Chapter 31: Can't Catch A Break

Cedric

In through the nose. Out through the mouth. In through the nose. Out through the mouth.

The crisp winter air of Scotland burned through my nostrils and set my lungs on fire with the exertion I put myself through. I couldn't stop now. I couldn't allow myself. I needed to remain strong. Sharp. Focused.

And my biggest distraction was safely tucked away in the library studying with her two more responsible and less trouble making friends. Even, to my surprise, the Slytherin girl.

I came up to my usual checkpoint where a brick ledge protruded out from the side of the castle wall. I picked up the pace and sprung forward, toes on my left dug into the wall and UP! With another quick breath the toes on my right pressed to the wall and UP again! Two more times until I could grasp that ledge. It was time for pull-ups.

As I lifted myself again and again, I went over strategy.

Now that Mary was ranked number one, how to keep her there? Hannah Abbot was no one's queen. She was too nervous. Too fidgety. She was a bright girl but definitely more fit to serve than to lead. Zacharias Smith, an annoyance, but no real threat to anyone except himself. He'd likely do something stupid eventually to get himself disqualified or worse. Susan Bones was still definitely one to watch out for. Now Ernest…he really came from nowhere didn't he. Smart. Strong. Confident. All the things you need in a leader. A lot of the things Mary was not.

I was going to have to do something about that.

My workouts were always a good time to think and I had been lacking them lately. Mary was so…was so…high maintenance! I mean, how badly does this kid want to die?!

When I was a child, my father read me a story of a muggle chicken farm. The baby chicks raised on the farm were highly accident prone and, if not kept under tight supervision, were prone to die. One drowned here. One ran under a barrel wheel there. They had no sense of self preservation.

Mary was that baby chick.

I should have known she would be trouble from the day I earned the right to choose first who my Eligible would be. I was the strongest of my class. The smartest. Well…the most well-rounded.

Professor Sprout gathered the Guides in a training room after the results had come in. Queen Sow Helga Hufflepuff herself had chosen and I came out on top. We sat around a large tree stump table as she laid several photos. "All you will have is a photo and a name. You will not receive their files until after you have already committed to a Sow or Boar. This," she laid out a photo of a young girl through a window, "Is Hannah Abbott." She was sitting in a large arm chair reading a book, shiny black shoes kicking back and forth. I only spared the girl a short glance. It wasn't that she didn't seem promising. Head in a book. From a good family. Maybe a little skinny but nothing terrible. However, after a special late visit the night before, I had been had been advised not to make a decision too soon. I made no move to grab the photo and so Pamona proceeded on. The next photo was a boy stepping out of a black town car with the assistance of a uniformed gentleman. "Justin Finch-Fletchley." Wealthy. Muggle-born maybe? The name wasn't familiar. "Susan Bones. Padma Patil. Meagan Jones. Leanne Merrymount. Neville Longbottom. Blaise Zabini. Zacharias Smith. Ronald Weasley. Ernest Macmillan."

There were some surprising names there, I will admit. The Longbottom orphan? Zacharias Smith- that thieving family was being allowed into Hufflepuff? A Weasley? That pack of gingers had all been sorted into Gryffindor as far as I know. Susan Bones seemed the obvious choice out of the group. A photo was of her playing a game of Quidditch with some of her cousins. Athletic. The Bones name came with a stellar reputation of powerful figures with strong ties to Hufflepuff. There were some characters here, but certainly none to warrant the conversation I had last night.

At least I thought so.

"Mary McGowen-Smith."

The room became deathly silent as the last photo slid across the table. I can still remember the shock. The thrill. The utter excitement and disbelief. A McGowen. A McGowen! I snatched the photo up before anyone else could crowd to get a good enough look. A short brunette, average build, dragging a trash bag almost entirely her size to the end of the street to plop into a can. She wasn't as impressive in photo as Susan, but she was a McGowen. There was no way she wasn't a sure thing. All she would need is some simple guidance.

Simple guidance my arse.

She grew up in the muggle world- she may as well have been a muggleborn. Strike one.

She had a learning disability and the attention span of a gold fish. Strike two.

She had virtually NO social skills. A tuna in a pool of sharks. A McGowen of all people being bullied! Strike three.

Oh, and she was a shit flier.

I tried my best to put her at ease during the opening ceremony. She was visibly a bundle of nerves and almost didn't drink from the fountain. It even seemed And while I watched the Guides that had chosen incorrectly have their hopes crushed when Weasley, Patil, Longbottom, and Zabini refused their initiation, I couldn't help but sigh in relief.

From there on it was me dogging her every step. Five times saving her from a near death drop on the moving stairs. Three times saving her from near fatal pranks at the hands of Peeves the Poltergeist. One troll. The girl was determined to be a sacrifice. And then where would that leave me? Full of regrets like my father? "I don't think so," I growled to myself, lifting into another pull up.

Despite my many frustrations, Mary had managed to do a lot. She had managed to find two advisors- even if I didn't totally agree with her choice in befriending a Greengrass. She had managed to be ranked number one during the last ranking ceremony. She even completed a task. And while she struggled with her studies, her efforts didn't go unnoticed.

Then there was the day she punched Zacharias in the face. Outside of being a seer, she was somehow able to channel enough focus to cast a spell through her fist. That was a real and rare talent. That was something I could work with.

"You're deceptively strong for being so starved." I halted my routine, looking down to see who spoke. It Margaret, a Hufflepuff 5th year girl. I dropped from the wall.

"I suppose." I dusted my hands off on my Quidditch shorts. "Did you want something?" There was something not right with her. The hair on my arms and on my neck began to rise and it had nothing to do with the cold.

Margaret gave a small smirk. "Do I want something." Her voice had a strange lilt to it. Musical. There was something familiar about it but I had spoken to Margaret so few times- if at all- that I couldn't place it. When I look expectantly at her, she crossed her arms and leaned again he wall. "I just saw something that might interest you. Your little egg. She might have wandered off and gotten herself cracked."

I immediately tensed. "Mary's doing homework with her friends."

"Is she?" Margaret laughed now. "You don't sound so confident, Boy."

"What is it to you?" My fists balled at my sides. I hated the feeling of worry gripping me. If she had gone and gotten herself into trouble AGAIN. The image of her hiccupping, eyes full of unshed tears, lying in the nurse wing while she recounted her the story of her abuse.

Damn it.

I made to go around Margaret, but she reached out to stop me. "This could be your chance to look the other way. I warned you that choosing that child won't end well for you." Eyes wide as saucers, I turned and gave her a closer look. Margaret was glowing. Her eyes almost looked gold. "Just think about it before you go rushing into something you might regret." With that she released my arm and sauntered off.

How could I not have noticed? That was the Queen Mother herself. Helga Hufflepuff.