A/n: Hello, hello, hello! I feel this chapter is rather long, so I hope it meets you reviewers' needs. ;)This story is going to be winding down shortly (I thinkI have agood idea for my ending - I just have to write it! Lol). And the biggest thing that I've been having with this story is just generally your average writer's block. I just couldn't figure out how to move on from the last chapter. So now, I have some ideas, and I have to get them down on paper, then into the puter, and then it will go out to all my reviewers. Anyways, enjoy!

CHAPTER 9

Over the next two weeks, things were fairly monotonous. Cedric's mother ended up convincing him to take a special potion that gave him a peaceful sleep each night that he drank it. This meant he had no more nightmares each time he drank it before bed, and although he protested heartily to his mother about having a sleeping aid, he was deeply thankful to have the nightly potion.

He never bothered to even so much as glance at the newspaper anymore, but was quite sure there had been no more offensive articles. His parents stopped hiding it from him, and no more articles seemed to have been removed. He didn't know why the nasty articles had stopped, but he was glad of it nonetheless.

Finally he heard back from Harry, although the response was far less than satisfying:

"I'm fine. Talk to you at Hogwarts.

Harry"

Cedric wondered what Harry was up to over the summer, other than that Ministry hearing - which he assumed had went well, since Harry had mentioned seeing Cedric at Hogwarts. He shrugged and put the letter aside. Although he had not gotten to know Harry very well at all, he felt a strange bond to him because of that night in the graveyard.

Later in the month, Cedric also received a letter from Cho:

"Dear Cedric,

Hope you haven't been reading the newspaper - the Prophet that is - at all this summer. They've been publishing a lot of rubbish lately.

Anyways, how's your summer going? I was just writing to ask pretty much how you are, since I haven't seen you in a while. Unfortunately, when this letter reaches you, it'll probably be quicker just to wait until Hogwarts to reply. You know how the mail is these days.

Everything has been boring here. The biggest event so far this summer has been my family 'getting together' to clean out our garage. And Ced, you've seen our garage, so you know why I classify it as a 'big event', haha.

Anyways, talk to you soon.

Cho"

He found her letter cute and so like Cho, but at the same time he was struck by how "buddy-buddy" the letter sounded and not very much like a letter from his girlfriend. The other thing he found unusual and slightly disconcerting, was the way she had signed the letter. Often it was "Luv ya! Cho" or "Love from Cho". Even the simple, if formal, "From Cho" or "Yours Truly, Cho" would have felt better to him than merely the cold sign off of just her name.

He wondered if something was up that she wasn't telling him, but he dismissed it almost right away as himself being oddly paranoid. Why, suddenly had he noticed or cared in the way he did, he wasn't sure. As he did with his last letter, he shrugged and set it aside.

The third piece of mail he got that month was his usual Hogwarts letter, this one talking about his responsibilities as a seventh year. Shortly there after, his mother took him to Diagon Alley to purchase all necessary supplies, even though Cedric insisted that he could Apparate there on his own. After all, he had come of age in the wizarding world. Then he had passed his Apparation Test and been awarded with an Apparating license.

Once in Diagon Alley, he had to endure some whispering and stares directed his way, which his mother swiftly ignored with her mouth set in a grim line. The stares and pointing were not nearly as accumulative as it had been at the Post Office, however, so it didn't bother him quite as much.

After all his things had been purchased, the Diggory's arrived safely back home where Cedric packed. He tried not to think about the three Aurors he had noticed following them around, and the obvious intervention of Mad-Eye Moody when a particularly dark looking wizard had asked Mrs. Diggory which way to go to find Flourish and Blotts. It was bad enough that Cedric was already being pointed at, but to have Aurors following him made him feel embarrassed and like a frail little boy who couldn't go anywhere without a wizard police force backing him up.

He flopped on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Was this how he was going to have to live until Voldemort could be defeated for good? Everywhere he would have to have a team of Aurors, ready to pounce the second anyone remotely seedy-looking walked too close? And would that increase the amount of stares he got?

He suddenly had the image of himself walking down a street in Hogsmeade, with Mad-Eye Moody standing out in front of him with his wand raised, saying, "Constant Vigilance!" And as they walked, behind them were the red-headed Auror Cedric had seen watching him from behind an upside down newspaper, the tall and skinny witch with long dirty blonde hair who seemed to have looked at everything Mrs. Diggory had looked at, and the muscular looking black wizard who had appeared at random moments through out the Diagon Alley trip.

Cedric sighed and wondered how Harry was faring, and if he had any Aurors following him around. He was very thankful that Hogwarts was only a day away.

"I'll be fine, mum." Cedric insisted for at least the dozenth time.

"But that's what you said last t-time, and..." Mrs's Diggory's lip quivered.

Mr. Diggory squeezed her hand briefly before he turned away and pretended to be very interested in a boy's black pet dog prancing around and jumping up on his owner, so Cedric wouldn't see him wipe the tears from his eyes. Although he wasn't fooled by the action, Cedric pretended not to notice.

"Honestly, mum. Its bad enough that you had five Aurors trail us this time - " Cedric ignored his parents' reactions to his statement, particularly the protest beginning to issue from his mother's mouth. His father mostly had a look of 'we-did-no-such-thing' mixed with a look of 'how-did-you-figure-that-out'.

"I have to go now, before they pull out without me."

Mrs. Diggory offered a small smile and a tight hug for the fourth time since arriving at Platform nine and three-quarters. Still trying hard not to be annoyed with his parents about the whole Auror business, Cedric gave his father a small good-bye hug as well.

"Be safe, son." His father said, his voice emotional like Cedric had never heard it before, and for some reason, Cedric had never considered what it must have been like to see his limp form appear on the field after the graveyard incident. After all, only he and Harry and the Death Eaters present knew what had gone on there...

He tried to keep his tone light. "How can I not be, dad, when you have at least thirty-seven Aurors on my back just to walk from the house to the mailbox?"

His father smiled, and Mrs. Diggory made a small laughing sound.

"I will be fine." Cedric repeated for what would then be the thirteenth time. He headed towards the shining red train-cars that made up the Hogwarts Express, and gave his parents another wave and a smile to further ensure them that he would indeed be fine. After all, wasn't Hogwarts the safest place for him to be?

Once on board the train, Cedric quickly and easily found the compartment where his luggage had been stashed. As he passed the other compartments, occasionally there were ones with their doors open and the students inside would point him out and say his name. After three or four like that, he practically ran past any that had doors open and kept his head down when passing people in the hall.

Immediately he settled down onto the comfy seats, right near the window, and let out a deep sigh of relief when the train finally started moving. Also right away, his thoughts drifted back to his parents.

He really was pretty hard on them. They were really only trying to protect him. How would he feel, had it been his child who had been sucked away from the Tournament?

He tried to imagine would it would be like to see his child, who was supposed to grab the trophy and hold it up, grab it and disappear instead. He couldn't very well, but imagined it would fill his stomach with sick panic. He then tried to imagine his child reappearing on the field where he disappeared, lying like he was dead, his wrist in the tight grip of the other boy. He really couldn't, but thought maybe he would jump from the stands and run screaming down to reach his child. Lastly, he tried to imagine running up to the limp form of his own child, and believe in your heart that he was going to outlive him. He definitely couldn't. The only emotion he thought of was grief mingled with horror.

Only a few moments since Cedric had entered the compartment, his compartment door went from halfway open to fully open, and he was very glad to see Cho enter, along with her red-headed friend Marietta Edgecomb. She sat down beside Cho, who sat opposite Cedric.

"I'm so happy to see you." she said quietly and smiled.

Cedric smiled back. "Me too." he felt the familiar jump in his stomach that he felt whenever Cho smiled at him genuinely, although he felt it was a little odd that it wasn't as pronounced as it usually was. He pretty much didn't care, and ignored it.

"So, how was your summer?" Cho asked quickly.

"Well..." Cedric shrugged and didn't feel any need for details. "It was fine. Pretty boring. Nothing big."

She nodded a little. "Oh, me too."

Then suddenly, the small talk seemed over, and Cho turned to gaze out the window, while Marietta boredly flipped through some teen magazine. Cedric raised an eyebrow at the pair, neither of which seemed to notice and then he shrugged again. He pulled out his own magazine, on Quidditch of course, and started reading a mildly interesting article about John Haugitzhiemer, the German Keeper.

Shortly, he was distracted by the way Cho was twisting her hands around in her lap nervously and checking her watch constantly, leaving less than a minute before she checked it again. She didn't seem to notice him watching her, even as he shut his magazine and set it down beside him.

A few seconds later, she caught sight of Cedric watching her and her cheeks went a little pink. Cho seemed to force a smile, and then looked at the compartment doors, as if willing them to open.

"Cho...?" Cedric started uncertainly.

Cho suddenly nudged Marietta who immediately tossed her magazine aside. "Er, I have to go to the bathroom." she glanced meaningfully at Marietta.

"Me too! I'll come with you." Marietta said. Her and Cho quickly stood up and began to depart the compartment.

"Hey, Cho!" Cedric wanted to stop her and ask what was up, but Cho seemed in an all-fired hurry to get out the compartment.

"Be right back!" she called over her shoulder and shut the door to the compartment harder then was needed.

Cedric furrowed his brow and stared first at the closed compartment door, then at the spot where Cho had just been sitting. Was he being peculiar and odd, or was she being peculiar and odd? What was up with her? He was quite sure she wasn't actually going to the bathroom... but then where had she gone? Did she just not want him asking any questions about her odd behaviour? Was it something to with Marietta? Was it something to do with him?

Then a horrible thought struck him: What if this had to do with the things that had been written in the newspaper over the summer?

He shook his head. Cho was better than that. She wouldn't be weird around him just because of some garbage in a crummy newspaper. Or at least, that's what he kept telling himself.

Not too much later, the compartment door slid smoothly open and Cho and Marietta returned to their seats. Cho was very pink in the face, and Cedric felt the pair had not been gone long enough to actually have gone to the bathroom.

"Where'd you go?" he tried to sound casual, but it ended up coming out very suspicious.

At the same time, Marietta said, "Bathroom" and Cho said, "To say hi to Micheal". Marietta looked quickly at Cho, looking slightly aggravated, and Cho only looked more pink.

She gave a tiny nervous laugh. "Er, well... we went to the bathroom, and then to say hi to Micheal." She put on the forced smile and shot a look at Marietta that Cedric didn't quite catch. Marietta rolled her eyes and grabbed her magazine again.

Right then, Cedric would've given anything to understand the secret language girls always seemed to talk - or not talk - in. He shook his head, not believing a word she'd just said.

"You ok, then?" he said, trying very hard to sound calm and soft, although he was feeling irritated and stupidly paranoid.

Cho nodded vigorously. "Fine!"

For a moment, Cedric thought he would just ask again later. Just settle back into his seat, and pick up his magazine. He wasn't really in a mood to pry, although he really did want to know what had just happened. However, he changed his mind almost immediately, before Cho would've even seen a flicker in his facial expression. Obviously Marietta knew something, and she also had just left with Cho. Why couldn't Cedric know what just went on?

"No you're not! You're all..." he searched for the words and gestured first to her hands twisting in her lap again, and then to her face. "...fidgety and ...pink!"

Marietta looked up from her magazine from Cedric to Cho, Cho to Cedric, and back to Cho.

Cho regarded Cedric with a touch of embarrassment, anger and a few other emotions that Cedric couldn't quite decipher before her face closed off, signalling the end of the discussion. "I'm fine, thank you." she crossed her arms and turned to face the window, and Cedric certainly didn't appreciate the edge in her voice.

He shook his head frustratedly. He knew he wouldn't get any further today on this subject. "Fine." He didn't add that he would definitely be finding out what happened sooner or later.

He yanked his Quidditch magazine off the seat and once again tried to focus on Haugitzheimer's techniques.

A/n: Well? Tell me what you thought! Just no swearing please, and tell what I did wrong, if I did something wrong (just don't flame me). I don't really have any reviews to reply to (this is "book five" - in an alternate universe, of course). Soanyway, REVIEW ME! ;) And, as always, please check my bio often to see what's been updated etc.