A/N: Hello everyone! I know, I have so many other fics which I should be working on instead, but I finally got Cursed Child (spoiler alert, btw), and I just need to write this, mainly to consolidate the fact that Cedric "Find!" Diggory is a Death Eater. So, normal service will resume shortly, as my muse appears to have re-reared its ugly head. Updates on Thursdays, check my profile for other stories' update days.

CURSED CHILD SPOILERS. THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. This makes me sad. I don't own Cursed Child. If I did, Scorbus would have been the outcome. I also haven't seen Cursed Child, so apologies for any discrepancies between the direction in the show and what I write here.

The Worst Timeline

Chapter One

The sun didn't shine in the Hufflepuff dormitories. That was just a fact of life, and an understandable one at that. The rooms were all underground, in areas which appeared more like naturally formed caves than dungeons. However, the walls had all been enchanted to glow slightly, with an intensity which correlated to the sun outside. Not an exact match, no, that would make being inside on a bright summers day impossible. Just slightly duller than through a regular window.

This meant that the students of Hufflepuff had some way of knowing the time without having to consult a clock, or casting tempus. Even through the heavy and comforting curtains that surrounded each four poster bed, the light was visible. Most students appreciated this, and the warmth it spread into the dormitories each day, as they could get pretty cold in the winter nights, even with the perpetually stoked fires.

The morning of February 25th 1995 was no different from any other winter morning. A slow warmth was filling Hufflepuff house, and Cedric Diggory was experiencing something he had never before experienced in his life. A feeling. An emotion. It burned fiercely, and it was beginning to eclipse his love for Cho Chang. He closed his eyes, and rubbed his hands fiercely over his face, hoping to push out the memory of yesterday and the image of Cho's disappointed face – something he feared was permanently burned into his retinas.

With a groan, Cedric rolled over, pressing his face into his pillow. From outside the curtained bubble of his current existence came the unmistakable sound of laughter, although it was quickly silenced by another voice, which muttered something unintelligible. Cedric groped under his pillow for his wand and shot a quick silencing spell at the curtains. Immediately, the talking ceased, and he lay prone as a fresh wave of humiliation flooded through him.

The events of yesterday began playing through his head again, unbidden. The strange, golden glow which filled the water around him, flowing into his body as it started swelling up. The pressure as the air filled him from everywhere, leaving nowhere to escape, and the horror as he began rising… Cedric wasn't scared of heights, he was the best Quidditch player in Hufflepuff for the past thirty years. It was the humiliation. The laughter from the crowd and the amplified voice of Ludo Bagman still rang through his head, echoing over and over… The fireworks – really, fireworks in the middle of a bright day? – still left coloured lights dancing behind his eyelids.

Had someone really made a spectacle out of him to announce that some fourth years were in love? Fourth years who, he had seen after Dumbledore had deflated him, had stalked off in opposite directions, seemingly to never speak to each other again. Despite the respect that Cedric held for the Weasley twins skills as Beaters, he couldn't bring himself in his current state to be anything less than hostile towards their youngest brother. He still couldn't bring himself to feel anything other than contempt for any of them. Weasley, Granger, and even Potter.

He was sure he had seen him under the water, his wand pointed straight at him. Him and, bizarrely enough, Malfoy. As far as he knew, Potter and Malfoy were bordering on mortal enemy territory. But funny things had been happening to him throughout this entire tournament. During the first task, right as he stared up into the face of a dragon, and he raised his arm up to cast the spell to distract the huge beast, he felt the familiar tug of a disarming spell. His wand flew out his hand away into the crowd.

The gasps of shock that came from the rest of the school, as the dragon pulled his head back, ready to throw fire across the area and over him.

He couldn't think about the first task anymore. He couldn't think about the tournament anymore. The tournament and his zero points… There was no chance of any kind of comeback from that. None at all. He might as well give up. Give up on the dreams his father had set up for him.

He could think about Cho… His girlfriend. She wouldn't actually think any less of him. Not when she'd had a chance to think through everything and realise that it really wasn't his fault. He'd only been shown up by a group of fourth years.

What was he thinking… She would never respect him. No one would respect him. He was Cedric Diggory, Hufflepuff Heartthrob, the true Hogwarts Champion, taken down by fourth year Harry Potter and his band of Gryffindor miscreants.

Leaving his bed for breakfast wasn't an option today. It wasn't an option to leave his bed for lunch or dinner, either. Resigning himself to a fate of house elves bringing his meals to him for the next week at least, he called his personal elf to him and ordered a full English. He didn't have to worry about his figure.

He was a failure now.