Chapter 3 – Veela's reveal only half the truth
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I arrived back at the tent and saw Amos in the kitchen preparing food. I kicked of my shoes and walked over to him.
"Need any help, Amos?"
"No need. I'm almost done." He smiled, he looked around the tent before his eyes fell on me again. "Where's Cedric?"
"Oh, he should be here any minute." Just when I finished my sentence Cedric walked in with his head low. "I'm going to go change."
"Okay, then after dinner we can get going." He turned to Cedric who still stood at the tent entrance. "Cedric, help me, will you?"
I chuckled as I placed my hand on his shoulder before I disappeared in the bedroom. I switched my sweater with a green shirt and left the top few buttons open, rolling up my sleeves. I took the braids out of my hair and flipped my head up and down, my waves rested beautiful on my back. I bit my lip as I pondered on what to do with my hair. I decided to do the top, dark green while it turned lighter going down. When I heard someone clear their throat, I turned to see Cedric looking at me.
"Dad is finished with dinner." He said nervously rubbing his neck. "Can I use the room to change?" I nodded my head as I went to step out of the room. Cedric took my hand gently is his. "Winnie..."
I stopped and looked at him waiting for him to continue.
"I - I... you look good." He whispered and dropped my hand.
"Thanks." I murmured and went to sit on the table with Amos. "Smells good." I smiled forcefully.
"Thanks, Gwen. Come on, Cedric. We don't want to be late." He called to his son, who was still standing in the opening. Amos was completely oblivious to what was going on, but I was glad he was, I didn't want to talk to him about it. Cedric sat down next to me as Amos divided the pasta under the three of us. I took a glance towards him. He had changed his dark grey jumper into a bright green shirt, matching mine. Amos smiled at us as we ate the pasta.
"I like your hair, Gwen."
"Thank you." I grinned. "Need to show everyone which team I'm supporting, don't I?"
"With the hair, shirt and eyes, I don't think anyone would have a doubt."
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We ate in silence until it was time to go. Amos was walking ahead of them, talking to everyone he knew, which was a lot of people. I spotted other kids from Hogwarts and waved to them when they saw us walk by. Cedric was shooting glances at me, when he thought I wouldn't notice. But I did and kept looking straight in front of me.
"Winnie."
"Yes, Diggory?" I said coolly. I knew Cedric hated it when I called him by his last name, but I couldn't resist.
"Can we talk?"
I finally let my eyes find his and his eyes pleaded with me. "Fine, talk."
"Oh, okay." He looked surprised by my answer. "I'm sorry about what happened earlier."
"Sorry about what you did or what you said?"
"Both. I'm sorry that I kissed you." I felt disappointed, my stomach turned into a knot. "It wasn't wrong, it was a mistake."
"A mistake? Kissing me was a mistake?" I cried out. "Thanks for that."
"No, Winnie!" Cedric called out as I started to walk away from him. "You're my best friend."
"And obviously nothing more." I whispered, casting my eyes down.
"GWEN!" A voice called over the crowd. We turned around to see the whole Weasley clan arrive at the stadium.
"Hey, Charlie." I gave him a feeble smile, while Cedric still looked at me. The rest of the Weasleys caught up and I saw the twins look at me with worry, I quickly cast my eyes down, not wanting to reveal anything with just a look. Amos and Mr Weasley came to the group laughing.
"Great news guys." Amos clapped his hands. "We can sit with the Weasleys. We just received an owl that the Flaningans can't make it, so we can take their seats."
"Is that legal?" Hermione asked with a frown.
"If you know one of the organizers, then yes." Amos and Mr Weasley grinned.
I felt relieved not to be stuck for the next few hours with Cedric and Amos. I smiled as I cast my gaze at the group in front of me. Cedric on the other hand, tensed at the notion.
"We better get going then." Fred started, wrapping an arm around me, pulling me away from Cedric.
"We've got quite a climb ahead of us." George continued, wrapping his arm around my waist and pointed to the top stands.
"Yes indeed." Arthur agreed. "Follow me." He gestured his hand, and everyone followed them inside. The twins dropped their arms as they started to ascend the stairs. The twins were ahead of me, while Charlie was walking behind me.
"Are you okay?" He asked, placing his hand on my back. "It looked like you and Cedric were having an argument."
I took in a breath as I looked over my shoulder. Cedric was walking up the stairs next to his father, watching me.
"This whole day has been... I don't know."
"It's going to work itself out. You and Cedric have been best friends for years."
"Hm." I hummed as I watched the steps.
"Or do you want it to be something more?"
I looked around but no one seemed to pay us attention, except I didn't know the twins could hear me. "It's almost 6 years since we became friends, and nothing ever happened. But this summer we started flirting, you know. Then this morning he kissed me!" I whispered to Charlie. "Then he said it was wrong, a mistake. I know I'm not as pretty as most girls but-"
"Whoa, whoa, hold up!" Charlie pulled me to the side and waited until the rest passed them. Cedric looked at me worried but followed his dad up. "Don't ever think you're not beautiful! Merlin, Gwen. Have you looked at yourself lately?"
"Charlie, I don't think you're the expert." I mumbled.
Charlie let out a soft laugh. "It's not because I'm gay, I don't recognize a beautiful girl. Besides." He looked up at the stairs, where he saw the twins' heads disappear behind the banister. "Fred and George can't stop talking about you."
"That's different. They are womanizers."
"That's what you think. I know the rumours that goes around about the twins, but they've been with less women than you think. Trust me, you're beautiful even without your metamorphmagus."
"Thanks, Charlie." I buried my face in his chest and he hugged me tight against him.
"We better join the others before they start wondering where we are." He said as he pulled slightly back. "Hey, your eyes are back to normal."
"Oh. Yeah, that happens when I get a little emotional." I smiled softly as my eyes turned back to green.
"Your hair looks wicked, by the way." He grinned as we resumed our walk up the stairs.
"You like it?" I grinned devilishly. "Or do you prefer..." I shook my hair and turned it into the famous Weasley red as they arrived at the top.
"That's just...wrong." Charlie scrunched up his nose, making me laugh loudly. The rest looked at us in surprise, while their mouths dropped open from my change of colour. I didn't flaunt my metamorphmagus, so most people didn't know I could do it.
"Bloody hell!" Ron gasped.
"How did you do that? Are you seventeen?" Ginny asked.
"Uhm, no. I'm a metamorphmagus." I shook my head and turned it back into the green colour.
"Wicked!" Ron grinned.
"You Weasleys really like the word wicked." I whispered to Charlie, snickering. He grinned back at me, shrugging his shoulders.
"I don't believe we met." The oldest of the Weasley kids walked up to her and Charlie. "I'm Bill."
"No, you graduated before I started. I'm Gwen."
"Gwen..." He pondered. "Guinevere Northon?"
"Uhm, yes." I answered uncertain, looking up at the long red-haired Weasley.
"Charlie told me a lot about you. It is still a mystery how you two became friends, seeing you were in different houses and have a five-year age difference."
"We want to know too." The twins stepped on either side of their oldest brother.
Charlie and I looked at each other for a moment, grinning. "Well, dear brother. A mystery it shall stay."
"But-" The twins whined. Fred turned to Cedric. "Do you know?"
"I do." He managed a smile and gave me a wink; I gave him a small smile back. Fred turned back to me and Charlie and opened his mouth, but his father cut in.
"Everyone take your seats; they are about to start!"
I made a move to follow Charlie, but George grabbed my hand and pulled me next to him and Fred. I looked bemused between the two, but they just grinned as they looked at the pitch.
"How in the world did the Weasleys gather the money for tickets? Did they have to sell their house?" Draco Malfoy's voice came from behind us. I felt the twins tense beside me, the rest didn't seem to hear him as they stood closer to the ledge. I turned to glare at the blonde boy, my eyes turning into a fire red. Draco looked at me surprised before his usual snare turned into a smile.
"Hm, Guinevere Northon." He looked at me up and down, it almost made me gag. "You're looking good. Where's your boyfriend Cedric?"
"He's not-"
"Problem, Malfoy?" Cedric appeared behind me, draping his arm over my shoulder. "You better keep your eyes to yourself."
"Yeah." The twins also turned glaring at the blond. "She's too old for you anyway." Fred huffed and the four of us turned again when Draco started to sputter.
"I'm old now, am I?" I teased looking at Fred.
"Yeah, Freddie is right." George tilted my head to his side. "I can see the wrinkles forming already."
"Oh, hush you." I slapped his hand away. I turned to look for Cedric, but he already had turned back to the pitch, his back to me.
"The mascots are entering the field!" Arthur called out. Everyone leaned forward to look at the girls down on the pitch. "Oh, Veela's." Arthur voice sounded surprised.
I of course, heard about Veela's before, so I looked around to see who would be entranced by the beautiful woman down on the field. Amos and Mr Weasley both didn't seem interested in the woman as they talked to each other, pointing down at the field. Bill seemed to watch the woman carefully but wasn't as entranced as Harry and Ron. I snickered as Hermione and Ginny tried to pull them back as they started to climb the railing. But my focus soon shifted as the twins started to drool and walked to the railing themselves. I grabbed their sleeves and tried to pull them back, but they were too strong. Suddenly the boys were pushed back into their seats. I looked up surprised to see Charlie pushing Fred back and Cedric put George in his seat. Charlie wasn't a surprise since his main interest is men, but Cedric took me by surprise. When George and Fred were securely in their seats, Cedric looked up at me.
"You weren't drawn to them?" I asked surprised. My mind was going in overdrive trying to think about why he wasn't drawn to them.
"Uhm, guess not." A slight blush crept on his cheeks.
"The Irish are up." Amos called and our eyes left each other to stare up in the sky.
Why was Cedric not drawn to them? I know if you get older, you'll find it easier to resist, like Bill. And for people who are in love – wait! Cedric's in love? With whom? Was his relationship with Cho more serious than he had shown. My thoughts were swirling as leprechaun money started falling out of the sky. I didn't even notice when the game started. It wasn't until George nudged me and gave me binoculars that I came back to earth.
The game was exhilarating. The twins were teasing Ron about his crush on seeker Viktor Krum, while the rest were howling when the Irish scored yet another goal. Everything that happened since this morning with Cedric, all went to the back of my mind as I watched the game. As I watched the Irish score point after point, leaving the Bulgarians far behind. Even when Krum caught the snitch the Irish won by a landslide. The whole tribune cheered and jumped up and down. I felt the stands tremble under my feet and if it weren't for magic, I was sure the stands would crumble to the ground. I was yelling loudly with the rest of them, celebrating the win of the Irish when George picked me up and twirled me around. When he sat me down, he kissed my cheek grinning. I rolled my eyes playfully at them before I turned around. I didn't see Cedric quickly turn back after he saw George lean down to kiss my cheek. I grabbed Cedric's shoulders and hugged him from behind.
"Thanks for letting me come, Ced." I kissed his cheek lightly. Cedric shrugged me off and turned around to face me.
"Why don't you kiss George or Fred." He snarled at me.
"What?!" I took a step back. "He just kissed my cheek, in celebration. What does it matter to you who I kiss? You said were just friends and besides you're still in love with Cho."
"Cho?" Cedric's eyes softened in surprise.
"Why else wouldn't you be under the charm of the Veela's?"
"I-uhm." Cedric looked down, shaking his head. "Don't change the subject." He grumbled.
"Fuck you, Cedric." I grew tired of his weird behaviour and turned to walk down the stairs leaving everyone behind. I heard others call out my name, but I didn't care, I just ran faster down the steps, as tears started to roll down my eyes.