Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing except Chloe and anything else you don't recognize.
Chapter 22! Sorry I didn't get this chapter up yesterday but I had to baby-sit and it when later then I thought and then I had church really early this morning. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this one! And thanks for all your reviews! They were awesome!
Chapter 22:
Before the Third Task
I woke up feeling refreshed and happy. I had been rather cheery for the past few days, actually. Everyone knew why just by looking at me and Cedric together. It was a big no brainer. I grabbed a fresh pair of clothes and jumped into the shower. Today was the day of the third task. At that thought, I felt a little worried, for Cedric. This task was most likely going to be the most dangerous task out of the three. I kept worrying. What if he didn't make it out? Well, I wouldn't be able to live then. I shook the thought out of my head as I finished my shower. I dried myself off and got dressed. I brushed my hair and put on my necklace, my now most treasured Christmas gift ever. I walked down to the common room to find Cedric waiting for me. No surprise there, he always waited for me, even before that wonderful kiss, back when we were just friends.
I smiled at him as I descended towards the common room. He smiled in return.
"Hey," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him. He kissed back of course. "Nervous?" I asked, once we had pulled apart.
"A little," he admitted. "Are you going to tease me about it?" He asked playfully. I laughed a little.
"Maybe," I replied. We both laughed before kissing again.
"Come on, let's go down to the great hall for breakfast." Cedric said, grabbing my hand.
"Okay," I said as he led me down to the great hall. I was feeling a little anxious as we walked to our destination. Cedric's father had come today for the final task and I was to meet him today. What if he didn't like me? What if he forbade Cedric from seeing me?! Would Cedric listen to his father or would he follow his heart? This was just making me more anxious. I tried my best to hide it but Cedric saw right through me.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked.
"No," I lied. Y'know, I think my voice enjoys not listening to what my head was telling it to do. Stupid voice. Cedric stopped, grabbed both of my hands and turned to face me.
"You should know by now that you can't lie to me,"
"I can always try," he chuckled a little before jumping on the subject again.
"What's wrong?" He asked. I sighed. There was no escaping this.
"I'm just a little anxious is all," I answered.
"About the task or meeting my father?"
"The latter," Cedric smiled at me, a smile that always made my heart melt like butter being prodded and poked with a hot fork.
"Chloe, you don't have to worry," he said. "He'll love you,"
"If you say so," I replied, looking away. He put his hand on the side of my face and made me look at him.
"I know so," he then kissed my softly. "It's hard not to,"
"Well, that would explain why I have so many friends," you gotta love sarcasm.
"You just keep to yourself. It's not a bad thing." He was just too sweet.
"Have I told you I love you lately?" I asked. He laughed and we kissed again.
"Come on, let's go," Cedric said, putting his arm around my waist and steering me towards the great hall. I rested my head on his shoulder as we walked.
"Y'know, I did just lie to you just now," I said.
"Huh?"
"I'm also a little anxious about the task, I guess," why should I be the one who's anxious? Oh, maybe because my boyfriend might not survive this task! Besides, I'm pretty sure Cedric's anxious to. He stopped and sighed.
"Chloe, you don't need to worry I'll be fine,"
"Well I can't help it," I said, lifting my head to get a better view of his face. "It's a natural instinct," he chuckled and we continued walking. I placed my head back on his shoulder. "Besides, even if we weren't a couple," those words came out so easily, as if I'd been speaking them my whole life, "or friends, I'd probably still worry about,"
"But I thought you used to hate me,"
"I did, but I think that deep down I always did love you, just too stubborn to realize it," Cedric chuckled. We came closer to the great hall. There was a short man with brown hair down to his ear lobe wearing nice robes standing outside the entrance, nodding to everyone else as they entered. Could it be Cedric's dad? I looked at the man and up at Cedric. Nope, didn't see a resemblance.
"Cedric!" The man cheered upon seeing us approaching.
"Hi Dad," okay, I'm guessing that he takes after his mom. They hugged before Cedric turned to me. "Dad, this is Chloe," I smiled.
"Hello," I said, holding out my hand for a handshake. He accepted it.
"It's very nice to meet you. Cedric's told me so much about you," he said.
"It's nice to meet you to, sir," I replied.
"Oh, don't call me sir. Call me Amos, please,"
"Okay," the three of us walked into the great hall for breakfast.
"My Dad is an Auror and my Mom works at a Muggle clothing store," I said. I had just finished telling Amos about my family.
"Well, that's very interesting," Amos replied.
"Not really," I said.
"You're being modest," Cedric said. I raised my eyebrows.
"Well, actually when you get all of my cousins together for Christmas, it can get pretty interesting." It was true. My older above of age wizard cousins were itching to use magic to make the house more cheerful and the non-magical cousins didn't know what was with the miniature reindeer flying around the house and we always had to come up with some stupid story about how they're hallucinating or use a memory charm on them. It wasn't pretty. Amos and Cedric laughed. I smiled.
"Chloe!" That was Emma. She was running up to where the three of us were sitting. "Chloe," she heaved when she reached me. "We"-deep breath-"need to find"-another deep breath-"Filip and-" her eyes fell upon Amos. She leaned down to me and Cedric. "Who is that?"
"That's my Dad, Emma," Cedric whispered.
"Oh," she gasped, standing straight. I couldn't help but giggle. Emma looked at Amos, who was smiling. "Hi," she said. "I'm Emma," she continued, holding out her hand.
"Amos Diggory," he replied, shaking her hand.
"Nice to meet you," she turned back to me. "Now, Chloe, we need to find Filip and then go to the Quidditch Pitch and find a seat before it's only the bad ones that are left,"
"Um, Emma,"
"Yes?"
"Filip's a Durmstrang,"
"So?"
"So, I think he'll be sitting with his fellow Durmstrangs cheering for Viktor." Emma huffed.
"Well, that doesn't mean we can't find a seat for us,"
"I think it's time that I head down to the Quidditch Pitch to," Cedric said, looking down at his watch. I sighed.
"Alright," I pecked him on the lips. "Love you,"
"Love you to,"
"Come on, Chloe let's go!" Emma exclaimed tugging on my arm.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," I sighed, getting her up and letting her drag me off. "You are so annoying," I said, as we walked out of the great hall.
"Why thank you," I rolled my eyes at her. We came to the Quidditch Pitch and claimed our seats. The third task was obviously a maze, an enchanted maze, I mean, a regular hedge maze in a wizard school? Uh-huh sure. The Quidditch Pitch quickly filled with other students. Fellow Hufflepuffs sat with us, some were carrying banners to show their support for Cedric. The Durmstrangs sat at the top of the stands-much to Emma's disappointment. I swear, she's got a crush on Filip-and the Beauxbatons sat at the bottom. The band took their seats in front of us. Emma was talking away, as usual but I wasn't paying attention. My thoughts were focused on Cedric. I was so worried about him. I had to go talk to him."
"Emma, I'll be right back," I said, getting up and walking out of the Quidditch Pitch. I walked to the Champions Tent and looked through the flaps. Cedric was pacing back and forth very close.
"Pst, Cedric," I whispered. He turned around. "Out here," he began to walk towards me. I reached into the tent, grabbed his shirt and yanked him out.
"Chloe," he sighed in relief. I had obviously given him a good scare.
"Hey," I whispered. "How are you?" I asked.
"Nervous," he admitted.
"It's a maze," I said.
"A maze?" I nodded. It was silent afterwards. It was a little awkward. Since when are things awkward between us?!
"Well, I better go back to my seat, Emma's waiting for me." I said as started to head back towards the pitch.
"Yeah, see you later," I stopped, closed my eyes and took a deep breath in. I wasn't just going to stand here and do nothing. We might not get anymore time together after this. I turned back around.
"Cedric," I said.
"Yeah?" He walked back out of the tent. I ran to him, wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the ground, deepening the kiss. There were fireworks going off, people cheering, there was magic. We broke apart and he held me.
"Please don't do it," I said as my eyes brimmed over with tears. "Please don't go!" I begged now sobbing.
"I don't have a choice, you heard Dumbledore at the start of the year," I started sobbing harder.
"But I don't want to lose you!"
"You won't," he said. I looked up at him, tears streaming down my face. "I promise. I'll walk out of that maze, promise," he said, wiping away my tears.
"Cedric," someone called from within the tent.
"I've got to go, remember what I said," I nodded. He gave me one final kiss before darting back into the tent. I stood there for a moment before heading back to the Quidditch Pitch. I had a terrible feeling that things were going to go horribly wrong during this task and I couldn't get rid of it.
Okay, there was chapter 22. What's going to happen? You'll have to hurry and review so go to the first scrolly thing at the bottom, go to the review option and click the 'go' button. Hurry!