Because it's all about the Nedric...ohhhh yeah.
Disclaimer: I don't own these people. Technically I don't even own the words I'm using right now to disclaim this. Ack. I also don't own the quote from that one movie that this story was inspired from.
'No one would ever have thought, just to look at us, that we'd ever be a match for one another,' Cedric thought, biting his lower lip as he waited in the fourth floor corridor.
The rest of the school was downstairs, feasting. Yet Cedric had traveled up and down several flights of stairs and missed his dinner in order to wait and see when a certain Gryffindor would emerge from his meeting with the current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. And yet there he was, crouched behind a statue and eyeing the door to Moody's office, waiting for the young man.
The Hufflepuff seventh year had noticed that Neville wasn't at dinner, and so had forgone eating with the excuse that he wasn't feeling well in order to ask the Fat Lady if Neville had entered the Common Room recently. At the negative answer he hurried away, wondering where the sandy-haired young man was.
Neville's last class had been Defense Against Dark Arts, and after remembering some of the gossip from the Gryffindor table right behind him Cedric had decided to pay a visit to that classroom, to see if the recluse was there.
Sure enough he'd heard voices emerging from the classroom and had immediately backpedaled his way to his current position behind the statue. He clutched his chest, out of breath yet a bit confused. He was in perfect shape thanks to Quidditch and exercising, but still just the thought of a certain fourteen-year-old in the next room made his mind race and his heart speed up.
'All of this for a boy who'll never even look my way,' Cedric furrowed his brow with misery. The Gryffindor wallflower Neville Longbottom would never look twice at him, as a friend or anything…more. It was a foolish thought to begin with, yet the more the Hufflepuff thought about the young man, the more he was intrigued. There was something about the boy that drew him, like a moth to a flame.
The voices were getting louder and Cedric cringed and tried to shrink back farther against the wall. What if he was seen?
The door clicked open, and Professor Moody's voice suddenly became much more clear and understandable. "—Take good care of that book, Longbottom."
And even more unmistakable was the voice that replied. Cedric leaned out slightly, trying to peer around and catch a glimpse of the boy. "I will, sir. Thank you." The door was creaking closed when suddenly Mad-Eye stopped the Gryffindor and whispered something to him. By this time Cedric was leaning out so far he was certain that if someone startled him he'd topple right over. Yet he still couldn't hear what Moody was saying.
"…I understand, sir." Neville's voice was barely audible though the blush tingeing his face and the red ringing his eyes were clearly visible. "Thank you again." Damn! Cedric had missed what Moody had been saying. Oh well. The door shut and Neville was on his way down the corridor, a bounce in his step. This was certainly unusual, and Cedric moved away from the wall to actually move from behind the statue to watch.
He was rewarded with the sight of Neville whistling a cheerful tune, hitting the notes perfectly. Cedric Diggory smiled and floated back to the Hufflepuff Common Room that night, truly happy yet a bit confused because the boy had been happy. But why did that matter to him so much? He did feel some affection for the boy, definitely some attraction, but he still was unsure of what his feelings meant.
And the next morning, having come down early for breakfast, Cedric Diggory was rewarded with having Neville Longbottom walk up to him and clearly say, "Good morning, Cedric."
He tried to squash the happy grin that lit up his face right then. "Good morning, Neville." He hoped his tone was even and that his face hadn't turned red. It was a good morning indeed, and judging by the extreme happiness and warmth that flooded through him at a simple greeting, Cedric Diggory would never doubt his feelings for the Gryffindor again.
Months later, a few nights after the second task, Cedric Diggory sought out the Gryffindor fourth year and told him how he felt, how he had felt for the entire year. However, instead of being shocked or disturbed or even the least bit surprised, Neville merely smiled.
"I knew," he said, for once not shy or bashful. "Professor Moody told me you were watching me, that one time. And after that, all the little things that didn't add up about you just seemed to fit."
Cedric sputtered for a moment, amazed. He'd been so cautious about it too! All the secret glances, the daydreams, everything. Cho Chang even sat at the table farther in front of him, so he could pretend to be dreaming about her while enjoying the fact that Neville was seated right behind him. "But…but I was so careful!"
Neville's smile widened as he leaned in to kiss the Hufflepuff, stopping a few inches from the older boy. "I saw it in your face when I greeted you at breakfast for the first time."
It is the day after the third task, and Cedric Diggory watches as his love wakes up, face swollen from crying.
There is something terribly tragic about watching the boy as he tries to burrow into his bed and never leave it. The other boys don't ask about his tears, they respect him enough to give him this semblance of privacy. But it is hard to have privacy in a room shared with four others.
One by one the other boys leave and Neville is left, still some tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. He sniffles.
And suddenly the Hufflepuff is driven by his need to talk to his love one last time before letting go so that he can finally reach…wherever it is he's supposed to reach. So what if Neville can't hear him. So what if in reality he's just talking to himself.
"I thought I was crazy at first, Neville. I couldn't get you out of my head, but you were just this innocent, kind of clumsy thirteen-year-old, and of course I thought it was just a phase and I'd grow out of it. Summer came and I thought maybe not seeing you for a few months would help, but they didn't. Then this year came, and I found myself looking at you seriously, with far too much attraction, wondering what you liked, what your interests were, what you didn't like, how you really felt, everything. I wanted to know you, Neville. I wanted to not just be your lover, but also your friend." Neville is still crying, curled up in his pajamas and Cedric wants nothing more than to soothe him, but he knows he cannot.
"Then Moody caught me spying in the hallway, and that started us on the road toward a relationship. And to be honest Neville, that relationship was the best thing that ever happened to me. I love you. I always will. I know you thought that Cho and I were dating, so I bet it was a surprise when I suddenly confessed. I never really told you what happened with her, did I?" He reaches down with an invisible and non-existent hand to smooth the sandy hair and grimaces when his ethereal body passes right through.
"When I reached the lake, I searched around crazily, trying to figure out who went missing for me. When I found out it wasn't you, I was just so incredibly relieved. After I pulled Cho out of the lake, that afternoon, we had a long talk and I told her that I didn't care for her the way she cared for me. I told her I couldn't be with her because I was having so much bigger feelings for someone else, and that someone could never be her. She was sad, yes, but in a way she understood. I knew she'd been thinking about Harry a lot lately, so in a way she really did know what I meant. I resolved that I'd figure out how I really felt about you before I made my move. I just couldn't wait any longer, you understand?" Here Cedric sighs, remembering all the good times.
Cedric takes a deep breath, then laughs quietly when he realizes that he doesn't need to breathe any longer. "Well, I figured I'd trace back to when I'd really started to develop deeper feelings for you. It was a long thing, I stayed up late at night reviewing the past months, looking at all the times you'd spoken to me or smiled to me or let me borrow a quill. It took awhile but I finally realized something."
"Forever and for always, you had me at good morning."
Cedric takes one last long look at the grieving young man before smiling for the last time. His love will be all right. It's time to let go.
"I love you, Neville. Good morning."
Thanks to Serialhugger's Smurf for the inspirational Nedric stories. Please review. I really appreciate it.