Chapter Eleven: It's Such an Inspiration
"We're going to Hogsmeade today!"
"Where's Hogsmeade and why are we going there?" I asked. My old school had never really let us go on field trips before.
"It's a small village just outside the school grounds." said George, kind of reminding me of Hermione and her tendency to sound like a textbook.
"But I don't get it, why are we going?"
Ginny decided to explain their reasoning in greater detail. "We're allowed to go into Hogsmeade every once and a while. It's quite interesting, so I've heard. I've never been, myself."
"You haven't?"
"No. This is the first year I'm allowed. Only third years and up can go."
"Oh, so Lizzy can't come?"
"No, sorry."
"I wouldn't worry too much about her, mate." Fred said, nudging me with his elbow. "I think she's been making friends, herself."
Sure enough, I glanced across the common room to see Lizzy sitting on a red sofa with a first year girl with shoulder length, neatly trimmed black hair and a wide smile on her face, and a boy with wavy blonde hair and a camera in his hand. Lizzy saw me looking at her and waved me over. I hoped that she would introduce me to her new friends, although I doubted they'd get in with our group. "Hi Sara!" She said excitedly. "This is my big sister, Sara." Lizzy told her friends, looking as though she was going to jump out of her own skin. "Sara, these are my friends, Natalie McDonald and Dennis Creevy."
"Hello." They mumbled shyly.
"Nice to meet you." I smiled at them and then looked back at Lizzy. "I've gotta go with Fred, George and Ginny to Hogsmeade now." When her smiling face turned into a slight frown, I added, "Don't worry, I'll get you something."
"Thanks!" she grinned again. "Have fun!"
"You too."
Ginny had left us to spend the day with her own friends, so it left me alone with Fred and George. It may not have been snowing, but everyone was in thick jackets, long pants, and even gloves and scarves. Fred and George were wearing jeans and sweaters, and they each sported a hat that had flaps coming down over their ears, braided wool hanging down from the flaps, and a pompom on top. I had chosen to wear jeans, my usual 'Weird Sisters' hoodie and thin black gloves with a matching thin, wool scarf.
Once we'd stepped into the town, I smiled at the sight. Bright little shops lined the streets and everyone moved quickly in and out of them to get out of the bitter cold.
"Where to first, Fred?" asked George, motioning to the village before us.
"I was thinking Zonko's." Fred smirked.
"So was I."
"What's Zonko's?" I was too late to ask. Fred already had me by the hand as to not lose me, and was tugging me through the crowd to the shop in question. As soon as my nose had begun to lose feeling, we turned into the warmth of a shop and I watched, amused, as Fred and George's faces lit up immensely. The shop was filled with brightly coloured gadgets and warning labels posted on the walls.
"This is Zonko's." George grinned. "It's the best joke shop in the world."
"Joke shop, eh?" I smirked. Of course. Why would they have taken me anywhere else?
"It's such an inspiration." Fred joked, wiping away a fake tear. I had a feeling that he was some truth to his joke, though. I think this shop may had given them the idea to start their own little business up. I'd be lying if I said that I was extremely intrigued by everything in the store, so I waited patiently for Fred and George to have finished having their fun.
"Okay, I'm sensing that you're bored." George said to me as he tried on some kind of novelty hat that changed colour.
"No, I'm fine here."
"No, you're not." Fred pointed out. Literally, he pointed at me. "Where do you want to go?"
"I dunno. What've you got here in Hogsmeade?"
"There's quite a few things, actually." Fred responded. "There's Honeydukes sweet shop and the Shrieking Shack..."
"Let's go to both of those!" I leapt back to life at once. I loved getting scared, and I had quite the sweet tooth.
"Alright," George laughed. "Let's get the story of the Shrieking Shack over and done with first, I don't think it's going to get any warmer outside."
We pushed our way through the small streets packed with people into a small clearing. In the clearing, there was a flat-topped, wooden fence, but it's what was beyond the fence that had caught my eye. Beyond the fence was a small, battered house. Its window shutters were barely hanging onto their hinges and there were many missing shingles from the roof.
"So, why exactly is it called the 'Shrieking Shack'?" I asked, anticipating their scary story.
"Well," George began, putting on a very panic-stricken face to play the part of the terrified storyteller. "It's said that as many witches and wizards have passed this Shrieking Shack, they've heard screaming coming from inside of it." George made his way behind me and gripped my right shoulder. He bent down so his head was level with mine.
"Naturally." I smiled. Was this supposed to be scary?
"But no one has ever seen anyone go into the Shrieking Shack before." Fred gasped, then grabbed my left shoulder and bent down to level with George and I. "No one has ever seen anyone go in, and no one has seen anyone come out."
"They say that something inside the house waits for young witches to come wandering carelessly by..." George's voice seemed to carry off into the distance where the little house was perched.
"And then," Fred continued, his eyes were wide as his sapphire blue orbs gazed uneasily into my brown ones. "The beast that lurks within will come out and eat you!" As Fred shouted his last words, George had forcefully grabbed at my arm. I didn't realize it was him at the time, and I jumped into Fred's arms with a loud squeal. Both twins burst into a fit of laughter, but Fred continued to hug me.
"Gotcha." George smirked, then began to giggle again.
"I wasn't scared!" I protested, my voice being muffled by Fred's jacket.
Fred let me wriggle free and he beamed down at me. "Of course you weren't, you just wanted a reason to get close to this." He pointed to his body and I chuckled.
"Oh yeah, that's definitely it."
"Well I don't know about you two," George said, "but I'm in the mood to go to Honeydukes."
As soon as they saw my face perk up at the thought of being surrounded be sweets, Fred smiled. "Let's go then."
As soon as Fred and George had directed me to Honeydukes, my face must have looked like an eager child's might. I had pushed the door open and ran towards the first shelf I'd seen. There was too many different sweets to focus on for me to really take in my surroundings.
"Someone looks happy." George commented. I ignored him for a box of Chocolate Frogs. "You know Fred, I don't think I've ever seen Sara this exhilarated before."
"Oh, I think I may have." Fred winked at me and then browsed the shelves himself. I wasn't sure if he was talking about the time I'd come back from my night with Cedric or not, but at that point, it didn't matter.
"Are you boys going to get anything?" I asked, both my hands filled with the sugary treats I had intended to purchase. I remembered that I'd promised Lizzy I'd buy her something, so I picked out a few Chocolate Frogs and Liquorice Wands. She preferred the more plain flavours to the exotic ones of Every Flavoured Beans or Blood Lollipops, which were my personal favourites.
They each held up a few boxes of sweets and grinned. "Yeah." Fred said. "It's been a while since I've treated myself." I'd realized over the course of knowing them that the Weasley family wasn't loaded with galleons, but Fred and George seemed better off than Ron or Ginny, thanks to the selling of their homemade merchandise.
The three of us left the warm scents of Honeydukes only to be welcomed by the cool atmosphere of the streets. My long hair had been whipped around quite a bit by the wind, so I tied it back with a single hair tie. As we walked along the crisp, crowded roads, I found that I was shivering slightly. Apparently I wasn't the only one to notice how cold I'd gotten. I quickly wished I'd worn something heavier than my hoodie.
"Sara, are you alright?" Fred asked me. "You look like you're freezing."
"Yeah, it's okay."
"No look, your ears are red. Here, take my hat."
"No, I... Okay, thanks." Fred had removed his hat and carefully pulled it over my head. It was still warm inside having just left its previous wearers head. I knew that I probably looked goofy with the braided wool hanging off the ear flaps and the pompom sitting right on top of my crown, but I really appreciated his generosity. I straightened the ear flaps and smiled up at him.
"Bouncy." He patted the top of the pompom and beamed as his hand sprung up and down easily on the fabric.
We'd been sitting outside for quite a while before I was aware that a tall figure sporting a cream coloured coat was walking towards us.
"Hey there." The speaker was none other than Cedric.
Fred and George clapped him on the back and smiled warmly, but my "Hello Cedric" was very powerless. Although my greeting lacked enthusiasm, it didn't go unnoticed.
"What have you three been up to?" He asked, smirking at our bags. I had two small bags from Honeydukes, but Fred and George each had a few bags from Zonko's.
"Just bought a few things." I explained. "Went to Zonko's and Honeydukes."
"And the Shrieking Shack." George interjected with a sneer.
"Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten?" My voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Dunno." Fred admitted. "We scared the hell out of you."
The three of us began to laugh and Cedric joined in. "Sounds like you had a fun day."
"Yeah."
"I was just wondering," Cedric began hesitantly, "if you two would mind if I stole Sara for the rest of the evening."
"Yeah, go ahead." Fred smiled at me specifically. "Have fun."
I gave him a grateful smile and walked off down the street with Cedric by my side.
"I didn't really get to tell you properly before," I began, "but you were amazing during the first task."
"Thanks." Cedric smiled, but continued to look just ahead of him.
"How are you feeling?"
"Much better." He admitted.
"Good."
He kept moving through the crowd, but took the time to look at what I was wearing. "Nice hat." he smirked.
"Thanks... Oh!" I'd just recollected the fact that I was still wearing Fred's hat. "It's Fred's."
He chuckled. "It looks good on you." I didn't have time to reply, because he had tugged me by the elbow into what appeared to be a small pub. We sat down at a small circular table for two and had to have been sitting for no longer than a minute before a fairly tall witch in teal robes came bustling over to us.
"Welcome to The Three Broomsticks." she said, very routinely. "What can I get you two this evening?"
"Can we get two butterbeers?" Cedric ordered for us.
"Sure, I'll be back in a bit with your drinks."
"Thanks." After the lady had left, I pulled a handful of gold out of my pocket and began to count, but Cedric shook his head. "It's okay, I've got it." Without a word, I put the gold back in my pocket and then crossed my legs.
"Do you understand the clue from the egg yet?" I finally asked.
"No, not yet." He confessed, now looking directly into my eyes. "It's just a bunch of nonsense." There was an inconsiderable silence before he added. "Does Harry have it yet?"
"Not that I know of, no."
"Oh, okay." He seemed a bit more relieved after I told him that.
"So er, have you heard from your dad yet?" I asked, hoping my question wasn't too personal.
"Yeah, he wrote to me the night after I got chosen."
"He must be proud that his son is the Hogwarts Champion." I grinned.
"He is."
"You know," I sighed before taking a big step in admitting the truth to him, "I was really scared for you when you said you were entering your name. But now I know that you're going to be the one to gain eternal glory and win this whole thing."
"Really?" His neutral characteristics turned into cheerful ones and I thought I saw his cheeks start to turn pink. "How do you know that?"
"I just have a feeling."
"Here's your drinks, dears." The witch had returned with a glass of butterbeer for each of us.
"Thanks." Cedric smiled, handed her a few silver coins and she went back to her place behind the bar.
"I'd like to make a toast," I said to an imaginary crowd of people, "to Cedric Diggory: the Triwizard Champion!"
We clinked our glasses together and took a sip, then Cedric smirked and said, "Don't you mean 'Heartthrob and Hogwarts Champion'?" He chuckled as I stopped drinking immediately and my eyes went wide.
"No." I said, sure of my answer. "I meant 'Triwizard Champion'."
"Oh, alright."
"Why?"
"I dunno. I thought I was a heartthrob."
"Says who?"
"Says you."
"I didn't say it!"
"You didn't have to."
It was nearing nine o'clock and we had to get back to the castle before it was lights out.
"If you find out the hint to that egg, let me know, eh?"
"I will." Cedric leaned closer to me. "Goodnight, Sara." He bent his face down to mine and gently touched his lips to my cheek.
I'd woken up in the morning very euphoric from the previous night's events and I was good at keeping the secret right up until I saw Cedric at breakfast that morning with his arm around a Ravenclaw girl's waist.
