Title: Sound of the Revolution, Chapter 09
Author: kevo
Pairing: Harry + Cedric.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership to these characters or the series they're from.
Summary: In his fifth year, Harry faces ostracism with boyfriend Cedric for coming out and for declaring Voldemort has returned. (Order of the Phoenix canon re-write.)
Author's Note: I survived an earthquake AND a hurricane to bring you this update, guys! Hope you enjoy it.

The Love So Green Collection

Playlist #2:

sound of the revolution

CHAPTER NINE

"Keep Myself Awake"

To say that things were looking up for Harry by the time Christmas arrived would be a gross overstatement. However, despite seemingly insurmountable odds, he found himself in higher spirits as the school break approached.

True, Umbridge continued to terrorize Harry and his fellow students. And many of those students continued to glare at Harry and Cedric in the corridors, either because they were testifying that the Dark Lord had returned or simply because they were holding hands. Sometimes both. And, on top of all that, one of the few activities that brought Harry joy, Quidditch and flying, had been taken away from him, permanently.

So yes, when he dwelled on those overwhelming facts, it was natural to become despondent.

Nevertheless, as he watched the members of Dumbledore's Army practicing everything they'd learned over the last two months, and saw how much they all improved since the first meeting, he felt a swell of pride, in them and in himself. Their skills had grown rapidly, much more so than Harry expected.

And more than being just a place for students to learn proper defensive magic, the D.A. became a refuge for students living under Umbridge's regime. It was a place where they could once again embrace the joy of magic, despite the wicked toad's attempts to suck it all out like an oddly-round Dementor.

To mark the joyful occasion of it being their last meeting of the term, Cedric decided to play some music as they lobbed jinxes at one another. It was an eclectic mix of Christmas songs, wizard and Muggle alike, from "God Rest Ye Merry, Hippogriffs" to "Another Rock n' Roll Christmas." Hermione was disapproving at first, but by the end Harry caught even her bopping along to the cheery tunes.

At the moment, Cedric was assisting Cho Chang and her friend Marietta with their jinx-casting. Cho was being unusually stiff with Cedric which, sadly, was no longer unusual for the pair. Keeping his promise to Hermione, Harry never told Cedric her theory about Cho and why she had become so distant with her gay ex-boyfriend. It pained him to only shrug when Cedric asked if he noticed any change in her behavior, but what else could he do? The truth would hurt Cedric beyond any lie.

"All right there, Harry? You look a bit lost."

He turned to face Ginny Weasley, whose practice partner was temporarily Stunned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry nodded. "Just thinking."

"Well, don't strain yourself," she teased. "Listen, I wanted to say – about my replacing you as Seeker – I hope you aren't too bothered by it."

"Not at all," Harry lied, struggling to keep a scowl from his lips.

He was bothered, but it had nothing to do with Ginny, or even Angelina for that matter, regardless of how cantankerous she was over the whole situation. Harry had no one to blame for his Quidditch ban but himself. And maybe Malfoy.

"I'm glad it's someone I can trust," he said, and this time he wasn't lying. "You're going to be great, Ginny."

"Thanks," Ginny beamed. "I only wish you and Fred and George were all still playing. It would've been nice, all of us playing on the team together, the whole family."

"Four Weasleys on one team?" Harry chuckled, helping Ginny's freshly-conscious partner to his feet. "I'd pity anyone who came up against you."

They shared a laugh at that, and Harry left her to continue practicing.

Their relationship was considerably better since Ginny's apology. Even better, in fact, than it was before Harry came out. Now that she no longer harbored feelings for Harry, Ginny was far less awkward around him. And although she still hadn't spoken to Cedric, she was a lot friendlier around him than she'd been. It was certainly a start.

Before Harry knew it, the meeting was over. He congratulated his fellow students on their development, dropping a hint about starting Patronuses next term before dismissing them.

"Was that really wise, Harry?" asked Hermione, her voice low and clearly frazzled by his actions. "We've only been doing this a couple of months. I don't know if everyone's ready for that. Patronuses are highly advanced magic."

"I only said it was a maybe, Hermione," Harry replied. "And it wouldn't be the first meeting back. We'll see how everyone is coming along by February or March and make a decision then. Me and Cedric can both do the Patronus Charm. We shouldn't have much problem teaching it to everyone else, not if they all keep it up at this rate."

"I suppose that's true," Hermione said. "Maybe I'll check out some books on the Patronus Charm to read over the break."

"I'd've thought you'd be busy keeping up with your pen pal over the break," Ron muttered darkly as he shuffled past them.

The latest fiasco in their tumultuous romance involved Ron finding out Hermione was still in touch with Viktor Krum, and had been keeping a steady correspondence with him since they parted ways last summer. Needless to say, Ron was not pleased.

"He has no right, you know," Hermione said once Ron was out of the room. "Viktor and I, we're not even… It isn't like that between us. And anyway, it's not as if Ron and I are together."

"You're not?" Harry murmured absently, tidying up the Room of Requirement.

"No," she snapped. Then, "Well… I–I'm not sure anymore."

A passing student jostled Hermione on his way out. She cleared her throat and glanced around at the thinning crowd. Harry could see her begin to close off, as she had so many times before when they spoke about her and Ron's relationship.

"I should get going," she said. "We can, um. We can more talk about this later."

"Sure," replied Harry, knowing they'd be doing nothing of the sort.

He busied himself some more tidying the Room. For some reason, the one thing the Room of Requirement didn't do was clean up after its occupants. If they left their Dumbledore's Army room in disarray, it would be in the same state the next time it appeared. Soon, Harry thought everyone was gone, until he felt a strong pair of arms wrap around his waist from behind and soft lips graze his neck.

"Mm, careful, my boyfriend might see," he murmured. "He's the jealous type."

"Oh he is, huh?" the other boy inquired.

"Yep," said Harry. "So you'd better be worth my trouble."

"I am always worth your trouble, Harry Potter," Cedric promised, turning his boyfriend around for a proper kiss.

"I'm gonna miss getting those every day."

"It's worth the sacrifice, far as I'm concerned," Cedric said. "Knowing you're spending Christmas at the Burrow, that you'll have a decent holiday for once, that's good enough for me."

"Christmas at Hogwarts isn't so bad," Harry countered. "I spent the last four Christmases here. We had our first Christmas together here."

"We did," Cedric agreed. "And you know that if you weren't going to be with the Weasleys I'd've blown my parents off to spend it here with you again."

Harry nodded, although he would never have let Cedric do anything of the sort.

He'd played it cool on the surface, but Harry felt the elation that went through Cedric when he got that owl insisting he come home for Christmas break. Harry wouldn't let Cedric pass up that opportunity, even if it had meant spending the holiday alone. Then again, this was much easier to believe knowing he did have somewhere to go.

"But you'll come visit?" Harry asked.

"As soon as I can," replied Cedric. "The Burrow isn't far. I could walk it if I wanted."

"Apparation will do just fine," Harry advised him, "I don't want you freezing to death on top of everything else that's happened." He hesitated before asking, "Is it pathetic to say I wish we weren't going? Whatever's going on, at least you can always say Hogwarts is safe. This is like last June all over again. Saying goodbye in that dingy King's Cross bathroom, not knowing when I'd see you again. Or even, with Voldemort on the loose, if I'd see you again."

"Don't get all maudlin on me, Potter," Cedric chided, brushing back Harry's bangs and kissing the scar on his forehead. "It's only for a few weeks. It'll go by like," he snapped his fingers, "that. And think: this will be a nice respite from Umbridge's reign of terror."

"Okay, that's a decent point," said Harry. "I can't imagine it'll be a very festive Christmas at Hogwarts this year. Even Grimmauld Place would seem cheerful by comparison."

And while the boys laughed at the idea, Harry would later look back and wonder if he'd inadvertently jinxed himself with those words.

O O O O O O O

Barely eighteen hours later, Harry was lying on his bed at 12 Grimmauld Place, contemplating the ordeal he'd been through in that time; the vision-dream, the escape from Hogwarts, the waiting, the trip to St. Mungo's.

Learning he'd been possessed by Lord Voldemort.

He showered while the others slept, hoping it might help, might make him feel less... contaminated. No use. The feeling went deeper than his skin. Even scrubbing his body as hard as he could with soap and a washcloth didn't make him feel any better. Having the darkest wizard ever known inside your head wasn't something you could wash down the drain.

In spite of Dumbledore's orders to stay put, Harry kept thinking about running away. If what Mad-Eye said was true, if Voldemort could reach out and take control of him at any time, it would be best for everyone around him. He would gladly confine himself to Privet Drive for the rest of his life if it meant keeping those he loved safe. The Weasleys and Hermione and Sirius and Cedric...

Cedric.

He would have noticed Harry and the Weasley children were missing by now, wouldn't he? Of course he would. Harry skipped breakfast one morning to finish an essay and Cedric was in a panic by lunch. Hermione, too, would be wondering where they all were. Would Dumbledore explain their absence? Or would he leave them in the dark, as he'd been leaving Harry for the last six months?

Imagining how they must be worrying forced Harry to accept that he could never really run away. Cedric would come after Harry, and Hermione and Ron would be right behind him.

So instead he went back to the drawing room, turned on all the lights, and sat on the musty old couch listening to his CD player. There was one Muggle artist Cedric had given him, Tori Amos, whose music was like a tranquilizer for Harry's misery. It didn't cure it, only numbed it a bit.

He sat listening to her CD on repeat until the sun was up, waving lazily at anyone who came in and ignoring their attempts to engage him in conversation. When he was certain that everyone else was awake, and only then, Harry went to the room he shared with Ron and laid down to sleep.

O O O O O O O

Upon arriving at the House of Black on Friday evening, Hermione burst in on Harry with barely a knock.

After the few hours of sleep he'd managed to reap, Harry spent the day holed up in the room where Sirius was keeping Buckbeak. Mrs. Weasley tended to avoid the animal's quarters, and the Weasley children were already giving him a wide berth.

Harry allowed Hermione to force a sandwich on him but refused to leave Buckbeak's room or accept any more company than hers. Even then he didn't plan on letting her stay long. He only needed her for information. It was the second night since they absconded from Hogwarts, after all, without any news of what happened there after he and the Weasleys fled.

"Dumbledore told me first thing that morning what'd happened," she relayed. "I couldn't leave right away, though. Umbridge was already fuming over him letting you all leave without her knowing about it."

"Did he tell Cedric?" Harry asked. "Does he know?"

"He had me tell Cedric," said Hermione.

"Why couldn't Dumbledore tell him?" Harry wondered, annoyed.

"I don't know," Hermione admitted. "We only spoke for about a minute. I imagine that must've been risky enough, with Umbridge on the warpath."

Harry wasn't entirely satisfied by her reasoning.

She tried a few more times to get Harry to come downstairs, but her efforts proved ineffective. Eventually she gave up, and went down on her own, leaving Harry to feed the hippogriff dead rats as he sulked.

Again, he forced himself to stay awake through the late hours of the night. Once the others were all up and about for the day, Harry trudged downstairs and crawled into bed.

O O O O O O O

A gentle yet insistent hand stirred Harry from his dreamless sleep.

"Harry," he heard a distant voice whisper. "Harry, babe, wake up."

He did, ever so resentfully. It couldn't have been more than two or three hours since Harry laid down to rest. Not much less than he'd gotten since his nightmare – or rather, his possession. Even so, it was less than Harry would've preferred, and he didn't appreciate being woken, even if it was by –

"Cedric?"

"You've got to stop falling asleep with your glasses on," Cedric chided him. "You're going to damage them."

"I can just have 'mione fix 'em," Harry mumbled through a haze of exhaustion. He removed his crooked spectacles and massaged the bridge of his nose. "Whu – What time is it?"

"About noon," said Cedric. "A little after. You're sleeping rather late."

Harry shrugged.

"How were things at home?"

"Could've gone better," Cedric muttered darkly. "I wouldn't get used to having that bed to yourself if I were you."

"Oh no," Harry sighed, "what happened?"

"I got in last night," Cedric relayed. "Things were tense, as I expected. I haven't spoken my father since the day of my hearing. And that wasn't much of a conversation, you'll recall. He was very formal with me. 'How're your grades? How's Quidditch?' That sort of thing. I mean, he usually asks me about those, but it was different, you know?"

"Sure," said Harry, who, having no parents, did not know but could imagine.

"Then this morning, I told them I wanted to pop over here for a little while. I knew you were safe, because Hermione told me Dumbledore spoke with her. Even so, I was anxious to see you. So as soon as I said it, my dad went mental. Started hollering about how I wasn't back a full day and already taking off to see 'that boy.' I tried to explain – without telling the whole truth – that there'd been an emergency and you'd left without warning, and I wanted to make sure you were all right. Mum was on my side. That was rather nice. She tried to offer a compromise, that I'd come by tonight after dinner instead. He wasn't having any of it. Said he couldn't stop me from behaving – from doing what I want at school, but as long as I was staying under his roof I wasn't to see you. So I left. Again."

"I'm always causing trouble for you," Harry grumbled.

"No, you are not," Cedric insisted. "He's the one. You know, in a way, I'm almost glad this all happened. Coming out after the tournament, the stuff in the Prophet, all of it."

"Eh? How's that?"

"My whole life," Cedric said firmly, "has been lived for that man's approval. I never even told him I want to do Muggle Relations after Hogwarts because he thinks it's a useless department. But it's what I love, what I want to do! And I'll be damn good at it, too. I shouldn't have to feel ashamed. For doing what I love, for being with the person I love. For being myself."

"That's good, then," said Harry. "I'm sorry Dumbledore didn't tell you himself what happened to us, by the way. You must've been worried sick."

"Oh, I was," Cedric replied. "But I don't blame him. Order business and all. I'm glad he didn't try and contact me, with Umbridge being irate as she was. It would've been highly suspicious, given our relationship. Yours and mine, that is. No, Hermione was the safer one to talk to."

He nodded, understanding but unsure he could be so level-headed if their roles were reversed.

Harry thought of Sirius and the Weasley twins sniping at each other that morning. Sirius had told them that their impatience, their reluctance to follow instructions in a time of personal crisis, was exactly why they hadn't been allowed to join the Order. Afterward, while they were visiting Mr. Weasley at the hospital, Harry couldn't help seeing the way they bombarded their father with questions about how and why he was attacked in a new light. Their blasé attitude about the Order's secrecy was startlingly inappropriate, given the timing and their location. Clearly Sirius was on to something about them not being mature enough to be in the Order.

So what was it they saw in Cedric that they would allow him to join up over them? Was it solely that he was of-age? Was it his involvement in the night Voldemort returned? Or was there something Cedric had that the Weasley twins hadn't yet developed? Given how well he knew the older boy, Harry was willing to bet on the last one.

As if to prove this unspoken specialness, Cedric asked insightfully, "Why are you still in bed? Hermione mentioned you were being strange. She was a bit vague, though."

"I've been staying up all night," Harry told him. "Sleeping in the daytime."

"What on Earth would possess you do that?" asked Cedric.

"Funny you should put it that way…"

So Harry told Cedric everything, from being inside Voldemort's snake all the way to being woken by him several minutes earlier.

"I feel like, if I'm awake while everyone else is asleep, I don't have to work about – you know, attacking them, or anything," Harry explained. "Like they're safer. Plus, now no one has to be around me during the day anymore. Which is good. It's better this way."

"You think people don't want to be around you?" Cedric inquired.

"It's not that I think they don't, although maybe that's true, I dunno," said Harry. "It's that they shouldn't be. It's too much of a risk. I'm too much of a risk."

"If that were true, don't you think Dumbledore would have sequestered you away somewhere?" Cedric argued. "He definitely wouldn't let you come here, to the headquarters of Voldemort's only opposition. Say what you will about his methods or what have you, but there's no denying that."

No, there wasn't any denying that, regardless of how Harry felt toward the headmaster lately.

"Can I tell the others you're up?" Cedric asked. "Maybe scrounge up some lunch while I'm at it?"

Perhaps it was finally retelling the events for what he always knew would be the last time, or even simply the palliative nature of Cedric's presence. Whatever the cause, the fog that'd clouded Harry's mind the last couple of days dissipated slightly. Enough to let a genuine, if wry, smile slide across Harry's lips for the first time since Wednesday night.

"If you must," he said.

Within a quarter of an hour, Harry was sitting up in bed, slurping down a bit of stew, surrounded by his friends. While Hermione sat at the foot of Harry's bed and Cedric sat beside him, the Weasleys remained distant, Ron leaning against the wardrobe and Ginny seated on her brother's bed.

"How're you feeling?" Ron asked timidly.

"Lousy," Harry replied. "Since August we've been wondering what Voldemort's new weapon was. Who knew it'd turn out to be me?"

"Stop it," Hermione snapped. "Don't say that, it's not true."

"Oh?" said Harry. "And how d'you know that? Been inducted into the Order since I've been up here?"

"Not that you'd know," Ginny said, arms folded. "You've been either sleeping all day or hiding from the rest of us since we got back from the hospital."

"You don't want to talk to me," Harry informed her.

"Actually, I do," she retorted, her tone softening dramatically. "We've been talking about it, what you told us, and – oh, don't look at me like that, I just said we wanted to talk to you. Harry, you said saw all of it happen? The attack, everything?"

"Yes."

"When You-Know-Who used me to open the Chamber of Secrets three years ago, I had no memory of what he did while he possessed me," Ginny recalled. "Can you recollect any gaps in your memories? Any instances lately where you don't remember where you've been or what you've been doing?"

"If he could, then he wouldn't not remember, would he?" Ron mused.

"Hush," demanded Hermione.

After thinking on it for a minute, Harry replied with a tentative, "No, I don't think so."

"There you have it, then," Ginny decreed. "You can't've been possessed by You-Know-Who."

"It cannot be that simple," Harry argued, though he also ventured a meek, hopeful, "Can it? There could be other kinds of possession or, or…"

"There are," Cedric said, though he seemed reluctant to admit it. "But it doesn't seem likely. Given the distance, the circumstances. It sounds more like the visions you had last year."

"This was different, this felt different!"

"Voldemort was only half-alive then, barely a corporeal being," Hermione pointed out. "Maybe, now that he's back, this is what they're like."

It wasn't much comfort, that. The notion that this may be something Harry would need to adjust to, to accept until Voldemort was defeated once and for all, made him shiver. Not as severely, however, as believing the dark wizard was able to hijack Harry's mind and body. Even a slight upgrade was welcome at this point.

"All right," Harry said. He scrubbed his face, attempting to banish the last vestiges of listlessness. "All right. I guess that's that, eh?"

"'That's that'?" Hermione repeated, eyeing him warily.

"Yeah," replied Harry. "Whatever happened… It happened. No use torturing myself about it or letting it ruin Christmas."

"That's a good idea, mate," Ron nodded.

Ginny got up from Ron's bed.

"Now that's sorted," she said, moving to the door.

"Ginny, wait!" Hermione said, exasperatedly glancing between Cedric and the red-headed girl. "You don't have to go."

"Yes I do," she replied, "and so do you, and my brother. These two haven't seen each other since Wednesday. They'll probably be wanting some time alone. I only wanted to get that bit out of the way as soon as Cedric got here because he tends to make Harry more level-headed than usual."

"Oy!" cried Harry, even though he was smiling.

"No use denying it," Ginny shot back. She held the door open. "So, like I said: that's sorted now. Come on, shift!"

"I'm only going to go back to sleep once you're all gone," Harry told them.

"Yeah, no one believes that," Ron chortled as he departed.

"But if you do actually sleep, don't let it be too long," Hermione advised, patting Harry's leg as she stood. "You don't want to muck up your sleep pattern."

"I'll make sure doesn't," Cedric assured her.

"Okay, good."

"Glad you're here, Cedric," Ginny said before shutting the door behind her. "He's bloody miserable to be around when he doesn't have you."

Alone at last, Cedric noted quietly, "I guess she's done hating me."

"She stopped hating you a while ago," Harry replied. "She just needed time."

"Good," said Cedric. "And you meant it before, right? You're done torturing yourself?"

"Yeahhh, why should I torture myself when Voldemort is doing such a fantastic job of it for me? Ow," he added in response to Cedric's reproaching swat to his shoulder.

"You just said –"

"There isn't a switch, Cedric," Harry said. "I can't simply turn off this feeling. After what Moody said, the thought is always going to be there, in the back of my mind, making me doubt myself."

Kind of like Voldemort, he thought.

"But everything that you all said is true," he acknowledged. "And I know Dumbledore wouldn't let me stay here if I was a threat. He'd send me back to the Dursleys or something."

"Then I'd just follow you there, too," said Cedric, laying an arm across Harry's shoulders. "I'd camp out in the front yard. I still owe you that Muggle camping trip, you know."

"You do," Harry agreed. "With the one big sleeping bag for us both."

"You remember that bit, eh?" Cedric laughed. "Hey, what Ginny said before, is that true? You being miserable when I'm not around?"

"Oh, that," Harry scoffed. "No idea what she's talking about. Clearly the girl's insane. I manage just fine without you."

"Oh, is that right?"

The onslaught of tickling Harry received then was brutal and unforgiving.

O O O O O O O

The weeks that followed were pleasant and peaceful and, as Cedric had predicted, over before Harry knew it.

It wasn't all joy. A few days after Christmas, Mrs. Weasley heard Kreacher's mutterings about Harry and Cedric committing "unnatural, disgusting acts" in his mistress's house. From that point on, the two could barely find a moment alone that wasn't interrupted by her. The idea of saying something to Sirius about it was dismissed as quickly as it came to Harry. His godfather's approval of their relationship was already more than he could ask for. Running to him for help getting laid was out of the question. Eventually they were able work around Mrs. Weasley's grocery outings and get in a few decent, albeit rushed, private sessions before break ended.

Interactions between Ron and Hermione had been exponentially easier at Grimmauld Place than the preceding months at Hogwarts. Hermione was warmer and more affectionate, from sitting so close she was nearly in his lap to unabashedly stroking his hair. As for Ron… Well, he took his cues from Hermione in their relationship. If it were up to Ron, Harry suspected they would be outright dating already. Cedric theorized that the attack on Mr. Weasley was what prompted the turnabout in Hermione's behavior, and Harry agreed this was most likely. Neither wanted to question her about it, lest they ruin a good thing. Now that they were returning to Hogwarts, though, Hermione was slowly reverting to her old form, bristling at Ron's touch and snapping at him more than ever.

I'll never understand girls, Harry thought. And luckily he would never have to.

Then again, her irritability may have had something to do with traveling so early in the morning, with the Knight Bus not being the smoothest form of conveyance. That, compounded with saying goodbye to his godfather and the prospect of Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape, was making Harry pretty grumpy himself.

He fidgeted nervously with the ring on his right hand. Harry was still adjusting to it being there. The ring was Cedric's Christmas present to him. To both of them, actually. They were a set; one for Harry and one for Cedric. He said he found the rings over the summer. He saw them in a shop in Little Whinging one day while waiting for Harry to escape his aunt and uncle's house. The two hands clasping the crowned heart reminded Cedric strongly of him and Harry taking the handles of the Triwizard Cup. The comparison struck him so hard that he bought the rings on the spot.

It was a sweet, romantic gesture. Harry liked having something they could both wear to symbolize their bond. Other than their matching scars, that is. The rings certainly made a much less dramatic statement. As he slid his on that evening, Harry noted dryly that Cedric seemed to get him jewelry every Christmas. He quickly retracted the thoughtless remark when the older boy winced, saying how he loved the token, and especially that the silver ring complimented his silver locket.

And it was the truth. But even so, there was a part of Harry that felt uneasy receiving such gifts. It was the same part of him that was irritated by Sirius's instruction that Cedric look after Harry when they got back to Hogwarts. Mrs. Weasley had done the same in September. Harry barely excused it then, and only because he knew that was the sort of thing mothers did. Coming from Sirius, who knew how capable Harry was of defending himself, it was almost insulting. He was aware that gender norms weren't applicable in his relationship with Cedric the same way they were in a heterosexual pairing. Yet there were times Harry couldn't help feeling like "the girl," or at least that he was being treated that way. He was the more likely of the two to fill that role, at least physically speaking. Despite having grown much since they began dating, Harry remained shorter and skinnier than Cedric. And of course he would always be younger.

Harry shook his head in an attempt to drive those thoughts from it. They were silly, after all. Cedric knew Harry better than anyone, with the exception of Ron and Hermione, and he was rapidly surpassing even them. There was no way he would treat Harry like anything but his equal. At least, not intentionally.

How intensely Harry lamented their return to Hogwarts and sleeping apart did little to mitigate these feelings of girlishness. Gender roles aside, Harry slept better with Cedric beside him. He wished, not for the first time, that they could have been sorted into the same house, if only for the convenience. They probably couldn't get away with sleeping in each other's beds, but they also wouldn't be quite as far apart. Harry pondered whether this was what kept many students from dating outside their own house. It played a part in him not being better friends with any other Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws, for sure.

That night, after all the traveling was done and their things were unpacked and away, Harry and Cedric spent their last few hours before taking a walk across the grounds.

"I wish I didn't have these lessons with Snape," Harry complained.

"They'll be good for you," Cedric said. "I've done some reading on the subject. I think it will be very helpful."

"Why were you reading about Occlumency?"

"Um," he hesitated, biting his bottom lip for a second, "because of us. I was researching different forms of telepathy, hoping to find more clues about our connection."

"Oh," said Harry, unsure how to take this bit of news. "What did you find?"

"Nothing, really. I would've told you if I did. But something I read about in the course of my research was Occlumency, and Legilimency. That's sort of like what you might call mind-reading, only it's more complicated than that. The human mind is far too intricate to simply read in the way most people think of it. What we have, our Scar Sense, it's damn near Legilimency itself. I wondered, briefly, if Occlumency might help to diminish it."

"How come didn't you tell me about this?"

"I didn't –" Cedric sighed. "I wasn't keeping it from you."

"No, no –"

"It isn't like that."

"That's not what I was saying," Harry insisted. "I didn't mean – I wasn't accusing you of anything, Cedric. Honest. I was only curious why you hadn't mentioned any of this to me before. It affects both of us."

"I guess I didn't think you would be interested," Cedric said. "And I didn't… I-I-I don't want you to think I'm looking for a cure. I'm not. I don't need to keep you out of my head."

"It's okay if you do, you know," said Harry. "I wouldn't mind a bit more quiet in mine." He stroked his boyfriend's arm, then took his hand. "But I don't need to keep you out, either." He tapped his own head with Cedric's hand. "You're always welcome in here."

"Glad to hear it," Cedric smiled.

They continued the rest of the way around the lake holding hands in comfortable silence.

O O O O O O O

In a matter of days, life at Hogwarts post-Christmas grew progressively worse than it was before the holiday.

Occlumency lessons were a hellish experience. Harry's inexplicable connection to the Dark Lord's mind garnered no sympathy from his instructor, not that Harry expected anything of the sort from Severus Snape. The one good thing that'd come from them was the revelation that the door Harry had dreamt of for months was to the Department of Mysteries. Even that wasn't much consolation, as the answer only raised further questions.

This was followed almost immediately by a flash from Voldemort, joy over something Harry wouldn't know until the next morning when he read it in the Daily Prophet. The mass break-out from Azkaban. Ten of the most notorious, insane criminals alive, roaming free. It had everyone out of sorts, naturally. And then there was the less-popular news of Broderick Bode's supposedly accidental death. The connection between the dream door's location in the Department of Mysteries and Bode, an Unspeakable, was hard to question.

And to top everything off, Hagrid was on probation. This was hardly surprising– in fact, if anything, Harry couldn't believe it took Umbridge so long to strike – but that made it no less upsetting.

Hence the slumber party.

It was actually Ron's idea. Sort of. While reflecting on the pall hanging over the school, Ron recalled his twin brothers' New Year's Eve party the year before, and theorized that something similar might boost morale. Hermione was the one who suggested that they use the idea for Dumbledore's Army. Once the word had spread among its members, and Fred and George got their hands in it, things snowballed from there.

Now all they had to do was not get caught.

"Oh, Harry, you're such a pessimist," George chided as he crouched beside Harry and Cedric.

Like everyone else, the boyfriends were lying side-by-side on the comfortable, cushiony floor that the Room had provided for the occasion, along with the sleeping bags and pillows. The wall they faced was primarily dominated by a projection screen, the only source of light in the room.

"Look around, mate," said George. "Everyone's watching your movie things, and behaving themselves quite nicely. Except those two in the corner – oy, lovebirds, don't you ruin it for everyone else!"

"Don't worry, we're on it," Fred said with a nod.

They marched off through the rows of sleeping bags toward a dark corner of the room to police the situation.

"He's right," Cedric conceded. "Everything's under control. And they all love the movies."

"Can't go wrong with Disney," mused Harry. "It's so strange to me that none of you have ever heard of these stories. Some of these, they're just basic common knowledge. Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty. Everyone knows them."

"Yeah, well, it's not like you've heard of The Tale of the Three Brothers."

"Got that right."

"Ooh, or The Fountain of Fair Fortune! I always loved that one. My mum had a cat named Sir Luckless when she was a girl."

"You'll have to tell it to me sometime," Harry mumbled into Cedric's chest.

"Hey," said Cedric, nudging Harry gently. "Hey you, no falling asleep yet. It's only eleven-thirty. You'll set a bad example."

"Oh, all right, all right!" Harry grunted. He propped himself up on his elbow and yawned, "There, better?"

"Much," Cedric grinned. "Now, explain to me again why some animals can talk in these films and other can't?"

"There are some mysteries, Cedric, that are just beyond solving."

END NOTES: I know the tag with the slumber party in the RoR is rather ass-random. No joke: the idea came to me in a dream about two years ago. How can you not include something like that? And it almost ended with Harry falling asleep on Cedric for the umpteenth time in this series, but I couldn't let that happen again.
(Also: I couldn't find anywhere to include this in the chapter, but rule-abiding Hermione agreed to the crazy idea because it's DA-only and anyone who tattled would be struck by the SNEAK curse.)
Congratulate me, I'm an uncle! I have two beautiful baby nieces. Plus getting married in two months. Crazy busy! But I hope to get the next chapter done and posted very soon. Thank you for reading! -kevo