"Where is it exactly, where we're going?" Harry asked Ron after nearly an hour of walking.
"Dunno," Ron shrugged. "Say, Dad! Where're we going?!"
"Haven't the foggiest!" Arthur answered, sounding aloof. Grace rolled her eyes, she was over all these adults and their secrets.
"I really hope where ever we're going, we get there soon," Grace huffed as she pushed her hair back out of her face. She should've asked for Aunt Molly to braid her hair instead of leaving it down. "I'm sick of hiking."
"I thought you liked being outside, Grace," Ginny teased, nudging Grace with her elbow. "You take hikes all the time."
"Ah, ah," Grace shook her head at her cousin. "You've seemed to have misunderstood me. I do not take hikes. Hiking implies long, strenuous walks, and it means sweat. I do not like tosweat, so I do nothike. I take nice, casual, leisurely strolls through nature."
"Oh forgive me,your highness," Ginny laughed. "I should've realized that you only stroll, hiking would mean that you aren't a damsel and wouldn't need your Prince Charming," at this Hermione started laughing as well and Grace huffed, glaring at the two of them.
"You two can sod off."
"What are they on about?" Ron asked, turning to Harry, whose face was pink.
"No, idea," Harry shook his head quickly and began walking faster. In fact, Harry did know what Ginny was talking about and he suddenly felt embarrassed.
"Arthur! It's about time, son!" A man greeted a head of them.
"Sorry, Amos! 'Fraid we got a bit of a sleepy start," Arthur apologized, looking over his shoulder to look at Harry and Ron. "This is Amos Diggory, everyone. He works with me at the Ministry."
"Oh, my! Are all these yours, Arthur?" Mr. Diggory asked, looking at the seven children that were catching up.
"Oh no! Only the redheads," Arthur replied, pointing to his children. "Grace, here," Arthur said pointing to her. "Is my niece, so I suppose she's half mine," he laughed lightly. Grace smiled politely at Mr. Diggory and gave him a small wave. "This is Hermione, a friend of Grace's and Rons, and Harry, another friend – "
"Merlin's beard!" Mr. Diggory exclaimed. "Harry? HarryPotter?!" Grace rolled her eyes at him, and gave Harry a sympathetic look.
"Er – yeah," Harry nodded awkwardly. Then a figure fell out of a tree, and landed on their feet. The familiar face of Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff seeker, smiled at them.
"This strapping young lad must be Cedric," Arthur greeted, quickly changing the subject and holding out his hand for Cedric to take.
"Sir," he nodded.
"Well, shall we? Don't want to be late!" Arthur called out.
Ginny and Hermione shared a look and giggled quietly.
"What are you two giggling about?" Grace asked, frowning.
"Well, he's quite handsome, isn't he?" Ginny asked, sneaking a glance at Cedric. She quickly averted her gaze when they noticed that he turned to look at them.
"I suppose," Grace shrugged.
"Hey," Cedric greeted her with a smile as he started to walk beside her.
"Hi," she nodded.
"You're Grace Black, right?" he asked casually.
"Yeeaah?" she replied, not understanding where he was going. She did notice that Ginny and Hermione both looked over their shoulders to look at her, then they grinned at each other.
"You're a part of the Frog Choir," he said, smiling at her, and she nodded. "You're really good."
"How do you know?" she asked, frowning. "I haven't had a solo yet. We've got to be in the choir for a year before we can try for solos."
"I was there when you auditioned," Cedric answered, chuckling nervously, and she nodded in understanding. "You're really talented, it's no surprise that Professor Flitwick chose you."
"Thank you," she smiled. "I'm surprised he did. I wasn't expecting him to say my name at all really. With each name he announced I got more and more sure I wasn't going to be picked."
"He just saved the best one for last," he smiled at her. Grace pressed her lips in a thin smile and nodded awkwardly. "So, are you a big fan of Quidditch?"
"Oh, yeah, I love it! I'm really hoping to try out for the Gryffindor team this year," Grace nodded with a grin.
"Yeah? What position?"
"Chaser," she answered simply.
"That'll be great," he nodded. Then there was an awkward silence between them. "So, what is your favorite team?"
"Oh, it's Caerphilly Catapults," she answered. "But Chudley Cannons are a close second favorite."
"The Catapults?" he asked surprised, and she nodded. "You don't sound like you're from Wales."
"I'm not."
"Then why the Catapults?"
"Well, my uncle is originally from Wales," Grace told him, starting to feel uncomfortable about where this was going. While she had two favorite teams, they were her favorites mostly due to the influence of Remus and Ron. Remus didn't keep up with Quidditch, but told her that out of the teams in the league, he favorited Caerphilly Catapults because Caerphilly was close to where he had lived in Cardiff with his parents. Chudley Canons, well, that was all Ron. Despite having 'favorite' teams, Grace was more of a fan of the sport, than teams.
"Your Uncle?" he asked, looking at Arthur. He didn't think that was right, as he did know that the Weasley's weren't from Wales. Then he remembered her loud speech at the end of June. "You mean, Professor Lupin?" he asked warily.
"Yes," she answered, her voice turning cold and she narrowed her eyes at him, waiting for him to say something about Remus being a werewolf. "Is there a problem with me being close to Remus?"
"No," Cedric answered quickly, shaking his head. "I just... I didn't know that werewolves could be close to family mem-"
"Of course, you didn't know," Grace scoffed angrily. "They're people too, you know! They also have families, and loved ones!"
"Of course! I – I didn't mean-"
"What's this talk about werewolves?" Mr. Diggory cut in, frowning.
"It's nothing, Dad, don't worry about it," Cedric shook his head, trying to get his father to ignore them.
"Are you talking about that werewolf professor you had last year?" he asked.
"That werewolf professor has a name! His name is Remus Lupin!" Grace hissed icily, "and he's aperson, who is infected with lycanthropy! He's only a werewolf, once a month!" At this, Mr. Diggory scoffed, trying to contain his laughter.
"You mustn't know much about werewolves, have you even studied them yet? You must be going into your third year-"
"I'm going to be a fourth year, actually," Grace corrected him, "and I'm sure that I know more about werewolves than you do!" At this, Mr. Diggory laughed.
"I certainly doubt that, girl. I work for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, I think I would know far more about werewolves than a little girl."
"Dad, really-" Cedric started, his cheeks flushing pink.
"They're dangerous, beasts and I'm not sure what Headmaster Dumbledore was thinking when he hired one-"
"He hired Remus because Remus is highly qualified for the job!" Grace snapped. Now any idle chatter that was going on around them had stopped. Harry, Ron and Hermione shared a look, knowing how heated Grace could get about werewolves, let alone about Remus Lupin. "He was, and he willalwaysbe the best Defense teacher at Hogwarts!"
"He could have attacked or killed a student!" Mr. Diggory retorted.
"He was supplied with the wolfsbane potion every month!"
"Which he neglected to take-"
"He didn't neglect anything! He forgot to take it because he saw that there was a murder on school grounds and came to make sure that we were safe! He put the priority of his students' safety over himself!" Grace's face was now turning a vibrant shade of angry red.
"Safety?!" Mr. Diggory scoffed. "Safety! He wasn't thinking about your safety when he placed himself around children without taking his potion!"
"Dad, really-" Cedric tried again to get his father to back off.
"It's a damn shame that he didn't take out Sirius Black while he was out there, he could've at least done the world a favor!" That comment was the last straw for Grace, as she glared murderously at Mr. Diggory.
"Remus Lupin is a highly intelligent, thoughtful, kind, and caring man! He is a person who is forced to turn into a 'beast' – " she used air quotations, "He has thoughts, and feelings just like you and me and deserves the entire world! He would never intentionally hurt a single living thing! For someone who works with magical creatures, you sure are judgmental and prejudice over people who are inflected with a condition in which they have no control over!" she shouted. Then her chilling glare turned to Cedric, who shifted awkwardly. "For a Hufflepuff... you sure are ignorant and prejudiced," she told him coolly. With that, she turned swiftly on her heel and walked away with her head up high.
A/N: Surprise~ double update! :) Today is my birthday, and I'm someone that likes to do things for other people on my birthday so I wanted to double post~ But also I love reading all the comments and trying to respond to them~ so there's that too!
Aaaah and enter Cedric Diggory. He tried y'all xD He really tried but Grace is so clueless and oblivious she didn't catch on.
I know a lot of HarryxOFC tend to have tension because the OFC and Cedric. I... well, I didn't want that xD; I thought about it but I was like: naaaaaaah let's have him try bc she's pretty and an early developer (iykyk) but she's so head over heels for Harry she doesn't notice things xD;
But don't worry, just because Cedric doesn't case tension, doesn't mean that Cho won't... or that there isn't another person stirring up the pot ;)