All anyone could talk about was the stupid tournament. Wherever you went in this massive castle, it was the focus of most conversations. More so because the first task had passed and brought with it anticipation for the next task. Really, it was getting rather grating. Even now, as I sat in the library with my dormmates as we tried to complete our Charms essay, I could still hear the whispered wonderings about the next task. Especially because they were the ones talking about it.

"What do you think Reeves?" I looked to Victoria Michaels as she posed the question, leaning eagerly towards me.

"About what?" I whispered back, twirling my quill absentmindedly between my fingers.

"Do you think Potter put his name in the cup?"

"Obviously he didn't," Evie defended with a scoff, looking over her parchment. "Potter might have an addiction to adrenaline but he's not thick; he obviously got someone to put his name in there for him."

"Bones has a point," Kristiana Lu said contemplatively. "You can say whatever you want about the boy, but he knows not to try and fool Dumbledore's magic."

"I still don't think he put his name in the cup," I admitted, biting on my bottom lip. Kristiana went to protest but I hurried on, "Think about it for a minute Lu – the moment we all heard about the task the first thing we did was owl our parents to find out some more about the tournament. They all told us that people have been killed in this tournament. Now, Potter might attract danger but he's not the sort of person to go out an actively seek danger it himself." Turning back to my parchment I added, "Only an idiot would do something like that."

"Ouch," Cedric remarked from somewhere behind me. "I'm a little hurt you'd think that, Reeves."

"Oh please Diggory," I muttered, "I can hear the smile in your voice. You're not offended in the least."

"I never mentioned being offended," he said as he approached the table, nodding to my dormmates who were doing their best not to share knowing looks. "Being hurt and being offended are two very different things."

"Are they?" Raising an eyebrow, I looked up to him.

He grinned down at me, gesturing to the empty seat beside me, "Aren't they?"

"You're impossible," I muttered, motioning for him to sit.

He didn't waste a moment, settling into the empty seat. Rifling through his bag, he pulled out countless pieces of parchment. His next question was asked into his bag, "Do you really think that?"

"That you're impossible?" I cupped my cheek in my hand, turning to him. "Of course I do. I've told you as much, countless times."

"That's not what I meant." He finally peered up from inside his bag, rolling his eyes. "Am I an idiot, Reeves?"

"Isn't the answer obvious?" I cast a look around the table at the rest of my dormmates who were listening to our conversation with annoying identical smiles. Helga, they were irritating. Narrowing my eyes at them for a moment, I looked back to the waiting boy. "What other judgement do you expect me to make about your intellect when you do something so stupid? Hell, I'm even beginning to question your sanity. Only someone stupid – no mad, would enter that godforsaken tournament."

"I was chosen," he reminded me with an easy grin, "out of all the applicants from Hogwarts."

"So was Potter," Kristiana piped up.

"Ah, I almost forgot." Cedric gave her a playful wink, "You're one of Potter's fangirls, aren't you Lu?"

She frowned at him, turning back to her essay with a hmph. Cedric cast his eyes back to me, waiting to see what I would say next as he picked up his quill. He reached out to pick up the piece of parchment that was closest to him, reading over it.

"The first task was dragons. You're lucky you came out of the task relatively unharmed, let alone alive." We had already discussed the danger of the first task and I was still under the belief that he was majorly underestimating the danger that the task had posed to him. He reacted the way he had every other time; with an indulgent smile. "Seriously Ced, it was a life-threatening task and who knows how bad the next one will be. How could someone as smart as you do something as thick as placing your name in that cup."

"I'm an adrenaline junkie," he confessed without batting an eyelid. He glanced up briefly, pointing his quill in my direction, "And just so you know, your words just contradicted your earlier claim that I'm somehow intellectually lacking."

"Oh shut up," I muttered, shoving him.

He grinned wider, "What other answer were you expecting from me? This tournament's led to the cancellation of the quidditch tournament and I wanted to do something because I'm bored. And well, the tournament was too good of an opportunity to pass up."

"You were bored?" Giving him an unimpressed look I scoffed, crossing my arms and leaning back in my chair. My essay was long forgotten and, as Cedric turned his body to face mine, I assumed he'd given up trying to work on his own. He leaned his head on his hand, watching me closely. "Do you think you're the only person missing quidditch? That doesn't mean that I was willing to do something so dangerous. The danger involved in this tournament and the dangers involved in quidditch are leagues apart."

"Well you're my star chaser," he said with a smile he knew would aggravate me, "I should hope you're not taking such risks with your life."

"Cedric."

He chuckled, raising his hands in surrender as he turned away from me. But not before he cast me one more mischievous grin, throwing me a wink which was different to the one he had given Kristiana. "Keep talking like that Reeves and I might begin to think that you care about me."

"You wish," I scoffed, picking up my quill and returning to my essay, hiding my burning cheeks behind my hair.

"You love me really, Reeves."

If only he knew.

The weeks leading up to the Yule ball were a blur of trying to find and pick a dress, to try and find a date and to help Cedric with cracking the secrets of the egg. Surprisingly, making sense of the egg was the hardest part; it was near impossible. I had spent hours combing through the library with both Cedric and Hayden as we tried to find anything about this egg. There was nothing.

I spent most of my time trying to help make sense of the egg that the weeks blurred together and I'd almost forgotten to find a dress. At least I didn't need to worry about finding a date. Cedric spared me the embarrassment of being dateless, by informing me during the middle of one of our searches, that he had through all along that we were going to go together. I hadn't seen a need to contradict him and had simply informed him that if he wanted to go with me then he needed to ask me properly.

I came to regret my decision when, the next day at breakfast, he created a scene in the middle of the great hall by falling to his knees in front of me. Merlin, his antics had made me the sole target of his vast group of fangirls who consisted of girls from all 3 of the competing schools. Helga, it was too much.

In my acceptance of him as my date, I hadn't even thought about the teasing I was going to suffer through and I really wished I had taken a moment to think before accepting his offer. But I could admit to myself that I was flattered he wanted to go with me, even if it was because we were so close. And now, as we were getting ready for the Yule Ball I was subjected to all of the teasing from my friends as we got ready for the ball.

"So," Victoria teased, "how does it feel to have a date with your crush? The crush we were certain you were going to take to the grave?"

"It's not a date," I reminded them as I reached for my shoes.

"Are you going to wear those shoes?" Kristiana piped up, drawing a smooth line across her eyelid. "Shouldn't you go for higher ones so you don't appear short next to him?"

"He's taller than me," I said with a roll of my eyes, "There's nothing I can do about that."

"But during your date –"

"It's not a date," I cut in, doing up the straps on the shoes. "He just wanted to go to the ball with a friend, someone he could relax around. He didn't want his fangirls to start coming up to him." I shared a look with Victoria who looked like she didn't believe my words. "I told you that he was big-headed but you weren't willing to believe me."

"Chang wanted to go with him," Evie said as she struggled with her hair. Rising to my feet, I walked towards her and reached for my wand, taming her hair into an elegant bun with a single wave of my wand. She grinned thankfully at me.

"Did she really?" I asked, aware of the younger girl's admiration for Cedric.

"Are you jealous?" Victoria teased.

"Just as jealous as you were when Rhodes asked one of the fourth years to go with him."

Victoria gasped, holding her eyelash curler threatening in my direction. "I don't fancy him so stop going on about it."

Kristiana gave her a knowing glance but said nothing as she too rose to her feet. "Chang can't be that disappointed. Rumour has it that she's going to the ball with Potter."

"One champion for another," Evie muttered as we all gradually finished getting ready and congregated at the door.

"I'm sure it's not like that," I insisted as we began to walk down into the common room.

Once we reached the common room Victoria and Evie began to make their way towards the great hall where their dates would be waiting for them. Kristiana linked her arm through mine as we approached Cedric and Hayden who were making their way towards us.

"You look," Hayden looked over Kristiana who was waiting for his compliment. He leaned in closer, staring at her face and pointing near her eye, "You've got a smudge."

She turned to me and I frowned. Her makeup was immaculate. I shook my head and Kristiana turned back to Hayden with a glare, reaching out to swat him when he laughed.

"Oscar Hayden," she hissed, "why do you find that funny? Do you have any idea how long it took to do my make up?"

"Well, why do it?" I heard him ask as he gave her his arm and led her out of the common room. "No one told you to wear it and I personally think you look better without it."

"Well who told you that I was wearing it for you," she shot back as they walked into the hallway.

Once they had disappeared out of sight I looked back to Cedric who, unlike me, hadn't been watching Hayden and Kristiana's walk out of the common room. Instead he had been watching me and when I raised my eyebrows questioningly, he shook his head slowly.

"It's nothing," he insisted, "you just look amazing."

"I know," I said with a grin, making him chuckle. He eventually offered me his arm and began to walk me out of the common room. "Just so you're aware – I'm not planning on complimenting you today. You'll get a big head if I do."

"You're really bad for my ego," Cedric grinned down at me, becoming slowly more serious as he reached out to finger a strand of my hair which I had curled. "I'm glad you left your hair out; it suits you."

I cleared my throat, looking away from him. "If you wanted your ego to be constantly stroked then you should've asked one of your fangirls to go with you."

"No way," he said with a vehement shake of his head as we reached the great hall. "The hero worship stuff isn't for me."

I spied Victoria and Evie with their dates but before we could approach them we were intercepted by Professor McGonagall. She looked over the pair of us and I shifted a little under her stare, glancing curiously at Cedric.

"You haven't seen Potter, have you?" she asked and when we shook our heads, she nodded and muttered something to herself. "Well, Mr Diggory and Miss Reeves join the procession please and prepare for the first dance."

"First dance?" I questioned but McGonagall was already walking away from me. Turning my curious eyes to my date, I narrowed my eyes at him, "Did you know about this?"

His answer was nothing more than an innocent smile and I sighed, pulling my arm away from his. He caught it quickly, holding me gently and pulling me closer to him again. Lowering his head towards mine, he smiled gently.

"Would you have agreed to go with me if I'd have told you?"

"Of course not," I said instantly and sighed when I distantly heard McGonagall call for all the champions to gather at the entrance. "We better get going before McGonagall decides to hex someone." He grinned, leading me towards the procession. "If I trip and embarrass myself then I'm never speaking again."

"How will you tripping be my fault?" he asked incredulously as the double doors of the hall were pushed open and we walked in.

"Because your horrendous dancing skills will be my reason for falling."

Cedric chuckled heartily as we got into position and after hours of practicing, the dance movements were completely ingrained into my mind. When the music began I knew exactly what to do and danced with Cedric without even having to think about what movement came next. It left me with enough mental capacity to realise just how many eyes were trained onto my figure.

"Merlin," I whispered to Cedric as the ending bars of the first dance finally rang out. "Do you have any idea how big of a target you've made me."

"I'll protect you," he offered with a grin, eyes drifting past my shoulder and he furrowed his eyebrows curiously.

"What is it?"

"It looks like Moody wants to talk to me," he explained, "Will you be alright –"

"I'll find the girls," I reassured him, hurrying him away with a hand to his back. "It might be important."

Except, it turned out that I didn't need to find the girls, they found me. They ushered their own dates away to go and get them a drink and took the chance to crowd around me.

"So?" Victoria questioned eagerly, "How was it? Were there any sparks, any –"

"Would you stop it," I hissed, "You're talking as if I've kissed him Victoria. Just stop it."

"But he's you're crush," Evie reminded me needless.

"I know that," I sighed. "Helga, I've liked him for ages now but I've made sure to stay as friends. I know all of his bad habits and still like him."

"Those are the worst types of crushes," Kristiana agreed, reaching out to rub my arm.

Evie cleared her throat suddenly, gesturing wildly to something. My eyebrows furrowed but I turned to see what it was that had her behaving so strangely. I wish I hadn't. Standing behind me was a very confused looking Cedric and I felt myself pale, trying to think of a way out. My friends scatter quickly, leaving the scene and I shuffled a little on my feet. Helga, of all the –

After a long moment, he grinned and I let out a breath of relief. He offered me his hand and I took it easily, reassured that he knew nothing.

"What did Moody want?"

Cedric rolled his eyes, navigating us past the students occupying the dance floor and towards our seats. "He told me to take a bath with my egg. A bath! Maybe all of those missions he's done has taken something out of him?"

"Maybe not," I said after a moment of contemplation, making him glance at me in disbelief. "I know it sounds crazy but so far we've found nothing. Maybe it's worth a try?"

"I guess," he agreed reluctantly. "I'll take a bath with my egg." He helped me into my seat, pushing my chair in and settling into his own. With a grin that was different from any he'd ever given me before, he asked, "Care to join me?"

I was left to gape at me, reeling from his unusually sexual comment. My silence had him chuckling to himself.

"You know," he remarked casually, reaching out for his glass, "normally a girl would appreciate such an offer, especially from her crush."

Fuck.

Cedric's sudden knowledge of my feelings for him was something that I needed to deal with. And deal with it I did. Except, I took the coward's way out and did something so unlike me; I avoided even the sight of him. Just until I could figure out what to say to him. He hadn't been upfront about knowing how I felt, he just continued to make loaded comments and it was because of his odd behaviour that I was made to think about what this meant for our friendship.

The only downside to avoiding him was that I was left with endless hours to think about what I was supposed to do now, what this meant for us and how I was meant to treat him now. And well, having that much time to think was bound to be unhelpful.

Cedric clearly wasn't going to stand for my continued avoidance and I didn't blame him for it. But just when I made up my mind to speak to him, to tackle this situation head on, I was called aside by Sprout who claimed that Dumbledore needed to see me. I followed after my head of house, brushing past Cedric as we made our way to the Headmaster's office. When we reached the office, it was too late for me to back out and I was placed under a deep slumber.

When I woke, it was too the freezing temperature of the water from the Black Lake as it threatened to pull me under. Helga, I couldn't swim. If I had known they were going to place me here then I would have –

I struggled blindly in the water, my survival instincts kicking in as I tried to stay afloat. An arm was wrapped around my waist, hauling me against a chest.

"Hold onto me," Cedric advised, looking briefly at me before he swam towards the platform, letting me cling to him.

When we reached the platform, Cedric helped me onto the ladder and I rushed out of the water, collapsing onto the wooden platform, grateful for the solid surface. Someone wrapped a towel around my shivering frame and I clutched it tight around me, taking in deep breaths to try and calm myself.

"You should have told them you can't swim," Cedric snapped the moment he reached the top of the platform, standing beside me and slapping away the hands that reached out to congratulate him on his return. He took the towel that was offered to him, eyes on me and cheeks flushed from the cold.

"I didn't know they weren't going to put me in the bloody lake," I snapped, teeth chattering slightly.

He sighed, crouching down beside me and removing the towel from around his neck to place it on top of my head. When I managed to calm my breathing, when the anxiety fled from my body, I raised my eyes to his and he met them with a sombre half-smile, reaching out to gently dry my hair.

"You're fine," he reassured me quietly, "I promise."

"Thanks for getting me out of there," I said finally, watching as he settled down beside me. We both cast our eyes back over the lake, waiting for the other participants to return.

"Who would have known that it would take a task for me to be able to see you again," he tried to joke as my shivers gentled slightly.

His gaze was heavy on me and I didn't dare look at him, not even when he reached out to take both of my hands in his, blowing on them to try to warm them up. When I continued to shiver slightly, he reached out to remove his wand from the holster strapped to his thigh and cast a warming charm over me. I turned to him then, smiling gratefully.

"Maybe Dumbledore should have chosen someone else to be here instead," I said quietly, "Now you're stuck looking after."

"This task is about recovering someone the champions would miss the most," he reminded me, meeting my eyes steadily. "You should know that there's no one else I'd miss more than you."

Smiling insecurely, I looked away from him and muttered, "What are friends for, right?"

"No," he said firmly as Dumbledore began to address the crowd. "Not friends."

I looked to him suddenly; what did that mean? Before I could ask him, before he could say something else, he was hoisted to his feet by his friends just as he was announced the winner of the task.

After the second task, I made my way through the crowd and trekked back to the castle. The champions had been asked to remain back for a little bit and whilst Cedric probably wanted me to wait for him, I wanted nothing more than to get out of my wet clothes. By the time I reached the common room, I stepped into the Hufflepuff basement to find that preparations for the celebratory party were well under way. I weaved through the students that were magically decorating the room and made my way to my dorm.

By the time I had showered, dried my hair and changed into new clothes, the party had already started. It was so loud that the noise carried easily to my dorm.

Walking into the common room, I made it to the exit of the tunnel when all eyes were suddenly on me. I shifted on my feet, startled by the sudden attention and the rather stifling silence that had filled the room. Glancing around curiously, I briefly made eye contact with one of the younger students who hurried to turn away, embarrassed to have been caught in her staring.

Evie was the first to approach me, fighting her way through the crowd to come to my side. She linked her arm through mine and I watched as Kristiana followed in the shorter girl's footsteps and passed me a glass of something much stronger than pumpkin juice.

"For the shock from the task," she explained as Victoria finally joined us.

Victoria turned to address the crowd, "Piss off before I hex you."

Her words got some outraged gasps but they did the trick. All eyes were peeled away from me as the students slowly returned to whatever conversations they had been having before my entrance. But, for that matter why had my entrance drawn so much attention?

"What happened?" I asked, looking to each of my dormmates who shared a look.

"Diggory was looking for you," Evie explained, taking a sip from her own drink.

"That's an understatement," Kristiana snorted as I stared at the contents of my cup. "He practically ransacked the common room the moment he stepped inside."

Hesitating slightly, I asked, "Did he say what he wanted?"

"He said he wanted to talk to you. Helga, I've never seen a person so desperate to talk to someone."

"He didn't say what he wanted to talk about?"

Victoria shrugged, looking out around the common room. "He said that you'd know."

And I did know. I swallowed nervously, copying Victoria and looking around the common room in search of him. But, when I found no sign of him, I went to hurry back to my dorm. Except, the moment I turned to the tunnel leading to the girl's dorms, I found the entrance to it blocked by Hayden and Rhodes.

"What are you two doing?" I asked, giving them an odd look.

"Stopping your retreat," Rhodes explained, staring over my shoulder.

"Cedric!" Hayden called loudly, gesturing wildly towards me.

His voice was enough to bring another silence through the room and I sighed, knowing that the crowd was likely parting easily for Cedric. Turning away from the two annoying boys, I prepared to face Cedric who, sure enough, had made his way across the common room and was standing behind me. When I made eye contact with him, I waited patiently for whatever he was going to say. But he didn't say anything for a while. He only looked pointedly at the crowd of people who were pretending to pay no attention to our supposed conversation.

"Can we talk?" he asked finally when most of the eyes left us. At my nod, he reached out to take my arm as if he thought I was going to run. He began to lead me through the common room and towards the chairs which had been pushed to the corner of the room. "We'll have more privacy here."

When he reached the chairs, he gestured for me to sit before hesitating to do the same. Cedric said nothing and I was tempted to tease him for his uncharacteristic silence but I didn't. Instead, I looked out to the common room.

"I thought you wanted to talk," I pointed out, crossing one leg over the other.

"I did." He cleared his throat, reaching out to take my hand, "Will you look at me please?"

I did, turning my eyes to his and making no comment on the hold he had on my hand. He began to play absentmindedly with my fingers, staring down at it as he thought over whatever it was that he wanted to say.

"I don't like things being so awkward between us," he confessed.

"Neither do I," I admitted, pulling my hand from his and making him look up at me. "So, can we just act like you know nothing and go back to the way we were?"

He shook his head slowly, "I can't do that."

"Well what are we supposed to do then?"

"I can't go back to treating you like a friend," he said steadily.

"And why not?" I asked quietly, "I don't plan on changing the way I behave around you. Merlin Cedric, even before you knew anything I still liked you so this shouldn't have to change anything."

He struggled in his search for his words. Eventually he settled for, "I just can't. I don't want to?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, not understanding. He wasn't being very clear with his words. "And why not?"

He didn't even attempt to answer my question and I let out a frustrated sigh. "What about you? You claim to have a crush on me but you don't act like it. Were you planning on getting over me without ever telling me?"

"Truthfully? I was." I shrugged when I met his incredulous eyes, "Our friendship's too important for me to risk it over something like this. And honestly, I'm not sure how I feel anymore. Sometimes I feel like this is nothing more than a simple crush, but I've had it for too long and –"

At my sudden halt, he leaned towards me, "And?"

"And nothing." I shook my head, looking away from him, "I know it's frustrating for you but just give me some time to sort my feelings out and then we can return to normal again."

When the next Hogsmeade weekend came around, I took the chance to get out of the castle and to clear my head. In these circumstances, I would've normally gone flying but since quidditch had been cancelled for the year, it was incredibly difficult to be granted permission to go flying. I was tempted to go flying secretly but I knew with my luck that I'd end up getting caught as soon as I kicked off from the ground. It was only inevitable.

As summer finally arrived at the castle, the ability to spend the warm day in the neighbouring village was a well needed break. After the second task, the anticipation towards the third task had only increased even further. I really needed to get out of the castle when the tournament was all anyone could think about. Most of the school spoke of the entertainment factor of the tournament, they never once spoke of the danger posed to each of the champions and frankly, it was enough to make me reach for my wand.

I walked through Hogsmeade, arm in arm with the girls as we made our way to the Three Broomsticks. What I wanted right now was a long chat with the girls over a couple of butterbeers. But just because that was what I wanted doesn't mean that it was what I was going to get. Especially with a particularly driven looking Cedric Amos Diggory jogging my way. I didn't even bother to look surprised when he stopped in front of us, his friends following closely behind him.

"What are you doing?" I questioned, vaguely noticing that the girls had let go of me.

"I thought we could go for a drink," he said with a wide grin, "just the two of us."

Before I could even try to reject the offer Hayden and Rhodes were already ushering my friends away and I stared at the five retreating figures in mild annoyance. Helga's fiery hell – I was not pleased. Turning my unimpressed eyes onto Cedric's I only sighed when he gestured for me to follow him.

"You know," I muttered, throwing him a look as we continued to the Three Broomsticks, "I was planning on spending the day with the girls."

"They're your dormmates," he responded easily, holding the door open for me to enter first. "You're with them at the beginning and end of each day. Don't you think you see enough of them?"

I rolled my eyes, leaning against the bar counter when I reached it. "Is there any reason you approached me today? Or did you just feel like ruining my plans?"

He grinned widely, flagging down Madam Rosmerta and placing our orders. When I went to pay for my drink, he swatted my hand away and paid for me, completely ignoring the glance I gave him at his odd behaviour. He made no comment on my action and instead began to lead me towards a table, hand pressed against the small of my back. Snagging the seat across from him, I prepped my chin up with my arm, watching him closely.

"What are you up to Diggory?" I questioned suspiciously as our drinks were brought to the table. Thanking the employee, I reached out for my mug.

"Nothing," he denied innocently with a slight shake of his head. I knew better.

Narrowing my eyes, I straightened up in my seat and gave him a probing look. "I thought we agreed that you were going to give me time to sort out my feelings for you? Your being around me all the time isn't exactly giving me time, now is it?"

"I don't remember agreeing to that," he said casually, taking a long sip of his butterbeer. Setting his glass back down, he reached out to take my hand in his. I made no move to pull my hand away from his because this much contact amongst friends was normal, right? It was certainly normal in the friendship I had with him. "The amount of time we spent together was too long for me to go to suddenly spending no time with you."

"You're so confusing," I muttered. "One moment you're telling me that we can't be friends and the next you're running around after me. Whatever will the Hogwarts rumour mill have to say about this?"

"First of all," he said clearing his throat and straightening in his seat without releasing my hand. "I never said that we couldn't be friends. Secondly, the rumour mill's already talking about us; they claim you've got me wrapped around your finger and are currently playing hard to get. And finally; shouldn't you be happy that the bloke you're madly in love with is putting all this effort into chasing after you?"

I scoffed, watching as a small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. Pulling my hand out from beneath his, I crossed my arms over my chest. "You're unbelievable."

"I can't deny that," he said with a slight laugh, looking away from me as someone approached our table. Whoever it was had her smile slipping from his face slightly. "Rita."

Rita as in Rita Skeeter? The woman who wrote that trashy article about me after I went to the Yule Ball with Cedric? The horrendous woman had claimed that it was disappointing that someone as 'outstandingly perfect as young Mr Diggory had such low standards as to fall for a witch as plain as Miss Reeves'. She went on to speculate that I was potentially slipping his love potions. Honestly, the woman needed to read some more books if she was accusing both Granger and me of using love potions. Clearly, she wasn't very inspired.

I turned my eyes to the older woman, frowning at the horrible shade of red lipstick she was wearing; it really wasn't her colour. The tabloid reporter hadn't bothered to look at me once. Her eyes were focused solely on Cedric who, by the minute, was looking more and more ready to leave.

"Cedric Diggory, as I live and breathe," she said with an exaggerated sigh, bringing a hand to her chest. A notepad hovered beside her, the quill moving quickly across the paper. For only a moment I stared at it in fascination, before looking back to Cedric. "How does it feel to currently be in first place?"

"I'm tied," Cedric said, sharing a look with me, "with Potter."

"But we both know Mr Potter isn't a real champion," she said with a coy grin, reaching out to place a hand on Cedric's arm. Her eyebrows rose in surprise as she gave his arm an experimental squeeze and she looked impressed.

"The cup chose him."

"Of course, but let's not talk about Mr Potter. Why don't we talk about your lovely lady companion?" Her eyes were finally on me and I shuffled in my seat at the fake smile on her face. "Ah Miss Reeves; your Yule date. And girlfriend?"

Cedric was out of his seat before I could even attempt to deny it. He came around the table, wrapping a hand around my arm and pulling me to my feet.

"We really should be going," he said unapologetically, hurrying me out of the door.

"Wait," I tried to protest as I was forced out into the street, "you didn't let me tell her that I'm not your girlfriend. Now she's going to write about it."

"Save your breath," he advised. "She's already made up her mind about what type of story she's going to write. She'd only spin anything you told her to fit the story she wants to tell."

I sighed, shooting a glare at the Three Broomsticks which was retreating from sight. "She's a piece of trash."

"Maybe," he agreed from beside me, "but she's trash you don't want to anger. She has a load of faithful readers."

Cedric's hunch proved true. Not even days after running into Skeeter in Hogsmeade, she had published an article in the Daily Prophet which featured my supposed relationship with Cedric. She exaggerated aspects of what she had seen during the interaction, stating that I was acting aloof in a way to keep Cedric interested in me. She went on to say that she personally didn't see what Cedric found so attractive about me and that she was sure he would return to his senses soon – or rather, that the love potion I'd slipped him would soon wear off. The article featured heartbroken quotes taken from some of Cedric's fangirls and surprisingly, the only quote that seemed to defend me came from Chang herself.

Helga, the article caused more trouble than I had thought it would. Until this point I hadn't received any hate mail like Granger had. But apparently this article seemed to be the breaking point for the fangirls and I received letter laced with ruins and spells intended to make me ill. Cedric had been sitting beside me when I received the letter and had the foresight to check each of them before I opened them.

Even now, as I walked through the corridor on my way to potions I could feel the glares that I was getting from random students. Frankly this was all so incredibly offensive. Did they really think that a love potion was the only way I could get someone to like me?

A particularly foul Slytherin sixth year brushed passed us on her way to our potions lesson, hissing curses at me as she went.

"Shut up Flynn," Kristiana called to her back, "Just because you need to use a love potion to get a guy to look twice at you doesn't mean everyone does."

"Thanks," I said with a small smile as we approached the classroom. "I just don't understand why everyone's acting like this."

"Because they're all jealous," she explained with an eye roll, "You've managed to snag the golden boy."

"That's a load of crap," I insisted, looking up slightly at the taller girl, "How could anyone look at that trash she's written and actually think that we're dating?"

"Well," Kristiana drew out the word as we turned into the classroom, "Cedric isn't exactly denying the rumours when he's asked about them."

"You're joking," I muttered, eyes on the boy in question as he sat at his place, talking animatedly with Rhodes.

"No – where are you going?"

Before I could properly think of what I was going to do, I marched towards Cedric and shrugged my bag off from my shoulder. He saw my approaching figure and grinned, waving me over towards him. His smile soon left him when I hit him with my bag.

"Why aren't you denying the rumours?" I asked, hitting him again.

He held both his arms up, shielding himself from another strike but it never came. I set my bag on the floor, tapping my foot as I waited impatiently for his answer.

"Well?" I demanded.

"You know I like to joke around," he said weakly, lowering his arms when he realised I wasn't planning to hurt him again. He rubbed his arm where I had hit him.

"Why are you carrying out jokes that make me the target of your demented fangirls?" He smiled cautiously at my question, faltering when I glared at him. "Did you know that one of those ridiculous letters actually contained bubotuber pus. Luckily Evie saw it before I touched it – but still! And don't even get me started on the fangirls within the castle walls."

"I think you can take them," he admitted, leaning closer towards me. The words dried up in my throat as I struggled for something to say. Cedric, realising this, grew a little more serious and reached out to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear.

A throat was cleared from behind us. "If Mr Diggory and Miss Reeves are done putting on a scene perhaps Miss Reeves could return to her seat and we could begin the lesson?"

At the sound of Snape's voice, I hurried away from Cedric, turning towards the front of the class. Snape was waiting by his desk, clearly impatient. Beside him stood some of Cedric's fangirls who happened to be in our potions class. They had obviously stopped on their way to their seats. I briefly wondered whether Cedric had been putting a scene on for their benefit. He'd always said that having fangirls made him uncomfortable so I wasn't surprised that he was using this opportunity to try to get rid of them.

Clearing my throat slightly, I headed to my own seat at the desk behind Cedric. Kristiana was already waiting for me and I said nothing to her curious expression. Whispering that I'd tell her later, my eyes settled onto the back of Cedric's head.

It was time for me to set things straight. If he didn't reciprocate my feelings then it wasn't fair for him to keep playing with them this way. Just because I'd been friends with him for a long time before I liked him didn't mean that I wasn't affected by the way he was acting. But there was a more pressing issue of his feelings; he'd never once told me how he felt.

I returned to the common room after the potions lesson, still lost in my thoughts. My friends, realising this, left me on my own to sort through them on my own. I snagged a seat in front of the fire place, trying to come to some form of conclusion about what I was supposed to do going forward. As usual, there was no clear solution.

My concentration was broken when someone settled beside me on the sofa. Blinking out of my daze, I turned to meet Cedric's curious eyes. He tilted his head to the side slightly, putting an arm around my shoulder before turning back to the conversation he'd been having with his friends when he'd entered the room. I kept eyes on the side of his face and if he felt the weight of my stare on him, then he gave no outwards sign of it. Shrugging out of his arm, I went to stand when Cedric caught my hand.

Hayden spoke before I could try to leave again, "Every girl in the castle is in love with you Ced. Well, every girl apart from your girlfriend."

Cedric kept his eyes on me, even as he joked, "She wouldn't be my girlfriend if she was so easily swayed by me."

Pulling my arm out of his hold, I reminded him, "I'm not your girlfriend."

He glanced away from me, nodding to himself. Clearing my throat, I crossed my arms and turned to face him. Cedric met my eyes with a raised eyebrow.

"We need to talk."

Ignoring his friend's jeers, Cedric rose to his own feet, "Do you want to come up to my dorm room, or –?"

"The corner of the common room will be fine," I muttered, leading him away from his friends who were doing a very bad job of pretending not to listen.

Once we reached the corner of the room and were granted limited privacy, I turned to face the taller boy. He waited patiently for what I was going to say, hands tucked into his pockets. I looked away from him, unable to say what I wanted to whilst looking into his eyes.

"This needs to stop Cedric," I said quietly, conscious of the listening ears. "It's not fair for you to be playing with my emotions in this way."

"That's not what I'm doing," he insisted, sounding more than a little outraged.

"Maybe not intentionally," I agreed, licking my lips. "But what you're doing really isn't fair on me. It's not like I wanted to develop these feelings for you in the first place." He began to apologise and I shook my head, silencing him. "That's not what I meant."

"Then explain," he suggested quietly, reaching out to touch my arm. I shifted away from him, pretending not to see that way something close to disappointment flitted through his eyes.

Letting out a deep breath, I raised my head to meet his eyes. "Honestly Cedric, this isn't the first time you've found out that a girl likes you. I've been your friend for years and I've watched from your side as countless girls told you how they felt. Every time they did that, you never changed the way you treated them and I don't understand why finding out made you treat me differently. It's just – it's not fair."

"Well did you ever think about why I started to treat you differently? He questioned, lowering his head slightly towards mine.

"I have," I admitted with a sigh, "but I can't think of a reason why. Maybe you can tell me why?"

His silence was my only answer. With a sigh, I stepped away from him and watched him fight against the urge to reach out to take my arm and bring me closer to him. Merlin, this was all so unnecessary; I had been perfectly content with Cedric having no clue about my feelings for him.

"Maybe we both need some time away from each other. Just to think things through?" I suggested hesitantly. Again, he made no form of protest, not even when I walked away from him.

In a matter of days I would come to regret that decision more than one I'd ever made before.

The third triwizard task came and went. In its passing, it brought a chill to the entire castle and an overbearing shadow of anxiety to the entirety of Hufflepuff house. One of our own was currently lying in the hospital wing, fighting for his life.

When Potter had brought Cedric back with him, he was nothing but a shell of a man and I had been one of the last to believe that something had happened to Cedric. I wasn't willing to let myself believe because if it was true then that meant I had almost lost him. According to Potter, if he hadn't moved even less than a centimetre than he had, he'd have been dead by now and I would have lost him. Helga, I hadn't even been to see him before the task because of my pride, because I hadn't wanted to shift his concentration. And now, all that was left was the overbearing guilt that settled deep into the pit of my stomach.

Hayden and Rhodes were conveying daily updates about his status and no one had been more relieved than I was when it was announced that he was out of the danger zone. He was still stuck in the hospital wing until Pomfrey allowed him out, but he was recovering.

Merlin, I wanted to go and see him. But how would I face him.

"Aren't you coming to breakfast?" Victoria asked from the doorway, watching as I absentmindedly looped my tie around my neck.

"You guys go ahead," I said quietly, forcing myself out of my thoughts. "I'll come down when I've finished getting dressed."

Pointedly ignoring the concerned look my dormmates shared, I turned my back to them and looked for my shoes. They hovered by the doorway, each of them wanting to say something but not knowing what to say. Eventually they settled for telling me that they'd save me a seat and left the dorm room. As the door shut behind them, I let out a sigh and gave up my pretence of getting dressed. Sitting on my bed, I rubbed a tired hand over my face. Evie, the only one who remained in the room, approached and settled down beside me, rubbing my back soothingly.

"He's fine," she reminded me gently, "He came out of it alive."

"I know, it's just –" I sighed again, "He could have died, Evie. He could have died and I hadn't even gone to wish him luck before the task. I'd been so horrendous to him and –"

"But he didn't die," she cut in firmly, making me look to her. "He didn't die and this is your chance to fix things between the pair of you."

She was right. This couldn't go on for long; I needed to go and see him today.

Nodding slowly, I gestured towards the door. "Why don't you go ahead; I'll follow soon."

When I was left alone in the dorm, I stood again and finished getting dressed. Snagging a hair tie from the bedside table, I began to braid my hair as I walked out of the dorm and into the common room. Walking towards the exit, I found myself stopping in my steps when three boys emerged from the entrance, having not seen me yet.

"Let me go you tossers," a smiling Cedric said as he stood between Hayden and Rhodes an arm swung unwillingly over both of their shoulders. "I told you that I can walk by myself."

"Well we're just making sure," Rhodes defended, "I don't want Pomfrey coming after me because we didn't look after you properly."

Their conversation came to a halt when their eyes settled onto me, almost at the same time. I shifted uncomfortably on my feet, unsure what to do. Removing his arms from their shoulders, Cedric stood firmly on his own two feet, looking to his two friends. Hayden got the message first and reached around Cedric to take hold of Rhodes's arm and pulled him out of the common room, promising to meet Cedric at breakfast.

The common room was silent. We, as the only occupants of the room, stood apart and silently watched each other. I had no idea what I was supposed to say or what I was meant to do but Cedric took the lead. He gestured towards me.

"You should leave your hair out," he suggested, clearing his throat awkwardly. I looked to my incomplete braid and set about slowly undoing it. "Your hair looks better when it's out." I brought my eyes hesitantly towards his.

"Cedric."

"It's the way you wear it during quidditch," he explained with a small smile, "even though you really should tie it out of the way."

My bottom lip began to wobble as I was overcome with the sudden, stupid urge to cry. But I didn't. Smothering it down I crossed the space between us with quick steps and hugged him gently. He slowly returned it, keeping me against him when I tried to pull back. I clung on tighter, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Merlin," I breathed against his shoulder, "I'm so sorry."

Cedric pulled away from me, hands on my shoulders and smiled reassuringly. "You needed to clear your head and you're entitled to that. It was understandable."

I shook my head, "I was being so stubborn and you could have died."

"I'm made of tougher stuff." He reached out to cup my cheeks, tilting my face towards his. "It takes more than one pesky killing curse to off me."

"So arrogant," I muttered, breaking out into a sob halfway through.

He shushed me gently, stepping closer to me and cradling my head against his chest. "You know, being in the hospital wing gave me a lot of time to do some thinking too." Drawing away from him slightly, I looked up into his eyes. "Every day I waited for you to visit me in the hospital wing."

"I wasn't sure you wanted me to," I admitted quietly, "not after –"

"Don't be stupid," he muttered before leaning down to kiss me.

I gasped against him, startled by the sudden gesture. It was only a short kiss, lasting nothing more than a few seconds. But when he pulled away, I blinked up at him in surprise.

"Like I said," he murmured, "I had a lot of time to think."

"But," I protested, visibly confused as I pulled away from him. "I'm sorry – what?"

"I guess this is the part where I admit that I've liked you for a while too?"

"Excuse me?" I demanded, sounding unconvinced. Cedric winced slightly.

"Could you blame me for wanting to make the most of it after I knew my feelings were reciprocated? I thought it was obvious why I was doing it." He frowned at me, "But then you went and overthought everything."

"But I confronted you so many times," I protested with furrowed brows, "You could have said something at any point."

He coughed awkwardly. "You say that like it's the easiest thing in the world to do. Do you have any idea how scary it is to do? Helga, I'm no Gryffindor."

"No, you're just the Triwizard champion."

"Exactly," he agreed quietly, brushing his nose against my own.