I admit I was dragging my feet a bit with this one. I'm writing it while I'm rereading the series and I'm somewhat dreading the next book. Don't get me wrong, love Harry Potter, but can we all agree that Harry is super crazy annoying in it? I mean it should have been calling Harry Potter and the Year of the Extreme Angst! Sure, he had a right to be angsty and it was partially Voldemort, but still. You kind of want to slap him a lot in the fifth installment of the series. Anyway, hopefully I'll be posting soon! Happy reading!

CHAPTER FOUR

Harry was late for the second task. I glanced around nervously, sure, I wanted to win but at the same I would feel bad if he got disqualified or something for being late. The judges were a mixture of nervous and annoyed expressions, except for Dumbledore who looked like he was having quite a good time. I shook my head and focused back on the lake water, it looked cold and black and I wasn't eager to dive in. At least I had a plan, though I still had no clue what would be waiting for me once I was down there. I scanned the size of the lake and groaned inwardly, and hour to search the whole thing? That was ridiculous. I let out a sigh and turned to look around in the stands, I didn't see Ron, Hermione, or Louisa so I guessed that they were with Harry. Maybe he hadn't figured out the clue... maybe my hint was too vague. I felt a little guilty about that. I should have just told him outright how to hear the clue in the egg.

"There 'e is!" Fleur said impatiently and pointed.

I saw Harry's slender figure sprinting toward us full speed, he arrived red faced and out of breath. Not the best condition to be in before being underwater for an hour. I felt guilty, maybe he had figured it out but it had taken him so long with my weird little clue that he hadn't been able to figure out how to manage the task. He was only a fourth year. Now I felt really guilty, but Harry didn't look at me, just took his place next to us. Everyone seemed eager to start the task immediately so I turned to focus on the task at hand.

The whistle sounded and I slid out of my shoes and socks quickly, I also stripped down to just my shirt and trousers. I didn't need all the extra fabric of my robes weighting me down, since speed was fairly important. I didn't look around to see what the others were doing, I just performed the Bubble head charm quickly on myself as I waded into the icy water. I shivered and then just dove in as soon as it was deep enough. My first instinct was to swim down and stay along the lake floor, but after several minutes and encountering some thick and slimy weeds I decided to go up a bit. This way I could see a little bit more and see a greater distance.

As I swam my mind wondered to the last two months. Cho and I were doing great, I was sure she was out there cheering for me at the moment. I was eager to complete the task well and see her smiling at me again. We were spending most of our free time walking hand in hand through the halls between classes. Louisa had seemed distracted lately but I figured she was worried about Harry and the task, but we still spoke almost every day. She had also, after hearing Harry's description of it, insisted that I show her the prefect's bathroom. So... rule breaking had ensued.

Fortunately she had a swimsuit or it would have been really awkward. We had gone late at night, sneaking through the halls like common criminals, which I wasn't used to. I was a prefect so I knew that if I was caught I could say I was going to the bathroom or something. Louisa had planned to use the excuse that she had been sleepwalking, and hadn't seemed overly concerned about it. We spent a while swimming around in the pool-like tub and I watched while Louisa played with every single tap in the bathroom. It had been fun, and breaking the rules had actually been kind of exhilarating. I had to admit, I sort of liked it. It wasn't like we hurt anyone, it was just some innocent fun that happened to be against school rules.

I paused in my thoughts to check my surroundings, I thought I heard singing in the distance and recognized the song easily enough. I swam forward and down quickly, eager to get out of the cold water. I had stopped feeling how cold it was a while ago, but it worried me that I apparently going numb to it, that couldn't be healthy. I started to pass the stone structures along the muddy lake floor. The yellow teethed merpeople peered out at me with an eager curiosity. The deeper I got into their underwater city the more impressive it got and I was pretty surprised at how many of them there were. I wondered faintly if they got along well with the giant squid.

Then I saw it, a large statue seemed to be at the epicenter of their colony and tied to it were two familiar faces and one little girl. Ron was untied and floating slightly to the side with Harry next to him, looking nervous and strangely fishy. He looked up at me and I saw relief cloud his face, clearly he had been worried about the others. I knew they weren't in any real danger, but it was nice to know that he was that concerned. I turned my attention to the other hostages, the little girl had long silvery strands of hair that made it an easy assumption that she was Fleur's sister and therefore her hostage. Then there was a Hermione who was Krum's date to the ball and so most likely his hostage.

Then there was Louisa, dark hair suspended in the water around her and seeming very deeply asleep. Oh man. Why wasn't it Cho? I really hoped this wasn't going to be weird, Louisa was probably my best friend and that was most likely the reason. Cho and I were still a new couple, maybe that had been the determinate? I just pushed the thoughts back and turned to Harry as I got closer.

"Got lost," I mouthed to him quickly, the time restrictions suddenly hitting me and I began to panic, "Fleur and Krum're coming now!" I warned and then moved forward quickly, I pulled the knife from my pocket and cut Louisa loose. I grabbed her arm and started swimming up as quickly as I could. It wasn't as easy as I thought, I was a pretty decent swimmer but Louisa was basically dead weight and I was still fully clothed. By the time I could tell we were getting close my legs were burning with the effort. I just pushed forward and broke through the surface, the bubble around my head broke and I took a grateful breath of cold fresh air. I heard Ludo still announcing and the cheers erupting from the stands, apparently I had been a minute late, but I was first. I turned to my companion who had just finished coughing up a decent amount of water and then she looked at me.

"Cedric, what d-did you d-do?" She accused through chattering teeth.

I sighed and shrugged, I knew what she meant, why hadn't Cho been my hostage, "Come on."

We swam to the shore and were greeted with blankets and taken off to the side by a very insistent Madame Pomfrey. I sat next to Louisa and sipped the potion that warmed back up and looked at Louisa, her lips were no longer blue but she still looked annoyed. I could understand that.

"Cedric why wasn't Cho down there?" She hissed at me when Krum and Hermione broke to the surface and all attention was on them, "Is this some messed up way of telling me that..."

"No! Come on, I'm crazy about Cho, but we are pretty new though. I figured it was because we're such good friends," I told her in a hushed voice, "I mean they took Harry's best friend, why not mine?"

Louisa shook her head, I knew she realized that I meant what I said. I could see why they picked Louisa over Cho. I adored Cho but we were in the early stages of courting, it was still mostly showboating. I knew Louisa a lot better and had developed a much deeper sort of relationship. I realistic enough to realize that romance was usually much more superficial than friendship, at least at first. I knew she wasn't mad about that, she was mad that had ended up mixed up in a competition. Louisa was probably angry she didn't get to spend her night helping Harry prepare and keeping him calm. By this point Fleur had emerged empty handed after a run in with the Grindylows.

"I'm sorry, okay?" I sighed and then smiled, "I can ask if they can put you back in the lake if you'd like..."

Louisa laughed and rolled her eyes, "Idiot." Then she glanced over at Hermione and Krum, "We'll talk later after you smooth things over with your girlfriend."

I nodded and moved to brush a beetle off of her blanket as she leaned over to talk with the shivering Hermione. The beetle just skuttled into Hermione's damp hair and I shook my head dismissively. We were all sodden in muddy lake water, a beetle was the least of our hygienic problem. Harry certainly didn't disappoint, cresting the water with not only one but two of the hostages and all of the merpeople to boot. He was dead last and looked a little embarrassed, but he got plenty of cheers.

Louisa got up and gave him a wet hug, "You were brilliant. I assume at least," she told me, "And saving Fleur's sister was very honorable Harry. I'm proud."

He gave her a cold grin, "You're probably the only one that doesn't think I'm a complete idiot."

I watched them curiously, they were clearly very close even though they hadn't been until last year. It was a strange closeness though, they interacted differently from how he acted with the rest of his friends. Louisa always seemed extremely comforting toward him, and very protective, but she was that way about everyone. The way they acted was closer to a familial relationship. I shook my head and just sighed. I smiled as the scores were read and I was actually pretty pleased that Harry had pulled up to be tied with me for first place. What he had done was very noble, he had set aside his competitive spirit to make sure that all the other hostages were safe. It hadn't occurred to me think it through like that. Was that why Louisa was so much more fond of him? Because Harry was the sort of person to act selflessly like that when other people were in danger and I was the selfish idiot who finished first because he didn't even consider it.

Cho greeted me warmly after, smiling proudly. I watched her warily though as she was telling me how great I had done and how she thought I was really going to win the whole tournament. Cho wasn't stupid, she knew exactly what was on my mind, she was a Ravenclaw after all.

"Cedric, stop looking at me like I'm going to explode. I'm not angry," She smiled easily.

"You're not? Louisa was."

Cho laughed, "I'm sure she was, but I know that you and Louisa are friends. Really good friends. I'm your girlfriend but only for less than two months. I know you care about me Cedric but Louisa is your best friend. At this point I think your relationship with her is stronger... if of a different kind."

"You are extraordinary," I declared kissed my beautiful girlfriend.

I could breath a sigh of relief, the final challenge wasn't for ages and I was one good terms with practically everyone. The next few weeks were easily the best of that year, I was focusing on school and Cho. Louisa and I were still talking regularly, though she seemed suddenly very distracted and worried. I couldn't understand why, the final challenge was months away. Yet I often saw her talking in hushed and worried tones with Ron, Hermione, and Harry. They all seemed pretty unfazed by the article Rita Skeeter wrote in Witch Weekly but they were worried about something else. It was easy to ignore that though and distract myself with how relieved I suddenly felt. It had been a hard year so far, harder than I had anticipated when I entered the tournament, but it was finally turning around. Hey, maybe I would even win!

Our next Hogsmeade visit was when the bubble was burst, not entirely, but it gave me something completely unrelated to the tournament to worry about. Cho and I were leaving a shot in Hogsmeade and she was going to work on homework before dinner. I hung back a bit, enjoying my time outside of the grounds too much to give it up quite yet. Plus, Louisa's influence had turned me into a bit of a slacker when it came to homework. I was still an excellent student of course, just not like before. I saw Louisa and the others then, they were walking out from a strange part of town and all of them looked anxious, which was nothing new. Still, I had a mind to talk to her so I waved. Louisa nodded and dismissed herself from the group to come speak to me, the other three continued on without her.

"Hello," I greeted, "What have you four been up to?"

"Not much, there's a stray in the area that we are bonding with." She shrugged easily.

I felt a pang of jealousy, I knew she wasn't telling me something. She was my best friend and I would probably tell her anything with little to no prompting. Yet I would probably never be her best friend, not while I was on the outside of their little circle of trust. It seemed the only way to earn your way into the Harry Potter and Friends Club was to survive some horrible adventure with them. I wasn't very proud of how I handled myself at the moment, but I was feeling pretty neglected.

"You never told me about your dad," I said bluntly.

I could see her register the question in surprise and she took a moment to think, maybe she could tell what was bothering me. I wouldn't put it past Louisa to be able to read me like Hermione read a book at this point. Apparently I was predictable after all, I didn't lead such a complex and dangerous life like Harry Potter. I still felt too bitter to be particularly ashamed in that moment.

"Well," Louisa said finally, "A few months before Voldemort's defeat at the Potter's my mom was attacked by a Death Eater. Not sure who. They killed each other, or at least that's how it looked, both had been killed by a killing curse and they had both cast one. I was left alive in my nursery."

Now I felt bad, and uncomfortable. I wasn't sure if I should be trying to hug her, or apologize, or how to comfort her. Then I realized she didn't seem too upset, there was definite pain in her eyes but she was more thoughtful at the moment.

"It turned out, after everything happened with Harry and his parents... it was discovered that my father had been in league with Voldemort." She spoke carefully and her eyes flickered up to my face to register the reaction.

I blanched, "You... mean." I cleared my throat and shifted, "He was a Death Eater?"

"He was charged with causing the deaths of innocents as well as murder at his own hands," Something in her voice when she said that was off, it was a strained note. I had heard her use it before, but I couldn't quite place what it meant.

"So when you said he was gone... you meant that he was in Azkaban." I clarified, thinking of our first conversation about it.

"Well, he was until last year."

"You don't mean to say..." I eyed her carefully, "But your last name is Randall!"

"It was my mother's maiden name," Louisa looked amused at whatever my expression was, "They married in secret. He wanted to keep us both a secret from both sides I think. After everything happened Dumbledore suggested we change it to Randall so that I could have a somewhat normal life, but I was born Louisa Elizabeth Black."

"Okay so just to make sure that I'm following..."

She laughed, "Sirius Black is my father."

Louisa gave me a moment to absorb this, I put my hands in my pockets and just stood there thoughtfully for a while. The shock wore off relatively quickly. This explained why she got so involved with Harry last year. I could see Louisa feeling like she needed to protect Harry from anyone, but especially her own blood. It made sense that they would try to hide it too. Sirius Black was well known amongst both wizards and muggles as a mass murderer. He had escaped Azkaban and brought about the event that ultimately killed the Potters! After a moment I locked on to one detail that I had to address.

"He was Harry's godfather right? So you guys are like... almost related?"

Louisa rolled her eyes, "Not really, but Harry and I decided last year that we were the closest thing we had to family. I mean my Aunt isn't awful, she just looks at me like I'm going to explode at any moment. Harry and I sort of unofficially adopted one another. For all intensive purposes he is my brother."

Why did this make me feel so much better? It didn't change the fact about who her father was, but I didn't care so much about that. This just helped explain why she was so wrapped up in Harry Potter. I couldn't understand why that gave me so much peace, but it did. I decided not to question it. I nodded and smiled at her to let her know I wasn't overly freaked out by the information.

"Thank you, for telling me," I said finally, "You can trust me you know."

"Cedric... you have a bug in your hair." Louisa's eyes were focused on the top of my head, "Here..."

She reached up and pulled the beetle free, she let it fly off. I ran a hand through my hair and laughed, glancing around. That had probably looked pretty intimate to anyone watching. Fortunately there was no one around, except for a large and shaggy black dog. It was sitting in the shadow between two buildings and had fixed me with a oddly suspicious gaze. It met my eyes without flinching, it looked like it could take a bite out of me, and it felt like it was letting me off with a warning or something.

"What is up with that dog?"

Louisa turned and rolled her eyes at it, "That's Snuffles, he's harmless. Mostly... come on, it's almost time for dinner and I'm famished."

A week later I was still feeling pretty good. It was true, I had a secret weighing on me, something to protect and worry about. However, I didn't think there was much chance that it would get out and otherwise it didn't bother me. Personally I didn't have any problem with Louisa's relations aside from concern for her, but I knew others would just love something to gossip about. I'm sure Malfoy would love that little piece of information after the punch she gave him after the World Cup. The worry in the back of my mind was actually kind of nice, it felt good to be trusted with something so private. I liked feeling like I was helping Louisa, protecting her in some way. I definitely liked that she had felt close enough to me to tell me that, and seeing her with Harry didn't bother me so much anymore. Now I understood why she was so fond of him, so attached to me, he was her little brother. It all made sense now.

So when I sat down for breakfast a week later I was in a pretty good mood. Cho and I had done our homework together the night before and it had actually been very enjoyable... for homework. I was still unconcerned about the final task, so my bubble of contentment was still mostly intact. That was until I caught the looks I was getting from my fellow Hufflepuffs, they all looked at me like I was about to beak into a thousand pieces or something.

"You're handling it well," Ernie noted and shook his head, "I would be in a panic."

I frowned at him, "What are you talking about? Did they move up the task or something?"

"You don't know?" A girl blinked and pushed the Daily Prophet toward me quickly. I had been late coming down and missed the mail apparently, I was still not very worried when I flipped through it's pages. Then I read the headline, Rita Skeeter had struck again.

THE UNKNOWN HEIR TO THE SIRIUS BLACK LEGACY

Dumbledore seems to have gone out of his way once again to protect those of, questionable, lineage at Hogwarts. This reporter does not hesitate to question the Headmaster's sanity at this point and time. As we all know the mass murderer Sirius Black escaped Azkaban last year only to be later caught at Hogwarts! His escape from the famous school is very suspicious indeed, especially after the discovery that his very own daughter is one of the Hogwarts students.

It continued to detail the horrible crimes Sirius Black had committed, including the betrayal of the Potters. She went on about how loony Dumbledore was and questioned whether or not he should consider retirement before she got to the point.

The daughter in question is Miss Louisa Randall as she is known to most, this is all a bit of deception on the part of Dumbledore to keep her existence at Hogwarts a secret. This reporter was alarmed to discover that the girl is very close friends with Harry Potter, and has developed this friendship in the course of the last year and a half. Miss Randall is a very pretty sort of a girl who seems to be able to charm her way in and out of any situation. It was reported that she has been in and out of trouble in the past year and has clearly gained the loyalty of her father's most likely intended victim, Harry Potter himself.

More fluff about Harry and his tragic past, and details on how Louisa was manipulative. There were many inferences that she was doing this to help her father get his chance to kill Harry once and for all. Then I got to the really good part.

Miss Randall's charms extend well outside of her friendship with Harry Potter however. She is rumored to be in a secret relationship with his fellow champion Cedric Diggory, an uncommonly handsome participant in the Triwizard Tournament this year. Not only are they frequently seen together, she was also his hostage in the second task! All of this seems to be going unnoticed by his long term girlfriend Cho Chang, a beautiful and talented fellow student of theirs. It is clear that Miss Randall, or should we say Miss Black, has inherited her father's gift for deception. One can only speculate at her aims, but this reporter is certain that she is using both champions very ill.

My mouth was very dry, and I sat there in shock for a long while after I finished reading the article. How could she have found out about that? No one was around when Louisa told me and I was certain that only Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore were the only other people to know besides Sirius Black himself. I doubted seriously that any of them spilled the metaphorical beans. The little seed of worry that her secret had caused had suddenly blown up in my mind. Louisa would be angry, she would be shunned, made fun of. She would be even more unpopular than Harry when everyone thought he was the Heir of Sytherin. I had to warn her, I had to do something!

"I said, I guess I dodged a bullet with that one, not asking her to the ball," Justin was saying to me and he shook his head, "I mean..."

I shot him a glare that silenced him immediately, I assume that's something I learned from Louisa as well. I shoved the paper back toward the girl and stood quickly, knocking over a goblet of pumpkin juice in my hurry. I didn't bother to stop and apologize for soaking for the table in orange liquid. I had only just stood up when the hall became very silent. I looked up and saw her, was standing at the entrance with a Weasley twin on either side of her. I could see that one of them had the paper folded under his arm and they were both looking around defiantly. Clearly they were unfazed by the information and were prepared to go up against anyone who brought it up. They all just went and joined the others at the Gryffindor table where she was immediately talking quietly with Harry and the others, all looking concerned as usual.

I sat down and managed to eat some of my toast before class. I didn't get a chance to speak with Louisa, she ate and left with the others very quickly. I saw her later that day, I was walking down the hall quickly when I saw them all in an empty hall. Louisa stood, flanked by Ron and Harry and sneering at her was Draco Malfoy with his two goons close behind him. I didn't hear what he had been saying but they all looked up when I approached, I was a prefect and I hoped that would encourage Malfoy to shut up and move along. It didn't.

"Don't worry Cedric, no one thinks less of you," Malfoy drawled, "We suspect that she and Granger having been mixing up love potions all year. I mean, Potter has made it clear he has extremely low standards, but you and Krum!" He scoffed, "Uncommonly pretty? Not a chance. There's no way a filthy Black or a mudblood could manage it..."

He stopped talking when my fist hit his nose, I felt rather than heard the cartilage crunching under my knuckles. Punching really did hurt! After the fact Crabbe and Goyle stood there gaping at the blood that was gushing through Malfoy's fingers for a long moment before they thought to turn on me. Ron and Harry already had their wands out however. Louisa pulled her gaze away from me and just looked at Malfoy.

"I'm sorry Draco, I thought the Blacks and the Malfoys were related?" She shrugged, "We're family, let's not quarrel. Run along."

Malfoy glared at all of us but they turned and stormed off quickly and quietly. I was pretty sure he would go running to Professor Snape and tell him everything. I would get detention for the first time ever. I didn't really care though, it had been worth it. I had stood up for my friends and punched Draco Malfoy in the face, it felt good. From the looks of awe and astonishment I was getting from Harry and Ron I figured it had looked good as well. We parted ways with few words, but after that they all seemed to warm up to me. Even when I was forced to spend an entire night polishing everything in the trophy room with Filch watching me. Even though I lost 20 points from Hufflepuff, nobody except the Slytherins seemed to care. They probably all knew that Malfoy had deserved it. People were mostly surprised, some thought it was cool, some recognized that it was completely out of character for me. Cho was one of those people.

"Cedric, I just don't think it's working anymore," We were sitting in the library a few weeks later working on homework together.

"What do you mean?" I asked, "Are you having trouble with arithmacy?"

Cho gave me a pointed look and made sure I understood before she leaned back, "Cedric... you're just. You're not the same person. That's fine, I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it's just different."

I knew what she meant, at the beginning of the year I would never have even dreamed of punching someone in the face no matter what they mean names they were calling my friends. I would have been mortified by the idea of detention. Somehow, I didn't care. Not only that but ever since I had done it I was suddenly on the outskirts of their circle of trust. Louisa seemed to be trying to convince the others to let me in on something huge, and I had been devoting much of my time to trying to assure them that they could trust me. I had been distracted lately, putting off my homework and studies until the last minute and mostly just wondering who would want to kill Harry Potter besides the obvious. I would admit I hadn't been a very attentive boyfriend, I often found myself deep in thought while she was talking to me.

"You're right, I'm sorry," I sighed and closed my book, "I'm certainly... different."

"Yes," Cho sighed, "And distracted. I believe you when you say that you and Louisa are just friends. Or at least I believe that you believe that." At my questioning look she continued, "I think both of you are completely clueless. I think you have been clinging on to the idea of being with me for a while now, but I'm not the girl for you. At least not anymore."

"You're saying that you think I have feelings for Louisa," It wasn't a question, she had made it pretty clear.

Cho was gathering up her things and she smiled at me, "She's beautiful Cedric, and she is good for you. She challenges you to think differently, it's not a bad thing. It's quite romantic really, I hope one day I meet someone that challenges me like that." She finished packing her bag and looked at me, "I hope we can still be friends, really, I do."

I nodded and watched her walk away. For a few months I had been one part of the perfect couple, attractive, intelligent, extremely popular. Oddly enough I wasn't too sad about it, she was right, I had been holding on to the idea I had formed over the summer of us being together. It was what made sense on paper. At first glance you would think that Cho and I were soul mates, and maybe a year ago you would have been right. Not anymore, I was different in ways I didn't understand. As for Louisa, I did care about her an awful lot, but I would have to give what Cho was saying more consideration. I didn't mention the conversation to the others when we all walked down into the Hogsmeade on the next free weekend. Everyone at school knew that Cho and I were broken up, and I was sure many assumed it was because of the article or Louisa, or both. I just didn't care what these people were thinking anymore. Being popular had always been easy for me and I had loved it, now I couldn't care less. Sure, I wanted to be liked as much as the next person, but there were more important things.

They all seemed tense the further we walked. We stopped in a few shops and I saw Louisa giving Ron and Harry odd hushed pep talks. I had no idea what was going on even as we walked down the street and towards where the large stray dog was sitting and waiting patiently. I felt the dog's eyes on me again as we got closer. Harry was looking extremely anxious at the moment, but Louisa was completely unfazed by whatever it was that put the others on edge.

"It's all right," Louisa assured them, "We can trust Cedric."

The dog turned and started walking and we all followed, the others were glancing around to make sure we were seen. We followed the dog to the base of the mountain and into the entrance of a well hidden cave. When I walked in after them the first thing I noticed was the hippogriff in the corner which looked up and eyed me speculatively.

"Is that... Buckbeak?" I blinked at it and then turned to look at them. They were all watching me carefully and I didn't see the dog anymore, instead we were in the cave with a man. A man whose face I recognized from the papers.

"Don't be alarmed," Louisa coached me suddenly, "We will explain everything. Let's start off with by saying that he's innocent and he's no danger to you or anyone else here."

So they explained, they detailed their adventures last year. They spoke about Scabbers who was actually Peter Pettigrew, how he had actually been the Potters' secret keeper instead of Sirius. How Lupin had also confirmed this and Snape's intervention and the escape of Peter Pettigrew and with him all evidence of the whole time Ron and Hermione were looking very nervous and eyeing me like I might suddenly just shout and run away. Harry and Sirius had their eyes on me the whole time though, sizing up my reactions, they were clearly worried I wouldn't believe them, or tell someone. Louisa on the other hand didn't waver in her confidence one bit. She seemed very calm about the whole situation to be honest. I found myself believing them and the fact that she trusted me so much with all of this definitely helped to motivate that sentiment. They moved on to this year and what they had learned so far about Barty Crouch Jr., Karkaroff, Snape, and other strange happenings. All of it seemed to hint that Harry was definitely in danger and that whoever was behind was clearly in league with You-Know-Who. When they finished they were all looking at me with emotions ranging from fear to confidence.

"I told you he wouldn't panic, we can trust Cedric," Louisa said after a moment, "He may be able to help us try to figure out who is behind this."

"Yes, but none of you are able to go into the challenges with us," I realized, "Harry and I will be in the task together. I'm not saying we should cheat, Hermione, but we could keep each other alive. I mean, if there's two of us working together then the plan may fail altogether."

Sirius surveyed me for another long moment before he nodded, "So it's settled then. Harry and Cedric will work together in the task."

"I'm sure whoever it is that's behind it is pretty upset that they weren't able to kill Harry in the first two tasks," Hermione said anxiously, "They will be particularly motivated in the final challenge."

"Yes, well, we'll be working together," I sighed, "I can't make any promises, but I'll do what I can to help."

We didn't want it to seem suspicious so I mostly just hung around Louisa alone after that. They were worried that if Harry and I were seen together too frequently people might start to suspect our plan to work together. We needed the element of surprise. I was so caught up in worry over the final task that I hardly had time to think about the fact that Cho and I had broken up, or what she had said about Louisa. I spent my day mulling clues over in my head to try and make sense of it all. So far I didn't have the faintest idea who could be behind it, though I had ruled out a student. It would have to be a very experienced wizard do have tricked the Goblet of Fire in the way that they had. Karkaroff seemed like a good candidate, especially with his history of being a Death Eater. Yet he seemed unlikely, I couldn't see him doing it, especially after Harry had told me about an exchange he had heard between Karkaroff and Snape. Karkaroff was scared by something, so I doubted he really knew what was going on. Snape, then? That didn't make much sense either. Nothing made sense! It was maddening.

The more we learned the less it all seemed to make sense. The brief sighting of a raving Mr. Crouch only made things foggier. Not to mention Harry's revelations from his trip into Dumbledore's penseive. It wasn't helped much when Rita Skeeter wrote another scathing article about Harry that only fueled Hermione and Louisa's determination to bring her down. The hate mail they both had been receiving was definitely dwindling it seemed. The outlook was good, and the task didn't seem so daunting. It was just a maze, the most terrifying part was that Hagrid was being allowed to select the creatures that we would be battling once inside the hedges. At least Harry and I would be sticking together, that would make it easier, and I could safely assume that dragons probably wouldn't be involved again. Still, everything was really starting to weigh on my nerves.

So when the day of the challenge rolled around I was beyond nervous, part of me had hoped we could solve the mystery before it was time to face the task. No such luck. Fortunately that morning I got to see my parents, we were all gathered in the Great Hall and at first it was very lovely. Then dad saw Harry and couldn't help himself. Mrs. Weasley came to his defense and she and Bill followed Harry out of the hall. I just shook my head at my father.

"Dad, Harry didn't say any of the things she put in that article. He's really not bad. I wish you would stop treating him like that," I shook my head, "He's my friend."

Dad looked like he wanted to say something in response to this but he didn't. Of course later during lunch he was much less forgiving when Louisa entered. Apparently he had taken that article about her pretty seriously, and seemed to think that it was all part of a plot hatched by Harry to distract me from the tasks. I was starting to regret this visit, it certainly wasn't helping. If anything I was more anxious than ever. So when it was announced at people should start making their way down to the stands I was relieved. I saw Louisa hugging Harry and I told my parents to go down early and I would see them after. I saw dad look towards her but he kept his silence and just walked with mom down toward the field. Louisa and I walked a ways, taking the long way and ending up not far form the whomping willow as is swayed luxuriously in the warm breeze.

"Don't worry, dad is just... dad." I sighed, "Harry and I will be going in together so we'll just stick together. I'll do whatever I can to make sure he gets out alive."

Louisa stopped me suddenly, "Cedric, I'm not just worried about Harry. I'm afraid for both of you." She certainly looked it, she had been acting fairly confident so far and kept calm, but now she was looking at me with wide eyes, "Be careful."

I smiled, I liked that she was concerned about me, "Don't worry. We'll be fine."

"I have a really bad feeling Cedric."

I just hugged her quickly, "I know, me too. We'll figure it out though, Harry and I will figure it out once we're in there. Maybe I'll even win!"

"Sorry Mr. Diggory but I don't think that's an option."

We turned to see who had spoken, he was a wizard with a receding hairline, he was tall and thin. His eyes were dark hollows, he looked ill, but I was sure I had never seen him before in my life. The strange thing was he seemed to be wearing my robes. He raised his wand and we both immediately went to pull ours out of our robes, but it was too late and we probably both knew it.

"Stupefy!"

I think Louisa got hit with the brunt of the stunning spell, when I opened my eyes it could only have been a few minutes later. Cords of rope were digging into my arms and legs and I was laying on the dirty floor of what looked like a tunnel or something. I could see Louisa's thin form similarly bound not far away. The man looked up and hurried over, he ripped several strands of hair out of my head, that certainly helped wake me up even more. I watched him fill a large goblet up with a sickly looking potion and then drop my hair inside. Polyjuice potion. I realized as I watched him choke it down and his features changed. I definitely recognized him now. He looked down at me with my own face and smirked.

"Sorry to steal your limelight Mr. Diggory. I'm just changing your fate, you should be grateful." He chuckled and looked at his hands, "Is this what it feels like to be a handsome popular boy?" He shook his head and just kicked out, his foot hit my face and I felt the crunching of my nose. My head slammed back against the stone wall and I fell into darkness again.

"Cedric!"

I shifted so I could see her better, Louisa had wiggled around and was looked at me in a worried expression. I could understand why, my nose hurt and I could feel the thick blood that had been dripping from it and dried partially on my face. It must have been a lot time since he had broken my nose.

"How long was I out?"

"I don't know, I think it's been hours. The task must have started, but they couldn't have started it without you!"

"He had polyjuice potion, he looked like me." I managed to sit up and lean back against the wall, looking around the tunnel, "Where are we?"

"It's the tunnel running to the Shrieking Shack, the entrance is under the whomping willow." Louisa explained quickly, "Dad used it last year a lot, don't know how this guy could have known about it. Not many do."

"Well, Peter Pettrigrew knew about it and if he's a Death Eater."

"Right." Louisa said but she was clearly distracted, she had managed to get her wand out of her pocket and wiggled until she got the tip of it against one of the cords. Hot sparks shot out and successfully burned through the rope. It also burned through a section of the robes on her arm and caused angry blisters on her skin. She didn't seem to notice, she just untangled herself quickly and moved to untie me.

"Come on, we have to hurry and tell Dumbledore what happened," She grabbed my hand we started out of the tunnel. We had only made it a few paces when something solid whacked me in the shoulder and sent me stumbling to the ground.

"I forgot the knot!" Louisa shouted and moved to help me up when a much larger branch caught her in the stomach and swept her off her feet, she landed several meters away and her leg gave a sickening crunch.

"Louisa!" I rolled onto my feet and pointed my wand at the tree, "Impedimenta!"

It didn't stop completely but the branches were whipping around much more slowly. I pulled Louisa to her feet, "I think it's broken. Hold onto me I'll help you, Madame Promfrey is probably in a medical tent by the field." I noted and let her rest most of her weight on me as we went.

The urgency of the situation wasn't lost on either of us, I interpreted Louisa's silence as a result of the pain she was in but she seemed determined to hobble all the way to the field. I gripped her waist and just moved along as quickly as I dared. It was dark now, and as we got closer we heard a sudden uproar from the stands. Everyone let out an earsplitting shout simultaneously. We exchanged looks and hurried forward, at the edge of the maze everyone seemed to bet gathered around a particular area. Several students near by were sobbing openly and looking horrified. Harry and Professor Moody were walking towards the castle, Harry looking miserable and exhausted, but alive. Then I heard a familiar voice among the screams, except it was contorted by anquish, it sounded like dad.

We moved toward the crowd quickly and managed to see the scene, the Triwizard Cup was laying on the ground forgotten. Next to it my own face was staring blackly up at me. My skin was pale and I was... dead. I knew it wasn't me, obviously, but it still made me shiver and I felt a sense of dread clench my stomach.

"Dad! I'm fine!" I sad suddenly and we lurched forward. My dad looked up from where he was arguing with Dumbledore a few feet away. Everyone fell silent again and looked at me in shock.

"We were attacked before the task. Look! The potion's wearing off," Louisa pointed with my free hand at the corpse that was slowly fading back into the man we had seen before.

"Her leg is broken," I said into the confused silence and Dumbledore nodded, "Both of you go the medical tent to be tended to."

It was a long while before Dumbledore came to see us, by that point we had been moved to the real hospital wing. Louisa's leg was healed but she was resting in the bed next to me. I was eyeing my nose in the mirror, it wasn't as straight as it had once been, now it curved ever so slightly to the right. I shrugged, it didn't matter. Not really.

"I'm sure Harry will explain what happened tonight to both of you later," Dumbledore told us, "He is okay. However, he did reveal that Voldemort has returned."

He let us take that in before he spoke again, "However, I am here to speak to both of you in regards to something else. We found these things in the robes of the man who entered the maze under your guise."

Dumbledore set down what looked like two paper clippings and a broken time turner, the hourglass had cracked and it looked really worn. I picked up one of the pieces of paper to read. It was a short article about the murder of a witch named Marie Randall, but it didn't mention that there had been a little girl who had survived. It said only that both had been killed and the murderer had escaped. I looked at Louisa and then at Dumbledore in confusion. Louisa was reading the other clipping and she had gone as white as the sheets she was laying on.

"Cedric..." She held it out to me, that's how I read about my death. Not a fake one, a real death. According to this I had died accidentally in the final task of the Triwizard Tournament.

We both looked at Dumbledore and he sighed, "It would seem that the wizard who attacked you came back in time. We cannot know why but I think we can guess that he came from a time where Voldemort either did not return, or was defeated entirely. He saw fit to alter two events in his time here, events that were almost fifteen years apart. He saved two lives. I am not saying that I think this will in any way help Voldemort, perhaps just altering these events as changed the fates enough to make it possible for him to win." He looked at us both, "But I am confident that neither of you could ever help that happen. Quite the contrary, it is witches and wizards like you two that will make all the difference. Your families will be in shortly to visit you, I would hide those items. I do not want it to be known what I have just relayed to you... at least not by many."

With that he turned and swept out of the hospital wing, leaving us both in shock. I felt like my insides were made of lead. The man had said he intended to change my fate, so it seemed he had. Louisa tucked the clippings and the time turner away in her pocket before my parents came in. She was soon joined by Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ron's family. We didn't speak after that, both of us deciding to retire to our dormitories for the night. I suppose we both had a lot to think about.

I grimaced and closed my eyes in exhaustion. It had taken a couple of weeks for Snape to get all of that out of me. Fortunately throwing all of this at him in chronological order seemed to be buying me time. I wanted to keep the whole time traveller saved my life thing a secret, but it wasn't the most important thing I knew. Snape looked at me very strangely then and shook his head. In my time here I was no longer tied to a chair, I had been given clean clothes and my bandages had been changed at least. I was doing somewhat better and I looked less awful than I had when they had first brought me in. Snape didn't say a word, he just turned and strode out of the room, locking the door behind him swiftly. He was going to deliver this bit of new to them, I'm sure they would be interested but it wasn't what they wanted. It had next to nothing to do with Harry, I was counting on that.

I straightened and moved over to the dusty mirror, examining myself in the darkness. I touched the curve of my nose, I hadn't cared at first, but over the months after it had happened it had started to. I knew it was vain, but I was a very handsome person. It was just a fact that I knew, because everyone told me so, I also wasn't blind. Looking at it now it wasn't even that bad, it just hadn't been quite straight since. It had been a hit to my vanity though, and it had taken months for me to come to terms with it. Now I kind of liked it, I thought it was a great symbol for how I had switched from being the Golden Boy to being... well, whatever I was now. Definitely not golden in any case.

I moved over to the musty old chair I had found in the corner and sat down, hopefully this would buy me a few days of peace and quiet. I closed my eyes and tried to refocus my mind. I could drag this out for as long as possible, hopefully block what I needed to. I had plenty of memories to throw at him that wouldn't actually help them much. Sure, they were mostly about Louisa, I seemed to remember our interactions so much more clearly. As long as I could focus on the things that didn't matter to them, I could stand a chance. I could at least give Louisa and Harry a head start in whatever they were doing next.