Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Harry Potter.

Clash of the Gods

By Rogue Wingweaver

Chapter 3

To the Past and Bubbles

The ball was boring and uneventful. Cho seemed to have a good time but Cedric was glad it was over. The only time he seemed to be awake was when he felt a stab of jealousy while watching Draco dance with Pansy Parkinson. He had been worried lately about what the next task would be. He knew that there would be mermaids and that they would take what he held dear but how would he be able to get it back? He had to find a way. The idea of something happening to Draco was enough to keep him searching day and night. As he sat in the Library, books surrounding him, he was distracted by thinking about the kiss he had shared with Draco a few nights before. He had never kissed a boy before, only a few girls but those kisses didn't even come close to the one with Draco. He was a few inches taller than Cedric which made things interesting. He was always used to being the dominant one in the relationship but this one was different. They were both very strong people and it felt like they took turns taking care of the each other. Cedric wanted to kiss him again and soon.

This could only happen if I find a way to save him during the second task, he reminded himself. He needed to stay focused, there wasn't much more time. The second task the two nights away and he still didn't have a plan. There had to be a spell in one of these books that would help him. Hours went by until he couldn't keep his eyes open. He needed some rest so he could continue looking tomorrow. He put all the books back and headed to bed, disappointed that he hadn't found anything.

That night he had a dream that revived an event from his past. He had been just four when Voldemort had been at his worst. Only months before he had been defeated by Harry, Cedric had been at home being watched by his aunt. His father had been very busy at work then and Cedric rarely saw him. He had been playing outside when he saw a group of men talking across the street. Cedric sensed that something wasn't right and that these men were bad. Then one of them turned and looked at him, it was Voldemort.

This is the man aunt told me about. He thought to himself.

She had said that if he ever saw him he was to run somewhere safe but Cedric was frozen in place and couldn't move. Something about this man terrified but amazed him. He knew that he was responsible for numerous wizard deaths but as Voldemort walked slowly over to Cedric, he didn't run.

Voldemort patted him on the head and said,

"Remember boy, the weak die to make room for the powerful. When you grow up, make sure you are serving the ones with power."

Then he walked off. Something made Cedric shiver and he ran into the house. He'd never told anyone about his meeting with the Dark Lord. He had always wondered what had paralyzed him that day. Why had Voldemort spoken to him and why was Cedric still alive? Most wizards who had faced Voldemort had died. Unless you were a death eater, you were against the Dark Lord and deserved to be punished. That was the way it was back then. Memories of that time had started to come back ever since Cedric had seen the Dark Mark. Now he dreamt about this memory, why? Voldemort was coming back to power, he knew it.

Feeling even more exhausted than when he had went to bed, Cedric tried to go back to sleep. When he closed his eyes, he felt himself tighten up with fear. He stared at the ceiling feeling flooded with dread.

Cedric was not alone in his insomnia, there was another in the castle who was awake.

Down in the dungeons there was a fourth year Slitherin whose thoughts would not allow him to rest. Draco played out the events of the night he spent with Cedric in his head but who couldn't understand it. He knew he liked Cedric. He loved the way he felt when he was with Cedric. Even though he found it hard to believe, he had found the comfort he had been searching for in a Hufflepuff. He also was surprised it was a guy. He had always wondered why he had never been interested in girls like the other boys, now he knew why. Pansy was alright for show but nothing more. The kiss he had shared with Cedric had decided everything for him. Cedric was all he could think about now.

The next day flew by without Cedric finding the right spell. He needed to be able to breath underwater. All of a sudden he realized he had been looking for the answer in the wrong place. He left the Library and went back to his room. He opened his trunk looking for the books he had brought to school with him. Before school he had been studying different muggle sports during the summer and one of them came to mind. It was a sport where the muggles would use a tank of air to breath underwater.

What was that called? Oh, scuba diving, that's what it is. I think I remember Professor Flitwick mentioning a charm similar to that in class once but what was it? The basic idea was that you would have a bubble of air around your head that would last for a certain amount of time.

He looked in the back of one of his spell books and ran his finger down the list of spells and charms in the index. Wouldn't that be silly, to find the right spell in one of his textbooks after searching the whole Library. As he scanned the page his eyes stopped on something.

Here it is, he looked down at the page again and he saw the words,

The Bubble-Head Charm, page 98

He turned to the right page and read,

"The Bubble-Head Charm is very useful because it allows a wizard to remain underwater for long periods of time…..after saying the incantation, Oxcious Cerebro, a bubble will form around your head and you will breath oxygen from it…."

This was surely the answer. He would have to perform this charm to rescue Draco. For the past few days he had been worried about finding a plan but now a new worry started to nag at Cedric. What if something went wrong and he failed?

I am just going to have to believe in myself, failure is not an option.