Love's Labour Lost
ScarletSerpent
Disclaimer: Although this story follows the plot of the book/movie Goblet of Fire, the plot is my own. Everything belongs to Rowling and the producers of the movies. I am not selling it, or reproducing it for profit, I swear. I am not quite genius enough to work that out.
Summary: Harry Potter is fourteen and in a lot of trouble. When confusion and dark forces combine to make a daunting fourth year, who can Harry turn to as it all falls to pieces? The story behind the story, of a love that defeats evil, but even love cannot cheat death.
Reviewer Responses: tmelange (I'm glad you think I portrayed their interaction well, I always worry when I put them in situations together, y'know? Thanks for reviewing!) ; MaireadInish (Ahh yes, needless to say I have fallen in love with Cedric in this story, he's such a sweet guy, it would be impossible for Harry not to like him, right? Haha. Thanks for reviewing!) ; wild wolf free17 (Aww, thank you! I'm not too concerned about them, maybe you're right, they are jealous:-) Thank you for the encouragement, it really made me smile!) ; dairygirl (Yeah, Cedric is such a sweetie, isn't he? I 3 him to pieces! Andawkward Harry is the best Harry, before he goes all teenage hormonal. Haha. Thanks for reviewing again!) ; dark vampire (Thank you! I'm so glad you like the story! It makes me so happy when people review, so thank you!) ; animegurl088 (Thanks! I will update every Sunday!) ; ST (Don't you love it when you get the fuzzy feeling pairing? I do too. Thanks for reviewing!) ; ME (Thank YOU for reviewing! I'm really glad you like it.) ; littleflower2004 (Thank you! Your review made me smile.If you do write that fic, definitely let me know, I'd love to read it!) ; EA Simpson (I love Cedric in general, haha. Thank you for reviewing!) ; sparklingdiamond 180 (Haha, I rather liked the wink myself. Thanks for revewing again!) ; Arrianne ( :-) glad you liked it! Thank you for reviewing!) ; truthfulchaos (I had a smile positively pasted to my face after reading your review. You are so sweet! I am so glad that you don't mind me taking some artistic license, because after all, it is fanfiction, right? I'm so glad that my story brightens your day. Just so you know, your review brightened my week!) ; Gwaihiril (Big smiles. I'm really glad you liked the chapter. The Harry/Cedric interaction was really important in this chapter, because of what happens in chapter 4, which I hope you like just as much, or maybe more? Thank you uber much for reviewing again!) ; LJSkywalker (Haha, I read your review and thought "wow, me too". This story started out as a bit of a whim, but it really has started to grow on me. Thank you for reviewing!) ; cleasmile (Ahh yes. Harry is far too trusting, I know. I have kind of modeled him after me when I was fourteen. Completely unsure of what I was doing, and I really thought that the world was coming to me on a silver platter. Nothing could happen to me. Good thing Cedric's a good guy, right? Sorry if it seemed a little choppy, I wrote each section at separate times, and I have never been very good with transitions. I'm afraid this one has a lot of the same problem. I hate romance fics like that too. The characters take one look at eachother and fall in love. This chapter may seem like its jumping the gun a bit, but there is waaaaay more ahead. And not many more major time jumps either. Haha. Thanks for reviewing again!) ; runandHyde (I really liked the Invisible Cloak bit too, Cedric and Harry are too cute. Don't worry, glaring usually spurs me right into action. And glomp is quite the beginning to a review, I must say. :-) Thank you for taking the time to review!).
A/N: Whew! So, this chapter has been begging to be written since I began this fic, but I heldback for a little while. It's funny, because as I was writing it, I could just feel all of it. Drugged Cedricended upbeinga very interesting character, moreso than I had originally pictured him. I have taken some artistic license in this one, with most of it really. Okay, all of it then! But, as truthfulchaos pointed out, it is fanfiction. Having said that...
On with the show!
Chapter Four: Of Dragons and Detentions
One, two, three. Turn. One, two, three. Turn. Harry paced back and forth in the champions tent, the roars and shrieks of the crowd resonating like a sonorous charm in his head. His palms were slick as he wrung his hands. He tried to focus on his task, on his accio, but the word stuck in his mouth and his eyes wandered to the opening where the tumultuous noise came from. Cedric. The other boy's name was a mantra in his mind. Cedric was far older than Harry, he knew how to take care of himself. Harry's mind refused to accept that fact, though, and so he found himself pacing. It was possible, he considered, that the sounds of barking, the roars of a ferocious magical beast and the oohs and ahhs of the crowd were what worried him. He did not stop to wonder why it was that he was more concerned about Cedric's task than his own.
Suddenly, the crowd became utterly silent. An agonizing few seconds passed, and Harry paused, ear cocked towards the tent flap. A loud howl began and echoed through the crowd, a sentiment of simultaneous congratulation and relief. Harry's shoulders sagged and he bowed his head. Stupid Cedric, give him a heart attack why not? He headed towards his small changing area and sat down heavily. The sighs and roars of the crowd as Fleur and Krum each faced their dragons and succeeded barely registered. Cedric had survived. Thank God. Now he could worry about his own task. Except that he didn't. He had become completely numb with shock. Hungarian Horntail. Firebolt. Accio. Firebolt. Cedric. Champion. Accio. Accio. Accio! A mantra of words tumbled through his head.
They were ready for him. He felt for his wand for reassurance. Dragons. He humphed slightly. Just before he headed out, he looked back at the hospital tent where Cedric and the others had gone after their tasks.
Maybe muggles had the right of it after all.
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Cedric lay on a bed in the newly conjured Hospital tent, his cheek burning as he clutched the golden egg to his chest. Madame Pomfrey had rubbed on a soothing salve his seventh year potions class had just recently made. Snape had made some vague inside joke about this being the time of year for burns. Only Cedric and his closest friends had understood. Who knew Snape had a sense of humor?
He was in a daze. His friends had been in, only to be disappointed by his complete lack of response to their congratulations and concerns. They had all left reluctantly when Pomfrey had shooed them away, clucking and tsking her worry at Cedric's state of shock. Cedric's eyes wandered down to the golden egg in his arms. He clutched it tighter to his body. A loud cry came from the crowd outside.
"HARRY!" he heard a girl's voice. The rest was drowned out by a loud groaning of the crowd.
Harry? Oh God, Harry! Cedric sat straight up, relinquishing the viselike grip on his prize. He set it down on the bed, swinging his legs around. Harry was facing his dragon. From what he knew, Hungarian Horntails were vicious, he had overheard Hagrid and Charlie Weasley talking about this one. A mother. If this mother was anything like his father then Harry was in for one hell of a ride. He peeked out the makeshift tent's flap, watching as the dragon pulled and yanked on its chain. A small item was flying from Hogwarts, almost completely unnoticed by the crowd. Harry's Firebolt.
"Good boy, Harry," Cedric muttered to himself, a smile gracing his features for the first time since the night before.
"Wh-" he heard a bustle of confusion behind him, and suddenly she was there behind him, her hand on his shoulder, "Mr.Diggory! What on earth are you doing out of bed?" Madame Pomfrey glared down her nose at him. Funny how she could do that at nearly a foot shorter than him.
Cedric looked back out the tent flap and simply pointed, watching as Harry arced across the sky just ahead of the Horntail. "Harry," was all he had to say.
Madame Pomfrey looked at him, startled by the emotion she heard in the boy's voice. "Yes, Potter," she watched the dragon nearly miss the boy. "Don't worry your head over him, he'll come out on top, he always doe..." she was cut off by the gargantuan noise coming from the stands.
Cedric started, a small cry escaping his throat. The dragon had broken loose from the chain. Harry's life was in danger. He reeled, the drugging effect of the salve finally kicking in. Once again, all he managed to say was, "Harry," before he fell towards the ground in a dead drop.
Madame Pomfrey caught the boy, lifting him back to his bed with a levitation charm. She lowered him onto the bed, tucking the sheets over him gently. After brushing a lock of his hair back from his forehead she stepped back, regarding the boy with curiousity. The things people did and said when they were drugged. The boy turned slightly in his sleep when a loud cry came from the crowd.
Harry Potter had defeated his dragon.
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One week later
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"Stupid git," he mumbled to himself, kicking at the polished floors of the tower floors. It was 6:50, he only had ten minutes to descend to the dungeons, a ten minutes that he spent mumbling to the floor and walls, the portraits watching him all the way.
He rapped the door of the dungeon, a little forcefully as his knuckles came away sore. Hearing movements within, Harry stepped backwards, almost tripping over the carpet leading to the room. He stumbled backwards, hoping briefly that the dungeon floors were not as hard as they looked, and fell, into something distinctly softer than a floor, and distinctly more vertical.
Disoriented, Harry felt a pair of arms steadying him. A voice spoke, close enough so he could feel soft puffs of air on his ear, "Steady there, Harry." Startled, Harry attempted to whirl around, but quickly lost his footing, ending up entirely in the arms of the person behind him.
He was gazing into some very familiar grey eyes, the ones he had been seeking out for a week. Cedric looked bemused, a small smile gracing his features, and a hint of concern in his eyes. Harry's mouth opened and closed several times; he felt incredibly foolish, like one of those goldfish on display in a pet store. "Harry?" Cedric asked. "Are you feeling alright?"
His face was too close, Harry thought. His mouth was going dry, how he hated these inadvertent awkward situations. He shook his head, clearing his throat, "S-s-sure," he cleared his throat again, "Just fine." His voice cracked on the final syllable. Perfect timing for a hormonal outbreak. Absolutely perfect.
Cedric's face lit up with amusement, he stifled a laugh, watching the younger boy go red in his embarrassment. Although Harry was undoubtedly adorable when he blushed, he decided to put the boy out of his misery, only to be interrupted by a shadow falling over them.
Snape was standing in the doorway of his lab, glaring at them, "This is not the place for a clandestine rendezvous, boys." They jumped apart as if burned, both attempting to clarify the damning situation, but Snape waved off their comments with, "I don't care. Now, get in here."
Glaring mutinously at the old bat, Harry made his way into the Chamber of the Greasy-Haired Demon... who needed Voldemort's secret chamber, when you could have Snape's? He would almost rather face a reincarnation of Riddle than go through a whole extra hour with Snape, particularly tonight. Cedric looked at him and shrugged, who understood Snape anyway? The man was obviously nutters.
"I was going to have Mr. Diggory supervise your detention, Mr. Potter," Snape let out a long-suffering sigh. "However, in light of recent events perhaps that is not the most enlightened proposal."
Harry blushed to his toes again, "Really, sir, that is fine, we weren't, uh, that is to say..." after his voice cracked a second time he gave up, who cared what the cretin thought anyhow?
"What he means is that there is nothing going on between Harry and myself," Cedric explained, his voice not, Harry noticed with a trace of envy, cracking every other syllable.
The professor rose an eyebrow, "Well, I have things that need attending to," he gazed over towards a spot on the wall. "Fine," he decided after a moment. "I will return in one hour. I expect the potion to be prepared correctly, bottled, on my desk at the time of my return. I know you are hopeless at potions, Mr. Potter, but do try to focus this time." He glanced at Harry, seeming almost distracted, "Is that understood?"
Abashed, Harry replied, "Of course, sir."
"Very well, Mr. Diggory, you can busy yourself with the assignment I gave you today, no less than 15 inches on the properties and uses of Boomslang skin." With a meaningful look, he turned around, and without turning back said, "and do try not to do the whole potion for him." He then disappeared, throwing powder into the fireplace and mumbling an unintelligible destination.
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Cedric watched as Harry shuffled his feet, a blush still gracing his features. "So then," the younger boy began. "Guess I'd better get on with that then." He moved off towards the store cabinet, head bowed. It had been a scant week since the boys had defeated their dragons. Cedric sported a small blush and would for another week or so as the salve erased the burn completely from his features.
He watched as Harry got the ingredients together, chopping and slicing haphazardly, obviously distracted. A smile worked its way onto his face, Snape hadn't been lying when he had said the boy was hopeless at potions. Poor Harry. He made his way over to the table he was working at, watching as the tips of Harry's ears turned bright red, an interesting reaction. Probably habit from having Snape looming over him in class. "They should be even slices," Cedric said, pointing to the thin stalks of green fennel.
Harry looked down at his work in surprise, "Oh," he said, looking utterly confused.
"Like so," Cedric demonstrated, leaning over Harry to guide the knife, making perfect one-centimeter incisions.
Harry's breathing seemed to have changed, becoming short and irregular. Cedric turned his head, regarding the other boy's face, as he had shut his eyes briefly and seemed to be muttering silently to himself. He slowly became aware of his position over Harry, their bodies were completely aligned from the waist up. Harry opened his eyes, his pupils dilated as he turned to face Cedric, the emerald irises growing, sucking Cedric in. A thin sheen of perspiration appeared over his face, and his breath came in short bursts of warm air, sweeping over Cedric's lips. Cedric's eyes wandered to his lips; he licked them unconsciously, closing his eyes. Something was screaming to kiss him, and Cedric was nearly ready to comply. He lowered his head, inching towards the other boy's lips.
He froze. Other boy? What was he doing? This wasn't just another boy, it was The other boy, Harry Potter. For crying out loud, what was he doing? Harry wasn't even fifteen yet. He couldn't take advantage of him. And he was a boy. His father would kill him. Cedric blanched, backing away. Harry's eyes flew open, a million emotions running openly across his face. Hurt, anger, confusion...
Suddenly, Harry turned away, picking up his wand and packing his things. Within seconds he had gone.
Cedric's mouth went dry, as he stared after the infamous Harry Potter. How had this happened? This wasn't what he had intended at all. But then again, these things always seem to begin as such.
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A/N: AHHH! First luuuurve. Prejudices like the ones drilled intoCedric'sbrain really really bother me, I have to say. But, it can't be as easy as simple acceptance, can it? So... thank you to everyone who reviewed. I was so happy with the flood of reviews, they all really made my day! Every time I think about not writing a chapter because I'm too busy/lazy/etcall I have to do is open up my stats page and I'm all smiles and rearing ready to go. Thank you all! It just takes you letting me know how you feel to really brighten my day!