Three:

Cedric had always been a rather lazy boy. It was apparent by the way he lumbered into class seconds before the bell rang and the way he would write as little as allowed on his essays (if he bothered to write them at all), even by the way he'd opt to slide down the banisters on occasion instead walking down the stairs. So, when he set his sights on getting Harry Potter to notice him in some positive manner, Cedric had hoped to make it easy as possible. In all honesty, he'd just been planning to strike up a quick chat with the boy in the library or something of that manner, but after giving it further thought the idea left him... cold.

He realized that he wanted to be noticed without forcing it and more importantly, he wanted to remembered. Perhaps he was asking for too much, but he really couldn't stand the idea of Potter forgetting him minutes after their introduction.

Even with these parameters, it seemed like an easy enough concept; just get Potter alone and do something that would interest the kid. And maybe it would have been easy if it weren't Harry Potter, the best friend of the two most clingy Gryffindors on the planet.

The two kids followed the boy everywhere he went, practically hanging off his arm! It made Cedric want to tear his hair out, because what had first seemed like a viable, easy task somehow became mission impossible with the addition of two first-year brats!

Thusly, Cedric decided that he hadn't any choice but to up the ante and do something that would grab the attention of the whole school. However he'd been having a hard time coming up with a way to do so. Sure, it was fairly easy to get the school talking about you if you did something stupid enough, but positive attention? And enough positive attention that a first year in another house would notice? Well, that was gonna take some work. It came down to altering his image in the end, if he became a more impressive person all together, then he'd have to be recognized.

Popularity was the name of his game.

So, since that little revelation at Potter's first Quidditch game, Cedric had been using any opportunity to watch the trendiest students of Hogwarts to see what it exactly it was that made them so favorable. That is one thing that Cedric's always rather liked doing, observing, people watching one might call it. It had always been something he did when he didn't feel like paying attention to anything of relevance (class for example) and now his little hobby was useful for once.

From what he observed it seemed that the most popular people all shared a certain specific mixture of qualities, more or less. It was almost like an odd sort of spectrum and the people who had the most popularity were almost always on the most extreme parts of the spectrum minus a few qualities.

For example Cho Chang, Percy Weasley, and Penelope Clearwater were all very intelligent individuals who exceeded in almost every class and were admired by their classmates because of it. But at the same time many people raved about Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint despite the fact that the two were dumber than a bag of rocks when it came to anything that wasn't Quidditch related, not to mention Laura Madley and Eleanor Branstone who only seem to open their mouths to giggle ditsily.

Another example was how some of the well-like students were very gregarious like Michael Corner, Cormac Mclaggen and Marietta Edgecombe who would honestly talk the ear off of any poor sod who was dumb enough to listen. While on the opposite side of the spectrum, you had people like Harry Potter, Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass who wouldn't speak to anyone without being spoken to. Even worse there were the ones like Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson who were downright nasty to most people.

The same could be said for athleticism, sexual experience and temperament.

It was downright dizzying that he couldn't find any apparent consistencies. In the end, Cedric just decided that he would just have to go down the path of a textbook popular kid as he still couldn't figure out what most people liked about half of the people who were at the top of their school's food chain. Just the thought of it made him grimace at how long and arduous that would be.

As a last ditch effort, Cedric had owled his parents in late November, asking if he could stay in Hogwarts for Christmas break. From what he'd heard Potter would be staying during the break, so there would be a very high possibility of Cedric encountering him during Yule with the castle practically empty and maybe getting the boy's attention without having to go through all the trouble of actually becoming and interesting person.

His hopes were dashed, however when his parents sent an almost affronted reply exclaiming that Yule was a time for family and that they'd missed him over the school year.

So, that is what led to Cedric now disembarking the Hogwarts express, being pulled into his mother's grasping arms before he could nary say hello. Feeling her warm embrace, as comforting as it had once been, only seemed to cause his annoyance with his parents to spike, drawing up reminders that if they hadn't insisted he returned home then he wouldn't have to go through so much trouble over something that should be easy. Therefore, he quickly removed himself from his mother's grasp and nodded curtly in his father's direction before making a beeline for the floo.

As soon as he stepped out of the entrance hall fireplace and dusted off his robes, Cedric headed straight upstairs to his room barely granting their House Elf Tinky a distracted 'hello' before he locked himself in his room. His trunk clattered to the floor and he fell face-first onto his bed, bouncing as he hit the soft surface. He rolled over staring soberly out the window as the first few flurries of snow fell from the sky, beginning to coat the frozen ground below in a sparkling blanket of white. In a quick motion he drew his curtains closed. He reached for a pillow, pulling it to his chest as he curled in on himself, closing his eyes.

Cedric ignored his mother's calls at dinner time, glad that despite them being no doubt curious at his behaviour, his parents still kept their distance. He spent the next 17 hours attempting to sleep off his grumpiness before he could snap at someone. He was rarely one for foul temperament, but when it came about he had to use a lot of self-control not to do something stupid.

He awoke the next morning to the sound of his mother announcing breakfast. He decided that his childish moodiness had gone on long enough and made his way down to the informal dining room, trying to ignore the fact the he still did not really want to see his parents. They spoke stiltedly over toast and eggs, his parents becoming more and more tentative as they slowly realized that Cedric was in some sort of funk. He was thankful for this as they could've pressed him for details rather than leaving him be. After thanking his mother for breakfast and bidding his parents a good morning he trudged back upstairs.

Inwardly he was cursing himself for wasting the entire previous day brooding; his ideas needed to be put into action at once, especially considering that he still had a lot of planning to do if he wanted everything to go smoothly.

He needed to think. Truthfully, he felt this would be his most favorite part of the process. He'd always been the introspective sort, not in a scholarly manner or anything, he just sometimes imagined things. Like, what it'd be like to play an actual Quidditch game on the Hufflepuff team or how Snape would react if he ever made a perfect potion or what his parents would say if he ever got more than an Acceptable on his report card. Little fantasies, he supposed.

But, now he could actually put it to good use. Instead of fantasizing about things like that, he could finally be the Cedric he always wished he could be.

Strange really, it's not like he couldn't do any of those things before. There was nothing stopping him, but somehow it felt he'd crossed some sort of threshold despite being unchanged overall. Maybe it was confidence he'd been lacking.

But, then that begs the question of where all this confidence was coming from now.

Well whatever, he was getting sidetracked, and his floor would probably be very appreciative if he stopped his rapid pacing. He sighed, plopping in the chair in front of his desk.

His hardest task would most likely be to get 'smart' so studying was his first order of business. He groaned that the thought, but still reached into his trunk pulling out his unopened potions book, slamming it onto his desk and with a rather dramatic flourish, opened it.

After staring at the first the first page of Intermediate Potions Making (Year Three) he realized that he had not processed a single word on the page. The concept made him want to just crawl back in bed and forget that school ever existed. He almost did so, but as he stepped toward the inviting piece of furniture, his eyes drifted over the potted *white anemones on the sill of his still closed window, their green stems sticking out starkly against his brown curtains. Such a vibrant shade of green that invigorated him so effortlessly, a green that vividly reminded him of-

Well, he supposed if he didn't understand his potions book from this year then he'd just start from the very beginning. He lumbered back to his desk reaching for Magical Drafts and Potions (Year One) along the way.

This was going to be a long winter break.

-0v0-

Cedric hated Christmas. Not in the sort of Snape-ish I-hate-all-things-joyful way. There was nothing wrong with the holiday and he rather liked to both give and receive gifts. The issue was his parents.

For most of the year, Cedric would spend his time wishing his parents would pay more attention to him. And then when Christmas time rolled around, he remembered how fucking annoying his parents were. The holidays, for Cedric was an endless barrage of stupid questions and empty praise.

So on Christmas morning after all the wrapping paper had been decimated to piles of rubbish on the floor surrounding the three Diggorys, Cedric tuned out his parent's incessant chatter about how happy they were to be able to spend quality time together and instead wondered what was going on in the Gryffindor tower on this snowy morning.

He imagined Potter tearing away at wrapping paper, staring at his gifts in that bashful thankfulness that had colored his face upon receiving his broom. With that thought in mind, Cedric could admit that he didn't quite hate Christmas.

A/N: It's an odd sort of chapter, I think. Cedric's thoughts are very meandering and hard to follow in my opinion. I also feel like there are very large jumps in time, I hope that doesn't deter people. Things will flow more as Cedric become more enamored, but until then it's just gonna be a choppy mess. I also was hoping that I made it clear that Cedric doesn't really know the difference between people who are often spoken of and people who are actually popular.

*Anemone- Forsaken (Bad luck or ill omens)

Feedback is always welcome.