A Spell for Harry

�Cadence!� Harry screamed. His voice seemed to be so far off all of a sudden. He couldn�t hear it coming from his own mouth. It was as if he was watching a movie.

Cadence lay on the ground, holding her mid region, where she had been hit. She cried in agony.

�Oh Cadence!� Harry ran straight to her side, taking her hand, he started to touch her face in some crazy attempt to keep her alive. �Cadence, don�t fade from me! Don�t leave me now, please don�t go anywhere! I need you right now.�

Cadence had slowed her shouting and writhing and took a grip on Harry�s hand. She breathed heavily, looking up into Harry�s green eyes. She smiled almost dreamily. Sweat poured down her face and the usual pale light from her cheeks faded into white nothingness. �Oh Harry��

�No Cadence! Don�t speak. You don�t need to speak. Please don�t leave me, please don�t drift off. You were only hit a bit on the back, we can fix it.�

�Harry,� Cadence gasped. She felt a shadow overtaking her suddenly, and all she wanted was to be near Harry. �Harry it is no use anymore. I feel it� I feel it slowly billowing overhead.�

�Don�t speak that way!�

�It�s happening Harry� I don�t want to leave you� but I didn�t want you to leave this life so early� You still have so much to offer the world. Don�t turn your back on it now.�

A third voice could be heard next to Harry�s. It was a familiar voice, but the tone in this voice was the strange part about it.

�Cadence� don�t leave� Harry needs you.�

Harry looked up to see Draco bending over Cadence�s body, staring her deep into the eyes.

�Draco,� Cadence whispered. �You have to leave.�

�I can�t, you�re hurt, you need to come back,� he said quietly, not looking Harry in the eye. Harry however, couldn�t take his eyes off of Draco. He also hadn�t missed the fact that Draco had used his first name when speaking to Cadence as well.

�What are you doing out here?� she asked, her speaking becoming slower and slower.

�I saw you leave. I was wondering where you went. I followed.�

�Go back. I don�t want you here,� she rasped. Despite what she had said, Draco took her left hand and held it softly. �Harry,� Cadence whispered.

Harry looked down at her. �Cadence, you have to shake this off. It�s nothing. It�ll be nothing� just stop talking like this� please? Please? Promise me you�re going to stand up and walk away from this! Promise me! This is nothing! Promise!�

Frantic words spilled out of his mouth, but Cadence only giggled softly. �Harry, you were never one for acceptance.�

Harry suddenly felt hot tears creep down his cheeks so heavily that he was no longer sure how to conceal it. He let it happen. The tears dripped down his chin. �I can�t lose you Cadence. I can�t. You�re everything to me.�

Behind him, Voldemort gasped. �I can�t lose you,� Harry whispered.

�I wish to stay with you, always,� Cadence said, more slowly and breathy this time, pulling her hand from Draco�s and placing it upon Harry�s cheek. She stroked his face lightly and swept hair from his ear. He raised his hand and put it upon hers, pulled it down to his lips and kissed it with a fervor he had never known. It was as if any touch of hers that he could take in, he took it greedily.

�Cras amet qui nunquam amavit, Quique amavit, crams amet*,� she whispered as she peered into his eyes. �A spell for you, my Harry.�

�I don�t want to lose you.�

�I love you Harry.�

Another gasp sounded from Lord Voldemort, but Harry paid it no attention. He stared at Cadence now. She had gone lax against him, and as he stared at her, he tried to make it so that it wasn�t true in his mind.

�NO!� he screamed, burying his face against her, sobbing uncontrollably. �No� Cadence� Cadence� I need you� I�m lost without you� no��

�This can�t be,� Voldemort repeated over and over behind Harry as he sobbed onto Cadence�s limp body.

Draco sat next to Cadence, his head bowed down, so as not to let Harry see that he was crying tears of grief as well.

�Another sacrifice? For Harry Potter? Oh dear� he is strong enough once again� it can�t be� this can�t be��

After a few more seconds of sobbing, Harry stood up, wiping his eyes of the many tears he had shed. Draco stood next to Harry as well. The two of them stared down at Cadence and then back up at Voldemort.

Voldemort seethed. He stared at Harry and then at Draco. �This can�t be.�

Harry looked at Draco. His blue eyes were fixed on Voldemort. Harry couldn�t believe that after six years of fighting tooth and nail with the boy standing next to him, that now for the honor of a woman they had both fallen in love with, they would join forces.

They pulled out their wands, pointed them at Voldemort, and stalked forward. Voldemort suddenly began to falter, backing up, staring at the two.

He looked at the servant still lying at his feet. �DESTROY THEM!� he screamed.

The servant jumped up, picked up his wand, but before he could get the words out of his mouth, Draco had beat him to it.

�AVADA KEDAVRA!�

A green light shot from the end of the wand, striking the servant in the chest. He hit the ground, dead.

Voldemort stared down at his servant and then back up at the two coming toward him.

In a blaze, Voldemort thrust his wand into the air, screaming unintelligible words, and in a puff of smoke, he was gone.

Draco and Harry stared at the blaze. He was gone.

Waking up in the dim light of the hospital wing, Harry looked around. Draco was lying in the bed next to him, staring at the ceiling. It had been only hours after the attack in the clearing. Harry had fallen in shock after everything was over, and it had been Draco that carried Cadence�s body back to the castle. He sent word that Harry was lying unconscious in the Forest.

Hours had passed that felt like years to Harry. He felt the emptiness inside that he had felt so long ago and was sure he would never feel again. It suddenly didn�t seem fair that Cadence�s life had been lost, and not his own.

Draco said nothing. His tight lips were drawn together, his sharp chin pointed upward. His eyes were watery, but he remained silent.

Harry looked around the hospital room. It was still early in the morning, but he wanted answers now. Where had they put Cadence? When could he see her? What was going on? He had never gotten the story from Cadence. She had sacrificed herself too early.

As if his thoughts were answered, Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, an older woman who was crying, Ron and Hermione burst into the room.

Harry jumped. Draco looked up. �What is going on?� Harry demanded.

�All will be explained in due course, Harry,� Dumbledore whispered.

�Not in due course. Now!� he screamed.

Ron and Hermione rushed to his bedside, throwing word upon word at him. Hermione had been crying and Ron was in obvious pain.

�Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger� do you think you could leave us alone with Mr. Potter for a few moments?� asked Professor McGonagall. They looked up at her and with sullen nods, they turned and left.

�Where is Cadence?�

McGonagall and Dumbledore exchanged hard glances. �Harry, this is Cecilia Smith. Cadence�s grandmother.�

The older woman stepped forward and sat in the chair next to Harry�s bedside. Harry propped himself up, staring at her.

�Harry,� she whispered. Harry�s heart jumped. It was almost as if he had heard a remnant of Cadence somewhere within that voice.

�Yes?� he whispered back.

�I don�t know why it happened, but I know why she did it,� her grandmother took his hands as she spoke. She let the tears pour down her cheeks as she spoke. �And all I can do is thank you very much� for making her the happiest girl I have ever seen. When she came home for Christmas, she had a smile upon her face that I hadn�t seen in so long. She hadn�t been that happy since her parents had been living. I know it was you that put the smile on her face. It was my daughter and your mother that planned it out so long ago� and it only made sense when I learned that you had lived and she had not.�

Tears poured down her face rapidly and Harry didn�t know what to do. He sat and stared at her for so long, wanting to reach out and hug her, touch her� anything. Before he had a chance to do anything, she got up from him and walked out of the room, crying.

Dumbledore now sat beside Harry, staring down his long, crooked nose at Harry. �I know your suffering Harry, and I know your curiosity is peeked at this time.�

He said nothing. He looked down at the blankets and sighed heavily.

�I know your questions need much answering Harry, and I will answer them now. Cadence had set out to do something that was far past due. The necklace was a special craft made with unicorn blood� it was a treasured gift that your mother and Cadence�s mother received once their friendship was greatly noticed.�

Harry finally found the strength to speak. �Who made them?�

�It was I,� Dumbledore answered. �I saw a companionship within them that could withstand the strength of time. I knew that this pair could only understand the true magnitude of such a gift. They were made for a spell to be kept inside. They came up with a friendship spell that was just the one as I had hoped.

�However there was a key to the necklaces that I had crafted, to release the spell when it was needed the most. The bond between your mothers was so strong that the key never needed use. They decided to find a barer of the key, and Cadence�s mother chose her first son to take on this task. He did it faithfully for many years.

�The only foul thing about these necklaces was that no matter how strong the spell inside, with one hit of evil, the spell would become evil as well. The night your mother and father were killed, her necklace was destroyed.�

Harry looked around numbly. Death and destruction� how much of this had to go on?

�The night Cadence�s parents were attacked, she was fortunate enough to take the necklace and go, however it had been hit with a spell of Voldemort, tainting the spell within it. Her brother still had the key, and knew that if he took the necklace back and unleashed the spell within it, Voldemort could come back into full strength again.

�Therefore, the key holder was lurking out in the Forest after receiving notice that the necklace had come back to Hogwarts. He threw the key in Cadence so as to peek her curiosity and hopefully get her to open it. Cadence is a bright girl and figured it all out before her curiosity got the best of her.

�The necklace could be only destroyed in the unicorn pond in the clearing. Once Cadence had finally figured it out, she went to go do it. However she met her end, but the necklace suddenly became of no more use once it was opened.�

Harry continued to stare at the sheet in front of him. He felt tears stinging at his eyes. He lifted his eyes up to Dumbledore. �How did you know?� he croaked.

�Know what Harry?�

Harry looked back down at the sheet and back up at Dumbledore. Tears were now spilling down his face. �We meant to remain discreet about it. How did you know we were in love?�

Dumbledore smiled at Harry. �It cannot be concealed from an old wizard so easily, Harry. Your mothers� friendship was a bond so close that it only made sense. Love can be read easily on the face.�

Harry stared a few more seconds at Dumbledore and burst into tears. The old wizard leaned over, taking Harry in his arms. It would be the first and last time Harry would cry as hard about anything in his entire life span.