Chapter 3
I found myself back in the library with Cedric after dinner. This time, however, Jules and Mack had decided to tag along.
"How many days 'til the task?" Mack yawned.
"Not enough," Cedric answered, throwing aside another book. "These are all useless! How am I supposed to get the dragon's egg if there is no information anywhere on how to distract a dragon?" I sat up straight.
"That's it Cedric!" I said.
"What is?"
"Distract the dragon! If you give her something else to attack, you can lunge in there and get the egg before she sees you. Distract the dragon and get the egg!"
"I could kiss you Lark," he looked utterly relieved. I felt my cheeks turn red.
"Why don't you then?" Mack smirked. I threw him a dirty look.
"It was just an expression," Cedric muttered, avoiding my gaze.
"So you don't want to kiss her then?" Jules questioned. Cedric didn't answer.
"That means he does," Mack grinned.
"Not necessarily," Jules argued. "Maybe he just doesn't want to hurt her feelings."
"He's shy."
"He's nice."
"Like you said, he's a gentleman."
"Precisely, he doesn't really like her so he says nothing."
"Oh come off it you two," Cedric growled.
"Answer us mate," Mack looked at his best friend. "Do you, or do you not, want to kiss Lark?"
"Mack," I hissed.
"You want to find out just as much as we do," Mack waved a hand dismissively at me.
"He's right," Jules nodded. "You two like each other, you just won't admit it. So admit it now." I slumped back in my chair. I wasn't admitting to anything unless Cedric spoke up first.
"So Ced, wanna kiss Lark?" Mack winked heartily and Cedric continued staring at his feet.
"It means no, come on Lark, he obviously isn't good enough for you," Jules stood, and I was unsure of whether she really expected me to follow. Although, I had fulfilled my promise to Cedric, I was free to go without feeling guilty. I stood.
"No fair, you can't take her! That means you automatically win! Sit your butt back down Lark!" I obeyed.
"Lark, why stick around for their petty games?"
"Lark wants to know the answer!"
"She doesn't care."
"Yes she does!" Cedric rose, walked over to me, and placed his lips against mine, completely silencing Jules and Mack. His kiss made me weak and tingly, sending the dormant butterflies in my stomach into flight once again. My heart raced and my lips felt as though they were on fire. I closed my eyes and kissed him back, feeling equal passion from him that I felt myself. We pulled apart, slightly panting. Cedric's gray eyes were glazed over and he just stared at me. He shook his head and looked at Jules and Mack.
"Will you two shut up now?" he demanded. They both nodded in unison, the same shocked look on both their faces. "Good. I'm going to bed." He walked out of the library. A thought dawned on me and I chased after him.
"Cedric!" I yelled. He stopped and turned around. I caught up to him and stood there awkwardly. All traces of what he had felt, or what I thought he had felt, were gone from his face.
"Back there…did you…did you only kiss me to shut them up?" I had to ask it. He looked away for a moment then nodded.
"Yes." It was as though a knife had sliced through my heart. I narrowed my eyes at him, and brought my hand across his face in a quick motion. He gasped with pain.
"Don't you dare ever use me like that again," I breathed, turning on my heel and storming off. I had never felt more violated, more used, more hurt in my life than I did at that moment. I couldn't believe that Cedric would do that to me. That he thought I would be ok with it. He had to have felt how much I wanted him. I thought he had wanted me to. I should have known I was being nothing but stupid. Cedric Diggory, fall for a girl like Lark Turnings, only in my wildest dreams. I burst into my dormitory and threw myself face down on my bed, sobbing. I laid there long after my tears had dried and darkness had fallen. The other girls had gotten in yet, including Jules. I heard the wooden door creak open, but kept quiet.
"Cedric has a nice bruise forming," Jules said gently, sitting on the end of my bed. "I'm sorry I did that to you Lark. Mack and I just wanted you and Ced to get together is all. I didn't know Ced would be such a jerk." I breathed in deeply, which was hard considering my face was still planted in a pillow.
"You're going to suffocate if you keep lying like that," Jules brushed my hair back in a sisterly way. I rolled over onto my back, avoiding looking at her and instead looking up at the canary yellow curtains.
"Lark, I'm sorry, I really am, I thought he liked you." I sighed and sat up, finally looking at her.
"For a moment, I thought he liked me too." We sat in silence.
"So how was the kiss?" Jules finally ventured. I smiled.
"Amazing. It was just…amazing." Jules smiled warmly at me.
"Maybe there's hope yet," she whispered. I shook my head. We changed into our pajamas, said goodnight and went to sleep. The next morning Jules coached me on the way down to breakfast.
"You just have to act coolly towards him, be super polite, but not friendly. Don't let him know it affected you so much, but let him know you're mad."
"Jules, my head hurts," I whined.
"Just remember everything, you'll be fine. Hair check!" she screeched. She looked me over, tousling a bit here, tugging a bit there until she deemed me presentable. George came up to us as we walked in.
"I heard what happened, want me to curse him?" he offered. I gaped.
"How did you- oh never mind. No, Jules and I are taking care of it," I answered more confidently than I felt.
"Well, just remember Fred and I are plan B," he winked at Jules then walked off.
"You know…if you really wanted to make Cedric jealous you could date Weasley," she started, but I stopped her there.
"And use George like Cedric used me? No Jules." We sat down at the table across from Mack and Cedric. Mack looked from one of us to the other, not talking. Cedric just looked at his food.
"Double potions today," Jules groaned pulling out her schedule. "Great."
"You would think that after six years Snape couldn't get any worse," Mack pondered.
"And yet he has," I ended. Nods followed my statement. Cedric was still looking at his food, determined not to look at me. He didn't say a word all throughout breakfast and kept silent on the way down to the dungeons.
"I've decided to assign you a project," Snap smirked. Smirking always equaled something bad. "I will partner you up. You will do research on a potion I have picked out, you will concoct the potion, and you will test it on your partner. Along with this you will research the antidote, concoct it and use it on your partner to reverse the effects your assigned potion had." Partner projects- no one would be paired up with anyone they liked.
"Jules and Helen." I saw Jules cringe. Helen was the meanest girl in our year and worse yet she was a Slytherin. Go figure.
"Mack and Luisa." Mack turned around in his seat to face Luisa. Luisa was a nice, quiet brainy girl. Everyone knew she had a crush on Mack, although Mack said he would never date her. She wasn't physically appealing enough for him, not to mention she had braces and a little bit of an acne problem. Mack was notoriously shallow.
"Lark and…" I braced myself. "Cedric." That was a bit of a shock. Snape knew Cedric and I were friends. Or had been until last night. He was giving us a nasty grin.
"Do try to keep your love problems out of this," he hissed joyously. Evil that one was. Snape finished pairing everyone up and then assigned potions. Cedric and I had a love potion. Go figure again.
"Spend this lesson in the library," Snape ordered and we all set off for our destination.
"Remind me why I cam to Hogwarts again?" I asked Jules quietly as we walked down the hall. "I was perfectly happy at my private school."
"Just because Snape's a git who enjoys torturing you about what is or isn't happening in your love life doesn't mean you should dump this place for an all girls private school," Jules whispered back.
"Ten points from Hufflepuff for talking in the halls," Snape called out as he walked up to us. "I believe I asked you to be quiet."
"No you didn't," Mack argued behind us.
"Another ten points for insolence," Snape smirked, gliding up to the front of the class. Mack muttered curses under his breath. We reached the library and I went for the section on potion making. I found a book called "The History of Love and How to Create It" and pulled it from the shelf, dragging it over to an empty table. Cedric came over.
"Can I help you?" I smiled sweetly.
"We're working together Lark," he answered, sitting down across from me. "I know you're pissed at me-"
"Really?" I snapped. "What gave it away?" I could see the purple bruise forming under his eye where his cheek bone was and took great satisfaction that I had caused the flaw on his normally perfect complexion.
"Calm down Lark."
"I am calm. I'm just mad that I have to work with the likes of you." I snapped the book shut and moved away. Cedric chose to follow.
"You can't avoid me, we're partners, deal with it." I turned around to face him.
"You hurt my feelings and my trust Cedric," I whispered. "Deal with that first." I walked over to Jules and Helen.
"Normally I would be thrilled to be partnered with Cedric, but I really can't handle this right now," I blurted out before Jules could speak.
"You like Diggory?" Helen asked. I jumped, forgetting she was there.
"I…well…yes." She nodded in understanding.
"He's handsome. Want me to punch him or something?" I took a step back.
"Nah, Lark's got the beating part handled, did you see that bruise?" Jules answered.
"Nice one," Helen grinned, looking thoroughly impressed.
"Er…thanks," I furrowed my brow. "Anyways, Jules I need help here." My friend shrugged.
"I can't help you Lark, you have to do this on your own."
"But you're the one always meddling! This is partly your fault!" She shrugged again. I let out a small scream of frustration and went back over to the table Cedric was sitting out.
"Decided to work with me then?" he asked coolly.
"Like I have a choice," I snapped. I threw the book I had chosen onto the table and opened it, leafing through the pages. Cedric and I sat in silence, not looking at each other, not making any kind of contact at all.
"Love potions are illegal Lark, shame." I looked over and saw George standing over my shoulder.
"What are you doing here?" I questioned.
"Free period." I nodded and went back to my book. A few moments later, I looked up to see George and Cedric glaring daggers at each other.
"Would you two stop?" I snapped again.
"Why are you at the table with the filthy slimeball anyway?" George looked at me.
"We're partnered for a Potions project."
"Well that's dung."
"No one asked your opinion Weasley," Cedric growled.
"Don't you talk to him like that!"
"Don't yell at me!"
"I have every right to yell at you!" Cedric stood, looking furious. As much as I hated to admit it, he was even more handsome when he was mad.
"I don't have to endure this," he glared. "I didn't know you'd be such a sensitive prick." George pulled his wand out.
"You take that back Diggory," he growled.
"Don't George," I shook my head. "He isn't worth it. I'll see you later, I'm going to go work in the common room." George nodded then went back to glaring at Cedric.
I was fuming as I walked down the halls. When had Cedric become so…mean? Kissing me when he didn't really mean it, fighting with me…I mean it was bad enough that Snape paired us together. He only paired people he knew would be miserable working together. I certainly was miserable. And furious. I was furious because despite all this, I still like Cedric. I still wanted to be with him and I couldn't get the memory of that kiss out of my head. Every time I thought about it my lips tingled and my want for him grew. I had been praying that he would apologize and things would be right between us again. Not being his girlfriend I could stand, but not being his friend at all was a different thing. We'd had fun together in the past. This whole thing was blown way out of proportion, but my pride wasn't going to let me give in and apologize first. Besides, I wasn't the one in the wrong, Cedric was. I barked out the password and climbed through the portrait hole. The common room was empty seeing as everyone else was in class. I settled by the fire and began reading the book I had brought from the library. My reading was interrupted when I heard a tapping on the window. Looking up, I saw a small brown owl carrying an envelope. I opened the window and the owl flew in, dropping the letter at me feet and then flying back out again. I picked up the letter, which was addressed to me, and opened it.
Dear Lark,
We need to talk. Meet me in the common room tonight at midnight.
-Cedric
I pondered for a moment whether or not I should meet up with Cedric. Standing him up sounded like a fun thing to do, but curiosity overcame my revenge plans. Perhaps he wanted to apologize…I could hope. I stuffed the note in my bed and headed out of the common room for lunch.
It was five minutes to 12. My eyes were glued to the alarm clock that rested on the nightstand beside my bed. Last minute nerves were telling me not to go, but I knew I would. I wanted to see what he had to say. I just wanted to see him in general, truth be told. The minute hand rested on the twelve and I pulled the covers back, then stopped. Being on time would make me seem eager. I couldn't let him know how much I wanted to see him. I laid back down and waited ten more minutes, before finally giving in to my want to see him. I quietly crept down to the common room and saw Cedric sitting by the fire, his back to me. I could easily sneak back upstairs and avoid him like I wanted to. I walked forward.
"I wasn't sure you would come," he spoke without looking at me.
"Neither was I," I answered stonily.
"I …I'm really sorry Lark." More silence. "I didn't mean to hurt you like that. I just panicked. I was afraid of rejection, so I told you I only did it to get Mack and Jules quiet." Had I heard right?
"You…what are you saying?" Cedric stood and looked down at me.
"I'm saying I like you Lark. I like you a lot." All my anger melted away as I looked into his smoky gray eyes filled with concern.
"Really?" I could hardly breathe.
"I wouldn't lie to you again. I'm sorry. I'm just…shy, which I know isn't an excuse at all for hurting you like I did. I just want you to forgive me."
"Of course I forgive you." His eyes lit up. I could just drown in those eyes.
"Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to Hogsmeade this weekend?" he grinned. My heart ached with how much I liked Cedric.
"Yes," I smiled back. We stood there awkwardly, unsure of how to end the conversation or if we even wanted to. Everything in the world was right again and Cedric had admitted that he liked me.
"So I guess we should say goodnight then?" he shifted from foot to foot, putting his hands in his jean pockets. I smiled slyly and feeling rather brave I leaned up and kissed.
"Night Cedric," I waved as I walked away, leaving him in pleasantly shocked silence. I knew I was going to have pleasant dreams tonight. I twirled through the door way and landed on my bed with a soft plump.
"So good news then?" I heard Jules say. I laughed.
"You knew?"
"Mack saw him writing it and told me. What did Ceddy Bear say?"
"Don't call him that!" I stuck out my tongue. "He apologized and told me he liked me, and then he asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him this weekend." Jules squealed with excitement.
"I told you he liked you Lark! I told you!" I laughed again.
