To Bedlam and Partway Back

NOTE: WARNINGS FOR SLASH

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I own none of these characters

There will be mentions of Mpreg in this chapter, but none actually happening.

Chapter Seven

"Harry, wait up!"

Despite his size, or maybe because of it, Harry was incredibly fleet of foot. Cedric had longer strides, but Harry was lighter and fled over the grass like his feet weren't even touching the ground.

"Harry, please-!"

He finally stopped, just before the knoll between Hogsmeade and the Hogwarts grounds. Cedric was two steps behind him.

"Harry," he panted.

"You're wearing my name out," Harry said bitterly. Cedric didn't take any offence at that. The younger boy was crying. The blond sighed. "Come here."

He pulled the unprotesting boy into a hug. For a long moment Harry just hung limp in his grip, before the sobs started in earnest, and then graduated into full-fledged wails. Cedric felt like crying himself. Everything he'd heard about Lily and James Potter all his life had been nothing more than saintly. And now, to discover that they'd been just as young, but even more foolish in the care of their son- sure, they'd die for him, making sure that he'd live, but none of them cared as much as to how he'd live.

He was sure Harry had clung to the belief that his parents had tried, had fought, had done their best to look in on him, even after their sainted deaths. Hadn't they, after all, sacrificed themselves for him? Surely, people didn't go through that much trouble and pain for people they didn't care about. But that illusion had been shattered by Black's careless words.

Eventually Harry pulled back, and Cedric was a little sorry to see him go. He'd quite liked the feel of the slim Hufflepuff adoptee in his arms. Harry smeared his eyes furiously with the back of his hand.

"Harry, Harry," Cedric coaxed. The boy didn't turn, but he didn't move, either, showing that he was at least listening. "Harry, if anything ever happens- to either of us, I want you to swear, that you won't be as foolish to do what Black and Lupin did."

Slowly Harry turned, to look blearily at him.

"When their Bonded died, they chose vengeance. They've lived for twelve years in that unreasonable pain. I don't-" he bit his lip. "I don't want you to go through anything like that." He took Harry's hand in his. "Please, Harry, promise me this."

"We're not going to have children," Harry said firmly. "I won't leave them in the same limbo that they left me in, orphans or no."

Cedric shook his head, smiling fondly at him. "Of course not. I know you'd never let that happen to them. It wouldn't matter, even if they were orphans."

Harry looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean, 'even if'? That'd be the only way we could ever have children- through adopting, isn't it?"

Cedric shrugged, his smile widening. He was glad to see Harry get his mind off his good-for-nothing godfather. "This is the wizarding world, Harry. There isn't the same stigma attached to homosexuality here; haven't you noticed?"

Harry nodded slowly. "Yes, I'd been wondering about that."

"Well, with the right kind of potions and a little bit of magic, we could have children of our own."

It was almost worth it to see Harry's eyes bug out like that. His hands immediately flew to his stomach, which was- thankfully- flat as a board.

"What?" he squeaked. "Pre- me, pregnant?" He shook his head furiously. "No, no, no no no no, that is just not happening-"

Cedric laughed and caught him up in a loose embrace. "Who said you'd have to be the one?" Harry's eyes boggled at him, and he tenderly cupped the boy's cheek. "I'd do it- do anything- for you," he said, and as the words slipped past his lips, he knew he'd never spoken truer words. The look of wonder on Harry's face was like a blessing. "But this is a bit fast for us, and you're right, it wouldn't be fair to any child to be left in that position. We can always come back to this later."

He kissed Harry's dazed face, and then extended an arm to him. "Would you like to accompany me back to the castle?"

Harry laughed and dug his elbow into Cedric's side. The blond was just glad the redness of the tears was starting to fade from his face. "You poncy prat," the younger boy said, but took the offered arm anyway. They slowly ambled back to the castle, waving when they saw Herbie and Hermione coming up from the other side, followed by the other Third-Year badgers.

Once in the castle, they were on their way to the dorms, when a couple of identical redheads stepped out of from under an alcove. Cedric immediately slipped in front of Harry, but the younger boy rolled his eyes at him and pushed his well-meaning arm down. "I'm not completely helpless, Cedric," he said patiently. Then he looked at Fred and George Weasley, noting how the twins noted both their wands were drawn.

"What is it?" he asked, calmly.

"Could we have a word?" they asked in a surprisingly meek tone.

Harry sighed. "Whatever," he shrugged, "but Cedric stays."

One of the twins quirked a half-smile at that, but it was half-hearted, at best. "We'd been-"

"-expecting that," the other finished.

They led the way down to the kitchens, where they walked up to the huge painting of a bowl of fruit and tickled the pear.

"Hey!" Cedric protested. "How'd you know how to do that?"

As the painting swung open to reveal the Hogwarts kitchens, the twins exchanged a look. Then one of them gave Cedric a wane smile. "Prankster's secret," he said.

Cedric scowled, but didn't call him out on it.

"Do you'll want anything to eat?" the other twin asked.

Both of them shook their heads, and the twin nodded. "Just two treacle tarts, then," he told a Hogwarts house-elf.

"Wait-!" Harry blushed when his voice rang out. The twins, Cedric, and the house-elf all looked at him in surprise. "Make that three treacle tarts," he muttered.

The twins slowly began to chuckle, and Cedric smiled. The twins made their way to a huge dining table, and gestured for Harry and Cedric to seat themselves. Once they were all settled, the twins turned to them with the most serious expressions Harry had even seen on their faces.

"We're sorry," they said immediately. "We weren't thinking, and we've been huge prats for that."

"It's all Ollie's conditioning," one of them added earnestly. The other nodded.

"Yeah, his mantra is basically to win every Quidditch game-"

"-or die trying."

Then the two looked at him guiltily. "But we never expected you to follow that for real, mate," they said together.

"We never thought we'd say this, but Percy was actually right. We'd forgotten about the old laws, the traditions that made up our culture."

Here they looked at Cedric with bright hazel eyes. "Diggory, it should never have taken a Pledging on your part. We've known him for two, going on three years now; we should've known better." They both wore identical faces of disgust. "Ronniekins should know better."

"He's been a right prat, he is," a twin began.

"Strutting all over the common room and telling anybody who'd listen 'Mione's a hussy and how you seduced her. We've shut him up a couple of times now, but-"

"-we can't be there all the time," the other concluded.

Harry's face was a mask of calmness, but Cedric could feel the tension running beneath his skin.

"Would you mind," he said conversationally, "very much if I challenged your brother to a wizarding duel?" His green eyes blazed.

The twins looked a little shocked at his declaration, but they immediately smiled. "Nah, he isn't worth the trouble," they told him. "Percy's been docking points off his mouth every time he opens it." They glanced at Cedric. "Hufflepuff just won the last Quidditch match, and any points you won for us in the other games, Harry, is quickly becoming moot. They're going to PIG him soon up at the tower."

Harry and Cedric just stared at them. "PIG him? What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"The twins glanced at each other. "Y'know, that Muggle thing they do, when they don't want someone near them anymore-"

Harry burst out laughing. "PNG!" he exclaimed. "They're going to PNG him? It means Persona Non Grata."

The Weasley twins nodded sagely. "Exactly," they said.

The treacle tarts came, and the conversation turned to lighter subjects, Cedric was glad to see Harry's face shine as he talked pranks with the twins- and then as suddenly as their camaraderie began, it just stopped, all three of them shooting furtive glances at Cedric and his shiny Prefect's badge.

Cedric burst out laughing at them. "Harry, did I ever tell you about the time someone cast an anti-gravitational charm on Flitwick's pile of books?"

The three gaped at him disbelievingly. It'd been hilarious to see the tiny half-goblin Professor bob around in the classroom rather calmly as he continued to teach like nothing had happened. "That was you?" Harry gasped.

Cedric smirked. "Hardest Charms class Herbie and I have ever had to sit through. We had to keep casting Sobering charms on ourselves."

The twins looked thoughtful at this. "Herbie- you mean Fleet? Bernard's twin?"

That was the wrong thing to say. Cedric immediately clammed up. "Got a problem with that?" he demanded icily.

Fred and George looked startled at the sudden change in the blond's attitude. "No, none at all," they hurriedly refuted, "other than the fact that he's a rival Keeper…"

Cedric let out a small laugh at this, and the twins sighed in relief. Another crisis averted. Then they glanced hesitantly at the rival Seeker. "But Bernard really is sorry about what happened-"

Cedric's lips thinned. "This isn't a conversation that concerns me," he said.

"Aren't Hufflepuffs supposed to be loyal and all?" they tried again.

Cedric's grey eyes were like pieces of sleet. "Sure we're loyal- to people who deserve it. Bernard's none of the sort."

"I'm done," Harry said quietly, pushing his empty plate away. The three older boys looked at him, startled, almost as if they'd forgotten he was there the entire time. Cedric smiled faintly at him. Seeing that they were about to be forgotten in favour of the newly Bonded, the twins stood.

"We'll take our leave, then," they said. "Harry, you're still like a little brother to us. Percy- well, he's still a prat, but he respects your Bond, and won't do anything to interfere. Fact, he does as much as he can to stop ickle Ronniekins from interfering." They let out twin crazed grins. "Never thought that badge of his would come in handy.

"Let us know if you need anything else," the twins continued. "In your year, Longbottom and Thomas are still good. It's Finnegan that's gone off his rocker and joined the prat parade." They rolled their eyes. "Well, he's bloody Irish, so-"

"Wait!" Harry exclaimed. "There actually is something…"

The twins looked at him curiously.

"Scabbers," Harry said, "could you bring him to me?" Cedric looked at him as if he were a genius.

The twins looked bewildered.

"What in blazes would you want with Ronniekin's old rat?"

"Eh-" Harry hedged. "He's- Crookshanks doesn't trust him."

The twins still looked at him as if he were bonkers. "What does Hermione's crazy cat have to do with this?"

"Eh, well, he's part-kneazle, you see, and he hates Scabbers. And kneazles are known for trusting only trustworthy people, so Hermione thought it'd be good to investigate," he fibbed on the spot.

The twins looked at each other. Then they grinned. "That was utter bollocks, but we trust you'll tell us in time, if we need to know."

Harry broke out into a relieved smile. "Great." He dug into his robe pocket for some coins. "Here you go," he said, pushing a number of galleons into their hands. "Get him another pet, and tell him Mrs. Norris ate Scabbers or something."

Fred and George looked startled at the amount of gold he was giving them. "Harry, this is way too much-" one of them began weakly.

Harry shook his head. "It's fine. Use the rest to get more pranks. I'm sure we could all do with a few more laughs."

The twins grinned devilishly, and he thought he'd actually felt the castle shudder. A twin pocketed the cash, and then the other pulled out a scrap of parchment. He squinted at the two Hufflepuffs, and then said, "This here's our greatest treasure, so we're counting on you two not to say anything about it. Nicked it from Filch when we were ickle Firsties. Best decision we've ever made, dropping those dungbombs in his office." He pulled out his wand and tapped the parchment.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

Cedric started. "What-"

From the twin's wandtip, lines immediately began to spread out into some sort of diagram. Under their amazed eyes, they realised this was a map of Hogwarts.

"This is amazing," Harry said in awe. "Where'd you get it?"

The twin grinned at him. "Told you, filched it in First-Year, when Filch caught us for- something. We saw this in his office, and had to grab it."

The other twin grinned at him. "The Marauder's Map- this little beauty's taught us more than anyone in this school."

Harry turned pale. "The Marauders?"

"Yeah, Padfoot, Prongs, Moony and Wormtail, we owe them so much," a twin said absently, poring over the map. "Scabbers should be up in Gryffindor Tower, the boys' dormitory-"

Harry looked carefully at the map, and his eyes widened when he realised it had labelled dots for all the persons in the castle at real time. "Wait, you can't-"

The twin turned ashen. "Does either one of you want to explain just what Peter Pettigrew is doing on Ron's bed?"