Chapter Five

You're all I Ever Wanted

The following morning after the kiss, Cedric was heavy eyed and tired. He had not slept at all the previous night, and that morning when he walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, he looked it. He had spent the entire night thinking about Elizabeth and the kiss. The way she had reacted was not the way he had planned, although it was not the worst.

She had kissed him back, which was a good sign; but after the tore her lips from his, she looked shocked, her face was white, and she stammered when she tried to speak. Immediately, her cheeks turned bright red, something Cedric was quite fond of and thought was quite adorable. "I…I…" she had stuttered, staring up at him. He had tried to speak, but she pulled away from him. "Goodnight," she had spat out, and then sprinted away from him, disappearing through the door to the girls dormitories. Cedric had just stood there, paralyzed in shock, not knowing what exactly to do.

Now trudging tiredly into the Great Hall, his hair rumpled and robes hanging hastily off his shoulders, he headed towards the Hufflepuff table. He was nervous as to what was going to go on that morning. Before he had kissed her, they had agreed to have breakfast together that morning. Now, he would not be surprised if she did not show up; and if she did, she probably would not look at him.

Thrusting himself down on the bench at the table, Cedric forced himself to look around. He did not see Elizabeth anywhere. Sighing with relief, he thanked Merlin, because that would give her the opportunity to show if she was comfortable or not to sit with him, or to start the conversation.

Leaning his head on the table, he placed it in his arms and closed his eyes. He did not care who looked at him or who was whispering about him lying at the table, head down. He was tired, and his brain was fried from thoughts of Elizabeth.

As Cedric kept his head on the table, Elizabeth had walked into the Great Hall. She, too, looked highly disheveled and distraught that morning. She had also had a rough night of barely any sleep. Elizabeth had tossed and turned that night, thinking of the kiss that the two Prefects had shared in the corridor of the dormitories. Half of her brain was spinning with thoughts of why he could have kissed her, intentions of his, what was to come, and the fact that she knew for a fact that he was with Cho. She did not know what to think at all.

Walking heavily towards the Hufflepuff table, her green eyes fell upon the one person she dreaded seeing that morning. Cedric. Of course he was there. She had planned on hiding from him as long as she could. She had not a clue of what to say to him…how exactly she was supposed to approach the situation.

It felt like ages before she reached the table, agonizing over what to do. Her eyes never left Cedric's head, which was only the top of his messy golden locks, his face flat down on the table. What Elizabeth wanted to do, secretly, deep down inside, was to kiss him again. Elizabeth had not minded the kiss, not one bit. She had enjoyed it,. And longed for more. But her insecurities were given her second thoughts; she could not believe for one second that she could have had the luck to have been kissed by Cedric Diggory. She wanted to believe it was true, she knew it was; she wanted to just believe that it was a fairy tale ending, that she had gotten the guy. But Elizabeth was a pessimistic. She did not believe for one second that it all had happened so fast, so suddenly, and was going to work out for her benefit.

Lingering for a moment on the other side of the table, looking down at Cedric's body, she took a few seconds to contemplate sitting across from him, or away from. It felt like ages, but finally her body took over her mind, and sat down across from him reluctantly. She sat slowly, never taking her eyes off him. As soon as she sat, it seemed, he stirred.

Lifting his head, Cedric looked at her. The look on his face was of shock; he had not expected to see her sitting there. He sat up quickly, straight, staring at her. He looked as though he had not slept all night, either.

Elizabeth nibbled on her lip gently, nervously glancing around, attempting not to look at him. She could feel his eyes on her.

"Elizabeth…I didn't even realize you were there…" he said, nonchalantly running a shaky hand through his hair. Glancing away, he cleared his throat nervously.

She mustered up a small smile, looking down. "I just sat down…" she said quietly, playing with her fingers, attempting to look distracted. She knew he was staring at her, reading her every move. They sat in an awkward silence for a few moments, as the bustle and chatter rose around them. No one else noticed the pair, but they both felt like they were the only ones in the room.

Cedric cleared his throat noisily again, racking his brain with something to say. He wanted to bring up the kiss, because he needed some sort of closure. He absolutely did not want that to become their last and only kiss. "Elizabeth…" he began, taking a breath. He stared at her, wanting her to look at him. He had dropped his voice so that only she could hear him. She kept her eyes from him, but finally moved them to look back into his. "Why did you run away last night?" He finally got the words out that he had so badly wanted to ask her all night and morning.

She did not answer at first. She just stared at him, nibbling nervously (and to Cedric's flipping stomach's enjoyment, quite cutely) at her lower lip. Finally she relaxed, letting her arms flop into her lap and her back to hunch slightly. She let out a sigh, staring at the wood table. "I don't know…I was scared," she said slowly, her voice so low Cedric had to lean over to hear her.

"Scared?" he asked her. "Why would you be scared?"

Elizabeth moved her eyes back up to meet his. "I've never kissed anyone before…especially someone like you…" She, along with Cedric, could not believe she had just said that. He watched as her face immediately turned from its normal pale color to a bright red. Elizabeth could feel the heat rising in her face. "What I mean…" she stammered on, embarrassed, "is that you…I mean…I…you took me by surprise, of course…I really did not know what to do…"

Cedric could not help but smile. At this, Elizabeth frowned.

"What are you smiling at?"

"You."

"Why?" Elizabeth nervously shifted her eyes around.

"You're adorable." Cedric sat up, then looked around. Reaching over, he grabbed a piece of toast. "Come on, we need to talk in private." Standing, he grabbed his bag, and headed out of the Great Hall.

Highly confused, Elizabeth obliged and stood from the table, hurrying after him.

They did not speak as they walked past the tables of students, then as they passed students filing in, late, to the Great Hall for their breakfast. Walking past all of this, silently, Cedric headed for an empty classroom all the way down the hall.

Slipping inside, he waited for her to follow inside, and shut the door. Turning to her, he leaned against it, staring down at her.

Elizabeth just stood there, nervously, staring up at him. She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, wringing her hands together behind her back. Cedric just watched her, as she stared up at him. "So…" she finally said, slowly, her voice filled with uncertainty.

"It's better that we got away from anyone. We need to talk." Cedric pulled himself from the door, standing upright, letting his arms fold across his broad chest.

Elizabeth just nodded, still standing in the same position she had been in a few moments ago. She could not look at him; she felt as though her face would turn permanently red.

Taking a breath, Cedric took a step towards her. "Elizabeth, the reason I kissed you is because…" Taking another breath, Cedric knew that there was no turning back now. "Because I've fancied you since…well, probably around our second year." Feeling relieved that he said it, he let his lips curl into a small smile.

Elizabeth, however, snapped her head towards him, looking quite alarmed. "You…what do you mean, you've fancied me?" she asked, the shock ringing evidently in her voice.

"Well, exactly what I've said…"

"But you've never showed an inch of it!"

Cedric let out a laugh, shaking his head a bit. "Well, have you?"

Elizabeth did not say anything, she just looked down. "Who said that I fancied you?"

Cedric felt a pang in his heart. His face flushed, and his stomach rose to his chest. i Did she mean it? /i He thought to himself. Had he just embarrassed himself entirely in front of her? "Well, don't you?"

Elizabeth looked up and saw the embarrassment on his face. Immediately, she irrupted into laughter. Cedric stood there, dumbstruck. "Well, yes! I was only kidding…I…well, I always thought it was obvious." She now had a smile on her face, staring up at him. She felt her embarrassment and nervousness leaving her body.

Cedric was smiling now. "I never thought it. I always thought you found me to be a stupid, lucky, snobby git."

Elizabeth let out a snort, then covered her mouth, turning rosy again. Cedric laughed. "Well, I never thought that…well, okay I won't lie. I did. But I don't still think that!" she added quickly when she saw Cedric's reaction. "I still always liked you, though…"

Cedric was immediately beginning to feel the color coming back into his face, the color in his eyes sparkling. He did not look as if he had lost a lot of sleep the night before. His face was glowing.

"Well, I had a good way of hiding it I suppose…as did you. But, now that the truth is out…" Cedric turned to look at Elizabeth again, smiling at her. He took another step towards her, standing quite close to her. He longed to feel her lips against his again, longed to wrap his arms around her.

But the smile started to disappear from Elizabeth's face. "But, aren't you with Cho? That fifth year girl from Ravenclaw you took to the Yule Ball?" she said, backing up slightly.

The smile evaporated from Cedric's face as well. He had not thought of that. He did not fancy Cho at all, thought she was a nice girl…but he knew she still thought that he did, and that they were a couple. This was going to damper any plans of him being with Elizabeth. "No…" he began, shaking his head furiously. "Absolutely not. I'm not with her, nor was I ever."

"But you seem like it…"

"She thinks it, I believe. Always hanging on me…but I don't fancy her at all. Thought she was pretty, and it was obvious she wanted to go with me. So I took her…" he shrugged his shoulders a bit, "there was only one person I would have wanted to go with, though," he added softly.

Elizabeth looked up at him, her eyes hopeful and wide. "Oh really?"

Cedric nodded, taking a step closer to her. "You." He whispered. His face was close to hers, he could feel her breath on his neck a bit.

"I…well why didn't you ask me?"

"I did not think you wanted to go…"

"Well it would have been nice, I did not go at all!"

Cedric frowned, looking away. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth…I feel terrible…"

Elizabeth shook her head, looking up at him. "No, don't. I know you didn't know, I don't blame you at all…it just would have been nice." Elizabeth shifted her weight from her left leg to her right leg just then, and looked up at him. "But you know what you can do to make it up to me?"

Cedric looked at her with a questioning look. He did not speak though, because she answered herself almost immediately.

"Kiss me again, like you did last night."

Cedric's face immediately turned into a grin. "I can do better than that." He said. Stepping even closer to her, feeling his skin brush against hers, he leaned down. Placing his hand on the back of her neck, running his fingers along the skin ever so gently. Smiling, he let his lips gently touch hers, and he kissed her, with more passion than he had the night before.

Her body tingling, her insides jumping and leaping about, Elizabeth kissed him back, her arms reaching automatically up and placing her hands on either side of his face. She felt has though Cedric had released an entirely knew girl. Kissing him back as if she had been doing it all her life, she savored the taste. She felt like a new person. She wanted to leap into his arms and hold him tight. It felt invigorating to know that they were kissing in a classroom where anyone could find them at any moment, but it felt nice to be daring.

Cedric moved his free hand to her waist and pulled her closer as he kissed her more, letting his lips linger a bit on hers. Finally, he parted his lips, pressing his forehead against hers, and he opened his eyes. He watched as she, panting softly, opened hers and looked at him. Smiling, he placed another quick kiss on her lips. "Elizabeth, you are all I've wanted since forever…" his voice was soft, and he spoke with conviction, as if his entire life depended on it.

Elizabeth's insides melted. Her hands were trembling on his face, and her eyes almost began to water. It was hard to tell, because her eyes were already sparkling and dancing in their sockets. "You don't know how long I've been waiting to hear that…" she answered.

Smiling, Cedric kissed her again, then pulled away, taking both her hands into his. He was about to say something more, but the bell rang, loudly, ringing in their ears. Cedric made a face, as Elizabeth wrinkled her nose.

"Well have to continue this later…walk with me to Care of Magical Creatures?" he asked with a smile.

Elizabeth nodded. "When will we be alone again?" she asked him.

"Tonight, after I practice with Madam Sprout for the Third Task, will you meet me in the Hufflepuff common room, eight thirty?"

Elizabeth nodded.

"Good, I have a place I know where we can be alone."

Smiling, Elizabeth squeezed his hands. "Alright, sounds like a plan."

Leaning down, a smile on his face, Cedric kissed her again. "Let's go…" he said softly.

He let go of her hands, knowing that outside, no one could know, yet, of the pair. Elizabeth followed, secretly wishing that she could hold his hand in hers, show everyone of the truth of their relationship. Quietly, though, Elizabeth followed Cedric, out the doors, through the crowed of students, and outside towards Hagrid's hut for their lesson together.