A/N: So Chapter 10! It was kind of cool to write with a French accent, and you'll see what I mean later in this chapter. I also bring in another Lost character, but to those of you who don't watch Lost, that won't mater, as I have said before to prevent confusion, it won't matter if you don't watch Lost, because I don't heed Lost canon at all, and it's not a crossover, I just am borrowing the characters. I don't think I have much else to add, so here it is!
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine, except for Celia and Mick, in which case, they are.
Chapter 10:
How about six?
The next day, Celia marched over to the twins, very angry.
"What the bloody hell are you on about? You said you wouldn't tell anyone!" she shouted at them.
"Who, us?" George asked innocently.
Celia scowled at them, and they forgot their innocent faces.
"Alright, well, obviously it was us," Fred said, his voice bland at first, as if stating the obvious, "but you couldn't expect us to not tell Aaron, I mean, family doesn't keep secrets," Fred smiled, as if they were perfectly within their reason to do what they did.
"But you didn't tell Aaron! You told everyone but him and let the gossip just spread around Hogwarts!" she shouted, "And I'm family too! Shouldn't family keep family's secrets?" she asked.
George shrugged.
"Sorry Ceel, but all too soon you will learn that there are no secrets in the Weasley family."
"For instance," Fred began, grabbing Ron around the shoulders as Ron walked by and roping him into the conversation, "Ron wet the bed 'till he was thirteen," he said with a grin.
Ron's face turned bright red.
"Why did you tell her that? I thought we weren't going to tell anyone that!" Ron flushed.
"Sorry Ron," George replied again.
"But there are no secrets in the Weasley family," Fred finished.
It was surprisingly easier for Celia and Cedric once their relationship was out in the open and all of Hogwarts knew. They did not have to sneak around anymore, but they did still have to be careful how affectionate they were around Aaron; he still was none too thrilled with the idea of his quidditch team captain and close friend dating his little sister. So the next month was good, with the exception of a few passing arguments with Aaron.
Near the end of October, when Celia and the rest of her Hufflepuff friends were coming down the staircase for lunch from Transfiguration, they saw a sign posted at the foot of the staircase. It read:
Triwizard Tournament
"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o'clock on Friday the 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early – students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast."
As Celia and her friends made their way through the crowd, they saw Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
"Only a week away!" Ernie exclaimed, "I wonder, does Cedric know?" he looked at Celia. She shrugged.
"I don't know," she replied.
"Think we should tell him?" Ernie asked Celia.
"Yeah, I'll tell him at lunch if he hasn't seen it," she smiled.
"Cedric?" said Ron blankly.
"Diggory," Harry said, "I guess he's entering the tournament."
"That idiot, Hogwarts champion?" Ron scowled.
Celia, Ernie, Hannah, and Justin had joined Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Celia glared daggers at Ron, who blushed furiously.
"I mean, he'll do brilliantly! Good luck to him!" Ron hastened to add, just to get Celia and the rest of the Hufflepuffs, but mostly Celia, to stop giving him death glares.
Hermione and Harry shook their heads at Ron's desperate attempt to get himself out of the hole he dug himself into.
At lunch, Celia took her seat next to Cedric.
"So, did you see the sign they put up today?"
"No, what sign?"
"The sign in the Entrance Hall, about the Triwizard Tournament. It says that the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are coming in a week," she explained.
"Excellent, the Tournament should be starting soon!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"So you're really going to enter?" she asked.
"Yeah, it sounds great," a grin spread slowly across his face as he realized something, "Are you worried about me?"
Celia blushed.
"Well, I mean, well, yeah," she smiled.
His grin grew even more.
"Don't be. I'll be fine," he put his arm around her.
"Just don't hurt your pretty face," she said jokingly, patting him on the side of his face.
The week passed quickly, and soon the students were leaving their classes to greet the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The teachers were putting the students into lines, and they fidgeted impatiently in the cool evening air. Celia was standing next to Aaron.
"Do you think she'll come?" Celia asked Aaron.
"I would think so, I'm sure Danielle would practically insist on it. She's 17, so…" Aaron replied.
"Yeah, I suppose. I don't know, she hasn't mentioned it in any of her letters, I would have thought, you know, knowing her, she would be itching to talk about it…"
"Well, I guess we'll find out soon," Aaron replied, pointing at the sky, where a large… something was drawing closer to the castle.
Students were shouting guesses as to what the object might be that was flying towards them, until it drew close enough to tell that it was a very large horse-drawn carriage. It crashed to a landing, and as the students followed their Headmistress out of the carriage, Celia and Aaron craned their necks to see over the crowd to try to find who they were looking for. Finally Celia spotted her.
"There!" she nudged Aaron and pointed at a girl with long brown hair in the queue of students.
The pair of them waved, and as the girl passed, she saw them and waved energetically back.
The Beauxbatons students followed Madame Maxime into the Entrance Hall, while the Hogwarts students waited for the Durmstrang students.
Finally they arrived, and many of the students had such a reaction to Viktor Krum that Celia scoffed.
"Krum doesn't do it for you?" Cedric asked, moving away from his space in line that the teachers had put him at towards Celia and Aaron.
"No, I like you better," she smiled as Cedric put his arm around her. Aaron looked away uncomfortably.
Finally the Hogwarts students processed inside, and took their seats at their respective tables. The feast commenced. Once the feast was finished and Dumbledore had explained the remaining rules of the tournament, the large mass of people processed out into the Entrance Hall, Celia and Aaron especially eager to get to the Beauxbatons party. Out in the Entrance Hall, they, Cedric in tow, rushed over to the girl whom they had waved at when she arrived.
"Alex!" Celia cried, dropping Cedric's arm and throwing her arms around the girl. The girl shrieked with excitement when she saw Celia and Aaron, and once Celia let go of her, she hugged Aaron as well.
"Ceelia, Aaron, eet eez soo good to see you again, I only just got you lettair before we left, Ceelia" Alex spoke with a French accent.
"We've missed you! And you're here! You're 17! You're competing! You're mum must be thrilled!" Celia exclaimed.
"Yes, she eez vairy excited about zee competition. Of course, she was disappointed zat she could not compete when she was in school 'erself," Alex laughed. She spotted Cedric. "And 'oo eez zis?" she smiled at Celia, "eez zis…" her voice trailed off, a grin spreading across her face as she realized who he was.
Celia grinned.
"Yeah, this is Cedric," she blushed, "Cedric, this is Alex. Her mum and our parents are friends, so we've grown up together. She goes to Beauxbatons, obviously."
Aaron looked at Celia in a frustrated manor.
"Great, so you've told Alex, but you didn't bother to tell your own brother that you and Cedric were dating."
"Well, I 'ave known for a long while," Alex added.
"But what have you known? We've only been dating a few months now," Cedric asked, looking quizzical.
"Yes, but before zat, well, you should 'ave 'eard 'er talk about you last year, on and-"
"Alex, don't you have to go back to the carriage now?" Celia cut across quickly.
Alex smiled.
"Ahh, so 'ee does not know. Well, starting last year, Celia 'ad quite zee crush on you," she explained to a Cedric who looked rather pleased with himself.
"Did she now?" he responded, grinning ear to ear.
"Really think we ought to be off to bed," Celia said.
"Well, it was very nice talking to you, Alex," Cedric said, elated.
"Eet was nice to finally meet zee famous Cedreec Deegory. From what Ceelia 'as told me, I believe zat we will 'ave some classes togezzair. Maybe I will get to tell you more about Ceelia," Alex said, rather enjoying her playful torment of her friend.
"Please don't," Celia asked quietly.
"I am so 'appy to see you two again," she said, addressing Celia and Aaron, before pulling them both into a hug, "Good night."
Alex strode off onto the grounds towards the Beauxbatons carriage. Cedric looked extremely pleased with himself as the three of them headed towards the Hufflepuff common room. Aaron peeled away from them in search of his 5th year friends.
"So, you've liked me since last year, have you?" Cedric, still grinning widely, asked.
"Oh nooo, yes, please don't pick on me," she blushed.
"Why? I think it's sweet," he wrapped his arms around her as they stopped walking, standing in the basement corridor.
"What? That I talked about you incessantly last year?"
"Yes." He grinned. "I'll have you know that I have fancied you for quite some time."
"What, you mean starting two months ago?"
"How about six?"
Celia grinned.
"Really? Did… does that mean you fancied me when I went on my date with Seamus?" she asked as they continued to walk again.
"Maybe," he replied, looking away, a smile on his face.
"Why Mr. Diggory, were you jealous?"
He looked at her.
"Only enough to make me want to hex him every time he walked by," he grinned.
The next day was Saturday, but Celia still got up relatively early, she and Hannah had wanted to watch people put their names in the Goblet. They made their way into the Entrance Hall, where they watched the Durmstrang students file in and submit their names. A short while after, more students came by to put their names in the Goblet. Cedric and Mick emerged from the stairway down to the basement, along with the rest of the 6th year boys. They pushed Cedric forward, shouting, "Go on!" and "Put it in!" Cedric drew a piece of parchment from his pocket and dropped it into the Goblet.