For: The Houses Competition
Seventh Year, Hufflepuff
Category: Standard
Word Count: 1095 (Word), 1094 (Google Docs)
Prompt(s): [Event] Late for class, [Setting] Third floor corridor
House Character: Cedric Diggory
If there was one thing Cedric Diggory, Third Year, hated more than anything, it was being late. Being late meant that you missed things, and if you missed things that meant you were behind, and that meant catching up by means of talking to other people. People were unreliable and biased whether it came to the class assignment or a new piece of gossip. If he wasn't in class within 60 seconds of it starting, then he just got a sense of anxiety in his stomach that wouldn't go away until he was sure he was up to date on what was going on.
The day he was having was already not in his favor. It was only the third day of school and he already got picked on by his mortal enemy, Quincy Atwood from Ravenclaw, who felt a need to knock over his pumpkin juice. Cedric had to make sure that his crush, Joanna Roberts, didn't see the stain while he raced out of the Great Hall to change his pants. And then he broke his favorite quill, so he had to sharpen another one and he missed part of lecture for Arithmancy by doing so.
As he raced towards Charms, a first-year Gryffindor having a panic-attack because she got turned around and couldn't find her way to Transfiguration. He didn't have time to help, but everyone else was ignoring her. Since he wasn't the type of person to turn down a first-year in need, he spent ten of his fifteen-minute in between period talking her down out of an anxiety attack and kindly showing her the way to the Transfiguration Classroom on the ground floor. He had to rush to get to the Charms classroom on the sixth floor after. He had learned his lesson about running in the school. Not personally, his friend Daven was running to get to another class and a staircase changed and he fell over the edge, landing himself in the hospital for a week.
So, jogging it was.
As he jogged up a staircase, he heard a sound aside from the squeak of his shoes. He paused and turned, only to see that it was Peeves, bouncing a red rubber ball against the wall.
"Oooh, looks like somebody is late to class," the pesky poltergeist jeered, hurling the ball again.
A few of the portraits braced themselves in their frames as the ball threatened to knock them down.
"Cut it out Peeves," said Cedric in a tone that was anything but polite. "I am running late so if you will excuse me."
"THINK FAST!"
Cedric dodged the rubber ball and his school bag slid off his shoulder and several quills and his stamps for Ancient Runes spilled out. Urgh, great! Without worrying about neatness, he crammed the items back in his bag and jogged back up the stairs.
"Missed something!" said Peeves.
Feeling sick, Cedric turned and saw Peeves holding something in the air. His wand.
"How did—hey, give that back, Peeves!" he shouted, voice cracking.
Before he could give chase, the stairs swung to the adjacent side and he held on tight to the railing, not keen on falling off. Peeves laughed even harder, kicking his curly-toed feet in the air, making the bells on his shoes and hat jingle merrily. The merriment was one-sided.
"Give me my wand back, Peeves."
"Say the magic word," Peeves taunted using the tip of Cedric's wand as a butt scratcher.
"Hey! I just polished that!" he shouted, feeling his cheeks flush red. "That is not meant for your bum!"
"Say the magic word," Peeves repeated, now holding the wand dangerously close to his left nostril.
"ABRACADABRA!" Cedric shouted.
"Ooh! Sassy boy!" said Peeves. "Okay, I'll give it back."
"Thank you," said Cedric, holding out his hand.
"Whoopsie!" Peeves shouted, flinging the wand over the boy's head. "I tripped!"
Cedric growled and took off after it into the dusty, dimly lit corridor at the top of the stairs. Adding injury to insult, Peeves hurled the rubber ball knocking Cedric in the back of the head. Blinking away the white spots, Cedric rubbed his head and groaned. He groaned again when the Clocktower tolled, alerting him that he was late for class. Professor Flitwick was more understanding than most professors about tardiness, but that wasn't Cedric's main concern. No, his father would be furious if he found out that his son was late. Tardiness was unacceptable.
Huffing a sigh, Cedric found his wand, wiped it clean with the sleeve of his robes, and tucked it in his front pocket. Maybe he should ask for a wand holster this Christmas.
Frowning, Cedric looked around the corridor. Once he reoriented himself, he could find his way out and to class. If there was any excuse to be late, Peeves would be an understandable one at least. He looked back out over the stairs. Damn. They didn't connect with anywhere else. Today must just be his unlucky day. Perhaps this corridor had a staircase at the end. Even just a short one leading to a different floor.
Adjusting the strap of his bag so it was across his chest, he made his way down the corridor. It really was quite filthy. There was a weird smell, too. An animal type smell. And urine.
Gross.
Cedric kept walking until he hit a wall.
"Damn," he muttered. Back halfway there was a door. Maybe that led to somewhere.
Turning back, he tried the door, but found it locked. Hm… Maybe it was just an unused classroom. Still, he had to check, so he drew his wand.
"Alohomora."
The door easily unlocked and swung open with a loud creak that made Cedric's jaw ache and his spine shudder. Someone needed to get some grease for those hinges. He poked his head in, immediately noticing a trap door and massive paws. He slowly looked up to find three giant rottweilers greeting him. Scratch that. Three rottweiler heads attached to a single body. Its three mouths snarled and began barking, flinging slobber at him.
Cedric slammed the door shut.
All he could say was, "No."
Wiping the saliva off his face, he went back to the staircase and sat down on the middle step to patiently wait for it to change back to the floor he needed. He was not going to mention this to any of his friends, he didn't want to know why a Cerberus was locked in the castle, and he sure as hell was never going back to the Third Floor Corridor again.