Seven:

Cedric and Jona honestly found the whole Chamber of Secrets thing a bit funny. Sure it was sort of spooky that someone wrote in blood on the wall, but it's not like they did anything particularly harmful outside of petrifying Filch's fleabag (which was honestly an added bonus). It was clear that the student body was blowing things out of proportion, as per usual.

Although he did find it very unreasonable that Potter was being blamed for all of it purely for being present at the scene of the crime, he was only a second year, and clearly as shaken up as the rest of the younger years. The only reason anyone was pointing any fingers at him is because he was 'The-Boy-Who-Lived.' Jona had agreed with Cedric on this, but didn't really seem to care. Cedric supposed he shouldn't care either, caring about other people's business had never been within his personality, but...

He did this time for some reason.

In fact he cared quite a lot, so much that mood had begun to rapidly decline the more that people jumped onto the bandwagon that was hating Harry Potter. He'd watch Potter in the halls and during meals, noticing the way the boy would glance about at the people whispering vindictively behind their hands, no doubt spewing nonsensical vitriol about the innocent Gryffindor. It made Cedric physically sick to his stomach and lie awake at night, brooding at the unfairness of it all (and secretly wondering why he cared just so damn much.)

But, it got so much worse when it came out that Potter was a parselmouth. There wasn't a single person in the school who wasn't talking about Potter in some manner or another, but worst of all was the Hufflepuffs, Finch-Fletchley in specific.

The second-year would go on and on and on about that damn joke of a DADA club, telling anyone who would listen about how Potter had tried to 'attack' him and how he'd 'barely survived by the skin of his teeth.' What was even more disgusting was how people bought it, spreading their own spins on the story, muckracking just for the hell of it.

Truthfully, Cedric was a very mild person, and therefore held mild opinions for just about anyone, generally not feeling any particular way about a certain person. Therefore, it was very strange for Cedric to feel such a rancorous hatred for someone, a housemate, no less. He would literally just look at Finch-Fletchley jabbering away in the common room about his little tale and suddenly his whole day would be ruined.

So, when he stumbled upon the little cretin nestled in front of the common room fire, re-telling his story for what must've been the thousandth time, he honestly couldn't hold it in anymore.

"And then Potter hissed in his creepy snake language for the snake to bite me!"

"I didn't know you spoke parseltongue, Finch-Fletchley" His voice sounded very different when he was angry, it was honestly rather surreal to hear.

Every gaze in the room snapped in Cedric direction and he had to resist the urge to slink off into some shadowy corner like all of his instincts were screaming at him to do. Instead he simply stood stock still, staring down the source of his ire, not even blinking when he felt Jonathan's hand on his shoulder.

The second-year's voice was tentative but incredulous, almost amused. "W- what're you saying, Diggory? Of course I don't."

"Then how did you know that Potter told the snake to bite you?" It was a near hiss, but could be heard clearly throughout the silent room, a few people edged away from him, but Jona remained firmly by him.

"Well..." began Finch-Fletchley, cowering under the many curious stares pointed at him. "Well, I mean, what else would he be saying?"

Cedric nearly rolled his eyes at this, his lips thinning as pure annoyance coursed through him. No one could be this dumb, could they? "Weren't you Herbology partners up until the incident?"

"Yeah, w- why?"

Cedric actually rolled his eyes this time before squeezing them closed. He had to take a deep breath and counted backwards from ten so not to lose his temper. "And it never once occurred to you that Potter might've been trying to tell the ruddy snake not to attack you?"

It wasn't until Jona placed a steadying hand on his arm that Cedric realized that he'd moved all the way to where Finch-Fletchley was seated, towering over the quivering second year with a looming shadow.

"I- I ... well... I-"
He took another steadying breath, leaning back on the heels of his feet to place a bit of distance between himself in the object of his ire. His temper seemed to be getting worse as of late, it was becoming a bit of a problem.

"Face it," his voice was clinical and deadpan. "you jumped at the attention you received from being 'attacked' by Harry Potter and dragged his name through the mud."

He waited for some sort of response, watching the younger boy hang his head in shame. The silence in the room pressed against his ears and somehow only served in making him angrier. Of course the little hyenas didn't have anything to say now that they were being called out on their faults. He simply sighed when no one said anything and headed for the stairs leading to the dormitory.

"You should apologize to him, and the rest of you should get off of the poor kid's back." he didn't bother to turn around before beginning up the steps. Jonathan followed after, nearly jogging to keep up with his hurried pace.

"That was pretty cool, Ced."

"Mmn" was all he could manage as a reply.

"But hey," Jona's hand curled over his right shoulder, pulling him to a stop before they could enter their room. "How did you know that Potter and Finch-Fletchley were Herbology partners?"

"I-" Cedric trailed off. It had been a random sort of idea that popped into his head, to find out what Potter schedule was; not just his classes but the finer details like seating arrangement and partnerships. He couldn't very well tell Jonathan that he'd stolen Sprout's class planner when she hadn't been looking and copied down her second year seating chart.

That just sounded strange. Even to him.

"I overheard Finch-Fletchley bragging 'bout it before this whole shit-show started." He thought that his voice had sounded rather convincing, but Jona simply nodded, lips thinned and eyes a bit narrow.

Cedric simply looked away and reached for his potions report, letting the jittery energy that had been plaguing him lately take over and guide his quill.

-0v0-

One issue with being an actual member of his Quidditch team, was that the other actual members of the team, felt as though it was their obligation to do team-like things with him. Now, this would not be such a problem if it the team-like things were limited to the Quidditch field, but, that was not the case as the other Hufflepuff athletes tried to force Cedric into their strange little clique. They would follow him about the school, trying to make him feel included or whatever. It was infuriating and very distracting.

Cedric supposed that he should actually react to their attentions more positively as they were the most popular people in the Hufflepuff house (not that that meant much), but he didn't want the sort parasitic popularity that came with being on a team. The reason he became Seeker was to show that he was skilled not some dependent little wannabe hanging off the coattails of other people.

However, all he could do was grin and bear it because if he did allow himself to snap and verbally attack his teammates like he so dearly wanted to, he would most likely be labelled as bad-tempered and rude.

Thusly, his mood continued to decline as he had to bottle up his frustrations, not only with this new issue but also with the Chamber of Secrets event and the added stress of actually trying in classes. It was enough to make his head spin. But, occasionally he would allow himself to pause and think about exactly why he was doing all this. He knew that if in the end he caught Potter's eye that it would all pay off. It was worth it.

With these thoughts in mind, he gazed across the Great Hall, eyes fixed firmly on the Gryffindor table. Whenever things felt like they were becoming too much and Cedric just wanted to revert back to being the useless shell that he was before, he could just look across the Great Hall and feel all of the anger and stress and jitteriness fade away and let his eyes trace the soft features of Harry Potter.

It was a bit different this time, Potter's face was tensed, ire apparent in his expression. It had been like that more and more often lately as Potter succumbed to the rumors surrounding him. Cedric could see that brat Creevy hanging about the saviour yet again, talking animatedly and waving his camera about, no doubt begging for an autograph or something similar. Cedric found that boy's hero worship repulsive, and selfish. If Creevey really 'loved' Potter as much as he proclaimed then he'd be able to tell that his attentions weren't appreciated.

He wanted to do something about it

-0v0-

Cedric knew exactly where Creevey was pretty much all the time, because he knew exactly where Potter was pretty much all the time. Just look a few meters behind Potter and Creevey would surely be trailing after, starry-eyed and hopeful. So, on one February afternoon Cedric hid away in an alcove in the empty corridor below the Transfiguration Hall. Potter always took this corridor to get to and from Transfiguration since the main stairway was often very crowded before and after first block.

He stared out the shadowy alcove, watching Potter pass hurriedly by, head ducked, his two ever loyal friends following after. Moments like that would always feel very surreal for Cedric, knowing that Potter was only a few steps away, Cedric could easily just reach out and-

The sound of rapid clicking and snapping alerted him to his actual target's approach and only seconds later, Creevey came meandering into view, ducking from alcove to suit of armor to pillar, trying and failing to be inconspicuous as he tailed Potter around the school, camera flashing away.

Cedric simply extended a leg as Creevey scampered by and watched the little stalker tumble to the floor with an exaggerated child scrambled back to his feet, bouncing back like it was nothing and was about to continue his chase before he was grabbed by the arm.

He immediately whirled around, expression open but confused.

"Huh, I uh...?"

He let the boy flounder in his dubiety for a moment big brown eyes blinking rapidly.

"Colin Creevey, right?" Cedric ground out. For some reason he felt so annoyed, he honestly just wanted to punch this kid's lights out, it was a bit worrying, how angry he was becoming as of late. He supposed this is what stress was like.

"Yeah!" squeaked out the boy, far too chipper for the situation at hand. "How'd you know?" His face lit up with a no doubt misguided excitement. "Did Harry mention me?"

Cedric really couldn't stand this kid.

"No." He maybe took too much pleasure in watching the little Gryffindor's face drop. "This does, however have to do with Potter."

"Really? Did he get my message then? Well, messages I suppose... I knew that if I sent enough of them he'd answer me, Harry so amazing like th-"

He squeezed the boy's shoulder tighter until he finally shut up with a pained squeak. "This isn't about any of that, but you're right. Potter is amazing, and more importantly kind which is most likely the only thing that is stopping him from doing to you what I'm doing right now."

"W- what-" judging by the nervous tone, the brat seemed to finally catch on that it was not a friendly chat that Cedric was looking for. "What are you doing e- exactly?"

"Telling you that it's about time you fuck off and leave Potter alone."

"Wha'?- B- but I..." He trailed off expression lost and slightly hurt.

"For someone who claims to know everything about Potter you sure are ignorant. Don't you see how much it annoys him to have people following him around like classless little groupies?" The way Creevey's expression filled further and further with self-loathing filled something hollow inside Cedric, some hole he didn't even know what previously there.

However then the child's countenance suddenly slackened, all of that lovely sorrow and pain sliding off his face like blood off a blade and that lovely feeling in Cedric suddenly shriveled and died.

"What about you?" his voice was fearfully even stained with genuine question.

"What about me?"

He blinked and frowned, head tilting innocently. "Do you know everything about Harry? What are you to him? Who're you to speak on his behalf?"

"I'm... I'm..." What was he to say to that? He wasn't anything to 'The-Boy-Who-Lived', not in the slightest. If anything he was almost as bad as Creevey, creepily watching him from afar, secretly amassing information that should be overall useless to him.

Creevey just continued to stare at him with that curious look on his face before he made a soft, "Hmn." and wandered away.

Goddamn he hated that fucking kid!

A/N: Ahh, I love Creevey, he's such a little weirdo. He's going to feature a fair amount more later on he's not going to be a main or anything of that manner, but he will have an interesting (in my opinion) effect on Cedric. Hah, their interactions kind of remind me of two junkies to be honest.

Well anyway, thanks for reading and feedback is always welcome.