Charm, and Sectumsempra too."

Clara got straight to the point. She had no intention of keeping it from Cedric.

"In the dream, I knew something would happen to you, so I went to Professor Dumbledore. He told me about the amulet and arranged special training for me."

Clara briefly recounted the scenes from her dream. "Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Snape were my teachers. Professor Snape taught me the most. He taught me Defence Against Dark Magic Class."

"So now you know who taught you Sectumsempra, right?"

Cedric pulled up a stool and sat down beside her bed.

Clara nodded.

"Actually, you knew all along that Professor Snape taught me Sectumsempra, didn't you?" she asked in return.

Cedric said nothing, silently admitting it.

"So this dream really happened," Clara murmured. "Then what does that make me? Did I go back in time like you?"

Her voice grew very quiet. She was reluctant to accept that fact. "Then why did I go back? Because you still died?"

She knew how much effort the Clara in her dream had put in, but if she still hadn't managed to save him, just how powerful was his opponent? She was afraid to imagine it.

Cedric looked at her in silence for a long time, apparently considering how best to phrase it.

"Was that all you dreamed about?"

"Sounds like there's a lot more?" Clara raised an eyebrow. "Then let's take the questions one at a time."

Cedric nodded, motioning for her to continue.

"Did I succeed? Or rather, did you die?"

Cedric shook his head. "You succeeded. I survived."

Clara was a little surprised.

"Then why did I come back?"

"...I don't know exactly why. But..." His voice grew strained, as though the remaining words had become difficult to say.

"I... died?" Clara finished for him.

Cedric nodded, his shoulders sagging weakly.

"You-Know-Who came back to life in a graveyard. He wanted to kill every one of us. He cast the Avada Killing Curse at me, and you took it for me. Then, two days later, after I had figured everything out, I went back to before the Quidditch World Cup."

"Who? You-Know-Who? The You-Know-Who who's been gone for more than ten years?"

Cedric realized he had mentioned a crucial piece of information she hadn't dreamed about yet.

He paused and looked at Clara's widened eyes, her amber irises shining in the moonlight with a stubborn determination to get to the bottom of it.

"Yes." He took a deep breath and concealed nothing more. "Voldemort came back to life. The Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament was a maze. The trophy had been turned into a Portkey, and anyone who touched it would be transported straight to Voldemort. Harry and I touched the trophy together, and then we were transported away. After that, the amulet probably sensed that someone was about to use the Killing Curse on me. It took effect, and you appeared in front of me."

"Before that, you only knew I was going to die. You didn't know what I would face, and neither did anyone else. None of us expected that Voldemort was using the opportunity to get Harry's blood and return to life."

Clara felt her head buzzing.

You-Know-Who? Harry Potter?

Merlin's smelly socks, why had she and Cedric gotten caught up in this conflict?

"So, after the Quidditch World Cup, you told Professor Dumbledore about it, right?"

"Yes. Actually, I originally planned to wait until term started. Voldemort must have informants in the Ministry of Magic and the school, and I didn't dare act too far in advance or cause too much of a stir. After all, he was hidden in the shadows. If he really found out that we knew his plans in advance, he would very likely change them, and then we wouldn't be able to prevent it."

"It seems my Sectumsempra disrupted your plans." Clara smiled, her tone rueful.

"Not really. It was another kind of opportunity. Otherwise, I would still have had to find a reasonable excuse to write to Professor Dumbledore. Writing to him this way gave me a reason, at least. They wouldn't think to check our letters."

Madam Pomfrey's footsteps drew closer and closer to her bed, and Cedric patted her shoulder.

"All right, get some more rest. I think we still have a lot of questions to ask Professor Dumbledore. See you tomorrow!"