p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"The weeks following the second task felt like the worst of Bella's life; Draco had taken to avoiding her at every chance he got and Bella couldn't understand why - what had she done that was so wrong he couldn't even bring himself to acknowledge her existence. The longer this went on, the more anger Bella felt towards him. Whenever Bella caught him looking at her across the Great Hall, in classes, in the corridors, he would drag his eyes away from her and feign ignorance as though she weren't even there. Bella longed for someone she could confide in; wishing more than anything that there was someone, anyone, that she could pour her heart out to without fear of judgement. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Bella's apprehension saw her drawing further and further away from those she cared most about. She would use any excuse to spend as little time with them as possible, opting to sit in the back of the library alone day after day. She knew that Harry was panicking now about the approaching third task and that left her feeling selfish; her worries seemed so insignificant compared to what Harry was going through - and Cedric. She hadn't even given Cedric a second thought in all of this. She felt like such an awful friend. As though the universe had read her thoughts, Cedric sauntered past the aisle she was sitting in, his head stuck in a book. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Cedric!" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"His head snapped up at his name and a small smile graced his lips as his eyes met hers. He closed the book in his hands sharply and made his way over to her, pulling the seat from next to her and straddling it. He dropped his hands to the back of the chair and sighed lightly. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""How you doing, tiny?" He asked. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""It's me who should be asking how you're doing." Bella said matter-of-factly. "I haven't been a very good friend for the past few weeks. How have you been doing with everything?"/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""You've got other things going on, it's okay." Cedric reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly before withdrawing his hand. "I'm doing okay. I've been working on my spell work, hoping it'll help me in the final task." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I'm sure you'll do amazing." She smiled brightly. "I'm really proud of you, Cedric." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Don't be going on all soppy on me now, tiny." Cedric laughed lightly, reaching out to ruffle her hair the way her brothers always did. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I just wanted to make sure you knew that." Bella said./p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Cedric's eyes brightened as he looked at her - she'd seen that expression before; it was the same one she had seen directed at her more times than she could count from her brothers and sister alike, adoration. She knew in that moment that no matter what happened, Cedric was her constant, the one friend she knew she could always turn to and he would be there with open arms. He felt like family, another brother who teased her but would loyally protect her whenever she needed it. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I know." Cedric replied, the ghost of a smile on his face./p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Day turned to night as they sat in the library talking about everything and anything. There were more than a few times when Bella tried to tell him about everything swimming around in her head but found she couldn't quite formulate the words. When Madam Prince finally chased them from the library they had barely any time left before curfew. As Bella was pulled into Cedric's arms in a bear hug, she caught sight of Draco over Cedric's shoulder and the way he dismissed her presence had Bella feeling as though she had just been punched in the gut. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"When Cedric had disappeared down the corridor, Bella turned in the direction she knew Draco had gone and set off briskly after him. It didn't take her long to spot him just steps ahead of her - now that she was actually here she had no idea what she was going to do or why she had even followed him in the first place. She let her anger over the situation and her need for answers drive her forward and she grabbed the arm of his robes and halted his steps. He tried to pull his arm away from her but her grip was like a vice. He turned towards her, rage flooding out of him until his eyes registered who had stopped him and his rage dissipated, he looked more like a kicked puppy than a rage-filled teenager. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""What is your problem?" She asked, dropping her hold on his arm as though it had burned her./p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I don't have a prob-"/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Stop it!" She cried, cutting him off. "Just stop it!"/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Her voice bounced off of the walls, echoing around them. Draco looked up and down the corridor before he took hold of her arm and tried to direct her into one of the empty classrooms along the corridor. She shook his hold on her arm off but followed him into the classroom anyway, standing as far away from him as she could. The silence was palpable, filled with everything they wished to say to each other. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Why?" Bella whispered after a minute, her voice so quiet she wasn't even sure he heard her. "Why can't you look at me? Why won't you look at me?" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Draco directed his eyes anywhere but her and spoke to the room. "I - it's - there's" Draco struggled to find the words. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Look at me!" Bella roared, all of the anger she'd built up over the past three weeks spilling out of her. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Draco finally met her eyes and she found nothing in them - no hurt, no anger, no sadness, it was as though nothing mattered to him; as if she didn't matter. Tears began to spill from her eyes and she wiped them furiously away, knowing that even her tears wouldn't bring him to care. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Do you know what, there isn't even any point. You don't care." Bella laughed humourlessly as she wiped the tears from her face again and started past him for the door. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"His hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist, pulling her back towards him. "Bella - wait."/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Why, Draco? Why should I?" Bella croaked, her emotions finally getting the better of her. Streams of tears were flowing down her face but she ignored them. She wrenched her hand out of his hold with such force that he stumbled backwards, a look on his face as though she had just slapped him. "You can't even look at me so what's the point? I'm not just going to let you play with my emotions anymore - it's not fair." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Draco hand was shaking as he brushed it through his hair, gripping it in a tight fist at the top of his head. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I'm sorry, Bella. I'm so sorry." He whispered after a minute, releasing the tension in his shoulders and sliding his hands down his sides. "For everything, I never meant to hurt you." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""But why?" She asked. "What did I do wrong?"/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Nothing." Draco said sharply, reaching his hand out to touch her. He hesitated and then pulled his hand away. "You haven't done anything wrong." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Then, why, Draco?" She yelled. "Why did you treat me like that?" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Because I was scared!" He cried. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Bella shrank back away from him, the air thick between them. After a minute Draco spoke again./p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I - I didn't know how to feel about what happened. It's so much bigger than just you and I and I just couldn't deal with it. I thought - maybe if I pretended it didn't happen then it would just go away." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Draco's words felt like a dagger to her heart. She could physically feel the hurt she was experiencing mentally. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Just go away?" she scoffed. "Something happened between us and you want it to just go away?"/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""No!" Draco cried. "No, I don't want it to just go away. I don't want this to change things between us - for the worst."/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Well, you sure did a good job of that, didn't you?" Bella turned away from him and sank down against the wall. She drew her knees up to her chest and curled her arms around them. She could feel the emotions catching in her throat and she buried her head in her knees, sobbing into them. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"She felt Draco's arm around her shoulder and the subtle pull of her body towards him. She was too worn down and tired to push him away and she wrapped her arms around his neck as she sobbed into his shoulder. He traced circles and lines over her shoulder and her back as he whispered words of comfort in her ear. When her sobs subsided and she could breathe again she pulled back from him. He reached out and swiped his thumbs over her cheeks, wiping the residual tears away. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I really am sorry." He whispered, dropping his forehead to rest against her own. "Truly." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Where do we go from here, Draco?" She asked. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I don't know." Draco replied, pulling his head back to look down at her face. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"He stood up and held his hand out for her, helping her to her feet. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Wherever we go from here," he said softly, brushing his thumb across her knuckles. "We'll go there together."/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Bella's apprehension saw her drawing further and further away from those she cared most about. She would use any excuse to spend as little time with them as possible, opting to sit in the back of the library alone day after day. She knew that Harry was panicking now about the approaching third task and that left her feeling selfish; her worries seemed so insignificant compared to what Harry was going through - and Cedric. She hadn't even given Cedric a second thought in all of this. She felt like such an awful friend. As though the universe had read her thoughts, Cedric sauntered past the aisle she was sitting in, his head stuck in a book. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Cedric!" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"His head snapped up at his name and a small smile graced his lips as his eyes met hers. He closed the book in his hands sharply and made his way over to her, pulling the seat from next to her and straddling it. He dropped his hands to the back of the chair and sighed lightly. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""How you doing, tiny?" He asked. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""It's me who should be asking how you're doing." Bella said matter-of-factly. "I haven't been a very good friend for the past few weeks. How have you been doing with everything?"/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""You've got other things going on, it's okay." Cedric reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly before withdrawing his hand. "I'm doing okay. I've been working on my spell work, hoping it'll help me in the final task." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I'm sure you'll do amazing." She smiled brightly. "I'm really proud of you, Cedric." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Don't be going on all soppy on me now, tiny." Cedric laughed lightly, reaching out to ruffle her hair the way her brothers always did. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I just wanted to make sure you knew that." Bella said./p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Cedric's eyes brightened as he looked at her - she'd seen that expression before; it was the same one she had seen directed at her more times than she could count from her brothers and sister alike, adoration. She knew in that moment that no matter what happened, Cedric was her constant, the one friend she knew she could always turn to and he would be there with open arms. He felt like family, another brother who teased her but would loyally protect her whenever she needed it. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I know." Cedric replied, the ghost of a smile on his face./p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Day turned to night as they sat in the library talking about everything and anything. There were more than a few times when Bella tried to tell him about everything swimming around in her head but found she couldn't quite formulate the words. When Madam Prince finally chased them from the library they had barely any time left before curfew. As Bella was pulled into Cedric's arms in a bear hug, she caught sight of Draco over Cedric's shoulder and the way he dismissed her presence had Bella feeling as though she had just been punched in the gut. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"When Cedric had disappeared down the corridor, Bella turned in the direction she knew Draco had gone and set off briskly after him. It didn't take her long to spot him just steps ahead of her - now that she was actually here she had no idea what she was going to do or why she had even followed him in the first place. She let her anger over the situation and her need for answers drive her forward and she grabbed the arm of his robes and halted his steps. He tried to pull his arm away from her but her grip was like a vice. He turned towards her, rage flooding out of him until his eyes registered who had stopped him and his rage dissipated, he looked more like a kicked puppy than a rage-filled teenager. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""What is your problem?" She asked, dropping her hold on his arm as though it had burned her./p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I don't have a prob-"/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Stop it!" She cried, cutting him off. "Just stop it!"/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Her voice bounced off of the walls, echoing around them. Draco looked up and down the corridor before he took hold of her arm and tried to direct her into one of the empty classrooms along the corridor. She shook his hold on her arm off but followed him into the classroom anyway, standing as far away from him as she could. The silence was palpable, filled with everything they wished to say to each other. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Why?" Bella whispered after a minute, her voice so quiet she wasn't even sure he heard her. "Why can't you look at me? Why won't you look at me?" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Draco directed his eyes anywhere but her and spoke to the room. "I - it's - there's" Draco struggled to find the words. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Look at me!" Bella roared, all of the anger she'd built up over the past three weeks spilling out of her. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Draco finally met her eyes and she found nothing in them - no hurt, no anger, no sadness, it was as though nothing mattered to him; as if she didn't matter. Tears began to spill from her eyes and she wiped them furiously away, knowing that even her tears wouldn't bring him to care. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Do you know what, there isn't even any point. You don't care." Bella laughed humourlessly as she wiped the tears from her face again and started past him for the door. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"His hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist, pulling her back towards him. "Bella - wait."/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Why, Draco? Why should I?" Bella croaked, her emotions finally getting the better of her. Streams of tears were flowing down her face but she ignored them. She wrenched her hand out of his hold with such force that he stumbled backwards, a look on his face as though she had just slapped him. "You can't even look at me so what's the point? I'm not just going to let you play with my emotions anymore - it's not fair." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Draco hand was shaking as he brushed it through his hair, gripping it in a tight fist at the top of his head. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I'm sorry, Bella. I'm so sorry." He whispered after a minute, releasing the tension in his shoulders and sliding his hands down his sides. "For everything, I never meant to hurt you." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""But why?" She asked. "What did I do wrong?"/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Nothing." Draco said sharply, reaching his hand out to touch her. He hesitated and then pulled his hand away. "You haven't done anything wrong." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Then, why, Draco?" She yelled. "Why did you treat me like that?" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Because I was scared!" He cried. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Bella shrank back away from him, the air thick between them. After a minute Draco spoke again./p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I - I didn't know how to feel about what happened. It's so much bigger than just you and I and I just couldn't deal with it. I thought - maybe if I pretended it didn't happen then it would just go away." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"Draco's words felt like a dagger to her heart. She could physically feel the hurt she was experiencing mentally. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Just go away?" she scoffed. "Something happened between us and you want it to just go away?"/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""No!" Draco cried. "No, I don't want it to just go away. I don't want this to change things between us - for the worst."/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Well, you sure did a good job of that, didn't you?" Bella turned away from him and sank down against the wall. She drew her knees up to her chest and curled her arms around them. She could feel the emotions catching in her throat and she buried her head in her knees, sobbing into them. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"She felt Draco's arm around her shoulder and the subtle pull of her body towards him. She was too worn down and tired to push him away and she wrapped her arms around his neck as she sobbed into his shoulder. He traced circles and lines over her shoulder and her back as he whispered words of comfort in her ear. When her sobs subsided and she could breathe again she pulled back from him. He reached out and swiped his thumbs over her cheeks, wiping the residual tears away. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I really am sorry." He whispered, dropping his forehead to rest against her own. "Truly." /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Where do we go from here, Draco?" She asked. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""I don't know." Draco replied, pulling his head back to look down at her face. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"He stood up and held his hand out for her, helping her to her feet. /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;""Wherever we go from here," he said softly, brushing his thumb across her knuckles. "We'll go there together."/p
