Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm now finished my one exam so I'll be able to update more. I'm currently on holiday in Adelaide and my fiance is doing uni work so I thought I'd squeeze in an update before the concert tonight.

In response to the reviews:

ForeverTeamEdward: Thanks for the kind words :) hope you enjoy this one.

xArchMage: The Yule Ball is indeed coming, and it will indeed be very dramatic. I've been excited to write about it since I started this story and now it's coming very shortly, I'm very keen!

grueneHimbeere: Thanks for your lovely review! I really appreciate it.

Guest: As always, thank you so much. You know much I always appreciate your reviews, and it's so lovely you'd wait so you'd have the time to write such a lengthy one. I hope your commitments are lightning up too - how's your cert going?


Vicki found herself waiting outside the Greenhouses on a fairly cool Autumn's night. After writing to Bagman the previous week he informed her that he'd once again be attending Hogwarts for tournament duties. Vicki wrote back informing him she'd make sure this time she were available and she later joked to Fred and George they weren't allowed to grow beards again to ruin the plan.

"Psst, Vicki. How much longer is this going to take? It's cold and I don't want last dibs on dinner." Fred whinged in a loud whisper, coming from around the other side of the greenhouse.

"I don't know, he said they should be done by five thirty but it's now six fifteen, so clearly they're running late weighing the wands." Vicki snapped, she wasn't annoyed at Fred but rather just in a bad mood at being left waiting in the cold by someone not worth waiting for.

Vicki had accompanied Cedric to the weighing of the wands, as Bagman had once again requested she be there but Vicki knew she needed to look inconspicuous about it. Fleur Delacour was unhappy about Vicki's presence when she arrived with Cedric and even shot a dirty look when Rita Skeeter rushed over and shot questions in a panic towards Vicki, asking if her and Cedric were teenage sweethearts, Bagman's head also shot up at this line of questioning.

Vicki being quite clever saw an opportunity rise at that point. Fleur and Cedric had formally met before then – the night they were chosen as champions. But as a close friend of Cedric and a loose friend of Fleur's she felt a strongly suggestive introduction between the two champions was the right move. It was a small kind gesture to Fleur – but it was really more of a favour to Cedric.

Whilst Cedric had been good natured about Harry Potter being chosen as a second Hogwarts champion, when Vicki was alone with Cedric she could read between the lines and see deep inside he was a bit miffed about it. Vicki believed he wasn't annoyed for personal reasons but was annoyed for the strong feelings he had towards his school house. This was due to the fact the Hufflepuff house were once again overshadowed, to add insult to the injury it was by the house (Gryffindor) that had received all the glory for the last few years. Therefore if Vicki could start a rumour for a great story involving a possible romance flowering between two champions it would take some of the attention away from Harry and back onto Cedric – which Vicki knew would be helping Harry too as the bullying had intensified, people were now wearing horrible badges saying "Potter Stinks" alongside messages of support for Cedric.

As Cedric and Fleur began to chat Vicki stepped away and waved to catch Rita Skeeter's attention, nodding her head towards Cedric and Fleur. Rita seemed interested but before she could get her photographer to take a photo or jot some notes down Harry stepped in and Rita suddenly couldn't care less about the other champions, grabbing Harry and shoving him into a broom cupboard.

Vicki wanted to speak up and make an inappropriate joke about the older woman sneaking into a cupboard with a very underage Harry but she realised no one was left to speak to – Fleur and Cedric were very much submerged in conversation. So she quickly rushed over to Bagman to make plans with him to meet her at the Greenhouses once they had finished weighing the wands. The Greenhouses would be deserted come dinner time so it was a good place for Vicki and Bagman to 'talk' and have the twins ambush him moments later.

She luckily made her last class in time which was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Moody was still making them all sit in the same spot each class, Vicki now thought it was less about teaching the class about 'constant vigilance' (If he were a cartoon character that would be his catchphrase) and more about his paranoia and mitigating risks – by knowing exactly where each student would sit every lesson. Vicki didn't mind about the arrangement. It meant she got to sit in a row each lesson with Fred, George and Lee. So therefore she was easily able to make plans with the twins about heading to the greenhouses after the lesson to wait for Bagman, which is how she got herself stuck in the cold waiting for someone she did not care for, in the company (almost) of those she did.

"Hello?" The twins and Vicki heard an older male call out nearby.

Vicki used a hand for each twin and shoved them around the corner. The last thing Fred saw before he disappeared out of sight was Vicki leaning against the wall of the Greenhouse in a suggestive manner. He didn't know whether to stifle laughter at how serious she was taking her role in their scheme or be physically sick at what her role contained. But he and George waited around the corner of the greenhouse and listened into the exchange.

"Yeah, I'm here," Vicki called out, but then used a softer voice and cooed "and you're late."

"Sorry beautiful, but duty called. Say, are you still with that schmuck of a boyfriend?" Bagman responded, leaning against the greenhouse wall himself and stared at the much younger girl.

"Yeah," Vicki said confidently "For now. I don't know how much longer we'll last."

"When you want a real man, and after you turn seventeen definitely send me an owl." Bagman growled lowly, a sly smile appearing on his face.

"Why?" Vicki asked suddenly. She meant for it to come out in a sultry flirty manner, but as she was trying her hardest to not laugh it came out as a large sarcastic joke.

"Let's just say that when you become of real age, you won't want to play with little boys anymore. I can be the real man that can make you a real woman." Bagman purred towards Vicki.

Vicki was silent, she knew if she spoke up she would double over in laughter. What Bagman was saying was disgusting and she knew this, but she saw the humour in it. It was so horrible she thought it was funny due to how sleazy the situation was. But she couldn't laugh. If she laughed and the Weasley twins then showed up, she would lose all future bargaining power with Bagman should Fred and George not get what they needed today.

She was still hoping they'd appear soon. She couldn't take much of this terrible flirting anymore and keep a straight face. Fred also couldn't take much of hearing Bagman's creepy advances towards Vicki, but unlike her he didn't see the humour in it and wanted to end it as soon as possible. Without warning he jumped out and strode up to Vicki and Bagman.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw Vicki leaning against the wall and Bagman very close to her. He was unhappy with this. Bagman who had heard the approaching noise turned around to see Fred (and George who soon joined him) and looked like a deer caught in headlights. Vicki on the other hand sent the twins a wink as appreciation for them stepping in.

"Hello Mr Bagman, fancy seeing you here." George grinned towards Bagman.

"And you're in the company of the very beautiful Victoria Hartwell. Lucky man, she's quite the stunner." Fred piped up, sending a wink towards both Vicki and Bagman, although there was truth in his words.

Vicki let out a snort but was thankful it wasn't audible to Bagman. She did however play her part in their scheme. The twins appearing out of nowhere was supposed to be a shock to her as well, not a carefully planned plot.

"Thanks for the compliment, Weasley. As a prefect and aspiring Head Girl, I was looking after our very important guest for this year and showing him the grounds, as he needs to know for the Triwizard Tournament," Vicki stated quickly, pretending to be thinking quick on her feet "What are you two doing then, skulking around?"

"We have very important things to discuss with Mr Bagman, actually." Fred said in a faux cool voice stepping up to Vicki's acting job.

"Therefore we can take the tour from here." George added on in a cheeky manner.

"Actually boys, I'm in very capable hands thank you very much. How about we set up a power lunch sometime to talk business?" Bagman quickly spoke up, putting a hand on the small of Vicki's back as he attempted to begin to move her away from the prying twins.

George went to back off. After all Hogsmeade weekend was coming up and if given an opportunity for lunch with Bagman they could have a talk man-to-man to mention he had accidentally given them Leprechaun's gold instead of real gold. Maybe they could even talk him into investing into their shop they were currently building.

Fred on the other hand wasn't convinced. He had been ignoring their owls since the World Cup – why would he suddenly be interested in a meeting? Fred also didn't want to take his chances on leaving Vicki alone with Bagman.

"Oh no, we insist." George spoke up after looking at his brother and seeing the serious look on his face. He understood that Fred wanted to stay put.

"No time like the present, right? Time is money, so wasted time is wasted money," Fred joked but then took on a darker tone "Or would you rather just be in the company of someone as pretty as Vicki."

"You're weird," Vicki scoffed towards Fred but then quickly turned to Bagman "I can see you're in good hands. I'll be off."

Vicki then turned away to depart, not before sending the twins a sly wink as she pretended to storm off in a hurry. Bagman went to quickly follow her stating he wanted to be her in her company, but before he could follow her properly Fred and George blocked his path with their arms crossed with grins on both of their faces.

Vicki trudged back up the castle and didn't take a single look behind her. When she was back in the entrance hall she then burst into laughter, letting it all out, the humour she had been containing in her mind since she had met up with Bagman.

She composed herself when she saw Cedric stroll over to her with an amused look on his face. She could tell he wanted to ask why she cackling alone in a big empty hall by herself. She really wanted to tell him but she couldn't betray the twins – she had already sworn to secrecy about their plans of getting Bagman alone so they could confront him.

"What's funny?" Cedric asked with a smile, Vicki could tell he wasn't being nosey but wanted her to share the information with him as a friend.

"Oh, it was just some kind of inside joke thing with the twins just before. They were pretending they didn't know me well with this older er, student who was trying to flirt with me. It sounds silly, but it was funny at the time but I couldn't laugh so it just all came out afterwards." Vicki responded quickly.

Cedric went to make a witty retort however at that exact moment a group of girls were coming out of the Great Hall as they had finished dinner. Cedric was now on par with Krum for popularity with female students. He had always been fairly sought after as a good looking boy who also happened to be Hufflepuff Quiddich captain and also prefect. But being the school champion (as majority of the school did not see Harry as a champion) brought him up to a whole new level.

Cedric's popularity used to be on par with Roger – as Roger too was a handsome Quiddich captain also turned prefect last year. But Cedric had well and truly surpassed Roger in terms of popularity. Roger had always gotten on well with Cedric as they belonged to the same social circle and they were on very good terms but Vicki could tell it was bothering Roger. That's why it took Vicki by surprise when she had the conversation with George that there was trouble in their relationship. She thought Roger was just being distant due to his loss in popularity but she knew now there were perhaps other reasons. Even if there wasn't, it still wasn't acceptable for him to shut her out this way.

"Cedric! How are you going?" One of the girls quickly yelled out, racing over to where Vicki and Cedric were standing.

"and it's our favourite girl in the entire school, Victoria. How are you going? You and Roger are just so cute together." Another one of the girls squealed.

Vicki had anticipated that the other girls in the school would turn against her after Cedric was named champion. Her and Cedric were now quite close and spent a lot of time together, therefore Vicki thought the other girls would become jealous and see her as an obstacle to get to Cedric. However the opposite happened, the girls of the school realised Vicki could instead be a tool to use to get to Cedric. They didn't see Vicki as a threat as they thought Vicki was in a happy relationship with Roger. Instead to the girls Vicki was an opportunity. If they could get to Vicki they could get to Cedric. Therefore Vicki's popularity had also skyrocketed – even though she was already quite a sought after girl.

"Hi girls, how are you going…" Vicki trailed off. Vicki wasn't a particularly mean person and was nice enough to their faces, but behind closed doors she'd always go to town on how fake she felt they all were, Cedric had heard it all. He normally agreed with her but he kept his complaints vague, as he felt flattered for the support as champion. He was too polite to speak ill of his supporters behind their back, but certainly didn't look down on Vicki for doing so.

"We're good, we're good. Say, why don't you and Ced come hang with us. We'll find an empty classroom and we can just chill." One of the girls quickly responded, wrapping an arm around Cedric's arm.

Vicki could see he was holding back a wince at the unwanted advance and Vicki raised her eyebrow at him. Surely now he would vocally agree with her that these girls were leeches. Cedric wouldn't be speaking up about that now, but he certainly spoke up in an attempt to shake off the girls.

"I would absolutely love to, and I'm sure Victoria would as well. However I desperately need her help – Triwizard Tournament stuff. I'd love to take a raincheck though." Cedric quickly responded.

"…as would I! I love you guys." Vicki quickly added on, lying through her teeth but showing a bright smile on her face to hide her untruthfulness.

The girls sighed but said they understood, giving some more small talk before departing from the Entrance Hall, leaving Cedric and Vicki alone once more, only a few people coming here and there leaving from the Great Hall after dinner.

"Come on, I know this great unused classroom that Fred Weasley showed me a while ago." Vicki mentioned as she began to stride off, Cedric hot on her heels.

Five minutes later Vicki burst into the classroom that Fred showed her a couple of months ago that apparently 'rejected' teachers should they try and teach in it. Cedric looked around amused as Vicki took a seat on top of a desk. Ceric pulled out a chair and sat opposite her.

"So…Diggory. Anything you needed to talk about in particular as you called this meeting? Because I'd like to put something on the agenda also." Vicki spoke up in a joking manner.

"I uh…yeah I have some things I'd like to speak about. But you go first." Cedric smiled at his friend.

Vicki studied Cedric's face for a moment. She had been wanting to speak to him about what she was about to bring up for a few days, but she still didn't feel the urgency.

"Are you sure?" Vicki asked Cedric as she bit her lip feeling a little awkward.

Cedric nodded. Although Vicki didn't feel she had to go first it appeared that Cedric wanted her to, and she was given the stage. She thought of the best way to describe her current predicament she was having with Roger and where she should begin, and then she finally started explaining her feelings.

"I think the whole Roger and I concept is at the end of its lifetime." Vicki began to explain.

Cedric just cocked his head at her and Vicki understood exactly what this action meant. He needed it explained further.

"I don't think my relationship with Roger will last much longer. I think both of our feelings have changed. He's been all over that Fleur girl from Beauxbatons and honestly, even though it's just a friendship thing I spend most of my time with you, Steph or even sometimes Fred Weasley. I don't even miss Roger even though I sometimes don't spend time with him for days. That's not a normal relationship." Vicki frowned.

Cedric sighed and ran his hand through his golden locks as he contemplated whether to speak up and tell his friend the truth or to keep quiet to not upset her. As it was a very raw conversation they were having he felt it was best to tell her how he really felt.

"I've noticed the flirting with Fleur myself. I don't think he's being very fair towards you. It's very disrespectful. Honestly, you can do much better than that and I hope you know it." Cedric explained.

"Roger's behaviour is poor, yes. I really should call him out on it but I've almost been too fearful as I haven't been a perfect girlfriend either. I haven't shown him much affection this school year, or even told him how much he means to me. I don't set aside time for him either. Even George Weasley pointed this out to me and we're not even very close friends or in the same house." Vicki stated.

"It's still no excuse. If he's concerned about the intimacy in your relationship he should be voicing these concerns and not by attempting to get his kicks elsewhere. I'm a bit worried about you actually. I hope you're not staying with Roger because you're afraid of being alone. Victoria Hartwell could get pretty much any guy in this school, not that it matters because you should be happy with yourself first." Cedric spoke up.

"I-it's not that I'm afraid of being alone or anything like that!" Vicki rebutted almost sounding annoyed before she calmed down and continued "It's hard to explain. Once upon a time I was so crazily in love with Roger, it was almost ridiculous. I feel like if I acknowledge the disrepair our relationship has fallen into, it will be the end. I know we'll never get the feelings back that we once had, but I don't want to admit it. Well, until now."

"Okay Vicki. I just don't want to see you get hurt. You're um...I'd quite honestly say you're my best friend right now and I really care about you." Cedric confessed with a weak smile on his face.

This lifted Vicki's spirits immensely and she began to feel a bit bad for getting annoyed with him a few moments ago. She shot him a smile before she felt comfortable leaning her head on his shoulder. It was a purely platonic moment for the both of them but a very close one for the two as well.

"Don't tell Steph because she'll get offended, but you're also my best friend now. It's really crazy, up until a few months ago we rarely spoke, now you mean so much to me," Vicki mentioned "Look at us, we're like two pre-teen girls in a cheesy American muggle movie."

"Alright. You're the only one I will admit what I'm about to admit to. Partly because we're now officially best friends – but also because you're probably the best person to tell. But I wanted to speak to you about the fact I've developed a crush on someone in your house." Cedric admitted, his face turning red.

Vicki shot her head up and looked at him before finding herself in a fit of giggles. She partly amused because as a teenage girl the discussion of crushes and relationships made her feel giddy. But she was also entertained by the sight of the always polite but usually suave and confident Cedric Diggory being reduced to embarrassment and his face turning bright red.

"Oh god, you like a Ravenclaw? Please don't tell me Steph. It's Steph, right? She'll drop Stebbins for you but only because you're Hogwarts champion. Do you really want to be with someone that shallow?" Vicki gushed, raising her hands to her mouth in shock.

"No! I mean no offense as Stephanie Fawcett is a good friend of yours, but I've grown up in the same village as her, she's definitely...well, she's definitely not my type. No, it's not her. She's a fifth year actually, you might know her, she's on the Quiddich team." Cedric stuttered out.

It took two seconds for Vicki to work out who Cedric was referring to. Someone who would be his type, a fifth year and on the Quiddich team. There was only one girl who ticked all the boxes.

"Cho Chang. She's insanely pretty isn't she? Good choice. Let's sit here and work out how to get you two together. Not that you need my help, as stated before you're Hogwarts champion and quite the looker." Vicki gushed.

Cedric was incapable of speech as his face turned even more red. This allowed Vicki to gush further.

"You two are going to make such a beautiful couple. Everyone always says Roger and I are the best looking couple at Hogwarts. I'd be worried our title is going to be taken over by you and Miss Chang if Roger and I weren't about to most likely split up." Vicki joked using self deprecating humour.

Cedric frowned at his friend. He was happy she could make a joke about it, but he was still worried that under the farce she had created she was most likely not doing too well. He decided to stop voicing his concerns and remain silent for Vicki's wellbeing. She was now off the topic of her and Roger and was still happily babbling on about his feelings for Cho. He was glad she looked so happy whilst doing so.