Here it is! I should be wrapping up this year in the next chapter! Again, I know it's fast paced but the format is still something I'm uncertain about it. Still, I hope you enjoy it, happy reading! Things will be getting more interesting soon, I thought about skipping this year altogether but I felt like that would make it difficult to explain certain things later on... oh well. It's just for fun anyway!

CHAPTER THREE

"There she is," Louisa elbowed me and nodded toward a group of Ravenclaw girls that were talking not far away. Cho was amongst them.

After the first challenge I had felt really relieved, all nervousness had vanished and the second challenge seemed years away. However, I hadn't considered the Yule Ball. I knew I was going to ask her, and I assumed she would say yes. Still, right now I felt very nervous indeed, it wasn't quite on the level when I had faced a dragon but it wasn't too far off. I followed her gaze and felt nerves clench my stomach, I had been putting it off, I was willing to admit it. I used the fact that Louisa was speaking to me again as a distraction. We were talking almost daily now in the halls. Yet, as usual Louisa was onto me and wasn't about to just let me not ask Cho to the ball.

"Yes, so?" I tried to sound casual.

Louisa narrowed her eyes at me, "Why are all guys idiots? Is it intentional? If you don't ask Cho Chang to the ball then someone else will. I don't understand why you don't want to. She's going to say yes, Cedric!"

"You don't know that," I grumbled and shifted nervously.

"Yes I do, I know that the same way I know that the sun will rise and that I will most likely be punching Draco Malfoy in the face again in the future," I snorted at this and shook my head as she continued, "If you require more proof than my general brilliance then here it is. She's going to say yes because you are Cedric Diggory. Don't even start with all that false modesty you know exactly what I mean."

I started to argue and then shrugged, she had a point. I knew I was handsome, I knew I was extremely popular, I knew that a good majority of the girls that school would say yes if I asked them. Still, this time was different, I liked Cho a lot, and I wasn't used to rejection. Maybe I was still a little sore from when Louisa and I weren't talking. Until that point I had mostly been universally liked. Even the Slytherins were fans. Maybe this was from years of my parents hyping me up to be something extraordinary, someone who could do no wrong, but I was really worried about my ego if it took another hit.

"Well, I don't want to disturb her, she looks busy." I reasoned, I was raised to be polite after all.

Louisa rolled her eyes dramatically at me and turned, "Cho! Hi, could I have a word?"

Cho looked up and smiled, she detached herself from her friends and moved over, "Need to talk about the Divination assignment? I have your predictions finished if you want to take a look before our next class."

"Brilliant, I have yours done as well," They exchanged pieces of parchment and Cho actually started to glance over hers right away, but Louisa just put her away and nodded, "I'll catch up with you both later." Then she was gone, moving down the hall quickly.

I sighed and just nodded, "Cho, I was wanting to talk to you actually." She looked up and smiled so I continued, "I was hoping you would come to the ball with me. If you haven't already said you would go with someone else of course."

"Yes, of course." Cho laughed and then glanced down at the parchment, "Well, the first one makes sense now."

"What?"

"Louisa wrote that I would be asked a question and if I said no it would result in eternal misery," Cho laughed lightly, "Well, my predictions are never dull. I have to get to class, I'll talk to you later Cedric?"

I nodded and watched her return to her friends and they started off. I hurried around the corner where I found Louisa waiting, she smiled innocently, "So, how'd it go?"

"You're awful!"

"Oh, shut up," She shook her head and we started walking again, "You adore me."

I shook my head, "What about you? Have you got a date yet?"

"I've had a few people ask me but I think I'll go alone," She shrugged, "I just wish they would top asking. It's awkward."

"You realize you just forced me into that same situation right?"

"She said yes, that was different. Besides, I needed you to get a date because I can't be yours and Harry's backup." Louisa laughed.

I frowned at her, "You're Harry's backup?"

"He doesn't know it or anything. He and Ron are being ridiculous about the this whole thing. I figure there's a decent chance I will have to swoop in and save his neck at the last second." She explained.

"Then why not just offer to go with him?"

Louisa looked at me like I was crazy, "Are you kidding? This is way more entertaining. They are both such idiots sometimes. How will they ever learn otherwise?"

I smiled, "Right, of course. Silly me."

It was several days into the Christmas break before I met up with Louisa again. I ran into her in the halls and we were talking aimlessly on the way to the owlery. It was strange but nice to see everyone without their normal black school robes. There were so many people staying over the break that it was particularly bizarre. I had rarely stayed over a holiday before but I knew that the castle was far more lively than it had been at this time in many years.

"So how is Harry coming along with his clue?" I asked when there was a pause in the conversation. It had taken me a while, and some creative thinking to figure it out, but I finally had in a pretty embarrassing situation. I wasn't exactly eager to share that story, but I was aware that I owed Harry for telling me about the dragons. Secretly I hoped he and the others had managed to figure it out on their own. I really didn't want to recount my episode in the bath tub. Then again they had hung around Moaning Myrtle a bit a few years earlier, they may be on friendly enough terms with her that she had already told them. I liked Harry, but I really only knew him from reputation and through Louisa, I felt pretty awkward discussing my bathing habits with him.

"How are you coming along with the egg?" Louisa evaded and shot me a strange expression, "Look Cedric, I thought we had an unspoken understanding not to discuss the challenges. I am friends with two different competitors after all."

"Right, you're right. Sorry. I didn't mean to make it awkward for you." I had to agree, she was in a bit of an odd situation, I was glad she had decided that she could be friends with both of us, "So, who are you writing to?"

"My Aunt, well... that is to say my great aunt. Eliza is my grandmother's sister, on my mother's side." Louisa shrugged.

"Oh, so your parents..."

"Mum was killed right before my second birthday, only a few months before Voldemort... had his run in with Harry."

She said it so easily, all of it. I couldn't help but grimace at the mention of his name, and I really wasn't sure what to make of the whole part about her mother's death. I certainly didn't have a lot of experience with that sort of thing. I decided in the end I would rather drive the conversation away from that particular fact. I was a little more prepared for the other part of her statement.

"I don't think I've ever heard someone say his name before," I noted.

"Harry does, drives Ron mad. Dumbledore does," Louisa shrugged and glanced at my uncomfortable expression, "It's a name Cedric. Not even, it's a nickname he thought up for himself! I'm not wiling to let him have so much influence over me that I'm afraid to say it. Tip toeing around it like everyone does seems so silly. That's part of how he ruled with fear isn't it? He let us inspire it amongst ourselves with all these whisperings of 'you-know-who'. His name is Voldemort, that's what I'm going to call him. I would call him by his given name, but so few people no that I would have to explain it."

I raised an eyebrow but nodded, she did have a point. He was long gone wasn't he? It made sense that we shouldn't all be afraid to say his name, but it was deeply ingrained I wasn't sure if I could really embrace her ideology just yet. Fortunately Louisa steered the conversation back to other things, like the upcoming ball. It wasn't until we had gone our separate ways for dinner that I realized she hadn't mentioned her father. I guessed I should assume he was dead since she lived with her great aunt, still, it seemed odd.

My curiosity about Louisa's family was soon forgotten in all the hustle and bustle of the ball. I only interacted with her once more before the ball and that was right after Fleur Delacour had stopped me in the Entrance Hall and asked me in her own accented way to be her date to the ball. I had been asked before and had been able to keep my wits about me to explain that, while I was flattered, I was already going with someone else. This time was different. I was caught briefly in a strangely involuntary instinct to accept her invitation happily. That was before it clicked in the back of my mind that she was part veela. This made me a little angry to be honest. Fleur was a very pretty girl and I couldn't imagine that she would need to use that sort of method to get a date. I couldn't imagine why she would want to either. Sure, I had been plenty nervous when I had asked Cho, but I would rather she had rejected me than agreed to go with me because I had used some magic on her to compel her to. That wasn't genuine.

I felt the blush fading from my cheeks and forced a polite smile, "Sorry Fleur, I'm already going with someone else. Thank you for asking."

Fleur didn't have any time to respond, in fact I had barely finished speaking when Ron Weasley appeared out of seemingly thin air. Then again I had been caught in Fleur's spell for a moment so I'm sure he had been there and I just hadn't noticed him. He moved forward so suddenly that he caught both of our attentions, he had a strange transfixed look on his face and he was gaping at Fleur. I glanced over his shoulder and saw Louisa realize what was happening and take a quick step forward, but she was too late.

"Fleur, will you go to the ball with me?" Everyone in the hall stopped, he had nearly shouted it at her.

I saw him snap out of it almost immediately after he had said it, and the look of horror that followed made me cringe inwardly. I looked at Fleur, I expected her to reject him of course, but instead she just stared at him. Clearly she wasn't attempting to use her veela "charms" anymore. The look on her face as she surveyed Ron made me angry again. You would think she had been presented with one of Hagrid's flobberworms. It probably all took only a few seconds, but it felt like an hour had passed before Ron turned and raced up the stairs, white as a sheet. His sister ran after him quickly and I heard her calling for him with a comforting tone. The onlookers started to giggle, I guess they thought the spectacle was over. I knew better so I took a step back from Fleur quickly, I did not want to be caught up in this.

"You could have at least answered him! There was no need to be cruel!" Louisa snapped indignantly, "Who are you to look at him like he's repugnant? He wasn't the one waving around his veela tricks to try and get a date!" She scoffed and moved a few steps forward, "Or is that the only way you could get someone to go with you?"

It was clear that she did not expect or want an answer to this question, and Fleur looked like she might respond for a moment. Then she saw what I had from the moment Louisa had seen her reaction to Ron's invitation. Her eyes were the darkest I had ever seen them, all trace of the laughter and warmth was gone. Replaced was a cold contempt and she met Fleur's eyes with the full force of it. She didn't have to say anything else. The point was made in that one look, and she held her there. Louisa stared her down, just daring her to say something, to do something. In the end Fleur tossed her platinum hair over her shoulder and walked off without a word and trying her best to look dignified.

I moved to steer Louisa out of the entrance hall and into a new and more private hallway quickly as people started to talk quietly about what had just happened. I'm sure it would get around school pretty quickly. Louisa didn't seem to care though, she was still fuming, I could almost feel the indignation coming off of her in waves. Once I had her out of sight I stood and just waited, figuring it was better than trying to talk to her at the moment.

"Can you believe her?" She said finally, "She would be lucky to have Ron as a date. Does she care? No, because he doesn't live up to her... ridiculous, shallow standards? Ron may not be some crazy handsome guy but he's fourteen! He's still awkward I think he has great potential!" Louisa declared, "I mean what? She's so desperate she has to go charming people like that but won't accept Ron? Ugh! The nerve of some people."

"She didn't handle it well," I agreed.

"Didn't handle it well? She was foul. Didn't even answer him. Like Ron doesn't deserve a response. Well I'm glad she didn't get you to go with her, serves her right. She'll have to settle for her second or third top picks of who she thinks she'll look good standing next to." Louisa crossed her arms angrily and shook her head, "Ron is awkward and tends to act like an idiot a lot, but I suspect he'll grow out of that. But he has wonderful qualities! Ron is very loyal, he's very clever when he needs to be, and very brave. What does she have besides being pretty? Nothing that I can see."

I let that hang in the air for a long moment of silence before I couldn't help it, I had the sudden urge to laugh. So I did, I quickly tried to cover my mouth and looked at her, anxious to see her reaction to this. She just laughed suddenly as well, this continued for a few minutes before finally she seemed to have calmed down from her rampage.

"I thought you were going to rip her hair out," I noted with a chuckle.

"I definitely considered it," Louisa noted and sighed, "Good thing I didn't, that would kind of put a damper on the whole making friends message of the games."

I shook my head, "I'm still not sure how putting us in a ring to battle it out for a trophy encourages magical cooperation."

"You're right, that does seem contradictory doesn't it?" Louisa smiled and then sighed, "I'll fix Ron's robes up a bit. He's been talking about using a severing charm but I doubt he'd be able to do it very well. My aunt taught me to sew, she always says that magic is all well and good but we need to be able to do things with our hands as well. I'll see what I can do to improve them. Maybe that will cheer him up."

"He's lucky to have you as a friend. They all are. Not everyone would stand up to people like that, even for their friends," I felt a strange pang, I had certainly never had the impulse to do something like that. It always seemed so public and so... not proper. It wasn't what a good prefect would do, it wasn't how I was raised to behave. Maybe if I had stood up for Harry when they first started wearing those badges with half as much passion they would have listened sooner. We parted ways and I started into the dining hall to get dinner with this still in my thoughts. Befriending Louisa had made me doubt myself more than ever. I had always tried to be good and kind as much as I could to do the right and honorable thing, which isn't always easy as a teenager. Yet Louisa was proof that being good and kind wasn't always as simple. Sometimes it was good to fight for someone, to defend a friend. I had always thought it was better to shy away from a confrontation like that, to take the higher ground and all that. Yet, was that really the mark of a better person, or just a more cowardly one? To stand up for a friend, to punch someone in the face for calling a friend a mudblood repeatedly. That was incredibly brave.

By the time the Yule Ball rolled around I was definitely over my insecurities, or at least they weren't foremost in my mind anymore. I met Cho in the entrance hall and she was radiant and lovely. I noted that Fleur had gotten Roger Davies to go with her, though he just kept staring at her like a mindless idiot. Harry, it seemed, had found a date that wasn't Louisa. He looked like he was trying very hard to not look uncomfortable though, and Hermione Granger shocked everyone by coming in on Viktor Krum's arm looking very lovely. So far the ball hadn't even begun and everyone was having a good time, except Ron. I hadn't seen his robes before but I could only assume that Louisa had improved them. I cringed to think of what they looked like before she got her hands on them. Then I remembered I hadn't seen Louisa yet. Cho and I moved over to Hermione and Viktor as the non-champions started to file into the Great Hall before us.

"Where's Louisa?"

"Oh she's probably here somewhere," Hermione noted, "I haven't seen her in a while though. I had to go down to the lake and meet Viktor."

I nodded and Cho tugged on my arm suddenly, "There she is, let's go say hello before she goes inside."

I beamed at my date and followed her gaze, it had been a while since Louisa had evolved from a very ordinary girl to one of the prettiest I knew, so I wasn't surprised. Everyone around her seemed to be experiencing that evolution very exact moment she walked past them, because normally she didn't bother much with her looks. Now she had put them on display. She was Louisa, so it wasn't anything overly extravagant, but it didn't take much. She had swept her hair back gracefully and her robes seemed to be made of the same material as Hermione's. Except Louisa's were unique in that they were black at the top but faded downward into an etherial mix of grays and purples with a few feathery wisps of pink. Louisa looked like the moment before dawn as she hurried toward us.

"You both look brilliant," She told us happily, "I take full credit for that. I knew you both would, that's why I predicted it in Divination. I really don't think I'm doing that class properly, but does it matter if I'm always right?"

I smiled, "I suppose you could throw in a few death predictions for Harry and that would probably put you on the right track."

Cho stifled a laugh and shook her head, "You look beautiful Louisa, your robes are stunning."

"Thank you," Louisa nodded and glanced around, "I should head inside and let all of you Champions have your big entrance. I'll see everyone inside!"

I didn't really talk to her after that, but I certainly saw her. She hadn't come with a date but she had no shortage of dance partners. Fred and George each danced with her. She managed to get a dance out of Harry and Neville as well. After that I would see her with a few partners I wasn't familiar with at least a two were from Beauxbatons and one was from Durmstrang. I noticed all of this in passing as Cho and I danced, taking occasional breaks to get something to drink and cool off. It was much more fun than I thought it would be. I vaguely noticed that Harry and Ron seemed miserable, but I couldn't imagine why. It was an enchanting sort of night. Dancing until our faces were pink, talking over goblets of pumpkin juice and watching the Weasley twins attempt to waltz with Louisa simultaneously.

I had almost forgotten by the time the ball was winding down to an end, Cho and I were walking out into the entrance hall and I caught sight of Harry and Ron heading up the stairs. "Wait here a moment," I smiled at her and she nodded politely.

"Hey - Harry!" I called and started up the stairs after him, he stopped and turned to look at me in surprise.

"Yeah?" He asked as I drew near and I glanced at Ron uncomfortably, Ron shrugged and just continued on his way to give us some privacy.

"Listen... I owe you for telling me about the dragons. You know the golden egg? Does yours wail when you open it?"

"Yeah."

"Well... take a bath okay?" Harry was giving me a very strange look even before I gave him my cryptic hint. He looked like he didn't really like me very much, otherwise I probably would have just broken down and told him what to do outright, but the resentment in his expression made me decidedly more cryptic. I'll admit it was petty.

"What?" He asked.

"Take a bath, and - er - take the egg with you, and - er - just mull things over in the hot water. It'll help you think... trust me." He was looking at me like I was insane now, which I found pretty funny so I continued, "Tell you what, use the prefects' bathroom. Fourth floor to the left of the statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. Password's 'pine fresh.' Gotta go... want to say good night -" I smiled and turned to go back down to Cho.

His odd expression had bothered me for sure, but it was soon forgotten. I kissed Cho Chang that night, and we became an item. I was practically skipping as I went back to the dormitory. I had gotten a girlfriend and repaid Harry's favor. I was quite determined that Howgwarts should have held a ball every year, I mean, as far as I could tell they were wonderful.