Double-post because the only reason this chapter and the last were split in two is that it was just too damn long. I appreciate all the well-wishes.
Cedric led them all to the seventh floor.
"The Grey Lady told me about this place," he said as he paced back and forth three times.
We need a place to learn defense. We need a place to learn defense. We need a place to learn defense.
A door appeared, he opened it, and entered. The Room of Things really delivered, giving them a large dueling hall made of mirrors to check form, as well as sparring dummies and a bookshelf that was full of spell books, though most of them were damaged or missing pages.
"Wow," breathed Harry. "It's almost like Hogwarts wants us to fight back!"
"Now we just need a way to communicate with everyone," said Ron.
"I've got that covered." Cedric ushered them out, closed the door, paced, and opened the door once more to reveal the Lost and Found.
"Bloody hell," said George.
"Someone needs to do inventory," said Fred.
"House-Elves have been stashing things in here for ten centuries," said Cedric, picking amongst the things. "Broken furniture, lost items, things like that. I need… metal. Preferably gold-colored but it cannot be real gold, know what? Let's go with silver and silver-colored, steel, chrome, things like that. Be careful about what you touch. Hogwarts herself is semi-sentient due to the constant flow of magic. You don't want to find out if it seeped into a centuries old object."
They spread out for a bit and brought back various metals. Some of it was silver but there was more steel like from broken armor and weapons. Cedric found a massive cauldron and piled the metal in it. They left once more, Cedric requested his work room with the cauldron in it.
"Nice place," said Ginny. "You really know the ends and outs of this room, huh?"
"I pretty much know everything that goes on in this school," said Cedric. "So many secrets. That's why my smile is so big you know."
She, Fred, and George chuckled at the reference.
While they watched, he liquidized the metals and spread it out into a sheet. Using a spell, he punched out galleon sized coins, and imprinted an almost identical seal to Gringotts. The head side had a picture of Gandalf the Grey rather than Merlin and the rims were blank.
When he was done, he held up a coin that looked like a silver galleon.
"This," he said, "sends a communication to all the other coins. You can use up to forty characters. So, when it's time for another meeting, you tell everyone time and day."
"Brilliant," said Ginny. "Glad we have you on our side, Cedric."
Cedric smiled and cast one more enchantment on the coins, then gave the one with a gold border to Harry.
"Lick this," he said.
"Er… why?" Harry asked.
"Do it and I'll show you."
Feeling ridiculous, Harry licked the coin and gave it back to Cedric who tapped it with his wand.
"Follow me."
He led them out to a nearby tower that overlooked the Great Lake. Cedric held up the coin and threw it into the water.
"I don't think you got enough sleep last night, Ced," said George.
"I'm just as sane as I've always been," said Cedric. "Check your pocket, Harry."
Harry dug into his pocket and removed the coin.
"Wicked…" he breathed.
"That way, nobody can steal it and pretend to be you," said Cedric. "I'll put the same enchantment on everyone else's."
"I'd hate to get on your bad side," said Neville.
"Lucky for everyone, I don't have a bad side," said Cedric.
"Aren't you tired of being nice?" Fred asked.
"Don't you just want to go ape-shit?" George added.
Cedric snorted and shook his head.
"Let me know when the first meeting is. Try and make it on a night Tabatha and I have rounds as I will likely have detention."
"Alright," said Harry. "Thanks for the help Cedric."
Cedric nodded and felt a wave of exhaustion. He bid the group goodbye and went to the Room of Things since it was the closest. He needed to rest.
~o0o~
Of course, Umbridge released a new Educational Decree.
All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded.
An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.
Permission to re-form may be sought by the High-Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).
No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of High Inquisitor.
Any student found to have formed, or belong to, an Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.
Cedric was not lucky enough to read it first. He was monitoring a Quidditch practice and shouting out pointers when he heard the dreaded clearing of a throat.
"Hem, hem!"
Freezing, he looked down and saw the thing of evil herself dressed like she skinned a giant, pink puffskein. Cedric tweeted his whistle.
"Cool down, team!" he said and flew down to Umbridge. "Good morning, professor. How can I help you today?"
"A new rule has been instated," said Umbridge. "All Student led Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are disbanded and must be approved by the Hogwarts High Inquisitor which is me."
"Professor…" said Cedric even though he knew the answer. "Please, couldn't I — we were victorious last year, shouldn't we have a chance to reclaim that victory?"
"I suppose Hufflepuff should," she said and smiled. "You seem to be a very busy person, Mr. Diggory. Don't you think, as Head Boy, you have enough to worry about above Quidditch?"
Quidditch was something that made him happy and she knew it. However… she didn't know about their new club. No, that was still safe, for now. She did this to spite him… and Harry. And she caught wind of some first years wanting to start a Dueling Club. Dumbledore's Army was a whisper that hadn't yet reached her ears.
"If I resign as Captain," he said tightly, "will Hufflepuff be allowed to play?"
"Well, why don't you find out?"
Cedric closed his eyes a moment, swallowed back his anger, and turned back out to the field. He blew hard into his whistle and beckoned everyone to him.
"What's going on, Ced?" Lisha asked.
"I am resigning as your captain," he said tightly. "From here on out, you will look to Eliza as your captain. When she addresses you, you will respond with 'yes, Captain' or 'no, Captain,' am I clear?"
"Yes, Captain," they mumbled.
Cedric removed his whistle and gave it to Eliza along with his clipboard.
"Use it well," he said and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I believe in you."
"Thanks, Ced…"
"You've got your first game against Ravenclaw November Twenty-Sixth," he said to his team. "I believe in you and I'll be in the stands cheering."
"Mr. Diggory… perhaps I should keep the broom in my office," said Professor Umbridge. "We don't want any of your teammates using a special broom. It would simply be unfair to the other teams."
Cedric's eye twitched. He threw his broom on the ground and continued walking away.
"Tut, tut! Now that won't do!" she said with a malicious grin. "Respect must be shown at all times. I'm afraid I'll have to give you detention, Mr. Diggory. Tonight and tomorrow. Now, pick up the broom and hand it to me."
Cedric picked up the Velozmente and gingerly placed it in the witch's stubby little hands.
"Oh, Captain, my Captain!" said Humphrey holding his broom in the air.
Looked like somebody had seen Dead Poets' Society one too many times.
"Oh, Captain, my Captain," the others chorused, holding up their brooms in solidarity.
Umbridge giggled, finding this condescendingly cute and walked away, dragging the tail of Cedric's on the ground, twigs snapping off in the process.
Furious, Cedric stomped to the locker room to change. Using a seam ripper charm, he tore his name off his robes, flung them to the ground, and stormed off, before going back and folding them neatly onto the bench. He put his headphones on and headed into the castle.
Okay, so she could take away Quidditch, but she couldn't take away his Head Boy status.
Not yet, mocked the criticizing voice in the back of his head.
Cedric stood in the Entrance Hall and read the sign with his arms crossed. He was too angry to go to breakfast just yet. Tabatha stood next to him and squinted to read the sign.
"Next thing you know, she's going to be disbanding prefects and instating her own force of brown-nosers and bullies," she huffed.
"What's the difference?"
Tabatha threw her head back and laughed, scaring a group of first years.
"Can't believe this," Ron muttered, he and Harry slowed to a stop to read the sign. "Who told? Does anyone have stitches?"
"She doesn't know about us," Cedric answered quietly. "But I'm sure if she did pick up some rumors about it, she'd be relieved that she already instated this rule. She will pick up on it, you know. People can tell a lot without saying a word. But we'll be careful."
"When is the first meeting?" Tabatha asked.
Cedric leaned close and whispered the details in her ear. "And we'll hold a prefect meeting tonight."
Tabatha nodded and left.
"Oh, no, the others are coming this way," Ron hissed spotting the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws heading their way and Dean and Seamus coming from the opposite direction.
"Morning," said Cedric brightly. "Emergency prefect meeting this evening."
"Oh… oh!" said Hannah, catching on after reading the Educational Decree, "Right and… is there another prefect meeting soon?"
"I will let you know later," he said.
"You alright, Ced?" Harry asked.
Cedric sighed and shook his head.
"I had to resign as Quidditch Captain," he said glumly. "Umbridge wouldn't let Hufflepuff play with me on the team, so I had to quit and she took my Velozmente."
"But that's the fastest broom in the world," said Ron.
Cedric nearly rolled his eyes. Ron was both upset that a broom that nice was not in use and relief that it was taken out of the game. He was in full on anxiety mode with Gryffindor v. Slytherin on November 12th and freaking out about being the new Keeper.
Instead of commenting, Cedric just felt sick.
"I'm going to go ahead and go to Charms," he said to Tabatha. "Can you spread the word about the meeting and confirm it with Professor McGonagall?"
"On it," said Tabatha. "See you in class."
Cedric put his headphones back on and put in Hermione's Mixtape to listen to on his way to Charms. He arrived before anyone else, but Professor Flitwick was there standing on a high stack of books and writing that day's lesson on the chalkboard.
"Good morning, professor," he said.
Professor Flitwick looked over his shoulder and adjusted his glasses. "Good morning, Cedric, you're here early."
"Yes, I… I wasn't hungry and there's not enough time to stop by the library."
"I thought Hufflepuff had Quidditch practice on Monday mornings," he said furrowing his brow. "At least, that's what Pomona said."
"Yeah, they do." Cedric sat down in his seat and rested his chin in his hand. "Professor Flitwick, remember when you asked me and Hermione to join the choir five years ago?"
Professor Flitwick nodded.
"Is it too late to join?"
Cedric didn't have to look at the teacher to feel the sadness and pity.
"It's never too late to join," he said firmly. "Dolores can pry the Frog Choir from my cold, dead hands. We have rehearsals Tuesday and Thursday mornings and on Saturday afternoons."
"Cheers," said Cedric.
He and Tabatha managed to get the prefect meeting together in time to spare him from detention with Umbridge. He was certain that was the one rule she wouldn't change. She certainly loved order.
The classroom they used for their meetings was average-sized and had been cleaned for their use. It doubled like a teacher's lounge for prefects and had coffee tables and mismatched armchairs and couches. Tea and snacks were served as well, which was very kind of the house-elves. He and Tabatha sat side-by-side in a loveseat facing everyone else.
"Alright, this emergency meeting has come to order," said Tabatha. "The current prefect shifts aren't working out, so we're going to change that."
"Why?" Angelina asked for the sake of innocence.
"Constantly patrolling with people from your own house can cause a bias when it comes to rule-breaking and we want to fix it," she replied. "Cedric and I already made the changes and will pass out the new schedules at the end of the meeting.
"Hem, hem!"
Cedric had to try very hard not to physically react, his pen going straight through his paper.
"Yes, Professor Umbridge?" said Tabatha sweetly.
Professor Umbridge stood in the doorway carrying a clipboard and a quill with a fluffy pink feather.
"Oh, don't mind me," she said, sitting down in a hard-backed chair. "I'm starting class inquiries and I believe these should extend to the prefects."
"Of course, Professor Umbridge," said Tabatha, voice dripping with sarcasm. "As you absolutely should be as High Inquisitor of Hogwarts."
Umbridge preened.
"Let's move on to problem students," said Cedric.
"Problem students you say?"
Nearly everyone groaned internally at hearing the Toad Lady's girlish tone.
"The second year I found purging is finally admitting she has a problem," said Melina Lynwood. "I'll be working with her closely and put Madam Pomfrey on alert."
"The fourth year with severe depression and I have set up a check-in system," said Reuben, the Slytherin Seventh Year prefect. "Help keep up assignments. We agreed that a half job done is better than no job done at all. Some points on an assignment are better than no points."
"Good, good," said Cedric. "Anyone else?"
"I'm concerned about this one boy in Hufflepuff," said Chevonne. "He's… a project kid."
Bailey Todd… Cedric had a suspicion about him. Loner. Scared of his own shadow. More forgetful than Neville Longbottom.
"I'm a project person," he said. "Let me take care of this one, okay? You're rather good with the homesick kids."
"Alright, thanks, Ced."
"Anyone else?" Cedric asked and pointed his pen at Matthew Whittle of Ravenclaw. "Luna is not a problem student, she just has a lot of bullies. I expect all of you to step up as prefects and put a stop to it. We're wizards, eccentric is in our repertoire."
Padma and Anthony nodded.
"Does anyone else have anything to say?" Tabatha asked.
"Hem, hem." Professor Umbridge stood up looking unhappy.
"Well," she said. "I can find no faults here. I would prefer a list of those problem children, however."
"We all signed a contract promising to uphold the integrity of a prefect," said Saorise, "to violate that contract and the trust of our problem students would be… disorderly."
Cedric hid his smirk behind a sip of tea. Umbridge's words and beliefs being twisted against her. If she made exceptions, then people would find more to her rules.
"Very well." Umbridge stiffly nodded at them and left.
When they were sure she was gone, everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
"She is the worst," said Sally Puttick.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"I find her exceedingly pleasant," said Pansy.
"You would," Draco muttered and Pansy gasped.
"Meeting adjourned," said Cedric. "Chevonne, why don't you tell me more about the problem student on our way back?"
"Sure thing."
After everyone else had gone to bed that night, Cedric sat up in the Common Room staring at the messages in his IMN. Hermione sounded like she was having so much fun at Castelobruxo. He wanted so much for her to be happy and it was becoming difficult to find good things to write about. He didn't doubt she'd storm the castle to free him.
A noise alerted him and he quickly snapped the book shut. When he looked up he saw Bailey freeze.
"Hey, Bailey," said Cedric. "You can sit. I don't bite."
Bailey awkwardly sat down across from Cedric, his thumb brushing over the corner of his sketchbook.
"Can't sleep?" Cedric asked.
The boy shook his head, keeping his eyes anywhere but Cedric's face.
"Me neither. Too much to think about." He looked at Bailey's puppy dog pyjamas. "Nice jammies."
Bailey looked down at them and blushed. "Oh… thanks."
"I never had pajamas like that. Always shirts and shorts." He smiled. "Made it easier to get up and do farm work if all you have to do is pull on a pair of overalls.
"I guess."
Hermione's writing appeared on the blank page he was staring at.
Farm boy, are you awake when you shouldn't be?
He could imagine the stern raise of her eyebrow.
Yes, he wrote. Project child.
Ah, well, you are a project person.
That's what I told Chevonne. I think this kid just needs a consistent friend.
"What are you writing?" Bailey asked.
"Just a letter to my girlfriend," said Cedric, glancing up. "What are you drawing?"
Bailey closed his sketchbook and gripped his pencil, looking anywhere but at Cedric.
"Nothing," he muttered.
"Minimalism," Cedric replied. "I like it."
Bailey laughed, surprising himself. He pressed a hand to his mouth and shrank down.
Cedric studied the kid. Unsure, easily startled, little to no confidence, forgetful… highly upset when he's forgetful as if it were the end of the world. He must deal with a lot of issues at home. If this were true, then it'd be important to be encouraging whenever possible. Turn attention to things he's good at, like drawing, create tricks to help him remember, give him a more positive outlook or at least steer it towards something more neutral. He glanced at Helga Hufflepuff's portrait where she sat dozing.
"I like to draw sometimes," said Cedric. "Mind you, it's mostly my ideas for innovations and inventions, but I'm rather good with woodwork. I made a bookstand and a pendant for my girlfriend and I used to carve designs in the walls of my treehouse and bedroom."
"Your parents let you carve things in your walls?" Bailey gasped.
Okay, they were getting somewhere.
"Well, it was the attic," said Cedric.
"Why did they make you live in the attic?"
Cedric glanced up. Bailey still wasn't looking at him.
"They didn't make me," he said. "I needed a space to call my own and be myself and the attic was the best place to do it. I could decorate it however I wanted."
"Oh."
Cedric looked down at his IMN and drew a picture of a flower for Hermione. A minute later, a sprig of tiny purple flowers rose from the page making him smile.
Thinking about you too. Hermione wrote, drawing a heart.
A weight settled next to Cedric. He glanced and saw Bailey, sitting stiffly and hugging his sketchbook like a life preserver.
"Anything bothering you, Bailey?" Cedric asked. "Or anyone?"
Bailey shook his head.
"Roommates treating you well?"
He nodded.
"That's good."
They were silent for a few moments longer. Cedric remained as still and relaxed as he could. Bailey slowly pried his hands open and flipped open his book.
"Did you still wanna see my drawings?"
"I'd love to."
Bailey smiled and gave the book to Cedric. Most of them were done in pencil, but there were a few charcoal and some in color pencil. Most of them were of objects around the castle and things like flowers, cats, owls, and one of a toad. He also had some drawings of Doctor Who characters. Hermione had shown him a few episodes, but he couldn't get into it.
"These are brilliant, Bailey," said Cedric, "Very brilliant. You're a skilled artist. I bet you practice a lot."
"Thanks, Cedric."
The older boy gently closed the book and gave it back to its owner. When they made eye contact, Cedric saw everything that made Bailey the scared boy he was today. No child should have to go through things like that. Now he knew why the look in Bailey's eyes was familiar. Esperanza held that same look on her bad days. So did Harry.
Swallowing back his anger that someone would show that treatment to anyone, especially their own child, Cedric forced himself to serenity. The last thing Bailey needed was an angry person. At this point in his life, he would feel as if all anger was directed towards him. Cedric needed to stay nice, calm, and friendly. If he continued his aura that made people verbally tell him things, then Bailey might tell him about his home life and Cedric could talk to Professor Sprout.
If they didn't get anywhere by May, then he would take matters into his own hands to get Bailey out of that situation.
"Would you like some tea?" Cedric asked.
"Can we get tea?"
"Yes, we'll go to the kitchens."
Bailey gasped. "We can't wander around the corridors at night."
"I'm Head Boy," said Cedric easily. "Besides, we're not wandering. We have a set destination that is only fifteen steps away."
Bailey, still uncertain but trusting Cedric, followed him out into the hall and to the kitchens.
The kitchens were completely empty. All of the kitchen elves were asleep leaving only the cleaning elves to tidy up Common Rooms and classrooms as well as do laundry. Cedric found where they kept the tea sets and picked up a kettle.
"Should we be in here?" Bailey whispered.
"They won't mind," said Cedric busying himself with making tea. "They'll only be disappointed that they didn't get a chance to make it themselves."
"The house-elves."
"Yes." Cedric lit one of the stoves with a match and set the kettle over it then went inside the pantry containing the dried goods and found massive tins of tea the size of trash bins near the back. "What sort of tea do you like?"
"Um… we don't really drink tea at my house," Bailey mumbled.
"Alright, well, it's late so we'll go with chamomile."
Cedric scooped a bit into the teapot. All there was left to do was wait for the water to boil and the tea to steep.
"Cedric?"
"Yes?"
"Is the house-elf thing slavery?"
"I used to have a house-elf," he said. "Her name is Tavi. She pretty much raised me when my mum was too busy with farm work. I asked her the same question when I was young and she told me it wasn't. I know better now and I'm not going to lie to you. It is. Elves cannot hold property, they have no rights, they are not paid and were "bred" so they wouldn't wish to be paid. It's a messed up system and changes will need to be made. I actually freed her earlier this year. She resisted at first, but now she's the happiest I've ever seen her. She's employed by a family in the Dominican Republic. She's got wages, a room of her own, and the most stylish clothes available."
The kettle whistled shrilly. Cedric quickly took it off the burner and poured the water into the pot.
"That's what Hermione does, right?" Bailey asked. "Works to free them?"
"Yes, that is the end goal." Cedric set the teapot and cups on the table meant for the teachers. He smiled at the kid and gestured to Professor Dumbledore's chair.
"Oh… no, I couldn't…"
"Why not? Dumbledore isn't sitting in it."
Bailey grinned and sat down on his legs in the seat, feeling rather important sitting in the perspective of such a respected wizard. Cedric poured them both tea and stirred in honey.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Bailey asked. "Not that you were never nice before…"
"I like to be nice to everyone."
"So you like to stay up in the middle of the night to make tea for everyone?" Bailey blanched and looked down at his tea. "Sorry, that was rude."
"No, it's fine, I would've said the exact same thing," he chuckled. "To elaborate, I would get up to make tea and talk, for anyone who needs it. Because you never know when it's the type of thing someone truly needs. I'm not perfect and sometimes I say the wrong thing, but I try."
Bailey considered Cedric's words while carefully sipping his tea. He was not going to spill everything just yet. He still needed to trust Cedric beyond a midnight journey. Cedric would gain that trust and keep it unless Bailey's life was put in danger.
"Is… is it true you can make people fall asleep just by touching their forehead?" Bailey asked.
"Well, I use magic, but yes," Cedric replied. "I learned the trick from a woman in the Caribbean."
"Whoa…"
Bailey's mind ran free with an imagination of Cedric traipsing through an island jungle and finding a village medicine witch who taught him strange and new types of magic.
"Why do you ask?" Cedric asked not correcting the fantasy for now. "Need help falling asleep?"
"Um… maybe… I don't know."
"It's okay if you do," said Cedric. "If you need anything or just need someone to talk to, I'm here to help. That's why they made me Head Boy."
Bailey nodded and yawned. Cedric caught it and they both laughed.
"Maybe I'll be able to fall asleep on my own."
"Good. Let's go ahead and clean this up."
"Okay," said Bailey. "And Cedric? Thanks."
"Anytime."