A/N: A little disclaimer the events are slightly out of order as I do recall that Finch-Fletchley is petrified a bit later in Second Year, but it doesn't have any real effect on the overall outcome of that year.

Eight:

Lockhart had taken his idiocy too far and Cedric was having no more of it. When he had settled down in his seat in the Hufflepuff stands on an unusually sunny October morning, Cedric had been in high spirits, overwrought with excitement at the concept of getting to see Potter gracefully move about the sky once again. However, his hopes had quickly been dashed upon the introduction of a rogue bludger, and while Potter's maneuvers still looked elegant, he couldn't look past his fear enough to fully appreciate them.

Nevertheless, it was the end of the match that had Cedric filled to the brim with loathing for the five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award. When the ignoramus thought it would be prudent to attempt a complicated healing charm despite having no previous training in healing, and more importantly despite being desperately idiotic.

That night, Cedric simply couldn't get Potter's ivory white face out of his mind when the child looked upon his boneless arm. There was simply no two ways about it; that halfwit was going to pay.

The next morning he could admit to feeling smugly satisfied at Potter's elated snickers when Lockhart pompously opened his daily fanmail, only to end up sprouting peacock feathers out the top of his heavily-gelled head while pus-filled boils covered him from head to toe.

-0v0-

Cedric had been pretty proud of himself after his little confrontation with Finch-Fletchley as it was the main reason why the Hufflepuff house had backed off of Potter. He was just very happy to know that he, Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff nobody had been able to alleviate one of the many burdens on Harry Potter's back and it was clear by the way Potter carried himself that he appreciated the reprieve in vindictive behaviour from at least one of the houses.

But, it didn't last. Of course it didn't, it seemed to Cedric that nothing good ever lasted for Potter. Finch-Fletchley had to go and get his fat arse petrified and thusly turn the entire school's accusatory stares back to Potter, the Hufflepuff's vitriol increasing tenfold. What was worse was that there was simply nothing Cedric could do about it this time. All evidence did point to Potter if one was to excuse the fact that Potter was a fucking second year and the school seemed quite happy to ignore that little detail if it meant they could keep the rumor mill running.

In the end, the Hufflepuff simply sat back and glaringly watched the whole disaster fester, silently wishing Potter strength.

What was truly rich about the whole situation was that even Jonathan was now buying into the 'Heir-of-Slytherin' shite which had lead to an explosive conversation between he and Cedric. It had been during a Hogsmeade weekend and Cedric and Jona had managed to snag a booth at the Three Broomsticks before the pub could really fill up. Jonathan and Cedric generally did the same thing each Hogsmeade trip, go to the Three Broomsticks and hide away in some shady corner in the pub, after ordering lunch they'd generally end up either at Scrivenchaft's or Honeydukes and then grow bored and wander back to Hogwarts far before the deadline would even be called.

As Cedric had been sipping his virgin Gillywater (the flavor in Butterbeer had always been too rich for Cedric's palette) Jona had been the surveying the rapidly filling pub, watching the excitable students move about on their activities.

The smaller Hufflepuff's comment had been offhanded, meant more to spike conversation than to actually being any sort of debate. "So, who do you reckon Potter's gonna petrify next?"

Cedric's hand had frozen halfway to his mouth, mug held tightly. His eyes immediately lifted from where they'd been fixed upon the table, intent on meeting Jona's brown gaze, it was for naught as the other boy was staring longingly in Rosmerta's direction.

"Are you shitting me?" Cedric had likened his voice as calm if not somewhat disbelieving, but he couldn't be certain, it was hard to hear much of anything over the buzzing that had begun to fill his ears at Jonathan's question.

Jona finally pulled his stare from the barkeeper's curvy figure to frown at Cedric incredulously. "About wha'? You think I'm joking about Potter?"

"The Hell else would I be talking about?" His voice cracked slightly in his reply, anger bleeding through somewhat. "D'you actually think Potter's behind all this then?"

Jonathan blinked, lowering his butterbeer to the table. It was only then that Cedric realized that he was still holding his own mug to his lips and followed suit.

"Well," began the shorter boy cautiously. "It's clear that he was the one who did it. He had it in for Finch-Fletchley, not that I blame him with all the rumors that boy started."

Cedric wanted to tear his hair out in frustration; it felt like that moment in the Common Room all over again. "If it's so clear, then why hasn't he been expelled?"

The answer was immediate, something that Cedric appreciated, if he'd had to wait long, he probably wouldn't have been able to keep control. "'Cause he's got Dumbledore in his back pocket."

"A 12-year-old boy has Albus Dumbledore, First Class Order of Merlin, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot in his back pocket?" His tone couldn't have been any drier.

"Well, when you put it like that is does sound a bit... But, even so all the evidence points to him!"

He didn't even notice when he slammed a fist to the table, rising from his seat. "Except that it's not even morally within his character to do something like this!"

Jona had mirrored his aggressive physical actions and stood as well, crossing his arms across his chest and raising his chin in a defiant manner. "What's that even supposed to mean?"

"I mean that Harry isn't like that!"

Brown eyes narrowed cooly, analytically searching Cedric's face as drawled out his next words. "Harry is it now?" He slid back down the booth, reaching for his butterbeer, pulling his gaze towards the amber liquid. "What is he like then, Ced? How do you know so much about his morals?"

Creevey's words sounded somewhere in his subconscious. "Do you know everything about Harry? What are you to him? Who're you to speak on his behalf?"

Cedric simply sat down in his seat, taking a swig of his gillywater as resolutely ignored the stares of the nearby tables. They didn't speak a word to one another for the rest of the trip and by the next morning there seemed to be an unspoken agreement between the two not to bring up the argument again.

That did not necessarily mean that Cedric didn't think about it though, in fact Jonathan's and Creevey's words seemed to be at the forefront of his thoughts more often than not. They were right, there was nothing more to it. Cedric had no right to claim that he knew anything about Harry Potter when Harry Potter didn't even know he existed. Yet, the more he tried to force himself to accept this fact, the more despondent he would become. And the more he pondered on how despondent he was becoming by it, the more confused he would become, which would lead him back to trying to force himself to accept their words as fact.

It was a vicious cycle.

But, there was a silver lining. The concept of proving them wrong.

If he continued on the path of popularity, if he continued to pursue Potter's attention, then he could show them, show everyone that he did know Potter and that Potter knew him, he could finally prove that he was worthy that he was more than just the Hufflepuff nobody.

That concept left him jittery and excited. It mixed oddly with his still despondent emotions, but at least he could focus on the task at hand with his newfound energy.

-0v0-

This focus is pretty much solely what kept him going all the way to Christmas break. Similar to last year, he'd owled his parents in hopes that they would give permission for him to remain at Hogwarts for Yule. Again his hopes were dashed when he received yet another miffed reply stating that the Holidays was a time for family and that he was obligated to celebrate with them. Due to his already less-than-stellar attitude, he had been none-too-pleased with their reply and had to exercise extreme control so not to send them and explosive missive. Instead he glaringly threw his clothing and books into his trunk ignoring his roommates' watchful gaze as he grumbled under his breath about how it was all so unfair.

Jonathan had seemed to catch onto his bad attitude and spent the majority of the trainride paging through some trashy romance novel rather than purposefully aggravating Cedric with chatter like he usually would do.

He decided that his parents ought to learn to respect his wishes every once in awhile. It was very inconsiderate of them to ignore his requests as though they were frivolous and unimportant. For that reason, he actively avoided contact with his parents as soon as he disembarked the Hogwarts Express. Like last time, they seemed somewhat hurt by his cold shoulder, but didn't comment.

Instead of spending his break indulging in holiday merriment, his mood was pensive. With nothing to distract himself with, he was forced to confront his recent troubles.

Creevey had confronted him once more before his petrification with a strange sort of revelation, that left Cedric feeling worried. He knew that it was pointless to linger on the ramblings of that mad little stalker, but it was hard not to.

He had been returning from Quidditch practice, moving as fast as his feet would allow so not to be followed by his insufferable teammates. They were nice people and all, but Cedric really couldn't put up with their whiny chatter about how hard they found classes and Quidditch practice.

He'd just turned a corner in the second floor corridor when a tiny figure came barreling towards him and most probably would've knocked him off his feet if they'd not been so miniscule.

"Oof!" he'd exclaimed. "Geeze kid, watch where you're going next ti-"

"There you are! I knew you'd be here."

His insides had immediately soured upon hearing the annoyingly squeaky, high-pitched voice. He looked down to see Colin Creevey looking up at him with a wide grin, camera poised.

"What do you want, Creevy?" his tone had been cold, he simply wasn't in any mood to put up with the aggravating brat after a rough day at practice.

"Well, ya see, I've been watching you! Ever since we talked I had thought 'Huh there's something about that guy.. ' and I finally figured out what it is! And that's why I-" The boy reached a diminutive hand into his robe pocket, rummaging around before pulling out a stack of photographs. "That's why I thought I'd give ya some of these!"
He shoved them in Cedric's face and the Hufflepuff had to lean back for fear the child might smack him. Reaching up, he snacthed them from Creeveys grasp and frowned in inspection. Upon realizing what they were, a strange sort of jolt corsed through his stomach.

Blink shyly back up at him with large green eyes was Harry Potter, pink lips pulled into a timid smile, clearly embarrassed at getting his picture taken. Cedric simply stood there, eyes fixed firmly upon the picture, watching the boy glance about, he barely even noticed when Creevey leaned forward to take a glance.

"Oh yeah, that's one 'o my favorites, it's one of the few times I could get him to pose for me."

Cedric's eyes narrowed at this, and the thumbed through the other photos, realizing that the majority of them Potter was unaware that he was being photographed.

"Th- this is an invasion of privacy!" he stated, but his voice sounded rather weak even by his own ears.

Creevey simply laughed at that. "You're so funny! I don't get you at all, but at the same time we're so alike!"

"Alike!" Cedric had hissed, temper rising (though he was careful not to crumple the photos). "Us alike!? Not likely!"

The boy grinningly edged closer, invading the elder's space with reckless abandon until they were nearly nose to nose. "Oh, but we are! It's Harry that connects us don'tcha see? We're the only ones who seem to understand him for what he truly is! He's so much more than a celebrity, than the Boy-Who-Lived... he's perfect, don't you see? Do you get it? Oh what am I saying, of course you do!"

The way the boy had rambled, eyes distant and starry, grin manic, made Cedric very uncomfortable. But his words... Well as much as he wanted to denounce them as insane...

He simply couldn't.

Creevey, for once, seemed to catch onto the atmosphere and sobered somewhat, grin fading to an almost sane-looking smile. "Well, you'll admit to to yourself eventually. But, you can keep those, I know you'll treasure them." He giggled. "But the next ones will cost ya'!"

With that he skipped off, leaving Cedric staring at a photo of a slumbering Harry Potter.

He'd stuffed the photos to the bottom of his trunk after that, but every night onwards he would be haunted by the concept of them sitting at the bottom of his dark, lonely suitcase, suffocating under a mound of clothes calling out his name imploringly. It was a ridiculous thought, but it simply wouldn't leave him and now that he was on break he had nothing to distract him from it.

He barely even lasted halfway into the first night of break before he hopped out of his bed with a dramatic display of vexation and opened his trunk, pulling out his stack of treasures. Once they were sitting in his hands, he wasn't quite certain what to do with them. He didn't want them damaged, but he felt that framing them would be a bad idea; if his parents were to ever enter his room they'd surely have questions. In the end, he reached under his pillow and pulled out his journal thumbing to the nearest empty page and began pasting.

As he was settling back under the covers, journal nestled under his pillow, he knew that there was something dreadful in his previous actions.

But, the satisfaction he felt was just good enough that he could ignore it for now.

He fell asleep to the color of green and the scent of pale flowers.

A/N: So uh, I feel like I rushed this one a little bit, so if there are any sort of grammatical mistakes or mistakes in general that you see feel free to point them out. I feel that this is really around the time where Cedric's behavior crosses a threshold into unhealthy habits, but Third Year is where it's really going to get crazy. I simply love writing Creevey, he's so high energy and manic, it's very fun.
Also, I realize that first part was a little non-sequitur, but I felt that Lockhart's actions couldn't really go unaddressed.

Anyway, your feedback is always appreciated.