(GoF) CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: The Truth Comes Out

"Hang on," said Ellie to Neville a week and a half later in the courtyard when he revealed who he wanted to go to the Yule Ball with. "You do realize she'll be busy playing bass the entire time, right?"

Neville, who had turned beet red as soon as she asked, shrugged as if this was a non-issue. "Less pressure on me to be a good dancer that way, I reckon."

Ellie wasn't sure what to make of this. She'd spotted Dean and Ginny flirting on more than one occasion, and had even seen Ginny chatting up a Hufflepuff boy a time or two in the halls, so she knew that Ginny's crush on Harry was pretty much over, but she had never once considered Ginny and Neville as an option. Had Ginny?

"I'm not saying I expect her to up and date me afterwards, or anything," said Neville quickly. "I know she's out of my league, and all that. I just—"

"Don't say that," Ellie said automatically, despite the fact that it was, technically speaking, true. "Ginny doesn't think like that, Neville. And you shouldn't, either."

His blush deepened. "Well, anyway. D'you reckon she might say yes?"

Frankly, Ellie was surprised Ginny hadn't already been asked to the ball, which was now in little over a week, but she wasn't about to say that. "I can't say for sure, but I think you should ask. Better than not asking and always wondering, don't you think?"

Her mind wandered back to last Christmas again at that—the place it had visited very frequently over the past few weeks as she worked on her Fred anthology. For so long, she had wished they hadn't crossed the line—hadn't damaged their friendship. But if Fred had never kissed her, would she ever have worked up the nerve to tell him how she felt? Would they still just be… friends?

Technically, they still were just friends. But at the same time, they were anything but.


In the next few days, Ellie found herself encouraging not only Neville to man up and ask someone to the ball, but Harry, too. She had noticed his crush on Cho Chang shortly after their breakup the previous year, and had also noticed that he had done next to nothing about it ever since then.

"Don't be ridiculous," Harry said when she made the pitch to him in front of Ron and Hermione five days before the ball. "Surely she's got a date already, right? And anyway, she'd never say yes. Way out of my league."

"I'll choose to overlook the fact that you're essentially saying Cho is cooler and hotter than me," Ellie said with a bit of a grin.

Harry laughed. "You were out of my league, too."

"Or maybe you just don't understand what 'league' you're in," suggested Hermione.

"Or maybe," said Ellie, just as she had done with Neville, "leagues are a stupid concept, and Cho doesn't think that way."

She felt Fred's gaze on her from across the common room at that, and sent him a small, tentative smile. They hadn't spoken much over the past few days other than band practice, and he'd been notably disinterested in anything having to do with Cedric. He was protecting himself from more hurt, she knew. She just hoped Sirius would write back to her soon so she could break good news to him for a change.

"I'll give it a try," Harry finally said. "But Ron has to ask someone, too."


Harry's mission went much better than Ron's; by the end of the following day, Cho Chang had said yes to Harry and Ginny had said yes to Neville, while Fleur Delacour had laughed in Ron's face.

"I still can't believe he asked Fleur, of all people," said Fred after a particularly late band practice. "Surely there's someone who lives on the same planet as him he could go with?"

"He's going with Parvati," Ellie informed them. She had spoken with her roommate about it after Ron's heart was smashed, and Parvati had begrudgingly agreed.

"So that's Ron and Parvati, Harry and Cho, Ellie and Ced, Gin and Neville, and me and Angelina," recounted George. He nudged Fred pointedly and asked, "What about you, mate?"

The question instantly made Ellie feel as if she'd been stung, though, of course, it was a fair question. Did she really expect Fred to have to watch her go the dance with Cedric and not take his own date? Did she really expect him to keep waiting around forever?

Her heart ached at the mere thought of him going with anyone but her—dancing with anyone but her. Imagining him kissing anyone but her hurt her so much, she instantly hated herself all over again for forcing him to see just that with her and Cedric.

"Am I really the only one in the band kind enough not to subject my date to a night of being alone?" grumbled Fred.

"Neville didn't seem to mind," said Ginny cheerfully. "Said it would put less pressure on him to dance well."

"Ange said she'd always wanted to be able to say 'I'm with the band,' so guess it's worth it for her, as well," added George.

Everyone glanced at Ellie as if waiting for her to supply her own excuse. "Er… Cedric just needs me for the first dance," she mumbled. "Since he's a contestant."

Everyone fell silent for several seconds before, finally, Ginny rose to her feet with a yawn. "Well, I'm beat. Same time tomorrow?"

George nodded in agreement as he, too, rose to his feet, leaving Ellie and Fred alone together for the first time in weeks.

He looked like he had half a mind to get up and leave, too, but she refused to let that happen. She missed him. Even these few seconds of being alone together made more sense than anything else had in quite some time.

"I'm glad you didn't ask anyone else," she said softly. "I would have deserved it, but I'm glad."

His lips pressed together in a thin, half-smile, and he avoided her gaze. "You wouldn't have deserved it. None of this is your fault, El. I know that."

It should have made her feel better, but it didn't—not really.

"I've never wanted to be with anyone else," Fred said quietly. "Can't really imagine ever wanting to. But… I can't go on like this forever, El. And sometimes it feels like it will."

"It won't." He had to believe her. He just had to. "I'm working on it, Fred. I'll find a way, okay?"

But he didn't believe her.

She was losing him.


The day before the ball—Christmas Eve—Ellie woke up to the sound of Woodstock rapping at her window.

She shot out of bed so fast, the girls around her grumbled at the sudden disturbance. She ignored them, of course, sprinting over to the window and hastily opening it. She untied the letter from Woodstock's leg so sharply, he squawked at her in irritation, causing further grumbles from her sleeping roommates, which she also ignored.

It was from Sirius, she deduced the moment she saw the messy handwriting. She sank onto her bed, heart starting to pound, as she read it.


Pup—

I need you to swear to me that you will NEVER keep something like this from me again, no matter how much you are worried about it impacting me, Albus, or anybody else, for that matter. I'm your father, and I'm meant to protect you. It's what matters to me above all else, and I will stop at nothing to get that job done.

The swine who refers to himself as Aleks did indeed have photographic evidence of me, but he doesn't anymore. It didn't take much to claim it, either—a simple word to Albus and a bit of a covert mission involving some professors I won't name and a small break-in on the Durmstrang ship. We aren't amateurs, you know. It was child's play.

Beyond that, I assure you the scoundrel has nothing on me. I've been moving quickly and covertly for months now, and no one has been on my trail. Believe me—I've had years of practice sniffing out my enemies. Besides the photo, he was bluffing all along.

Why he was bluffing, mind you, is yet to be determined. Albus and I are both extremely concerned about who this boy might work for and what his ultimate goals are, and have every intention of finding out. But that's not for you to worry about.

You and Fred have waited far too long already to be together. Please don't waste another second. Go to the ball with him, and don't look back.

Cedric will understand.
Love,

Padfoot


"Lavender," Ellie said as soon as she was finished reading the letter. "Lav—wake up."

Her heart was still pounding. Had it really been that easy? One letter, and her father had managed to confiscate the shred of evidence Aleks had on him? One letter, and it was done?

She'd been a fool for not having written to him sooner. That, or she'd be a fool now to believe that it was really over. But, for Fred's sake and for her own, she chose to believe the former.

"What?" grumbled Lavender as she rubbed her eyes and stretched out her arms. "What time is it?"

"Do you have a date to the ball yet?" Ellie asked her impatiently. "You said you were still waiting to be asked, right?"

Lavender glared at her at that. "Thanks for the reminder."

"There are a dozen boys who would've said yes to you if you'd just asked," said Parvati from the bed across from Lavender.

"Me, ask them?" demanded Lavender. "It's humiliating!"

"Would you go with Cedric?" Ellie asked her impatiently. "If he was willing?"

Lavender blinked at her as if sure she'd misheard. "What?"

"With Cedric," Ellie repeated. "If I told him I couldn't go with him anymore, but that I had a date lined up for him—you—would that be okay?"

The rest of their roommates shot up at that. Hermione looked even more confused than Lavender. "What are you talking about, Ellie?"

"I've been blackmailed for months." The words spilled out of her, thrilling to finally be able to utter. "I never hooked up with Aleks last summer. He's been threatening to rat out my dad, and forced me into dating Cedric, and now I don't have to anymore."

The girls exchanged dumbfounded expressions with each other as Ellie shot out of bed, yanked a robe over her boxers and tank top, and asked again, "Will you go with him?"

"Y… yeah!" Lavender nearly shouted back, sounding almost afraid. "I'll go with him!"

"Good," said Ellie, taking a deep breath. "Then I'll go and tell him."


Despite the exhilaration and excitement she'd felt when telling her roommates the truth, terror started to set in as Ellie darted down the stairs and out of the Gryffindor common room. It might not have been her fault that she'd been manipulated into lying to Cedric, but it would still hurt him just as much when she told him. How was she supposed to put it? How was she supposed to ease his pain?

She cared, but not enough to stop herself from doing it. She'd waited long enough. The way Fred had looked when he told her he was afraid their situation would last forever—the loss of hope in those warm, brown eyes of him—it was too much. She had to do this.

She paced impatiently outside the Hufflepuff dormitory for at least twenty minutes before he emerged. He was an early riser, she knew—yet another thing they didn't have in common—and liked to take morning strolls in the Hufflepuff courtyard before meeting her for breakfast every day. When he finally emerged, she was surprised to find that, even now, he managed to take her breath away for just an instant. He was simply that handsome—that charming—that… good.

He didn't deserve this.

But she hadn't deserved those past few months. And neither had Fred.

"Ellie," he said when he saw her, looking confused. The pajamas beneath her robes weren't exactly her usual ensemble. "Everything okay?"

"I can't go to the dance with you." Quick and painless. That was the way to do it, right? "I've got a date lined up for you, though. She's really great. You'll—"

"Hang on." He looked half-confused, half-furious. "What are you talking about?"

"I've been blackmailed," she said. "For months. Aleks had something over me, something about my dad, and—"

"Aleks?" interrupted Cedric, looking like he was struggling to keep up. "Your ex from Durmstrang?"

"He's not my ex. Nothing ever happened between us. Not for lack of trying, on his part, mind you, but—"

"Slow down. Aleks blackmailed you? Into doing what?"

She didn't want to slow down. It was easier to word-vomit it out. This part, though, she had to slow down for. "Into…" She swallowed. "Into being with you."

The realization that clouded those handsome, blue-grey eyes of his was so instant and overwhelming that it made her heart ache, but it only lasted a few seconds before morphing back into utter confusion. "Why the hell would a Durmstrang student care who a Hogwarts girl chose to date?"

"I don't know, exactly. It had to do with you and Harry. He knew you'd both be picked for the Tournament. He's involved, somehow—rigged it, maybe, or is hoping to rig it by the end. I don't know why. I just know that he told me I had to be with either you or Harry, and…"

His eyes darkened. "And you picked me. Lucky me."

She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I'd already hurt Harry enough, Ced. Besides, I… I liked you. I like you."

"You met him last summer," Cedric said coldly, looking away from her. "You were playing me all along."

She shook her head. "I wasn't. He didn't start any of this until he came to Hogwarts. Until then, I was honest with you. I was interested. I was trying to figure things out. I…"

"But you wouldn't have picked me. You wanted to be with Fred. All this time, you've wanted to be with Fred."

She sighed. "Well… yes. But I—"

"Okay," he interrupted sharply, clenching his jaw. "I get it."

And he turned to walk away from her.

"Hang on," she said, reaching out to take his arm. "I'm sorry, Ced. Isn't there something I can—"

"You've done enough," he said, yanking his arm free of her grip. "Thanks for finally telling me the truth."

And with that, he walked away from her.


Poor Cedric! But it had to happen, didn't it? Now all that's left is telling Fred... but that's certainly a big step! Tune in tomorrow to see how it goes, and don't forget to follow and review!