A/N : every time I think about this story, the plot line seems to change. I have all the major events planned out, but how we get to them is still in question. This chapter is a shorter one to tide you over while I update some of my other fanfics, the next chapter of this will be up on Mon/Tue next week. I'd like to thank everyone who has viewed, fav'd and reviewed this fanfiction, your support keeps me writing. Hugs.

The first thing that came to Harry through the darkness was the voices.

They were faint and faraway, like listening to a conversation on a television in another room.

The first voice was that of Cedric Diggory's, soft smooth and musical even with the tremor of panic in it.

"…I was with Harry the whole time!"

Harry strained to hear more, and the voice he heard was that of someone he didn't expect to hear
"…can't ignore the circumstantial evidence, Cedric-"
"What if Harry told you himself when he wakes up?" Cedric's voice was thick with indignation.

A moment of silence.

"Cedric…" A pause, Professor McGonagall seemed to be trying hard to find words.

"We need to do more investigating in the matter, Cedric. I can't make any decision now."
"But-"
"Enough, Cedric. I'll come find you tomorrow."

Footsteps fading away. A door opened and shut.

Harry opened his eyes an infinitesimal amount.

Through his lashes Harry recognised the closed partition curtains of the medical ward.

He was alone; the quiet conversation had taken place on the other side of the opaque curtains. He sat up.

A wave of post-faint wooziness stole over him and he pressed his hands to his head and waited for it to pass.
Thankfully, Harry found that he was still fully dressed, and when he threw the thin covers away from himself and stood up, he was pleased to find his legs didn't give out under him, although he winced when his stomach gave a slight protest of pain where Pansy had slugged him.

He pulled the privacy curtain open and peered out.

Cedric was sat on the opposite side of the room, his hands were pressed over his face and he was as still as a statue,

Harry stepped out of the little room and began to quietly walk towards Cedric.

He didn't look up as Harry approached and, Harry had no idea what to say.

Eventually, Harry decided to clear his throat.

Cliché, but effective none the less.

Cedric looked up. There were signs of stress on his face.
There were fatigue bruises under his eyes that hadn't been there when they'd met in the hallway, and the gel in his copper hair no longer held his hair stiff, the short spikes and slight curls now hung in every direction as if relieved to be able to move again.

"Oh, you're awake" An unexpected smile grew on Cedric's lips.

The brightness of his smile looked out of place against the backdrop of his tired face. His gorgeously grey eyes were sparkling despite the tiredness and his lips were still a dark red that most women would kill for. Harry had to resist the urge to try and jump on him.

Harry wondered if Cedric had been here all night, the sun had been going down when he'd fainted and now Harry could see the beginnings of dawn outside the window behind where Cedric sat.

There was a second of awkward silence and then Cedric stood.

It looked for a moment like Cedric was going to step closer to Harry, but then he turned and called for Harry to follow him as he began to walk away.

Harry caught up and fell into step with Cedric in the hallway outside of the Medical bay.

It was still very early dawn, and the shadows of the night had not yet been burned away from the windows.

It was another cold morning, although not nearly as cold as the previous and after the long rest he'd had he felt considerably brighter, despite the image of Hannah's smashed body lingering behind his eyes as if it was etched into his retinas.

Cedric was staring straight ahead, jaw set into a grim line.

"Harry, I.." He paused again.
In the back of Harry's mind, a sardonic part of his mind casually wondered if Cedric Diggory had ever gotten through a sentence without pausing.

Harry suppressed a little grin and waited.

They were walking down the stairs of the Great Hall now, Harry was a step behind him, somewhat unsure if Cedric had forgotten that he'd left a sentence unfinished, and Cedric was leading him out and away from the main castle of Hogwarts before he spoke again.

"Harry, I wanted to ask you if you would do something for me."

Harry blinked.

"Uh, sure."

Harry didn't know what he'd expected Cedric to say, but that certainly wasn't it.

Maybe he'd expected Cedric to say something about what happened to Hannah, or the conversation he'd had with the Transfigurations teacher. Hannah.

Pain at the poor girl's death and pointless guilt that he couldn't save her welled in his stomach and sat there unmoving, like a dead weight of iron in the centre of his body.
They'd reached the outskirts of the hill that sloped gently downward towards the lake, and Cedric finally stopped walking and sat down on the slightly damp grass.

Cedric glanced from side to side, as if he was checking they were alone.
No one else would be out here, in the cold at the crack of dawn, Cedric.

Harry didn't say anything, still he waited. Obviously there was no point in pushing him to hurry up.

Cedric sighed.

"No one knows about what happened to Hannah, except you, me & McGonagall."
Cedric met Harry's eyes and then looked away again.

"Somehow, it's already gotten around school how Hannah...was killed, and that you found her, but I haven't been mentioned yet..." Cedric's pale skin flushed an even paler colour.

"I wanted to ask you, if..." Cedric's voice broke and then he carried on, in a rush of words before he chickened out. "-I-wanted-to-ask-you-if-you-wouldn't-mention-I-was-there-at-all-with-you-and-you -found-her-on-your-own."

Realisation punched Harry in the stomach even harder than Pansy had, and the pain that shot through his body hurt infinite times more than any physical punch could have.

"And you want me to take the fall, to be the sole object of the gossip." Harry said angrily after his moment of shock had passed, his face suddenly burning bright red with anger.

Harry had been stupidly hoping that maybe Cedric had stayed with Harry through the night because he actually cared about Harry, not because he wanted to ask if Harry would truncate Cedric's involvement in any future re-telling of the gruesome event.

Cedric's eyes shot up to Harry's, surprise and shock evident on his face.

"Oh no, Harry! It's not that at all, you don't underst-"
"I understand perfectly!" Harry said as he got to his feet, voice cracking slightly and eyes filling with angry, hurt tears as he stared down to Cedric's stricken face below him.

"Harry Potter would be expected to be found next to the corpse of a dead girl with her throat torn open, but Cedric Diggory? Oh no, not perfect, popular, normal, Cedric Diggory." Harry spat the words at him, then he began to storm away, not trusting his voice to work any more now that the angry tears were so close to breaking free, and the sobs that were working their way up from his stomach had become so desperate to surface into his mouth.

"Harry!" Cedric shouted after him, "Wait! You really don't understand, let me explain!"
Harry didn't look back, he simply shouted over his shoulder that Cedric shouldn't worry, and that "the secret was safe with him".

And then Harry began to run back towards the school, the hot tears that he'd held back finally breaking free.