Twelve:
After listening to the Malfoy-spawn drone obnoxiously about Potter fainting on the train and watching the brat pantomime swooning for the duration of breakfast; Cedric was really in no mood to go to any class let alone Defense Against the Dark Arts. His sleepless night added nothing to his temperament either and if it were his second year or earlier he'd probably have skipped out, first class of the year be dammed. But, upon seeing Potter settled between his two perpetual hanger-ons looking only slightly pale, Cedric simply squared his shoulders and tucked into his eggs, resigning himself to a rough day.
But, about five minutes into Professor Lupin's class proved that his day would not be perhaps as terrible as he'd originally anticipated. The man seemed unusually competent compared to his predecessors and Cedric found himself thankful for his presence with OWLs but a stone's throw away. Based upon the look on Jona's face his sentiment was shared. In fact, the entire class seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief after unanimously realizing the the guy wasn't yet another sorry excuse for a Defense Professor.
"It has come to my attention," continued the man after a polite introduction. "That your curriculum is quite well... lacking."
Cedric was quite certain he heard someone scoff "Understatement of the century." but, it may have just been his own mind.
"Thusly, I've decided that it would be best for me to give a rapid fire crash course until October and then we could take an accumulative quiz to see where we need to go into more detail."
A few people looked quite wary at this; Hufflepuffs generally didn't take well to fast-paced learning, but Cedric thought the man seemed proficient enough to cater to their needs and was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
The man clapped his palms together, a more easygoing smile crossing his face. "But, for now let's do something a bit more fun! If you'll all follow me."
They ended up in a normally unused classroom, empty save for the quaking wardrobe at the front of the room. Upon catching sight of it, Jona immediately paled.
"He's mad, there's no way I'm getting near that thing."
Cedric frowned, eyes turning back to the wardrobe. "Why? What is i-"
"I had originally procured this creature for my third years, but considering how behind you all are, I think it perhaps best that the upper years have a go as well. Does anyone have a guess as to what this may be, then?"
"A boggart." said a voice towards the back of the room, Cedric wasn't certain who exactly it belonged to.
"Indeed!" nodded the man, looking quite pleased. "Ten points to Hufflepuff! And does anyone here perhaps know what the incantation is to banish a Boggart?"
"Riddikulus." Cedric intoned, eyes still fixed on the wardrobe that seemed to become increasingly violent in tremors. He felt a sense of foreboding in the pit of his stomach. He was fairly certain whatever his greatest fear was, it wasn't something he wanted anyone knowing, let alone the virtual strangers he went to class with.
Despite the looks of horror that were rapidly dawning upon his students' face Lupin continued his lecture before instructing everyone to line up in front of the now near deafeningly loud wardrobe. Ignoring the morose atmosphere the man merrily motioned for the first student to step forward, opening the closet with a flick of his wand.
The chilling mood dissipated quickly as one after another student stood up to their fears (which, considering that they were Hufflepuffs were honestly pretty arbitrary). By the time it was Cedric's turn, he was outright laughing at some of the nonsensical things that people were apparently afraid of.
He was still laughing when Jona gave him a light push forward towards the already warping being, but it stopped with nary a breath. His eyes widened, his ears buzzing the conversations fading behind him as he became bewitched by what stood in front of him, the smile slipping from his face like rain down a window pane.
It was a mirror. And there he stood his reflection, recognizable, but not quite himself. Or rather not his current self. His twelve year old self stared back, eyes dull and shoulders slumped. It took a moment longer for him to realize that he was not the only one in the mirror, too busy analyzing the boy's face with mounting disgust.
His parents stood on either side of his reflection, strained smiles on their faces. He could hear their voices coming from somewhere behind him, weak, as though it pained them greatly to speak to him at all.
"I'm so proud of you, Ced." rasped his father, eyes darkened with repugnance. "Don't listen to what everyone says. I don't think you're useless."
"That's right!" added his mother, fake cheer dripping with every word. She couldn't even look at him, lips curled in smile that looked more like a grimace as she stared at her shoes. "I'll always love you!"
Cedric felt himself stumble backwards as a his of revulsion escaped the back of his throat in the form of a yelp. This was his biggest fear? His former self and his parents' disapproval? Surely not! That was his past. A surge of anger erupted up the base of his spine. This wasn't his biggest fear! This wasn't a fear at all. This was his past, and he'd let it have no sway over him.
He raised his wand, quaking with rage but before he could even properly aim, the image before him shivered beginning to reshape. As it flipped rapidly from form to form Cedric's eyes zeroed in on a glimmer of alabaster skin and black curls and he knew immediately what would take shape.
"No!" he snapped. And before it even settled, he cried "Riddikulus!" and watched as a flock of doves took the being's place, his expression grim as stray, white feathers floated to the floor around him.
He flinched violently as a hand settled on his shoulder.
"Nice one, mate." commented Jona with a laugh. "I couldn't even tell what it was your scared of. Your reflection or something? Fair enough, I s'pose, with an ugly mug like yours!"
He just gave his friend a light shove before heading to the back of the line, ignoring Jonathan's guffaws.
He let out a sigh of relief, not noticing curious brown eyes watching him from across the room.
"That wasn't so bad." Jona had commented as everyone slowly filed back into the corridor. Cedric nodded, but internally cringed. It certainly could've gone worse, but he it still felt it wasn't quite pleasant enough to be considered 'not bad.'
"Mr. Diggory, if you could stay behind for just a moment, please."
He looked over his shoulder to see the Professor leaning leisurely against the only slightly tremoring wardrobe, an inquisitive look in his eyes.
Cedric sent a confused shrug in Jona's direction before nodding, motioning for his friend to leave without him with a wave. "Yes, Professor?"
The man appeared to have trouble formulating exactly it is he wanted to say. His jaw ticked in a slightly agitated manner before he finally spoke.
"I noticed your boggart and I feel that I must ask... Is everything... alright at home?"
Cedric blinked rapidly at this, resisting the urge to reply yes and a second urge to cackle. He thought for a moment. Things weren't necessarily perfect at home, but it was hardly whatever the man was imagining. He'd never felt as if he needed to approach an authority figure simply because his parents were a little distant. (Or at least, they were distant, now they seem to be a little overbearing in all truthfulness).
He put on his shiniest smile. "Everything's fine, sir, but thank you for the concern."
Judging by the look on the man's face, he may have taken a bit too long to answer. All the same, he was allowed to leave after a curt 'Gooday.'
He wasn't quite sure if that little encounter made the whole lesson better or worse.
-0v0-
His first practice as Quidditch Captain went well if Cedric did say so himself. Oliver Wood was indisputably the most enthusiastic Quidditch Captain to ever grace Hogwarts, but Cedric thought he wasn't too far behind. Sure, is wasn't exactly Quidditch itself that Cedric was enthusiastic about, but rather one specific game, or rather one specific participant of one specific game, but it's not like his team could tell that and thusly they couldn't help but adopt his chipper attitude throughout practice.
He was quite satisfied with his picks as well, his newest chaser Cadwallader seemed like an especially promising addition that would hopefully make up for Hufflepuff's less than stellar offensive line up. Fleet as well seemed like he would be able to hold his own on defense given enough TLC.
Filled with optimism (and fantastical images of shaking a winningly grinning Harry Potter's hand after a close match) Cedric and his crew trained hard and he could not help the smug satisfaction upon overhearing their comments about his improved physique in the Common Room later that evening.
He was so up his arse about his improved looks, in fact, that he almost didn't hear some faceless Hufflepuff's exclamation of another Sirius Black sighting in Hogsmeade. Almost being the operative word. But, he put it out his mind, with all the damn Dementors crawling about the place, there was no way that Black was getting past the school gates.
He was proven so very wrong.
He spent his Halloween as he had the last two years; wondering how Potter was fairing and doing his damndest to ignore the obnoxious people around him. He'd never quite forgotten the way Potter had described his terrible luck on Halloween. The way the boy attempted to make it sound as nothing more than a passing comment, but anyone besides the gormless redheaded hanger-on that he had been speaking to would be able to tell that it concerned him greatly.
He chanced a glance at the Gryffindor table, noticing the way Potter seemed to slowly draw into himself as the feast progressed. Somehow Samhain had gone from one of his favorite holidays, to one of his most hated.
He wasn't quite sure when.
By the time he had returned back to the Hufflepuff Common room, he wasn't in the best of moods, preoccupied with brooding over Samhain. Jona seemed to be high on a sugar rush and was jabbering at almost incomprehensible speeds about something that Cedric was certain he didn't care about.
When they were told that Sirius Black had attempted to break into the Gryffindor tower, Cedric was as concerned as his peers, assuming the worst. But, upon finding out that Potter had been unharmed he'd calmed down quite a bit and ended up just watching on with amusement as the other student's quaked with misguided fear.
As if Sirius Black would waste his time attacking a bunch of worthless Hufflepuffs.
Surprisingly, he concluded his night in a better mood than he had in a long while. Despite having to sleep on the hard, cold floor of the Great Hall face-to-face with a snoring Jona, he couldn't help the utter bliss that bubbled in the pit of his stomach as he drifted off to sleep.
He was sharing a room Potter, after all.
A/N: I'm fairly certain this is my worst chapter by far. It really hops all over the place and doesn't go into enough detail, but even after proof reading it three times, this is really the best I can do without a beta's guidance, so I'm sorry if it doesn't meet any of ya'll's standards. The next chapter will be coming soon enough. And within the next two or three chapters should be the turning point of the entire story. The Gryffindor/Hufflepuff Quidditch match.
Thank ya'll for sticking with me and as always, reviews are appreciated.