Cedric Diggory and the Goblet of Fire

by GungaDin

A telling of Cedric's year during the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts. Completed with the epilogue, a what happens afterwards and into the future. Story completed.

17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Cedric Diggory or the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament. If you've read this far, you know what I own and what I don't...

---

Chapter 17
Life

Blackness.

There wasn't a word to describe the feeling of blackness, how it smelled, how it made the pores of skin feel, how it tasted.

The only thing Cedric knew about blackness was how it looked: empty, dark, foreboding. It surrounded him every time he closed his eyes or blew out the lights, but never had he been so enveloped like this. The blackness surrounded him, invading him in more than just his eyes.

And to have it happen walking through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three Quarters was… strange. The sensation took him completely by surprise.

His parents had told him to go through alone. His father went through first, and his mother would go after him, but through the invisible barrier… he had to do that alone. Not only that, but his father had told him to be brave, going through eyes open, courageous in the face of the unknown.

And no sooner had he realized the world had gone dark than his vision turned stark white, pupils contracting to take in the sudden burst of light. He looked around quickly to the many witches and wizards, from parents to Hogwarts students, ranging from first to seventh years, and then to the red train, the scarlet red train that would take him to Hogwarts for the first time.

"See?" His father said, eyes twinkling as he joined Cedric, coming from a position a few feet away, carrying Cedric's trunk. "That wasn't so bad, was it, Ced?"

Cedric shook his head, smiling proudly as his mother stepped through the gateway.

"I told you you could do it, Ced," His mother said proudly.

"Thanks, mom," Cedric said sheepishly, not making eye contact. He had been afraid of the barrier, if only very slightly, but now he was through it, it was easier to deal with.

"Well, you have seven minutes, Ced," Cedric's father said, checking his watch. "So you best get a compartment. Goodness knows they're probably all out already."

"Amos!" Cedric's mother said, in slight disbelief. "No need to scare him. Even in our time we knew there were plenty of open compartments all the way up till two minutes before the train pulled out."

Cedric's father smiled fondly. "Of course, dear. Regardless, that two minute mark is fast approaching. Ced?"

But Cedric wasn't really paying attention. He had spotted a girl on the other side of the train station from him. She looked lonely, holding a trunk that was far too big for her, shoulder length brown hair in thick, wide curls that gave her the look of being classy, as though her Muggle street clothes were far too shabby for such a fancy hair style. The thought crossed Cedric's mind that she should have worn a fancy set of dress robes, much like he had seen her mother wear when they attended the annual Ministry appreciation. She was looking at him too, small freckles visible from so far way, deep blue eyes meeting his gray ones.

"Cedric?" Cedric's mother asked, trying to bring him back to their conversation. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Cedric broke his gaze from the girl, looking at his parents, who were staring at him expectantly. "No! I'm fine. I'm sorry. What?"

"You best be getting on the train, now, son," Cedric's father said, patting his son's shoulder reassuringly. "Have a good year!"

"Take care," His mother said lovingly, hugging him, and kissing him on the cheek. "Write often!"

"I will," Cedric said, hefting his trunk, and moving as best he could along the platform, limping, using his leg to support and move his trunk forward. He wanted to- no, he needed to find that girl, whoever she was, but when he looked for her again, once a group of people had walked past, she was gone.

Disheartened but unwavering, Cedric walked to the nearest train entrance and began to ascend the staircase, walking backwards, pulling the trunk up the stairs with him as he climbed. Unfortunately, his bag got caught on the last stair as he tried to pull it up and into the hallway of the train's first long corridor. With a final tug, his trunk shot backwards and he ran into the train corridor wall with his back rather hard, trunk landing on the wall on his right and then flopping to the floor, blocking the train corridor for anyone passing by.

"Sorry," a girl's voice said in an undertone as he groaned from the effort of pulling himself off the wall.

"It's my bad," Cedric said, righting his bag as he looked up at the girl who had spoken.

It was the girl he had seen on the platform, holding her trunk upright in front of her as best she could even though it threatened to fall forward, taking her with it.

"Oh! Hi!" Cedric said brightly.

"Hi," the girl said, looking at him with her deep blue eyes very confusedly. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no nothing's wrong," Cedric said, shaking his head. "I just saw you from across the platform."

"I saw a lot of people from across the platform," the girl said, still confused.

"Well I only saw one person," Cedric explained. "And that person was you."

"And your parents," the girl corrected him. "You also saw your parents."

"I thought you said you didn't see me," Cedric said, playing dumb.

"I never said I did," the girl said, deadpanning at him. "But everyone here has parents visiting them and seeing them away, even the older students."

"Speaking of older students!" someone shouted, making Cedric and the girl turn around to see the large queue forming behind them while they didn't move. "Have some respect, first years! We want to go to school too! So go find a compartment and do what you need to do! The world doesn't revolve around you."

"Sorry!" the girl exclaimed sacredly and turned to Cedric. "Move!"

"Where?" Cedric asked, hefting his trunk forward and down the corridor as fast as he could.

"Somewhere not here," the girl said, following behind him.

"A compartment?" Cedric asked.

"Makes no difference to me," the girl said.

Once he was far enough down the train that the people behind them had stopped and found their own compartments, Cedric began to slide open compartment doors, looking for empty ones.

"In here?" Cedric asked when he found the first empty compartment they came to towards the back o the game.

"Makes no difference to me," the girl repeated.

Pushing his trunk in front of him, Cedric sidled into the compartment, leaving it open for the girl to enter after him. He stepped onto the seat and hefted his trunk onto the shelf hanging from the ceiling and turned around, but the girl was nowhere to be found. Hopping off the seat, he ducked his head out into the corridor, where the girl had continued walking, heading farther back into the train.

"Where do you think you're going?" Cedric called out.

"To find a compartment!" she called back, not turning around as she continued trunk-limping down the corridor.

"There's one right here!" Cedric called out.

"But you're in it," she called back, voice getting softer.

"That's the point!" Cedric called back.

"That's the point!" the girl repeated to him and stopped; it sounded like she hadn't actually expected him to say this, already having formulating her response in her head. Slowly, she turned around, looking at him very curiously "Wait. Let's start that round again. You're in that compartment."

"That's the point!" Cedric repeated, wondering what it would take for the girl to understand what he was suggesting.

"I thought you wanted to be alone!" she said.

"I never said that. Care to join me?" he offered.

"Do I have to say yes?" she asked, playing pouting slightly.

"No, but it would make me very happy, and then we wouldn't have to sit alone."

"What if I like being alone?" the girl asked him suspiciously. "What makes you think I want to change? I've lived my whole life alone."

"Then we can be alone in here together."

"How does that work?"

"Care to find out?" Cedric challenged.

Awkwardly, the girl paused for a minute, and then clumsily turned around in the corridor as best she could and began to trunk-limp to his compartment. He honestly didn't know why he was pushing to get her to join him so much, but something did. Something compelled him to talk to this girl, from the moment they had made eye contact on the platform for the first time, he felt… drawn to her.

With a final heft into the other basket for her trunk, the girl flopped down into the seat under it, staring at Cedric, who had used the opportunity to close the door. There was a silence, a long silence. It wasn't awkward or comfortable… just a silence that persisted all the way through the train's departure and out of the city.

"So this is what being alone with someone else feels like?" the girl asked as the first of the fields of countryside began to roll past.

"Guess so," Cedric said. "What a strange feeling."

"I kind of like it," the girl said. They were silent for another few minutes before she spoke again. "So what's your name?"

"Cedric," he responded, nodding. "Cedric Diggory. What about you?"

"Promise," she said, smiling somewhere between embarrassment and dismay. "Promise Ledger."

"Really?" Cedric asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I know," she said bitterly, not looking at him, and instead at the crack under the compartment door. "It sucks, doesn't it?"

"Are you kidding?" Cedric asked. "That's quite possibly the coolest name I've ever heard."

"You're joking," she said, looking at him. "You have the name Cedric. Do you know anyone else?"

"I know you, my parents, my parents' friends…" Cedric's voice trailed off. "But no one has a name like Promise. That's a really awesome name."

"You really think so?" she asked, smiling at him.

Cedric chuckled. "I know so."

"You're not lying?" Promise asked, eyeing him suspiciously. "Just so you'll have someone to be alone with?"

"I won't lie to you," Cedric said, patriotically.

"What does that make you?" she asked. "Some kind of Pretty Boy?"

He frowned at the sudden nickname she had given him. "Tell you what, if I ever lie to you, walk away, and don't come back." He held out his hand to seal the deal.

She looked at his hand. "That's a strange thing to say," she said, looking up at him.

"This is a strange meeting," he said, not moving his hand.

"Fine," she said, holding her hand out for him to shake. As he was going to grab it, however, she pulled it away. "But this only works if it goes for me too."

"What do you mean?" Cedric asked.

"I mean," Promise said. "If I lie to you, you walk away."

"Deal," Cedric said, grabbing Promise's hand and shaking it heartily.

"So what are we?" She asked as she withdrew her hand. "Best friends?"

"Guess so," Cedric shrugged.

"Oh, you're not lying are you?" she asked, as though semi-disgusted.

"Didn't we just make a bet about that?" Cedric asked, smiling at his new best friend.

---

Cedric looked at himself in the mirror, noting the small bags under his eyes. In retrospect, staying up so late the night before the Third Task wasn't a good idea. Regardless of what time he went to bed, he should have realized he would have had to wake at an unreasonable hour in order to go to breakfast. People would want to say hi to him and wish him luck before the task, getting a jump on board before everyone else said something at lunch. He had to talk to Promise, yell at her specifically. Olivia would want to know if Promise hadn't told her already… He shouldn't have stayed up, but it was worth it. Oh, it was definitely worth it. But now he had to deal with the repercussions of his actions.

Such was life, though. It just meant he'd be running on more adrenaline than usual. True, he could have slept longer and not gone to breakfast, but really, going to breakfast on the day of the Third Task was a very good idea. It was a good way to get some fast energy to keep him going with his adrenaline for the rest of the day.

Besides, he wanted to see Sam.

He walked down the staircase to the Common Room, where Promise sat, twiddling her thumbs innocently. As Cedric descended the staircase and she saw him, she stood over far too quickly. Cedric stopped dead, halfway down the staircase. He should have realized she would do this. He should have realized it.

"Morning," Promise said brightly, happily, excitement completely uncontainable. "How are you?"

And contagious; Cedric couldn't help but smile himself. "I'm… good. What about you?"

"I'll bet you I'm nowhere near as good as you are," Promise smiled, already pressing for details on what had happened either before or after she walked in on Sam and Cedric.

"You think so?" Cedric asked, keeping a straight face, giving her nothing to work with. "What makes you say that?"

"I have this ability to make people feel better than me… And I'm always so chipper! Can you believe that?" Promise asked, perky, bordering on bubbly, but without the squeak. "But I have a feeling it's more than just me being bouncy. Care to share?"

"It's the adrenaline," Cedric shrugged, taking a blind stab in the dark. That was part of it, he was sure. For making him feel really tired, adrenaline did always have the ability to make him rather loopy, which in occasions such as this would translate as chipper.

Promise looked at him, suddenly very serious. "You're not lying to me, are you? Not now, not at your crowning moment over your existence?"

"Actually, I think that was last night," Cedric said, correcting yet casual.

"And what, my dear Pretty Boy, happened last night?"

"You walked in on a conversation," Cedric said smiling patronizingly.

Promise laughed fondly reminiscently. "Yeah. That was funny. But what happened?"

Cedric eyed her carefully. This was too good of an opportunity to toy with her, way too good of an opportunity. "I don't know if I trust you."

Promise exploded as Cedric continued a normal trek down the stairs. "What? What do you mean you don't trust me? How can you say that? We trust each other! Going on almost six full years now and you're unsure you trust me or not? Who are you? Did you or did you not-"

Cedric grabbed Promise by the shoulders and looked into her eyes very deliberately. "I'll tell you later," he said and continued his walk out of the Common Room and to the Great Hall.

Something hit him in the shoulder. It wasn't a hard hit but it tickled, like a single finger was itching his bare shoulder gently. It didn't itch, but it was a strange sensation, slightly enjoyable, but not annoying, not yet anyways.

"Sorry," Promise said, fingering her wand as he turned around. "My wand slipped."

"Sure it did," Cedric said sarcastically. "See how you almost lied to me?"

"No!" Promise said, shocked at the idea that she would lie to him. "It really did! I was aiming for the nape of your neck."

Cedric shot a look at her. "Can you take it away?"

Promise half closed one eye and inhaled as she thought, making it seem like she was debating with herself. "Nnnnoooo," She said slowly, like it was the right thing to say.

"Why not?" Cedric asked.

"You know why," Promise said, feigning bitterness.

Cedric eyed her again. "If I tell you, will you take it away?"

"Yes," Promise said quickly, relieved.

"We kissed," Cedric said. "Now take it away."

"That's it? That's all you're giving me?" Promise asked, incredibly put out.

"For now," Cedric nodded. "More later."

Promise pouted for a second. "Fine."

With a flick of her wand, the tickling sensation left Cedric's shoulder.

"Thank you," Cedric said, exiting the Common Room and into the Kitchen corridor.

"You're welcome," Promise said, walking slightly faster than he was to catch up. "But you owe me."

"All in good time," Cedric said as they left the corridor and walked to the entrance of the Great Hall. "Goodness knows you might be able to figure it out once we're in here."

"I look forward to it," Promise said as they entered the Great Hall.

---

The Great Hall doors slammed open and the year's new batch of First Year students walked through the doors, gazing at the ceiling, much like Cedric had done when he walked into the Great Hall with Promise just one year ago. The thought of Promise and him walking across this long traverse to the head table shot through his mind.

"Watch it!" Promise hissed to his right.

He looked at her where the first of the first years had just walked past and saw, to his confusion, that she was holding her shin.

"What happened?" Cedric asked, looking at her confusedly.

"Bloody first years," Promise swore, aggravated, lifting up the hem of her robe and examining her shin. "Now my leg is swelling! That's just great…"

Cedric smiled. "Remember Promise, you were just a first year three months ago."

"I'm sorry," Promise said, rubbing her shin. "Was I really-"

The world slowed. Promise's voice faded out of existence. The first years began to walk past at a flobberworm's pace.

Sandy blonde shoulder length hair bobbing, a girl was walking past him. Cedric felt his jaw slacken as he watched her pass, oblivious to his existence. She walked to the front of the Great Hall, where she stood with her fellow first years, waiting patiently for whatever came next. She needed to wait there forever, if for nothing else, then just so he could watch her stand there, bathed in the pleasant candlelight of the Great Hall. He was vaguely aware of the Sorting Hat and its song echoing all around the hall, only subconsciously realizing what it was when the girl gasped and watched something with rapt intensity. When the song had finished, she clapped politely, like a queen, a regal queen.

"Pssst! Cedric!" Promise hissed. "What are you looking at?"

"Hmm?" Cedric asked, totally lost in rapture.

"What are you looking at?" Promise repeated as Professor McGonagall pulled out a scroll of parchment and began to read off names, beginning with Zachary Aidlin.

"Her," Cedric said, doing his best to keep the dreamy out of his voice.

"Her who?" Promise asked as Professor McGonagall began to read off another name, as Zachary became the first Slytherin.

"There's a girl up there," Cedric's voice trailed off.

"Who?" Promise asked, confused. "Who's up there?"

"That's... special," Cedric said dreamily, not paying attention to Promise, watching the girl intently, knowing her name wasn't Amanda Batson.

"You sure you're okay?" Promise continued. "I've never seen you so riveted on anything. Are you waiting for a Hufflepuff? Because this one might be-"

"GRYFFINDOR!!!" The Sorting Hat called out.

"Never mind," Promise continued, unperturbed by the Sorting Hat's call. "No Hufflepuffs."

Amanda Batson went over to join the yelling and shouting Gryffindors.

"Ryan Belter?" Professor McGonagall called out, making the boy standing next to the girl walk forward to put on the hat.

Cedric kept his eyes riveted on the girl, completely at a loss for words. If only she would get Hufflepuff, his life would be complete, well… almost complete. He still didn't know her name.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"What are you staring at?" Promise asked amid the always unbelievable din of the Slytherin table.

Professor McGonagall looked at the parchment, holding it so her eyes could see it.

"Cedric, what are you looking at?" Promise repeated.

"Samantha Bennett!" Professor McGonagall shouted, making the girl Cedric had been unable to take his eyes off of step forward to try on the hat.

"Samantha Bennett," Cedric answered, smiling, already infatuated with her name, eyes focused on making the Sorting Hat shout "Hufflepuff."

"Who? Her?" Promise whispered, moving her head to try to get a better view, even though Samantha had completely disappeared beneath the brim of the hat. "Why are you looking at her?"

"Shhh!" Cedric hissed, still focusing.

"Fine, fine," Promise said defensively, retreating internally, looking sad and dejected. "Whatever catches your snitch, Ced."

Please, Hufflepuff. Cedric pleaded with himself. Please Hufflepuff.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted.

In an instant, Cedric was the first on his feet, cheering madly as Samantha took the hat off her head to the Hufflepuffs, who were welcoming their first new member with a standing ovation.

Smiling and blushing profusely, Samantha walked the length of the table, past Cedric as he clapped and cheered her name. She smiled at him as she passed, making eye contact for an instant flashing him nothing short of a breathtaking smile.

"What was that?" Promise asked, taking her seat as Cedric did the same.

"Life," Cedric said dreamily.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Promise asked.

"It means I've already fallen for her," Cedric said as Sam joined the table a few feet down from where he was, talking softly but amicably with the Hufflepuffs around her.

"Already?" Promise asked, completely in disbelief.

"I guess," Cedric frowned, looking at Promise.

Promise loosened her muscles, stretching out her arms in all possible directions as though preparing for a jog. "Looks like we got our work cut out for us, eh?"

"No," Cedric said. "Don't do anything with this. If it's meant to happen, then it has to happen how it has to happen."

Promise eyed him. "Your funeral, but if you need my help, I'm here."

"Thanks, Promise," Cedric said as he watched Samantha from far way, still unable to do anything but look at her.

"Oh, it's that bad, is it?" Promise asked.

"I guess," Cedric smiled vaguely as he kept his eyes on Sam.

"Don't worry," Promise said, placing a hand on Cedric's shoulder. "You'll get her in the end."

"You really think so?" Cedric asked hopelessly.

"Yeah, I do," Promise said, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"Don't lie to me, Promise," Cedric said seriously.

"And leave you without my company?" Promise smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it."

---

Cedric sat down at the table across from Sam and Olivia who were talking casually until Cedric sat down, Promise taking the seat next to him.

Sam looked at him and smiled, making him melt at the thought. "Hey you," she said.

"Hey you," Cedric repeated, smiling at her smile.

"Oh that is so cool!" Olivia said thankfully looking up at the clear sky of the Great Hall ceiling.

"You didn't get that yet?" Promise asked Olivia.

"Well you didn't tell me anything! And Sam here's been tightlipped," Olivia said exasperatedly. "I've been going mad trying to figure out what's been going on! And now you come in with your respective 'hey you's' and now I know what's going on! Took long enough."

Cedric smiled and looked at Sam. "How are you?" He asked, trying to keep it casual. Well, casual in the sense he acknowledged that them kissing was more than just casual, that he didn't regret it.

"Tired," Sam nodded. "You?"

"Same," Cedric nodded.

"What are you guys not telling me?" Olivia asked bitterly. "You were up all night?"

"Not all night," Sam blushed, turning back to her breakfast and taking a few bites of bacon.

"I should hope not!" Promise said very motherly. "Girls chasing boys and boys chasing girls at all hours of the night! It's unheard of! Besides, my little Cedric needs his pretty sleep."

"Don't you mean beauty sleep?" Sam asked, desperate to get off the subject.

"No, Cedric's a Pretty Boy, hence pretty sleep," Promise explained. "He's not a beauty boy, so he can't have beauty sleep."

"I see," Olivia nodded, focused on Promise for the moment. "So what happened?" She asked, turning the conversation back to what happened between Sam and Cedric.

Sam and Cedric looked at each other fondly.

"Can we tell you later?" Sam asked.

"I've been waiting almost twelve hours to get results!" Olivia exclaimed, but keeping her voice down to avoid the attention. "I think I've given you more than enough leeway."

Cedric looked at Sam again, who shrugged.

"We kissed," Sam said modestly, completely understating how mind alteringly amazing the kiss was and how much it burned in Cedric's eyes. He let his foot side forward along the ground until it slightly touched something. Keeping his eyes riveted on Sam, he began to move his foot up and down her leg slowly, sensually. She shot him a look of "what are you doing?" but he just kept going, moving his leg slowly up and down.

"Can you believe that's all they'll say about it? 'We kissed?' That's it?"Promise asked, speaking to Olivia, unaware of Cedric's game of footsie with Sam.

Cedric and Sam began to entangle feet, the bottom of Sam's foot massaging the top of Cedric's. They kept their eyes locked, completely oblivious to everything else. Olivia and Promise tangented onto another conversation, but for now, it didn't matter. What did matter is Cedric's pleasant game with Sam.

"Cedric?" someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?" Cedric asked, snapping back to reality, foot retreating from Sam's.

"Cedric," Professor Sprout said. "the Champions are all meeting in the room behind the hall after breakfast."

Cedric looked to Sam, then to Promise and Olivia, and finally back to Professor Sprout. "If I may, Professor? Is there a reason for this meeting?"

"The champions' families are invited to watch the final task. They arrived this morning, and you are more than welcome to spend the day with them, especially because of your exemption from exams."

"Alright," Cedric said, shrugging, but smiling. He looked to Promise and Olivia. "See you at lunch?"

"If not sooner," Promise nodded.

He looked at Sam and smiled warmly. "I love you," he mouthed.

"I love you too," she mouthed back.

And with that, Cedric turned to head for the side chamber, listening to Olivia and Promise's squeals of exuberance as they began to pelt Sam with questions. He hadn't gotten very far when he was joined by Fleur Delacour.

"Good morning, Cedric," she said brightly.

"Good morning, Fleur!" Cedric said very brightly. "And how are you this fine morning?"

"I'm vehry well, zhank you, Cedric," Fleur smiled.

"I'm glad to hear it," Cedric said. "You ready for tonight?"

"I hope so," she said brightly.

"That's excellent," Cedric said encouragingly as he pulled open the door to the side room and held it open for Fleur to enter.

"Any reason you're so cheery, Cedric?" Fleur asked smugly.

"I'll tell you later," Cedric said brightly as he saw his parents, who waved and beckoned him to them. To their left, Cedric saw a short red headed woman about his mother's age and a tall red headed man with a dragon earring and hair pulled back in a ponytail. They must be the Weasleys obviously here in the capacity of Harry's parents.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Cedric's mother said.

"Morning, mom," Cedric smiled.

"How are things, son?" his father asked.

"Very good," Cedric said, still unable to stop smiling.

"We can see that, dear," Cedric's mother said. "Is there a reason for that?"

"Third Task, best friends I've had in a long time, you're here and I just started dating Samantha Bennett last night," Cedric said reminiscently.

"The girl from the Quidditch World Cup?" Cedric's father asked, smiling, eyes twinkling.

Cedric nodded. "The one and the same."

"Well I'm glad to hear that, son," Cedric's father said, giving Cedric a very genuine, heartfelt smile.

"Me too," Cedric said, smiling.

"Any reason this all happened last night?" Cedric's mother asked.

"Because Promise likes to play matchmaker," Cedric suggested.

"I'll believe that," Cedric's mother said. "She always did seem to me like someone liable to do that."

"Ummm, excuse me," Mrs. Weasley asked, turning to Cedric and his parents as Krum walked into the room. "Do you know if Harry's planning to come see us? I don't think he realizes we'd come to visit him. He probably thinks we're his Muggle guardians or something."

Cedric shook his head. "No idea, but I can go get him if you'd like."

"Would you?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "It'd be ever so kind of you."

"Sure," Cedric said, smiling, more than willing to help anyone, today of all days. He walked to the door and pushed it open, ducking his head into the Great Hall just as he saw Harry stand up from the Gryffindor table and begin to walk away. "Harry!" he called out. "Come on! They're waiting for you!"

Smiling as Harry turned around and headed towards him and his room, Cedric returned to his parents.

"So what have you been up to?" Cedric's father asked.

"Studying," Cedric said, waving at Harry as he entered. "You know how it is."

"Still loving Arithmancy?" Cedric's mother asked.

"Our teacher threw cake at us," Cedric nodded, pleased with the thought of it.

"Really?" Cedric's father asked, intrigued. "Old Wadelbach never threw any cake at us. All he did was lecture."

"Mmm hmm," Cedric's mother said reminiscently. "And we still managed to pass the class."

"Somehow," Cedric's father said, remembering fondly back to a better time. "So, Ced!" He clapped his hands together. "So d'you wanna do us around?"

"Absolutely," Cedric said, and he led them out of the room and into the rest of Hogwarts.

The time passed slowly as they walked through the halls of the school, visiting the library and various empty classrooms, looking at the portraits and the many sculptures and suits of armor. They kept a constant conversation going, talking about everything from the first two tasks (Cedric's parents agreed that the second task couldn't have been that exciting) to Cedric's sudden and unexpected relationship with Sam but dropped the talk to lower whispers as they passed by various exam classrooms.

All through their walk, Cedric couldn't get the various thoughts flying through his head. His relationship with Promise was as strong as ever, he was now going steady with Sam (they had kissed just last night, the thought still baffled him), and he was spending the day with his parents before what was sure to be the most intense night of his life.

And yet, for all the time he spent, thinking about how slowly time was moving (and how slow it still needed to move) he found himself sitting at the lunch table just as Sam and Olivia sat down with Promise, who slammed her books down as loud as she could.

"And that is me being done with Arithmancy for the summer!" She declared proudly. "Oh you should've seen it, Ced. Cyclical Arithmancy! Time repeats and everything! That's all the test was about and I nailed it! Unn!" She huffed, making a victorious gesture.

"Hello, Promise," Cedric's mother smiled, ignoring her just-moments-ago-outburst.

"Oh, hello, Mr. and Mrs. Diggory," Promise said, humbled for a second in reverent respect as she suddenly became boastful Promise again. "I just finished Arithmancy! Yes!"

"I thought you liked Arithmancy," Cedric's father said.

"Oh, I do," Promise said. "But it's nice to know that now I can learn Abstract Arithmancy. And I actually earned it! Unlike him, who just won a lottery to get his name pulled out of a Goblet."

"She has a point, Ced," Cedric's father teased.

"I know," Cedric said, blushing. "So how was everyone else's morning?"

"Lonely," Sam said dreamily yet airily.

"Yes, quite," Olivia said. "We were wondering if you'd remember we don't have class because of our O.W.L.'s being done."

"Right," Cedric said, wincing slightly. "My bad." He looked to his parents. "Mind if I spend some time with Sam and Olivia later this afternoon?"

"None for me, thanks," Olivia said, stretching. "I'll switch. You can hang out with Sam and Promise and I'll entertain your parents."

"Don't speak for me," Promise said, feigning offense. She turned to Cedric's parents. "But Olivia and I would be more than happy to entertain you while Cedric enjoys time with his girlfriend."

All eyes turned to Cedric.

"I- I never called her my girlfriend," Cedric said defensively. "But if that's where this is going, I guess that's how it is." He smiled at Sam, who blushed back.

"Then it's a date," Promise said confirmatorily. "Man, if I'da known it was going to be this easy to set things up with you two, I woulda done this months ago."

Cedric smiled as he turned to his lunch, ready to eat with his five favorite people in the whole entire world.

---

Cedric pushed open the icy gate as the taxi cab pulled away from him; with a look back, he wondered what the Muggle driver was thinking about as he left. It must have been incredibly strange to see a sixteen year old boy dressed in very nice slate blue robes ask to be taken to the middle of nowhere. Sighing, he shut the large wrought iron gate behind him and turned to face the long driveway, facing the large three story mansion in the very near distance.

He began to walk the length of the drive, feet crunching in the thin layer of snow, which was cut in two lines of rivets where cars had driven, making lines through the frozen water on the ground. He kept his eyes focused on the bright lights of the house, which was growing as he came closer and closer to the front doors.

After a few more minutes of walking, the drive broke to the right, making a circle around a very large fountain. As the circle began, Cedric found cars parked on either side of the drive. It was strange, but aside from London itself, Cedric had never seen so many Muggle cars in one place, and he certainly hadn't expected so many cars at a wizarding home. Had he come to the right place? He leaned over, looking inside the car to see if he could see anything inside it.

He jumped back almost at once. Inside, seated at the driver's seat, looking mindless, was a man, dressed nicely, hands placed on the wheel, facing straight ahead. The man hadn't moved since Cedric looked at him, and he didn't seem to have noticed him at all. Indeed, he didn't seem to notice much of anything at all, facing straight forward, not blinking or moving at all.

Shrugging and wondering about the peculiarity of what he had just seen, Cedric walked towards the brightly lit front door, noticing the same male drivers parked in all the other cars lining the path to the front door. As he approached, he heard voices all laughing and talking amiably. Sighing, he lifted his hand and placed it on the large shiny iron knocker and rammed it on the door three times, making someone call out in alarm.

He turned around and looked out at the drive towards the wrought iron gate, which was shrouded in darkness. What if he had come to the wrong house and a Muggle opened the door. How strange would it be to see a young sixteen year old boy standing in a doorway, dressed in fancy slate blue dress robes?

With the sound of a click and the fssssshhh of a door sliding open, Cedric turned around.

"Merry Christmas!" A woman exclaimed.

Her hair was brown and frizzy, not long (although Cedric expected that if she had straightened it it would have gone all the way down to the small of her back) and her eyes were hazel, having a sort of glassy quality about them. She seemed… tipsy, as though she had had too much to drink, but had done so in such a way that she was still in complete control of herself.

"And what marvelous dress robes!" she commented brightly, words not slurring, scarlet dress robes, swishing around her. "Where did you get them?"

"Madam Malkin's," Cedric said confusedly. This woman was… strange… she had already commented on Cedric's dress robes and had not seemed to realize that she had never seen him before, or at least, Cedric had not seen her before.

"Really?" The woman asked. "There? Oh heavens that place is not the place to go for dress robes, although if you did have to buy as set from there, at least you bought a beautiful set. Those really are quite wonderful!" She paused. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Er, no, at least, I don't think so," Cedric said.

"Lizzie!" someone shouted, a man's voice this time. "What on earth are you doing?" He rounded the corner with his second phrase, cool, royal blue dress robes on his body, dark black hair in a finely combed coif parted to one side, small round glasses making him look incredibly intelligent perched on his nose. "Oh, hello," he said brightly, cheerily, nodding to Cedric. "Lizzie!" he repeated. "What on earth are you doing?"

"This fine young gentleman here is patiently waiting to come inside," the woman said Lizzie said. "But I don't know him. Is he one of yours?"

"No, I don't reckon he is," the man said, looking at Cedric, as though trying to recognize him. "Do I know you?"

"No, I don't think so," Cedric said. "I'm a friend of Promise's."

They looked at him strangely, confused by what he had just said.

"Promise?" the woman asked, perplexed.

The man and woman looked at each other, trying to understand what Cedric was talking about. After a few more awkward seconds, they dawned in comprehension.

"Ohhhhhh," the man breathed in understanding. "Promise! Right! Come in, come in!" He turned around to face the rest of the house. "Promise! Your friend is here!" He turned back and extended his arm to Cedric, who had entered the large house. "Good evening, I'm Charles, Promise's father."

"And my name's Elizabeth," the woman said, doing the same as her husband.

"No," Promise's father teased. "It's Lizzie."

"No it's not," Promise's mother said, blushing slightly, but in such a way that Cedric knew she wanted him to continue.

"Yes it is, my wittew dizzy Izzie," Promise's father said, smiling, yet pouting like a child and turning his voice into baby talk.

"It is not, starlie Charlie darlie," Promise's mother said, taking a few steps towards her husband so that their faces were almost together.

"You're so funny," he smiled as their noses met and they rubbed them against each other and making them both giggle.

"Mom, dad?" Promise said, slight look of revulsion on her face as she rounded the corner into the massive hall, dressed in beautiful light green dress robes. "We have guests."

But the two weren't paying much attention to her. Mrs. Ledger had wrapped her arms around her husband's neck, and Mr. Ledger had wrapped his arms around her waist. They were staring at each other, gazing into each other's eyes. After a few seconds, they pulled in and kissed, as though it was their first time kissing.

"Hi," Promise said, not paying any attention to her parents. "Merry Christmas." She pulled him into a really tight hug. "I'm glad you're here."

"Me too," Cedric said, hugging her back, trying his best to not pay attention to Promise's parents, but failing miserably as they exchanged meaningful "I love you's."

"Oy! Lizzie! Chuck!" someone shouted out from the rest of the house. "Get back in here! We all got our food and we're about ready to start another game!"

"Coming!" Promise's father shouted over his wife's shoulder. "So shall we?"

"Of course," his wife smiled lovingly.

And without another word to Promise or Cedric, they left and turned around the corner, heading to meet the friends in the other room of the house.

"Everyone's in the large ballroom," Promise said sheepishly. "They're playing a murder mystery game. It's very fun, especially if you get to watch. So… would you like to? That's where all the food is, anyway."

"Of course," Cedric said, smiling.

They turned around the corridor and headed down the long, spacious hallway. Doors lined the hall every so often, but they were all closed and few and far between, giving Cedric the impression that the rooms beyond were large and spacious. After about a hundred feet, Promise pulled a left and another left at the first set of double doors, which were open and inviting. Cedric followed her in and lost his breath.

The room was gigantic. Lining the wall on the right was a long table of food, behind which stood waiters in very traditional, black and white dress robes. On the left was a large piano, where a man sat playing it very regally and loudly, swaying with each note he played. Cedric hadn't heard any music when he had been in the hallway, which he guessed was the result of a sound dampening charm someone had placed on the room. The far wall opposite the entrance was not even a wall at all, but a series of large glass windows, creating the image of black night sky beyond them. Above them, where the second floor would have been, was an open area, making it very cavernous and vast as it took up two floors, which was obvious when Cedric noticed the banistered five foot wide sections of floor lining three of the four walls (but not the glass window wall) around the room. Five or six doors were on each wall of where the second floor should have been, probably leading to various rooms on the second floor, and large, sweeping staircases swooped down on either side of Cedric and on the other side of the room at the glass doors on the other end of the wall. In the center of the room was a large, emerald green rug, embroidered, Cedric could see from even this distance, with intricate detail and perfect symmetry. On the rug were Promise's parents and their hundred or so houseguests, eating food from golden platters and silver spoons and forks.

"Come on," Promise said, rolling her eyes and grabbing Cedric's arm, pulling him towards the wall on the right.

"And they're all playing a murder mystery?" Cedric asked, impressed.

"They're in pairs," Promise shrugged.

"That's still an intense murder mystery. Took them three hours to finish the first one. Usually they take a third of that."

"Why aren't you playing?" Cedric asked

"I fit better on the outside of these people," Promise shrugged. "They're royal pains in the neck."

"They don't look so bad," Cedric said, trying to see what was going on now that people were anxiously looking around trying in vain to see what character the other people had gotten.

"Except for the cheating," Promise said grimly. "Come on, let's get some food."

Cedric knew even before he looked that the food in this line would be nothing short of spectacular. They only had the finest cuts of meat and the most perfectly cooked seafood in their lines. Even the desserts were fantastic. Cedric made special note of Promise taking several small cups of Crème Brulée. With a shrug, Cedric picked a large plate and took what he could stack and then followed Promise to a long, cushy, comfortable black leather sofa, where they sat and watched the game intensely, not quite focusing on who the players were, but on how they acted. Cedric could have sworn someone would yell at him for eating horribly potentially volatile foods on such a nice sofa, but no one seemed to pay attention, even when Promise cut into the crispy top of her fourth small cup and flung a rather large section of brown crust onto the sofa. Cedric gasped and looked at Promise, but she rolled her eyes, took her finger, dipped a finger into the gob on the sofa, scooped it all up with her index, sucked on it, and closed her eyes, obviously content with the world.

Cedric did his best to focus on Promise, but the game was rather interesting. He kept listening to what each and every person said and watched how the couples interacted with both each other and other couples. They were like Promise's parents, completely infatuated with one another, but also not unwilling to discuss something, and in casual tones, tones of genuine caring and friendship. They were getting along very well, without any sort of problems whatsoever.

"So Izzie," a woman decked in magenta dress robes said, golden bracelets on either wrist dangling and clanging as she moved. "Where is Cornelius? Do you know?"

"Oh he was too busy, I'm afraid," Mr. Ledger said sadly. "He and Dolores have a late night meeting with the Aurors about the Black situation."

"And what is to become of that, I wonder?" A man wearing deep purple dress robes asked. "When will it end."

"Oh when the man's caught of course," Mrs. Ledger said very properly, but as though it was an obvious answer.

"No," the man shook his head. "What I mean is what is to happen with the students at the school? When will they remove the Dementors?"

"I was just talking with Cornelius about that the other day," a witch in a very light, pretty brown said. "He said they'd be there as long as it takes."

"And that is horrifying," her husband said, dressed in forest green dress robes. "I cannot wait for the Dementors to be back guarding Azkaban, where they belong."

"But what about the school?" the witch in magenta asked.

"What about it?" Mr. Ledger replied. "I want the Dementors back in Azkaban where they can do their job and not babysit students. Bring them back to the more important things."

"I agree," Mrs. Ledger nodded, concurring with her husband.

"Of course you would," the man in brown said in an undertone, rolling his eyes very noticeably.

"So what's the point of the game?" Cedric said, leaving the political chatter and turning to Promise.

She looked at him, as though concerned for his sanity. "It's a murder mystery. You try to find out who committed the murder."

"I know that," Cedric said. "But how are they playing?"

"Heck if I know," Promise said. "All I know is it's fun to watch."

"You think so?" Cedric asked, eyeing her. He figured she would have known exactly how to play. Yes, it was fun to watch just to see what these couples said to each other over the course of the game, but how they determined things and went about learning new puzzles and figuring out new clues was a complete mystery to him.

"Yeah," Promise sighed. "Just wish I knew how to play."

"So ask them?" Cedric said, stating the obvious.

"Meh. Ain't worth my effort," Promise yawned loudly. "You done here?"

"But we won't figure out who did it," Cedric said, protesting slightly. It was true, if he took away the conversation, the number of things they had actually done for progressing the game was very limited, and he sort of wanted to figure out who really was the murderer.

"Don't worry about it. It's my parents," Promise said, bored.

Cedric looked at her, taken aback. "How did you know?"

"I can tell," Promise said, standing up and walking away to the food wall.

Cedric looked back to Promise's parents who were "nose kissing" again, smiling and enjoying each other implicitly and intimately.

"Come on!" Promise said, calling out to Cedric and making him jump. Her voice had come loudly and in an echo across the room. Cedric picked up his plate, turned to face Promise, and began walking away towards the table of food. With a single look back, he watched the many couples continue chat amongst themselves, showing no sign that they had heard Promise's loud shout at all.

Biting his inner cheek, Cedric walked to the man behind the table and handed him his empty plate.

"Thanks, Herbie," Promise smiled at him.

"Of course Ms. Ledger," the man nodded respectfully.

"Where are we going?" Cedric asked, as Promise led him to the windowed wall at the end of the ballroom.

"Outside," Promise said.

"Why?" Cedric asked.

"To stay away from them," Promise said casually. "They're in the zone." She pushed open the large glass door and held it open for Cedric.

He muttered a word of thanks as he exited to the brisk villa. Like the room before it, the villa was large and beautiful even in the light coming from the ballroom. Cedric could see a pool on the level beneath them, with stairs heading down to it in front of them. Promise led the way to the pool, kicked off her light green sandals, which were embossed with small rubies and complemented her dress robes perfectly, and sat, dipping her feet in the water after hiking up her dress robes enough so they wouldn't get wet when her calves went into the water.

Following her lead, Cedric took off his black dress shoes and socks and joined Promise, making sure his robes didn't go into the water as well.

They sat in silence for several minutes, Cedric admiring the very numerous trimmed bushes that bordered the door lined walls on either side of the villa as well as the small area that enclosed the pool on either side by the raised level on either side.

"I like your house," Cedric said.

"Really?" Promise asked, looking at him, slightly relieved. "I was worried it'd be too much in your face." She paused. "It's not, is it?" She asked, concerned.

"No," Cedric said, looking at the large hedge shaped like a mermaid to his left. "Well… Maybe a little. But I'm not intimidated in any way."

"Cuz you get intimidated so easily," Promise said sarcastically.

"Well, yes," Cedric said, slightly confused.

"But not around Sam?" Promise asked, smirking slightly.

"Yeah," Cedric said, smiling reminiscently. "I like her."

Promise rolled her eyes and made a moan usually reserved for headaches. "Oh here he goes. See what happens when I bring that up? Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"No," Cedric snapped himself out of it. "No, that's not needed. I'm done."

Promise bit the inside of her cheek and eyed him suspiciously. "Sam."

Cedric smiled, feeling butterflies shoot through his stomach as his feet swirled in the water. She kept looking at him, though. "No, really. I'm done," He protested.

"Of course you are," Promise said. "You know I can still do something for you? Don't you?"

Cedric protested. "She probably doesn't even know-"

"Oh don't start in on that," Promise interrupted him. "You managed to beat Harry Potter at Quidditch just a month ago."

"That was a fluke," Cedric said, still protesting. "He fell off his broom."

"And you didn't," Promise said in a sing song tone.

"There's something with those Dementors," Cedric said. "I could feel them too. They take things away from me."

"Memories?" Promise asked.

"Yeah," Cedric said, staring into the water and nodding. "I try to hold onto the faces of people I love. First I lose Sam, then my parents, and then you. And when I lose that I start to lose focus."

Promise nodded. "I only have you to hold onto. You got it easy."

"What about your parents?" Cedric asked.

"Well I have a lot more with you than with my parents," Promise shrugged.

"Ah," Cedric said.

They kept kicking the water idly for a few minutes until Promise spoke. "I'm never having kids."

Cedric looked at her, wondering where this sudden proclamation came from. "What? Why?"

"Cuz I'll turn into them," Promise threw her thumb over her shoulder, pointing at the adults in the ballroom. "All they do is talk."

"Yeah, but kids have to be so rewarding," Cedric said. "Imagine the thought of something you created, a living breathing child who came from you. Doesn't that sound fulfilling?"

Promise shrugged. "It seems like too much of a drain on my life. I'd collapse into what my parents are: people who snog and can never get enough of each other."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Cedric asked.

Promise looked at him sadly. "I don't want to have to depend on someone to make me happy. That doesn't sound like a good thing. What happens when I'm apart from my someone? How does that work?"

"So you don't want to get married?" Cedric asked.

"No," Promise said. "I'll get married. It just doesn't seem like a good idea to bring a child into this word. That doesn't feel like a good thing. I'd probably do a terrible job. I don't know the first thing about it."

"You'd be a great mother," Cedric said.

Promise scoffed at him. "How would you know?"

"Because I know you," Cedric said. "And you'd do great."

"I'm being entirely serious when I say no I wouldn't," Promise said.

"You don't understand," Cedric shook his head.

"Understand what?" Promise asked.

"The best parents are the ones who think they'd be horrible. Did you ever notice the people who you'd think would be the worst suited to be parents have the most?" Cedric asked.

"That's actually a different thing, Cedric," Promise said. "It's called stupidity. Are you calling me stupid?"

"No," Cedric said coolly. "I'm saying it's worth it for you to consider being a parent."

Promise looked away. "I'm just afraid I might become them."

"You won't," Cedric said, placing a hand on her shoulder."

"Children always become the parents" Promise said softly, looking down at the water. "It's the cycle. People don't intend it, but they learn from their parents and then become them through example." She kicked the water absentmindedly as they sat in a comfortable silence for a few more minutes, subject closed. "I wonder how they made Dementors."

"Hmmmm?" Cedric asked, looking at her.

"Well, I mean, the Dementors had to be created from something," Promise explained. "So how did they come about? I mean, for all the good in the world, there must be evil, or a polar opposite if you will. Regardless of whether you see something as good or evil, there has to be a counterpoint to it. I mean, the opposite of Harry Potter is Lord Voldemort…" Cedric cringed. "So the Dementors, being things that suck the emotion and happiness out of people, have to have a balance to them."

"Like what?" Cedric asked.

"That's a fair question," Promise shrugged, keeping her eyes on the water. "But shouldn't there be something in the world that can give you emotion, or suck all the sadness out of you? Something that can make you feel warm inside?"

"It's called the sun," Cedric whispered overly-secretively.

Promise glared at him. "Ha ha. I'm trying to be serious here and you're just able to make a joke. Goodness! Can't you ever be serious?"

"Sorry," Cedric said. "But you have to admit, that was a pretty good joke."

She clenched her teeth and narrowed her eyes. "True-ché," Promise said. "But seriously, is there something in the world that can do that?"

"People?" Cedric asked.

"What did I say about being serious?" Promise said, aggravated. "Now is not the time for jokes! It is the time for meaningfulicity and seriousity."

"I am being serious," Cedric said, confused.

"People don't do that," Promise said.

"Don't they?" Cedric asked. "I think that's exactly what they do."

"But a person can't counteract a Dementor," Promise said.

"It's about quantity," Cedric said. "There are only so many Dementors in the word, but there's way more people. I'll bet you Dementors are a byproduct of humans, nature's way of balancing the goodness of humanity."

"But why would nature want to take away humanity?" Promise asked.

"It doesn't," Cedric explained. "It just finds a balance, like you said. It doesn't pick sides of good or evil because it's nature, it's not that one-sided."

"So why are Dementors so strong?" Promise asked, interested in Cedric's explanation.

"Because…" Cedric thought. "Nature wants to keep down overpopulation. And in order to keep the numbers down, the Dementors need to be more powerful then the 'goodness of humanity' because there's less of them. See? Balance."

"Uh huh," Promise said, looking back to the water and watching her feet move. She turned back to him. "So do you want to try for a serious answer this time?"

"What? That wasn't good enough for you?" Cedric responded. "That was golden!"

"We'll work on it," Promise said. "How are you passing History again?"

"I actually study," Cedric nodded.

"Oh right," Promise said, nodding. "You're one of those students. See, you have to realize that no one knows History of Magic that well."

"Except for Professor Binns," Cedric corrected her.

"Yeah, and look where that got him," she smiled smugly. "But History of Magic is just an opportunity to see how much you can just make up."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Cedric said.

"Doesn't it?" she asked. "Do you really know that much history?"

"Yeah, I like to think I do," Cedric nodded.

"Oh, right," Promise nodded pityingly. "Pretty Boy status and all that. You can memorize it if you spend enough time just wasting your time memorizing the text. Regardless, I think on the O.W.L. you should just cut lose and talk about whatever you remember. Who cares about Giant Wars? Yeah, they sound cool, but what is there to talk about? I mean, that's about, what? Ten years at most? That's insignificant. I'd start talking about whatever, anything and everything I could just to show I do know things. That's what they really want to know: that I know things more than just one specific piece of information that I happen to memorize," she paused for a second. "Wanna see my arsenal?"

"Arsenal?" Cedric asked. "Of what? Wands?"

"Better," Promise smirked. She hit him on the shoulder with her shoe. "Come on."

"Come on where?" Cedric asked.

"Just follow me!" Promise said, picking up her shoes and, feet clapping and leaving watery footprints on the stone as she ran, jogged to the doors leading into the ballroom.

Cedric followed her, not having time to do much more than pick up his shoes, much less dry his feet. She led him up the marble stair to their immediate right, taking them two at a time, and led him to the fourth door on the right and pulled out her wand.

"Hang on a second," she said, pointing her wand at the doorknob and walking as far as she could to the banister that overlooked the rest of the ballroom.

"What're you-"

"Shhh!" she hushed him, watching the couples on the floor. She watched them for a few seconds until her mother, slightly tipsy called out to anyone else.

"Anyone want more… drink?"

They all muttered in agreement and she pulled out her wand. The second she waved it, Cedric heard something clicked, and looked back just in time to see Promise's wand flicking to make her room unlock.

"Come on in," she said as Cedric heard protestations from the man running the food table beneath them.

Promise shut the door behind them and Cedric stepped into Promise's bedroom.

It was large, but stoic. She had a four poster bed in one corner and a bookshelf on one wall. The floor was spread with various clothes and books and scrolls of parchments she was working on. Her bed was devoid of anything except for the book Cedric had given her for Christmas, Pretty Quirky Random Spells, which was the seventh in a series by Miranda Goshawk, who had gone on after she wrote "The Standard Book of Spells" series to write a series of nonstandard spells in nine volumes (each one named after a sequence of three or four consecutive letters of the alphabet) that taught all of the spells teachers never bothered to teach in school because they were considered by many to be superfluous and unnecessary, and a copy of The Pretty Boy's Guide to Living Through Classy Social Gatherings. Cedric stared at it for a second.

"Promise," he asked. "How did you get that?"

"Oh," Promise said hastily, moving hastily, but as subtly as she could to her bed where she put the book behind her back and faced Cedric. "Catalog?" She asked, unsure herself. "I heard of it and knew I had t get one. Did you get it? They're very fun to read."

"Yeah," Cedric said suspiciously. "I got that exact book for Christmas, and I can't find any of them anywhere. I even asked my mum, and she has no idea what they are."

"Maybe they're from someone who Flourish and Blott's haven't heard of?" Promise suggested.

"What catalog did you order it from?" Cedric asked.

Promise pouted, incredibly put out. "Self Publishers Wizardly."

"But why would you…" His voice trailed off. "You sent me those books?"

"Who else would send them to you, Cedric?" Promise asked.

Cedric narrowed his eyes. It was rather suspicious that Promise hadn't given him a Christmas present in the five years he had known her.

"Sometimes you disappoint me," Promise smiled, throwing her shoes carelessly into the closet to her right. "Come on, you have to see my inner sanctum."

"This isn't your inner sanctum?" Cedric asked.

"No, this is the outer inner sanctum," Promise explained. "But beyond this door," she pointed to the door to her left. "Is the inner inner sanctum."

"What do you do in your inner inner sanctum?" Cedric asked.

"Read books," Promise said simply, walking past the large, five tier bookshelf, which was completely saturated with books.

"Don't you have books here?" Cedric asked.

"That's my summer reading," Promise smiled, pushing open the door on her left and revealing a room as large as Promise's bedroom with bookshelves covering every wall and two long, ceiling height bookshelves down the middle of the room. Books, books, books. Everywhere books.

"You like it?" Promise asked, smiling at a jaw-dropped Cedric.

"It's amazing," Cedric said, unable to absorb all the books Promise had in her library.

"Isn't it?" Promise said casually. "I'm almost done with it."

"What?" Cedric asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah," Promise said, pointing to a wall. "I just have this wall to read, and I think that should take me this summer and the next."

"Where do you have the time?" Cedric asked.

"In this mansion, reading is my only option," Promise shrugged. "Parents are always working. You know my father has three jobs at the Ministry and my mum has four? What else am I going to do with my time."

He looked at her suspiciously. "You're not lying to me, are you?"

Promise smiled. It was one of those genuine smiles only friends of the degree of Cedric and Promise could give, one full of love and joy. "I'll never lie to you. Don't you know that yet? I don't want you to leave."

"Well why didn't you just say so?" Cedric asked, smiling and pulling Promise into a hug.

"Cause then you'll know your friend, deep down, is schmaltzy and girly and not really the tough girl she pretends to be."

"But I already knew that," Cedric said.

Promise pulled away, so they were still hugging, but she could look at his face. "Really? Damn. And I thought I had just told you something new."

Cedric laughed, and didn't stop. He couldn't for some reason, and neither, from the looks of it, could Promise. They stood in Promise's library, holding each other and laughing for a long time.

"Oh, Promise," Cedric said, wiping a laughter tear away from his eye. "I love you."

"Don't lie to me, Ced," Promise said seriously, but still having a face that told Cedric she still wanted to laugh. "But I love you too."

---

Cedric stood in the entrance hall, waiting patiently. He looked over at his parents and smiled. "Thanks for this," he said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, Ced," his father smiled. "I'm sure we'll have fun with Promise and Olivia."

"Well, now it feels like I'm leaving you," Cedric said, unsure exactly what to say about leaving with Sam.

Cedric's mother giggled slightly. "You can't leave us, Cedric."

"She's right, son," Cedric's father said, smiling at his son's nobility. "We want you to be happy, and we'll help you gain happiness in any way you can."

"Well, you make me happy," Cedric said, trying desperately to tell his parents he cared, that he wasn't just walking off with Sam blindly.

"We know, Cedric," his father said. "But even we can't give you that happiness someone you love can give you."

Cedric's father nodded. "If you love us and want to spend more time with us than the girl you love, then you're not doing it right."

"We'll be fine," Cedric's father said. "And we'll see you out there, so you don't have to worry about us."

"Thanks," Cedric said, completely speechless. He had no idea what to say in response to his parents' compassion. "I don't know what to say."

"Then say nothing, and save it for the girl who makes you happy," Cedric's father said. "That's what I did for your mother."

Cedric tried to say nothing as his mother looked embarrassedly at her husband. "I'll try to remember that, dad, thanks." He responded.

"Of course, son," Cedric's father said. "Good luck with the Third Task. We'll see you out there."

"And we'll be rooting for you all the way," Cedric's mother smiled. "You'll do great."

They pulled him into a hug simultaneously, making sure they held him tight for a long time. Cedric couldn't help but smile as his parents made sure to hold him tight for a long time. After a decent amount of time, they released the hug simultaneously, Cedric feeling warm and at ease inside. As he looked toward the entrance to the Hufflepuff corridor, he saw Sam, Promise, and Olivia all standing there, waiting for him. Sam looked hesitantly excited and anxious, Olivia looked content and happy, but Promise looked… conflicted yet cheery.

"Now you two don't stay out too late," Promise said, overly motherly.

Cedric's mother frowned at her. "Isn't that my job?"

"Promise has a mother complex," Olivia explained casually.

Promise shot a glare at her. "Don't say that."

"Why not?" Olivia asked, confused.

"Let's not talk about that," Cedric's father said lightly, obviously wanting to avoid the topic.

Cedric hadn't quite taken his eyes off of Sam. They were making eye contact, smiling.

"So…" Cedric said.

"Right!" Promise said. "I actually forgot! Can you believe that? I forgot this time was all about them. My goodness I'm out of it."

"Take care," Cedric's father said as Cedric held out his arm, which Sam took, and walked out the oak front doors.

The sun was still high in the sky, having just begun its descent into the horizon, but there would still be several hours until the world turned to twilight and the Third Task would begin. They stood on the marble stairs for a few minutes, Cedric wondering what they would do. He looked over at her at the same time she looked at him and smiled.

"Hi," he said, unsure exactly where to begin, but figuring the beginning was as good a place as any.

"Hey," Sam said, giving him one of those embarrassed smiles.

"How are you?" Cedric asked.

'Good,' Sam nodded. "And you?"

"Anxious," Cedric responded, finding a rich enough adjective to convey how he felt.

"I don't blame you," Sam said, nodding slightly in understanding. "I missed you," she said.

Cedric shook his head. "I missed you more."

Sam narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "Impossible."

Cedric turned to face her, and she to him. They stared at each other playfully serious and took alternating steps towards each other. First, Cedric took a step, then Sam, then Cedric, then Sam again… Before long they were directly in front of each other, unable to move any more lest they touch.

Sam shot a fleeting look at Cedric's lips and then up into his eyes.

"I did," Cedric said, trying his best to contain his anticipation and excitement under a veil of casual.

Sam narrowed her eyes. "Prove it."

Cedric took his hands and placed them on her hips gingerly, wrapping them around the small of her back as he pulled her in, leaning in slowly, eyes flicking every so often to Sam's lips and then forward, holding his lips just an instant away from her, eyes still open

She smiled and looked to one side and then back to him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I still don't believe you," she said, not making eye contact, acting unimpressed.

Smiling slightly, and taking her swipe at him calmly, he leaned in, taking his time to make contact with her lips, pausing just a hair away from her lips, holding himself so close to her for a few seconds until she tilted her head and made contact with his lips.

It was… strange. His mind had been building the idea that maybe his kisses with Sam hadn't been everything he had thought they would be. Perhaps the kiss was just a fantasy he had built up as he had laid in bed an hour and a half after their first kiss, unable to sleep as he played the evening from the kiss forward through his head. Perhaps in the shock of the fact he had actually kissed Samantha Bennett he had thought of the kiss as too amazing, too fantastic, too much color, too much explosion, too… perfect.

He was right. Her kisses were better than that. They were such a fantastic epitome of existence, the taste of… perfection and beauty and… cherries, beautiful tasty cherries he would never, could never possibly get sick of.

After what was far too short of a time, he pulled away, sensation leaving as the lips on his tried their best to stay to his, feeling pleasantly sticky, wanting to stay stuck.

Eyes still closed, he traced his tongue along the rim of his upper teeth. With a snap of opening his eyes, he spoke. "Yep, I definitely missed you more."

With an air of smugness, he began to walk down the stairs leading to the grounds. At the third step, back still towards Sam as he left her at the top of the staircase, he closed his eyes and exhaled, shaking his head slightly as he reflected on he sheer fantasticality of ther kiss. Maybe she had missed him more. The way she had pulled in at the last second when he wouldn't. She had given in before he had.

But to miss as much as he did was… unbearable. His parents had helped it, and before that, Promise had helped by making him imagine, in a torturous sort of way… But now that he was here, with her, able to touch her and kiss her for the first time in more than twelve hours. How had he existed? How had he lived.

Ah, but that's the point, said a little voice in his head. Do you really think you lived before?

"Now wait just a second!" Sam said, heading down the stairs, chasing after him. "There's no way you missed me more. Not after that!"

Nope, he realized. He hadn't lived before.

"I beg to differ," he contested, turning around to face her. "I mean, yeah. You did miss me. I felt that, but more than me…" his voice trailed off. "That's really hard to do."

"Not when I miss you this much," Sam said, looping her arms around his neck again.

Cedric, acting begrudging, but wanting it more than anything, placed his hands around her hips and pulled her in close. "I dunno. You have yet to convince me."

Sam looked to one side, shrugged with a tilt of her head, and looked up to Cedric, tilting her head and closing her eyes. Cedric leaned in for the kiss and repeated what he had before, pulled in so he was just about to kiss her, lips not yet touching but close… so close! He held himself there, waiting for her to kiss back, but she didn't. She stayed where she was, unbudging. In a moment of weakness and longing, he pulled in and kissed her, world exploding again, feeling her hands move upwards from his neck, one twiddling with the hair on the nape of his neck and the other moving to his cheek, where it caressed his cheek gingerly. It created a full sensation Cedric couldn't get enough of. He kissed her again and again, arms moving up and down her back, gently stroking her to help give her the same sensations she was giving him, but it felt like she was really outshining him. Perhaps…

After a minute or so (Cedric wasn't sure, he lost track of time) they pulled away.

"Wowwwwwww," Cedric exhaled.

"We missed each other equally," Sam compromised, smirking slightly.

"Deal," Cedric said, still in awe.

"So now that we've gotten that out of the way," Sam said. "How have you been?"

"Pretty good," Cedric said. "Today's been… one of the five best days ever."

"Really?" Sam asked, slightly excited. "What are the other four?"

Cedric thought for a minute. "I'll tell you sometime."

Sam frowned. "Alright, I guess. So what do you want to do?"

Cedric sighed. "No idea."

And faced with no other options, they began to walk around the lake, holding hands, talking about… whatever… kissing every so often, and eventually stopping under a beech tree, where Cedric sat down, Sam joining him, sitting in his lap. Cedric wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the head.

"So are you nervous?" Sam asked after a few minutes of watching the water on the lake move.

"A little," Cedric said. "But I'll be fine."

"You're going to win," Sam said surely. "I just know you will."

"Thanks," Cedric said. "But we'll see."

"Stop being modest," Sam said teasingly. "You know you're going to do great."

Cedric looked down at her hair, her beautiful, silky hair. "I love you."

"I love you too," Sam said, looking up at him.

They locked eyes for a minute and then their lips met, kissing.

And they sat under the tree for a long time, absorbing each other's company, still talking about whatever came to mind, kissing every so often, cuddling.

"Strange question," Sam said, thinking aloud. "And you can send this one right back at me, but…" she turned to look up at him. "What do you want to do? After Hogwarts I mean?"

"Besides waiting for you to get out?" Cedric said, making it sound like a joke but being incredibly serious and making her blush. "Well that's a weird question, isn't it? I know Promise's always been considering Auror duty, which she'd be great at because it's all about knowing spells and being sneaky and crafty because she's good at those things. But me? Hmmm," he paused to reflect. "I've never been asked that question. I guess if I had to say one thing, and one thing only? I'd probably like to be Minister of Magic."

"Really?" Sam asked, excitedly.

"Well, sure, I guess," Cedric said. "But I can't see myself as doing anything else."

"You'd be a great Minister of Magic," Sam said honestly.

"You think so?" Cedric asked.

"I know so," Sam nodded. "And you'd bring a good name back to politics."

"I don't think there was ever a good name in politics to begin with," Cedric laughed. "But thank you. I appreciate that. What about you?"

"Well," Sam thought aloud. "In the career advice with Professor Sprout, she recommended that I go work in the Ministry. She said something along the lines of working in the Improper Use of Magic Office or something, or if not that, in the Minister's office."

"So you can work with me?" Cedric teased.

"I know, it'd be awful, wouldn't it?" She asked, doing her best impersonation of Promise, which wasn't half bad if Cedric thought so himself.

And far too soon, they had to head back to the Great Hall for the evening banquet. The sun had begun to fall in the sky but by the time they entered the castle they still had another hour or so until the sun had completely sunk into the horizon and the Third Task would begin.

"Did you have a good afternoon?" Promise asked as Cedric took the seat next to her.

"Yes, thank you," Cedric said.

"You're welcome," Cedric's father said, smiling, eyes twinkling, sitting in the seat opposite Cedric. "I'm glad we were able to give you that."

"And did you enjoy spending time with my parents?"

"Oh yes!" Olivia said, silencing Promise with a look from the other side of the table.

"What I was going to say, Olivia," Promise said very pointedly. "Is that we had a very much most enjoyable time with your very much most exciting parents."

"Thank you, Promise," Cedric's mother said. "That's very kind of you."

"And thank you Promise for giving us alone time," Cedric said.

"You're welcome," Promise said, grinning at him. "I figured you'd like that. Besides, I have to get some away time from you sometime."

Cedric glared at her as the food appeared. Everyone began eating and chattering jovially, but Cedric didn't feel in the mood, even as people kept walking up to him and wishing him luck about the upcoming task.. The feeling of illness had crept over him as the Third Task approached, and he felt like he wouldn't be to keep any of the food he ate down any more. The saliva in his mouth had a strange almost metallic taste that almost dared him to eat something, threatening to send it back up if he did eat something. His breathing felt shallow, labored, but when he inhaled deeper breaths, the feeling just intensified.

There was no explanation for the sudden onset of illness, no logical explanation anyway. Yet, something told Cedric it was tied to the Third Task. He looked over to Harry Potter across the hall, who didn't seem to be eating either.

Something clattered on the plate next to him.

Promise had dropped her fork to her plate and had the same facial expression Cedric guessed he had.

"You okay?" Cedric asked.

"Can't eat," Promise said. "Don't feel well."

"I know what you mean," Cedric said, giving her a weak smile.

Sam placed her hand on his back and began to rub gingerly, trying to coax strength back into him. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Cedric said. "Just feel a little queasy, that's all."

"Well, feel better, 'kay?" Sam asked, genuinely, still rubbing Cedric's back.

"I'll try," Cedric smiled at her.

"You'll be fine, Cedric," his father said.

"You'll do great," his mother said. "We just know it."

"All of us," Olivia said, smiling warmly.

"And then some," Sam said.

"And me," Promise said, pushing the bridge of her nose together with her two index fingers. "Don't forget about me. Just because I'm all sick doesn't mean I don't care."

"Of course, Promise," Cedric said, looking up to the red and orange sky.

Cedric looked around at the rest of the school, who all were talking loudly and eating, each one anticipating the Third Task.

"You better make it exciting," Promise grumbled bitterly. "Me being sick because I'm sitting next to you…"

"Sorry," Cedric said, shrugging. "You think I want to be sick?"

Promise looked at him. "Maybe. Maybe you're just going for the attention."

"Right," Olivia said, smiling as she speared her last piece of steak and kidney pie and put it in her mouth.

"Don't underestimate him," Promise said, glaring at Olivia. "He's… Cedric."

The main courses vanished and desserts took their place, Crème Brule appearing right in front of Promise.

"Darn you, Sweenty!" Promise cursed, looking down at the table. "Can't you tell I'm not feeling well at all?"

"Mind if I have some, Promise?" Sam asked, indicating the custard dessert.

Promise scowled at her and pushed it to Sam, placing her chin on her folded arms on the table and pouting slightly.

Sam scooped some of the dessert onto her plate, still rubbing Promise's back.

"Both of you need to feel better," Cedric's dad said, taking a bite out of a chocolate éclair. "Promise, maybe you should go to the Hospital Wing."

"Nah," Promise said. "I'll be fine. Just gotta get the adrenaline pumping, you know? You walk in that maze, and I'm sure it'll just waft away. Besides," she shot a smug look at Cedric. "I wanna be there when he wins."

"Thanks, Promise," Cedric said, smiling weakly.

After a few minutes, Professor Sprout approached him.

"Come with me, Mr. Diggory," she said. "The Champions will be heading to the Quidditch pitch now."

Cedric nodded and looked back at those sitting around him: to his parents, who beamed at him, then to Olivia, who gave him a thumbs up, then to Sam, who stood up and kissed him for good luck.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear.

"And I'll always love you too," she responded back.

And finally he turned to Promise, who eyed him speculatively.

"Wish my name'd came outta that goblet," she muttered.

Not knowing what else to do, Cedric pulled her into a tight squeeze, not letting go until she had satisfactorily squeezed him back.

"I'll see you get out of there, holding the trophy," she said, looking into his eyes as they broke away. "You'll be fine, and when you come out of there, you'll be new Triwizard Champion and everything will be perfect."

Cedric eyed her but didn't say what was directly on his mind. "Love you too, Promise." He turned to the rest of the group. "See you on the other side."

And without another word to any of them, Cedric followed Professor Sprout out of the Great Hall.

---

Cedric pulled away from Sam's lips very slowly, not wanting their wind blowing, sunlight streaming, floating on a cushion of air of a kiss to end. Even his lips didn't want to part, sections of lip still holding fast even as he pulled away very slowly.

"And if that wasn't…" Cedric said, voice trailing off.

"Yeah," Sam whispered, looking down and away as though, confused and dazed, in such shock and awe at what had happened she couldn't formulate a single thought.

Simultaneously, they looked at each other again and pulled in, kissing over and over and over, unable to get enough of the sensation, the sheer… marvel of each other's taste. His hands went from her hips to her back, rubbing it hard, unable to get the sensation out as she held his face in her hands, each one quickly turning into a puddle of goo in each other's hands.

With a shock, they pulled away, realizing in their momentary togetherness not to move too fast, to ruin such a beautiful, fantastic feeling. Later. They could release their mutual longing for each other later. They would have time. They would always have time.

"How long have you…?" Sam began.

"When did you walk through the doors to the Great Hall?" Cedric asked, slightly teasing.

"That long?" Sam asked, looking slightly impressed. "I had to wait for you to stand up after the Sorting Hat came off my head that I saw you."

"So the distance wasn't…"

"No," Sam said coolly, yet casually. "And you've always been…"

"You have no idea," Cedric shook his head, smiling as he had never smiled before.

"This should have happened a long time ago," Sam said, smiling and shaking her head.

"Why didn't I listen to Promise?" Cedric said, laughing at himself. "Or Olivia for that matter?"

Sam shot a glance at him. "They were on about you too?"

"Of course!" Cedric said. "Every free minute! I still have the letter that Promise sent from when we went shopping over the summer…"

"I remember that," Sam smiled fondly.

Cedric nodded. "And she sent me this huge post script about how I should date you."

"Olivia's been on my case all year," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "And every time it was a different excuse: O.W.L.'s, homework, O.W.L.'s, you might not like me back, O.W.L.'s, Cho Chang…"

"Hey, about that…" Cedric said.

Sam waved him off. "Forget about it. It's in the past."

"No, you have to listen to me," Cedric said. "Because this could've happened a long time ago if… well… you know."

"Not one of my prouder moments," Sam blushed.

Cedric waved her off this time. "But it's not important. You see, I was going to ask you. Remember that bet Promise made with me? If I lost (and I did) I had to ask you to the Yule Ball, but then Cho Chang walked up."

"Oh dear," Sam said sadly.

"And I was going to ask you right then and there… but Cho Chang walked up and then I couldn't 'cause I couldn't say no and…"

"It's in the past," Sam said. "It's not important."

"But it is!" Cedric half-exclaimed. "Because we could've had this so much sooner!"

"We're having this when we're supposed to have it," Sam said, wrapping her arms around his neck again. "Things happen in their time. Who knows? Maybe you would've started hating me in a matter of days."

Cedric shook his head. "You're far too interesting a person to walk away from."

Sam blushed and looked away.

"What is it?" Cedric asked.

"It's nothing," she said. "It's just…" she turned around to face him, smiling truthfully, the most genuine smile Cedric had ever seen. "I can't believe I'm so lucky."

"I'm the lucky one," Cedric said. "Believe me."

"Then we're both lucky, I guess," she said as they pulled in for another kiss.

---

With the sound of a whistle, Cedric sprinted with Harry Potter into the maze, feeling of illness gone in the sudden magical barrier of absence of sound. Following Harry's lead, he flicked a light onto his wand with the word "Lumos" and continued down the illuminated-by-wandlight path until they reached a fork in the maze. They looked at each other.

"See you," Harry said, taking the left.

Cedric walked to the right, tuning towards where he guessed the center of the maze was at the next turn just as the whistle, the only audible sound through the thick hedges of maze, sounded, signaling Krum's entrance to the maze. He shook his head from Krum's entrance and focused on the possibility of him getting lost. If only he had a compass or a map or something…

Before too long, he came upon a field of doxies. Upon seeing him, they attacked him, but he just waved his wand, saying "Immobulous", which cast a freezing charm on all the doxies, sending the frozen creatures to the ground as the third and final whistle signaled Fleur's entrance into the maze. He ignored the whistle and pressed on, still maneuvering his way as best her could through the labyrinth. Turning left then right, trying to judge the best straight line towards the cup.

Then he rounded a corner and came face to face with one of the most vile and vicious looking creatures that he had ever seen.

It was like a large, white, scorpion, with shiny thick skin that covered its body like armor. This must've been what Olivia had complained at one point was a "Blast Ended Skrewt." Cedric gulped as the massive creature approached him.

"Stupefy!" he shouted, but the tiny red jet of light deflected harmlessly off its shell. It caught him off guard. He'd never expected this creature to be able to deflect a stunning spell. Where the heck had Hagrid-

He dived to one side, just in time for the nasty looking sucker to land in the dirt next to him.

"Impedimenta!" He shouted hopelessly. Like the stunning spell, this one did nothing except bounce off harmlessly. What was Hagrid doing with such dangerous-

BANG!

The Skrewt's end exploded and it propelled itself forward at an alarming rate. Cedric stumbled backwards and fell onto his back, coming into contact with the hard Quidditch pitch, trickle of blood entering his mouth. Opening his eyes in the heat of the moment, he looked up just in time to see the Skrewt's obnoxiously flexible tail flip under itself and levitate slightly, ready to attack Cedric. He rolled out of the way just in time as the stinger landed in the ground. It pulled out with little problem, but Cedric had managed to roll outside the legs and away from the stinger. The Skrewt moved back, still and again blocking off the rest of the maze to him.

He'd lose too much time if he went back. He had to figure out a way-

The Skrewt flung its tail forward again, sending the sucker into the ground.

"Accio!" Cedric cried in the heat of the moment.

He hadn't quite known exactly what effect using a summoning charm on an object that wouldn't come might do. It was just an idea he and Promise had thought of two years before in Charms. There was no guarantee it would work.

But sure enough, the Skrewt's tail did not move. Instead, Cedric's wand used it to pull forward, and, Cedric being much lighter than the Skrewt or its tail, propelled upward, missing the sucker by inches as it passed. Landing on the tail, he gained his footing for a split second, no longer than he had to, and leapt off, landing on the ground on the other side of the Skrewt, hand helping to catch himself before he fell. Not wanting to deal with the Skrewt any more, Cedric sprinted away, hitting one of the hedges as he sprinted away, making more noise than he wanted to, and came bursting out onto the path just ahead of him. There was a light coming from his left as Harry Potter turned around to face him. Harry looked at him curiously, not quite knowing what was going on.

"Hagrid's Blast Ended Skrewts!" Cedric gasped, throwing his thumb over his shoulder. "They're enormous- I only just got away!"

And he continued on the path he was on, having only come to a crossroads with Harry because his chosen path could continue through the maze.

He continued on, coming upon more and more obstacles and creatures that impeded his path. At one point, he came upon a bird he recognized as a Fwooper and he was about to put a silencing charm on it when it began to sing and call, making beautiful harmonious music in Cedric's ears. After a minute or so, he sat down, entranced by the beautiful call it had made and examining its brilliant plumage. How could he possibly have ever existed before hearing such a bird's call? What could have-

Someone led out a horrible, piercing scream that shattered the song of the Fwooper for a second.

"Silencio," Cedric said lazily, wanting to go back to listening to the Fwooper's song.

Completely by accident, Cedric's spell hit the Fwooper in the mouth just as the scream silenced itself.

Suddenly looking around and self-aware, Cedric watched as the Fwooper desperately struggled to make its voice sound again.

"Stupefy," Cedric said, waving his wand and knocking the Fwooper to the ground, unconscious. He should've remembered: Fwooper's may sound pretty, but they drive their prey insane if they can sing for too long.

He continued on for several minutes, backtracking several times and looking for another path to take him through the maze. He encountered four dead ends, and on the fifth he came face to face with a vicious looking elf with sharp teeth. It smiled broadly and used one of its sharp fingernails to pick at its dangerous mandibles. With a quick sprint towards him, it leapt, claws spread wide, teeth wide, ready to bite Cedric's face.

"Impedimenta!" Cedric shouted, freezing the elf in midair, making it look shocked and confused as to what happened to it. Cedric skirted around it until very slowly it continued in its trajectory and landed in the large hedge Cedric had been standing in front of, knocking it unconscious.

Cedric backtracked again, hopelessly lost in the maze.

After a few minutes, Cedric heard twigs snapping behind him. Cautiously, he shot a look over his shoulder, and held up his wand, illuminating the dark behind him. But there was nothing. There had to be something, though. There had to be. He had heard something. Maybe it was a creature that was following him, like he was sure that elf was.

He continued sprinting through the maze, taking the first right and then an immediate left, hoping to lose whatever it was that was trailing him. After a few minutes he stopped, trying to get his bearings.

There was nothing. No sounds, but no noticeable landmarks either. There was no way for him to know exactly where he-

SNAP!

Cedric whirled around only to see Viktor Krum standing behind him, illuminated in Cedric's wandlight. He was pointing his wand directly at Cedric's heart.

"What do you think you're doing?" Cedric asked, backing away, not knowing what Krum was getting at. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?"

Krum smiled a cruel, awful smile. "Crucio!"

In all his life, Cedric couldn't have ever imagined such pain. Before he could even realize it, he was on a plate of hot coals, surrealistically hot knives, pokers, and pitchforks digging into his skin, poking, prodding, cutting as he writhed in pain, feeling the burning sensations all over his body. He twitched uncontrollably, screaming because of the pain. His hands moved to his face, clawing at the cuts and lashes out at him. Stop! Let them stop! He screamed even louder.

But he couldn't hear himself. Nay, he could only hear the screams of people around him. Promise… Sam… Olivia… His parents… They were all screaming, reflecting his pain. He had to stop it. He had to stop them from-

"Stupefy!" someone shouted.

The pain went away, but Cedric couldn't stand up. The suffering and the screams vanished all at once, but he couldn't take his hands away. Someone had killed him. He was dead, that was the only explanation.

Someone thumped to the ground next to him.

Cedric let out his breath in pants, gasping for air. What the hell had just happened?

"Are you all right?" Harry asked, grabbing Cedric's arm.

Cedric's legs almost collapsed under him. They felt so weak, shaky. "Yeah," he panted, looking over at Krum and remembering the curse Krum had cast on him. "Yeah… I don't believe it… he crept up behind me… I heard him, I turned around, and he had his wand on me…"

Slowly, and with Harry's help, he stood up, legs shaking and weakened from the Cruciatus curse. Shaking, he looked down at Krum. Never before had he felt such a strong, venomous feeling for one person.

"I can't believe this…" Harry said. "I thought he was all right."

"So did I," Cedric said, looking down at him, but realizing a feeling of pity had crept into his mind.

"Did you hear Fleur scream earlier?" Harry asked.

The pitying feeling left Cedric. How could he do such a thing to Fleur? "Yeah. You don't think Krum got her too?"

"I don't know," Harry said slowly.

"Should we leave him here?" Cedric muttered, not quite wanting to allow Krum to wake up again before the end of the task.

"No," Harry said. "I reckon we should send up red sparks. Someone'll come and collect him… otherwise he'll probably be eaten by a Skrewt."

"He'd deserve it," Cedric said, but still feeling pity in his gut. He raised his wand and shot red sparks into the sky, where they floated over Krum's body. Hand still twitching from the torture, they stood in the darkness for a moment.

But something wasn't sitting right with Cedric. Krum suddenly using not one, but potentially two unforgiveable curses in a matter of minutes? They wouldn't make him Triwizard Champion if he did that… Would they? The rationale made no sense.

All Cedric knew is he wanted to get as far away from Krum as he could. "Well… I s'pose we'd better go on…"

"What?" Harry asked. "Oh… yeah… right."

And unspeaking, they headed down the path, Cedric heading to the right as Harry turned to the right.

Thank goodness Harry had been there. He would've been a goner if he hadn't.

After a few feet and Cedric getting this feeling he was heading in the wrong direction, he came upon the most peculiar thing he had yet seen in the maze.

There, fluttering in front of him, fast, nigh unseeable, was a small fluttering golden bird, something Cedric recognized from the Quidditch theory books as a golden snidget.

He peered at it curiously. The snidget was an endangered species, so it was strange to see such a rare bird flittering in front of him. Surely they hadn't captured one for purely the Third Task. Slowly, trying to seem inviting, Cedric reached forward, trying to grab the bird out of the sky. But it fluttered out of his grasp, just out of his clutch. He took a few steps forward, when the maze began to close around him. The sky blackened and the vines behind him stretched and sealed off the path behind him. Cedric looked behind him and placed a frustrated hand on the wall, feeling the prickles of hedge on his palm. He withdrew it and faced the golden snidget.

But it wasn't the bird anymore. It had transformed into the golden snitch itself. It whizzed in two circles and then zipped back down the maze's path, glinting in Cedric's wandlight.

Cedric quickly looked to his left and saw four broomsticks lying on the hedge. He grabbed one, threw it in front of him so it hovered in midair, hopped gingerly onto it so it dipped a tiny bit, and then shot off in pursuit of the snitch. Within a matter of seconds, he had caught up to it, but it pulled a hard right down another path and Cedric, surprised at the sudden change in direction, took an extra few fee to stop, broom tilting forward as he stopped. As fast as he could, he made a turn within the maze's path and shot back out, making a left to follow the snitch's path.

The hedges were still covering the maze, preventing the snitch and Cedric from leaving out of the top of the maze. Not that they needed to. Quidditch officials bewitched snitches to not leave the pitch's bounds. Cedric guessed it was just to keep people from using the broom to peer over the top to see where they were in the maze.

He bent low over his broom until he caught up with the snitch again, but it turned left. Ready for the sudden turn again this time, Cedric rolled on his broom as he turned to the left, transferring his momentum to his roll so he wouldn't have to make it up again.

The chase continued for several more minutes, Cedric rolling left and right, following the snitch by wandlight.

And it felt good.

Cedric hadn't flown in months. Why hadn't he? He needed to-

He rolled to the right, following the snitch around a hairpin turn.

He need to be back on his broom a long time ago. Long before this. Sometime during the winter, maybe Christmas. They should've had a snowball fight on brooms. That would've been intense.

About to grab the snitch, they reached a dead end, snitch stopping on a knut and turning around, shooting back out the way it came, retracing its steps.

Frustrated, Cedric came to a complete stop and then rocketed after it, chasing it just as closely, if not closer, wind whipping his face.

Unable to help himself, he began to weave within the confines of the walls of the maze, moving back and forth expertly, as though maneuvering around various poles or objects in his path.

The snitch hit another wall and turned around, flying past Cedric, under his broom.

Cedric flattened himself on his broomstick and flew to the ground, toes skimming the blades of grass as he zipped past. With an instant left until the wall, Cedric pulled up, following the wall up to the slightly curved overarching, interlaced hedge ceiling so he was flying upside down on the barrier. He pulled away and rolled over so he was now flying right side up, gaining ground on the snitch.

After another minute or so, they reached a wall and the snitch stopped. Cedric dropped his broom to the ground, able to grab the snitch if it flew too low.

But it didn't, instead flying just above Cedric's eyesight towards him, as though engaging him in a game of chicken. With a lunge and with no regard to the wall ahead of him, Cedric grabbed the snitch out of midair.

What happened next happened slowly, far too slowly. The broom evaporated from between Cedric's legs and he flew forward, snitch outstretched, towards the wall. A million images flashed through Cedric's mind, all of which involved him comically hitting the wall of hedges.

He closed his eyes, unable to see that when the snitch in his hand made contact with the hedge wall in front of him it evaporated both the wall and itself, much like the broom had evaporated when Cedric had grasped the snitch. Cedric's hand squeezed around nothingness as he flew forward, hedge ceiling disappearing and withdrawing into normal hedge wall, and flipped and rolled multiple times, Quidditch pitch grass slowing his crash landing.

He looked up at black night sky and glinting stars, forehead covered in sweat, panting madly, not quite sure what had happened. Overcome with adrenaline and excitement, he laughed, completely in disbelief that he had just flown through a maze, chasing a nonexistent snitch.

Dusting himself off as he stood up, Cedric looked back to the wall of the maze, which had sealed itself again. He turned around to face what was in front of him. Hopefully that hadn't been a complete waste… of…

He looked at the brightly glimmering Triwizard Cup, which was on a plinth a couple hundred feet away. Disbelieving, he began to run, sprinting as fast as he could towards the goal. It was so close. He pumped his legs faster. Just another hundred feet. He could-

"Cedric!" Someone shouted. "On your left!"

Cedric looked to his left, where a gigantic spider was moving with extraordinary speed to attack him. He hurled himself forward, performing a somersault on the ground and then leaping to his feet, but the force of his run combined with the sudden hasty leap tripped him up, wand flying forward and landing some feet away. As he slid to a stop on his stomach, the Acromantula bore down on him, ready to attack.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted, coming to Cedric's rescue again.

But like the skrewts before it, the spider was completely unaffected by Harry's spell. In fact, the spider turned around and began to bear down on Harry, who was shooting spells as fast as he could at the creature.

Cedric dove forward for his wand, but by the time he had turned around, Harry was already in the spider's pincers.

"Stupefy! Stupefy!" Cedric shouted hopelessly as one of Harry's flailing legs came into contact with one of the spider's giant pincers, puncturing skin and digging into his leg.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry bellowed, making the spider drop him onto his fast collapsing leg. He rolled underneath the spider, and pointed it at the spider's underbelly.

Cedric pointed his wand at the spider, crying out "Stupefy!" just as Harry called it out too. It made the spider keel over, obscuring Harry from view, and crush one of the hedges as it landed on its back, legs curling inward in what Cedric suspected was pain. But there was no time for that.

"Harry!" Cedric shouted, sprinting forward and trying to see Harry. "You all right? Did it fall on you?"

"No," Harry called back, panting. Shakily, he stood up, leaning on a hedge for support.

His leg did not look good at all. It looked slimy and juicy from a secretion of what Cedric guessed was harmless spider venom, and Harry put no weight on it. He was completely unable to use it to it at all.

"Take it then," Harry panted. "Go on, take it. You're there."

Cedric thought for a second, wondering what Harry could have possibly been referring to. When Harry didn't give him a clue after a few seconds, Cedric turned around and half-melted.

There, in self-producing light, was the golden Triwizard Cup.

Slowly, he took a few steps forward, then faster, faster, faster, faster! he sprinted forward and grasped the handle and instantly the world turned to white making him surrounded by Promise and Sam and Olivia and his parents and all the other Hufflepuffs and Harry, who was clapping politely, arm around Cho Chang, and everyone was cheering and Professor Dumbledore was presenting him with the trophy and he was kissing Sam and hugging Promise and he could only say he'd only ever been happier when he was alone with Promise at her parents' Christmas party and last night with Sam when they had kissed and-

The vision faded and Cedric looked around to see Harry, who was leaning heavily on the hedge in obvious pain. He took a deep breath, a hard to take breath. "You take it. You should win. That's twice you saved my neck in here."

"That's not how it's supposed to work," Harry said, face contorting in pain. "The one who reaches the cup first gets the points. That's you. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on this leg."

The vision of his arms around Sam, holding the cup over his head as Promise screamed "he did it! I knew it would!" loudly over the cheering crowd shot through his-

He shook his head and took a few steps towards Harry. "No."

"Stop being noble!" Harry said, irritated. "Just take it, then we can get out of here."

Cedric looked at Harry, who was doing his best to steady himself on the hedge. He looked a far cry from the person who Cedric had almost known all year, but he was still Harry, and Cedric owed him. "You told me about the dragons. I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming."

"I had help on that to," Harry snapped, wincing in pain as he pressed his robes to the spider wound on his leg, making his other hand clench involuntarily on the hedge. "You helped me with the egg – We're square."

"I had help on the egg in the first place," Cedric said, thinking of Professor Moody.

"We're still square," Harry said, placing weight on his leg. It shook violently, unable to support his weight.

"You should've got more points on the second task," Cedric said stubbornly. "You stayed behind to get all the hostages! I should've done that."

"I was the only one thick enough to take that song seriously!" Harry snapped back. "Just take the cup!"

"No," Cedric said defiantly. It was easier to say now, now that he had denied it before. He stepped around the large spider and stood next to Harry, folding his arms. He looked into Harry's eyes, hoping he still couldn't see the longing there. "Go on."

Harry looked at the cup, and Cedric could see the longing on his face, the same longing he himself had had just seconds before.

"Both of us," Harry said.

Cedric double took at him. "What?"

'We'll take it at the same time," Harry explained. "It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it."

Cedric stared at him, unfolding his arms. "You- you sure?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "Yeah… we've helped each other out, haven't we? We both got here. Let's just take it together."

Cedric couldn't believe it. Did Harry Potter, the Harry Potter really suggest that? No way had Harry put his name in the Goblet. If he had… no way would Harry have passed up the cup, much less tied for it?. He grinned impressedly. "You're on. Come here."

He took Harry's arm and draped it over his shoulder and limped him forward to the cup and stood in front of it, free hands held out over either handle.

"On three, right?" Harry said. "One-" Cedric had never experienced such a thing. "Two-" He was about to win the Triwizard Cup with Harry Potter. "Three-" He had never been-

He grasped his handle and the world spun to color, pulling a jerk somewhere in his midriff. Portkey? The Triwizard Cup was a-

The ground slammed into him, and Cedric landed with a thump, falling to the ground while Harry landed roughly, leg collapsing under him as he hit the ground. Harry looked up.

"Where are we?"

Cedric shook his head and got up, pulling Harry to his feet. He looked around.

They were… somewhere. Cedric didn't know where, but it certainly wasn't Hogwarts or really anywhere he readily recognized. They were in a cemetery, with a church someway to their right. He looked back at the Triwizard Cup. "Did anyone tell you the cup was a Portkey?"

"Nope," Harry said, looking around. "Is this supposed to be part of the task?"

"I dunno," Cedric said. Something wasn't sitting right about the graveyard. It was unnerving, creepy. It was… wrong. "Wands out d'you reckon?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded.

Someone was watching them. Cedric could feel it. Someone was looking at them and he didn't like it. Whoever it was made Cedric shiver.

"Someone's coming," Harry said suddenly.

And sure enough, someone was. A short someone, with a baby-like bundle in their arms. Harry and Cedric exchanged quizzical looks and then back to the short someone, who was still approaching them, looking at both.

Without warning, Harry began to scream and shout, wand dropping, arms moving to his scar. What was happening? Harry collapsed to his knees, yelling in agony, eyes closed.

Cedric looked from Harry to the short person in the cloak who was holding the bundle in arm. A high, shrill, horrible voice cut through the chill night air, sending a shiver of cold down Cedric's spine.

"Kill the spare!"

Cedric swallowed and looked at the man in the cloak, who was waving a wand in his arm.

Sam, Cedric thought. Promise…

"Avada Kedavra!"

There was a rush of green light and Cedric began to fall, vision, thought, and consciousness obscuring to nothingness…

To blackness.