Author's Note: This took longer to finish than I had anticipated. It's not because the quality of writing is any better than the previous sections or because I had a stroke of genius, plot wise. It's more because I mentioned to a friend of mine that I was putting in the scene with the bath and the egg, and they insisted that there be more… eh, interaction, between Cedric and Harry. Part Five will go more into Draco and Harry; this was just a slight deviation. Enjoy!
Part Four. Yet Another Kiss.
'Hey – Harry!'
He turned his head to the sound of the voice to see Cedric crossing the courtyard to speak with him, his gray eyes alight with his own vigor, his hair scattering smoothly across his brow as a wintry breeze cut through the exposed courtyard. Harry felt a lurch of unjustified dislike in his gut but he arranged a pseudo-amiable look as Cedric approached. 'Yeah?' he kept his voice low and short, but Cedric kept grinning, oblivious of Harry's residual anger and envy over Cho.
'Can I have a word?' Harry nodded despite the unsettling reminder of Draco and the library. Cedric threw a glance to Ron but did not speak. Ron caught on after a moment of Cedric's purposeful silence and staring and he gave a shrug that attempted indifference before stalking over to where Harry could see Seamus and Dean talking.
With Ron having left Harry quite alone, Cedric touched a hand to Harry's upper arm, steering him a little away from a throng of students nearby; Harry twitched slightly at the touch but it went unnoticed by the older boy who had leaned in to speak in low, quiet tones. 'Listen; I wasn't able to thank you properly about tipping me off about the dragons, before,' he said, his brow knitting faintly.
Harry fought to keep his features indifferent, 'Yeah, it's fine. You would have done the same for me, I'm sure.'
The knit disappeared from Cedric's brow, replaced by a gentle, handsome arch, 'Exactly. You know the prefect's bathroom?'
Harry nodded dumbly, his eyes casting warily over Cedric's features. He couldn't imagine how thanking him could involve the prefect's bathroom.
'Well, it's not a bad place for a bath…' The smile on the older boy's face didn't falter and Harry could have sworn he caught a mischievous glint in his stormy eyes.
'Er, what?' He felt his heart hammering very fast, now. Was Cedric about to suggest something rather inappropriate? Why was he dropping his voice to such a low pitch? Did he perhaps think that Harry fancied him, rather than Cho? Just how did Cedric plan on thanking him?
Cedric leaned in closer; Harry would have taken a step back but the hand on his arm remained, 'Look, the password's 'pine fresh.' Just… take your egg with you and… mull things over in the hot water.'
Harry continued to stare warily at Cedric, half expecting him to suggest, in that jovial, living voice, to meet him there at a certain time on a set evening. But that suggestion never came from Cedric. The older boy patted Harry's shoulder with a trace of concern writ upon his fair features, apparently satisfied now that he had returned the favor of tipping Harry off, and turned to walk away.
Watching Cedric's back, Harry couldn't help but feel a surge of disappointment that was quickly stifled by the embarrassment at his own thoughts. He didn't want Cedric, he assured himself, adjusting the strap of his bag against his shoulder and looking around for Ron. He was just shaken over all the run-ins with Draco; it was making him paranoid.
He caught up to Ron just a moment later, waving jovially enough to avoid suspicion as Seamus and Dean who were turning to leave for the Great Hall. He and Ron were making their own, slower progress toward lunch though Harry suspected that if it had been just Ron, the pace would have been considerably swifter.
As they slipped back inside the castle from the courtyard, Ron nudged Harry hard in the side though it was unnecessary; Harry had seen the back of the white-blonde head as soon as they stepped inside. 'Shall I hex him from here, Harry?' Ron was already reaching for his wand. He had taken the attack on Harry the previous night rather personally.
'No, Ron, no. It's fine.' He caught Ron's forearm to be sure that he wasn't going to draw his wand. The red head shot him a disappointed glare and Harry released his arm, 'Come on; you wouldn't want Moody to transfigure you into a rodent, would you?'
At this, Ron grinned, looking back ahead to where Malfoy was turning into the Great Hall, 'Yeah, I suppose not. We'll get him later.'
Harry gave a vague nod of agreement, touched that Ron had taken the matter so personally and that he had not suggested telling any professor about the attack. Harry had hastily added his reasons for staying quiet at the end of recounting what had happened and Ron had been ready to agree with him. Better not play into Malfoy's hand, he had said… Better not give the spoiled prat what he wants… But there was the thing that had been stuck within the spirals of Harry's mind: What did Draco Malfoy want?
After a good deal of internal conflict and the passing of a worrisome amount of time in which he was unable to discern anything from the screeching noise the egg made when he opened it, Harry decided to take up Cedric's offer. He hadn't mentioned it to Ron or Hermione, at least not in detail. Ron had remembered to ask what Cedric had wanted in the courtyard when they had sat down for lunch shortly after and Harry said truthfully that he just wanted to repay the hint Harry had given him about the dragons. Ron didn't question any more than that and Harry thought it was probably due to the fact that they were trying very hard to pretend they hadn't stopped talking before the first task; the best way to do that was to avoid mentioning anything that happened prior to their reconciliation.
Harry lay awake for hours, listening to the steady breathing and infrequent mumbles of the other boys in the dormitory. When he was sure that they were all too deeply asleep to notice him slipping off, he pulled his invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map out from under his pillow and slipped out between the part of his curtains. He was careful this time to keep his cloak on the entire way to the prefect's bathroom; he wasn't going to invite another encounter with Malfoy.
By the end of his bath, he was thanking Cedric inwardly. The knot of snakes inside of his belly was loosening somewhat with the egg's noise finally deciphered. All that was left was finding out a way to breathe underwater for an hour and that could wait until morning. For now (since Moaning Myrtle had left for his apparent lack of tact), he was going to enjoy the remainder of the bubbles floating over the surface of the water, clouds on the glass of air. He moved to the side of the bath, supporting himself on the ledge of the floor as he pulled his towel closer and made sure the golden egg and his glasses were settled just beside it.
He heard the door open just as he was lowering back into the water. In the attempt to turn around and see who it was that had just stepped inside, his hands slipped from the ledge and he fell into the water, sputtering and gasping for air before he was able to regain his balance and locate the blurred outline of the other.
'Oh, it's just you.' Cedric's voice spoke from the hazy figure, growing larger as he stepped closer to the edge of the bath. 'I had thought you would have come before now.' His grin came into focus as Harry groped for his glasses and pressed them onto his face, 'Did you think I was taking the mickey about the egg and the water?'
'No, of course not - I just haven't had time -been doing other…' he paused, glancing up at Cedric's amused features, and offered a little shrug, 'Well, alright. I thought you were just being a prat, telling me to take a bath.' Even as he lowered self-consciously deeper into the water, thankful for the clouds of multi-colored bubbles still obscuring most of his lower body, he managed a weak, slightly apologetic smile. He was trying very hard not to look at Cedric; the older boy had entered with his waist wrapped in a towel, a bathrobe trailing off his shoulders.
Cedric laughed softly and the sound slipped down the walls, reverberating through the bathroom, 'I wondered if you would take me seriously.' Harry paled and slunk deeper into the water as he watched the bathrobe and the towel pile onto the floor around Cedric's bare feet. He continued speaking as he lowered himself into the water, 'So you've got it figured out, then?'
Harry decided that it was safe to look back to Cedric and gave a little nod that sent perfumed droplets of water over the lenses of his glasses. 'I have, yeah…' he watched as Cedric turned a couple faucets, replenishing the supply of bubbles to the surface of the water. 'Er- it's sort of late, isn't it?'
'Hm?' Cedric looked away from the faucets, a wreath of bubbles forming around his half-submerged form. 'Not too late for you though, is it?' he grinned, twisting one of the knobs to stop the water flow, 'I just prefer coming in when no one else is here. It's quieter.'
He couldn't imagine how it would be all that difficult for a quiet bath in a bathroom shared only by prefects and Quidditch team captains but he gave another nod just the same. As he brushed a few sopping strands of black hair from his eyes, he replaced both hands on the ledge, ready to pull himself out of the water and into a towel. But a thought, potentially dangerous and incriminating, stopped his movements and he glanced back to the older boy. 'Cedric? Can – can I ask you something?'
Gray eyes shifted to meet green ones and Cedric's voice filled the room in a way the water could not; 'Go ahead.'
'Okay, well…' he skimmed the tops of the bubbles with a palm, 'Say that… you really hate someone. And they really hate you, but they kiss you.' He resisted the warmth creeping into his cheeks, 'What would you make of that?'
Cedric ran a hand over his chin, his full lips pursed in thought, 'I can't say that's ever happened to me but… well, I figure if you hate each other but you kiss, then it might not really be hate. Either that or someone's playing a rather cruel joke.'
Harry frowned slightly, frustrated to hear his own thoughts and Draco's words (more or less) repeated at him. The possibility of it just being a horrible, twisted, sick joke of Malfoy's was probable and he was inclined to believe that explanation. And yet… His frown darkened as he stared into the water, oblivious to the fact that the rush of the water from the faucets had ceased, there was something, something embarrassing and knotted, in the pit of his stomach, something that wanted the kisses to be from something more than just a cruel joke. He hated himself for it. He didn't like Malfoy, he knew that. He hated the great, arrogant prat, loathed him even. But the kisses, those fondest of touches… they hadn't come from the Malfoy that he hated. Those slightly pink lips were not smirking when they kissed him, his voice was silenced, not drawling and icy, those steeled eyes that so often narrowed with menace were half-lidded and calm when the white-blond head had lowered to meet Harry's lips.
He had already known all this but thinking it, consciously letting the thoughts spill out in full form into the front of mind, was something he hadn't done before. It gave that something in his gut a violent twist and the redness of shame-touched realization crept slowly into his cheeks.
Remembering where he was thanks to a lazy splash of movement from Cedric, Harry gave a toss of his head, pressed his glasses closer to his face, and turned to clamber out of the bath. He had meant to climb out hastily (and he had certainly begun to do so) and snatch his towel from the floor to better conceal himself, but a hand, slick with soap and warm from the heat of the water, clasped his ankle before he was fully out.
The hand tugged, straightening his leg behind him, and Harry was pulled back into the water. He flailed blindly though the hand had released him, beneath the surface of the water, on which he could see the dull shapes of bubbles and the form of someone very near to him.
Harry resurfaced, gasping for the breath that he had lost in thrashing, and wiped the water from his glasses as he looked wildly around for the person that had grabbed him. His eyes focused on Cedric who was much closer than he had been before; the bathroom was still empty otherwise.
Something in Cedric's eyes, something that mirrored the something in Harry's gut, made Harry take a step back, his movements lethargic in the heavy water. 'Why did you do that, Cedric…?' his voice sounded timid and wavering to his ears but it steadied itself in the subsequent echoes.
Cedric moved closer, forcing Harry against the cool wall of the bath, 'I didn't want you to go, just yet.' The reply was simple; that unnamable something that was in the pewter haloes of Cedric's eyes was not apparent in his voice.
Beads of water rolled down from the soaked strands of Harry's hair, slipping into the verdance of his eyes, stinging and burning, but he didn't blink. Cedric's arms had placed themselves on either side of him, gripping the edge of the bath, pulling Cedric closer yet. Harry pressed himself against the wall, 'Why… didn't you want me to leave?' His heart was beating so violently that Harry was surprised not to see a ring of ripples emitting from his chest.
Besieging arms shifted as Cedric's shoulders lifted in a vague shrug, his eyes perusing the dripping features of Harry's face and the rest of him that was visible above the water. 'I think,' he mumbled, his head lowering slightly, 'That you oughtn't have mentioned kissing…' Cedric's full mouth pressed softly against Harry's lips; emerald eyes squeezed shut but Harry couldn't pull away, the wall and Cedric's frame had trapped him and his own limbs seemed reluctant to move.
Cedric moved one hand from the edge of the bath to fondly trace the curve of Harry's neck, lingering over the dip of his collarbone before slinking down along his chest, feeling the contours of his ribs. Harry made a small noise, one intended to be a sound of protest that came out as a stifled, fluttering moan instead, and this seemed to encourage Cedric. The lips pressed more firmly to Harry's which, much to their owner's surprise, responded, pursing against Cedric's smiling mouth, allowing teeth to draw in his bottom lip.
The hand paused just below Harry's navel, doting along the smooth, water-warmed flesh of his abdomen, and that sound, that inexplicable little airy moan escaped Harry's mouth, muffled against the kiss. And then Cedric's lips parted and there was something hot and moving inside of Harry's mouth. Cedric sighed softly through his nose and his fingertips dipped dangerously low; Harry didn't want to pull away, now – his own hands had lifted from the water to timidly peruse the lithe form of Cedric's shoulders.
There was a dull thud as the door of the bathroom closed. Harry's head jerked toward the sound and his hands darted back beneath the water, away from the expanse of Cedric's fair skin. Cedric looked slowly to the door and a smile crossed his features, 'Roger; hey.' His hands slipped away from Harry and he moved enough to allow Harry the room to move, 'You're up late.'
Harry, his eyes round and anxious behind the smudged lenses of his glasses, flickered between Cedric and Roger Davies, the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. Hastily, before Cedric could trap him again, Harry pulled himself out of the water and slid back from the edge, gathering his towel in both arms.
Though Davies had looked somewhat startled when he walked in, he seemed quite comfortable as he slipped into the water, 'Hey, Ced. Yeah – couldn't sleep, you know.' Davies grinned suddenly, pausing alongside one of the faucets, one hand over the knob, his eyes glancing to Harry who was fumbling with the towel, wrapping it around his waist, 'I didn't know you were into Potter.'
Cedric laughed softly, looking up to Harry who was reaching for the golden egg on the ground, 'Yeah, well… Don't tell anyone, will you? I think that's the last thing Harry wants.'
Harry, who had been moving swiftly toward the changing rooms, his face burning scarlet, paused at this. He could still feel Cedric's eyes on him but he didn't look back. Roger's reply echoed through the sound of running water right away, 'Course I won't tell, Ced. I haven't said anything before; I won't now.' There was the sound of rippling water and Harry assumed that Davies had turned to look back at him, 'Good luck with the next task, Potter.'
'Yeah, thanks…' It took a moment for him to find his voice and even then, all he could manage was a hushed sound; Harry risked a glance back at the older boys as he spoke. The rest of Cedric and Roger's conversation was lost behind the door of the changing room.
And there's the fourth installment. Sorry it took so long in getting out there, and again, I promise there'll be more with Draco and his motives, later. I appreciate all the reviews I've gotten so far and would love more. Please submit any questions/flames/concerns/comments; I'm always happy to reply to signed reviews. Thanks for reading. (Just a note, Part Five will be much later in coming out, as I'll be away from my computer for the holidays. The first week of January should bring Part Five with it.)
