Disclaimer: I own nothing...

A/N: Okay, here's the second part of the original chapter 10. Hope you like it!

Beta'd by Ria Binger.

Wish me Luck

Chapter 11

"What?" Cedric stammered, staring at one of his best friends. Scott's eyes flashed in annoyance.

"Granger; you are in love with her," he enunciated slowly, making sure to draw out every syllable. Cedric's blood ran cold. He had known Scott was suspicious of his feelings for Granger since the Yule Ball, and as days passed and he didn't say anything, he got careless.

"What are you talking about?" He hoped he sounded convincingly confused; his only hope now was to play dumb and convince Scott he was imagining things. "Don't be ridiculous! I can't stand her!"

"Don't lie to me, Ced!" Scott demanded in a fierce whisper as Madam Pince stalked past them, sending a warning glance their way. "Wyatt may be blind, but I'm not! I see the way you look at her when you think no one is watching. Every time Wyatt starts mooning over her, going on and on about how beautiful she is and how much he loves her, you look like you're in pain! And don't get me started on how you glare at Krum when you see him with Granger! You look like you're about to jump the guy. People think you disapprove on principal, her being a Hogwarts student and him the Durmstrang champion, but I'm not an idiot. I know you. And when you look at Hermione Granger, there's not even an ounce of disapproval or loathing in your eyes."

"Scott-"

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long have you loved her?" Scott elaborated, drumming his fingers on his legs.

Cedric turned away, keeping his mouth shut.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he insisted, and attempted to walk around his friend.

"Don't bullshit me, Cedric! Either tell me the truth, or I swear to God, I'm going straight to Wyatt and I'll tell him everything I know." Scott threatened, his eyes hard. The betrayal he heard in his friend's words snapped Cedric's self control and determination to remain unaffected and deny anything Scott threw at him.

"Tell him? Tell him what?" He growled, voice thick with emotion. "Will you tell him that I've loved Granger since I saw her in the World Cup but was too foolish to realise it until after I made her my enemy, and she fell for someone else? Or about how my best friend had to fall in love with her for me to pull my head out of my arse, and admit I loved her too? Or how I have to hold onto my feelings every time I see her, because I don't want Wyatt to know I want her too, when all I want is to fall on my knees, and beg her to love me back? Will you tell him that? Go ahead! It doesn't matter anymore! I'll probably lose him as well after this, but hey! I deserve it, right? For falling in love... Ironic isn't it? I tried everything... Everything I could think of to forget her... Yet every night... Every time I close my eyes, all I can think about, all I can dream about is her. Go on; laugh at the irony. Hogwarts' golden boy, the school's heartthrob, has finally fallen for the one girl he can't have. Isn't it that hilarious? I can barely stop my self from laughing!"

Scott just stared at him throughout his speech, eyes wide as he listened to his friend spill his heart finally.

Wyatt was sad.

But Cedric...

Cedric was already broken. Scott could see it in the desperation in his grey eyes, the slight quiver of his voice and the trembling of his hands. How someone could hold so much pain inside him for so long and still act like nothing was wrong?

"Ced-" he started but Cedric cut him off.

"I swear I never intended to fall for her," he whispered, his eyes staring unseeing at him. "I have no idea how it happened; but it did. I tried, I really did, to forget her but its not working... I thought Cho," he exhaled a shaky breath, his hand running through his dishevelled hair, grasping at the ends. "Cho was supposed to help me... But she isn't, and I feel even more of a bastard because I'm using her... And I know it... She's falling for me and I encourage her to, but I can't love her! How can I? It drives me insane, seeing her all chummy with Krum, knowing Wyatt is pining after her, and to have to sit back, bottle up my emotions and pretend all is well. I'm tired Scott. I feel helpless. Wyatt will hate me for this. I can't stop loving her, believe me I've tried – many, many times. I don't know what to do... I just... I want to go back to how I used to be. I want to be as carefree and unaware of her as I was last year. I want my friends not to hate me. I want my nights not to be filled with dreams of her. I want to be able to fucking walk around this castle without worrying I might stumble upon her and her boyfriend kissing because that will break me apart! I want my life back, and most importantly I want my heart back from her!"

"We don't hate you, Ced." Scott placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. Cedric's clouded eyes rose to his. "I didn't know... I thought it was the usual hard to get situation. Wyatt... He may be a problem. He will get mad, but he'll come around. He's not an idiot. He'll know you didn't mean to hurt him... And after all, it's not like Granger will fall for you! She's obviously enamoured with Krum... Oh, shite, sorry!" He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly when his friend looked exasperatedly at him.

"You really suck at consoling others, you know." The blond Hufflepuff huffed, shouldered his bag and started on his way out of the library, Scott close behind him. "Although I have to admit I feel better than now you know about this mess. It's good to have someone to hear me out once in a while."

"Ced," Scott's serious tone made him look over his shoulder at him. "Acting childishly is okay but you do know you have to tell him, right? It's better if you tell him yourself than him finding out by himself."

"I know." Cedric sighed heavily. His hand tightened into a fist. "I will... Soon."

Scott nodded and the two boys left the library, heading back to their common room. Today was a big day and tomorrow promised to be even bigger.

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The following weeks were decidedly less stressful and angsty for the older Hogwarts champion. He could confide in Scott when he felt overwhelmed, and they had many talks about his unrequited love for Granger. Scott was the one who held him back, furiously whispering to him not to do anything stupid in public, when they witnessed Granger lash out at Skeeter in their last Hogsmeade trip. Cedric had been enraged later that evening, taking off in the air in his broomstick for hours, until he calmed down enough to have an intelligent conversation. Worry about what that bint, Skeeter, would do to punish Granger had kept him awake for hours.

The day before the second task was set to take place, Cedric had to admit that Scott knowing of his feelings for Granger, helped him tremendously. It was a relief to have one of his friends to talk to.

In fact, he felt pretty positive that he was getting over his obsession with the Gryffindor Princess, and he felt confident soon he'd regard her as nothing more than a casual acquaintance. Noticeable more relaxed, Cedric dedicated more time to his friends and lovely girlfriend. Cho was thrilled with the extra attention he bestowed on her – after Scott advised him that the better way to get over a girl, was to hook up with another – and they spent a lot of quality time in empty classrooms and broom closets, snogging and exploring each other.

One night, he even invited her back to the den, much to his house mates' surprise. As easygoing and amicable the Hufflepuffs were, Hannah and Susan still gave him the evil eye when Cho showed up with Marietta Edgecombe trailing behind her.

Cedric apologised profoundly, but made the mistake of laughingly asking why the girls hated Marietta so much. The next morning he discovered all his belongings had turned into a lovely shade of Slytherin green, with small black skulls decorations. Hannah and Sue refused to tell him the counter curse until he swore not to bring Marietta back to their common room.

"How are you mate?" Wyatt broke him out of his reverie. The four of them were casually lounging on the top landing of the grand staircase in the first floor, allowing enough space for the other students to trot by. They had a very stressful day with Snape spending half an hour insulting their antidotes, and loudly wondering if he should poison one of them in their next class and have them concoct an antidote to make them take his class seriously.

"Fine, just bored." Cedric ran a hand through his hair, flicking an errant curl out of his eye. A group of third year girls climbing the stairs giggled.

"Jeez Cedric, did you really had to do that?" Scott's amusement was barely concealed.

"Shut up." Ced mumbled, his lips twitching.

"I thought you had plans with Cho today." Percy stated without looking up from his Care of Magical Creatures book.

"I had," he moodily answered Percy's unasked question. "Marietta showed up, and told Cho McGonagall was looking for her."

"That's strange" Wyatt murmured. "Cho's a Ravenclaw, and an exemplary student. Why would McGonagall want to see her?"

"Let's forget about that for a moment. Ced, have you figured out what they have taken from you yet?" Percy asked in a whisper so only they could hear him. The four boys had spent many hours speculating what would be taken from Cedric before the second task. The options were unlimited.

"My broom is safe," he mattered. "And I really don't have anything valuable with me. They wouldn't visit my home, would they?"

"There's a chance they would-"

"Honestly, Fred can't you say anything? Why would she want us this late? Tomorrow is the second task for God's sake! Instead of wasting time, we should be helping Harry!" A very familiar, female voice came from the floor above them before she and her companions started climbing down the stairs.

Cedric's eyes caught Scott's wide ones, his heart beating a tattoo on his ribcage. Before he could get up and race down the stairs, away from her, a new voice startled him.

"Look who we've got here!" The Weasley twins stood looking down on the four Hufflepuffs, identical diabolical smirks gracing their faces.

"The golden boy of Hogwarts! How are you doing Ceddy boy?" One of them smiled pleasantly, plopping down beside Wyatt. The other one remained standing, smirking at them, as his arm wrapped around the slender form of one Hermione Granger. The younger Weasley boy stood just behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

Cedric saw red.

Now she let them touch her so intimately.

The logical part of his brain reminded him that the Weasleys' were practically her family, but the emotional part screamed at him for his utter stupidity, the infamous green monster rearing its ugly head as he tried to reign in his temper.

Before he could speak though – or scream as he was more inclined to do at the moment – Wyatt cut in.

"Hello, Hermione," he politely nodded his head towards her, turning away, but not before they all had seen the hurt flashing in his eyes. Hermione bit her lip and lowered her gaze. The twins exchanged a glance.

"Well-"

"We'd love to stay and chat-"

"But we really must be off!"

"Yeah, kiddies. Minnie wants to see you two yesterday, so we better get going!"

"Wait, McGonagall wants to see you two, too?" Percy asked looking at Granger and the younger Weasley boy.

"Yes; what do you mean by too?" Hermione's melodic voice mellowed his anger and lightened his soul. He involuntary smiled but Scott's elbow digging painfully into his side caused him to groan and glare at him.

"She send for Cho earlier." Percy explained. Hermione frowned.

"Chang? But she's a Ravenclaw! Why would Professor McGonagall want to see her?"

"That's something you can ask her yourself, pumpkin." Fred said as he gently pushed her forward.

"Fred's right! We need to go! Say bye kiddies!" George grabbed his younger brother's arm and pulled him with him down the stairs while Fred gallantly escorted the girl.

"That's strange." Scott murmured. "First Cho, now Granger and Weasley? What's going on?"

Wyatt's eyes stayed glued to ranger until she was out of sight. "That's a question Ced can ask Chang later. Until then, what do you say we try to find out what has been taken from Cedric?"

"Good idea," the other two mumbled and started throwing ideas around but Cedric wasn't listening.

He had a bad feeling about this task. Like he was missing a vital piece of information than was glaringly obvious.

Problem was, he didn't know what he was missing. Both figuratively and metaphorically.

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"Enchanted sleep? Are you kidding?" Ron stammered, going as red as his brilliant carrot hair. He along with Hermione, Cho Chang and a young girl who looked exactly like Fleur Delacour, were sitting in Professor McGonagall's office, staring at Professor Dumbledore bewildered.

Professor McGonagall, Madame Maxime and Igor Karkaroff, who seemed more irate than normally were also present. Karkaroff, Hermione noted, seemed to be glaring at her.

"No, Mr. Weasley, we are not kidding." Dumbledore amusedly answered. "You all know the second task is tomorrow."

After their nod of confirmation, he continued.

"The second task requires our champions to search in the Black Lake for something that has been taken from them, something they'll sorely miss. Only they don't know that that something, is in fact someone. You four are our champions' hostages, the people they'll sorely miss. Each champion shall endeavour to release his/her intended hostage and return to the surface in the allotted time."

A moment of silence followed his short speech, until...

"What?" Cho gasped, eyes wide with shock.

"You four are the champions' treasures, Miss Chang." Dumbledore repeated, ignoring McGonagall's sniff of disapproval. "The champions have to find you under the lake, and rescue you. It's quite simple actually."

Hermione quickly processed this, and almost immediately, her analytical mind sorted champions and their intended hostages.

Cho was obviously Diggory's treasure; everyone knew the two were together. The little girl was Fleur's sister – the similarity between them was just too great – so she was her assigned hostage. As for her and Ron...

Well, it was ridiculously obvious, wasn't it? She doubt Viktor even knew who Ron was. Which kind of explained why Karkaroff was currently glaring a hole through her skull. Apparently he didn't rejoice in finding out his star pupil valued a Muggleborn witch from another school more than anyone else from his own prestigious Institution.

(1)"Madame Maxime, j'ai peur! Que vont-ils me faire?" The little girl suddenly cried out, launching herself at the enormous woman, her cornflower blue eyes wide with panic.

Madame Maxime placed her hands of the girl's delicate shoulder. Her voice was soothing as she addressed the small child.

(2)"N'ayez pas peur jeune fille. Albus est un très puissant sorcier et sait ce qu'il fait. Vous ne serez pas en danger. La deuxième épreuve consiste à ce que Fleur vous cherche et vous sauve au fond du lac. Albus va mettre vous et les trésors des autres champions dans un sommeil enchanté, ainsi vous serez endormie durant toute l'épreuve. Me faîtes-vous confiance Gabrielle? Voulez-vous aider votre sœur?"

(3)"Oui." The little girl nodded, and smiled tremulously at the older woman.

(4)"Alors, n'ayez plus peur." Madame Maxime declared and stood abruptly.

(5)"Je n'ai plus peur. Je vais aider Fleur!" The girl whispered, bringing her small hands to her chest.

(6)"Ainsi soit-il." Maxime smiled. She turned to Dumbledore and gave a decisive nod of her head.

"Lovely!" He clapped his hands and four chairs appeared in front of him. McGonagall ushered the four hostages to a seat each, looking peeved.

The four looked around fearfully.

"Now what?" Ron asked quietly, nervously fiddling with his sleeve as Professor Dumbledore smiled benevolently at them. Instead of answering him, he leaned over and gently tapped Ron on the head with his wand. He was asleep in seconds.

"Wow." Hermione whispered, awed. "I need to learn how to do that!" She felt the wand tap her head, and she fell asleep before she could hear Professor Dumbledore's amused chuckle.

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"Where the hell is he?" Cedric asked for the tenth time. He paced along the lake's shore, constantly craning his neck in an attempt to catch a glimpse of Potter's mop of messy raven hair, but no such luck.

"Cedric! Calm the fuck down!" Wyatt exclaimed outraged. "Worry about you, not Potter. He'll make it, he has Hermione."

Another pang of worry made his heart stutter. He hadn't seen Granger at breakfast, and when he surreptitiously scanned the crowd of students for her trademark bushy hair, he didn't see her. And now Potter was missing. Now that he thought about it, neither the younger Weasley boy, nor Cho were at breakfast...

What the heck was going on?

"Worry later," Scott reminded him, looking pointedly at him, guessing what was troubling him.

"Are you ready, Mr. Diggory?"

Cedric started. And twirled around. Professor Dumbledore, looking solemn, stood behind him.

"Sir, Harry..." He hopelessly looked around, wordlessly urging the headmaster to do something, anything.

"If Mr Potter doesn't show up soon, then I'm afraid he'll be disqualify for the second task and won't be awarded any points. But you mustn't worry about Harry now, Mr Diggory. You need to focus on finding the one you'll sorely miss. Good luck." The headmaster smiled benignly at him, and walked away, joining the rest of the judges near a podium.

Cedric stared after him with a gob-smacked expression on his face and a slightly open mouth.

"What? What is it?" Percy demanded when Cedric paled dramatically.

"The one I'll sorely miss..." He whispered horrified, the events from last night and their full significance letting him breathless. "The one... We were wrong. It's not something... It's someone."

"What?" Scott frowned.

"I'm not supposed to find an object, but a person!" He nearly shouted, embarrassedly close to being hysterical. "Someone, who – Cho! They've taken Cho!" He whispered frantically, hyperventilating.

"What!" The exclamation came from all three fellow Hufflepuffs.

"Are you sure?" Percy asked, paling.

"But past an hour- the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it won't come back." Scott's voice trembled lightly as he recounted the poem.

"Where is Hermione?" Wyatt turned ashen, as his eyes wildly searched for the young Gryffindor, remembering the events of last night.

"No..." Cedric's denial was inaudible, his hands shaking. He felt like he was drowning in despair.

"She's a treasure, isn't she? That's why McGonagall needed her. But-" Wyatt was cut off by the appearance of the missing champion.

"Ah, Mr. Potter is coming finally!" Bagman sounded relieved.

Before Harry arrived, Madam Pomfrey came to shoo the non participants from the arena.

"Good luck, Ced." Percy wished him half heartedly.

"Keep an eye out for her, please." Wyatt begged unnecessarily.

Cedric didn't say it, but he planned to keep both eyes open for Hermione. He wouldn't rest until he had her in his arms, knowing beyond a doubt that she was safe and healthy.

"Focus on finding Cho, mate." Scott's warning reminded him that Cho was his girlfriend, his treasure, not Granger. He nodded in the affirmative, not really intending on rescuing his girl.

Hermione was in danger and as far as he was concerned everyone else be damned.

The next few minutes were a blur as Potter arrived, panting, and they were shoved toward the lake, positioned in regular intervals along the shore, and he heard Bagman explaining the task to the audience, but he didn't really pay attention.

The second the whistle sounded, he was running, expertly if not a bit mechanically casting the Bubble Head charm around his head, ensuring a sufficient supply of oxygen for his underwater search and he elegantly dove in the freezing water, his goal firmly in his mind.

Wait up, Granger. I'm coming...

A/N: The lovely Lisia helped me with the translations from English to French. So this and the next chapter are dedicated to her!

(1) Madame Maxime I'm scared! What are they going to do with me?

(2) Don't be scared little one. Albus is a very powerful wizard and knows what he's doing. You are not in any danger. The second task requires Fleur to find and rescue you from the bottom of the lake. Albus will put you and the rest of the champions' treasures under an enchanted sleep, so you will be asleep through out the entire ordeal. Do you trust me Gabrielle? Do you want to help your sister?

(3) Yes.

(4) Then don't be afraid.

(5) I won't. I'll help Fleur!

(6) So be it.