Title: The Two Champions

Genre: Romance

Pairings: Cedric/Harry

Rating: R (for later chapters)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters and some of the plot has been influenced by others.

"This is Amos Diggory, everyone," said Mr. Weasley. "He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?"

Cedric Diggory was an extremely handsome boy of around seventeen. He was Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff House Quidditch team at Hogwarts.

"Hi," said Cedric, looking around at them all…

-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, page 71

Even though Fred and George didn't like Cedric, everybody else seemed to be drawn to him, especially the girls. He walked near the back of the group with the Weasley boys and Harry. Harry could've sworn he saw Cedric staring at him when he looked up once. Hermione and Ginny could be heard giggling from the rear of the group as they walked on. Ron kept throwing them dirty looks.

Amos could be heard gloating at the front of the group. He was telling Arthur that his son had beaten Harry Potter at Quidditch.

Cedric had tried to quiet his dad but to no avail.

The group traveled on for several minutes more until they arrived at the portkey which would take them to the Quidditch World Cup.

"It's a minute off… We'd better get ready…"

Mr. Weasley looked around at all the kids but focused on Harry and Hermione.

"You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do –"

The nine people crowded around the old boot serving as the Portkey and all took hold of it. They couldn't all fit around the Portkey in one row so Arthur, Amos, and Cedric stood behind the younger kids.

Cedric was right behind Harry just slightly to the right.

Harry already had a hold on the Portkey and Cedric outstretched his right arm to take hold of it. His hand landed right beside Harry's causing Harry to pull his hand away and Cedric to blush furiously.

"Sorry," said Cedric.

Amos threw a sharp look at Cedric.

"That's okay," started Harry, "you just caught me off-guard."

"Three…" muttered Mr. Weasley, one eye still on his watch, "two… one…"

It happened immediately: Harry felt as though a hook just behind his navel had been suddenly jerked irresistibly forward. His feet left the ground; he could feel Ron and Hermione on either side of him, their shoulders banging into his; they were all speeding forward in a howl of wind and swirling color; his forefinger was stuck to the boot as though it was pulling him magnetically onward and then-

His feet slammed into the ground; Ron staggered into him and he fell over; the Portkey hit the ground near his head with a heavy thud.

Harry looked up. Mr. Weasley, Mr. Diggory, and Cedric were still standing, though looking very windswept; everybody else was on the ground.

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill," said a voice.

Harry shook his head in disbelief and looked at the three standing. He noticed that Cedric was breathing heavily and that Mr. Weasley looked as if he could fall over at any second.

Cedric reached out a hand to Harry to help him off the ground. Harry extended his right hand to take Cedric's and used his left to grab Cedric's arm which he regretted doing almost at once.

Cedric looked taken aback and Harry was almost intimidated by Cedric's muscles. He hadn't realized how scrawny he seemed to be compared to other boys. Cedric helped Harry get up.

The man that had welcomed the group let them know they were both in a field about a quarter mile down the road and their lots were next to each other.

The group started off down the road. The twins started talking about Quidditch and the girls could be heard giggling at the back of the group again; no doubt they were impressed that Cedric had managed to stay standing after the Portkey trip.

Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory pulled Ron aside and started talking to him about which team he thought was going to take the cup, so Harry and Cedric were left alone in the group.

"So, what team are you rooting for?" Harry asked.

"Bulgaria," started Cedric, "that's who Dad wants to win. How about you?"

"Bulgaria," Harry lied, he hadn't given much thought to it; Bulgaria sounded fine and he had heard their seeker was the best. "Have you ever been to a World Cup game before?" inquired Harry.

"No, this is my first time."

"Mine too."

"Here we are kids," rang out Arthur's voice pointing to two empty lots on the edge of the field they had been walking by. They looked rather small and Harry wondered how everybody was going to be able to fit on these two rather miniscule lots.

Within a matter of minutes the tents had been erected and everyone went inside to warm up. Harry was amazed by the size of the interior of the tents, he had to keep reminding himself that magic was involved. The tent was as large as the Dursley's house.

The Weasley's disappeared throughout the house; Harry thought he heard an explosion in the tent and thought it must've been Fred and George. Harry and Hermione were left alone in the living room.

Hermione sat down on the couch opposite the fire and pulled out a rather large book. Harry took a seat beside her and just watched the fire. He heard a noise by the door and turned to look.

Cedric's head had popped inside.

"We're fixing lunch outside if you all want to join us."

Hermione looked up from her book, put her bookmark back in and sat the book on the coffee table in front of them.

"Wanna go?" Hermione inquired.

"Sure."

"Hey, the Diggory's are fixing lunch outside if anybody wants some," Hermione called into the back rooms of the tent. Harry doubted whether anyone had heard her.

Harry and Hermione walked outside to find Mr. Diggory trying to trying to cook hot dog wieners over the fire. He had put the pokers through them the wrong way and seemed to be confused.

"Here, let me help you, Mr. Diggory," said Harry as he took the poker from Mr. Diggory. Cedric looked interested.

"We like to try and act like muggles sometimes, you know, just to amuse ourselves," started Mr. Diggory, "I don't know how they do it sometimes."

Harry had corrected Mr. Diggory's mistake and Hermione was suppressing laughter. Cedric picked up a poker and kept looking back at Harry's to make sure he was putting it in the dog the right way.

Hermione picked up one and was cooking her dog within seconds. Mr. Diggory looked impressed.

The group laughed as they ate and entertained each other with jokes and predictions on the outcome of the match. Hermione didn't seem to be very interested in the game, she seemed to want to go back inside and read.

Finally the time came when Mr. Weasley appeared out of the tent and announced the game would be starting soon.

"Only an hour until the game," he began, "we better get a move on if we want to get their on time."

Everyone else seemed to have had the same idea, almost as soon as the group started walking toward the stadium hundreds of others came pouring out of their tents heading toward the newly constructed pitch as well.

Harry looked up and saw Cedric staring at him. Cedric looked away, pretending he saw something in the forest.

---

"Almost won, didn't we Ced?" said Mr. Diggory as they walked back toward the campgrounds.

"Yeah, Dad, almost had it."

Mr. Diggory ruffled Cedric's hair, "Maybe next year we'll win it."

Cedric looked embarrassed not unlike he had several times during the match. Nearly every time Harry would turn around to look at the scoreboard, he noticed that Cedric was looking at him; he would hastily avert his eyes or drop something under his seat.

"Why is Cedric staring at me?" Harry thought to himself as he walked.

They arrived back at their tents, everyone was exhausted from such a long day and exciting match.

"Good night, Amos, we'll see you in the morning" said Mr. Weasley and the children followed suit saying goodnight to Mr. Diggory and Cedric.

"'Night," said Cedric before he stepped into the tent. Harry could've sworn Cedric was looking right at him.

In a few minutes time, everyone in the tent was in bed and starting to drift off when Harry heard a noise. He jumped up with a start.

"What was that?" he asked quietly to see if Ron, Fred, or George were awake.

"Wazzat?" mumbled Ron, apparently startled but still very sleepy.

"I heard a noise outside."

"Iz just the Irish. Go back to sleep."

Hermione and Ginny came scurrying into the room clinging one another. Harry squinted through the darkness toward them.

"What's wrong?"

"Something's on fire outside," said Hermione timidly.

"We could see it from our window," added Ginny.

"Kids! Get up!" rang Mr. Weasley's voice from the next room. "Oh, the girls are already up," he said, startled, as he burst into the room and turn the lights on. The twins groaned.

"Fred, George, get up!" roared Mr. Weasley, Harry had never seen him like this before; what was going on outside?

Bill, Charlie, and Percy came into the room in their pajamas, wands in hand. "What's going on Dad?"

"Get the others out of here, back to the Portkey," said Mr. Weasley to Percy, his voice cracking a little.

In less than a minute, everyone was awake with wands at the ready and all crowded behind him in the living room of the tent before Arthur dared a peek outside the door to make sure everything was alright. He was knocked backward by the door being thrown inward; an explosion could be heard faintly outside.

Amos Diggory jumped inside trailed closely by Cedric, "Sorry, I just got jumpy," said Amos. Harry noticed Cedric wasn't wearing a shirt; he was only wearing a pair of blue and gold plaid pajama pants and socks. Harry noticed that even though he had just gotten out of bed, Cedric's hair fell perfectly into place. Cedric and his father both had their wands out.

"Good, Cedric's here. Cedric, you take everybody back to the Portkey. Your father, me, and my three oldest boys are going to go see what this chaos is about. Make sure you get them back to the Portkey."

With that, they departed.

"Come on," said Cedric motioning at everyone left, "the Portkey shouldn't be far away. It didn't take us that long to get here."

He stuck his head out of the tent to make sure nobody was around and herded them all behind the tent. He pointed down the pathway formed by the last row of tents and the forest. Screams could now be heard in the distance.

"We're gonna stay between the tents and the trees. If you see anything suspicious, run into the woods. Come on."

Cedric lead the group along the edge of the tents, the screaming seemed to be getting closer to them. Harry felt protected being with Cedric who kept looking around with his wand at the ready. At times he would just stop and listen.

The group sped up, Cedric leading them in the darkness. They were almost running now. Several tents near them were on fire. Cedric wasn't talking.

Harry asked Cedric if he knew how much further it was before they should cut through the tents to get to the Portkey.
"I'm keeping an eye out for that muggle's house. It was near the cabin."

Cedric turned and looked at Harry, stopping the group's process.

"Help me watch for it," he said and started to jog again in the same direction when a tent not a hundred feet in front of them exploded and sent debris flying.

A piece of wood that was on fire was headed straight for Cedric who dived in the direction of Harry. "Watch out!" he yelled as he dove.

He hit Harry on the way down with his arm outstretched and took Harry down with him. Another piece of wood came flying by seconds later just where Harry had been. The others had dived into the woods and were hiding behind trees. "Stay down!" Cedric yelled toward them.

Harry and Cedric stood up carefully and Harry started brushing his shirt off. He saw Hermione hiding behind a tree. She was frantically gesturing in the direction of the tent. He looked back to Cedric who was glaring in the direction of the tent.

A death eater stood facing them with his wand raised. Harry saw long blonde hair coming out of the back of the death eater's hood.

He looked back at Cedric. There seemed to be a fire in Cedric's eyes. He didn't look scared at all and somehow Harry felt even more protected than before. Even though Harry had been in situations like this before, he had always been nervous. Cedric showed no signs of weakness.

"Well, well, well… look what we have here. The famous Harry Potter," came a drawling voice from under the mask.

Cedric stepped sideways and put himself in front of Harry his wand also raised.

"Step aside, stupid boy, I'm not here for you."

"Well, you've got me whether you want me or not," said Cedric with the tiniest hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Harry jumped out from behind Cedric and cried, "Expelliarmus!"

The death eater's wand flew through the air, fell to the ground and snapped in half. Cedric took this moment of weakness and ran towards the death eater.

The death eater, startled, also started running and Cedric stopped.

"Come on, guys," he called back to the others still hiding in the woods, "we're almost there. I can see the muggle's cabin."

The group darted among the tents toward the cabin, screams could still be heard on the other end of the field. After they passed the cabin they turned down the road to the next small field where all the Portkeys were still laying. Harry could faintly make out two more death eaters visible some distance away.

When they got to the field with Portkeys they had to fight with several witches and wizards also looking for their own way home. A witch with a small baby was standing at the edge of the field crying. Her baby had red on it's face. Harry hoped they had been supporting Bulgaria and that nothing was wrong with the child.

They only had to search a short time to find the old boot. They all gathered, rather unintentionally, in the same spot they had been in on the original trip, Cedric was once again right behind Harry.

"3...," started Cedric, "2… 1… Now."

Harry felt the same tugging sensation he had felt earlier that morning. When they arrived back at Stoatshead Hill, only Cedric and Harry remained standing. Harry looked rather proud of himself.

The others got up and were surprised by Cedric's comment, "I'm taking you all back home. I'm gonna make sure you get there safely. Any questions?"

"Hey Cedric?" asked Harry, smiling.

"Yeah."

"Is it a little cold out here?"

Cedric smiled and pulled his right hand up to rest on his left shoulder, "A little. Why?"

"No reason," said Harry, trying to sound genuinely uninterested.

-Please read and review; This is my first work (inspired by scenes from the new movie); This was written out of order and several chapters are still in development