A/N:-
Written as part of the drabble or longer for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)
Prompt used: Being on the Hogwarts Express
Gringotts Prompt Bank Prompts used:
Characters 8: Cedric Diggory
Better word for said 3: mumbled
A Helping Hand
1st September at 11 am on the dot, and the Hogwarts Express is departing King's Cross Station to take the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to school for another year full of magic, marvel and a dash of mayhem.
The new intake of first years rush up and down the corridors of the train looking a little lost as they try to find a place to sit. The few that have siblings already at the school join them in their carriages, too nervous to find some fellow first years to sit with.
Cedric Diggory lugged his heavy trunk down the corridor of the Hogwarts Express and quickly managed to find his group of friends, who were animatedly discussing the events of their respective summer holidays.
As he entered his carriage, one of the younger children came running down the corridor, screaming like a little girl with a teacup clinging to the end of his nose. Everyone in the vicinity was laughing loudly at the boy.
Cedric, who instantly felt compassion for the poor child, released his trunk from his grasp and excused himself, and dashed after the boy, whose name he now recalled as being Bruno Roberts.
"Hey, Bruno," he called after him, jogging slightly to make up the distance between the two of them. "Do you want some help?" he offered kindly to the second year Hufflepuff.
Bruno looked up at Cedric and slowly nodded his head, raising his hands to wipe the tears that had been forming in his eyes because of the prank that his friends had played on him. It upset Bruno that they could do this to him when they knew how sensitive he was.
Cedric quickly whipped out his wand and cast a spell, and the teacup dropped of Bruno's nose, which was now a deep purple in colour.
"Thank you," Bruno whispered as he raised his right hand to his nose, and winced in pain when he touched it lightly. "Ouch."
Cedric observed Bruno for a moment. This was not the first time that the younger child had suffered because of a prank; in fact many times during the last year Cedric had noticed that the other boys in his year seemed to target him, and he questioned why Bruno didn't stand up for himself and demand that they stop.
"It's not a problem, and if I was you Bruno I'd start standing up for myself," Cedric suggested with a shrug of his shoulders, before tossing the second year a tub of bruise removal paste. "Just dab a bit on, and that bruise should be gone within the hour."
Bruno smiled innocently and did as Cedric instructed before returning the tub. He muttered another quick "thank you" and then disappeared back down the corridor of The Hogwarts Express to find his friends, considering Cedric's advice.
Cedric followed Bruno back down the corridor and strolled back into the carriage where his friends we had moved on from discussing their summer holidays and somehow, much to Cedric's dismay, onto the dismal start the Tutshill Tornados had had to their Quidditch season. Oh please don't let them carry on, Cedric thought as he sat down knowing the ribbing he would get from his friends if they did.
Unfortunately for Cedric, his friends did carry on discussing the Tutshill Tornados, and just when he thought they couldn't find anything else to mention with regards to his Quidditch team, they managed to come up with a dozen more.
The journey to Hogwarts, therefore, was agonisingly slow for Cedric Diggory, but nothing, not even his friends consistent slamming of the Tutshill Tornados, could take away his excitement about returning to Hogwarts this year, especially since his father had heard through the grapevine that the school would be hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year.
A/N:-
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