Third Quidditch match of the season. We get to see how Hufflepuff is doing against Slytherin.

CEDRIC II

Cedric, Heidi, Malcolm, Tamsin, Herbert, Anthony and Maxine flew together over the pitch, under the cheers and boos of the crowd. A thin snow was falling around. Cedric had ordered his players to wear heating gloves for this game, even if it could hurt their performance. He had them practice with them over the last few days, to get used to them, and he hoped it would be enough. Today they were facing Slytherin, as the commentator didn't miss to remind him.

"Welcome to the third Quidditch game of Hogwarts' season. Today, Slytherin versus Hufflepuff."

Cedric waved his hand towards his parents as he flew past them. He thought he heard his father yelling for him. He had been very proud when Cedric came back home for Christmas with a victory over Gryffindor, and over Harry Potter. Cedric didn't really feel like he deserved all these congratulations and pride from his father, considering the circumstances in which he actually caught the Golden Snitch, but today he had to accept all the support he could gather. For the first time in years, the Hufflepuff team could hope to win the Quidditch Cup, and a victory today would go a long way in reaching this objective.

"The two teams are coming back to the pitch, each with a victory in their pocket. Today's victor will become the only team with a perfect record this year so far. And there is no way we can predict who is going to win this time. Dementors are not supposed to show up, as far as we know…"

Cedric thought he could hear a chill go through the crowd, and he felt it as well.

"… and there is no broken arm to use as an excuse this time."

Cedric laughed hard at this, and noticed, even from afar, how red Malfoy turned. He was even surprised that McGonagall, who watched over the commentator, didn't rebuff Jordan.

"For the Hufflepuff team, the captain, Cedric Diggory, their Seeker, arrives with his Chasers, Heidi Macavoy, Malcolm Preece and Tamsin Applebee. Their goalposts will be guarded by Herbert Fleet, and the Bludgers will be kicked by none other than Anthony Rickett and Maxine O'Flaherty."

The crowd shouted its encouragements.

"For the Slytherin team, Adrian Pucey and Graham Montague as Chasers, along with Marcus Flint their captain. Peregrine Derrick and Lucian Boyle as Beaters. Kevin Bletchley as Keeper. And as a Seeker, with an intact arm, we hope, Draco Malfoy."

This earned Lee Jordan to be actually rebuffed by McGonagall this time. Cedric ordered his teammates around, each taking his place in the formation. He then went to shake hands with Flint, who tried to crunch his own. Cedric returned it in kind, for once. He definitely wanted to win this game, and Flint's fist would not get in his way. He flew up, and ended up facing Malfoy.

"Don't worry, Diggory. My arm is very good," he shouted.

"We'll see."

This was the boy who got Cho injured in November. Only for that, Cedric thought it would be more than worth it to crush him.

"THE QUAFFLE IS RELEASED! THE GAME BEGINS!"

Cedric flew forward, flying over Malfoy who flew past him below.

"Marcus Flint has the Quaffle… Macavoy tries… She fails… Flint avoids a Bludger… He's before the Hufflepuff goalposts… He shoots… Oh, Fleet stopped the ball… He throws it… Oh, what a long pass… Preece gets it… Montague and Pucey are waiting for him… A pass behind him… It's Applebee who gets it… Montague and Pucey turn their attention to her… and another pass behind to Macavoy… She puts the brakes…"

Cedric watched as Lee Jordan was laughing. Heidi indeed stopped her broomstick straight, causing Flint, who was right behind her, to fly past her in surprise. And then, Heidi did something they practiced for a long time. She made a long pass.

"Preece got the Quaffle… He is alone before Slytherin's goalposts… He shoots… And he scores!"

The benches of Hufflepuff shouted in joy. Cedric raised the fist, and even lowered his altitude to clap Heidi's hand as they flew in opposite direction. He quickly took back altitude though and returned to searching the Snitch. His team just scored the first goal of the match by using some of the new tactics he developed with them, but Slytherins had resources, and the quicker he would catch the Snitch, the better it would be. A quick victory would be the best for Hufflepuff.

"Slytherins recovers the Quaffle… Bletchley passes it to Flint… He dodges a Bludger… He makes a pass to Montague… Montague avoids Macavoy… Then Preece… He passes back to Flint… Who arrives to the goalposts…"

Cedric watched from the corner of the eye as Flint quickly flew from the right to the left ring. Fleet made the mistake of only covering the right wing, and couldn't follow Flint's movement, due to both his delay of reaction and the fact his broomstick was slower than Flint's. Slytherin easily made its first points. The two teams were now on par, 10-10, and the green section of the stadium erupted in cheers.

Cedric spotted Malfoy who was still looking for the Golden Snitch. Cedric went back to his search. In the meantime, his team tried to bring the Quaffle into the Slytherin zone, but Heidi lost it when she tried to make a pass to Tamsin. As a result, Adrian Pucey made its way to their goalposts and scored, allowing Slytherin to take an advance. This advance, however, was short-lived. Herbert threw the Quaffle at Heidi who dove the moment she got it. Flint and Pucey rushed on her.

"She is… What?"

Lee Jordan's exclamation reverberated throughout the stadium, and Cedric watched in awe as Heidi flew up at the very last second, while Flint and Pucey barely avoided a collision. Heidi then made a very long pass that Montague was too far to intercept. Malcolm caught the Quaffle and threw it quickly through the left ring.

CLING!

"20-20. Teams are even again."

It remained that way for quite some time. Cedric's teammates managed to score as many goals as Slytherin, Heidi distinguishing herself with her long and precise passes. There was even Tamsin who managed to score a goal with her foot.

Cedric was still looking for the Golden Snitch when the score reached 80-70 for Slytherin. Montague just hit the Quaffle with his Nimbus' tail and got it into the left ring. Neither Cedric nor Malfoy managed to spot the Snitch. Cedric was beginning to wonder where he could be hidden.

"Hufflepuff gets the Quaffle… Fleet to Applebee… To Preece… To Macavoy… To Preece again… He loses it… Pucey got the ball… He makes a pass to Flint… He avoids a Bludger… He shoots… But Fleet stops it… He throws it back to Macavoy, and… Oh… Malfoy just got hit in the back…"

Cedric looked just in time to see the Bludger that just attacked Malfoy heading right at his head. He lowered it just in time to avoid the iron ball. Malfoy was rubbing his back not far away. Cedric couldn't contain a smile. It might give him a small idea of what Cho suffered during their previous game.

And then Cedric saw it. On the other side of the pitch, the glint was imperceptible, but he saw it. The Snitch was there. Cedric was about to rush towards it when…

OH!

An exclamation went through the pitch. The commentator and the whole crowd seemed to have spoken on a same voice. Then a whistle was heard. A time out had been called? Cedric was still wondering what happened. He realized he lost the Snitch, but before he could think of anything else, Heidi flew just past him towards the ground. Aside from the rush of air, he only heard one thing when she screamed.

"Maxine!"

Cedric turned towards the direction where Heidi seemed to be heading, to find that someone with the yellow robes of his team had fallen head first on the ground. He flew right away towards her, his heart pounding in his chest. The whole team and Madam Hooch had already gathered around the figure. Cedric pushed Herbert aside to have a clear look. The mane of black hair arranged into a bun was unmistakable.

"Maxine!" He knelt next to her motionless form. Madam Hooch was already looking closely at her.

"She's injured. The head, I would say," the flying teacher said.

"What happened?"

Did she fall off her broomstick? That was impossible. Maxine was excellent at flying. She could even handle her broomstick without hands sometimes, especially when she used both her hands to swing a Bludger with her bat.

"It's that bastard Bole," Anthony said.

"Mr Rickett, watch your language," Madam Hooch warned.

"What? After what he did?"

"Your friend got a Bludger on the back of her head. I understand you are angry and worried, but this is no reason for foul words."

"You should take care of Bole! He hit a Bludger with all the force he had towards Maxine. He was right behind her, only a few feet. And he used his two hands to send it right on her head."

Anthony was waving his bat menacingly in front of him. Cedric would have stopped him, perhaps avoiding the argument that followed between his remaining Beater and Madam Hooch, had he not been entirely focused on Maxine, who seemed to be barely breathing on the ground. Madam Pomfrey arrived to bring his ex-girlfriend to the hospital wing, placing her on a stretcher. Cedric watched the two of them moving away, out of the stadium. His eyes remained glued on her shape that progressively shrank, until a whistle was blown right next to him, making him jump.

"Penalty to Slytherin!"

The declaration of Madam Hooch caused an uproar among Cedric's teammates. Still numb, Cedric took too long to react. Heidi looked at him with pleading eyes. He realized what he had to do, but too late. The whistle sounded again.

"Two penalties for Slytherin. Next time, it grows to five."

"TEAM, ENOUGH!" Cedric shouted. All his teammates turned towards him. He then looked at Madam Hooch. "Can we have a time out?"

"Granted," the referee said immediately.

Cedric ordered his friends to head over a spot on the field, far away from the Slytherins and from Madam Hooch at the same time.

"Mr Diggory," the flying teacher said before he left. "Get a hold on your players."

Her voice was hard, but Cedric thought he detected a hint of sympathy. He nodded and made it towards his team. On the other side of the terrain, he saw one of the Beaters in Slytherin raise his bat. Cedric tightened his grip on his broomstick, controlling himself for not going through the whole pitch to hit Bole in the face. Instead, he put on his mask of captain and joined the rest of his team, who were already busy insulting the Slytherins and worse.

"Next time Bole flies next to me, I swing my bat on his face," Anthony declared.

"You will do no such thing," Cedric warned him.

"He just put Maxine in the infirmary!"

"I know, and injuring Bole will not bring her back. The only thing you'll manage to get is another penalty for Slytherin. Is that what you want? I hope not, because that's not what Maxine would want."

Anthony was obviously angry at Cedric's reply, but he said nothing. Instead, it was Tamsin who spoke next.

"What are we going to do? We are down to only one Beater."

"We keep playing, and we do our best," Cedric said. "Heidi, Tamsin, Malcolm, you score points. Herbert, you protect our goalposts. Anthony, keep protecting our Chasers. And I don't want any act of revenge. The first one to do this is out of the team. We score goals, and we catch the Snitch. The quicker we will succeed, the quicker we will be able to go to the infirmary and check on Maxine. Let's win for her, okay?"

The others agreed, in the worst case begrudgingly, at best with a complete lack of enthusiasm. Cedric gave them instructions on the next moves to perform. Though he realized quickly that no one was really listening to him. The truth was, he barely understood what he said himself. He spoke by broken sentences, hesitated, searched his words. When Madam Hooch came to signal the time out was over, Cedric almost felt relieved. Before they went back flying, Heidi gripped his arm.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes, I am," he replied.

"She's going to be fine."

Then Heidi took flight, and Cedric followed not long after. He told his teammates to focus on the game, to win it for Maxine, but he couldn't think straight about the match himself. He couldn't stop seeing her limp, motionless, unconscious body on the ground. His mind was so filled with thoughts on Maxine that he almost jumped from his broomstick when the characteristic cling indicated the Slytherins scored on their first penalty. He saw Herbert lose his temper and kick into the empty air.

After Flint, it was Montague who took the second penalty. He flew straight towards the central ring, raised his hand high with the Quaffle, and threw it into the left ring. Herbert misread his intentions, instead rushing towards the right ring. Slytherin just scored twenty points, bringing their advance to 100-70. And this was only the beginning.

First, Herbert threw the Quaffle towards Heidi, but targeted so bad that it ended in the hands of Adrian Pucey. In fact, it didn't end in his hands. Pucey hit the Quaffle with his closed fist, sending it towards Flint who also hit the red ball with his fist and made it fly through the left ring.

Herbert recovered the Quaffle, and this time he threw it far away. Only, Heidi was not there to catch it, and Montague took the red ball right away. Flying between Heidi, Anthony, Malcolm and Tamsin, he made it to the goalposts, and threw the Quaffle through the left ring once again. Slytherin now led 120-70.

Cedric raged and despaired at the same time. He flew towards Herbert as he recovered the Quaffle once more.

"Herbert, focus on the game!" he shouted to his Keeper.

Herbert then threw the Quaffle again, and this time it reached one of their players. Malcolm grabbed it and headed immediately towards the Slytherin goalposts. Cedric returned to searching the Golden Snitch. As he searched though, he heard the commentary of Lee Jordan, and it quickly demoralized him.

"Preece to Macavoy… Macavoy to… Oh, Flint just snatched the Quaffle from her… He makes a pass to Pucey… Pucey avoids a Bludger… He flies to the goalposts… He… Oh, Macavoy just intercepted the Quaffle before it reached the rings… Hufflepuff counter-attacks… Macavoy makes a long pass… Intercepted by Flint… Flint hits the Quaffle with his broomstick… Montague catches it… He shoots… He scores."

The commentator himself didn't seem happy to see the Slytherins lead 130-70. Cedric wasn't either. Usually, he could focus on the Snitch while listening to the comments, but this time he just couldn't. His mind kept wandering from the poor performance of his team to the idea of Maxine lying injured in the hospital wing. They may have broken up a long time ago, but Cedric would lie if he said that he felt nothing at the idea of Maxine gravely injured. And when Slytherin scored again, bringing the score to 140-70, he raged inside, wanting to hurt Bole just as much as Anthony wanted.

"Hope your girlfriend is alright, Diggory," the mocking voice of Draco Malfoy said as he flew past Cedric. He was ready to rush onto him, to make him fall from his costly Nimbus that his coward father bought him, but before he could even think about going from planning to action, Madam Hooch's whistle resonated.

"Penalty to Slytherin! And Penalty to Hufflepuff!"

Cedric watched in horror as he realized that Anthony didn't listen to him. It seemed he had tried to hit Bole, but the Slytherin Beater blocked his attempt before retaliating. As a result, Anthony seemed to have a broken nose now.

Slytherin took the first penalty, and Flint scored. Cedric sighed in despair. But then Heidi took the Quaffle to take their own team's penalty. She zigzagged between the central circle and the goalposts, alternating between arcs from one side of the pitch to another, and shorter but quick turns. Once before the rings, she made for one last arc, but turned swiftly at the last minute, catching Bletchley off guard. For the first time in an eternity, a cling announced a goal for Hufflepuff, maintaining the gap between the two teams. It was 150-80.

Heidi's goal seemed to wake up Cedric. They had to win this game. Slytherin might have a long advance, but his team could still win. He shouted encouragements to his teammates as he went back to finding the Snitch.

"Bletchley to Flint… Flint to Montague… To Pucey… A Bludger in his side, but he keeps the Quaffle… Preece takes it… He loses it to Flint…"

The voice of the commentator slowly faded away as Cedric devoted all his focus on finding the Snitch. He thought of Maxine, and instead of allowing these thoughts to make him desperate, he used them to fuel his determination. He would win, for Maxine. Malfoy had not caught sight of the Snitch either. He kept flying across the pitch. Anthony hit a Bludger towards him, which forced the spoiled boy to lurch to his right to avoid it.

Cedric barely heard the cling from the other side of the pitch, indicating that Slytherin now led 160-80. He kept searching. Where was the Snitch? Again and again, he looked across the whole pitch, avoiding the many Bludgers Bole and Derrick sent on him. And he saw it. He saw them.

His eyes caught two glints, near the section of the benches where the Gryffindors were sitting. They were both at the crowd's level, right in front of the students. Cedric plunged towards the glints. He heard some boos, and noticed from the corner of his eye that Malfoy was heading in the same direction. He was closer to the goal than Cedric, but there were two glints. Cedric only had to choose the right one.

He chose the one on the right. It was the closest, and if Cedric had a chance to get one before Malfoy did, it was this one. He charged forward, focusing entirely on this one shining point. Until he realized, when he was only a few feet from it, that it was the reflection of Hagrid's binoculars. Realizing his mistake, Cedric gripped his handle to pull up at the last instant, avoiding crashing into the giant man right when another cling resonated.

"Another goal… Wait. Malfoy got the Snitch!"

Lee Jordan didn't look happy. And Cedric wasn't happy either when he looked towards the blond-haired boy and saw him brandishing his closed fist with a small golden globe inside. Given he was flying over the Gryffindor section, with the Hufflepuffs right next to it, Cedric mostly heard shouts of anger, but he also saw how a quarter of the crowd, on the other side, was cheering. Resigned, Cedric headed towards the ground. He felt that some of the boos he heard were destined to him, and he somewhat felt he earned them. He should have caught the Snitch sooner.

"Slytherin: three hundred and twenty points. Hufflepuff: eighty points. Slytherin wins."

The way from the pitch to the hospital wing of the castle was hard. Cedric flew down to the ground while Lee Jordan announced the final score. Everything seemed silent all around them, and it remained silent as the whole team of Hufflepuff went back to their changing rooms. Only inside did something blow off.

"I'm going to kill Bole," Anthony muttered, but loud enough for everyone to hear him.

Cedric didn't react immediately. No one did. Only after a moment did he turn toward his Beater. "You will not," he said as softly and gently as he could.

"Why? Because we are Hufflepuffs?"

The question Anthony pronounced took Cedric by surprise, but his Beater went on.

"We are the kind, patient, passive Hufflepuffs. Those who never speak up. We sit gently, we always speak low. When someone slaps us on the cheek, we show the other one." Anthony was clearly agitated now. "When we do something good, or even great, we don't brag about it. We are the good, perfect, kind, gentle, quiet students. When we are insulted, we say nothing. When we are spit upon, we just wipe it with our sleeve. When someone make us trip, we get up and we continue our way as if nothing happened. And if someone almost kills one of us, we say nothing, and we let them win!"

He kicked in the wall on that.

"Anthony, listen…" Cedric tried.

"Listen to what?" His teammate was now yelling. "You want to give me some comfort words after what happened? After we were crushed by bullies? After Maxine…"

"Maxine is in the infirmary. And she is probably waiting for us." This shut up Anthony. Cedric had raised his voice, and he kept it high and loud. "The only thing that matters now, the only thing you should matter, for all of you, is Maxine's well-being. And if you think about anything else right now, if you are more concerned about the match, or about beating up a Slytherin, then you're no better than the Slytherins. Because that's what Slytherins do. When one of their players end up in the infirmary, they leave him there alone, and find him a replacement. If that's what you want this team to be like, Anthony, you're free to go. I hope this is really not what you want, because I don't want to announce to Maxine that I'll have to find another Beater to work with her."

Anthony's face was a mixture of stunning and fury. After Cedric's controlled outburst though, no one in the team dared to speak aloud. They all changed and followed him in silence to the hospital wing. Cedric was relieved that all of this didn't go any further. Maxine didn't deserve that they would care more about avenging her than about making sure she was fine right now. Cedric would feel his team was selfish if they did, and he wouldn't be able to look at Maxine if he allowed the team to take this direction.

Cedric barely noticed the other people heading back to the castle. He barely heard the mockeries of the Slytherins. He barely realized how his other teammates kept Anthony in line. He barely saw the other Hufflepuffs who came to support them, whispering words of encouragement. All he could think about was Maxine. He barely spoke a few minutes with his parents, who tried to console him the best they could, before he headed back towards the castle.

A few minutes later, they all stood next to her bed. Maxine laid on her back, still unconscious, her head wrapped with thick bandages, her black hair, usually tied into a bum, was set free, lying on her shoulders. Her eyes were closed, but Cedric knew that behind these eyelids, green eyes, vivid, quick, able to catch the smallest detail around them, were ready to open at the first opportunity. Unlike on the pitch, where she almost looked dead, she now looked like she was sleeping peacefully. Looking at her like this, Cedric was reminded of some of the reasons why he used to date this girl who had quite a temper.

"How is she?" he heard Heidi ask Madam Pomfrey as the Healer walked near them.

"She's going to be fine. She has a head trauma, a concussion, and a cracked skull. Lucky enough, her neck wasn't injured. She will need a few days of rest, but she'll be fine."

Cedric was relieved to hear that she would recover. Not that he doubted the competence of Madam Pomfrey, but before she reassured them, he had no confirmation that Maxine would be fine. Each one of them, each member of the team took its turn to say a few words to their fellow teammate. Anthony promised that they would make Bole pay for what he did. Heidi and Tamsin wished her a quick recovery. Malcolm tried to be more cheerful by saying her never doubted she would be fine. She was just too stubborn for her head to be smashed by anything. And then Herbert muttered a few words, not seeming to know what he should say.

The team slowly left the infirmary. Heidi was the last one to go. Cedric supposed that she guessed he wanted some time alone with Maxine. Cedric wished her a good evening, and he reported all his attention on Maxine once his last teammate was gone.

He inhaled deeply. This was the first time he found himself alone with Maxine this year. This didn't really have anything to do with their breakup from last year. Well, not that Cedric thought it might be. It was true that after he broke up with her, they didn't keep seeking each other, but didn't avoid each other either. They played on the same Quidditch team, after all, and Maxine had never been the kind of girl to avoid confrontation. She took their breakup quite well, in fact. She was sometimes rude with Cedric, but she was like this with everybody. Even with Anna Fleet, their captain from last year, Maxine didn't hesitate to speak her mind aloud. The reason why they were never alone was more due to the fact that Cedric seldom spent time alone. He had a lot of friends, and so the odds for him to fall upon Maxine alone in their common room or in a corridor was almost nonexistent.

However, it was still strange for Cedric, even uncomfortable for him, to be alone next to his ex-girlfriend, while she was unconscious in a bed. He wondered what she would think about it when she would wake up. If there was one thing Maxine didn't tolerate, it was to be considered like a damsel in distress. She was far too independent to ever allow someone to think of her in this way, and she made it clear to Cedric from the minute they started dating.

Cedric couldn't stop a smile from creeping its way to his face while thinking about how Maxine once made an opponent to the position of Beater pay for commenting on the fact a girl could never be a Beater. It was at the beginning of Cedric's second year at Hogwarts, three years ago. Maxine and Cedric were both not yet on the team back then, and they participated to the tryouts to select the Hufflepuff team at the beginning of the first term. Cedric was not selected back then, but Maxine was. One of the other students, who applied to the position of Beater as well, dared to mock Maxine over the fact she was a girl at the beginning of the tryouts. This seventh-year student, who had already played as a Beater for Hufflepuff, made a fool of himself during the tryouts when he deviated a Bludger towards Maxine. She deftly returned the Bludger back to his origin with a single swing. This experienced Beater lost his position on the team that year, which Maxine took over and occupied ever since. No one ever dared to mock Maxine again about her gender.

Cedric seized Maxine hand and squeezed it. He was sad to not have a response. He was somehow hoping Maxine would react by squeezing his hand in return. Still, he spoke to her, despite the fact she might not hear him.

"You're a fighter like always. I guess Bole is sad that you'll only spend a few days here. He certainly thought you would be out for the rest of the season."

He chuckled, forcing himself to do so. He still continued to talk to her.

"We lost. I guess that's proof that we can't win without you." Another false chuckle. He decided he had to be somewhat more serious. "I know you don't like it when we pity you, but everyone was really worried about you. You're important to all of us. You're important to me. So rest, take your time, and come back to us in shape. We really need you."

He stayed with Maxine for a very long time. Sometimes he told her stories, hoping it might cheer her up even if she was unconscious. He even reminisced about some of the moments they spent together, back when they were dating. Cedric preferred to keep happy memories of his time with her, even if it didn't work between them in the end. He also had a lot of anecdotes about Quidditch. As time went on, Cedric felt better about the fact they lost. Maxine would be alright, and this had more value than any victory at Quidditch. Anyway, as he spent time next to her, he came to think aloud about the rest of the season.

"We still have a game against Ravenclaw at the end of the year. We can hope that Gryffindor will defeat Slytherin, and if we win against Ravenclaw, then we still have a chance for the championship. Of course, we will need a decisive victory against Ravenclaw. For that, we will need you, of course." He laughed nervously. "Let's face it. Slytherin flattened us today. And against Gryffindor, we only won by a small margin. We will really need a big victory against Ravenclaw. That's not going to be easy. One more reason why we will need you at all costs."

When he thought about it, Cedric didn't really have much to be proud of this season. They needed one of the worst storms in Hogwarts' history and an invasion of Dementors during their game against Gryffindor to win, and even then, they only won by fifty points. Against Slytherin, they held the line pretty well, but they only needed one of their Beaters to be injured to lose all cohesion and for the opposite team to crush them. Definitely, this season was not going like Cedric would have hoped. He thought they really had a chance this year, with the team he built and the enhanced training they followed. And all of that would be determined by the results of a single match, in May.

Cedric knew he shouldn't worry too much about Quidditch. He was a Prefect, in his fifth year at Hogwarts. His O.W.L.s were approaching. The amount of homework and studies to conduct kept piling up, and despite his good organization, Cedric felt the weight of the entire year on his shoulders. He even struggled to find enough time to sleep sometimes. And between his Prefect duties, his upcoming O.W.L.s and Quidditch, the latter should evidently be the last priority. Only, life at Hogwarts was not so simple, not when for his friends, and most of the students of Hufflepuff, the results of a Quidditch match mattered more than their final results to their exams, and much more than Cedric's integrity as a Prefect. And considering that Maxine was injured during a game of Quidditch, and not while studying or while walking into the corridors, Cedric could understand why Quidditch seemed to matter much more than anything else sometimes.

"Cedric?"

He recognized the voice in his back, but he first thought it was a product of his imagination.

"Cedric."

He turned when she said his name a second time, and was not unhappy to see a pretty girl who was smaller than he was, with long shining dark hair. A smile crept on his face right away.

"Hi, Cho."

The only female Seeker in Hogwarts smiled in return. Cedric liked her smile.

"I heard some of your teammates say that you were probably still there," she said. "You're about to miss dinner."

Cedric looked at the clock in the infirmary. Cho was right. Darkness had fallen outside. They were much later than he thought.

"I must not have seen time go on," he expressed aloud, turning back to Maxine, still sleeping.

"How is she?" Cho asked.

"Madam Pomfrey says she will recover. I just… wanted to keep her company."

Cho came to stand next to him as his eyes remained glued to Maxine. "I think it's the same bed where I ended up in November."

Cedric wasn't sure. She may be right. "If I had to bet on who might end up unconscious in a bed today, I would never have chosen Maxine for that. I would have bet on myself."

Seekers were always the target of attacks from the other teams. Beaters were better built and could protect themselves with their bat. They could still get hit by a Bludger, of course, but their injuries often involved minor broken bones and nothing more.

"I hope the Gryffindors will flatten the Slytherins at their last game," Cho declared.

"Me too," Cedric agreed.

If the players of the opposite teams of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff could agree on one thing, it was that they wanted to see Slytherin humiliated and crushed. The Gryffindors were now the only ones who could do that. But Cedric also knew that before that, Cho would have to face Gryffindor in two weeks. He wished her the best.

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Next chapter: Lily