Author's Note: First, thank you for still reading! Second, please don't be mad with me! I cried writing it; however, for the story that I want to tell – this is a necessary evil and there is a point to it. A very big point! Also, nothing should be considered final until this story is marked complete. If you want a Harry/Cedric fic, read Soul Magic.

Also, do not fear: Umbitch will get hers in a most delicious way.

Posted 8/2/15

Standard disclaimer about not owning anything; I am so thankful for JKR and all that she did for us. She gave us one of the greatest gifts, and so many people have taken to this site and played brilliantly with her creation. We should have a JKR day and it should be a global holiday!

Remus was watching the scene before him with great interest; for it truly was a wondrous thing to witness how being a parent changed someone. He had fully expected Sirius to try and spoil the kid rotten or treat him like a younger version of James; but here he was, patiently and expertly explaining the theory behind organizing the mind to Harry, who was quickly absorbing and processing the information.

'With Sirius teaching this level of magic so effectively, Harry could have learned the Patronus Charm in a single session.' He shook his head at the thought and continued observing the session.

"Now, Harry, remember what we discussed. I am going to give you some time to put your thoughts together, and I want you to focus on how my presence inside your mind makes you feel. Don't worry about images or memories that I may see; I won't be looking for them. This exercise is getting you used to a foreign presence so that you can learn the types of defenses that best work for your mind as you learn how to keep someone out. In the future, we can move onto surprise attacks when you already have something in working order. The best Occlumens are able to throw off an attack without the Legilimens knowing that the person suspects, and for that to happen, you need to really learn how your mind works. Ergo, the basics."

Sirius paced around Harry as he said this since Harry hadn't been quite comfortable learning how to clear his mind and then organized it while sitting down. He found that it was easier for him if he was on his feet and moving around. Sirius didn't care what position he was in as long as he learned it.

"You know, that makes so much more sense when described that way than in the books," Harry replied.

"Sometimes, I feel like the beginner texts describe things expecting you to already know what they are talking about."

Both adults shook their heads, more or less agreeing with how ineffective magical education could be since the majority of teaching books were never updated to reflect current or improved understanding.

Harry centered himself, finding it easier to slip into his mindscape the more that he practiced. He preferred to think of it as the night sky: a deep, dark color with wondrous lights that meant he was free and nowhere near Privet Drive anymore. The stars represented his memories, each bright point denoting one unique experience that he had had. Some were brighter or a specific color based on the importance or topic of what it contained, and he used his own constellations to group like thoughts together. All he had to do to access an individual memory was reach out and touch that specific star with his finger, but the intriguing thing that he had just started to play with was organizing the order of the stars within each constellation to know what they were without having to pick one at random. It was hard work and took time, but he was confident that he could finish in a few months.

After a little while inside his mind, he began to notice a foreign presence. It wasn't an overt feeling; it was subtle and when he looked up at the night's sky of his memories, a dark shape that passed before them obscured some of the stars. He reached out to grab it and push it out of the way because it was ruining his view when he realized it was Sirius trying to infiltrate his mind. That sudden awareness gave him pause and made him think.

'What am I supposed to do now?' he wondered. Not having discussed what would happen when they got to this point, Harry improvised and did the only thing he could think of. Only, instead of using his wand to produce light, he used a flashlight to bath the dark cloud in a bright light, bringing its motion to a halt and causing it to recede from his mindscape. Sirius' retreat from Harry's mind caused him to loose focus and he soon followed.

It was a bit disconcerting returning from one's own mind. There was a strong feeling of disorientation as if you had just woken up from a dream, but in Harry's case, he was standing and Sirius and Remus were talking to him.

"That was interesting, pup." Sirius called, slightly surprised with Harry's use of a muggle devise.

"Certainly will throw someone for a loop who has never left the wizarding world."

"That was my thought," Harry replied while rubbing his temples slightly. All of his increased focus lately tended to ware him out as he got used to thinking more and at a much faster rate.

"I didn't even notice you enter," Harry stated, picking up a glass of pumpkin juice and taking a deep draft.

"That can happen in the beginning. Along with losing track of time in there," Sirius added. "The more that you become used to it, the easier it is to transition back and forth until you get to the point where accessing your mindscape can almost be done subconsciously."

Sirius then sipped his own butterbeer, preferring not to indulge in a more potent brew until they were finished.

"You are making tremendous progress though. I like how you are organizing everything, I assume the stars are your memories?" He asked, wiping a faint trace of sweat from his brow.

Harry nodded. It was encouraging for him to move at a quick pace and continuing his recent trend.

"A few more months and I really think you will be able to keep anyone out, and if by some chance they do manage to get in, I doubt they will find anything. Good work, pup," Sirius smiled at him.

"Thanks, Sirius," Harry called out after finishing his drink.

"Now, why don't you head to bed? Tomorrow is a big day with your birthday and all and we will be heading over to The Weasleys just before lunch."

Harry was excited and looked forward to his first birthday with his friends. He didn't care about the party that they were having; he really just looked forward to spending a fun day playing quidditch and taking a break from his studies. Ron had told him that Bill and Charlie would be there, and with Cedric coming too – which was a whole other reason of something to look forward to – there would be enough for a decent number of players when you added in Fred and George, Ginny, and possibly even Sirius or Remus.

Harry said goodnight to Sirius and Uncle Remus who was visiting them now but would be moving into Grimmauld Place when Harry returned for his fifth year to keep Sirius company in the big house.

When Harry was gone, Remus turned to Sirius who was pouring both of them a generous portion of brandy.

"I don't think I have ever seen him so Happy, Sirius. I wish James and Lilly could see this." He replied, accepting the drink and taking a small sip.

"I know, it seems things are finally getting better for him. You know, I don't want to give away his secrets, but I think a lot of it has to do with a new relationship. And since you will find out tomorrow, well..."

"Oh," Remus raised an eyebrow and took a seat next to his old friend.

"I was waiting for when Hermione and him would get together."

Sirius chuckled and shook his head.

"No," he said, a huge grin plastered on his face, curious to see if Remus would get it.

"Hmm. Ron?" he ventured hesitantly?

"Ha Ha!" Sirius nearly spit out his drink.

"Will they be there tomorrow?" Remus asked, intent on figuring this out.

Sirius nodded, knowing Remus was quickly narrowing down his choices.

"Cedric?" he said triumphantly, thinking that he was the only new person among Harry's friends.

Sirius nodded.

"Are they now…" Remus said more to himself than to Sirius. A content look was in his eyes.

"Well, I hope he makes him happy. To Harry," Remus toasted.

"To Harry," Sirius concurred.


The next morning didn't come quickly enough in Harry's opinion and he quickly got dressed and ready for the day. He bounded down the stairs and entered the kitchen, looking forward to having friends and family to share the day with. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Cedric there.

"Cedric!" he squeaked, still not finding it in him to move towards the older boy who was seated at the table with Remus and Sirius.

Sirius turned to him.

"This is your first birthday present, Harry. I thought you two could have the morning until we went over to The Weasleys together."

Cedric got up and went over to hug him, giving him only a chaste kiss on the cheek because of the present company but not letting go of his hand as he led Harry back to the table. Kreacher had prepared all of his favorites and they soon dug in.

During the meal, full of lighthearted and good-natured conversation, Remus couldn't help but agree with Cedric as being part of the cause of Harry's sheer and overwhelming joy. It nearly caused him to be overcome with emotion knowing some of the trials and tribulations that Harry had been through. There was such ease between the two and Remus thought they had a very good foundation for the future.

After breakfast, Remus and Sirius each gave Harry a present. Remus had prepared a book on defense for him that he had gone through and written down his own suggestions with. He told Harry that it would be a companion piece to what he would be taught in his O.W.L. year.

Harry had thought it was the perfect gift for him and liked that it hadn't cost Remus too much.

Sirius had given Harry a copy of his will, which made Harry very uncomfortable until Sirius had pointed out the reason.

"Look there, Harry, the first line."

Harry was stunned.

"You made me your heir, your legal heir… of The Blacks?" Harry didn't know what to say: it was the closest he would ever get to having a dad.

"I love you like you are my own, Harry. I'm not trying to replace James or Lily, but I just wanted you to know what you mean to me. I figured it would be better here than at the Burrow, you know?" He said, trying hard not wipe at his eyes which had suddenly gotten a little misty.

"It's perfect," Harry hugged him fiercely. "Thank you."

Cedric and Remus gave them a little privacy and entered in a side discussion on what Cedric's plans were for his winnings of the Triwizard Tournament.

Soon, Harry and Sirius returned to the main conversation before telling Harry that he and Remus needed to make some last minute work before they headed over.

"Why don't you and Cedric go into the library?" He suggested.

Once they had left the kitchen, Remus turned to Sirius.

"What do we have to do?"

"Nothing, I just figured they should have some alone time before the rest of the day. I don't think they plan on taking this public anytime soon."

Remus just stared at Sirius like it was a completely different person.

"When did you get so sensitive to other people's needs?" He asked.

Sirius shook his head and a warm smile slowly appeared on his face.

"When I started putting someone else's needs before mine," He replied.

Remus just patted him on the shoulder and went to retrieve another round of tea for the two as they caught up on other events.


Harry led Cedric over to the couch that was slightly out of view of the door leading into the room. He had no intention of being surprised like the last time.

Before any words were said, a volley of kisses started with almost no hint of rush or desperation. They were getting more comfortable with this physical aspect of their relationship.

"Mhmm," Cedric breathed, breaking the kiss and moving to rest his cheek against Harry's forehead.

Harry savored Cedric's scent and didn't complain when Cedric turned his body slightly so that they were now seated on the couch with their knees touching and Cedric still holding onto his hands.

"Now, I got you a present as well," Cedric began as he let go of one of Harry's hands before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a small box.

He gave it to Harry, slightly nervous and hoping that it wouldn't be too weird.

"Cedric, you didn't have to get me anything," Harry stated. He released Cedric's hands and unwrapped the black box and opened it.

"A ring?" Harry asked, confused at what it meant but appreciating the intricate design. He had never worn jewelry before and this particular design didn't seem like something that he saw a lot of others wearing – not that he tended to notice those things.

"It's not what you think," Cedric quickly put forth and lifted the ring from the box and presented it to Harry.

"It's a Claddagh ring," Cedric began to fill Harry in on what it meant.

"The crown represents loyalty, the hands indicate friendship, and the heart symbolizes, well, you know. At the very least, I want us always to be friends. It's part of a traditional Irish custom from my dad's side of the family. If you wear it on the right hand, and with the heart pointed towards you, well it means you belong to someone. So, I guess what I am asking, is will you make being my boyfriend official, between us at least? You don't have to wear it if it makes you uncomfortable," he added quickly realizing that this could have either gone really bad or really good. He was taking a chance here and didn't want to freak Harry out.

But Harry interrupted him, "I love it." His cheeks were red and his emerald eyes were shinning with a light from within.

"I don't mind wearing it at all, and yes to your question," he said and let Cedric place it on his finger. It was more comfortable than he expected and it was small enough to not be too obvious. But even if it were, it wasn't uncommon for many of the other boys at Hogwarts to wear family rings. Harry was glad that it wouldn't make him stand out even more, and it was something that Cedric had given him so that he could constantly remind himself that this was real.

Harry showed his appreciation with a kiss that started off very sweetly but picked up speed and progressed to a point that they both felt comfortable with.

However, both were more conscientious this time about someone walking in on them, even if they weren't doing anything that shocking, and soon ended up cuddling and continuing one of their conversations from earlier. Harry was intrigued with O.W.L.s and was picking Cedric's brain on what his experiences had been; Harry had every intention of seeing how well he could do this year.


Molly Weasley had settled on having a late afternoon feast instead of needing to provide two separate meals. Though, she did plan on having an array of desserts for later, so in some ways she really was planning for two either way.

Regardless of the technicalities, the food was scrumptious and everyone helped themselves to a generous amount of helpings; however, most would need a few minutes of peaceful relaxation before they could move around again.

Once everyone had begun to digest some of the food, a few presents were handed out. Hermione had, of course, given Harry some books – and slyly managed to include a calendar with important study timelines for O.W.L.s already filled in. Meanwhile, Ron had continued his trend of giving Harry another book on quidditch, while Molly gave him plenty of treacle tart to take home with him. It was relaxing and exactly how Harry had wanted to spend his birthday.

At first, Cedric had felt a little overwhelmed, having never before experienced a family of this size. Most of his family events were quite small and there were never more than two children – and none acted quite The Weasleys did.

But he was soon talking to Fred and George, who were thanking him for making them quite a bit of money in the tournament. Cedric had told them that it was his pleasure for surviving, and then they began a more earnest discussion about their upcoming N.E.W.T.s.

Harry was engaged with Hermione and Ron, both of whom had noticed how relaxed Harry was considering everything that had so recently happened.

"Harry?" Hermione caused him to look at her.

"Yeah?" he responded, lying on his back under a tree and absentmindedly playing with this new ring and rubbing his thumb over it.

"It's nice seeing you so happy for once," she commented, careful with her choice of words.

"Especially considering that, well, You-Know-Who is back and everything. You really seem like you have grown, in a very good way, since the end of last year."

Harry rolled onto his side to get a better look at her, and propped his head up with his hand.

"Well, I do feel different."

Ron raised his head so that all three were a part of this.

"And I think it is partly because of being just so used to everything we have done before that the thought of him being back just doesn't seem as overwhelming as it should. You know?"

They nodded, agreeing that it was something in the back of their minds that they had been kind of expecting to happen, even if they couldn't explicitly put it into words. Their lives had been pretty eventful when one thought about it.

"And I guess I changed after seeing my mum. Now I have this great memory of her, and I feel more at ease. Of course, not being at The Dursley's is certainly a plus, and living with Sirius has been fantastic. It just finally feels like I am part of a family." He put his head back down and moved onto his back, soaking up the warmth and the feel of the grass on his bare feet. He didn't want to get into the business about the scar yet as he didn't have anything further to add.

"Anything else?" Hermione asked, feeling like all of them were great reasons for him to be so happy, but not quite believing they were the only things. Often, she would notice that something was out of sorts but then it would take her some careful contemplation until she could finally put her finger on it.

'No matter,' she thought in a rare moment of not caring that she hadn't figured something out. She was just so happy for her friend that she didn't care about the reason.

Ron knew though, it was oddly something that he had noticed when Harry had shown up with Sirius, Remus, and Cedric. It just clicked into his brain when he saw how they were looking at each other when they didn't think anyone else was looking. He supposed he had picked up on it after several discussions with his older brother, Charlie, on what he had dealt with in coming out and how heavy into secrecy his first few relationships had been. Plus, thinking about Harry distracted him from his newfound awareness that Hermione was growing into a woman, a very beautiful woman. Or maybe she had always been beautiful and he just hadn't realized it until now – he didn't think she looked any different.

At any rate, Ron didn't care. Harry, his friend, his first true friend, had more reason than most to be happy and he didn't care in the slightest if Harry was with a guy. He just didn't want to be around when Ginny found out.

"I saw the planner Hermione, I'm surprised you aren't ready for O.W.L.s now. " Harry teased his friend slightly.

"Well, they are one of the most important things we will ever do. I mean, they will determine what classes we can continue with, which decides which N.E.W.T.s that we can take, and ultimately, what careers we can have. We should have started ages ago."

Harry and Ron couldn't help it: they started laughing.

"Yep, she's ready for them," Ron chided.

"I don't know how many Os she will get though; as of right now it doesn't look good. There could possibly be an E thrown in and then life as we know it is ruined."

"Ha. Ha." She retorted, used to their antics and thinking of how far they had come from actually meaning what they said. Their next comment proved it.

"I have something that will make you happy, Hermione. I've already gotten my fifth year books, have already started looking at them, and reviewed years one through four. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do this year."

"But… I haven't even gotten mine yet." She stuttered.

The old Ron would have thought that both of them had gone off the deep end, well, that Harry had followed Hermione off of the deep end. However, he really was turning over a new leaf.

"I hate to say this Hermione, but we got our books as well. I know the letter hasn't come yet, but my parents have been through this enough to know what books we will need."

Hermione could just stare at the pair of them.

"What have I turned you boys into?" She jokingly mocked.

"Tis a shame," Ron lamented. "We had such bright futures."

They couldn't hold it in anymore and they all started gasping for air with their hands clutched to their stomachs, tears pouring down their cheeks.

When the giggle fits wore off, and their stomachs finally emptying from all of the food they had stuffed in there, they got together in the large field next to their house and drew up quidditch teams.

Harry and Cedric refused to be seekers, each wanting to play a different spot. Fred and George felt the same and volunteered their services as chasers, though in the end, each team had three chasers and a goalie. No one had really wanted to deal with beaters or a snitch in a friendly game. Remus and Sirius had preferred to remain with Molly and Arthur and watched the events from the sideline, each with their own adult beverage.

The game carried on as the sun started to go down, and then Molly called the game, beckoning them to come inside to get washed up before dessert.

Charlie and Bill were the first to put their brooms away and were walking ahead with Fred and George. Ginny had made a beeline to the house to freshen up before the boys destroyed the bathroom.

Hermione and Ron were walking alongside Harry and Cedric when it happened. The temperature suddenly dropped and Harry started to feel sick. His knees gave out from under him as a faint pleading of help entered his mind. Cedric was also feeling the effects but had managed to catch Harry and was supporting him as Hermione and Ron were huddled close together, both with looks of abject horror on their face.

"Dementors," Harry gasped, causing looks of realization to wash over the faces of the others.

Even as he said it, a hooded figure descended upon Ron and Hermione and Harry gathered his courage and forced his mind to relive that laugh he had shared with his friends under the tree only a few hours ago.

He separated from Cedric and pointed his wand directly at his friends.

"Expecto Protronum," he roared.

A luminous stag erupted from the tip and galloped to his friends, driving off the menacing creature and standing guard over them.

But Harry was confused and could still feel the Dementor's effects even though he had just driven the creature away - when his heart sank…

"Harry," a voice rattled behind him.

Harry whipped around, briefly locking eyes with Cedric before they glossed over and a Dementor put his hands on Cedric's shoulders, obscuring him from view.

With every fiber in his being he willed his white stag over to Cedric, his boyfriend, as fast as it could fly.

Behind them, Sirius and Remus were leading the charge from the house and the protonuses of Bill, Charlie, Remus, and Sirius were cast and running at the group, though still at a distance.

The Dementor was thrust aside by Harry's stag, but not before extracting the last bit of what it had desired to collect.

Heat and color returned to Harry's face as he rushed at Cedric, screaming his name.

"Cedric! Cedric," Harry called, his hands connecting with Cedric's shoulders in Harry's attempt to wake him.

"No, please. Please!" He cried out into the night, knowing the horrible truth of what happened but not wanting to recognize it. Not able to recognize it. His head sank onto Cedric's chest and his world crumbled into blackness.

Hermione stood, frozen besides Ron, making a heartbreaking realization that nearly split her own chest in two. Ron's hand slipped quietly into hers and she grabbed it with all of her might.

Sirius was the first to reach them, out of breath, and his wand still being held in a defensive manner.

He saw Harry sobbing into Cedric's still form, whose chest still rose and fell.

"What happened?" he asked, simply unwilling and unable to process the scene before him; his mind entering into shock.

"Cedric's been kissed," Hermione stated numbly, turning towards Ron for comfort and burying her head into his neck; she couldn't stand the sight of such grief being stricken on her best friend.

An awful memory stirred in Charlie, and he fell onto his knees, his eyes full of sorrow as he watched Harry pass out from exhaustion.

So… that happened. Again, it may not be what you think – and I did say this was going to be a Harry/Charlie fic.

Heh heh, thoughts?