Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters... But I own this spiffy dream sequence that's going to make you go "huh buh what?"... And yeah... I designed these people and this was the plan all along... so go yell at me if you must... but meh... No one's making you read this...
Acknowledgement: To the person who helped me muck my way through the last scene of the chapter. Without her help, I'd have NONE of the chemistry and it'd feel SO forced... You know who you are... so thank you... (That, and it really made the end of this chapter fly by cuz I didn't have to write it...)
Chapter 16
Prophecies
Cedric looked at his hands, palms facing away from him. He wiggled the fingers a few times, taking in the details of his fingers and joints and bumps and nails and cuticles. He flipped them over and gazed intently ay the lines and ridges. It always perplexed him when he thought of palmistry. Somehow divinators, albeit the best divinators, could determine which line meant exactly what. Professor McGonagall had always called it an imperfect magic, fraught with guess work and Cedric agreed to an extent. Much like with spell casting, there had to be at least some people in the magical community who could divine the future of others through distinct tickling sensations along the indentations and creases of one's palm.
Slowly, Cedric closed his hands, turning them into fists and looked up. Something told him he knew exactly where he was. The room itself, now that he noticed it, was hot, stifling and stuffy. It was strange that now that he thought about it and looked at all the foofy arm chairs and poufs strewn strategically around the room, the room had to be more aesthetically pleasing than anything. The chairs and poufs all were placed in semicircles in clumps of two and three around empty tables with colorful coverings all facing towards a fireplace, where there sat the most luxurious looking pouf of all. To his right was a window, but he didn't walk to it. He didn't want to. It wasn't something he needed to do, something he felt… led towards.
With the sound of someone, a child, young, giggling and running away, Cedric turned around as a trapdoor he had not noticed opened in the floor, and a magically collapsed ladder slunk down to the ground, landing with a soft thud on the ground below. With a final look around the mysterious room, Cedric walked to the ladder and climbed down it, not looking back.
When he reached the bottom of the ladder, he found himself at the end of a corridor that spiraled gently downward, the rest of the corridor blocked by the curving wall. Puzzled, Cedric turned around to face the ladder, wondering if maybe he could go back up, but behind him the ladder had already retracted into the ceiling, where the trapdoor closed with the sound of a faint, magical lock. Faced with no other options, Cedric shrugged and began to walk forward and into the unknown.
It was a long corridor, even as he took his first few steps into the winding hallway he knew it would take a long, long time for him to reach the end. It kept spiraling downward until, very abruptly, it seemed, he found himself in a straight corridor. It was strange how it had become so straight so fast. And so straight! Cedric turned around and found nothing but straight corridor behind him. It led off down a few doors, but eventually fell into blackness. Same with in front of him, too.
Trying to find his bearings, he looked to his left and saw a doorway. It was a familiar doorway, one he knew he had walked through a thousand times, but without the context of students or other landmarks along this hallway, Cedric wasn't able to guess accurately what was behind the door. He reached out his hand and turned the doorknob, door swinging inward.
Cedric had only a second to glimpse a large classroom, at the front of which, angled so that he could see, was a podium behind which was a tall stack of books with faint traces of dust and indentations left by footprints on the cover, when a giant pillow came flying straight at Cedric's face.
"Head's up!" someone's voice called.
Cedric had an instant to pull out his wand and make a blocking motion, casting a banishing spell that flung the pillow back in the direction it came from. He watched as it flew across the room and landed in the outstretched arms of the person who had flung it across the room. Whoever it was held their arms out straight, parallel to the ground, and the pillow in front of their face.
"That was close," the whoever it was said. "Almost nailed you."
"Almost," Cedric nodded. "Are you trying to kill me?"
Olivia brought the pillow down to a normal level. "Only if I know you'll get up again," she smiled. "If I had any idea you woulda blocked it so effectively, I wouldn't have shouted for you to catch it."
"Thanks," Cedric said. "I think… So what's up?"
"I throw pillows and then someone spells them back to me," Olivia said proudly.
"But who throws them back?" Cedric asked, looking around the nearly empty classroom.
Olivia frowned. "That's a good question. I hadn't thought about it until you walked in. But I throw them! And then someone does something and then we repeat!"
"But who's someone?" Cedric asked.
"Whoever walks through that door, I guess," Olivia shrugged. With another flick of her wand, she flung the pillow at him. Lazily, he banished it away and had just finished watching it soar out of his line of vision when another pillow came at his face, too fast for him to effectively duck, much less block. He tried to pull out of the path of the pillow, but it still came and smacked him across the face, sending him towards the ground in slow motion.
"Oh my goodness!" Olivia cried as she sprinted toward Cedric. "Are you alright?"
"Fine," Cedric said, standing up, face not really hurting at all.
"Are you sure? That hit you pretty hard!" Olivia asked, rubbing his face to be sure.
"No, really," Cedric said, rather surprised himself. "I'm perfectly fine."
"Okay," Olivia said doubtingly. "I'll take your word for it, and I promise I won't send any more at you, kay?"
"That sounds like a plan," Cedric smiled.
"Excellent!" Olivia smiled as she waved her wand and levitated her pillows into a waist high stack, onto the half stack that was already there. "Sounds like a plan. No more pillows?" Olivia asked as she walked back to her position, next to the stack.
"Sounds like a plan," Cedric said.
Olivia nodded and reached her position again. She crouched slightly, arms far removed from her sides and curved parabolically about her waist, wand clenched tightly in her fist.
"What are you doing?" Cedric asked, confused at her peculiar behavior.
"Shhh," Olivia hushed him. "I'm waiting for someone to walk through that door."
"I don't think anyone will," Cedric said.
But she wasn't paying attention to him. She was too riveted on her task and what she was doing to pay attention to Cedric. Olivia got that way sometimes, focused so heavily on her task that she'd never focusing unless someone helped her finish it. With a shrug, Cedric walked to the office door at the far side of the classroom, turning around to look at Olivia, who still had not moved, eyes completely focused at the door, ready for anyone who walked through the door.
He closed his eyes and shook his head as he entered the office. With a sigh, he looked up and around to see where he was. Torches lined the wall, and when he turned around, he found that behind him, where the door had been was solid gray stone wall. Someway down the hallway was another door. Tentatively, not knowing what he'd find, Cedric walked towards it. With another twist and a push open, he opened the door.
It was another classroom, and thankfully no pillows came flying into his face. No, but there, sitting next to a very large cauldron on the professor's desk at the front of the classroom, facing away from him in her position sat Promise. She was giggle laughing, and Cedric knew why she was enjoying herself so much. Kissing her neck gingerly, tenderly was Calvin Parker. His arms were around her back and his eyes were closed as his lips made contact with her neck over and over again in different places.
Promise's head rolled back and she looked behind her. "Oh hi, Cedric!" She said pleasantly. "How are you?"
"Good, I guess," Cedric said, trying not to feel awkward that Calvin Parker was necking with his best friend.
Promise's eyes closed in ecstasy again, and that smile of pleasure filled her face until she snapped to. "Calvin Parker, Calvin Parker!" Promise said, swatting him away. "Hang on for a few minutes. We have a guest.
Calvin Parker stopped and looked up from Promise. "Oh! Sorry! My bad! Cedric, how are you?"
"Not as good as you, apparently," Cedric chuckled as he looked at the two of them, Promise sitting on the Professor's desk, Calvin Parker standing on the opposite side of her.
Calvin Parker looked at Promise. "But you couldn't be, now could you? Not if you're single and Sam's single."
"You told him?" Cedric asked Promise, completely confused.
"The whole school knows, Ced," Calvin Parker said, smiling, still focused intently on Promise.
"Awww," Promise said, speaking in baby-talk. "You figured that one out aww by youwsewf?"
"Anyfing for you," Calvin Parker said, now speaking back to her in baby talk.
"Awww," Promise said, genuinely, speaking normal and smiling. "I love you."
"I love you too," Calvin Parker said smiling one of those smiles that could only come from someone saying "I love you."
"We'll catch up later, Cedric?" Promise said, turning her head around just enough to see Cedric out of the corner of her eye.
"Of course," Cedric smiled.
"Okay. I'll see you later," Promise turned back to Calvin Parker and wrapped her arms around his neck. "How have you been?" she asked Calvin Parker. "I missed you."
"I missed you too," Calvin Parker said.
"I love it when you say that," Promise smiled as she leaned in and kissed Calvin Parker on the lips. It was a long short kiss. Long enough for them to know they'd kissed, but not so much that it became more than anything but romantic.
Calvin Parker smiled as they pulled away. "I love it when you do that," he said as he leaned in and kissed her back.
Cedric didn't really have time to process things, but the sound of the child laughing echoed around the empty classroom. "Did you hear that?"
"It's just Cedric," Promise waved him off as she looked into Calvin Parker's eyes and began to rub noses with him.
Cedric scrunched his face in thought. He hadn't made that noise. Strange. Or what if the noise was in his head? Strange indeed.
Leaving Promise and Calvin Parker to their personal time, Cedric turned around and walked back out the classroom door and into the long torch lit hall again. He trekked for another long time until he reached a flight of stairs. Climbing these, he found, at the top, a doorway which was marked "The Future of the Department of Magical Cooperation." Curious as to what exactly lay behind the door, Cedric pushed it open.
It wasn't a pleasant room, the color was blue, and it felt stormy… without wind. The sneakoscope on a top shelf was broken, and the mirror near the door had many figures who were indiscernible in the mist present on the other side of the glass. Cedric looked forward and realized why the room had a blue tinge.
Dueling in front of him, in blue candlelight were a black cloud with red eyes and… Harry Potter. The red eyed black cloud moved side-to-side, dark edges distorting like unable-to-form vines, casting flicks and cracks of lightning at Harry who dodged expertly, doing his best to fling spells at the creature, but shooting nothing but green sparks. Cedric didn't know what Harry was trying to cast, but the more he flung spells, the more expertly he performed them. Within another few seconds, the sparks had progressed into little red tiny rockets, and then into short-lasting beams of golden light.
"Harry?" Cedric asked.
Harry flung another spell, which flung the cloud creature back a few feet, dazing and confusing it temporarily. "Cedric? Cedric! What are you doing in here! Get out before-"
Cedric could have sworn the cloud gave a very malicious grin at him as it shot out a bolt of green lightning, hitting Cedric square in the chest, shooting him backwards through the open door.
"Nooooo!!!" Harry screamed, holding out his hand for Cedric to grab onto as Cedric's vision faded to white, door slamming magically shut behind him.
The white slowly faded. Cedric felt a floor beneath him, looking up at the face of a boy, young, no older than the age of five looking down at him, much like a bird looking down at the ground, head cocked to one side.
"You're awake," the boy said proudly.
"Hello," Cedric said confusedly, pushing himself up onto his forearms as he rubbed a hand through his black hair, trying to snap himself back to life. "Do I know you?" The boy, whoever he was, seemed familiar, and Cedric couldn't explain why.
The boy just giggled and stood upright and began to walk down the line of desks towards a pig at the front of the classroom, which was standing where a desk should have been, looking mindless, lazy, and lethargic, as though it did not want to be a pig. It was opening and closing its mouth absentmindedly, like a cow chewing cud.
"You seem familiar," Cedric said, lifting himself to his feet.
"I would seem familiar, wouldn't I?" the boy asked, hopping effortlessly into a sitting position onto the pig, making the several foot jump seem relaxed, easy.
"Why?" Cedric asked, walking towards the boy.
The boy scratched his curly brown haired head, looking puzzled. "Because I'm Cedric."
Cedric looked at him, completely confused. "But, I'm Cedric." How peculiar. This boy didn't look like anything Cedric had seen of himself in his baby pictures. In fact, this boy bore no resemblance to him at all. His face was a different build, and his hair and eyes weren't anything like his own.
The boy shrugged, biting his inner lip. "Maybe we're both Cedric."
"Well it's not exactly a common name," Cedric said, perplexingly.
"It's a lot more common now, isn't it?" the boy asked, smiling.
He seemed so… familiar.
"Where did you come from?" Cedric asked him. "Are you me? But at a younger age?"
"Are you always so questiony?" the boy asked, mildly concerned, unphased that he had just used a made up word like "questiony."
"I'm just curious," Cedric shrugged. "Where did you come from?" he persisted.
"Where all little boys and girls come from," the boy said, explaining it in the most simplistic way he could. "From mommies and daddies."
"But who are your mommy and daddy?" Cedric asked, taking another step towards the boy.
But the boy ignored him. He stepped up onto the pig and turned around looking at the board, upon which was drawn the picture of a person and a bird, with an arrow pointing both ways between them. The boy turned around and smiled at Cedric. "I can do that! Wanna see?"
But Cedric didn't say anything, and instead just stared at the boy.
The boy shrugged again. "Oh well, I'll show you anyways. See you later!"
And with that, the boy transformed into a small yellow hummingbird, and buzzed out of the room.
"Wait!" Cedric called out, chasing the quick moving hummingbird through the corridors of the school, running, desperately wanting to discover the identity of the boy.
He rounded a corner and almost ran into Promise.
"Whoa!" she cried, shielding the yellow hummingbird that was perched beautifully on her left index finger with her right hand. "Slow down there, turbo."
"Hi Promise," Cedric huffed, putting his hands on his knees to better catch his breath. "How are you?
"Better now," Promise said smiling lovingly, parently, looking at the little yellow hummingbird on her finger and stroking the back of its head with the index finger of her opposite hand. After a minute, she frowned. "But not yet." With a loud snap of her fingers, the bird vanished, leaving no trace of itself at all. No claw marks on Promise's hand, no feathers floating mysteriously to the ground, no anything.
"What was that?" Cedric asked.
"Hmm?" Promise asked.
"That bird," Cedric asked. "What was that bird?"
"Bird?" Promise asked cluelessly.
Normally Cedric would have pushed her for the answer. Her answers typically came in such tones of ignorance, but this time was slightly different. Cedric knew that Promise had never mastered her ability to convey the ignorance effectively. She must not have remembered the bird, even though it was in her hand just seconds earlier.
"Never mind," Cedric said reluctantly. "So what are you doing here?"
"Walking," Promise said looking around. "Care to join me?"
"Of course," Cedric said, smiling as Promise began to walk again. He joined her, walking at a leisurely pace in a comfortable silence. He felt no need to say anything. He was just as comfortable not talking as talking, and there was no reason to overexert himself.
"What would I do without you?" Promise asked distantly.
"Flirt with Calvin Parker," Cedric said assuredly.
"Nah," Promise said, throwing her hands out in an effort to wave him off. "He's fun, but he's not you. There's only one you."
"And there's only one you," Cedric retorted.
"True-ché" Promise nodded. "So… when are you going to date her?"
"Soon, I hope," Cedric said abstractedly.
"About time," Promise said as they continued walking.
They walked in silence through the halls for another few minutes until Promise finally spoke her mind.
"Wanna go see her?" She asked with a devious smile.
"But I'm with you right now," Cedric said, perplexed that Promise would give up Cedric time.
"We'll always have Promise," Promise said brightly. "But we won't always have Sam. Wait until you realize she's a year behind you."
"Right," Cedric nodded, suddenly convinced. "Know where she is?"
"Where you're most comfortable, of course," Promise smiled and then thought to herself. "Or at least, tied for most comfortable."
"And where is that?" Cedric asked.
"Actually three way tied for most comfortable," Promise continued, starting to rant. "One's with me and the other's with her and then the other's an actual place. Like you know home is where the heart is? My home's wherever you are and your home's wherever I am or Sam is. The other is a specific location, which is funny because it's really the only specific-"
"Promise!" Cedric said sharply, cutting her off. "What's the place where I'm most comfortable?"
"Behind the badger," Promise smiled, stopping in front of him, turning, and holding out her hand to indicate the badger statue they had just stopped in front of.
"Oh," Cedric said, not having realized they had walked right to the Hufflepuff Common Room.
"She's probably waiting for you," Promise smiled.
"Thanks, Promise," Cedric smiled, taking a step forward and kissing Promise on the forehead. "I love you."
"Hey, don't mention it," Promise said, smiling honestly. "What are best friends for? I'll tell you what: cuz I love you too. Have fun in there."
Cedric nodded and turned as the Badger jumped forward and bowed low to one side, sliding the wall apart. He looked back as the wall closed, Promise twiddling her fingers in farewell. Slowly, Cedric turned.
Just like Promise had predicted, there stood Sam, but she stood in her dress robes of not just pink, but a lovely shade of pink, not overly flashy and annoying, but cool and appealing, hands in long white gloves that went to her elbows, and her hair was in curls reminiscent of Promise. She had her back to him, looking at the mantle over the fireplace, arms crossed, and stamping her foot.
Cedric couldn't help himself. He exhaled a breath of "Wowwww" as he stared at her.
Sam turned around, apparently not realized what Cedric had said, and only having heard his gasp and exhalation of breath. "Oh, hi, Cedric," she said, and turned around quickly, not looking away from the fire.
"Good…" Cedric looked out of one of the Common Room windows to check what time it was. "Evening, Sam. How are you?"
"Awful!" She said, letting a dam of ranting and raving break within her. "I get all dressed up to go to this stupid ball and I'm standing down here freezing because goodness know for all the flair this dress has my arms get cold and all because my date doesn't even have the common sense to show up on time or tell me that he might possibly be late or anything courteous like that and now I'm having second thoughts about going and I have no idea what to do!"
"I'm sure he'll show up," Cedric suggested, shrugging.
"Yeah, right!" Sam said, beginning to pace back and forth across the room. "I mean, goodness knows he'd probably keep me guessing for a long time as to what the heck would be going on with him up there! You know it takes a tenth of the time for the guy to get ready as the girl? A tenth!"
"Really?-"
"Well maybe I'm exaggerating," Sam said, growing more and more agitated and exasperated. "But goodness knows if I'm on time the least he can do is make a fashionable entrance! Now the best he could do is a cameo! I bet we've already missed half of the dance!"
Cedric frowned slightly. "Maybe it's not about the dance…" he suggested.
Sam stopped suddenly. "What do you mean? Of course it's about the dance! I can't possibly be dressed up like this for nothing!"
Cedric thought about it for a second. "Well, really, I don't think it is. It's about having an excuse to hang out with your friends for hours on end with nothing but an excuse to get all dolled up and fancy looking for really no reason at all…"
Sam blushed. "You always put things so simply and make me feel so… me… Maybe I could go with you…"
"But I-" Cedric looked down, but found himself dressed in his own slate blue dress robes. "Guess I did dress up for the occasion."
"Mmmm," Sam said dreamily as somewhere music began to play, soft and gentle, perfect for dancing with her.
Slowly, Cedric walked forward and held out his hand as he approached her. Sam took his hand in her white-gloved ones and slid along them until his hand came to rest on her waist, and hers on his shoulder. Slowly, they repeated the process for the other hands until his hands had rested comfortably at her waist and hers were at his shoulders. Gently, soothingly, they began to sway side to side.
"I like this song," Cedric sighed as a shiver of excitement and ecstasy shot down his back.
"Me too," Sam said, as she pulled him in tighter and rested her head on his shoulder.
"We're going to miss the dance…" Cedric said apathetically.
"Huh," Sam said just as indifferently. "Well that wasn't expected…"
The continued rotating on the spot for a few minutes, content in each other's arms.
"Hey, Sam?" Cedric said after another few minutes.
"Yeah?" Sam said, pulling away enough to look up at him.
"I love you."
She looked at him and smirked slightly. "I love you more."
"Oh I doubt that," Cedric said, smiling at her somewhere between patronizing and caring.
Sam narrowed her eyes conspiratorially and looked at him, making sure she was looking at him straight on. "Prove it."
Cedric looked at her suspiciously then, licking his lips and biting his lower one in anticipation, slowly he leaned in, head tilting comfortably to one side. Slowly, when he was close enough, Sam tilted her head and brought her lips to join with his. Closer and closer they came. This was so surreal. His lips curled into a very faint smile as his lips just came into contact with hers and-
"Cedric!" someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Cedric!"
"Hmmm? What?" Cedric asked as he lifted his head off the still open Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.
"Cedric," Sam said, smiling at him as he looked at her. "You fell asleep."
"Oh," Cedric said, looking around at the empty common room. "What time is it?"
"Just after two," Sam said, consulting her watch. "I just finished up some Astronomy homework myself and I didn't realize you had fallen asleep until just now."
"Well this is embarrassing," Cedric said, feeling incredibly embarrassed that he had fallen asleep at the table while working with her.
"Did you finish what you were working on?" Sam asked.
Cedric reflected back to the dream he had just had and the final sensation just before Sam had woken him up. "I finished enough," he said.
"Well that's good," she said, still smiling at him and rubbing his back affectionately.
"That it is," Cedric nodded, yawning.
"Well…" she said reluctantly. "Good night."
"Good night," Cedric responded, wondering as she disappeared up the girl's dormitory stairs if she knew what she had just interrupted by waking him up. He smiled, reflecting on how much he enjoyed working with her for the past week, since Cho's leaving and their rendezvous at The Three Broomsticks.
With the closing of his textbook and the placing of it back in his bag, Cedric yawned, sighed, hauled his bag onto his back, and headed up the stairs to the boy's dormitory to get some real sleep, and by the time he had hit his bed, he had forgotten all but the last scene of his dream.
Not much of great consequence passed over the course of the next few weeks. True, Cedric was suddenly spending more time with Sam on top of Promise and Olivia, but really, it was very much… mellow and normal. Granted, nothing happened between Sam and Cedric, but really everything that happened was just… perfect. He wasn't sure when he was going to be able to talk freely with Sam, but with the absence of Cho Chang their conversations became longer, like they were before Cedric had become Triwizard Champion.
And they didn't stop either. Cedric was sure they'd run out of things to talk about. To his elation and surprise, however, they didn't. The conversations stayed interesting and not awkward. Granted, they never talked about Calvin Parker or the Yule Ball or Cho Chang after that first meeting in The Three Broomsticks, but Cedric felt they had come to an unspoken mutual understanding about the events between the first task and the Yule Ball and nothing more needed to be said on the subject.
The classes intensified and Cedric kept coming back to the ideas of Cyclical Arithmancy. The chaos of being without Promise rectified itself in time, just like the chaos of Sam rectified itself in the end. Strangely, though, Olivia hadn't slipped into chaos when it came to Cedric, an irony not lost on anyone, least of all Promise.
"Honestly," Promise said one morning at the beginning of April at the breakfast table, not looking up from her copy of The Daily Prophet. "I think it's just because you're boring."
"Excuse me!" Olivia said. "I'm not boring!"
"According to Cyclical Arithmancy you are," Promise said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice, still not taking her eyes off the story.
"What's Cyclical Arithmancy?" Sam asked.
Promise put down the paper and looked at her, bored with the subject. "Pass your O.W.L. and then take it next year. You'll not only eat in Professor Vector's class, but you'll also learn some pretty insane Arithmancy."
"Sounds exciting," Olivia said, smirking and nodding affirmatively.
"It really is," Cedric said.
"But then again," Promise said, lowering her voice conspiratorily, in such a way that Cedric knew that what had to come next was an insult. "Cedric actually likes to learn."
Cedric pursed his lips and turned back to his toast, not getting involved in Promise's conversation anymore.
Slowly, the gray days of April began to shed away some of the shade of gloom and overcast, leading to many study sessions for Sam and Olivia, who were consciously aware that they were rushing towards their O.W.L.'s.
Promise, being Promise, was also slightly frustrated that Cedric was not only studying when he was exempted from end-of-year exams, but he was actually outstudying her and the majority of most of the other students in Hufflepuff.
"Hermione Granger's the one who has the rabid study habits," Promise said. "Not you. Why can't you just be normal for once?"
Cedric looked up from his Potions textbook. "The world's not going to wait up for me. You're going to be tested on this, I'm not. I need to make sure I know it."
"How does that makes sense?" Olivia asked, setting down her quill from a particularly nasty History of Magic essay and rubbing her face in a vain attempt to reinvigorate her senses.
"Well Promise is going to find out how much she knows what she has to on exam day. Me? I won't have that luxury. I have to sit and twiddle my thumbs and hope the Triwizard Tournament doesn't kill me," Cedric shrugged matter-of-factly.
Sam looked up, concerned. "It won't kill you, will it?"
"Nah," Cedric said, disbelievingly. "Maybe a few cuts and bruises, some screams of pain. But I'll come out of that maze unscathed."
"You better," Promise said threateningly. "Because if you don't I'll kill you… But explain better why you need to study like a rabid Hermione Granger…"
"Because I need to make sure you don't get ahead of me for next year," Cedric explained. "If something in the curriculum slips past me I'm totally messed up next year because I have to go in and relearn it on top of all my other classes."
"You're so damn noble," Promise said enviously. "If I were you I would totally be skiving off all my classes and studying and be flying around the grounds all day on my broom. Forget about classes! I'd just be zoom outta here getting practical experience for the real world."
"And that's the difference between you and me," Cedric smiled. "You have no discipline."
"I do so…" Promise said. "In fact I… Erm…"
Cedric, Olivia, and Sam all stared at her, on the verge of being incredibly dumbfounded.
"Did he actually find an insult you couldn't retort to?" Sam asked, slightly in shock.
Promise frowned. "It had to happen sooner or later," she shrugged.
"But he still beat you," Olivia said.
"Once," Promise retorted insistently. "He did it one time."
"Sometimes," Sam said, looking at Cedric who had turned back to his potions work. "One is all you need."
He kept very close to Sam, Olivia, and Promise. True, he couldn't help it if a crowed crowded around him every so often, but with them all around him for the first time in months, and with the general disappointment with the second task, people had, in a way, almost lost interest in the Triwizard Tournament.
One exception, of course, was Fleur Delcaour, who would pull Cedric aside and talk every so often. She had changed since the second task, and seemed so much less… superficial than how she was before. Maybe it was because Cedric knew her better or because Harry Potter had proved her wrong, but every so often she would join their group for a time (much to the dismay of Sam, Promise, and Olivia) and discuss various topics with Cedric, occasionally asking the other three of their opinions, but typically very oblivious to the world around her.
The exception to this, however, was the conversation sometime at the very beginning of May with the idea that the final task was approaching.
"I wonder what it eez," Fleur said musingly as she skipped a rock across the lake during one of the walks they took when Sam and Olivia wanted a particularly long studying break.
Cedric shrugged. "Could be anything."
"Well you have to remember that the Triwizard Champion is a hero," Promise said remindingly, suddenly fully engaged in the conversation now it had rolled around to the Third Task.
"So?" Olivia asked as Sam copied Fleur by picking up a rock and skipping it across the lake.
"So that means the Champions have to undergo the tests heroes go through," Promise explained. "They have to face the unknown. That was the dragon. Rescue the 'princess,' or captive as was the case with you, Fleur. That only leaves some sort of quest."
"Aren't all those the same phase of the journey?" Sam asked, slightly confused at Promise's somewhat repetitive explanation.
"Shut up!" Promise hissed.
"Oooo," Fleur considered, like usual not paying much attention to Sam's comments. "Zhat'll be eenteresting.
"So, Promise, what do you think it is?" Cedric asked.
"It'll probably be all three," Fleur said. "Maybe we'll 'ave to search for somezing… like zhe unknown. We've already been underwater, and an-in-zhe-air quest would be dull. Zhey won't want to repeat anozher dull task. Maybe we'll 'ave to go underground."
"But what'll we search for?" Cedric asked.
"Treasure?" Fleur shrugged.
"Sounds like a plan," Promise rolled her eyes and continued leading them around the lake.
What Cedric didn't understand was Promise's attitude toward Fleur. Why was she so patronizing towards her? Fleur wasn't as bad as other people. He turned around and looked at Sam who looked alone and depressed. She looked up at him and smiled, depression gone as quickly as it had probably gone. With a slight effort, she looked away and skipped a stone across the water, Fleur copying her a few seconds later.
Before Cedric could realize it, the last week of May had arrived, and during Herbology Professor Sprout came to talk to him, pulling him out of the blistering sun for a few minutes to talk to him.
"Mr. Diggory," Professor Sprout said, handing him a cup of pumpkin juice that was sitting on a shady table for the students who had begun to dehydrate. "The Third Task is exactly one month from today. Are you ready?"
"I don't believe so, Professor," Cedric said, smiling rather sheepishly and taking a sip of the cool and refreshing pumpkin juice. "They said they'd tell us today, but I haven't heard any word on what I'm to do to find out. I haven't gotten and owl or anything."
Professor Sprout smiled affectionately and proudly. "Then I have good news for you, Mr. Diggory. You are to head out to the Quidditch field at nine o'clock tonight, where Mr. Bagman will inform you on the details of the Third Task."
Cedric eyes her suspiciously, yet teasingly. "You know what the Third Task is, Professor?"
Professor Sprout grinned. "If I did know what it is, then I would tell you that it will be the most exciting task of the three."
"So you do know?" Cedric asked, still eyeing her.
"Couldn't say," Professor Sprout said wistfully. "Now, back to work, Mr. Diggory."
The prospect of finding out the third task, and what the final of the Triwizard Tournament would entail kept Cedric wired all through the rest of the day, so much so that he completely forgot to tell Promise, Sam, and Olivia until lunchtime.
"Or you could not tell us why you're giddy," Promise said loudly, brow furrowed, glaring at Cedric, not touching her food.
"Hmm?" Cedric asked, looking to her after scanning the hall for the twenty seventh time. "What'd you say?"
Sam and Olivia giggled slightly.
"This is the third time I've asked you why you can't focus on anything and you're so… chipper," Promise said, slightly aggravated at Cedric's head in the clouds.
"Oh," Cedric said. "Didn't I tell you?"
"No, actually," Promise said, dubiously. "I've actually been next to you since you came back from Herbology and you haven't been able to focus on anything for longer than about half a second."
"Really?" Cedric asked.
"Oh, Promise," Olivia chuckled prematurely, expectantly. "What did you do to him?"
"I actually turned your Transfiguration textbook upside down, and you didn't notice," Promise said, amused.
Cedric couldn't help but laugh at himself. "How long was I out?"
"One class period," Sam shrugged, smiling. "So, Cedric. Why have you been so out of it?"
"I find out what the Third Task is, tonight," Cedric said rather anticlimactically.
"Took them long enough," Promise said, looking down at her food, still not hungry for some bizarre reason.
Try as he might, Cedric wasn't able to focus on much. He ate nothing at lunch and couldn't remember doing anything in either Potions or Arithmancy, which was strange, because Potions always required some semblance of physical presence and Arithmancy always captured his attention. Next thing he knew, he was sitting at the dinner table with Promise, still not eating, much like her.
"You all right?" Olivia asked them, concerned more about Promise's strangely absent ravenous appetite.
"Yeah," Promise said, unsurely. "I just feel a little queasy is all. What about you, Ced?"
"Now that you mention it," Cedric said, placing one hand on his stomach. "I kind of feel it too. Must be pre discovery jitters, eh?"
"Yeah," Promise said, but the way she said it didn't make Cedric believe her at all.
He forgot about it within the next few hours, and by the time he had walked out of the Hufflepuff corridor into the Entrance Hall at eight forty, it was almost out of his mind, Harry Potter pushing it completely out with his descent down the marble staircase. Cedric wondered for a moment if Harry still hated him for taking Cho Chang to the Ball. He should tell him that Cho was "up for grabs" and anyone who wanted to could date her.
"What d'you reckon it's going to be?" Cedric asked. "Fleur keeps going on about underground tunnels; she reckons we've got to find treasure."
"That wouldn't be too bad," Harry said somewhat enthusiastically.
Cedric could tell Harry wasn't in much of a mood for discussion about much of anything and so he kept quiet until they reached the Quidditch field, turning down a gap in the stands and coming face to face with what looked like long, low walls that met in corners and angles all over the long Quidditch field. It was enough to stop Cedric dead in his tracks.
"What've they done to it!" he exclaimed.
"They're hedges!" Harry said, kneeling down and examining the nearest section of low wall.
"Hello there!" Ludo Bagman called out, standing in the middle of the field with Fleur and Krum.
"Well what d'you think?" Bagman asked happily as Harry and Cedric climbed over the last hedge. "Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid'll have them twenty feet high. Don't worry."
Cedric was still disgusted that the beautiful Quidditch field had been transformed into such an… aberration from normal. This must've showed on his face because Bagman kept smiling, looking right at him and Harry.
"Don't worry. You'll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"
There was a silence, Cedric unable to keep his mind on anything except the awful condition of the stately Quidditch field.
"Maze," grunted the deep voice of Krum.
Interesting.
"That's right!" Bagman said. "A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."
"We seemply 'ave to get through the maze?" Fleur asked.
She had a point, no way it was just that easy.
"There will be obstacles," Bagman said happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Hagrid is providing a number of creatures… then there will be spells that must be broken… all that sort of thing, you know. Now, the champions who are leading on points will get a head start into the maze. Then Mr. Krum will enter… then Miss Delacour. But you'll all be in with a fighting chance, depending how ell you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?"
Did Bagman say Hagrid was providing the creatures? Cedric needed to practice.
"Very well… if you haven't got any questions, we'll go back up to the castle, shall we, it's a bit chilly…"
Cedric didn't know what Bagman was talking about. It was a fairly moderate evening, not cold at all. Harry and Bagman led the way out of the way, followed by Krum, who tapped Harry on the shoulder and led him away. Cedric walked back to the castle alone and to the Common Room, telling Promise and Sam and Olivia what he had just found out.
Promise looked up at him, looking lively. "I'm hungry all of a sudden. I haven't eaten all day."
"What happened to feeling nauseous?" Olivia asked.
"It's gone miraculously," Promise said. "You too, Ced?"
"Yeah," Cedric said. His nausea was miraculously gone, and he had no idea why. Now that it was gone, however, he needed something to eat, and that meant a kitchen run.
They could start training tomorrow. It wouldn't hurt anyone.
The next day, a violent rumor spread around campus about Harry Potter and Victor Krum being viciously attacked by Barty Crouch, who had disappeared.
Cedric didn't have any time to worry about it though. They had begun to train in every spare block of time in an empty classroom on the second floor. Promise always brought food with her, or at least, somehow she managed to get it delivered to her, although two weeks into the arrangement, Promise confided in him that she had convinced Sweenty to bring them several platters of food every break and lunch and dinner.
Sam and Olivia sat in on all the sessions, helping to work on some of the practical Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms elements, but for the most part studying for their O.W.L.'s, leaving Cedric and Promise to their own devices of training.
"Where do you get so much time to practice?" Cedric asked. "Shouldn't you be studying for exams?"
"Don't worry," Promise said, flicking her wand and bringing a pillow to her hands. "I have a first grader studying for me and making summaries I just need to memorize."
"Promise!" Sam looked up in complete disbelief that Promise would do something like that.
"What?" She asked indignantly. "I'm paying him!"
"That doesn't make it right!" Olivia said, joining the conversation.
"Man you guys take the fun out of everything," Promise sighed. "I actually study and stay up late at night."
"How late?" Cedric asked, suddenly concerned.
"Four," Promise said casually.
"No, seriously," Olivia said unjokingly.
"See, this is one of the very few downsides of being such a funny person," Promise sighed. "Because people never believe you when you make an outlandish claim."
"You go to bed at four?" Sam asked, shutting her textbook.
"Fine, three thirty!" Promise said. "Four one or twice a week and three once before, but mostly three thirty."
"That's less than four hours of sleep!" Cedric said, shocked.
"What's your point?" Promise asked, unperturbed.
"That's not healthy!" Olivia exclaimed.
"I'll live," Promise said, shrugging. "Besides, this is far more important than my classes. If Cedric wins, he'll have enough money to buy us both all of our N.E.W.T.'s and a really nice house."
"But not like your parents'," Cedric corrected her.
"I'd hate that," Promise said bitterly. "That house is so… that house."
"Well I don't feel good about keeping you up till four in the morning, Promise," Cedric said, troubled.
"It's three thirty and it doesn't show," Promise paused for a minute and then grabbed her face anxiously. "Oh my God! It doesn't show, does it?"
Cedric laughed and shook his head, prepared for the next pillow she flung at him.
"Ready?" Olivia asked with about two weeks left until the Third Task.
"Yep!" Cedric said, standing poised.
Olivia hunched over slightly, standing in a ready position, thick red pillow tied to her wand by a relatively short invisible string, suspended several inches above the ground. Her arms were out to her sides, parabolically in a ready position.
Cedric chanced a glance over to Sam, whose turn it was to check their Arithmancy homework and Promise, who was watching excitedly, taking a huge bite out of a thick sandwich.
With no warning, Olivia used her wand to fling one pillow at Cedric.
"Impedimenta!" he shouted, freezing the pillow in mid air.
What happened next, he never fully knew, but he saw the red pillow suspended in midair, something big and red collided with it and hit him across the face, sending him flying backward.
He must've blacked out for a second, because Sam, Promise, and Olivia were all kneeling over him, slapping him to consciousness.
"Hmm what?" Cedric asked, eyes fluttering open.
"God! Don't scare me like that," Promise said, slapping Cedric on the chest.
"Sorry! What happened?" Cedric asked, half-dazed.
"You failed at life," Promise complained. She hit him again, eliciting an "ow!" from Cedric. "That's what you get for not being more careful!"
"What'd I do?" Cedric asked.
"You weren't ready for Olivia's two pillows," Sam explained.
"You never said we were doing two pillows," Cedric said, turning to Olivia.
"Guess you suck at surprises," Olivia smirked grimly.
"If you do it again, I'll be ready," Cedric groaned as he sat up straight, rubbing the large lump on the back of his head. "That was good though. Where'd you get that arm?"
"Quidditch," Sam answered before Olivia could. "Where else?"
Not wanting to hurt her in the process of the training process, Cedric had done his best to limit practice with Sam. She never said anything about it, but he was sure she noticed. There was nothing he could do about it, though. Their O.W.L.'s lasted the last two weeks of his training and they needed to focus on last minute studying throughout the entire process. This gave Promise and Cedric more than enough time to practice together. They never talked about Promise staying up late, and whenever they did, Promise would challenge him to a duel, which he invariably gladly accepted. Being Promise, however, she always made an bizarre challenge, like in the Great Hall during the next morning's breakfast on the Slytherin table.
By the time the History of Magic O.W.L. came and went, Cedric felt he had all the spells he had practiced down as best he could have them. He had practiced disarmament, freezing, summoning, banishing, an advanced light barrier charm, stunning, and several assorted jinxes and hexes Promise said would come in handy.
"Well if you kids'll excuse me," Promise said, yawning loudly. "I have Arithmancy tomorrow and I'd like to do really well on that to show up Professor Vector."
"And I think I'll hit the sack early too," Olivia said, yawning as well. "Sam, you wanna stay and help out Cedric?"
Sam and Cedric looked at each other, masking a mutual discomfort.
"I guess," Sam said, incredibly unsure of herself as she turned to Cedric. "Unless you mind. Cedric, you don't mind?"
"No! Not at all," Cedric said, far too loud.
"Excellent," Promise said, clapping her hands together and rubbing them vigorously, creating heat between her palms. "Then we'll leave you to it."
"Night, Promise!" Cedric called out sarcastically as she scooted with Olivia out of the empty classroom, leaving Cedric alone with Sam. He smiled knowingly as Sam examined a row of books on the dusty bookshelves. He knew exactly what Promise was doing. Oh yes, he knew. But there'd be time for this later. For now he'd just... talk... He looked at Sam and smiled warmly. "So..." He said awkwardly, swinging his hands out to his side and then to his front, clapping, still awkwardly. "How are you?"
Sam turned to face him. "Worried about you." she laughed playfully, even though the worried look persisted in her eyes. She returned her gaze to the books upon the dusty shelf. "Are you nervous?' she asked.
"A little," Cedric smiled back, awkwardly. "But at least I've done all I can do. Weeks of practice and preparation for who knows what in the maze. You helping. Promise falling from curses. Olivia falling from more curses. You not falling from curses..." His voice trailed off. No. He hadn't cursed her. He couldn't bring himself to it. It was too... wrong?
Sam laughed softly and looked at him from over her shoulder, hair falling… perfectly. "You're going to do great, Ced. Everyone's rooting for you. You're the smartest in your year." She smiled, but nervously and turned around, fingertips trailing ever so gently along the spine of a book Cedric could not see, reading the title before moving to the next one.
"But what about... Krum? Or Harry Potter?" Cedric said, rather flustered by what Sam had claimed. "They're so much more... heroic than I am. I'm just... the one everyone turns to because they can. I'm just a normal guy, trying to go through this insane tournament. I don't stand a chance against these people. You saw what Krum and Harry did to the dragon! What did I do? I got though it because you told me what to do. You're the real hero of that one." He chuckled slightly to himself. That was embarrassing...
"You're far smarted than you give yourself credit for Ced," Sam laughed softly, modestly. "You handled that pressure just as well as Harry or Krum. You know what you're doing. Don't worry too much. That's why you keep me around."
"So I don't get lit on fire?" Cedric asked, going for humor, thinking it wouldn't work.
Sam, thankfully, laughed at his joke. It was a genuine laugh, one Cedric knew she meant. She turned around and looked at him, smiling, weight shifted to her left foot more than the other. "No! To worry for you!"
"Oh," Cedric said, looking down and away, blushing slightly. "Well if you're worrying for me, who am I supposed to worry for?"
"You can't worry! You have to keep your head in the tournament." She took a few steps towards him, close enough to rub his shoulder reassuringly.
"I'm trying," Cedric said softly, smiling. "It's just... like the dragon, but I have no idea what they put in that maze. What if they put another dragon because we've all already taken one down? What if that happens? I haven't been practicing my transfiguration."
"Cedric, you'll do amazing," Sam said. "There's nothing in that maze you cant handle. You just have to believe in yourself as much as the rest of us believe in you." She tried to give him a reassuring smile, but as she lifted her head to meet him eyes, Cedric saw she was blushing. Quickly, she turned and walked away, resurveying the books.
An image shot across Cedric's eyes as she looked at him and then looked away. No. That wouldn't happen. Not here, not now. "I know, but I don't think I'll win. It's just exhilarating for me to be with all the very talented wizards and that witch." He paused for a minute. "Wait... that came out wrong... She's ummmm... Actually... I have no idea what I'm trying to say." He blushed and turned away as well.
"She's a talented witch, that Fleur," Sam said, seemingly ignoring Cedric's last statement.
"That she is," Cedric said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Remember what happened to her during the second task? It's a shame, really. She didn't deserve that. If only she had known how to survive a Grindylow attack…"
Sam nodded silently, suddenly blanketing the room in an incredibly awkward and very audible silence. "So, any spells, jinxes, curses, or hexes you want to practice before tomorrow?"
Cedric frowned. He didn't want to practice with her. Not now, not with no one else... Who knew what'd happen... He rubbed his neck anxiously. "I dunno. I mean, we did practice everything we could so far." He chuckled slightly. "I mean, what else have we been doing for the past two hours?" He check his watch. Two hours? That was it?
"Well then," Sam said, pausing in thought. "Do you want to go back to the common room?"
Cedric's heart drooped like a wilting flower. Did she really want to go back to the Common Room? Is that what she really wanted? He hesitated in thought. Yes. He pleaded with himself. Yes. End this awkwardness and bring it back to just... fun. But another voice in his head spoke, one of... intuition and soothing softness. But when was the last time you were alone with Sam? Early March? Just after that thing with Cho? Has it really been that long, Ced? Stay, for a few minutes. Awkward and Sam go hand in hand like Promise and... more Promise. The other voice in his head sighed. Fine. But we're not pushing her into something she doesn't want to do.
"I dunno," Cedric said, letting some of the frustrating conflict bubbling in his head pop onto the surface for an instant. "What would you like to do?"
She turned to face him and smiled, making a rare eye contact. "Being here with you is enough for me."
"So we'll stay here, then," Cedric said somewhat brightly as they locked eyes. Somewhere, he lost track of time for a minute until he realized exactly where he was staring and turned away abruptly. "Staring at each other," he tried to recover, still awkwardly.
"Staring's fine with me," Sam said, trying her best to sound as unawkward as she could. "You have nice eyes."
"Thanks," Cedric said, taking it at more than the face value he was sure she meant it at. "I like your eyes too."
The voice in his head came back again. Triwizard Champion. Triwizard Champion and that's the best you can do? "I like your eyes too?" Could you say anything stupider? Or more stupid? Wow. She even takes my breath away, and I have mind breath. I can't even think properly Thanks a lot.
Sam giggled slightly, but not in the traditional girly way, in a more mature, embarrassed sort of way. "Must be a trait among Hufflepuffs; loyalty and nice eyes. So, are you doing anything... erm, fun over the summer?"
Cedric thought for a minute. "I hadn't really thought about it. This tournament's consumed all my time. But not really, I guess." He shrugged. "I think I'm going to play some Quidditch, I've been dying to all year and I haven't really gotten a chance. Maybe I'll get a makeshift team with you and Olivia and Promise and we could challenge other 'club' teams like us. Hang with you and Promise, probably get Promise out of her house so she doesn't have to stay there anymore. She really does deserve better, the best even, especially after everything we've been through, all the years, you know?"
She nodded in agreement, but her eyes had sort of glazed over, like she had lost touch with reality for some reason.
"Sam?" Cedric asked, concerned. "Are you alright? You look sort of… dreamy."
She snapped out of it in an instant. "Yeah, sorry. My mind was wandering." She turned around to face the bookshelf, head lowered ever so slightly.
"Wandering where?" Cedric asked, curious. "Was it someplace far off? I'll go, anything to take my mind off this ruddy task tomorrow."
"I'm not sure you'd like it there," she said, voice inflecting in such a way Cedric could tell she was smiling even though he couldn't see her face.
Cedric blushed, a bit of Seeker and Champion daring slipping into his thought process. He smiled and let his tongue just barely dart out, grazing his lips. "Try me."
She turned around cautiously and took a step forward, smiling innocently. "I can tell you that it's not very far."
"Where? Off with Marcus in Promise's corner of the Common Room?" Cedric teased.
Sam blushed, breaking eye contact. "I think its a little bit better than that."
"Really?" Cedric said. "You seemed to have a fun time together. What really did happen between you? Why'd you break up with him when you did?"
"Its... complicated"
"Ah," Cedric said, easing away from the apparently awkward topic. "My bad. I'll drop it if you want." He walked past her, avoiding eye contact, and went to the book shelf, where he began to examine the spines of the books he had looked at a thousand times while waiting for a successful stunning or freezing spell to wear off of Promise or Olivia. Way to go, Ced, he thought to himself. Way to push her too far.
Soft footsteps walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Sam said nothing, though. He hand dropped somewhat lazily off his shoulder, brushing by his hand as she took it away from him.
That brush, however fleeting, however, felt amazing. It was so perfect, smooth, graceful, and warm. How he wanted to just reach out and touch her! Just once! Just one tiny handhold and he'd never ask for another thing again. Not one other thing! Why couldn't he just... But no. She wouldn't like it. They were just having an awkward conversation, for no readily awkward reason. No need to ruin their friendship on a single desire.
"Ced," Sam said quietly, voice soft as she took a few steps away from him. "Ced, have you ever wanted to do something, but been afraid to do it?"
Oh if only you knew, he thought. "Every day of my life," he smiled grimly, turning to face her even though her back was to him. "There just seems to be something every day. Dunno why. Guess it's part of the curse of being a Hufflepuff." He laughed slightly. Bad joke. Bad joke. Why was it always with the bad jokes at bad, awkward moments?
"I know that feeling," her voice came out as a whisper as she turned and took a step towards him.
Cedric took a step towards her as well. "The feeling that life just seems to… walk over you sometimes?"
"It's definitely something like that," she said, smiling and nodding, taking another step towards him.
Cedric smiled, unaware that his hand had absentmindedly reached forward in the less-than-one-more-step gap between them. "Guess we have something new in common."
Their hands met as Sam smiled faintly. "Guess so…"
"Something," Cedric said vaguely, losing track of reality as his other hand slipped into hers so that now both their hands were in each others. "Something..." His voice trailed off as he began to lean forward slightly, not exactly realizing what he was doing...
He pulled in closer. What was he doing! This was crazy! She was... she was so pretty... so... perfect... so... his everything. He leaned in so their lips almost touched. Just another instant and-
"SORRY!!!!" Promise's voice came from around the corner, making the two break away in an instant as she bounded into the room. "Forgot my book!" She stopped as she saw them looking away from each other awkwardly, standing on opposite ends of the classroom.
Promise. Why did it always have to be Promise?
"Oh," Promise said, incredibly put out. "I wasn't interrupting anything was I?"
"Er... I'm not sure," Cedric said, suddenly planted firmly in reality, dream vanished from his head in a puff of smoke.
"Bad timing?" Promise asked semi-sarcastically.
"Yeah," Cedric said just as awkwardly as before.
"Shoulda come back later?"
"Yeah."
"My bad." And without another word, Promise exited the room quickly, not looking back, but inwardly cheering at what she had just almost walked in on.
"So..." Cedric said after a few seconds, still unable to look at Sam, entirely incensed that Promise had just broken their almost kiss, and intentionally to boot. "Hi," Cedric said weakly, timidly not exactly moving... Not knowing how to move really... Terrified at the thought of what had just almost happened. Did they really just- "Promise has bad timing," he said, chuckling slightly and pointing with his thumb over his shoulder at the door where Promise had just exited.
Sam laughed slightly. "That she does... but it doesn't mean we can't..." she hesitated. "Pick up where we left off..."
Cedric tripped for a second even though he really hadn't moved at all. "You… you really want to?"
She just looked at him, making eye contact, firm, not awkward.
In a moment of bravery, he took a tentative step forward. Unsure exactly how to proceed. The moment before had been so... perfect...
The began an unspoken game, each taking a step forward silently, turns and pauses between steps. Sam took a step, he took a step… Before he knew it, he was standing directly in front of her, any closer and they'd touch.
Slowly, she reached forward and he let her hand trace the outline of his face.
The feeling of warmth and smooth skin traced over Cedric's face, and he smiled in ecstasy. The thought of... How long? As long as Promise had said? All that time? Really?
Mimicking her moves, he brought his hand to her face and, with the back of his index finger, traced a lone, long, thin strand of hair out of her face and to one side. He let the hair trickle to his fingers as he let his middle finger just barely skim the skin that lined her cheekbone.
Sam smiled at the feel of his touch and leaned into his hand a little, giving him permission to come closer.
With a thumb, Cedric used the edge to gently touch a curve underneath Sam's eye and he took a step closer. The hand fell further down and landed somewhere on the nape of her neck, beneath her hair, her beautiful, perfect, silky sandy blonde hair.
"Cedric," she breathed.
Slowly, Cedric looked at her, she looked at him. He couldn't help it, he cracked a smile. "Sam."
He looked at her lips, then back to her eyes. He licked them once and bit the lower one longingly with his upper teeth, wanting nothing more than to escape the waiting, a year of waiting. Slowly, ever so slowly, savoringly, he leaned in, tilting his head to one side, lips preparatorily pressed together, ready to separate at a moment's notice.
As she noticed him lean in she came closer to him, ever so slowly.
Cedric came in closer, just an instant away from her and stopped, eyes closed in exhilaration and excitement. "I love you," he whispered, ever so slightly, lips so close to hers they would have met if he had moved any closer...
"I love you too," Sam whispered back.
Slowly, even slower than before, Cedric leaned in and made contact with Sam's lips, instantly melting him into the metaphorical puddle of goo. She tasted... sweet, beautiful, as though every wonderful taste Cedric had ever come across had been blended into a single, solidified taste of harmony and perfection. He was kissing her! He was kissing Samantha Bennett!
And somewhere on the grounds, a clock chimed ten times.