ELARA STRUGGLED TO BREAK FREE OF THE ENCHANTMENT SET OVER HER. wormtail approached harry, who scrambled to find his feet, to support his own weight before the ropes were untied. wormtail raised his new silver hand, pulled out the wad of material gagging harry, and then, with one swipe, cut through the bonds tying harry to the gravestone.

elara wanted nothing more than to grab harry and make a run for it, but his injured leg shook under him as he stood on the overgrown grave, as the death eaters closed ranks, forming a tighter circle around harry, invisible elara and voldemort, so that the gaps where the missing death eaters should have stood were filled. wormtail walked out of the circle to the place where cedric's body lay and returned with harry's wand, which he thrust roughly into harry's hand without looking at him. then wormtail resumed his place in the circle of watching death eaters.

if elara could interfere, she'd've killed wormtail where he stood.

"you have been taught how to duel, harry potter?" said voldemort softly, his red eyes glinting through the darkness.

the only time any student at hogwarts was taught how to duel was in second-year, but they were taught by a daft dimbo who lost his mind months later.

"we bow to each other, harry," said voldemort, bending a little, but keeping his snakelike face upturned to harry. "come, the niceties must be observed. . . . dumbledore would like you to show manners. . . . bow to death, harry. . . ."

elara snarled as the death eaters started laughing again. voldemort's lipless mouth was smiling. harry did not bow. in a fit of anger, elara picked up a stone at her feet, and hurled it with all her strength at voldemort. it flew, and instead of flying through him, the stone hit his robes and fell to the ground with a thud. he turned around, frowining, before deciding it was more fun to play with harry.

"i said, bow," voldemort said, raising his wand — and harry's spine curved as though a huge, invisible hand were bending him ruthlessly forward, and the death Eaters laughed harder than ever.

content with how her last outburst turned out. elara began to pick up rocks and hurl them at the death eaters. not so much as to alert voldemort, but softly enough to make them think they were losing their minds.

"very good," said voldemort softly, and as he raised his wand the pressure bearing down upon harry lifted too. "and now you face me, like a man . . . straight-backed and proud, the way your father died. . . .

"and now — we duel."

voldemort raised his wand, and before harry could do anything to defend himself, before he could even move, he had been hit again by the cruciatus curse. anger bubbled so intensely in elara. voldemort was scared. he was scared of being beat again.

"coward!" elara shouted. it came out as a whisper.

voldemort looked around, lipless mouth twisted in anger. elara's distraction was enough. the curse broke over harry. harry rolled over and scrambled to his feet; he was shaking as uncontrollably as wormtail had done when his hand had been cut off; he staggered sideways into the wall of watching death eaters, and they pushed him away, back toward voldemort.

elara was angry. grown men. fathers, some of them, shoving around a fourteen year old boy like second years.

"a little break," said voldemort, the slit-like nostrils dilating with excitement, "a little pause . . . that hurt, didn't it, harry? you don't want me to do that again, do you?"

harry didn't answer. elara wasn't going to let him die like cedric. she was going to do everything in her power to let harry escape the clutches of voldemort again.

"i asked you whether you want me to do that again," said voldemort softly. "answer me! imperio!"

harry struggled with himself for a moment, his eyes sliding in and out of focus. elara was afraid voldemort was going to kill him as harry stood distracted.

"I WON'T!"

and these words burst from harry's mouth; they echoed through the graveyard. elara smiled in triumph. harry was much stronger than voldemort had anticipated. harry was throwing voldemort for a loop.

"you won't?" said voldemort quietly, and the death eaters were not laughing now. "you won't say no? harry, obedience is a virtue i need to teach you before you die. . . . perhaps another little dose of pain?"

voldemort raised his wand, but this time harry was ready; he flung himself sideways onto the ground; he rolled behind the marble headstone of voldemort's father, and the headstone cracked as the curse hit it.

"we are not playing hide-and-seek, harry," said voldemort's in his soft, cold voice, as the death eaters laughed. "you cannot hide from me. does this mean you are tired of our duel? does this mean that you would prefer me to finish it now, harry? come out, harry . . . come out and play, then . . . it will be quick . . . it might even be painless . . . i would not know . . . i have never died. . . ."

harry crouched behind the headstone. voldemort draw nearer still. elara searched for something to do. she'd be damned if she let harry sit there, crouching like a child. the rocks weren't enough, she needed to do something. as soon as voldemort reached the corner of the headstone, elara tapped him thrice on the shoulder. he turned around.

thankfully, harry stood up, wand tightly, thrust it out in front of him, and threw himself around the headstone, facing voldemort. there was time for harry to react before voldemort cried, "avada kedavra!"

"expelliarmus!"

a jet of green light issued from voldemort's wand just as a jet of red light blasted from harry's — they met in midair — and a narrow beam of light connected the two wands, neither red nor green, but bright, deep gold. elara, following the beam with her astonished gaze, saw that voldemort's long white fingers were gripping a wand that was shaking and vibrating.

and then — nothing could have prepared elara for this — harry's feet lifted from the ground. he and voldemort were both being raised into the air, their wands still connected by that thread of shimmering golden light. they glided away from the tombstone of voldemort's father and then came to rest on a patch of ground that was clear and free of graves. the death eaters were shouting; they were asking voldemort for instructions; they were closing in, reforming the circle around harry and voldemort, the snake slithering at their heels, some of them drawing their wands —

elara felt a surge of power. tingles running down her forearm, she gripped her wand and pointed it at the death eaters and begun firing every curse, hex, and jinx she knew at the tightly-knit circle. they were weak, but still effective.

the golden thread connecting harry and voldemort splintered; though the wands remained connected, a thousand more beams arced high over harry and voldemort, crisscrossing all around them, until they were enclosed in a golden, dome-shaped web, a cage of light, beyond which the death eaters scrambled around, shouting out above the spells being fired at them.

"do nothing!" voldemort shrieked to the death eaters. "do nothing unless i command you!"

elara stopped firing spells when an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air. . . . it was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around harry and voldemort. it was a sound elara recognized, though she had heard it only a few times before in her life: phoenix song.

it was the most beautiful and welcome thing elara had ever heard in her life. the beam between harry and voldemort changed too. it was as though large beads of light were sliding up and down the thread connecting the wands. the direction of the beam's movement was now toward harry, from voldemort.

as the closest bead of light moved nearer to harry's wand tip, elara grew fearful. the closer that bead moved, the harder harry's wand vibrated; very slowly, very slowly, the beads quivered to a halt, and then, just as slowly, they began to move the other way. and it was voldemort's wand that was vibrating extra-hard now, voldemort who looked astonished, and almost fearful.

one of the beads of light was quivering, inches from the tip of Voldemort's wand. and slowly, very slowly, it moved along the golden thread, it trembled for a moment, and then it connected. . . .

at once, voldemort's wand began to emit echoing screams of pain. a dense, smoky hand flew out of the tip of it and vanished, the ghost of the hand he had made wormtail, more shouts of pain, and then something much larger began to blossom from voldemort's wand tip, a great, grayish something, that looked as though it were made of the solidest, densest smoke, it was a head, now a chest and arms, the torso of cedric diggory.

elara was in shock. it seemed as if voldemort no more expected this to happen then harry. but, a tiny glimmer of hope shimmered through the night. the thick gray ghost of cedric diggory emerged in its entirety from the end of Voldemort's wand, as though it were squeezing itself out of a very narrow tunnel. this shade of cedric stood up, and looked up and down the golden thread of light, and spoke.

"hold on, harry," it said.

elara's eyes widened. if cedric was emerging from the wand, then so would... elara was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard the frightened yells of the death eaters, prowling around the edges of the golden dome.

an old man elara had seen only in a dream was now pushing himself out of the end of the wand just as cedric had done, and his ghost, or his shadow, or whatever it was, fell next to cedric's, and surveyed harry and voldemort, and the golden web, and the connected wands, with mild surprise, leaning on his walking stick.

elara was afraid a death eater would try something. feeling stronger than before, more spells were being thrown at the death eaters. they dove around, scattering, shrieking like little girls.

"he was a real wizard, then?" the old man said, his eyes on voldemort. "killed me, that one did. . . . you fight him, boy. . . ." but already, yet another head was emerging . . . and this head, gray as a smoky statue, was a woman's. . . . elara, entranced at the sight, saw her drop to the ground and straighten up like the others, staring. . . .

the shadow of bertha jorkins surveyed the battle before her with wide eyes.

"don't let go, now!" she cried, and her voice echoed like cedric's as though from very far away. "don't let him get you, harry — don't let go!"

she and the other two shadowy figures began to pace around the inner walls of the golden web, while elara kept throwing spells at the death eaters flitting around the outside of it . . . and voldemort's dead victims whispered as they circled the duelers, whispered words of encouragement to harry, and hissed words elara couldn't hear to voldemort.

and now another head was emerging from the tip of voldemort's wand. elara had a faint idea of who was coming next.

the smoky shadow of a young woman with long hair fell to the ground as bertha had done, straightened up, and looked at him. harry's arms were shaking madly now. elara looked at the ghostly face of harry's mother.

"your father's coming . . ." she said quietly. "hold on for your father . . . it will be all right . . . hold on. . . ."

tall and untidy-haired like harry, the smoky, shadowy form of james potter blossomed from the end of voldemort's wand, fell to the ground, and straightened like his wife. he walked close to harry, looking down at him, and he spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear.

elara was growing stronger. her spells had begun shooting death eaters backwards.

"when the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments . . . but we and elara will give you time . . . you must get to the portkey, it will return you to hogwarts . . . do you understand, harry?"

"yes," harry gasped, fighting now to keep a hold on his wand, which was slipping and sliding beneath his fingers.

"harry . . ." whispered the figure of cedric, "take my body back, will you? take my body back to my parents. . . ."

"i will," said harry, his face screwed up with the effort of holding the wand.

"do it now," whispered james potter's voice, "be ready to run . . . do it now. . . ."

"NOW!" harry yelled; he pulled his wand upward with an almighty wrench, and the golden thread broke; the cage of light vanished, the phoenix song died — but the shadowy figures of voldemort's victims did not disappear — they were closing in upon voldemort, shielding harry from his gaze —

and harry ran. elara covered for him, firing spell after spell at the death eaters, preventing as many curses as possible from hitting harry. harry zigzagged behind headstones, he was dodging curses and graves, pelting toward cedric's body.

"stun him!" he heard voldemort scream.

harry was ten feet from cedric. he dived behind a marble angel to avoid the jets of red light and saw the tip of its wing shatter as the spells hit it.

"impedimenta!" harry and elara had the same idea. the curses hit two different death eaters, and they were knocked over.

harry jumped over the cup and dived as he heard more wand blasts behind him. more jets of light flew over his head as he fell, stretching out his hand to grab cedric's arm.

as elara fired another curse, voldemort shrieked. "stand aside! i will kill him! he is mine!"

harry's hand had closed on cedric's wrist; there was one tombstone stood between him and voldemort, and the cup was out of reach —

voldemort's red eyes flamed in the darkness. elara stood behind the headstone.

"accio!" harry yelled, pointing his wand at the triwizard cup.

"reducto!" elara yelled into the night before voldemort could hurl a curse at harry.

it hit the ground in front of voldemort, and dirt flew into the air just as harry got a hold of the triwizard cup.

elara blinked, and she was back on the stands.

AUTHORS NOTE

-- elara's powerful as fuck

JANUARY 23, 2020

(february 17, 2020 - i just got back from week long vacation

and couldn't update!! so sorry!!)