Joseph had hardly been sympathetic when Cedric shared his plans to keep the relationship a secret.

"Do you care about Maddie or not?" he had asked roughly.

"W-what?" Cedric said, anger rising. "Of course I do! You know that!"

"So why should you have anything to hide?"

"Because, I know you have a pretty good idea of what'll happen if anyone knows, particularly if our friends know. They already look down on her, do you know what would happen if I told them? I don't want her hurt."

"So you're not telling anyone because you're afraid of losing your friends?" Joseph asked. He was getting angrier by the second. He liked Cedric. He was a good person. And seeing him so happy being in a relationship meant a lot to him. He had seen how close the two friends were before the relationship. And Cedric had come to him with a lot of problems. Now, it seemed, he was becoming capable of handling at least some problems on his own.

"That's not at all what I meant," Cedric said. "I mean, she's really young—she's four years younger than me. What do you think people'll think if they see us...holding hands or—or kissing or something? They're either going to think we're the sweetest couple in the world or they'll be disgusted. I can't let that happen to her. She's still my best friend. I wouldn't want people to be doing that to my best friend. Never."

Joseph was obviously still disgusted at this, but said nothing. He could tell that Cedric did care...but still, he thought that keeping it a secret was dangerous and stupid. "Well..." He paused. "It's almost time for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Cedric grinned. Because of Professor Lupin, Defense Against the Dark Arts was one of his favourite classes. He actually knew the subject matter, and he knew it well. Cedric thought he had learned more in his class that year than he had in any of his other classes in the time he'd been at Hogwarts. "The one decent Defense teacher we've had."

After Defense Against the Dark Arts, Cedric, Joseph, and their friends returned to the common room. Their lesson that day had been long and eventful, but enjoyable nevertheless. It was difficult to hate a lesson from Professor Lupin, because he was so unexpected: You never knew what he was going to teach them or what he'd do next.

"I hope he's here next year," Liam said. "We've actually learned something."

"Yeah, unlike Lockhart last year, the nutter," Edward agreed. "Did you hear what happened in one of his lessons with the second years last year? He released Cornish Pixies in the classroom."

"And how is that bad?" Liam argued.

"Well, have you ever seen a Cornish Pixie? They're like..."

Cedric had stopped paying attention when he noticed Maddie and her friends sitting by the fire. He still thought she was very grown-up for a twelve-year-old—at least, her maturity was far beyond those of her friends'. "I'll see you later," he muttered to his friends, who were too busy discussing pixies to really notice that he had left.

He walked over to her; she was in the middle of a sentence about their Herbology lesson. "It's not just for Herbology," she was saying to Sierra, who was Muggle born and therefore did not understand a lot about what was being taught at the school. "Mum uses it all the time at—"

"Can I talk to you?" Cedric asked politely. The other girls gave a predictable giggle.

Maddie stood to her full height and followed him. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No, I-I've just been thinking and, well..." There was no easy way for him to say it. "I really, really want to tell your parents about this. About us."

She looked at him for a moment in silence, then said, "Oh, uh...okay, sure. When?" She sounded oddly skeptical.

He ignored this. "Christmas holidays?"

"Can't I just write a—"

"I think it'd be better to, uh...tell them in person," he said, wishing he had asked his real question. He had wanted to ask her what she would think about telling other people, but somehow, the thought of people harassing her hadn't left his mind, and he decided against the question.

"So they can murder me in person?" she asked, smiling.

"Well, when you put it like that..." he said, smiling back. Checking to make sure no one would see them, he bent down and kissed her cheek. "Thank you, Mad," he said.

"Bye," she said, still smiling, then went and rejoined her friends. "You're not still discussing that spell, are you?" she asked as she sat down again, and Cedric watched her in awe. She really was pretty, even that young. He just hoped that nothing would go wrong with what they were doing.

The two houses, the Diggory residence and the Lewis one, were a bit distanced. However, they were close enough so that the children of each family could write to each other on a piece of parchment to talk to one another without having to be face to face. They talked this way throughout the holidays.

Once, Amos, Cedric's father, had walked into his bedroom as he was writing his reply to Maddie. "Who are you writing to?" he asked, then observed all the pieces of parchment in the garbage bin. "And what's all this?"

"Oh, um..." He was trying to find a way to say her name with it seeming completely normal. "You know. Maddie and I—we've been—corresponding."

Amos stared at his son. "You know, most people actually send each other letters." He paused. "You've been acting really strange lately, Ced."

"I'm fine," Cedric lied. The truth was, he cared so much for Maddie that it was hard to think straight at times.

"Well, have fun talking to your girlfriend," Amos teased, not fully believing that all was well with his son.

"She's not my girlfriend," Cedric lied again. As soon as the door shut, he felt such remorse for not saying anything. He glanced back at the window. Maddie was holding a piece of parchment that said 'Everything okay?'. Obviously, she had seen what happened.

He quickly wrote back 'Perfect', though he didn't truly feel that way.

It was Christmas afternoon. Cedric knew fully well that Maddie still hadn't said anything to her parents, Katie and Braiden. They were fairly nice people; surely they'd understand...

But he couldn't bring himself to say anything to his parents. He knew what his dad, Amos, would think. He'd either think Cedric was joking, or that everything was far worse than what Cedric was saying, or that Maddie was too young...

And after he had said "she's not my girlfriend" (why he hadn't said anything then, he didn't know), it would seem a bit strange for him to say that they really were in a relationship. He wasn't sure why he hadn't said anything then, and he still didn't have the courage to say anything.

Finally, he put on a jacket quickly and walked to her house. It was cold; fresh snow was falling. He knocked twice, his knuckles stinging from the feel of the door. It, too, was practically frozen. He could hear people talking inside. "Maddie, get the door," came Katie's voice. Just hearing her name sent chills down his spine...or maybe it was the falling snow still...no, it had to be her name...

She opened the door, wearing jeans and a tight jacket. Cedric almost kissed her immediately, but fought against it. "Hey," he said quietly.

"Cedric," she said in surprise. "Uh...hi," she finally said.

"Look, Mad, I know this is probably a bad time," he said, "but I know that you still haven't mentioned anything to your parents. Is that correct?"

She stared at him for a moment, but then said, "Uh...no, I haven't. Why...?"

He stepped closer. "Would it make it easier if I told them?" he asked. He thought that if he said something, then maybe, just maybe, talking to his own father would make it easier. He was probably insane to think it; just suggesting the idea made his heart rate increase.

She pulled the door open wider, hesitantly. "If you want, I guess," she mumbled. She seemed frightened.

"Hey," he whispered, closing the door quickly once he was inside and leaning in close to her. "Even if they murder you, you know I'll still care about you, right?"

"Thanks," she said sarcastically at his use of the word 'murder'.

"You know what I mean," he said, then followed her into the sitting room as she called, "Mum—Dad—"

"Something wrong?" her dad called back, just as she entered with Cedric close behind. "Cedric," Braiden said kindly. "Nice to see you again."

"Good to see you," he said back, still afraid of what he was about to do. For her, he reminded himself.

"How's school?"

"Fine." The one-word answer alarmed Braiden and Katie, who had just entered the room. "Listen, uh...there's something I came here to talk about..."

"What he means is," Maddie interjected, "there's something we need to talk about. The four of us." She hoped her parents would get the hint. She was still afraid of what her parents' responses would be—especially her father, who still thought of her as a seven-year-old girl.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Braiden said. Katie took a seat beside her husband.

"Well, uh," Cedric said, taking over for the girl he was standing next to. "You see, sir, the thing is...I really care about your daughter. Really, I do, she's—she's one of my best friends, and, uh, well...we've been...talking, and...well...what I mean to say is..." He sighed; there was no easy way to do this. He had to just be open about it. "Well, we've been, sort of...seeing each other for a month and a half now..."

"'Seeing'?" Braiden asked; Katie, it seemed, understood what Cedric meant exactly and did not appear happy. "What the hell are you talking about?" he said again.

"We've been...dating each other for a month and a half."

The response was predictable but somehow, Cedric was completely shocked at what happened. At one moment, Braiden had been reading a newspaper and had given the two his complete attention. The next second, he grabbed the first thing he could his hands on—a cauldron sitting on the table; it was Katie's, as she was a Healer—and hurled it at Cedric, who quickly moved out of the way, dragging Maddie along with him. "What the hell?" he said as it smashed into the wall and shattered. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"That's what I should be asking you," Braiden said, standing to his full height. "Get your twisted, perverted hands off my daughter now!"

Cedric put his hands up as though being arrested then said, "There, I'm not touching her, happy?" Katie and Maddie observed the scene quietly. Maddie looked horrorstruck.

"No, I'm not," Braiden said, then started whacking Cedric with the Daily Prophet. "Stay the hell away from her."

"You're not my father!" Cedric said, grabbing the newspaper, then instantly regretted what he said.

"No?" Braiden asked, fearfully calm. "Well I know your father, Cedric. I know him well. We work together. He's next door. I can go talk to him and see what he says. I have the funny feeling he'd agree with me. And you're being awfully immature, aren't you?"

"Dad, stop it!" Maddie said.

"Stay out of this, young lady," Braiden said, not looking away from Cedric. He did not look happy. "How do I know I can trust you with her if you're four years older than her? How can I trust anyone with her?"

"Dad, I'm not a little girl anymore," she said, trying to make her father keep his cool.

"No," he said, still angry, "but you're not an adult either, are you? You don't know what you're doing young lady."

"Dad, I can take of myself just fine," she argued. Cedric wished she hadn't said anything; her father was appearing to grow angrier by the second, and her mother didn't do anything to stop his behavior.

He pointed at the stairs. "Upstairs," he ordered. "We'll talk about this later, young lady." Each of the three times Braiden had called her 'young lady', she appeared to be disgusted by the name. "As for you," he said, going to Cedric, "you no good, disgusting, sick, perverted pedophile—"

"Don't call him that!" Maddie called, who was halfway up the stairs and had wheeled around.

Her dad ignored her. "Get the hell out of my house."

Cedric started to leave—he couldn't believe what had just happened; Braiden had always been so nice to him—as Braiden went into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him. Katie stood, saying, "Cedric, wait, could I talk to you for a moment?" He stopped, his hand halfway out to turn the doorknob. He waited for her to say something. "Cedric," she said again. "Your parents don't know any of this, do they?"

He paused, making sure Maddie wasn't listening. "No, they don't," he admitted.

Katie nodded. "Well," she said. "You better go."

Maddie was in her room. She had cried a little bit out of frustration, but now she had calmed down a bit. She knew it was better that they knew, but Dad had gotten really angry at Cedric. Well, it was as much Cedric's fault as it was hers.

She sat in her room, wanting to cry again. This was a time when she wanted Cedric to be there, holding her close to him and telling her everything was going to end up okay, that she was going to be alright and that he cared about her. But if her father got his way, he would never do that for her. And just as she was starting to get close to him...becoming really attached to him...this happened...

"Maddie, darling," her mother called. At least she still cared about her... "Please come down here." Maddie sighed, hopping off her bed and climbing down the stairs. She was afraid...but when she reached the bottom of the stairs, her father looked more relaxed than he had previously. "Sweetheart, we wanted to talk to you about this...relationship."

She knew it was coming. "Alright."

"I'm sorry I yelled earlier, sweetheart," her dad said, rubbing his temples. "But you should know that I don't think you're being very smart right now. Cedric...well, I know him, Mad. He's a bit...ambitious, you know that... I'm just worried about you. I don't want you to get hurt."

"What are you talking about?" she said. 'Ambitious' was not her first choice for a word to describe Cedric. It just didn't sound right to her...not when it came to him.

"Well, sweetheart," her dad said—this was a bit of an improvement from 'young lady', she had to admit. "It's just that...he's older than you. I just don't want you to think that he's the only one for you. He's telling you he loves you but in the future, he won't even respond when he hears your name. I don't want to see that happening to you."

"He hasn't told me he loves me," she said fearfully.

"What a shock," her father mentioned.

"What your father's trying to say," Katie said, trying to recover the conversation, "is that we want you to be careful."

"Does that mean...?" she asked.

"Yes, Mad," her dad said. "You and Cedric may continue dating."

Sucky chap like woo~! I'm so excited (not about the sucky chap), today is Sunday and on Thursday my school play Little Shop of Horrors opens. I'm so happy, I don't have a very big part but I'm excited to be in drama and everything and getting involved in school. My friend and I are two of three freshman in the entire play (outof like twenty-five I think?). There's only like five sophomores, too, the rest are juniors and seniors, so I feel very happy to get a part! I actually have been told I have a good singing voice but I'm playing a vine on the plant in the musical (if you're hopelessly confused, please look up Little Shop of Horrors). I sing parts of the finale. I'm so excited I just can't wait amagawd. There's going to be four performances (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday—all at 7:00 PM, then once at 2:00 PM on Saturday). I'm going to see if I can get my mom to record at least my scenes and my sister's scenes and I'll see about putting them on YouTube if anyone's interested. Anyway, please review.

-Hatter of Madness