Chapter 2
The next day Mr Weasley woke them up early, they gathered their belongings and left the camp as quick as they possibly could.
Harry found himself disappointed that the Diggory's weren't travelling with them this time.
Back at the Burrow, Molly had worried herself sick and was beyond relieved when they all came home in one piece. She even pulled Fred and George into a tight hug that nearly killed the twins.
Then followed day after day with worry and anxiousness at the Weasley's, since Arthur worked for the ministry, he was constantly busy and working. Harry was happy when the day for their journey back to Hogwarts arrived. He ignored the slight flutter in his stomach at the thought of Cedric's promise for them to hang out sometime once they were back at school. Hang out was something friend's normally did, why on earth would he be nervous over that?
Once at the station, Harry immediately spotted Cedric in the crowd, the brunet noticed him all the same and smiled and waved in his direction. Harry's heart beat just a bit faster as the tall Hufflepuff made his way through the crowd towards him. Once he stood in front of him. He didn't seem to know what to say, but looked around briefly before leaning closer, breath warming Harry's ear, causing him to shiver slightly, and quietly whispering.
"You haven't forgotten what you said about us hanging out sometime, maybe play some Quidditch and talk a bit?" Harry smiled slightly.
"I would never forget something like that." He whispered back. Cedric smiled a content smile.
"Bye then Harry, I'll see you around." He greeted.
"Sure." Harry replied, before following Ron and Hermione in to the train.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked.
"Oh, Cedric was simply asked if I would like to seeker practice with him sometime. You know, seeker practice is a heck lot easier when you're not alone." Ron nodded in approval before the trio started their search for a compartment.
The journey to Hogwarts took much less time than usual it felt like. He was slightly worried about the fact that Sirius had not answered to his letter, but then, as Hermione said, he could be anywhere.
When they arrived to Hogwarts, the weather had changed, it was raining heavily and lightning lit up the sky every now and then. They took the carriages up to Hogwarts but had to walk the last bit up to the castle, leaving them completely soaked. Peeves amused himself with dropping waterbaloons at the students in the entrance hall until McGonnagall threatened him with fetching Dumbledore. The three of them proceeded in to the great hall where they passed the Slytherin, Rawenclaw and Hufflepuff table before getting seated at the Gryffindor's at the furthest end of the hall. Harry caught Cedric's eye at the nearby Hufflepuff table and smiled.
The sorting and dinner passed with no further problems or strange events, it was not until after dessert, when Dumbledore yet again rose to speak, that something surprising happened. Harry had presumed that it was to be the ordinary speech and was busy thinking about a certain Hufflepuff when he heard something that caught his attention.
"It is also my painful duty to inform you all that the inter-house Quidditch Cup will not take place this year." Harry turned and looked at Ron, who looked shocked just as everyone else at the table; he turned his head and found that Cedric looked at him mimicking a "What?" in his direction, Harry just shrugged.
"This is due to an event that will be starting in October and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy – but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure that in this year at Hogwarts…" Dumbledore was interrupted by a loud rumble of thunder as the doors to the great hall opened and in stepped a man. When he walked up to Dumbledore, every other step made a clunking noise, implying that the mysterious man had only one real leg. He also had an eye that twisted around and sometimes, Harry felt like the man was looking at him even though he was turned the other way. The man was soon introduced as Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody and was to be their new Defence against the dark arts teacher. The entire Great hall was tense and no one seemed to know what to do until Dumbledore decided to finish up with his speech.
"As I was saying, we are to have the honour of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event which hasn't been held in a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."
"You're JOKING!" Fred Weasley said loudly, and it immediately relieved the tension that had lingered in the room since Moody entered.
"I am not joking Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore assured him.
After getting to know that this Tri Wizard tournament had been created 700 years ago and that it was a competition between the three largest wizardring schools in Europe, Durmstrang, Beauxbatons and Hogwarts, Dumbledore told them that it had worked as a way for wizards from other countries to meet and tie bonds of friendship. That had worked fine, until the numbers of people dying in the tournament had increased. It was also made clear that only students over the age of seventeen were allowed to compete, something that annoyed the Weasley twins to the highest. The price sum was at a thousand galleons, something the twins wouldn't mind the chance of winning.
As they left the Great hall, Ron told Harry how much he would want to compete in the tournament while Harry told him that they probably didn't know enough to compete yet, there had to be a reason why they had decided to put an age limit on it, and as Hermione so nicely implied, students had gotten killed before. Harry found himself wondering if Cedric was going to compete as he crawled underneath the sheets…
Perhaps he should ask him.
The next morning Harry woke up before sunrise and decided to go up, he couldn't fall asleep again anyway. He got out of bed and headed for the showers. After clearing his mind with cool water he got dressed and headed out through the fat lady's portrait. The sun was just rising and the jagged glass windows threw rainbow colours all over the hallways. He rounded a corner and to his big surprise, he found Cedric Diggory walking in the direction he was himself coming from. Cedric smiled at him and stopped.
"Hi Harry." He said cheerfully. "You're up early"
"So are you. I thought I might head for early breakfast so that I could go out for a walk around the lake before morning classes." He said.
"That sounds nice, I was just heading for the library, I've been in the prefects bathroom… a bath in the mornings helps me relax and clear my mind." Harry could not help but notice the slight blush on the Hufflepuff's cheeks as he added the last.
"Oh… do you have any important business in the library or can you change the plans…?" Harry was worried that Cedric would say no but the other boy lit up in a broad smile.
"Nothing important at all actually, just thought I could… read Quidditch through the ages… again. I still have to get my own copy of that book." He chuckled slightly and the sound made Harry smile.
"So? Do you want to have breakfast with me? At this time there is probably no one there anyhow." Cedric nodded.
"I'd love to." And the boys left for breakfast.
It turned out that Harry had been right about the Great Hall, it was empty except for a couple of first year Rawenclaws with their heads buried in books, very much alike how Hermione always looked while concentrating on Arthimancy homework. Harry looked between the two tables.
"So… your table or mine?" He asked Cedric.
"The candles on yours are lit. Let's sit there." Harry realized that he hadn't even noticed that fact, probably someone from Gryffindor had already eaten. They sat down on the side of the table facing the wall and threw themselves at the food. Harry found himself quite hungry when he came to think of it. Cedric laughed as Harry loaded his toast with scrambled eggs and bacon before pressing another slice of toast on top of it.
"What?" He asked with his mouth full.
"No it just… are you always this hungry in the mornings?" Harry chewed and swallowed before answering that one.
"Imagine yourself not eating any breakfast, for eleven years, then spending every summer after that not having any either." He said, Cedric looked at him, his grey eyes wide.
"You didn't get any breakfast at your aunt and uncle's?... that is where you live huh? At least that's what I've heard."
"Yeah." Harry nodded. "U can't say I enjoyed myself. I was happy if I got any lunch at all and leftovers for dinner. You know… I hadn't even tasted scrambled eggs until I got here."
"Oh god… I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to… you know…" He stammered. Harry just smiled.
"It's alright. I mean, I'm here now, and I can eat as much of it as I like." He laughed and Cedric joined him. Once finished with their breakfast, they proceeded out in the entrance hall, Harry looked around.
"So…? Now what?" He asked. Cedric frowned.
"I thought you said something earlier about going for a walk around the lake… Why don't we do that?"
"Yeah, yeah I guess I did, I just wasn't sure you wanted to come with me or not." Harry didn't know why he felt like that, and he didn't know why he admitted it to Cedric, it just felt right.
"Of course I do." The other boy protested.
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Said and done, the boys walked out through the oak doors and were met by the warmth of the morning sun. It was a calm morning and the wind didn't blow more than necessary, though it still left Cedric's cheeks glowing pink. Harry soon found that Cedric was the kind of person that it was very easy to talk to. He found himself telling Cedric things about his childhood that he had never spoken easily about before. Cedric in his turn told Harry about life as a spoiled-only child. That was, spoiled as long as he did things that pleased his father. His father wanted him to be someone. He also found out that Cedric actually struggled for his grades and that he wasn't the natural-talent that Harry had thought him to be.
But as comes with good things, time flies away too fast, and Harry soon found himself with only five minutes left until he should be present in a classroom at the fifth floor.
"Sorry Cedric, I have to run, and I guess that so do you." Cedric gazed at the clock and cursed silently.
"Erm yeah… I do. I guess I'll see you later then." He said staring at the ground.
"Of course." Harry said with no doubt in his voice. "Where are you going?" He asked Cedric who had turned and started walking towards the greenhouses.
"Herbology." He said with a grin. Harry nodded and realized that there was not a chance that he'd make it in time.
He ran for it anyway.
He entered the classroom only two minutes delayed. Hermione looked worriedly at him.
"Where were you mate?" Ron whispered. "You weren't in bed when I got up and you weren't at breakfast either. We worried about you." He gesticulated at Hermione who was ignoring the fact that they were talking.
"I was just taking a walk around the lake, I kind of lost track of time." He said, he wasn't lying after all, that was what had happened. Ron accepted this for an apology and moved on to doodling at a piece of parchment. Harry tried to stay alert but for some reason he couldn't help drifting away just a little, and when he did, he saw broad, toothy smiles and grey eyes glittering in the sun.