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BS - Chapter 17: Terrible News
🕑 Added 2025-07-04 11:00:24 +0000 UTCDisclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
“Dialogue”
‘Thoughts’
-Author notes-
Chapter 17: Terrible News
Harry took a long, refreshing shower before getting changed and making his way to the main hall so he could grab some breakfast.
The itinerary of Hogwarts was engraved in his memory, so he knew exactly what to do and where to go, even though it felt strange to do it himself.
This time, there were many more students walking around the halls of the castle, and most of them would stop to stare at him and whisper as he passed by.
He barely had to make use of his Legilimency skills to feel the disdain that most students had for him. It was all on the surface of their thoughts.
Most believed him to be a glory-seeker who cheated his way into the tournament to gain more money and fame, taking it away from those who deserved it more, like Cedric Diggory.
‘When they find out that Diggory is dead… they are going to be much angrier than now.’ He wondered how long it would take before the news spread all over the school.
In any case, this didn’t really bother him at all. He was more than used to negative emotions like hatred and fear.
He felt them every day as he walked the corridors of his fortress while he looked at his prisoners and experiment subjects.
Harry entered the hall, earning even more stares and whispers, but continued to walk as if he didn’t notice anything and sat down at his usual seat.
“The food is not yet here?” He didn’t think he had arrived too early, so things may be running with a delay today.
“Harry…”
He heard a girl whisper from his left and tug on his robes.
“What is it?” he asked while giving the girl a side glance.
This was supposed to be one of his best friends, but her attitude had been very undesirable during this year.
She was one of the reasons that the original Harry was in such a depressed state during his confrontation with Voldemort.
‘What a terrible friend,’ Harry thought.
He never cared for things like friendship, and he had no use for such fickle loyalty. He much rather had followers who could never betray him because they were magically bound to him.
That was much more useful than something like friends.
Hermione stopped for a moment after seeing his cold response and the way he was looking at her.
“Ehm… Are you feeling okay?” she finally asked.
“I’m perfectly fine.” He again gave her a short response, hoping that she would leave him in peace.
However, for what he knew about this girl, that was not likely to happen.
“How can you be perfectly fine? You disappeared all of a sudden during the task. Professor McGonagall told us that you returned last night and that you were in the infirmary, but… she refused to tell us much more.” Hermione began to talk.
She was trying to speak in a low tone, but the conversation seemed to have attracted the attention of the entire table, and even the tables nearby.
Everyone had been talking about what happened during the last task when Harry and Cedric disappeared all of a sudden.
“They also found that Professor Moody was an impostor… can you believe it? We were being taught by an impostor for the entire year. I mean… I knew there was something wrong with him, but I could not imagine—”
‘She really talks a lot…’ Harry had to try his best not to use a silencing charm to shut her up.
Hermione failed to notice his lack of interest in the subject and continued to bombard him with questions for several minutes.
“Sorry, Hermione.” He decided to interrupt her monologue. “But Professor Dumbledore asked me not to say anything for the moment. You know… about what happened to me. There is an investigation and all of that.”
“Oh… of course. The Ministry must be taking care of finding the culprit.” Hermione seemed to understand.
“And what about Cedric?” someone else decided to join their conversation.
Harry looked up. The one who just spoke was one of his classmates, a boy called Dean Thomas.
“Yeah, we don't care what happened to you, Potter. What did you do to Cedric?!” an older girl from the Hufflepuff table shouted at him.
This was quickly followed by more shouts coming from that table.
This continued for almost a minute, with dozens of students all talking and shouting at the same time.
“Enough!” The voice of Albus Dumbledore resounded over the hall, silencing everyone present with his imposing presence.
The Headmaster had just entered the hall, along with several other professors. He then walked to the wooden platform where they had their table, and stopped before a podium before continuing.
The whole room was silent and waiting for his next words.
“I was planning on waiting until breakfast was over… but I will say it now. I have something very difficult to announce, but I will ask you to remain silent until I am done speaking…”
He took a moment to prepare himself and to let his words sink in.
“Cedric Diggory has been murdered.”
Several heads snapped toward Harry and murmurs began to erupt.
“Silence!” Dumbledore had to shout again. “I said to let me finish. Before you start throwing accusations, Mister Potter has nothing to do with Mister Diggory’s death. They were both attacked by some dangerous criminal. Mister Potter managed to escape, while Mister Diggory was not as lucky. Now, the motives behind this attack, as well as the identity of the criminal, are not known yet. But the Ministry of Magic is doing its best to track down this person and bring him to justice.”
“Cedric is dead?...”
“Oh no…”
Harry noted the general sadness all around the hall. It appeared that Cedric’s fame was the opposite of his own.
‘And I don't think my reputation is going to improve now that I am in control. If anything, it’s going to get much worse.’
