Disclaimer:I do not own Harry Potter, or anything relating to it. J.K. Rowling does.

Five Points From Hufflepuff

The sun made little beams of light through the gaps in her curtains. Tara opened her eyes to see her magnificent antique bed frame towering about her as she lay in bed. She blinked a few times, as if to make sure she was in her bed, and not just dreaming.

She got up and headed towards the bathroom to take a shower. About fifteen minutes later, Tara emerged from the foggy bathroom in her school robes. She had her light brown hair put into pigtail braids. Usually she kept her hair down. It fell just below her shoulders, but today she had decided to do something different. Something bound to catch the eye of someone special.

After putting on her dark brown eyeliner and some eye shimmer, she took one last look at herself in the mirror. She decided that she looked good, so she gathered her books and walked to the common room. She looked for Cedric, but couldn't find him anywhere in the common room. She sat in an armchair near the fire and waited for about ten minutes.

"Tara! It's five minutes to potions! What are you still doing here?" exclaimed Susan.

"I've been waiting for Cedric. Have you seen him?"

"No. He probably left without you! You know how he is about time." Tara didn't quite understand what she had just said. Cedric always waited for her. Always. Why wasn't he waiting for her now?

"I guess so," she said. Susan locked her arm with Tara's and pulled Tara out the porthole and on the way Potions.

"But it's unlike Cedric to NOT wait for me. Do you think he could be sick?"

"Maybe. I don't know. We can check after Potions if we don't see him in class."

"I guess so," Tara said. She hoped Cedric was all right. But he had to be sick. What other reason would there be?

"Tara. Tara! Look who's coming our way!" Susan said eagerly. "Well I'll leave you two so you can be alone!" Tara laughed when Susan stressed 'alone'.

"Oh, shove it Susan!"

"Alright, alright!" she laughed and ran to catch up with a group of Hufflepuff fifth years that had just walked by.

"'Ello Tara. Heading down to breakfast?"

"I wish. I've got Charms in about ten minutes, and I don't want to be too late. You have transfiguration, right?"

"Unfortunately, yeah. Meet me in the library after lunch then will you?"

"Of course," she said smiling.

"See you then," he said as he gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She watched him walk down the hallway for only a moment, and then resumed walking towards Charms. Her head was filled with wonderful thoughts of the previous night. Yet, in the back of her mind, she was still worried about Cedric.

When she walked into the Charms classroom she felt a wave of happiness flow over her body.

'Good. He's not sick,' she thought. 'But that means he left me on purpose. Why would he do that? Did he have to talk to a professor? No, he would've told me.' She cautiously approached her seat next Cedric. She pulled out her chair and sat down. He did not acknowledge her. Not so much as a wave or even a glance. Nothing. He sat there, looking away from here, as if she didn't exist.

"Hey," she said; however no reply came. "Cedric? Hello?"

"Oh. Hello," he said coldly. He turned to look at her with a look that was all but friendly.

"Cedric, what's wrong?" Tara said.

"Oh," he said, "nothing. Did you have a nice time last night?"

"Yeah I did. Harry and I went to the gardens and-" then it hit her like a ton of bricks: The garden. Their special place. She had gone there with Harry.

"Are you mad I didn't tell you? What are you in a bad mood about?"

"You know bloody well why I'm angry! How could you bring HIM there?" he said his eyes filled with anger.

"Mr. Diggory, please settle down!" said Prof. Flitwick.

"Cedric, you're unbelievable! What is so horrid about me going to the gardens with Harry?"

"Because I thought the was ours! But obviously, that's not at all the case. You just disregarded our friendship." He said slamming his hand down on his charms book.

"Mr. Diggory! Next time I hear your voice, it will be 5 points from Hufflepuff!" Professor turned around and began writing notes and explaining an origin of a special Egyptian summoning charm.

"I did NOT disregard our friendship!" she hissed at him. She would have yelled, but Prof. Flitwick look peeved as it was, and she did not want him making this class period any worse.

"Yes you did! You just take whoever you please!" his voice seething with disgust at the thought of her actions.

"Now you're being unreasonable!" she said, her voice faltering.

"Unreasonable? Is that what I'm being! If there was a way to make a situation worse, Tara, it was calling me UNREASONABLE!"

"MR. DIGGORY! 5 points from Hufflepuff! Now I if hear you again you will have detention for the rest of the week!" Mr. Flitwick yelled, his face turning a slight shade of red as he looked at Cedric. After he had sufficiently stared at Cedric, he began explaining the charm again.

The rest of charms was horrible. You could cut the tension between Tara and Cedric with a knife. As soon as Prof. Flitwick dismissed them, Tara bolted for the door. She was not going to give herself an opportunity to be yelled at again. She had Transfiguration next, then a study period with Snape, and then lunch.

As she quickly walked towards Prof. Trelawney's classroom she heard Susan calling her name. Tara didn't feel like stopping, incase Cedric were near, so she kept at her steady pace. She took a seat at her table and took out her one-foot essay on the history of palm reading.

"Tara! What's with you? I was calling your name for ages! Didn't you hear me?" Susan said, taking a seat next to Tara. She could tell Susan had been running to catch up with her because Susan was breathing slightly deeper than usual.

"Sorry. I'm a bit distracted."

"Oh. What for?" Susan stopped in mid sentence to look at who was entering the room. "It seems like Cedric's not sick after all. That's a relief!"

"I'm not so sure. I'd rather him be sick than in this classroom," Tara said.

"Tara? What happened?"

"Well, I know I told you about last night, when Harry took me to the garden. Well I guess Cedric found out about it, and he's mad. He started screaming at me in Charms, and Prof. Flitwick took 5 points from Hufflepuff. We haven't talked since then. I just don't understand, Susan. Why is he so angry"

Susan looked at Tara. She had always known Cedric liked Tara, When Tara had told Cedric about Harry, Susan had seen the twinkle in his eyes disappear. He constantly looked at Tara and Harry as if he were imagining himself in Harry's place. But Susan never said a word about it to anyone, but with this outburst, it wouldn't be long before Tara, or worse, Harry figured it out.

"Tara, I'm sure if you give him time to cool down, you two will be able to work it out."

"I sure hope so, Susan. I sure hope so."

The rest of her classes that day seemed to drag on. She avoided Cedric at all costs and was counting down the seconds till lunch. It wasn't because she was hungry. She had lost her appetite in charms, so instead she decided to feed her cat Midnight until about half hour past lunch-time. She figured everyone else would be out on the grounds because it was a beautiful day, so she wouldn't run the risk of bumping into Cedric.

As she made her way up the steps to her dormitory, she shed a single tear. As she began to cry, she raced the rest of the way up to her dormitory. She collapsed on her bed and cried. How could a night so wonderful lead to a day so horrid? She heard a faint "mew" from beside her bed and remembered about Midnight. She took her cat out of the cage and pet her silky black fur. The cat began to lightly paw at Tara's face, as if she were attempting to wipe away the tears with her paw. Tara just laughed a bit and wiped her eyes.

"Midnight, what am I going to do?" Tara said. "As if my pet cat is going to know."

She put some cat treats into Midnights cage and let midnight go back in. Tara fixed her hair and attempted to make herself look presentable for Harry. After about five minutes of unsuccessful primping, she decided she better go, so as not to be late. When she walked into the common room she saw Cedric sitting with his head in his hands in an armchair near the fire. He looked miserable. His books were strewn about and an un-touched piece of parchment lay on the table next to him.

She walked out as quietly as she could, so he wouldn't see her. She couldn't face him. Not now. She didn't feel like having another row with him. She quickly ran to the library, slowing down near Filch's office. She finally found the section of the library where Harry was.

"Tara, I'm over here," he said.

"Hey Harry. What did you want to meet here for?'

"I thought we could research that report Prof. Snape gave us," said Harry, his eyes filled with concern. "Tara, you've been crying, haven't you?" he said as he touched her face ever so gently.

"Umm. Well, yeah," she said looking into his eyes.

"Is this about Cedric? I heard his talking to Ernie about how you two were arguing today in Charms."

"Wonderful. The whole school probably knows by now, if they didn't hear us when we were in charms. Surprised you didn't hear it that way, it got so loud." she said throwing her hands up in mock defeat. "Yeah we argued, and I've never seen him like this before. Sure we've had arguments, but he's never acted like this."

"What is he so mad about?"

"He is mad that…well he is mad that you and I were in the garden together last night." She felt awful silly saying the reason. Truthfully, is was somewhat of a silly reason, but Cedric's anger made it seem so serious.

"That's ridiculous! Why is he mad at you! I took you there! It was a surprise!"

"I know, but I don't think that matters to him, Harry."

"I'm going to go give Cedric a piece of my mind. He bloody well deserves it!"

"No! Harry don't! That would just make things worse, and I really don't need him to be any angrier at me."

"I'm going Tara. It's not fair to you for him to be mad," said Harry.

"Harry, please. I'm just going to let it blow over," she said as she forced a weak smile.

"Well if you're sure, Tara. I just don't like it when someone hurts you. I'm supposed to keep you safe, remember?"

Tara just looked at him. His care for her always seemed to amaze her. She leaned forward to give him a hug. He openly accepted her gesture. She breathed in deeply, sobbing once as an after effect from her crying. His smell filled her nose, and began to calm her.

"Hopefully in a few days, it'll have blown over," Tara said believing her statement. There was no reason not to. Cedric and she had been friends for a long time. They could overcome one bad argument.

And so she began studying with Harry, trying to get her mind off of her bad day.

AN: I hope you all like it. I promise, the anger will be over and done with soon. Thank you to all of the wonderfull reviewers!