I would like to thank my beta, KLeeny, for helping me out. You are wonderus!
Remus Lupin was the only person Cedric had ever met who drank steaming tea in the middle of summer.
"So, Cedric," the middle aged man said, placing his mug of tea gently on the kitchen table. "School starts soon."
Cedric had been staying with the Blacks's for a little over a week when he found himself alone with Mr. Lupin. Cedric wondered if Glenn was at Luna's, or with Mr. Black and Ivan next door at the Potter's. The older mans body language wasn't giving anything way, but he suspected that the chat was planned.
With that in mind, Cedric replied, "I know! I'm very excited." He had always hated lying. Probably because he had never been very good at it.
Mr. Lupin chuckled. "It'll be fine. Hogwarts is a lovely school." The older man didn't seem to think Cedric was convinced. "I went there myself, you know."
Cedric, seeing an opportunity to talk about anything other than himself, said, "what was it like? You know, school?"
"It was okay." Mr. Lupin said, taking a sip of his tea. "But you don't want to hear about-"
"Yeah, I do!" Cedric said quickly, trying to keep the older man focused on himself.
"If you're sure..."
"Totally."
Mr. Lupin sighed, set his mug down and said, "on my first day of school Sirius put glue in my hair, James threw glitter at me and Lily offered to help me clean up afterwards." He smiled, "we were friends from that moment on."
To Cedric, that sounded horrible. He himself had met his best friend (back in England) by vomiting all over the boy's shinny new school shoes. He didn't think his story was any better.
Cedric thought of a photograph tacked to a wall in the atticthat showed his hosts and their friends as teenagers. He had spent a long moment staring at Mr. Black's teen age self.
He had been impossibly handsome. His smile had probably melted and broken more hearts then Cedric's ever would.
"We were a weird group, James, Lily, Sirius and I." Mr. Lupin continued, lost in nostalgic thoughts.
"What was Mr. Black like as a kid?" Cedric asked, thinking of the boy in the picture and wondering how he became a man.
"Oh, he was your classic rebellious teen ager. Riddled with angst and half insane with boredom." Mr. Lupin grinned at some hidden memory. "He just loved (well, he still does love) making his parents angry. His real parents mind you, not James's mother and father. Anyway, he would paint his finger nails and he always insisted on writing all over himself." Mr. Lupin took a sip of his tea. "Most weeks his parents forced him to go to church, except he would sing the hymns to loudly or he'd put candy rappers in the offering plates."
Mr. Black-as-a-young-man hadn't had varnished nails or ball point art in the photograph.
"After he moved in with James, Sirius quieted down some. But still, every year he insists on sending a Christmas card to his mother."
"So, his parents were religious?" Cedric asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.
"They're very religious. You'll meet them eventually. At Christmas mass, if not before that."
The conversation stopped as the front door was slammed open. It was shut loudly only seconds after. Cedric wanted to ask about Christmas mass, but the opportunity was gone.
"Honey, I'm home!" Mr. Black shouted from the hallway. Mr. Lupin rolled his eyes.
"I noticed."
Mr. Black entered the kitchen, smiled at Cedric and kissed the top of Mr. Lupin's head. He opened the refrigerator door.
"Where's Ivan?" Cedric asked, looking around for the small boy.
"He's playing with Julie," Mr. Black said from inside the refrigerator. "Moony," he whined once his head was out of the ice box, "who drank the last coke?"
"Probably Harry. Or Paul." Mr. Lupin said, taking a sip of his tea. One look at the pout on Mr. Black's handsome face made his eyes roll. "For heavens sake, Sirius, just go buy some more."
"Good idea." Cedric watched the dark haired man cross the kitchen, pick up the phone hanging on the wall next to Cedric and dial a few numbers rapidly. The teenager gave Mr. Lupin a questioning glance. The older man shrugged.
"Harry, dude, were are you?" Mr. Black said into the receiver. "I need you to do me a favor,"
Cedric raised his eyebrows and shared an amused look with Mr. Lupin.
Cedric liked Luna Lovegood. He really did. But she also frightened him.
It was dinner time at the Blacks's, and Glenn was having Luna over for the night. While piling potatoes onto his plate, Cedric wondered weather or not they were having sex. Or if Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin cared.When he looked up from his plate to find the salt, Cedric accidentally locked eyes with Luna. Her eyes didn't look like any eyes that Cedric had ever seen before. In fact, they more resembled bits of the sky on a cloudless day.
She smiled at him.
It was unsettling.
"Pass the peas, please." Ivan asked, breaking Cedric's connection with the blonde girl. He tried very hard not to look visibly relieved.
"Here," Cedric passed the bright green bowl full of peas and tabs of half melted butter to the small boy. Ivan smiled a thanks and the older boy turned back to his meal.
Chicken. Potatoes. Peas.
Cedric had learned the week before, his first week, that neither of his hosts could cook, so they stuck to making things they knew wouldn't poison their children.
He'd already had more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in his short time with the Blacks's, than he'd ever eaten in his life back home. And he didn't even like peanut butter.
"So Luna, first year of high school, are you up for it?" Mr. Lupin said, obviously trying to make conversation.
"Oh, yes!" She responded dreamily. Her eyes were large and earnest.
Luna, Cedric decided, must be insane. He was a normal boy in every single respect and he wasn't up for it. How could she be? She was weird. Cedric ruminated how long it would be before she broke down, but he felt guilty for thinking that way. She was a nice girl. She didn't disserve to be thought of like that.
"Although, I don't think I'm ready for Mr. Snape's class." She added as an after thought.
"Why not?" Cedric asked, curious about Hogwarts's teachers.
"He's evil." Mr. Black said. Cedric gave him a strange look, asking him to elaborate. "Went to school with the man. Not a fan."
"Now Sirius," Mr. Lupin said in an irritated tone. Cedric had the feeling that they had talked about Mr. Snape a number of times. He made a mental note to ask Glenn later. "He's not really that bad."
Mr. Black snorted and the subject was dropped.
The Blacks's and their guests ate in silence. Only the scraping of silverware against pale blue plates could beheard for well over a minute.
Cedric wasn't really used to family dinners. His father, Amos, always worked late, so his mother would make dinner, serve Cedric his plate, then go watch the telly while her son ate. The first night Cedric had stayed with his host family they had eaten next door at the Potter's. That had seemed more like a party then anything else. It wasn't until Cedric's second day that he found out the Blacks's actually set aside 'family time". He had been appalled at first. However, as time went on, Cedric actually found himself enjoying 'family time'. And the fact that the Potter's also counted as family didn't hurt matters. Cedric found Lily Potter to be a charming person who was full of life. And, despite his chilly domineer, Cedric liked his fellow foreigner, Viktor Krum (who was, until the end of the school year, an honorary Potter).
"I'm digging to China after dinner." Ivan said, stabbing a pea violently with his fork. Cedric looked up, bewildered. He had only thought children in films or books actually tired digging to China. But, looking back on his childhood he realized that he wasn't always the most creative child. Perhaps his class mates back in England had attempted to dig through the Earth when they were young and had never invited him along because he'd just sit by the edge of the hole and tell them that it wasn't actually possible to tunnel through the Earth. Cedric didn't like foolishness. Which he though was odd as most of his friends at home had been very foolish people.
"Are you really?" Mr. Lupin asked the tone of false interest that parents often use when talking to their children when they either weren't in the mood or really didn't care. It was voice Cedric knew very well. His mother used it on him even after he'd out grown the stage were he told her everything.
Ivan nodded enthusiastically. He smiled, showing all of his perfect white teeth. They gleamed in contrast to the boys dark skin. "Julie and me are, yep!"
"Julie and I." Mr. Lupin corrected. Cedric really hadn't expected any less from an English teacher.
"Julie and I are."
"Just be sure to be home by eight. Or have your Aunt Lily give us a call if you're going to stay the night at Julie's." Sirius said. He smiled charmingly.
"Course, Da."
"May I help?" Luna asked. "I've always wanted to go to China!"
Standing in the Weasley's spacious back yard was Cedric Diggory, looking overwhelmed. Every year, as Cedric had come to find out, the Weasley children (all seven of them) hold an out door, over night party. Only the friends of a Weasley were invited.
And there were many of them. From where Cedric was standing, he counted eight tents, twenty rolled up sleeping bags, a heap of blankets, two different bon fires and at least forty people ages ranging from late twenties to about thirteen.
"Come on, Cedric!" Harry called, walking into the fray. Cedric watched as he walked over to the oldest of the Weasley brothers, a tall, thin man with a deep red ponytail. Cedric thought that if he looked up 'cool' in the dictionary, Bill Weasley's picture would smile up at him from the page.
"Ced!"
Cedric's head jerked up, towards Luna Lovegood, who had called to him from around one of the camp fires. He waved, smiling.
The more time he spent with Luna, the more he liked her. Even if her over all innocence was a tad alarming at times.
Cedric walked swiftly over to the blonde girl. He sat next to her on the lush grass. On Luna's other side was Glenn and a small redheaded girl.
"There sure are a lot of people here." Cedric commented, rubbing his forearm self-consciously. From all around him he could hear people laughing and yelling and generally having a good time.
The redhead scoffed. "These are mostly Fred and George's friends."
"And they are?"
The girl sighed and pointed to two young men walking around in bright pink boxers, fuzzy blue slippers and black bow-ties. The twins each had either 'Thing One' or 'Thing Two' painted on their backs.
At a loss for words, Cedric said, "er,"
"Yeah, that's the general census." Glenn muttered. Cedric had learned, after two weeks with the Blacks's, that Glenn didn't talk much. And when he did, he wasn't very loud.
"My name's Ginny," the redhead said, reaching across both Glenn and Luna to shake Cedric's hand.
"Cedric," he said, grinning. "Pleased to meet you."
An hour later Cedric's original discomfort was almost entirely forgotten. He felt as if he belonged exactly were he was. Between Ginny and Luna watching Fred and George Weasley attempt break dancing on the thick grass.
"Hey, Cedric!" Harry called from opposite the impromptu dance floor. The older boy nodded to Harry, acknowledging that he'd heard him. "Come here for a minute!"
Sighing, Cedric said to his three younger friends, "I've been summoned." He weaved his way through the crowd of giggling people until he came face to face with Harry Potter, a redhead (obviously a Weasley) and a young woman with absurd hair. Cedric couldn't tell if her hair was frizzy or curly or fried or what, just that it was very bushy.
"Cedric, dude, these are my best friends, Ron and Hermione." Harry said, pointing to the girl and the boy respectively. Cedric plastered a grin onto his face before shaking both of their hands.
"So, Harry tells us you're from England." Hermione, Cedric noticed, had a calm and assertive voice. And shiny metal braces.
"Er, yes. From Devon. Axminster to be exact."
Hermione nodded like she knew what Cedric was talking about. Perhaps she did, but Cedric would never know. Ron stepped in front of his friend and crossed his arms menacingly over his chest. Even though he was only an inch or two taller then the older boy, Ron looked down his long nose at Cedric.
"What'd you want with my sister?" He asked harshly. Cedric looked at him incredulously.
"What, you mean Ginny?" Cedric scratched the back of his neck. "Um, I don't want anything with her. We're just talking." He sighed, "plus, she's a tad young for me, yeah?"
"Forgive Ron," Hermione said loudly, pushing her way through her friends to the front. "He's just an over protective jerk."
"Hey!"
Hermione rolled her eyes while smiling at Cedric. "So, how do like living with Sirius and Remus?"
"It's okay. Ivan's sort of annoying, but other then that it's fine."
Harry nodded his head gravely. "He and Julie, man. It's a nightmare."
"Did you hear a few days ago, they were trying to dig to China!"
"And Luna and Glenn were helping. Yeah, I remember. That was really funny."
Hermione snorted. "Luna Lovegood? She tried to dig to China? At her age?"
"Yeah," Cedric said, irritated at the tone in the girls voice.
She gave a little sigh and looked like she thought the world was full of idiots. "That girl-"
"Don't start," Harry warned under his breath. He smiled tightly at Cedric.
"I'm going to go. It was nice to meet you both." Cedric mumbled before rushing back to Luna, Glenn and Ginny. When he looked back at Harry and his friends, Harry was fighting with Hermione and Ron. Cedric took an almost perverted pride that the argument was most likely about him. Cedric was pleased by the idea of Harry Potter defending his actions to his friends. Smiling, even though there wasn't anything to smile about, Cedric made his way haphazardly back to his friends.