Disclaimer: I don't own some of this dialogue, but it's necessary to review the elements of the story I'm trying to tell… Likewise, I don't own ANY of the character mentioned who appear in ANY of the Harry Potter books, and this is only my interpretation of what happened. Also please to remember: I definitely don't not own Promise, Sam, or Olivia… All that… Mine!
Chapter 9
Buttons
Cedric clamped his shoulder blades together as he sat up in his bed looking around at his four-poster hangings before smiling. The night before… A Triwizard Champion. Well, Tetrawizard Champion to be more technical. He was facing against Harry Potter, Fleur Delacour, and The Viktor Krum. He brought his arms across his chest in turn, pulling them in tightly to his chest in order to relax the muscles. He flipped the covers off his legs, exposing them to the chill of the air around him. The cool air comforted him and carried him over to his dresser and fresh robes. He stared at his Prefect's badge briefly before polishing it with the hem of his robes and pinning it on his chest. With a smile, he grabbed his wand and twirled it ceremoniously, making sure it didn't shoot off sparks, before twirling it up traditionally, catching it like a baton, and thrusting it into his pocket.
He exited the spiral staircase down to the Common Room and found it full of people clambering in from breakfast. Everyone looked up and mobbed him with cheers again, tackling him down to the ground and covering him in a fresh batch of hugs and noogies. The decorations from the night before were still on the floor, and Cedric grinned, wondering how much longer he could possibly be the cause of so much celebration.
After ten minutes, Cedric lifted the last person off his back and made for the entrance of the portrait hole and pushed it open, only to see Sam standing in front of him. She smiled at him brightly.
"Good morning!" She said brightly. "I hope you had a good sleep after last night! So, how does it feel to be the new Hogwarts Champion?"
"A Hogwarts Champion," Cedric corrected her.
She beamed at him even more brilliantly. "Of course. Breakfast?"
"I'm so ready for it," He smiled at her.
"Good," She handed him a napkin full of bacon and egg sandwiches. "I made these for you. I figured you wouldn't want to go to the Hufflepuff table on account of Promise being there."
"What's up with Promise?" Cedric asked, confused.
"Oh," Sam bit her lip. "She's just a bit upset about what she calls 'your nobility.' She says she's had enough of it. She thinks that you should be the Hogwarts champion, and not Harry Potter."
Cedric rolled his eyes and sighed. "Promise. What are we going to do with her?"
"Wait until she snaps out of it?" Sam offered.
"Of course," Cedric smiled. "She'll understand eventually. What did you have planned for today?"
"I'm not sure," Sam headed out into the hallway, not wanting to block the Hufflepuffs all patting Cedric on the back as they entered the common room. "I was thinking we could just walk around for a while. Olivia's off practicing Quidditch and teaching some seconds years how to fly, and Promise mentioned something about keeping you away from her. So it looks like it's just us."
Cedric smiled. If anything could seal his day and make it better after the loss of Promise, it was Sam, and they were going to spend the whole day together.
The day passed far too quickly. The two skipped lunch entirely on accident, as they spent most of the day walking the edge of the lake, the two of them both discussing a potential swim in the future. Other than that, their conversation topics were both endless and relatively unimportant. Unimportant, that is, to any other person who happened to catch the snippets of their conversation. Cedric reveled in the different things that came up, which varied all the way from the giant squid, to Quidditch, to socks.
The dinner and night's homework were quite quiet. Most of the Hufflepuffs continued celebrating Cedric as their champion, but most of the conversation dropped when it turned to Harry Potter. Hadn't Cedric told him that he was looking forward to facing Harry as a Champion? After an hour of very slow Arithmancy homework, Cedric snapped his book shut, said goodnight to Sam, and turned to Promise, who remained deep in conversation with Olivia across a Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. Cedric caught Olivia's attention, and bid her goodnight, but did not wait around after Promise refused to look up.
Cedric stretched early the next morning, headed down the staircase to the Common Room, and found Olivia and Sam sitting in armchairs, reading the prior evening's Evening Prophet. They folded the paper and put it away as Cedric walked down the stairs.
"Hullo!" Olivia beamed cheerily. "Long time no talk to."
"No kidding," Cedric smiled. "How are you?"
"Not as good as you, Hogwarts Champion."
Cedric grinned sheepishly. "It's really not that big a deal."
Sam looked at Olivia in a very I-Told-You-So manner before turning back to Cedric. "Breakfast then?"
"Of course," Cedric smiled, and the three of them exited the Common Room and headed towards the Great Hall.
The Great Hall was abuzz with chatter. The three walked in just as the owls entered from the ceiling. Olivia smiled as a small, screech owl landed on her arm and stuck out its leg, nibbling her ear affectionately.
"What's that?" Cedric asked as they went to the Hufflepuff table and sat down.
"Letter?" Olivia quipped sarcastically.
"I know that," Cedric chuckled. "But who's it from?"
"A secret admirer?" Sam grinned and punched her friend playfully on the shoulder.
"Nah," Olivia smiled. "It's a friend I have from Massachusetts. I met him at the Quidditch World Cup."
Sam raised her eyebrows and gave several melodramatically slow nods. "So it is a secret admirer."
"Is not!" Olivia lowered her face, trying to hide her red cheeks.
Sam giggled slightly. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Cuz you'd laugh at me."
Sam stopped laughing. "No I wouldn't."
"It's not a big deal," Cedric smiled at Olivia. "Don't worry about it. I had a pen pal from Texas once. Weird girl. Had the most obnoxious barn owl. I couldn't stand it. Always came covered in hay, screeched all the time, and it wouldn't leave until I gave a response. Drove my parents nutters!"
Olivia and Sam laughed as they continued to eat their breakfast.
Promise left the table before Cedric did, meaning Cedric would walk to Advanced Arithmancy alone. That was the idea, anyway. No sooner had he stood up from the table than he found himself surrounded by every other Hufflepuff Sixth year taking Advanced Arithmancy. By the time he had left the hall, nearly every other Sixth year taking Advanced Arithmancy was traveling with him.
"Morning, Ced!"
How's it going, Champ?"
Cedric realized as he began to trek up the marble staircase that just about every single student who could follow him was following him.
"What are you going to do for the first task? Cedric! Cedric!"
"Will you sign your bag for me Ced? Will you? Please?"
"Better you than Potter."
Cedric whirled around. A Sixth year Slytherin named Montague was walking with him to Arithmancy. "What'd you say?"
"I said that you're a better champion than Potter could ever hope to be."
"Harry has as much of a right to be in this tournament as me, or Fleur Delacour or Viktor Krum."
Montague laughed and continued on towards the Arithmancy classroom. Cedric took a deep breath and sighed. Why couldn't they understand that Cedric was actually looking forward to competing with Harry again? He managed to cool himself down before he entered the Arithmancy Classroom. He looked around for Promise, but she was deep in conversation with another Sixth year Ravenclaw.
Unwilling to disrupt Promise while she was being angsty, Cedric took a seat on the opposite side of the class as Professor Vector began her lecture.
The weeks passed the same way. Cedric and his entourage continued to show up just as the bell rang and Promise always managed to be in her seat or in an hard to travel, nearby location, always deep in conversation with another sixth year. Cedric spent his time with Sam and Olivia in the Common Room during the many hours of homework he had.
Then, one day, as Cedric left the Great Hall on his way to Charms, he noticed a button with red letters pinned onto the chest of many Slytherins, a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and no Gryffindors. A sudden, ominous feeling struck him. Something told him to refrain from reading the button. Just then, however, Montague bounded up, as though he had just realized the solution to all of his problems.
"You like 'em?" He asked, smiling his greasy smile.
Cedric read the button's red writing:
Support Cedric Diggory
The REAL Hogwarts Champion.
"You like 'em Cedric?" Montague smirked. Since when were they on a first name basis? "And then if you push in on them, they change!" Montague pushed the button in and the red letters swirled to green.
Potter Stinks
Cedric stared at the words in shock. That had to be the meanest thing he had ever read. He had told all of the Hufflepuffs to behave nicer to Harry since the Goblet Of Fire spit his name out, but they couldn't help themselves, so he had dealt with it. This, though… there was no excuse for this.
"What is that?"
"It's the new Hogwarts badge," Montague continued his grin. "Like I said, what do you think?"
"I think you're an ignorant moron."
Montague stared at Cedric, but Cedric failed to care. He turned around without so much as another word and continued down the corridors to the Charms classroom.
He knew Montague's words shouldn't upset him too much. He was a Slytherin, the best of the breed. An ignorant jerk who didn't know anything and hated Harry Potter because Harry had defeated the best of them all: You-Know-Who.
He was so infuriated at the nerve of the Slytherins that he didn't even realize that he had, out of complete reflex, sat right night to Promise, who was deep in conversation with a sixth year Slytherin.
"I can't believe it," Cedric ranted out of pure habit. "How can people be so incredibly house-oriented towards this whole issue? Why can't people just accept that Harry has my full endorsement to be in the tournament?"
Promise looked over at him slowly, her eyes on the far edge of her eyes, making her look menacing. Cedric forced back a wince. First rule when Promise is mad at you: Never interrupt an attempt to make her look like she doesn't care. Cedric continued to stare her down, regardless. This had gone on long enough. He attempted to continue eye contact, but something red on her robes caught his eye. He looked down and nearly lost it.
There, on Promise's chest was one of the horrible Slytherin "Support Cedric Diggory" badges.
"I'm sorry Cedric," She said very formally, careful to give an air of aloof airiness. "Were you saying something?" She pushed the button in and it swirled to say, "Potter stinks."
Cedric swallowed. "No. It was nothing. Nothing at all. I just wanted to tell you how disappointed I was at 'my adoring fans' for not accepting my wishes. You'd think a friend would stand by me when I needed that friend by my side."
"That's the problem with you, Cedric," Promise continued her aloofness as she polished her button with her breath. "You have absolutely no concept of just how much this means to Hufflepuffs. You're so wrapped up in your own sense of honor you don't listen to the rest of us. We never get the glory. You're the first person to give it to us since we've been here. Now, we've been shot down by the one person in this school who doesn't need more attention: Harry Potter."
"He didn't want this," Cedric said. "Why would anyone want this much attention?"
"Because he's famous and he's starving for it. He can never get enough." She stood up, picked up her bag, and moved to the other side of the classroom, leaving Cedric to sit alone for a grand total of twelve point eight seconds, after which three other Hufflepuffs sat next to him without so much as asking him if it was alright.
The rest of the day continued slowly until Defense Against the Dark Arts later that afternoon. Halfway into the class, Ernie McMillan walked in and muttered something to Professor Moody.
"Diggory," Moody barked. "You're being beckoned to the traditional Weighing of the Wands ceremony. Take your stuff. You will not be returning."
"Yes sir," Cedric nodded. He hastily packed his bag and followed Ernie McMillan out of the room, students patting him on the back and shouting congratulations as he exited. "So, any idea what this is all about?" He asked Ernie after several minutes.
"Not a clue. I know that it involves the four champions. You need to have your wand examined for the first task."
Cedric, who had instinctively been looking for the badge on most people's robes for most of the day, spotted the red letters on Ernie almost at once. "Hey, Ernie?"
"Yeah, Cedric?"
"Would you mind taking that badge off and telling anyone who'll listen to chuck 'em down the drain?"
"Why?"
"Remember what I said about Harry Potter on the night both our names came out of the Goblet?"
"Yeah," Ernie shrugged. "Why?"
"That's why. That badge isn't right. It isn't fair. Harry's your champion as much as I am."
"But you're in-"
"Your house, I know, but it still doesn't mean you should bash Harry every chance you get."
Ernie hung his head in shame. "Sorry I let you down, Cedric."
"You didn't let me down," Cedric smiled. "You just weren't thinking, and now think nothing of this."
"Deal," Ernie smiled back as he pushed open the door to a classroom. "See you at dinner?"
"Count on it."
Cedric entered the classroom to see Fleur standing near Krum. Both looked put out, but for different reasons. Krum looked annoyed that Fleur was trying to talk to him, and Fleur looked annoyed that Krum wouldn't talk back. When Cedric entered though, Fleur shrugged Krum off almost instantly, floating over to Cedric in the hopes that he would talk to her.
"Hello," She beamed brightly as she approached him, flipping her hair.
Cedric felt a twinge of the Veela charm Fleur constantly exerted and a vision of Sam flashed across his mind. "Good afternoon, how are you?"
"Beautiful," Fleur smiled at him.
Another pang, another flash, and all was back and right with the world again.
"Eet's just terrible talkeeng to heem," She looked over at Krum in a very forced, unconvincing sympathetic look. "Hee's vehry anti-social."
"Really?" Cedric looked over at Krum. Besides the surly, harsh looks, Cedric was very sure Krum was a really nice, friendly person deep down. "What makes you say that?"
"'Ave you ever talked to 'eem?" Fleur looked at him flirtatiously.
Pang. Flash. Reality.
Cedric panned the room to keep his eyes off Fleur's face and hair. A woman with blonde hair and horn rimmed glasses stood in the corner with Ludo Bagman. A photographer standing near the blonde woman was looking over at Cedric and Fleur. No. It wasn't Cedric and Fleur. He was focused on… Cedric shifted his gaze to match the line of the photographer's. Fleur? The photographer's eyes had landed on Fleur?
"You know that guy's staring at you, right?" Cedric asked Fleur, trying to inconspicuously point out the photographer.
She turned around indiscreetly. She sighed. "What can I say? I won't tell 'im."
"Why not?" Cedric asked incredulously.
"Really, Mister Diggory," Hair flip, pang, flash, reality. "If I were to tell every boy who stared at me to stop, zat's all I would do for ze rest of my life. So I just let zem watch. I have a 'look but don't touch' policy."
Cedric raised his eyebrows as Harry Potter walked in the door. He was tempted to give Harry a wave, but refrained at the last second when Ludo Bagman diverted his attention by striding forward and greeting Harry jovially. Cedric couldn't quite make out what Bagman was saying, but noticed that the woman with horn-rimmed glasses walked up behind them both. Fleur began another rant about Harry's age and how much he should not be allowed in the Tournament, but Cedric didn't pay any attention to her. The last thing he wanted was to alienate one of the champions. He merely went along with what she was saying and took an impassive stance in everything she said.
After a few quick exchanges of conversation, Cedric watched as the blonde reporter pulled Harry out of the room by the back of his robes and down the corridor, out of sight.
"Where is he goin?" Cedric asked, interrupting Fleur's rant.
Fleur stopped midsentence. If she had any qualms about him interrupting her she didn't show it. She was obviously so glad to have him talk back that she didn't seem to care that he wasn't even listening to her. "Who cares?. Hopefully he will miss ze weighing and won't be able to compete." She looked positively gleeful at the thought.
Cedric refrained from rolling his eyes and instead changed the subject. "What do you think the first task is?"
"No idea," Fleur seemed to not notice the topic change. "Wish I knew though. It would make whatever is coming at us zat much easier to confront."
Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime walked in wearing very fake looking smiles, pretending to enjoy each other's company. The second they saw their champions, however, they whisked them away and began rapidly talking to them.
Cedric shrugged and looked out the window, watching the silent, tranquil grounds. Down near the Quidditch Pitch he saw several first year students on a flying lesson rise high and then drop. A few seconds later, they traveled slowly around in a circle, led by Madame Hooch.
"Ms. Delacour, Mr. Krum, Mr. Diggory, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore's voice came from the doorway. "If you would please gather around?"
Cedric turned around to see the very old Mr. Ollivander standing by his side. Smiling, Cedric began to walk towards Dumbledore.
"It seems," Dumbledore paused, counting the Champions in the room. "That we are missing a Champion. Can anyone tell me where Harry went?"
"I 'ave not seen him, Professor," Fleur shrugged.
"He went off with that reporter," Cedric told him.
"Thank you Mister Diggory," Dumbledore smiled, twinkling his eyes at Cedric. "If you will excuse me, I must find our fourth Champion." He left the room, leaving them all standing around awkwardly doing nothing.
Cedric bounced from the heels to the balls of his feet as he walked awkwardly to one of the four chairs nearest the door. Fleur sat next to him. He stared up at the purple judges table, behind which Madame Maxime, Professor Karkaroff, Ludo Bagman, and, to Cedric's astonishment, Barty Crouch had all taken their seats. When had he walked in? It was as if he had ghosted his way behind the table.
What seemed like an instant later, Harry strode back into the room and took a seat at the desk next to Cedric. The reporter walked in several seconds later, followed by Dumbledore.
"May I introduce, Mr. Ollivander?" Dumbledore asked them all politely. "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."
Cedric looked around to see that Mr. Ollivander had taken his position next to the window that Cedric had been staring out of just a minute earlier. He seemed older than when Cedric had first met him and, from the look on his face, Cedric guessed this was one of the first times he had seen daylight in many, many years.
Mr. Ollivander stepped into the empty space in the middle of the room. "Mademoiselle Delacour, could we have you first please?" Amazing. He had transformed from dream-like Mr. Ollivander into the persona Cedric knew so well. The one that he had met years ago at Diagon Alley. The dry humored, yet somehow youthful Mr. Ollivander.
Fleur stepped forward and presented her wand to Mr. Ollivander. He twirled it with his fingers expertly, somehow controlling the sparks to emit different colors without thinking. Cedric just stared. True, he could twirl his wand and not emit sparks, but how could Mr. Ollivander emit choice sparks at will. Cedric smiled to himself. Years of practice.
"Yes," He said, almost understanding Fleur's wand on level no one else could. "Nine and a half inches… inflexible… rosewood… and containing… dear me…"
Fleur interrupted him. "An 'air from ze 'ead of a Veela. One of my granmuzzer's."
"Yes," Mr. Ollivander seemed to question the abilities of a wand with such a core. "Yes, I've never used Veela hair myself, of course. I find it makes for rather temperamental wands… However, to each his own, and if this suits you…" His voice trailed off as he finished examining the wand. "Orchideous!" A bouquet of flowers sprouted from the tip of the wand. "Very well, very well, it's in fine working order," He scooped up the flowers and handed them to Fleur. "Mr. Diggory, you next."
Cedric stood up and passed Fleur as he made for Mr. Ollivander. She flashed him a token Veela smile. He tried to avoid it, but felt the pang of seduction. Sam flashed across his eyes once again, the Quidditch match this time. He awoke back in reality an instant later. He handed his wand to Mr. Ollivander.
"Ah, now this is one of mine, isn't it?"
Cedric had to keep his jaw from dropping. The wand had barely touched his hands and Mr. Ollivander recognized it as his own. "Yes, I remember it well. Containing a single fair from the tail of a particularly fine male unicorn… Must have been seventeen hands; nearly gored me with his horn after I plucked his tail. Twelve and a quarter inches… Ash… Pleasantly springy. It's in fine condition… You treat it regularly?"
"Polished it last night," Cedric let a grin crack his face. It was sheer luck that he had chosen last night of all nights for his bimonthly wand polishing.
Mr. Ollivander set silver smoke rings across the room as something that sounded like sparks came from behind Cedric. He was tempted to turn around, but, because it would have been rude to Mr. Ollivander, refrained. Mr. Ollivander returned Cedric's wand and called Krum to present his wand. Krum, as usual, handed over his wand and looked at Mr. Ollivander with a slight scowl.
"Hmmm," Said Mr. Ollivander. "This is a Gregorovitch creation, unless I'm very much mistaken? A fine wand-maker, thought the styling is never quite what I… however…" He pulled the wand level with his eye. "Yes… hornbeam and dragon heartstring? Rather thicker than one usually sees… quite rigid… ten and a quarter inches… Avis!"
Birds twittered out of the wand and out into the blue sky of the Hogwarts grounds. He handed Krum back his wand and called up Harry. "Ahhh, yes," His eyes gleamed as he examined Harry's wand. "Yes, yes, yes. How well I remember."
Cedric looked up, intrigued. Mr. Ollivander claimed that he remembered every wand that he had ever sold, and Cedric believed it, especially after all he had witnessed with Mr. Ollivander in this room, but Mr. Ollivander seemed almost overly intrigued about Harry's wand. But why? What made Harry's wand so special? Mr. Ollivander took extra time examining Harry's wand, but not for its contents. Within the first few seconds of holding the wand examining, he had said: "Phoenix tail feather, holly, eleven inches."
Eventually, he snapped out of his reverie and handed it back to Harry after shooting a fountain of wine out of it.
Dumbledore stood up as Harry returned to his seat. "Thank you all. You may go back to your lessons now or perhaps it would be quicker just to go down to dinner, as they are about to end ."
Cedric stood up, anxious to talk to Harry about the Support Cedric Diggory Badges. But just as Cedric was about to begin talking to Harry, three people began to give subtle outbursts that all revolved around taking the photographs of the four champions.
The photographs took forever. The reporter, infatuated with Harry, kept pushing him towards the front while the photographer, infatuated with Fleur, kept pushing Fleur to the front. In the end, the photographer made Madame Maxime was sit down with everyone around her, and Cedric was pushed to the back. That was okay though. This photograph didn't mean anything.
Finally, after they had taken the group picture, the reporter insisted on regal looking individual shots. Cedric couldn't help but roll his eyes. Unfortunately, however, Harry's photograph was the first, and he didn't wait around for Cedric, leaving instead for the Great Hall and dinner. Cedric sighed as they took an individual photograph of him, not caring how he posed.
He sat down next to Sam and Olivia at the Hufflepuff table five minutes later.
"And where have you been?" Olivia asked indignantly. "You know we've been worried sick about you?"
"They were taking photographs," Cedric said unenthusiastically.
"That's exciting!" Sam smiled. "Don't make that sound like it's not a big deal!"
"It's really not," Cedric shrugged. "There were people there from The Daily Prophet, they whisked Harry away somewhere."
Sam seemed as though she did not hear this comment, instead, dipping into her bag to find something. "Guess what I got today. You're going to love it."
"What?" Cedric asked.
She pulled out a "Support Cedric Diggory" button.
"Throw it out," Cedric said to her without making eye contact.
"Why? It says 'support you.'"
Cedric pushed the button in Sam's palm. It turned to green and read "Potter Stinks."
"That is why I told you to throw it away. He has my full endorsement in this."
Sam looked at him peculiarly. She seemed to sympathize with both Promise and Cedric at the same time, hating him for being so noble, but loving him even more for it. "All you had to do was ask," She smiled. She turned around and chucked the button clear across the Great Hall, where it landed in a cauldron of stew at the Slytherin table. She looked at Cedric and smiled triumphantly, wiping her hands of the deed.
"What's on the agenda tonight?"
That question bogged Cedric every night for two weeks as he waited for the next Hogsmeade weekend. It quite simply couldn't come soon enough. Promise wasn't talking to him and he had no idea what to do for the First Task. There was no way to prepare for it and Cedric knew that. The prospect of facing the unknown, however, clouded his mind. He often tried to talk to Promise when he could, but she always looked at him with her eyebrows raised, as though she had expected something better of him, and she flashed the green of her "Potter Stinks" badge.
Cedric would have gladly turned away all of the ever-increasing number of spectators just to have things be normal again. Sam and Olivia divided their time between Cedric and Promise. Every so often, one of them would repeat Promise's offer to forget the whole thing as long as Cedric renounced Harry Potter's legitimacy at being Hogwarts Champion.
As though Cedric thought Promise couldn't alienate the situation more, the appearance of the Daily Prophet article four days after the weighing of the wand ceremony exacerbated the situation more than Cedric could have imagined. The entire school had been thrown into an uproar at the thought of Rita Skeeter, the Daily Prophet reporter Cedric had seen at the ceremony, making it sound as though Harry was the main attraction of the Tournament. Every time Cedric looked at Harry, his heart went out to him. Harry always took flying insults from the Slytherins alone, but now Ravenclaws and even some Hufflepuffs quoted the article at him.
Promise, who according to Olivia, had read the article through once, skimming for Cedric's name, saw it as the final straw and lit it on fire with her wand. When Cedric didn't say a single thing about the article and its injustice in making Harry sound like the only Champion, she stopped having anything to do with him. She locked herself in her room and never studied in the Common Room any more.
At long last, the Hogsmeade weekend came. Sam told Cedric that Promise would be off traveling with a group of Ravenclaw girls, including Cho Chang, who, since his name had come out of the Goblet, kept flashing Cedric very flirtatious, seductive looks whenever they came anywhere remotely close to looking in the same direction.
"We'll have fun," Sam nudged Cedric as they headed down the drive to the entrance of the Castle.
"I know we will," Cedric muttered as they turned down the road to the villiage.
And it was very true. It wasn't that Cedric doubted his ability to have fun, especially in the company of Sam and Olivia. The problem was geared more towards the fact that this would be the first time that Cedric went to Hogsmeade without Promise. She always made the trips fun. She would choose the best candies at Honeyduke's and funniest jokes at Zonko's. She always had something interesting and humorous to say about The Shrieking Shack. One time, they even went into the Hog's Head Pub, rented a room, sat up in their room for hours talking, and whenever they saw a fellow Hogwarts student walk by, they would make an odd, creepy sound like a man choking and attempting to scream for help in an effort to get the student to run away.
"Cheer up, Cedric!" Olivia patted him roughly on the back.
Cedric gave them a weak smile as they entered the villiage.
The three first went to Honeyduke's and bought more chocolate than any of them could have eaten…ever. They bought so much, in fact, that Cedric had to ask for a special box for augmenting the life of chocolate, just so it would never go bad.
Cedric didn't spend as much time in Zonko's as he usually would have. It was too difficult to remember that whenever Promise was there, she would always make up the craziest schemes based on the combinations of the old supplies and the new material that had come into Zonko's over the summer.
Finally, they stopped off in The Three Broomsticks and took off their bags. Cedric spent several minutes looking at the new one his parents had bought him for becoming Hogwarts Champion while he waited for their drinks. It had been weeks, but he enjoyed its texture and its strength. They ordered lunch and sat around the table for several hours, working on various homework assignments and discussing the latest ideas they had for the Triwizard Tournament. This, too, made Cedric feel uneasy. Promise would have made it all better if only she were talking to him. She would probably have come up with increasingly more difficult and ridiculous tasks like "cutting down a tree while keeping a pack of impish werewolves at bay with nothing but an umbrella and a trash can lid."
Cedric sighed and took a final swig of Butterbeer. He packed up his Transfiguration homework and left the Three Broomsticks with Sam and Olivia.
One day until the First Task, Cedric was walking with several of his admirers on the way to Charms when his bag split for no apparent reason. The contents of his bag spilled out. Parchment, quills, and books fell noisily onto the floor. Ink bottles smashed, covering his materials in splashes of pink, blue, and green ink.
Desperate to get some breathing room in a hallway for once, Cedric waved all of the spectators off. "Don't bother. Tell Flitwick I'm coming, go on."
Cedric picked up his new bag and looked at it, slightly hurt. His parents had paid good money for this bag. What could have broken it?
He practiced one of his non-verbal spells and waved his wand, yet the bag still did nothing. He looked down at the mess on the ground. How was he going to clean this up?
He looked to the end of the corridor, where the last of his admirers had just entered the classroom. Some friends they were when it came down to it…
Footsteps came down the hallway towards him as he picked up his copy of A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration. "Hi. My bag just split…" He attempted to explain the mess looking up. "Brand-new and all…"
It was Harry Potter.
But it wasn't Harry Potter, not how he normally looked anyway. He looked sick and pale, and his eyes gave away the thought that he had not slept well in two days. Cedric turned back to picking up what was left of his supplies.
"Cedric," Harry said slowly, as though he was doubting what he was really going to say what he was about to say. "The first task is dragons."
Cedric's skin rippled, giving and instant of goose bumps all along his arms and neck as he looked at Harry. "What?"
"Dragons," Harry said simply, but quickly this time. "They've got four, once for each of us, and we've got to get past time."
Cedric felt the skin on his face shrivel, and a shiver went down his spine. He let his eyes slide out of focus. Dragons. Dragons? Dragons! "Are you sure?" Cedric heard his voice come from a far off, distant land.
"Dead sure. I've seen them."
Cedric wished he hadn't said the word dead. "But how did you find out? We're not supposed to know…"
"Never mind, but I'm not the only one who knows. Fleur and Krum will know by now- Maxime and Karkaroff both saw the dragons too."
Cedric stood up, every last school supply in his arms, but he knew he would drop them at any second. "Why are you telling me?"
"It's just… fair, isn't it?" He said. "We all know now… we're on an even footing, aren't we?"
Was this his idea of a sick joke?
Klunk. Klunk. Klunk. Cedric looked past Harry to see Professor Mad-Eye Moody in front of him. Now they were in trouble. Dragons and Moody, all in twenty four hours.
"Come with me, Potter," Moody growled. "Diggory, off you go."
Cedric swallowed deeply, turned around, and headed toward the Charms classroom, but he didn't stop at the Charms classroom. He walked. He just walked and didn't want to turn around.
Dragons.
Were they mad? They would kill him!
Dragons.
He found the nearest restroom four corridors away from the Charms classroom and pushed the door open. He dropped his supplies on the sink, forced his way to one of the stalls, pushed open the door, and threw his head into the toilet, emptying the contents of his stomach into the bowl. When he had finished a minute later, he put his hands on his knees and took in deep, cleansing breaths.
Come on Cedric. Pull yourself together. You can do it. Deal with it. Swallow your pride and ask for help. Ask anyone and everyone you can. You need a way to stop a dragon, or at least get past it long enough to deal with it.
He stepped out of the stall and wiped his mouth with his thumb and index finger.
Dragons.
He turned around vomited into the bowl again, shivered, stood up straight, and went to the sink. He turned on the tap and washed his hands, cool water feeling lukewarm against his clammy hands. He splashed water onto his face and looked at himself in the mirror. He took several more deep breaths. He looked sick. He looked tired. He looked completely ready to just pass out.
Dragons.
He gagged slightly, but kept himself from throwing up again. He stared at himself in the mirror. This would not beat him. This could not beat him. If Harry Potter could look this in the eye and be cool, calm, and collected, so could he.
Cedric left ran his books on the sink and sprinted the length of the corridor back to the Charms classroom, where Professor Flitwick had his back to Cedric, and shoved aside the sixth year Gryffindor in the seat next to Promise.
"Promise," Cedric panted. "I need your help."
To his astonishment, Promise spoke to him. "Are you alright, Ced? You look like someone died." Promise felt his face with the back of her hands. "And you're cold and clammy. What's wrong?"
"I think that's me," Cedric panted even more. "I just talked to Harry Potter in the corridor."
Promise bristled. She pulled out her wand and conjured up a cup of tea.
"No," Cedric demanded of her. "Now is not a good time for this. You need to forget this whole thing right now because he just saved my neck."
Promise looked at him skeptically. "What'd he feed you?"
"He told me what the first task is."
Promise's ears pricked, but drooped an instant later to make it sound like she didn't seem interested. "And, what did he say?" She took a sip of tea.
"I have to face a dragon."
Promise spit out the tea all over the parchment on the desk in front of her. "What?"
Cedric swallowed. "Yeah. I did the same thing, I just threw up in the bathroom a minute ago."
"And how do you plan to get past it?"
"That's why I need your help," Cedric pleaded with her.
She chuckled out and breathed heavily in short, shallow breaths. She unpinned the "Potter Stinks" badge from her chest, and threw it in the trashcan on the other side of the classroom, landing it perfectly in the bin.
"I'm in."