Book One
Chapter 1: Metamorphmagus
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"Winnie, wake up." A gentle voice said softly as he shook me.
"No, too early." I mumbled, burying my face in the pillow.
"Guinevere." He sighed. "The others will be at the meeting point soon; we don't want to miss the portkey."
My eyes shot open as I pushed myself up on the bed and stared at the boy in front of me. "Merlin, Ced! Couldn't you wake me up sooner?" I pulled my top down that had creeped up above my navel and hopped out of bed, leaving Cedric alone in the room.
"I've been trying to wake you up for the last ten minutes!" I heard him chuckle as he called back.
I raced to the bathroom and undressed myself before I hopped in the shower. After a quick wash, I dried myself off and put on the clothes I had put in the bathroom the night before.
I stood in front of the small mirror above the sink, gazing at my reflection as I combed through my ash blonde hair. I squinted and my hair changed into a dark brown colour, before I shook my head and turned it back, making it reach my mid back. I wore a high-waist dark jeans with a Burgundy crop jumper on top. My mother was a muggle born, so I practically grew up wearing muggle clothes. Not that I minded, muggle clothes were far better than wizarding fashion. I laughed my voice raw the first time Cedric tried to wear muggle clothes, but I went shopping with him the summer after their first year and now he had a full closet with decent muggle clothes.
I opened the bathroom door and glanced to my left to see Cedric's bedroom empty and darted down the stairs to the kitchen. On the kitchen island sat Cedric talking excitingly with his parents. He wore a simple blue jeans with a dark grey slim fit jumper.
"Morning." I smiled as I sat down next to Cedric's mum, Olive, who passed me a cup of tea. "Thanks. Olive, I was wondering if you would do my hair before we leave?"
"Sure, sweetheart." Olive smiled as she stood up from her seat and went to stand behind me as she started to dry my hair with a drying spell. Cedric had inherited the hair from his mum. The wavy brown locks reached her lower back, dark brown eyes full of kindness and love. "Are you keeping this length and colour?"
"For now." I grinned as I tilted my head to look at her. Olive smiled back as she pushed my head back down and started braiding my hair.
"How did you sleep, Guinevere?" Amos asked as he sipped his cup.
"Dad, you know she hates it when you call her Guinevere." Cedric groaned next to his father. "Just call her Gwen or Winnie."
Amos winked at me, knowing full well I didn't like it and wanted to see if Cedric would mention it.
"I slept great, like I always do here." I smiled at Amos.
Cedric and I had been friends ever since we got sorted into Hufflepuff our first year. After our first year, I would come stay at their house during the last month of summer as my parents had to go abroad for work. They had offered me my own room, but I always bunked up with Cedric and his parents didn't mind, even when we grew older. They just placed a second bed in his room after the third night I spend there and it never left his room. The Diggory family didn't live that far from the Weasleys, but I never visited them with Cedric. I had some of my classes with the twins and saw them at a party once in a while, but we never really interacted. I always kept to my Hufflepuff friends, to Cedric.
We had a very close friendship and we've been asked a lot if Cedric and I weren't something more, but no, nothing had ever happened between us. I couldn't deny Cedric looked good; he really came into his looks in our fourth, and girls and boys noticed. Cedric had a semi-serious girlfriend last year, Cho from Ravenclaw while I had a relationship with Gavin, also a Ravenclaw but a year older than me. Both relationships ended before summer, leaving us to have a free and careless summer. But ever since the end of our relationships, things shifted between us. We would flirt with each other while we certainly didn't do that before. We found each other locking gaze on more than one occasion, making each other feel flustered.
I had been thrilled when Cedric's parents invited me to come to with them to the Quidditch World cup. And when I was certainly not a girly girl, who squealed at everything, but at that moment I couldn't stop myself as I jumped up excitingly, hugging my best friend tightly against my chest.
Now I was sipping my tea quietly as Olive braided my hair, still trying to wake up. I rested my head on my hand and my eyes started to fall shut. I heard Cedric chuckle but was too tired to glare at him. The hands that weaved through my hair felt like I was being lulled to sleep. Olive always made me feel at home, like I was the daughter she never had. The hands stopped and grabbed my shoulders gently.
"All done, Winnie." Her voice made me opened my eyes as I looked at Cedric's amused face. I stuck out my tongue at him before I turned in my seat and beamed up at her, my hands going over the two long braids.
"Thank you." I hopped up from my seat and hugged her tightly.
"Anytime. Do you want something to eat on the road?" Olive glanced at the clock behind me. "You have to get going."
"Here." Cedric tossed me a pack of crackers. "We can munch on the way."
"No, that's not breakfast!" His mum countered.
"It's fine. I don't eat that munch in the morning anyway. Beside it feels like it's still night, instead of morning." I chuckled as I rounded the table to stand with Cedric and Amos.
"Well, you should feel lucky." Amos started as we walked to the front door to put on our shoes and coats. "The others are walking to the portkey, probably been walking for an hour."
"Blimey!" I sighed as I pulled my coat on, leaving the zipper open. "Why don't they just apparate to the portkey?"
"Too many minors, I think." Amos said as he picked up his rug sack.
"Let me, dad." Cedric offered but his father waved him off as he pulled in on his back.
"Are you sure you don't mind, Olive?" I asked as Amos stepped away from his wife after giving her a kiss.
"No, besides Cedric's games, I don't really enjoy quidditch. You three have fun." She smiled as she pulled me and Cedric in a hug. Cedric and I smiled at each other over her shoulder before pulling back.
"We will." We grinned together. We turned and looped our arms with Amos, with a last wave we apparated out of the house.
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We were standing on top of a hill, no one else in sight. The only noise was the wind rustling through the trees around them. I walked over to the very top, stopping next to a manky old boot, that was the portkey and looked over at the sun that was starting the rise behind the trees. I felt Cedric walk up next to me, his arm brushing against mine.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" I asked not taking my eyes away from the rising sun.
"It is." His voice soft. I tore my gaze away from the view in front of me to look up at him. I didn't expect him to look at me, but there he was, his eyes firmly fixed on me. I felt myself flush at the attention, but the moment was over soon, and Cedric grinned. "Race you in the tree." And he was off. I laughed as I ran after him and climbed the first large tree together.
We were talking about school starting in a few weeks as we sat on a large branch. Cedric leaned against the tree trunk while I sat cross legged on the branch, balancing my weight, trying not to fall off. Amos pacing below them, as he checked his watch every other minute. Then we heard it, Cedric and I leaned carefully over the branch to look at the Weasleys, who walked up the hill tiredly. Only their dad, Arthur Weasley looked awake and happy to be out and about. Cedric and I laughed at his tired kids behind him, as they pushed themselves up the hill.
"Should be around here somewhere!" Arthur Weasley called out to his kids. "See if you can spot -"
"Arthur!" Amos called over, waving in the air.
"Oh, there he is. Come on kids."
The kids all mumbled to each other as they walked the last steps up the hill, looking exhausted. Arthur and Amos greeted each other excitingly as his kids and Harry Potter and the Granger girl formed a half circle around them.
"Kids, this is Amos Diggory, works with me at the ministry."
Cedric winked at her before he jumped off landing next to his father.
"Ah, you must be Cedric!" Arthur shook his hand eagerly. "Amos told me so much about you." He glanced over his shoulders to the twins. "I believe you know Fred and George."
"Yeah. Good morning." He said friendly but he knew the two beaters blamed him for winning the quidditch game last year, so he expected them to grumble a good morning. I heard the two younger girls giggle as their eyes fell on Cedric. I rolled my eyes, as I got used to that the last couple of years, before I stood up on the branch, right above Cedric.
"Catch!" I called before I jumped from the tree. The two girls shrieked as I came falling down but Cedric caught me with ease, already used to my antics. He grinned at me as he held me tight before he lowered me to the ground. "Hi!" I looked to the stunned faces of the others as I pulled my jumper back down.
"Who's?" Arthur started looking at me with a slight frown, not in a menace but in confusion.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, didn't I? This is Guinevere."
"Gwen." Cedric and I interrupted.
"Yes, Gwen. Olive isn't much of a quidditch fan, so we invited her to come along with us."
"Nice to meet you, Mr Weasley." I smiled warmly at the older wizard; his enthusiasm radiated over to me. The red hair was certainly a family trait and I had to hold in a chuckle of his attempt to look like a muggle with his trousers, two sizes too big and his colourful golf sweater.
"Same to you. Do you know the twins?"
"Sort of." I looked at the two boys who stood right behind his father, their eyes scanned my body up and down, taking me in.
"You certainly grew up, Northon." The twin on the left grinned, which I thought was Fred. I was surprised they knew who I was, but before I had a chance to reply, Cedric pulled his arm around my shoulders to pull me closer. I looked up to Cedric in confusion, but his eyes were fixed on the twins in a glare. The two boys weren't fazed and kept their gaze locked on me.
"All these yours?" Amos asked, trying to defuse the tension.
"Oh, no. Only the redheads." Mr Weasley smiled and gestured over his kids. "This is Hermione and Harry, Ron's friends."
I unwrapped myself from Cedric arm and turned to the portkey, knowing Amos would pound on Harry. "Hurry up before we're too late." I called back over my shoulder as I kneeled beside the boot.
The others looked surprised at me before they hurried towards the boot and stood in a circle around it. The Potter boy looked confused on why they were standing there.
"Why are we standing around a manky old boot?" He asked, looking confused at the others.
I smiled at the younger boy. "It's a portkey, just hook your finger on it."
The boot started to vibrate on the ground, and I heard Amos call out. "Hurry, grab it!"
The twins and Cedric started walking fast towards me, but Mr Weasley took the place besides me, while Harry took the spot on my other side with a nervous smile.
"It will be alright; it's going to feel funny though." I assured him. He gave me a nod as he quickly placed his finger on the boot when Mr Weasley yelled over my head to quickly get a hold on the boot. It was a tight fit, all shoulders bumped against each other as they hooked their fingers on the shoe. I looked at the circle around me and saw Cedric next to Fred both looking disgruntled to be next to each other. I rolled my eyes before I turned to Harry when the boot started to vibrate harder on the grass. "Ready?"
"I- I guess so." He said uncertain.
Then I felt the familiar hook behind my navel, jerking me forward as everyone's feet left the ground. The circle started to rotate at high speed, shoulders bumping against each other as Harry gave me an apologetic smile. Then the fingers released itself and we all fell through the air. I had a lot of experience using a portkey from when I went to visit my parents abroad. So, while I, Cedric, Amos and Mr. Weasley all looked like we walked on air, coming to the ground, the other kids laid flat on their backs on the damp grass.
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When we landed softly, Cedric helped Harry and the girls up from the ground. I went over to the twins and grinned at them as they catch their breaths, still lying on the ground.
"What are you on the ground for?" I asked teasingly standing between the twins.
"We thought we would hang out -" He said, placing his hands behind his head.
"You know, chill a bit before the game." The boys grinned up at me. I held out both of my hands laughing, and the boys eagerly took it and I helped them up. "By the looks of it, you have done this before."
I looked to the twin on my right, noticing the slightly more crooked nose. "Yes, George, I have. My parents live most of the year abroad, so I'm used to the portkey."
"Didn't think you knew who we were? Let alone know I'm George." The twins looked at me surprised.
"I think all Hogwarts knows who you are. I think you two have a record at getting detentions." I grinned as we started to follow Amos and Mr. Weasley to a large field. I noticed Cedric glance over his shoulders to the three of them from time to time.
"We try to." Fred grinned proudly.
"I'm surprised that you know who I am, even though we shared classes for the last five years." I looked between the two tall red heads.
"We try to know every pretty girl in school." Fred winked.
I huffed at the boys. "I may be a Hufflepuff but I'm not so naive like some of the other girls at school. I know you two have hooked up with a least half of the girls in our year." I watched as Hermione helped Mr. Weasley count the muggle money to pay the landowner. With the muggle being occupied with Mr. Weasley, I changed my hair, so that green streaks appeared in my braids. The twins were still gawking at me and when I changed my hair, their eyes almost fell out of their eyes.
"What?" I asked as I saw them gawking at me.
"First, we don't hook up with that many girls. Some just like telling others we did." George pointed out.
"And second, how did you change your hair? Are you seventeen already?"
"No, I'm a Metamorphmagus." I said looking up at the two, I changed my silver-blue eyes into fierce green ones, like Harry's.
"WICKED!" The twins gasped.
"Why didn't-" George started but was interrupted by Cedric, who appeared next to me.
"We should find our camping spot." He said, not looking at the twins. He took a braid in his hand and smiled. "Already turning green?"
"I don't think she's the one who's turning green." One of the twins muttered under his breath, but it was so quiet I couldn't hear who it was. Cedric didn't seem to hear them as his eyes were locked on mine. I tore my eyes away from Cedric and looked at the twins.
"Maybe we'll see you later." I said as Cedric turned and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pushing me with him, away from the twins. I gave them a short wave as the group separated.
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Let me know what you think. It was just something that popped into my mind ;) I've already written about 25 chapters for this and will expand until at least just after the war.
