On the first day of Christmas Vacation, Cedric had given Harry, Viktor, and Fleur each an empty potion bottle portkey to take to Diggory Manor and they landed in the kitchen where they saw Cedric's parents.

"Cedric," piped his mom, running towards him and hugging him. "it's wonderful to see you again, Cedric, it's been way too long."

"My boy," cooed Cedric's dad, also running up to hug his son.

"Mom, dad, I'm happy to be home, " said Cedric warmly.

"And who are your three guests here?" asked Mrs. Diggory.

"Harry Potter, Viktor Krum, and Fleur Delacour," replied Cedric, pointing to each of them in turn.

"OOH!" swooned Mrs. Diggory, "The Boy Who Lived, The Greatest Seeker in the World, and a girl descended from veela! Awesome!"

As Mrs. Diggory started to stare between Harry, Viktor, and Fleur, making all three of them uncomfortable, Cedric interjected sharply, "Mom, NO! They are neither objects nor trophies. They are actual people, actual human beings, and deserve to be treated as such."

Mrs. Diggory looked suddenly ashamed of herself.

"I'm sorry," said Mrs. Diggory sincerely.

"Thanks, Cedric," chorused Harry, Viktor, and Fleur.

"it's okay, Mrs. Diggory," said Harry fairly, "I won't judge you by that one bad moment, I'll learn what kind of person you are while I am here."

"It won't happen again," promised Mrs. Diggory, "The last thing any of you need is being fangirled. And you can call me Amanda."

Cedric's dad, far from fanboying Harry, Viktor, and Fleur, turned to Cedric and asked with obvious disapproval in his voice, "Why did you invite your opponents to spend Christmas Vacation with us? Don't you understand that opponents are enemies?"

"Dad, it's a competition, not a fucking war," said Cedric.

"He's right, Amos," agreed Amanda, "I'm sure Cedric will do his best to win when the tasks come, but the whole point of reviving the Triwizard Tournament was to create opportunities to meet foreign witches and wizards and make friends with them."

"No, it wasn't!" disagreed Amos fiercely, "It's about winning!"

"We're working together on preparing for the Second Task," revealed Cedric seriously, "By working on it together, we'll ALL do the best we can. It's better if it's a friendly competition than a rivalry!"

"There's already too much rivalry in our world," said Harry coldly, thinking of Draco.

This discussion continued for a few minutes and a few nanoseconds and the happy look on Amanda's face and the disgusted look on Amos's face made it crystal clear how they both felt.

Sensing his parents about to have an argument he didn't want to hear, Cedric told Harry, Viktor, and Fleur, "Let me show you my room."

Cedric led Harry, Viktor, and Fleur up to his room and they followed him inside it.

Cedric's bed was on the south end of the room a little bit west of the door. His bedsheets and pillowcase were a matching Hufflepuff. At the north end of the room, from west to east, were a mahogany black dresser with silver handles, a mahogany black desk with a small lamp on top, a curve on the left hand side to slide a brown chair under, and three drawers with white handles on the right hand side, and a black bookcase with books upon it. There were closets at either end of the extreme west part of the room. The north closet held the clothes that wouldn't go neatly into Cedric's dresser. The south closet housed Cedric's Hogwarts trunk. Above the desk was a window with vertical blinds that were currently open. (The window itself was closed.) The wall above Cedric's bed was decorated with Quidditch posters while the wall at the extreme east end of the room was decorated with pictures of magical creatures. A big lamp was present in the southwest corner of the room.

"Yellow bed and black furniture, " observed Harry, "A taste of Hufflepuff at home."

"indeed," confirmed Cedric, "Mom and dad were in Hufflepuff in their Hogwarts years and they were delighted when I got sorted into Hufflepuff.

"How long have you been interested in Quidditch?" Viktor asked Cedric.

"Since I was a toddler," smiled Cedric, "Mom and dad have been taking me to pro matches on Saturdays during the summer for as long as I can remember."

"I don't recognize any of the players or teams on your Quidditch posters," piped up Viktor.

"That's because none of them are actual players or teams. They are generic Quidditch posters and that's exactly what I wanted, " explained Cedric, "My love is of the sport of Quidditch, not of any individual teams or players."

"I assume this is your father's influence?" inquired Fleur, looking at the pictures of magical creatures on the east wall.

"Absolutely," replied Cedric instantly, "Dad often buys me new animal pictures so the wall can be updated. "

"Cedric," said Harry sincerely, "Thank you for sticking up for me to your mom. "

"No problem, " said Cedric kindly, "I'm the lucky one here. I'm the only of the four of us who was never been thought of as an object or a trophy."

"At Durmstrang," admitted Viktor, "I have fanboys and fangirls asking me for autographs left and right. And at Hogwarts, I've had giggling girls ask me to sign their items in lipstick. It gets wearisome after a while."

"I gained some fanboys and fangirls when I became a Triwizard Champion," admitted Cedric, "And yeah, those giggling girls who want autographs? Yuck! At least it's most likely only temporary for me. It died down after I was the worst in the First Task."

"Because they never gave a damn about you as a person!" said Harry clearly, "They just wanted to latch onto the hot commodity. I've been in that position myself. A great example of that is in my first year, when I was beloved by Gryffindors after winning two Quidditch matches but shunned and ostracized by most Gryffindors for losing some house points for being out of bed at night. The only Gryffindors who stuck by me then were Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger and they were both in the same boat as I was for having lost house points."

"I don't have people asking me for autographs," declared Fleur, "My problem is people gaping at me and swooning over me all the time. It's like people think I'm a piece of art to be admired rather than a person!"

"Harry can relate to both of you," said Cedric matter of factly.

"Yes," agreed Harry, "I can relate to Viktor over fame and celebrity not being all they are cracked up to be and I can relate to Fleur about the annoyance of being gaped at all the time."

"Meaning no disrespect towards you two, Viktor and Fleur, but I think Harry has it the worst because the scar people gape at is a souvenir from when your parents died, but the most dangerous wizard of all time failed to kill you."

Viktor and Fleur nodded their heads in agreement.

There were a few seconds of silence and then Cedric proposed, "Why don't we start planning for the Second Task tomorrow?"

"Yes," agreed Harry, Viktor, and Fleur in unison.

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