papervenom - Tumblr blog

papervenom · 7 days ago

Text

✩ chapter sixteen: the yule ball ✩

summary: your fourth year starts with the return of the triwizard tournament— and a relationship with cedric diggory that should feel steady, but doesn’t. when harry’s name gets pulled from the goblet, everything shifts. the trio starts to crack, and being with cedric only adds to the tension. you’re sure about how you feel , you love him. but someone else is pulling for your attention, and it’s getting harder to ignore. a slow-burn, character-driven take on goblet of fire, told through your perspective

chapter warnings: alcohol use, romantic tension, jealousy, fluff, yearning, and a little angst

word count: 8.0k

authors note: IT’S FINALLY HERE!!! guys… writing the yule ball has been something i’ve looked forward to ever since starting this series, and i really wanted to do it justice. that’s why it took me (literally) two fucking years to get it together. i ended up writing so much that i had to split it into 2 chapters soo... next chapter is ready and will be posted soon!! it does contain smut (another reason this one took me forever, i wanted the payoff to really feel worth the long, slow burn this story has been) and i genuinely hope i captured all the emotions right. this part of the series is so special to me and i can’t wait to share it with u!

i also just wanna say thank you to everyone who’s been reading, liking, reblogging, or even silently lurking, it all means the world to me. but a special shoutout to @cherrycolacigs, @iwannabeapinkaesthetic , @milkpeanuts476, and @snowvies for ur sweet words. i was genuinely so giddy and warm reading ur messages and just so so grateful. your kindness reminded me exactly why i love sharing this story. truly, thank you <3

finally, i made a yule ball playlist because i got carried away (as usual) and wanted you to be able to live this chapter out with me. thank you again for being here. i can’t even explain how much it means to me. hope you love the chapter. i love you. i love you. i love you. 💋 – k

INSATIABLE MASTERLIST⋆˙⟡

December 17th, 1994

The long-awaited day of the Yule Ball finally came, and to distract myself from the incessant nerves coursing through my body, I accepted the twins' invitation to go out onto the castle grounds that afternoon to kill some time.

The snow had been untouched except for the deep channels made by the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students on their way to and from the castle.

Harry and the Weasley siblings had been partaking in a snowball fight, which Hermione and I chose to watch rather than join in when we saw just how violently they were lunging the snowballs at each other.

Instead, we were going over the steps for the opening dance that we had been practicing with our Triwizard Champion dates.

Hermione and I clumsily twirled around in the snow as we clutched onto each other, giggling as our feet sank into the thick, ice-cloth— making us nearly topple over.

It was when the five o'clock bell chimed across the castle that Ginny came to take us upstairs so we could start getting ready for the ball.

"What, you need three bloody hours!?" asked Ron, looking at with disbelief and paying for his lapse in concentration when a giant snowball, thrown by George, hit him hard on the side of the head.

"Oi, (Y/N). You gonna be putting on that Victoria Secret tonight, eh?" Fred called out after I had ignored Ron and turned to walk up towards the castle.

When I processed what the twin had said, I whirled around in shock.

"Harry!" I immediately bellowed at my friend for telling the twins about the shopping I did over the summer. This made the identical brothers laugh as I dove down to grab a handful of snow, which I proceeded to chuck at Harry, who dodged it swiftly.

"Whose secret?" I heard Ron ask cluelessly, making the boys cackle even louder, but I just waved them off with burning cheeks as the girls and I left, going up the stone steps and into the castle.

"What was Fred on about?" Ginny asked curiously, making me hide my face in my hands as Hermione's simper grew wider on her face.

"Back in America, Harry and I went to the mall to do some shopping, and I visited this Muggle store called 'Victoria's Secret' to buy some...stuff," I explained vaguely, my face feeling like it was on fire against my palms.

"What kind of stuff?" Ginny continued to inquire suspiciously.

"Like... sexy underwear," I replied meekly, breaking into a grin as Ginny's eyes widened in realization.

"Oh, Gods— the absolute cheek of that tosser!" Ginny exclaimed, referring to her brother's crass comment and sounding much like her mother.

"I wouldn't expect anything less of him." I sighed, "If anything, I'm annoyed with Harry for telling them. Gossipy little twerp." I muttered before announcing the password to the Fat Lady and yanking her portrait wide open— rapidly bounding up towards our dorm rooms to get everything together.

Once in the room, the three of us sprawled out our ball gowns and accessories over the plush mattresses of the four-poster beds and took turns showering before we had to help each other with hair and makeup.

Embarrassingly, I was planning on wearing the satin ivory set I had bought at Victoria's Secret tonight.

Especially after Cedric made it so apparent that we would spend the night together.

I hadn't told anyone about this despite Fred's teasing earlier. It felt good to have it be a private matter and not reduced to gossip.

So I quickly put it on and admired how sensually it adorned my body, accentuating my curves alluringly as the delicate fabric clung to me.

I gawked at myself in the bathroom mirror, never having felt sexier in my life, before shrugging on my bathrobe quickly before anybody walked in on me and saw me in lingerie— which would've definitely raised suspicion.

When I rejoined my friends in the dorm room, I found Hermione lying on her bed as Ginny brushed soft-pink, shimmery eyeshadow on her eyelids.

"So you two haven't kissed yet?" murmured Ginny lowly as she rummaged through her makeup bag for blush.

"Of course, we haven't! We've barely exchanged a few words with each other. There's a language barrier, so communicating takes us a while. Last night, we spoke about his Quidditch and about books we enjoy... but that was it, really..."

"Would you kiss him tonight?" I asked, looking at my timid friend through our vanity mirror as I towel-dried my hair.

"Oh, I don't know... If it feels right," Hermione admitted softly, her voice quivering. Ginny and I grinned at each other as we swooned over how adorable Hermione was.

As the minutes passed, other voices could be heard in the tower, and the Gryffindor girls started pouring inside their dorm rooms and bathrooms to prepare for the ball.

I overheard arguments beginning to transpire as my housemates bickered over how long they were waiting for each other to get out of the shower, and I felt grateful that we started getting ready as early as we did.

Before I knew it, dusk fell and I was standing at the top of the girls' staircase— wearing my perfectly fitted ball gown complimented by the sparkly earrings and luxurious, golden chandelier necklace I had purchased at Gladrags.

I felt unreasonably nervous as I shifted my weight on my stilettos, waiting for Ginny and Hermione to put the finishing touches on their looks.

It didn't help that many of the girls would ogle as they passed by me to get downstairs to meet their dates.

It made me strangely self-conscious, even though I knew I looked impeccable.

Ginny styled my hair perfectly, with loose curls that cascaded over my shoulders. A plaited braid tied the hair away from the front of my face, which presented the smokey, seductive makeup look she did on me. The look consisted of hues of brown and sheer golden eye shadow that made my eyes look sultry and hypnotizing. She then paired the elegant look with dark rose lipstick— the same shade as my dress.

There wasn't a hair out of place to me. If anything, I felt slightly overdressed than the other girls, but I decided not to overthink it because I knew Cedric would see me and think I was the most gorgeous thing he ever laid eyes on, and that's all that mattered to me.

"Oh, (Y/N)! Look at you!" Hermione cried softly, and I turned around to find my beautiful friend clutching her face in awe as she admired me.

There is something so bizarre about seeing your friends dressed stylishly in a school setting.

And seeing Hermione in the dress we picked out at Gladrags, only this time with her tidied curls and made-up face, nearly brought tears to my eyes.

"You look so pretty, 'Mione!" I cooed, immediately pulling her into an embrace, which she returned enthusiastically by squeezing me tightly.

Ginny appeared behind her, seeming proud of the looks she did on us. Luckily, she had the time to work her magic on herself. She styled her hair straight but wrapped two braids around her head like a crown. She kept her makeup simple, just as she did with Hermione, with a slight tint of peachy-pink lipstick and blush.

"Don't go spoiling my hard work, now," Ginny scolded us playfully as we turned to hug her. We all giggled, buzzing with excitement as we finally went downstairs to join the others.

The Common Room looked strange when it was full of people wearing a variety of colors instead of the usual masses of black school robes.

All the Gryffindors were slowly exiting the tower to head to the Great Hall.

As expected, the boys were already gathered by the fireplace, waiting on us.

Each of them looked undeniably handsome.

Harry had on the dark green robes that Mrs.Weasley purchased for him over the summer, which indeed brought out the color of his eyes. I was impressed to see that he seemed to have actually combed his hair for the occasion— it looked less tousled than usual.

Fred and George were wearing what were clearly second-hand dress robes draped over their matching brown vests. Instead of the traditional bowtie, each twin sported a dark-colored, thick corduroy ribbon, which suited them well.

Neville, Dean, and Seamus wore black dress robes with a black silk vest underneath. Their white dress shirts contrasted with their bowties' dark colors, and each looked nicely groomed and put together.

And then there was Ron.

There was no getting around the fact that his robes looked more like a dress than anything else.

In a desperate attempt to save face, it seemed like he decided to use a Severing Charm on the ruff and cuffs, and it worked reasonably well because at least his dress robes were now mostly lace-free. However, he hadn't done an impeccable job because the edges still looked depressingly frayed.

We got a good look at the boys before they even laid eyes on us. I watched as Ron nervously pulled stray threads out of his cuffs, his blue eyes scanning the room as he stood lankily beside Harry.

"Merlin, have mercy on us..." Fred murmured, being the first one to notice us. He had his tongue in cheek, grasping onto his typical humorous undertone, but the indiscretion in his gaze was serious as his eyes trailed up my figure.

I rolled my eyes, turning away from him slightly in embarrassment as I suddenly felt rather exposed in the expensive, crimson-red gown's low-cut neckline and skin-tight material.

"You ready?" I asked Harry, who was wiping the lens of his circular eyeglasses on his dress shirt.

"Er, not really..." he mumbled shyly, putting his glasses back on and shrugging when I frowned, "I'm just not looking forward to that opening dance."

"I feel bad for you if you're going to let a stupid opening dance ruin your night. You're going with Cho Chang! What could you possibly complain about?"

Harry smiled coyly, nodding in silent agreement as a scarlet tint blushed his priorly pale cheeks.

Next to him, Ron was admiring me with parted lips and adoring dopey eyes. His hands were buried deep in his black dress pants pockets, and the ruffles on the lapels of his antiquated dress robes rose and fell quickly as his breathing became heavy.

Behind him, Parvati was waiting at the foot of the stairs, seeming uncomfortable as she watched Ron gawk at me. She looked very pretty, in robes of vibrant pink, with long, dark hair braided with gold and shimmering bracelets glimmering at her wrists.

"Parvati, you look amazing," I complimented her earnestly.

She smiled at me bashfully, and Ron seemed to wake from his trance as he finally noticed his date waiting for him.

He sauntered over to her awkwardly, giving her a tight smile.

Lavender, Angelina, Ginny, Katie, and Alicia paired off with their boys, and we all set off towards the Entrance Hall, where Cho, Viktor, and Cedric were waiting on Harry, Hermione, and me.

Walking on the castle's marble floors with heels on was something so foreign that I appreciated Harry's chivalry for offering his arms for Hermione and me to cling onto.

Ron had tried to be the one to help— having discourteously let go of Parvati to get to me, but Harry was closer, and it only made everything more uncomfortable between Ron and his date.

When we rounded the corner to walk down the stairs towards the Entrance Hall, we saw just how packed it was with students, all milling around waiting for eight o'clock to strike, which was when the doors to the Great Hall would be thrown open.

The people who were meeting partners from different Houses were seen edging through the flock, trying to find one another.

I scanned the room for Cedric, and when I finally spotted him pushing through the crowd to get to me, I let go of Harry and started walking down the staircase hastily—holding onto the barricade as my heart thumped harder in my chest with every eager step.

Soon, Cedric was within arm's reach, and he surprised me by wrapping his hands around my waist. He then proceeded to pick me up and spin me around instantly.

I laughed giddily— clutching onto his shoulders tightly as the hem of my gown and his dress robes whirled around us.

We had caught the room's attention by the moment he put me back down, but we remained wrapped in each other's arms.

Cedric looked strikingly handsome— his black dress robes were made of a refined, silky material that matched his bowtie. His look was sophisticated and resembled a classic tuxedo.

"I'm the luckiest guy here," Cedric murmured, his grey eyes soaking me up as his hands ran up and down my sides lovingly.

"And I'm the luckiest girl, you look soo good," I gushed, reaching up to cup his face in my hand.

Beside us, Harry and Cho had approached each other timidly.

"You— er— look nice," I heard Harry say stiffly.

"Thanks," Cho replied distractedly, her covetous gaze on Cedric and me before turning to Harry with a polite smile.

It was then that a group of Slytherins emerged from their dungeon, with Draco Malfoy leading in the front.

He wore black velvet dress robes with a high collar, making him look like a vicar. His dress shirt and bowtie were all white, washing him out and making him look paler than usual.

Clutching onto his arm was Pansy Parkinson, wearing the same emerald dress I had tried on at Gladrags, and behind them were Crabbe and Goyle, both wearing green and resembling moss-colored boulders. Neither of them seemed to have managed to find a partner, which wasn't astonishing in the slightest.

Blaise and Theodore strolled into the room coolly soon after.

They looked attractive in their tailored robes, but I still disliked the arrogance in their demeanor as they boredly glanced around the room and completely ignored their dates, who were both Slytherin girls whose names I didn't know.

"Look at that," Cedric brought my attention to the window next to us that overlooked the lawn right in front of the castle.

It had been transformed into a sort of grotto full of fairy lights— meaning hundreds of actual living fairies were sitting in the rosebushes that had been conjured there and fluttering over the statues of what seemed to be Father Christmas and his reindeer.

"That's gorgeous," I sighed, resting my head on Cedric's shoulder. He hummed in agreement, pressing his lips sweetly to the top of my head.

"Champions over here, please!" Professor McGonagall called us over towards the big oak doors of the Great Hall, and Cedric intertwined our fingers and led us to meet the others.

When we arrived, Fleur Delacour was already standing next to Professor McGonagall, looking marvelous in silver-gray satin robes. He was accompanied by Roger Davies, who looked flustered—he could not believe his good fortune of being Fleur's date.

"Oh, mon Dieu! (Y/N), you look absolutee divine!" Fleur gasped, pressing a hand on her chest delicately.

"Thank you, Fleur. You look great!" I grinned appreciatively.

Roger and Cedric shook hands politely while Cho, Harry, Viktor, and Hermione approached next.

Hermione was smiling rather nervously beside Krum, who was brooding, as usual. On occasion, Viktor would peer over at Hermione, and his features would soften—which I thought was very cute, and I made a mental note to tell her about it later.

With a grandiose wave of Professor McGonagall's wand, the large wooden doors of The Great Hall opened, but she had us wait until all of the other students entered before giving us any further instructions.

Viktor's fan club from the library stalked past us, throwing Hermione looks of most profound loathing.

Pansy Parkinson gaped at me as she walked by with Draco, who faltered in his step as his icy eyes seized me up.

Our Gryffindor friends entered the Great Hall next. Ron slouched beside Parvati glumly. Neville enthusiastically spoke to Ginny while she listened intently to whatever he was saying, and the twins winked at us as they passed—their arms draped around their dates while wearing shit-eating grins.

"Now, you are all to enter the Great Hall in procession right after the last of the students have taken their seats, and Professor Dumbledore has given his introduction. Miss Delacour, you and Mr. Davies will take the lead. Miss Granger and Mr. Krum, you will be next..." Professor McGonagall spoke as she moved us around in a single file line. Cedric and I were to enter right behind Hermione and Krum while Harry and Cho followed right after us.

We waited for Professor Dumbledore's muffled voice to beckon us in, and at Professor McGonagall's signal— we were all soon stepping into the Great Hall, where everyone was on their feet, cheering boisterously and clapping for us.

I knew that the cheers were directed towards the Champions, but there was an exhilaration that came with the honor of having an entire room praise you.

While glancing around the room, I was greeted with numerous smiling faces, in addition to the typical entranced looks I was so used to getting from boys.

Around us, the walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling.

The House tables had all vanished, and instead, there were about a hundred smaller, candle-lit ones, each seating about a dozen students.

Professor McGonagall escorted us past all these tables and onto the bright dance floor, where we were to perform the dreaded opening dance.

We took our positions with Cedric's right hand on my waist and the other raised and clutching onto mine.

I steadied myself by grasping onto his shoulder as I anxiously scanned the room.

It was then that I became very aware of how sweaty my hand was against Cedric's and even more aware of everybody's eyes on us.

It had been easy to downplay the dance earlier when Harry was fretting about it, but now that the moment had arrived— I understood his apprehension.

"Hey. I'm right here, darling. I've got you." Cedric reassured soothingly, sensing my nerves and squeezing my hand tightly in his.

When my eyes met his, I instantly felt at ease— the perturbation vanishing into thin air as if his consolation were my antidote.

It was miraculous how he could assuage me with a mere look and a few words.

I nodded firmly, taking in a deep breath just as Professor Flitwick tapped his baton on his stand to begin directing the small ensemble that was the Hogwarts orchestra.

Soon, the gentle first notes of Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker, Op. 71 started to play, and we initiated the choreography steps just as we had rehearsed them many times before.

Cedric led the dance as we slowly revolved on the spot to the romantic, tender waltz—the sound of flutes and cymbals bouncing off the walls as we held on to each other's eyes. His lips parted, his pupils blown wide as he gazed down at me.

Nothing else mattered to me anymore.

The attention did not encompass us or the rest of the dance routine—it came to us instinctively, as if our bodies were in sync and we were improvising the dance on the spot.

All I knew was that this precise moment was paradise, and I wanted to remember every intricate detail.

The way my hand fit in his.

The familiar smell of his own personal scent tinged with his favorite cologne.

The warmth that filled his eyes whenever he'd look at me.

Cedric's beauty was so unparalleled it was almost devastating.

I let him overpower all my senses to keep this memory for my lifetime.

The waltz's tempo picked up to a dramatic flourish, and with every crescendo of the violins— Cedric would spin me around in delicate pirouettes like a ballet dancer in a music box.

I barely caught a glimpse of Professor Flitwick's baton swishing faster as the music built up, the room spinning past me quicker and quicker with every elegant turn I made.

And then the music exploded to the waltzes' climax. Cedric raised me up, his hands wrapped around my waist as he lifted me into the air and twirled me on the spot— eliciting a gasp from the audience at the synchronization of the Champions' dance number.

I gripped Cedric's shoulders for leverage, my heart beating furiously as I watched his chest heave and his grey eyes praise me as if I had crafted the stars above us myself.

He brought me down slowly, pulling me closer to him and taking my hand once more as we neared the end of our dance— the growing passion between us becoming more absorbing by the second.

Despite the hundreds of people surrounding us, I felt alone in this room with him.

My heart kept swelling in my chest, and it didn't take long before I realized I was utterly in love with Cedric Diggory.

And my love for him consumed me.

Just as the music reached its' last few soft, romantic notes— Cedric leaned down to rest his forehead against my own, and I felt his sweet, warm breath on my face.

I was so overwhelmed at that moment that I could've shed tears because I wanted it to last forever.

The only thing that could've made it any more perfect would be reaching up to kiss Cedric's saccharine lips, but I had caught sight of Professor Dumbledore from the corner of my eye— making me realize where we were, so I took my head out of the clouds and decided against it.

Cedric was evidently thinking the same thing but didn't seem to care about whose presence we were in because as soon as the waltz had ended, he leaned down, and our lips met briefly.

It was just a tiny peck, but it was enough to trigger the constant primal flight reaction he gave me. It felt like a massive inundation of adrenaline that swept through me like a drug and made me feel profoundly alive.

The Great Hall broke into cheers of admiration, pulling me back to the present. A rupture of applause had us Triwizard couples bowing and curtsying before we turned towards the top table where we were to sit for supper.

"Our Triwizard Champions, everybody!" Professor Dumbledore exclaimed, and the cheers got increasingly louder.

Dumbledore beamed happily at us as we began taking our seats— Headmaster Karkaroff and Madame Maxine sitting on either side of him.

I was surprised to see Karkaroff wear an expression of remarkable interest as he watched Cedric and I draw nearer.

Madame Maxime, who had changed her usual uniform of black satin for a flowing lavender silk gown, applauded us politely and immediately praised Fleur in exuberant French as she sat beside her Headmistress.

When Cedric and I sat down in front of our glittering golden plates, no food was served, but small menus were placed in front of each of us.

We picked them up with uncertainty and looked around for someone to take our orders, but there were no waiters.

Professor Dumbledore, however, looked carefully down at his own menu and then said very clearly to his plate, "Pork chops!"

And just like that, pork chops appeared.

Getting the idea, the rest of the table began placing their orders to their plates, too.

"Hm... roast beef?" Cedric asked politely, leaning forward and speaking into his plate, which, in a blink, was full of the most exquisite serving of roast beef I've ever seen.

"Would you look at that, angel? Roast beef," Cedric murmured delightedly.

"I can see that," I spoke through giggles, watching him in fascination as he raised his goblet, mulling over his first drink of the night handsomely.

The flickering candlelight only defined his already chiseled features— accentuating his high cheekbones and sharp jawline.

He looked as if he were sculpted by angels.

"Red wine, please," he finally decided, and the cup was soon filled with the maroon liquid.

"Go on, love. Speak to your dinnerware," Cedric urged humor in his tone over how bizarre the sentence he had spoken sounded.

Humming inquisitively, I scanned the menu and chose the creamy rigatoni pasta with sausage and sun-dried tomatoes.

I hesitantly conjured it up, and when it popped up on my plate, I couldn't help but gasp in pure fascination— making Cedric chuckle giddily beside me.

"I fucking love magic," I commended as I picked up my utensils to eat.

To my right, Harry and Cho shared an uncomfortable silence as they ate their dinner.

Occasionally, Harry would peer over at Cho and offer her a meek smile, but he'd immediately look away— red splotches forming on his cheeks.

"Wonder how Hermione feels about this complicated method of dining. Surely it's plenty of extra work for the House Elves?" Harry muttered to me when he noticed me looking— relieved to converse with somebody to distract himself from the stiff tension he was having with his date.

We turned to look at Hermione, half expecting her to be defiant towards her supper, but for once, she didn't seem to be thinking about S.P.E.W.

Instead, she was in deep conversation with Viktor Krum and hardly noticed what she was eating.

Not wanting to isolate Cedric from our conversation, I nudged him gently and jutted my chin towards Hermione and Krum while we fell silent to overhear their conversation.

"Veil, ve have a castle also, not as big as this, nor as comfortable, I am thinking," Krum was telling Hermione rather enthusiastically, "Ve have just four floors, and the fires are lit only for magical purposes. But ve have grounds larger even than these— though in vinter, ve have very little daylight, so ve are not enjoying them, Hermy-own."

"Her-my-oh-nee," she pronunciated very slowly and clearly.

"Herm-own-ninny," Viktor replied ploddingly.

"Close enough," Hermione said with a shrug, catching our eyes and grinning.

"No, she doesn't seem to mind about S.P.E.W right now at all," I teased— making Cedric and Harry laugh brightly as they nodded in agreement.

"Spew? Sorry?" a shrill voice asked. I realized that Cho was the one inquiring, with her eyebrows pulled together in disdain.

"Oh, er—" Harry began blundering, almost as if he had forgotten she was there to begin with. "It stands for Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Hermione formed like an... alliance in favor of the Hogwarts House-Elves."

"That sounds pointless," Cho stated, scoffing a tiny laugh. "I mean, that's what they're there for, right? To work? They like it."

Although I didn't have a fiery passion in my heart for S.P.E.W like Hermione did, I felt a compelling urge to defend our little association once hearing Cho ridicule Hermione's beliefs regarding the House Elves.

Hermione had put hard work into S.P.E.W, and I didn't think Cho had any right to mock it, despite any personal opinion she might've had.

Noticing my subtle vexation, Cedric cleared his throat uncomfortably before speaking up.

"Well... we're all members of S.P.E.W, Cho... We've got pins and everything," he explained, giving her an amiable grin that momentarily made me forget what we were even talking about.

"Oh! Well, that's... wicked fun! I was only joking, by the way... I'd love to join!" Cho deferred, just as captivated by Cedric as I was— but he simply gave her a tight smile, much like Ron did when approaching Parvati earlier, and let the conversation drop.

The rest of our dinner went by wonderfully.

Professor Flitwick continued conducting the Hogwarts Orchestra, who now performed string quartet instrumentals of known love songs.

Eventually, everyone in the Great Hall had finished their meal, so when the time came to enjoy dessert— the same previous method was to be performed with the brand new menu that gave us our sugary options.

I ordered a cheesecake, and Cedric ordered a chocolate caramel tart—and we enjoyed them as he told me about how the Hufflepuff Quidditch team was planning on making the necessary arrangements to organize a friendly match with the other House teams since the games were canceled this year because of the Tournament.

He had taken a quick bite of his tart and chewed intently before continuing his explanation of the Quidditch preparations when I interrupted him by giggling endearingly because he had a tiny bit of caramel peeking from the corner of his lip.

"What? Do I have food on my face?" Cedric asked, his expression alarmed as he started wiping at the opposite side of his mouth from where the caramel was.

"You do, actually," I cooed and reached out to swipe the candy off with my thumb.

Cedric then took advantage of the proximity of my thumb to pop it into his mouth, sucking it gently, which sent me into a laughing fit as I tried to pull away.

"You looked sweeter than the tart," Cedric explained cheekily once I got my thumb back and leaned forward to plant a big kiss on my cheek.

Meanwhile, Fleur was criticizing the Hogwarts decorations to Roger Davies a few seats down.

"Zis is nothing," she said dismissively, looking around at the sparkling walls of the Great Hall. "At ze Palace of Beauxbatons, we 'ave ice sculptures all around ze dining chamber at Chreestmas. Zey do not melt, of course... zey are like 'uge statues of diamond, glittering around ze place. And ze food is seemply superb. And we 'ave choirs of wood nymphs, 'oo serenade us as we eat. We 'ave none of zis ugly armor in ze 'alls, and eef a poltergeist ever entaired into Beauxbatons, 'e would be expelled like zat." she stated as she slapped her hand onto the table impatiently.

Roger Davies was watching her talk with an idiotic look on his face, and he kept missing his mouth with his fork.

I had the impression that Roger was too busy gaping at Fleur to take in a single word she was saying.

"Absolutely right," he said quickly, slapping his own hand down on the table in imitation of Fleur. "Like that. Yeah."

I watched this play out as I told Cedric about my education before Hogwarts.

Ced watched me with grave interest— clinging onto my every word and seemingly comprehending all of it, unlike Roger.

Frankly, I felt alleviated because even though Veela blood coursed through mine and Fleur's veins— I was fortunate enough to find a guy whose interests transcended past my looks.

I felt terrible for Fleur, but she seemed pretty accustomed to it.

"Doesn't America have Ivermory, though? Why didn't you enroll there?" Cedric asked curiously.

"I wanted to— I did. When I discovered it was the next best thing after Hogwarts, I begged my mom to let me study there. But Ivermory was too expensive for us... and a bit elitist since America is so massive compared to the United Kingdom. They didn't allow just anyone in. So, instead, I was homeschooled to complete my Muggle education — which is a requirement by law in the states. Simultaneously, I would meet with a wizard who would teach me to repress my magic. I had just finished all of my studies when Dumbledore showed up to get me to study here,"

"And I thank my lucky stars every day," Cedric murmured, his eyes peering down at me adoringly as he wrapped an arm around me to pull me closer— gently kissing my exposed shoulder.

Heat rushed onto my cheeks at the affection, as I was still getting acclimated to Cedric's comfort with displaying public affection.

When all the food had been consumed, Professor Dumbledore stood up and asked the students who weren't sitting at the Top Table to do the same.

Then, with a swish of his wand, most of the smaller tables zoomed back against the walls— leaving a few scattered around the Great Hall in order for more of the floor to be cleared for dancing.

The only table that remained intact was our table, where the Champions, their dates, their Headmasters, and the rest of the Hogwarts staff sat.

There was a brief silence, during which all that could be heard was the curious chattering of the students as they stood awkwardly against the wall. Soon, The Weird Sisters trooped up onto the stage to wildly enthusiastic applause.

They were all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn.

I watched with grave interest as the band picked up their instruments and began playing their first song of the night, which sounded a lot like Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells.

"Wanna dance?" Cedric grinned broadly, and since I wanted to make the most of our night— I instantly agreed.

All of the Champions and their dates got onto the dance floor, whether of their own volition, like Cedric and me, or because McGonagall pressured them to do so—which I felt was Harry's case.

Once again, we were the only four couples on the dance floor, which would've made me nervous if I hadn't been eased by the sweet peach wine I drank earlier with my dinner.

I understood the appeal of The Weird Sisters, a rock band with influential undertones reminiscent of Pulp and Radiohead.

Soon, many other students had mustered up the courage to get onto the dance floor, so the Champions were no longer the center of attention.

Ginny and Neville were dancing nearby while the Weird Sisters performed a cover of the French song 'Aline,' and I could see Ginny frequently wincing as Neville accidentally trodded on her feet.

Dumbledore was waltzing with Madame Maxime and was so dwarfed by her that the top of his pointed hat barely tickled her chin. However, I was impressed by how gracefully she moved for a woman so large.

Soon, the band's ballad turned into a punky, upbeat song titled 'Do the Hippogriff,' which caused a riot among the students.

"Alright, Hogwarts! Are you ready for some real music?" the lead singer yelled into the mic, eliciting screams from the entire crowd at his feet.

"C'mon, I want to see your hands in the air! This is our last song of the night before your Professors resort to playing you their show tunes!" the singer continued, now drawing boos from the students.

Then, the song's fast tempo was initiated, and I watched in awe as my peers went crazy.

Fred and Angelina were dancing so exuberantly that people around them were backing away in fear of injury.

Beside them, George and Katie were head-banging so vigorously and flapping their arms like Hippogriff wings.

But Cedric, who had let loose and started jumping quite out of rhythm to the music, his chestnut locks flying unruly, caught me off-guard.

"What?" he asked breathlessly as he watched me suppress my laughter as I held onto his hand.

"I finally found something you're not good at!" I exclaimed over the loud music— my amusement growing when Cedric's jaw dropped in mock offense.

"How could you say that with those two on the dancefloor? Huh?" Cedric asked, his eyes pointing towards the Weasley twins, who were now break-dancing pretty horribly while Angelina and Katie cheered them on.

"You do have a point... Forgive me?"

Cedric sucked in air through his teeth, and his eyebrows knitted together— as if he were debating whether to forgive me or not.

"I don't know if I can," he joked, the corner of his lips twisting up to a smirk as he wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling me closer to him.

"I'm begging you to reconsider. I take back what I said— you're allowed to dance as foolishly as you'd like," I pouted, offering him the biggest puppy eyes I could muster.

Cedric broke into a big, goofy smile as he peered down at me.

"Fine, but only if you dance just as foolishly with me,"

"Deal," I agreed as I stuck my hand out, which he shook firmly as if we had just made a business transaction, "but I am going to need a drink first."

"Coming right up," Cedric chimed, his hands nestling my face as he leaned to kiss me leisurely. His warm lips glided over mine for a few passing seconds before he left me flustered and faint.

I stepped down from the platformed dance floor, taking fixed breaths to steady my erratic heart.

As I looked around the Great Hall, I saw many people sitting down, which made me pity them for all the fun they were missing out on.

Far off in a corner, Draco Malfoy and his friends watched everyone else snidely— as if they were far too prestigious to even consider dancing.

Ron was also sitting down with Parvati. She was speaking to him, but Ron wasn't paying attention to whatever she was saying because he was too busy glaring at me, which took me aback.

When the Weird Sisters had finished their set— everybody cheered them on and begged for an encore, but they still exited the stage despite the students' protests.

In turn, Professor Flitwick marched up the stage holding a vinyl record, seeming to have renounced the title of band conductor for the night and been assigned the role of DJ.

We all watched uncertainly as he put the record on, unsure of his music selection, but when 'Ballroom Blitz' by Sweet started playing, everyone cheered with approval and started dancing again.

"Let's sit down, shall we?" I overheard Harry say to Cho, who was holding onto his hand and attempting to get him to stay on the dance floor.

"Oh, but— this is a really good one!" she tried to persuade him.

"Er, no, I don't like it," Harry lied. I knew he did because we listened to it a lot over the summer.

With lucky timing, a friend of Cho's invited her to dance— if you could even call it that since the student body was now tipsy and energetic as they aimlessly bounced around the dance floor. One of the Weasley twins even started to stage dive.

Wanting to join in on the fun, Cho gave Harry a little apologetic smile, leaving him staring hopelessly after her and then glumly walking back towards the table where Ron and Parvati were sitting.

I strode over to them just as Harry was opening a bottle of Butterbeer— taking a seat right next to him.

"What is wrong with you?" I hissed as Harry was downing his drink.

"Wha—?" he asked, puzzled with a mouthful of beer.

"You've been drooling over Cho Chang since last year, and now you've got her! Why aren't you conversing with her and showing her a good time? After all the trouble you went through to muster up the courage to get her to go with you, you're gonna ignore her now? Seriously!?"

"I don't have her; she's been staring at you and Cedric all night," Harry snapped back, his green eyes accusingly squinting at me.

I fell silent because I noticed it, too, but when I realized that I had no fault in this, I continued to argue with him in my defense.

"So? Does that mean you must spend the entire night in awkward silence and belligerent dancing? You're a great guy, Harry. Show her that! She is just as lucky to have you as her date as you are to have her."

Harry didn't retort but simply grumbled into his drink, and I knew the conversation would end there.

Besides him, Ron was furiously staring off into space as Parvati sat beside him with her arms and legs crossed— one foot jiggling in rhythm with the music.

Now and then, she'd throw a disgruntled look at Ron, who was completely disregarding her.

I reached over to pinch Ron in the arm and decided it was his turn to get a scolding.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Ron exclaimed, rubbing the spot where I had pinched him.

"And you? What's your deal, then?" I confronted him, raising an eyebrow.

He stared at me sternly, eyebrows knit together as his blue eyes roamed my face. I responded by tilting my head towards Parvati, who was gazing longingly at the dancefloor.

"Well, that's just none of your business," he muttered before turning away from me defiantly.

I rolled my eyes just as Hermione joined us— her face flaming red and sweaty as she fanned herself with her hands.

"It's so hot in here, isn't it? Viktor's gone to go and get some drinks. Would you care to join us?"

Ron gave her a withering look.

"Viktor?" he asked.

"Yes?" Hermione replied, her voice raising in surprise.

"Hasn't he asked you to call him Vicky yet?"

Hermione gave him a look of pure confusion— her eyes flickering over to Harry and me as if to confirm if Ron was being serious or not.

"What's up with you?" she questioned when she noticed me glowering at him because of his sour mood.

"How could you not tell me?" snapped Ron scathingly, "he's my favorite Quidditch player, and you didn't tell me! I thought we were friends!"

Now, I was just as bewildered as Hermione. We both looked at Harry for answers, but he simply shrugged.

"Ron, what— ?" I scoffed.

"She could've at least told me! But instead, we had to find out the day of the ball. It's senseless!" spat Ron.

Hermione was lost for words, gaping her mouth open and shut like a fish out of water as she struggled with what to say.

"I'm sorry..." she said after a moment, her voice quivering as she was clearly attempting to control her anger. "What would make it better, Ron? An autograph? Maybe I'll have him sign that model of him up in your dormitory?"

"Shut up," Ron mumbled, choosing to ignore Hermione's ridicule.

"You need to control yourself, Ronald," she warned as she jabbed a finger at him. Stop projecting your anger toward your friends and figure out what you're really upset about." Hermione said this, glancing at me briefly before storming off across the room and disappearing into the crowd.

The air was tense as we were left stunned and silent.

Hermione made it clear that Ron was lashing out at everyone because he was upset about something else, and it was pretty obvious what he was irritated about.

I mean, he had been shooting daggers with his eyes at Cedric and me the entire night.

Ron peered at me sheepishly, but I broke eye contact, not wanting to bring attention to Ron's feelings toward me tonight.

All I wanted was to get back to enjoying my evening with Cedric.

"Are you going to ask me to dance at all?" Parvati asked Ron, having gotten fed up with our drama.

"No," replied Ron flatly, his rude attitude returning.

"Fine," seethed Parvati, and she got up to join her sister, who was in the company of an entire crew of Durmstrang boys who had no dates and were eager to dance.

"I'm going to go find Ced," I informed Harry and rose to my feet.

"Alright," he replied boredly.

"You should go find Cho," I advised him, and this time, he seemed more susceptible to my suggestion because he nodded and scanned the room for her.

It seemed like Ron's loss of his date, warranted by his bad temper, awoke something in Harry, who had a lot more to lose if his crush got bored of him and found someone else.

It wasn't long after that I had seen Harry approaching Cho more confidently— the both of them falling into a dance that seemed more cosy than the ones they shared before.

"Vare is Herm-own-ninny?" asked someone behind me, pulling me away from my thoughts.

Viktor Krum stood grimly, clutching two cold Butterbeers in his hands.

"I was just with her— I think she went to the top table to look for you. Have you seen Cedric?" I asked, eyeing the drinks and wondering if they'd bumped into each other.

"No. Veil, if you see her, tell her I haff drinks," Krum said and slouched off.

I glanced at the top table, which was now empty. Professor Dumbledore was dancing with Professor Sprout, Ludo Bagman with Professor McGonagall, and Madame Maxime with Hagrid—the gigantic pair cutting a wide path around the dance floor as they waltzed through the students.

I continued to weave through dozens of people in search of Cedric, who was nowhere to be found.

I thought he'd be at the bar, but when I got there, I only saw a House Elf frantically serving drinks to a nagging group of students.

I grabbed a flute of champagne that looked unclaimed for and set off to continue searching for my missing date when I heard a voice I, unfortunately, knew too well directed towards me.

"You look beautiful tonight,"

I sighed privately before turning on my heel to look at Draco, who was languidly leaning against the bar with what seemed to be a whiskey in hand.

"Thank you," I replied dully, meaning to walk away just then but staying instead for a reason unknown to me.

"You look like a vicar," I added, taking a sip from my champagne.

Draco let out a genuine laugh.

One that startled me because the last time I'd seen him laugh like this was the night at the Courtyard the year prior.

I watched him with vivacity as he grinned with teeth, shaking his head at my joke.

"Well, that's not a terrible thing," was all he said after his laugh.

"Suppose not," I responded dryly.

"No, but really, (Y/N)... You look gorgeous. So gorgeous that if you were my date, I wouldn't dream of losing sight of you. I don't think I'd be able to look away."

I stood there stiffly, trying to ignore the tiny hairs at the back of my neck that were rising as his eyes drank me up.

"Um, thanks..." was all I could say, finishing the last of the champagne and hoping its effects would influence me soon.

He was going to say something else when Headmaster Karkaroff joined us.

"Mr. Malfoy," he greeted Draco leerily. I was surprised to see how Draco tensed up—standing rigidly straight on his feet as his eyes broke away from me to look at his shiny, black dress shoes.

"Good evening, Headmaster," Draco murmured respectfully.

"How are you enjoying yourself?" Karkaroff asked, his dark eyes flickering between Draco and me.

I really wanted to leave now, but it felt impolite to do so.

"Fine. Thank you." Draco answered.

"Wonderful... do tell your father that I send my regards,"

My eyes instinctively widened.

We knew by now that Igor Karkaroff had been a Death Eater because Sirius told us so, but this seemed to confirm it.

I mean, we weren't sure if Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater himself, but after what Draco said at the World Cup, I feel like it'd be ridiculous not to assume so.

I tried to seem impassive as possible, but I made a mental note to tell Harry about this later.

"I will pass it on, Headmaster. Have a good night..." Draco said, glancing at me from the corner of his eye as he stalked off to the corner where Pansy and the rest of his friends were.

I gave Karkaroff a polite smile before turning to walk away myself— but was stopped in place when he called after me.

"Miss (Y/L/N)?"

"Yes, Headmaster?" I asked cordially, walking back to him hesitantly as my heartbeat began to pick up its pace.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to keep you... but I have just been so curious. I can't help but notice an American accent, yes?"

"Oh! Yes, Headmaster. I transferred to Hogwarts from America last year. Professor Dumbledore proclaimed that I was far advanced regarding my magical abilities and offered me to expand my studies here."

"How very... interesting. He doesn't do that often, Dumbledore. I mean, there must be many bright witches and wizards in America... Have you ever wondered why you?"

Something in his tone was strange, making it seem like he already knew the reasoning.

And although his question seemed rhetorical, Karkaroff still waited for an answer.

"Oh, um... I suppose there are. I guess I just got very lucky..."

"Very lucky, indeed... You remind me of somebody I used to know. An old friend. Exceptionally bright wizard. Tell me, is your surname paternal?"

"No, sir. Maternal. My mom raised me."

"And your father?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," I replied shortly, his curiosity irking me as it hit dangerous waters that were too personal for me.

Karkaroff was sneering down at me as if there were an inside joke that he was sharing with himself— which made me outrageously uncomfortable.

As if by a saving grace, Cedric finally appeared with our two drinks at hand and nodded nobly at Karkaroff but kept cautious eyes on him.

"Very well," Karkaroff said, clapping his hands together. "I won't keep you two any longer. I wish you both a good night."

"Thank you." we both replied, and Cedric watched him walk off before turning to me.

"Was he bothering you?"

"No... he was just asking questions. Got those drinks?" I asked casually, trying to divert his attention from my odd conversation with Karkaroff, which I was still trying to process.

Cedric passed me my cold drink, which I downed immediately. I placed the empty glass on the bar's countertop and pulled him towards the dancefloor just as 'Super Freak' by Rick James started playing.

"Let's dance”

✩ next chapter: you feel like heaven (coming soon) ✩

71 notes · View notes

papervenom · 7 days ago

Text

new chapter up later today 🤭

#insatiable update #been literally sitting on this chapter for 2 years!!

2 notes · View notes

papervenom · 7 days ago

Note

omg welcome back queen we missed u so bad!! glad you’re back and i can’t wait to re-read insatiable again 💓

thank you SO much angel <3 that really means the world to me. i’m just so grateful to still have such sweet souls excited to read my work again. i’ve been such an emotional girl the past few days— definitely shed a few tears lol. sending you the biggest hug ever. can’t wait for you to dive back into insatiable!! two new chapters coming soon 🫶🏼

#inbox 💌

0 notes

papervenom · 8 days ago

Note

RAHHHHHHHHHHHHH i’m so here for this

yayyy i’m so glad!! just made a taglist form so you don’t miss a thing my angel <3 thank u sm for reading

#inbox 💌

1 note · View note

papervenom · 8 days ago

Note

There is something I’ve always been curious about, does readers mom know about Cedric? Cause her and her mom seem pretty close

i feel like she has to have mentioned cedric to her mama by now. they’re too close for her to keep that to herself for long. trust me, i didn’t forget!! i was just laying some groundwork first 😼 it’ll definitely come up in the next few episodes

#inbox 💌

2 notes · View notes

papervenom · 9 days ago

Note

Omg I knew I recognised this story from somewhere! I remember being obsessed with each update and was devastated to see there was no more. I'm glad I stumbled upon it again on your Tumblr! It brings back nostalgic memories when I would stay up reading HP fics on AO3 and Tumblr. So glad you're picking writing back up again 😭

ahhh I can’t believe people are remembering my story :’) im literally welling up, thank u for ur kind words. honestly it makes me so nostalgic too. its been over two years but I’ve always had it on the back of my mind. I genuinely want to finish it and I’m so glad theres still a community here to welcome it with open arms. I got two chapters ready and they’ll be coming soon !!

thank u so much for the love 😽🫶🏼

#inbox 💌

2 notes · View notes

papervenom · 10 days ago

Note

Hi I first read your series on ao3 about a year ago and was so sad to see no updates but it’s soooo good that I reread it at least once a month 😂 but I randomly come a cross your first chapter of your book and the title was so familiar and then I started reading it and realized that it’s you!!!! Anyway I hope you continue to enjoy writing ☺️

ahhh this made my whole day!!! thank you so much for sticking with it that long!! the fact that you’ve reread it monthly actually made me emotional?? i’m so happy you found it again and recognized it—that means more than you know. i’ve been getting back into writing and messages like this make it all feel so worth it. so much love for u <3333

#inbox 💌

2 notes · View notes

papervenom · 11 days ago

Text

✩ chapter fifteen: scavenger hunt ✩

chapter warnings: drinking, smoking, jealousy, angst, intense pining, ron being a hater, draco being draco, fluff, so much sexual tension/slight lewd!

authors note: there’s no actual smut, but consider this a build up coz its coming! cedric is so severely down bad. so is reader.

word count: 12.1k (im so sorry)

INSATIABLE MASTERLIST⋆˙⟡

December 2nd, 1994

"The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament since its inception. In two weeks, we and our guests will gather in the Great Hall for a night of well-mannered frivolity..." Professor McGonagall announced as she stood at the front of the assembly room— having gathered all members of Gryffindor House to give us the dance rehearsal that most of us have been dreading.

Behind her, Filch clunkered into the room carrying a gramophone with a sound horn so massive, I was positive I could crawl inside of it.

"As representatives of the Host School," McGonagall continued, "I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot forward, and I mean this literally, because The Yule Ball is first and foremost... a dance."

A collective groan emerged from all the boys whilst the girls started chattering excitedly amongst themselves.

"Silence!" McGonagall's stern voice resounded around the room as she extended her arms out to shut us up. "The House of Godrick Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the Wizarding World for nearly ten centuries! I will not have you, in the course of a single evening, besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling, band of baboons!"

"Try saying that five times fast, huh?" I heard George whisper to Fred behind me.

"Babblingbumblingbandofbaboons," replied Fred, accepting the challenge.

"Bamblingbubblingbandofballoons," retorted George, messing up the words.

"Battlingbunglingbandofbuffoons," responded Fred once more, making me stifle a laugh.

"Now, to dance is to let the body breathe... inside every girl, a secret swan slumbers— longing to burst free and take flight!" McGonagall enthused, moving her hands dramatically.

"Something's about to burst out of Eloise Midgen, but I don't think it's a swan," Ron muttered to Seamus a few seats over.

Poor Eloise Midgen had a bad case of acne and had tried using a curse to get rid of her pimples for good, but ended up failing and needing to have her nose reattached by Madam Pomfrey.

Luckily, Eloise didn't hear Ron's rude remark, but Professor McGonagall did because she began rounding up on him— making his blue eyes widen like plates.

"And inside each boy, a lordy lion prepared to prance— Mr. Weasley!"

"Yes?" Ron asked cautiously.

"Would you join me, please?"

Professor McGonagall stuck her hand out towards Ron and everybody broke into skittish laughter while he glanced around in panic, hesitating for too long— which resulted in Harry pushing Ron forward with an amused grin plastered on his face.

"Now then, if you will, put your left hand on my waist," instructed McGonagall.

"Where!?" replied Ron alarmingly.

"My waist," repeated the Professor and Ron grudgingly obeyed.

The moment Ron’s hand was placed, Fred let out a wolf whistle which made Ron's face turn a deep shade of red.

"That's right, Weasley. Now, extend your arm... and, Mr. Filch, if you would."

At the Professor’s instruction, Filch gently dropped the gramophone's needle onto a dusty, old record and a musty waltz began to fill the room.

"Now, follow me. And one, two, three. And one, two, three." Professor McGonagall counted as she and Ron began to twirl hand-in-hand around the room.

I giggled as I watched Ron step awkwardly and out of rhythm— his big feet nearly stomping on Professor McGonagall's smaller ones.

Every now and then, Ron would give fleeting, tedious glances to where I was sitting and I soon realized why.

Behind me, Fred and George were ruthlessly mocking their little brother.

"Laa, la dee daa..." Fred sang along with the melody, a dreamy smile on his face as he held an imaginary dance partner.

George moved side-to-side stiffly like a robot, which wasn't drastically different from the way that Ron was dancing.

"You're never going to let him forget this, are you?" I chimed, grinning brightly at the twins.

The twins smirked at each other before diving down to kneel so they were both sandwiching me.

"Never," they replied cheekily in unison.

I was humorously swatting them both for being so cruel to Ron when Harry tapped me on the shoulder, nodding towards Neville who had his eyes closed and was bobbing his head side-to-side, completely transported by the music.

Harry, Hermione, and I were laughing when Professor McGonagall clapped her hands, making us all jump in our seats.

"Everyone! Let's come together..."

Many of the girls instantly shot up from their chairs, contrasting drastically with the guys who all looked flushed in the face and stood reluctantly.

Most of the boys had their eyes on me as they timidly began approaching me to be my dance partner but they quickly got scooped up by an eager Gryffindor girl who hastily pulled them onto the dance floor.

Parvati coupled up with Seamus, Alicia was yanking Dean by his tie, and George was basically being dragged by a determined Angelina.

Ron seemed relieved to be excused from dancing with Professor McGonagall and was heading over towards me promptly when Lavender Brown nearly pounced on him.

Hermione, Ginny, and I seemed to be the only sane ones among the girls— standing serenely as we scanned the room for who was left.

Harry gave Hermione a tight-lipped smile, taking her hand awkwardly as they joined the others and started to sway.

Neville was next as he approached Ginny with blotched cheeks and his hands shoved deep into the pocket of his trousers.

By then, I was so sure that my lack of enthusiasm to find a partner cost me the opportunity to join the rehearsal, and was about to sit down in solace when Fred suddenly took my hand without asking me and spun me around.

"Hey!" I exclaimed in surprise, giggling heartily as I tried to regain my balance.

"Helloo there," Fred smirked down at me, his hand gripping my waist.

He kept doing great moves— though he was a bit brusque as he spun me around at ease like a rag doll.

I was astounded to find out that he knew how to dance pretty well, considering Ron danced like a dork.

"Soo, tell me. How did Darling-Diggory ask you to the ball?" Fred asked and my face immediately fell.

The truth was that even though we found out about the dance two weeks ago, Cedric still hadn't asked me to be his date.

Sometimes, I'd be standing around waiting for my next class and he'd sneak up behind me and throw his arms around my waist.

I'd think that after the lovely surprise, he'd ask me to the ball but Cedric would simply rest his chin on top of my head and ask how my day was going before leaving for his next lesson.

Fred snickered as I remained stoically silent , continuing to lead our dance by steering me around the rest of the couples.

"Well, now that you know that I'm such an unbelievable dancer— how would you feel about going with me, hm?"

I laughed brightly, rolling my eyes at what I thought was another joke coming from him but Fred simply stared at me expectantly, his copper eyebrows raised.

"Well, thanks Freddie... I'll keep that in mind. But I assume Cedric will ask me soon."

The twin pressed his lips together in discontent yet quickly played it off into an apathetic shrug.

"That's fine. Your loss, sugar!" he teased and twirled me around spontaneously.

"Oh, for sure." I tittered, my voice bubbly.

A couple of waltzes later, Professor McGonagall finally let us go and we couldn't get out of the assembly room fast enough.

Once we were back outside in the castle’s hallways, we set off into the boisterous scene in front of us as we headed to the Great Hall for our Potions final, which our whole year would be taking before the Christmas holidays.

We observed as girls were giggling and whispering in the corridors, shrieking with laughter as boys passed them and excitedly compared notes on what they were going to wear to the ball.

"Why do they have to move in packs?" Harry asked Ron glumly as a dozen or so girls stalked past us, tittering and staring at Harry. "How're you supposed to get one on their own to ask them?"

"Lasso one?" Ron suggested, making Hermione and I snort. "Got any idea who you're going to try for, Harry?"

Harry didn't answer, but I knew perfectly well whom he'd like to ask.

I saw the way his cheeks turned crimson whenever Cho Chang was around.

And it made sense.

She was gorgeous, a very good Quidditch player, and she was also very popular.

She was Harry's dream girl.

Ron seemed to know what was going on inside Harry's head, too— because he quickly started to consolidate him.

"Listen, you're not going to have any trouble. You're a Triwizard Champion! You've just beaten a Hungarian Horntail, for Merlin's sake. They're basically queuing up to go with you!"

"At this point, I'd rather have another round with the dragon..." Harry mumbled morosely.

"You act as if you haven't been asked already." Hermione scoffed, not looking up from the book of notes she was reading in preparation for the exam.

She was right.

In fact, Harry and I were the only two in the group getting inundated with proposals to go to the ball.

During the last two weeks, I had turned down several invitations without giving them a second thought, including a curly-haired Hufflepuff boy that I'd never spoken to in my life, three Durmstrang students, two Slytherin boys, and a Ravenclaw boy who was a lot shorter than me.

'He was quite good-looking,' Hermione had said fairly after she'd stopped laughing.

'He was a foot shorter than me! Imagine what I'd look like trying to dance with him!' I had replied, never having taken the request seriously since my heart was set on Cedric.

As for Harry, he was struggling to figure out if the girls who had asked to be his date wanted to go to the Yule Ball with him because he was a Champion, or because they actually liked him.

When considering Harry's dilemma, I thought about how drastically his life had improved since he had gotten through the first task of the tournament.

He wasn't attracting nearly as much unpleasantness from other students anymore, which we both knew had a lot to do with Cedric— who told the rest of the Hufflepuffs to leave Harry alone.

I was musing over this and didn't notice when three Durmstrang boys marched right in front of me in V-formation and swooped down to a bow.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, startled by them.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had stopped walking and were standing to the side as they curiously observed.

"Would you please come to the ball with me?" the Durmstrang boy in the front asked in a husky voice, taking my hand in his swiftly and kissing it.

"Uhm, no. Sorry. I think I'm going with someone else?" I said, my voice sounding so unsure that it came out more like a question.

"You think?" he replied, blinking slowly.

"Sorry," I repeated sheepishly and he nodded, marching over to ask a girl from Beauxbatons a few feet away who accepted in a heartbeat.

We went quiet for awhile as we entered the vacant Great Hall and sat down, taking the necessary materials out for the written exam.

"No word from Cedric yet, then?" Harry finally broke the silence, asking casually as he rummaged his bag for a quill.

My cheeks went hot as I peered up at Ron who was staring at me hopefully in the seat across from mine.

The other morning, I had been walking down the staircases from the girls' dormitories when I had stopped and overheard Ron speaking to Harry, Dean, and Seamus about me in the Common Room.

'I like the way that she moves.' Ron had said, speaking dreamily to his friends. 'It's like she's floating on a cloud, y'know? She makes my bloody heart rush.'

'She is fucking unreal, mate. But ain't she goin' to the ball with Diggory, tho'?' Seamus had asked in his heavy Irish accent.

'The git hasn't asked her yet.' Ron scoffed in disbelief. 'I don't know why that wanker is taking so long,'

'So, what do you plan to do then? Ask her before he does?' Dean inquired.

'I'll have a good fucking go!' Ron assured determinedly, and I had been avoiding being left alone with him ever since.

I cleared my throat, snapping out of my thoughts as I looked at my friends who were all waiting for an answer.

"Well, no. But I reckon he'll ask me soon. I'm flattered by all the requests I'm getting, but I don't understand why people go through the trouble of asking me when they already know I have something going on with Ced."

Ron's shoulders slumped in disappointment as I said this, and I felt sick with guilt.

He stared off into his blank parchment, lost in deep thought as Harry glanced over at him uneasily. Beside me, Hermione caught my eye and shook her head— smiling reassuringly, as if she were telling me not to worry about it.

The Great Hall slowly began filling up— its massive doors opened wide to the chaos outside as students rushed to their next lessons.

Strolling by was Viktor Krum who was holding some library books while a group of girls trailed him, all looking tremendously stupid.

He briefly looked into the Great Hall and his step faltered— sharing a lingering look with Hermione before disappearing out of view.

When I turned to Hermione in awe, she acted aloof as she brought her attention back to her book, pretending as if she hadn't noticed Viktor at all as she continued to prepare for the exam.

This was the second time that I'd noticed something going on between Viktor Krum and Hermione.

"'Mione—?" I started to question but was interrupted when the Weasley twins barged into The Great Hall, earning a grateful look from Hermione who managed to escape my interrogation.

"What are you two doing here?" asked Ron gruffly, still in a sour mood after I made it clear I wasn't going to accept anyone else's invitation to the ball other than Cedric’s.

"We're going to help the House-Elves cook dinner," said Fred sarcastically as they sat down at the table with us, taking wrinkled parchment out of their bags.

"We're taking our Potions exam, you stupid great prat," informed George to his younger brother.

"We were getting our ears pulled by Filch after he confiscated our Canary Creams and didn't get to do our exam with our year. By a bloody miracle, we got Snape to agree to let us complete it with you lot. Gods know if we fail another exam, Mum will send a Howler." mumbled Fred.

Snape had walked in just then and the Great Hall immediately fell silent.

The only table who continued their chattering were the Slytherins, but Snape didn't tell them to hush— always giving them ridiculous exceptions that any other House couldn't get away with.

"So... you all got dates for the ball yet?" George whispered.

"Nope," replied Ron glumly.

"Well, you'd better hurry up, mate. Get a move on or all the good ones will be gone," advised Fred in a low tone.

"Who're you going with, then?" demanded Ron.

"Angelina," responded Fred promptly.

"What?" said Ron, taken aback. "You've already asked her?"

"Good point," agreed Fred and turned his head to where Angelina was sitting— a few seats down, printing her name on her parchment.

"Oi! Angelina!" he hissed.

Angelina looked over at him warily.

"What?" she murmured back.

"Do you," Fred pointed at her, his voice soft and nearly inaudible, "want to go to the Ball," he continued, miming a dance much like we had done earlier, "with me?" he concluded, pointing two thumbs at himself and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Angelina gave Fred an appraising sort of look.

"To the ball? Yeah, alright..." she whispered and turned back to her piece of parchment with a bit of a grin on her face.

"There you go," Fred turned to us and winked obnoxiously, "piece of cake."

"You all know why you're here," drawled Snape, gaining our attention. He strode towards the Staff table and turned to us dramatically, his black robes swiveling as he glared at us menacingly. "You have until the sand hits the bottom of this Hourglass to complete three rolls of parchments on the properties and ingredients used to construct your personal antidotes. With the exception of the two dunderheads in the room who have to complete five rolls worth of parchment on how to properly brew a Strengthening Solution."

Fred and George waved enthusiastically to the whole room as Snape introduced them as the two dunderheads, making everyone except the haughty Slytherins erupt in cackles.

"Silence!" Snape growled, and once we did— he turned the Hourglass upside down and all that could be heard in the Great Hall was the sand slipping on the Hourglass and the scribbling of quills.

I hadn't studied much but I'd done well when brewing my antidote, so I had no trouble writing an essay on how I did it.

After about an hour of complete concentration, we had gotten up and turned in our exams to a scowling Professor Snape.

There was still time left on the Hourglass and we knew Snape wouldn't dismiss us until the bell rang, so we just sat in dull silence until Ron started huffing about the dance again.

"This is mad. At this rate, we'll be the only ones in our year without dates." Ron complained lowly to Harry.

I watched as Snape squinted at Ron maliciously from across the room— taking long strides towards him when he noticed Ron talking and pushed his head down roughly.

Ron's long, auburn locks grew disheveled from the force. He stayed silent, waiting for Snape to walk away before he turned to Harry and started whispering again.

"Well, us and Neville," he teased, glancing at Neville who looked like he was about to burst into tears as he wrote on his parchment, using an unnecessary amount of ink that was causing his essay to smear.

"Yeah, but, then again— he can take himself," Harry replied, referring to Neville's eagerness to dance.

Every evening since finding out about the ball, we would find Neville dancing on his own in the Common Room.

He would put on his shiny, new leather dancing shoes and practice his steps for the ball.

Ron chuckled, nodding in agreement as he brushed his tousled hair away from his face.

"It might interest you to know that Neville's already got someone!" Hermione seethed in a hushed tone before returning her gaze to the ginormous book she had brought for what she considered to be light reading.

Ron huffed exasperatedly, checking to make sure Snape was far away before turning back to the table.

"Now I'm really depressed..." he muttered. "We need to ask someone fast, Harry. We don't want to end up with a pair of trolls." Ron urged him.

Hermione let out a sputter of indignation and I scoffed at Ron's poor wording.

"A pair of what, excuse me?" she hissed.

I shook my head at Ron in disapproval, but he didn't seem to back down.

"Well— you know," defended Ron, shrugging. "I'd rather go alone than with... say, Eloise Midgen."

As Ron was speaking, Harry started nudging Ron's side frantically but Ron was too caught up with slandering Eloise for the second time today that he didn't notice Snape approaching.

Snape used the notebook he had at hand and rapidly swatted Ron's head with it.

"Ow!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry lowered his head preventatively, yet still earned an unreasonable smack from Snape's notebook soon afterward.

Snape stood over us threateningly for a few passing seconds before rushing off to smack a boy from the Hufflepuff table who was talking with his friend as well.

"Her acne's loads better, lately— and she's really nice!" Hermione continued defending Eloise.

"Never mind that. I just need to know who hasn't been asked yet. It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone, but for a girl, it's just sad."

Hermione sighed in frustration and stuck her nose back in her book.

"I just know that you would look much less stupid than I will, without a partner. The Champions are meant to be starting the dance. What am I going to do? Dance with myself?" Harry grumbled.

"Bloody hell. That's what I'm saying, mate. We have to get a move on!"

"I suppose there's always Moaning Myrtle," Harry said gloomily, referring to the ghost who haunted the girls' toilets on the second floor.

"Look. We've just got to grit our teeth and do it," whispered Ron, and I winced as I saw Snape's beetle eyes land on him once more. "Tonight, when we get back to the Common Room, we'll both have partners— agreed?" asked Ron.

I sunk in my seat as Snape pushed back the sleeves of his robes.

"Er... okay. Agreed," replied Harry to Ron reluctantly and both of their shaggy heads got shoved down by Snape— earning a groan from the two of them.

I was quickly growing bored of all the Yule Ball talk.

I wondered if it wouldn't bother me as much as it did if Cedric would have already asked me to be his date, but I still couldn't imagine myself obsessing over this ball like the majority of the school was.

"Professor, may I be excused to the restroom?" I asked, raising my hand and half expecting Snape to whack me just like he did Ron and Harry.

"Make it quick," Snape replied boredly, but I packed all my things anyways— knowing the bell would ring in a few minutes.

Once stepping out into the empty hallway, I approached the nearest window that looked out to the Viaduct Courtyard and took advantage of my solitude to let out a deep breath I didn’t know I was holding.

I'd been racking my brain for the past few days and had begun to overthink of some reasons as to why Cedric hadn't asked me yet.

The pessimistic voice in my head had somehow rationalized that he might've possibly lost interest in me.

Maybe I freaked him out the last time we were alone together while we were making out?

It was unlikely, but I couldn't think of another reason.

I huffed as I dug into my bag for my carton of cigarettes.

It was the same kind I found Cedric smoking in the Courtyard that night with his friends.

It was a bad habit to pursue, but they were Cedric's favorite, and they relaxed me whenever I felt anxious. So I placed one of them between my lips and stuck my hand back in my bag in search for my lighter when an arm suddenly reached over from behind me and clicked a fancy, silver lighter on which lit the end of my cig.

I whirled around to find Draco Malfoy storing the expensive lighter back into his pocket and leering at me.

"Ugh," I complained and turned away from him to continue walking down the corridor to be alone again, taking a drag from the lit cigarette between my fingers.

"You're welcome," Draco called out sarcastically, chuckling at my irritation.

"What the fuck do you want?" I snapped at him, whipping around to glare at him furiously which only made his smirk grow wider.

"Wanna know what I saw today, princess?" he asked coolly, and when I didn't answer— he continued, anyway. "Your perfect gentleman of a boyfriend flirting with a Beauxbatons girl."

"Right. Because that totally sounds like Cedric," I laughed coldly, rolling my eyes and letting out a puff of smoke.

"Don't believe me, if you want." Draco shrugged, strolling closer to me. "But she was really pretty. Her beauty was a bit... surreal. A lot like you, in that sense— she walked into gardens and everyone was staring. Sound familiar?"

There was no denying that the Beauxbatons girls were fucking goddesses.

They were so graceful and carried themselves like queens, but I was sure that Fleur wasn't the only Veela within them.

Maybe Cedric wasn't exempt from the Veela effect, after all.

Maybe he got lured by one of them and asked them to the dance.

I was freaking out inside and when Draco noticed, he didn't hesitate to step closer to me— his icy, blue eyes sizing me up.

"Go with me," he murmured.

"What?" I burst out laughing.

His jaw clenched as I continued giggling, finding him absolutely absurd.

"Go to the Yule Ball with me," he repeated, inexplicably confident.

His face was so close to mine that I could smell the heady, lavish fragrance of the cologne he was wearing.

When he dipped down so his nose was grazing my neck, I cringed away from his touch.

"Why would you think I'd ever consider going to the ball with you? You fucking sicken me," I fumed and pushed past Draco, proud of how even my voice sounded.

"You know that's not true," Draco persisted, so sure of himself— but I didn't even look twice in his direction as I took a few more drags from my cigarette and flicked it out the window just as the bell rang.

Students started pouring out of the Great Hall, and once I spotted my friends emerging— I took my place beside them and tried to distract myself from what had happened with Draco.

"Hermione— who are you going to the ball with?" Ron asked curiously as we stood leisurely by the entrance hall.

Hermione was about to answer before Draco stalked up on us, joined by his gang of imbeciles now.

"You're joking, Weasley!" laughed Malfoy apathetically, "you're not telling me someone's asked that to the ball!? Not the long-molared Mudblood?"

I was murdering the Slytherin with my eyes as I debated to instill the Knee-Reversal Hex on him— but Hermione suddenly waved to somebody over Malfoy's shoulder, "Hello, Professor Moody!"

Malfoy went pale and jumped backward, looking wildly around for Moody, who was nowhere to be seen.

"Twitchy little ferret, aren't you, Malfoy?" I cooed scathingly, and we all laughed heartily as Draco stormed away with his friends following behind him.

We were about to head up the marble staircases for our History of Magic lesson when someone called my name from the other end of the corridor.

"(Y/N)!" The voice called out again and soon, a boy from Cedric's Quidditch team was rushing to get to me.

His name was Robert.

I recognized him because I met him in the library last year when he and his friend Nick approached me. They were ceaselessly flirting with me, and Cedric had stepped in to save me from the uncomfortable situation, making it the first time we ever spoke.

"Oh, hey Robert," I greeted him casually and he seemed momentarily dazed— thrilled that I happened to have remembered his name.

I was almost afraid he would ask me to the ball and was already prepared to turn him down when he started digging his hand into the inner pockets of his robes.

"Here, this is for you," he said bashfully and handed over a piece of parchment to me before bustling away to his next lesson.

It was sealed by a stamp, the wax imprinted by the Hufflepuff crest.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stepped closer as I ripped the wax off gently— the three of them peering over my shoulder so they could read the parchment with me.

When I saw you for the very first time,

I immediately longed to make you mine.

In this place, a certain hat called your bluff as you almost got sorted into Hufflepuff.

I instantly started grinning stupidly the moment I read the riddle— immediately recognizing Cedric's neat handwriting.

"Oh, (Y/N)! It's a scavenger hunt!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly, but her face soon contorted to worry as the bell rang, signifying the start of our History of Magic class.

"I'll catch you later guys! Um, tell Professor Binns I'm not feeling well," I exhorted giddily.

"You're not coming to class!?" Hermione asked in bewilderment and I shook my head, giving each of my friends exuberant hugs before I turned on my heel to head back to the Great Hall.

Ron stared after me, looking defeated.

I knew Professor Binns, the sole ghost educator at our school, wouldn't notice my absence. He barely noticed that he was dead— as he read right off the textbook in a tedious monotone.

All I had to do was read the next few chapters and I'd be right up to date.

The most important matter at hand was Cedric's riddle, which I knew would lead me to the Great Hall the moment I read it because it was the place where he and I saw each other for the first time while I was getting sorted.

I remember feeling petrified at the prospect of being sorted into any other House other than Gryffindor, already having made strong friendships with Harry, Ron, and Hermione— but when the sorting hat entertained the idea of putting me in Hufflepuff for my loyalty, dependability, and benevolence, the first person I noticed was Cedric and his handsome face and Hufflepuff didn't seem too bad of an option right then.

The Great Hall was deserted from students when I had returned, and it was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

I hesitated for a moment, debating where Cedric would've hidden the next clue and I decided to check where he had been sitting the night of my sorting— rushing over to the right side of the Hufflepuff table and began running my hand underneath the edge until I felt another thick piece of parchment.

I yanked it off, it having been stuck to the table with Spellotape, and my eyes lit up as I read the next clue.

For a long time I've been watching you, searching for any excuse to speak.

In this location, I would stare at you as you made my knees grow weak.

"Cedric Diggory, you're fucking adorable," I gushed aloud to myself, remembering the stolen glances we'd give each other at the library, and immediately headed off towards there.

Hogwarts' library wasn't too far from the Great Hall, but I still took rapid steps and stormed in frantically— eager to get through the scavenger hunt.

Madame Pince shushed me furiously but I paid her no mind, already searching every single chair I've ever seen Cedric sit in back when he was just a mysterious, nameless, attractive Hufflepuff boy that I used to crush on.

After some time, I couldn't find anything and was starting to feel dejected until I turned to the aisle of bookshelves where Cedric had first approached me when his housemates Robert and Nick were shamelessly flirting with me.

Cedric seemed to have conjured the parchment of the next clue because it was folded like a bird and was flying around overhead in circles.

I laughed breathlessly as I jumped to grab it— the paper bird flying higher as my fingertips brushed it.

I tried one more time, standing on my tip-toes, and finally grasped it— peeling the wax off and unfolding it eagerly.

There is no way I could deny, that to die by your side, would be a heavenly way to die.

It seems like I've been waiting for you forever, here we had our first conversation in the rainy weather.

I grinned at the song reference, knowing I had to go to the Clock-Tower Courtyard where Ced and I had once sat on that drizzly day— listening to The Smiths.

I ran out of the library, smiling like a little kid as I trotted down the same corridors I walked with Cedric when we started to get to know each other that evening.

As I passed the hallways, I noticed how the Hogwarts staff went beyond all of our expectations to continue to impress our foreign visitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang during the holidays.

I always thought the castle looked at its best during Christmas time, but this year— it felt like walking in a dream.

Everlasting icicles had been attached to the banisters of the marble staircase— the usual twelve Christmas trees were bedecked with everything from luminous holly berries to real, hooting, golden owls, and the suits of armor had all been bewitched to sing carols whenever anyone passed them.

It was quite something to hear "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" hummed by empty helmets.

When I got to the Courtyard, there were a few students milling around, seemingly skipping out on class.

They probably thought I looked insane as I crawled on all fours to search for the next parchment under the window sill where Cedric and I had sat down to listen to music on my Discman.

When I found it, I let out a hearty whoop and immediately ripped it open.

You had me feeling quite Shakespearean as I stripped the Greenhouse from its Red Peonies and Valerian.

Here, I rushed to your care, and once I saw you smile— you had me feeling like I could walk on air.

I was still out of breath from rushing from the library but my patience wasn't wearing me thin yet.

I enjoyed reliving past memories that I had of Cedric and my timid beginnings.

My next location was the Hospital Wing and once I got there, I found the next clue hidden underneath the bed that I inhabited after Snape jinxed me last year.

This same day, I couldn't contain myself anymore— you were the most perfect girl that I could ever ask the Gods above for.

Right here we stood, under the sky so blue.

I told you that I wanted to get to know you.

Right after checking on me in the Hospital Wing, Cedric had offered to visit Hogsmeade with me, and on the way there— suggested that he and Cho were done because he was interested in me and wanted to get to know me more.

We had been standing outside, a little far off from Hogsmeade's entrance, so I clipped the front of my robes to protect myself from December's frosty air before stepping out.

Snow was falling thickly upon the castle and its grounds now.

The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin, while the Durmstrang ship's portholes were glazed with ice, the rigging white with frost.

The cold wind was nipping at my face as I followed the path that students took to get to Hogsmeade.

My eyes searched for anything that resembled a piece of parchment within the blanket of snow— and immediately noticed a bouquet of Poinsettias floating in mid-air, conjured by Cedric and undoubtedly grown by him in the school's greenhouse.

I smiled warmly as I grabbed the bouquet. Tied to it was a piece of parchment which I read as I headed back towards the comfort of the castle.

It's true, our first kiss was overdue.

But after this night, I made sure to kiss you so much that both of our lips turned blue.

In this place, you breathed life into my lungs—

I can't wait to see what is to come.

This one was tricky because I wasn't exactly sure where the Room of Requirements was, but I did know that it was somewhere on the seventh floor, so I went up the marbled staircases and began roaming the corridors vigilantly.

Inside the classrooms, everyone was still in their lessons— but the whole scavenger hunt took me about forty minutes, so I figured I had a few minutes left until the bell rang for dinner.

"C'mon," I muttered impatiently to myself as I ran my hand against the wall like an old, blind lady— praying that a doorway would appear for me just like it did the night of the party.

It was when I got to the hallway with the Troll Tapestry opposite of a blank, stretch of wall between a window and a man-sized vase where a massive entryway started to reveal itself and I stopped, enthralled as it expanded.

I quickly pulled the bronze handle to the door, and once I walked in— what was once a massive party room had transformed into a smaller room with thousands of burning candles lighting it up warmly.

There were all sorts of different types of exotic flowers covering every crevice between the flickering candles except for the center of the room where a small table was set up for two and Cedric was standing right beside it.

My stomach gave a weird lurch when I saw him, as though I had missed a step going down some stairs.

His pearly greys widened, and he seemed a little nervous, though I couldn't tell too much because my eyes were staring to brim with tears.

"Why are you crying, love?" Cedric cooed, grinning affectionately as he pulled me into a tight hug.

"This is just so beautiful," I laughed and immediately wrapped my arms around him, cradling my head on his shoulder.

I had longed to hug him.

"Will you go to Yule Ball with me?" Cedric murmured into my hair, sounding a little shaky— and I pulled away so he could see me nod eagerly since I didn't trust my voice right then.

He let out a breathy laugh of relief, his eyes glinting with the candlelight that danced around us and my gaze dropped down to his full lips which were just a heartbeat away.

As if reading my mind, his lips soon met mine and it felt as if my heart had burst into a blazing fire.

The kiss was short and sweet, yet it held so much intensity and emotion that it rattled me.

Cedric proceeded to smooch my entire face dotingly before turning around to pull my chair out for me to sit.

I did a little curtsy before taking a seat, making Cedric chuckle brightly.

The bouquet of Poinsettias that had held one of the riddles was placed at the center of the table as Cedric fetched a bottle of champagne from his bag.

I sat amazed as I admired the plethora of flowers and candles surrounding us.

It was as if we had stepped inside a scene of a romantic movie.

In front of me, the table was brimming with an assortment of fruits, cheeses, and two full plates of what seemed to be chicken marsala served on top of little ridges of creamy pasta, which was definitely fancier than anything the Great Hall had ever provided for dinner.

The champagne bottle Cedric was working on had popped right then and we both cheered as the bubbly, golden liquid started overflowing from the bottle.

Ced swooped to grab our champagne flutes from the table and began to fill them up generously.

"Don't tell Hermione, but the House-Elves helped me put this together," Cedric admitted sheepishly as he took the seat across from mine.

"My lips are sealed, Diggory." I teased, smiling at him tenderly as we raised our glasses to each other and drank the sweet, fizzy champagne together.

"This is really good," I complimented, licking my lips as I continued to taste the rich, peachy flavor of the drink.

"Courtesy of the Hogwarts Kitchen," said Cedric, his eyes lingering on my lips. "In fact, the only thing I'm responsible for is the food and those flowers," he explained as he jutted his chin to the Poinsettias.

"The food?" I asked, my interest suddenly piqued by Cedric's culinary skills as I reached for my utensils.

"What? Do you think I'd let the House-Elves cook us dinner without any help? I'd lose my S.P.E.W badge." Cedric joked, grinning handsomely.

"You're right, it'd be deplorable." I giggled as I imagined Cedric with an apron on whilst cooking dinner with the elves.

I popped a forkful of the chicken marsala into my mouth and hummed in bliss at the savory taste— making Ced's smile grow broader.

"Good?" he asked excitedly, beginning to eat himself.

"So fucking delicious," I confirmed, taking another bite.

We ate in peaceful silence as the muffled sound of the bell rang outside.

There was a low rumbling as the hallways filled with chattering students who were on their way to the Great Hall for dinner.

Cedric and I grinned at each other as we took sips of our drinks, thrilled to be tucked away by ourselves in our own private supper.

"You know, I almost thought you'd never ask me to the ball..." I told him breezily, crossing my legs underneath the table.

"How could you think I wasn't going to ask you?" Cedric asked, shaking his head incredulously as his lips pulled into a smirk.

"Why did it take you so long?" I challenged humorously, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm no poet, angel— each of those clues took about a week to make!" Cedric laughed softly.

"And they were adorable. You really put Robert Frost to shame." I teased sweetly, reaching forward to grab his hand.

Cedric's cheeks went rosy as he intertwined our fingers together, running his thumb over mine.

The commotion outside eventually ceased and it felt like we were the only ones in the world again.

"I just didn't want to simply walk up to you and ask, you know? It felt too casual. And we're not casual." Cedric stated, his eyes boring into mine tenderly.

"No, we're not." I agreed, feeling heat rush to my cheeks.

The small table that separated us became an inconvenience for me now that we had finished eating.

I wanted to crawl onto his lap.

"I bet you got many proposals," Ced smirked, evidently feeling all the same as I did because he rested his elbows on the table and inclined towards me.

"Yeah, some..." I understated as I recalled how Fred, Draco, and the Durmstrang boy had all asked me that same day.

Over the past weeks, I must've gotten about two dozen proposals to the ball, but I didn't want to dwell on that.

I was more interested in the proposals that Cedric must've gotten.

"And I heard you did, too." I retorted, unable to mask the edge in my voice as I remembered what Draco had told me earlier about the Veela girl from Beauxbatons.

"I don't even remember because my mind has been entirely on you," Cedric murmured sincerely and cupped my face in his hands to smoosh my cheeks. "Besides, they only care about going to the ball with a Champion. I heard Harry, Krum, and Fleur have been getting bombarded with Yule Ball proposals, too."

"I'm sorry I don't put you up on a pedestal to idolize you like the rest." I joked, pouting my lips in ironic sorrow.

"This Champion is the one that's doing all the idolization," Ced quipped as his hands moved from holding my face to nestle on the back of my head— leaning forward to kiss me.

The minutes slipped by us as we continued to talk some more in easy conversation.

It wasn't until the bell rang again, signaling the end of the day, that we finally began heading out— blending in with the other students as we left the heavenly room behind us.

As we walked the corridors grinning wildly at each other while I clutched my bouquet of flowers, we made it known that we had coupled up for the ball.

Many girls sighed in endearment at the sight of us, others looked glum as they wished they were in my place— getting nuzzled by Cedric Diggory, their Hogwarts Champion.

But I didn't care much for the glorification that surrounded him.

I was just happy that I was going to share a very special night at the Yule Ball with my Ced.

"Fairy lights," I announced brightly to the Fat Lady once Cedric had dropped me off at Gryffindor Towers.

"Yes, indeed, dear!" she trilled, straightening her new tinsel hair band as she swung forward to admit me.

Once entering the Common Room, it was to my surprise that I saw Ron sitting ashen-faced in a distant corner. Harry and Ginny were sitting with him, talking to him in what seemed to be low, soothing voices.

"What's up?" I asked as I joined them on the couch.

Ron looked up at me with a sort of blind horror on his face that only made me more concerned.

"He, er... just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him," Ginny explained and looked as though she was fighting back a smile, but kept patting Ron's arm sympathetically.

"You did what?" I asked Ron in astonishment.

"I don't know what made me do it!" Ron gasped. "What was I playing at? There were people all around... I've gone mad— everyone watching! I was just walking past her in the Entrance Hall, and she was standing there talking to Roger Davies... and it sort of came over me, and I asked her!"

Ron moaned and put his face in his hands.

He kept talking, though the words were barely distinguishable.

"She looked at me like I was a sea slug or something. Didn't even answer. And then, I dunno... I just sort of came to my senses and ran for it."

"She's part Veela," I reminded him, "her grandmother was one. It wasn't your fault. I bet you just walked past when she was turning on the Charm for Roger and got affected by it."

Ron kept blubbering, evidently mortified and I turned to Harry.

"And you? Did you get a date?"

"I asked Cho... just now," Harry said timidly.

Ginny suddenly stopped smiling.

"And?" I egged him on.

Harry smiled at me and nodded and I grinned back, but we didn't say anything more in respect of Ron's despair.

"This is mad!" said Ron furiously. "I'm the only one left who hasn't got anyone. I mean, even Hermione's got a date!"

"What?" I asked him, completely distracted by this startling news.

"Yeah, I know!" said Ron, some of the color coming back into his face as he started to laugh. "Neville told me after Potions! Said she's always been really nice— helping him out with work and stuff, but when he asked her, she told him she was already going with someone. Ha! As if! She just didn't want to go with Neville... I mean, who would?"

"Don't laugh!" snapped Ginny, inexplicably annoyed.

Just then, Hermione climbed in through the portrait hole with a pile of books in her hands.

"Why weren't you all at dinner?" she asked, coming over to join us.

"(Y/N) was with Cedric, he finally asked her to the ball— and Ron just got turned down by Fleur Delacour," said Ginny and shut Ron up.

"Thanks a bunch, Ginny," said Ron sourly.

"All the good-looking ones taken, Ron?" sniffed Hermione loftily, not forgetting his insolent comment earlier. "Eloise Midgen starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who'll have you."

"Hermione. Do you have a date for the ball?" I asked and we all fell silent as her face flushed.

"I'll tell you later," she murmured and I had to stop myself from jumping up and down from excitement for her.

"No! Tell us now!" protested Ron.

"For what? For you to make fun of me? No, thank you. Now if you don't mind, I am going to bed." Hermione said curtly and stormed upstairs soon after.

"She's lying," stated Ron flatly, rolling his eyes.

"She's not," muttered Ginny quietly.

"Who is it then?" insisted Ron sharply.

"I'm not telling you, it's her business," replied Ginny.

"Riiight," sneered Ron, who looked extremely put out, "this is getting stupid. Things would’ve been much more simpler if Ginny would’ve gone with Harry, since she still hasn’t got anybody, and I would’ve just—"

"I have somebody," interrupted Ginny, her face solemn."I'm going w-with Neville. He asked me when Hermione said no, and I thought...well..." She looked extremely miserable and I felt terribly bad for her, knowing about the crush she had on Harry ever since she told me during the Summer. "I think I'll go to bed," she said morosely and got up to walk up the girls' staircases with her head bowed.

Ron goggled at Harry.

"What's gotten into them?" he demanded, but Harry's attention was on Parvati who had just come in through the portrait hole.

"Come here," he said to Ron and I watched as they stood up, walking straight up to Parvati and I overheard Harry ask her to go to the dance with Ron before she erupted into a fit of giggles.

I left the Common Room to head upstairs to my dorm with a big smile on my face.

After my nightly routine, I found Ginny and Hermione waiting up on me so I could tell them all about Cedric's proposal.

I showed them all the parchments Cedric made for the scavenger hunt and swooned while explaining the stories behind them.

They expressed their admiration when I told them about the Room of Requirements— sitting on the edge of the bed as I explained every intricate detail from the food to the candles and the flowers.

After I was finished, I turned my attention toward Hermione.

"'Okay, your turn. Now that the boys aren't around... who are you going to the ball with and why didn't you tell me you got asked?"

I watched her cheeks turn bright pink as Ginny smirked knowingly beside her.

"Viktor Krum," she finally whispered after a prolonged silence.

"WHAT!?" I all but yelled as she shushed me but I ignored her as I hugged her frantically.

"I KNEW IT! I saw the way you two were staring at each other! I knew it! Tell me everything!"

"He honestly took me by surprise! We spent a lot of time at the library— separately, of course, and one day he just walked up to my table and asked me. He said he liked that I wasn't babbling over him like the other girls."

I squealed and hugged her again tightly, tipping us over as we fell onto her mattress.

"Oh, I'm so happy for you 'Mione!"

"And I'm so happy for you!" Hermione beamed as we sat up again. "But I am going to need help getting myself together for the ball. Gods, what are we going to wear?"

"Let's go to Hogsmeade soon! Find some dresses, maybe get some drinks. Make a day out of it?" Ginny suggested and we all agreed enthusiastically before tucking ourselves into bed.

༻✦༺

December 16th, 1994

Rumors about the Yule Ball were flying around everywhere, and I didn't know whether to believe half of them.

For instance, one was that Dumbledore had bought eight hundred barrels of mulled mead from Madam Rosmerta— which was hard to believe unless our Headmaster wanted to get us shit-faced.

It seemed to be fact, however, that he had booked the Weird Sisters to perform.

Exactly who or what the Weird Sisters were I didn't know, except for the fact that Fred and George had requested me to play them for the Gryffindor Quidditch party last year.

I deduced from the wild excitement of my peers who had grown up listening to them that they were a very famous musical group.

It was the morning before the day of the Yule Ball and Hermione, Ginny and I got up early to visit Hogsmeade.

We skipped all the way to the village with our arms linked, thrilled to finally be able to pick our dresses.

Hogsmeade was swarmed with students in our same predicament— having left attire shopping for the very last minute due to end-of-semester exams.

In light of the Yule Ball, Gladrags Wizardwear was selling gowns and dress robes of many different colors and materials for all the frantic students, and the small store was exploding with customers like never before.

I was so distressed with being able to find the perfect gown, and once we got to Gladrags, my anxiety piqued when I saw the numerous girls scouring the room for dresses.

Ginny, Hermione, and I had stopped all conversation as we entered a state of deep focus as we skimmed the racks for ball gowns.

We draped as many gowns as we could over our arms and entered the fitting room once our arms ached, not being able to physically hold any more.

Ginny, who only picked options from the sales section, tried on the most grisly dresses I've ever seen— most of which were of moldy brown colors with some occasional rusty reds.

We'd all step out of the dressing room after trying on a new gown and to my horror, Ginny was wearing a bright orange dress that clashed extravagantly with her hair.

Hermione and I thought it was a joke, at first, but then Ginny began to seriously consider getting the dress so we had to talk her out of it and steered her toward buying a pastel dress that was by far the best of the bunch.

The dress had pale green lace frills on the neckline and a matching pastel-green, floor-length poofy skirt. There were three adorable red stars down the center that contrasted boldly with the baby-pink material that the bodice of the dress was made of.

Ginny didn't seem too convinced when Hermione and I encouraged her to get it— but when I saw her eyeing a turquoise dress and offered to get it for her, she shook her head sternly and refused to hear another word.

If you can rely on the Weasleys for anything, it would be their pride.

Hermione had gathered all her savings and was picking some good options, but was struggling to figure out which style suit her best.

She had come out of the dressing room wearing a bohemian-styled beige dress, and the next round she wore a racy hot-pink dress— which earned wolf-whistles from Ginny and I, causing her to duck back into the dressing room as quickly as she came out of it.

Eventually, she ended up trying on a satiny, babydoll-pink gown that had layers of frills from the waistline down that became darker shades of plum and mulberry.

We knew that the dress was the winner at the first glance.

Hermione looked gorgeous.

As for myself, it all came down to three distinct dresses— the first was emerald with a luxurious, satiny feel. It had a plunging neckline and a column-cut silhouette.

The next one was a strapless, golden dress. So gold, it resembled a Snitch. I loved how the dress fit me and didn't even mind the sequins that it was made out of— but it did have an A-line silhouette with a long train for a hemline which made it difficult to move around in. Nevertheless, dance in.

The last dress was a form-fitting, off-the-shoulder, dark-red gown.

It was of similar, rich-satin material as the emerald-green dress— but it had delicate draping detailing on the straps and the neckline, altering into a corset design around the waist.

The dress fell into a floor-length hemline, with a slit cut elegantly yet provocatively on the left side, to show some leg.

When I tried it on for the first time, it fit like a glove.

As if it were made just for me.

Its trumpet-cut silhouette clung to my curves gracefully, yet gave me enough room to dance in.

This was important because the past few weeks, the Champions and their dates had been practicing the opening dance number and there were so many steps to remember, I didn't want to worry about falling flat on my face on top of it.

So even though it was probably the most expensive dress in the boutique and the most I've ever spent on anything in the Wizarding World yet— I decided on the wine-red dress.

Once our ball gowns were chosen, the girls and I went to the front of the shop to look at the accessories.

Hermione found pink-flower earrings in a similar color as her dress and paired them with two-inch magenta heels.

Curiously enough, Ginny found a ribbon choker in the same pastel shade as her dress with a little, antique pendant on it.

And to adorn my new dress, I bought a sparkly, golden chandelier necklace and matching stiletto five-inch heels.

We paid our dues and took our large shopping bags over to Honeydukes for some spiked pints of hot Butterbeers to warm us up.

"My dress is so ghastly!" Ginny huffed as she took a deep sip of her drink. "I just hope that whatever Neville wears doesn't look horrible with these hideous colors."

"Your dress isn't ghastly, Ginny— it's adorable. But I still think you should've let me buy you that green dress back at the shop."

Ginny waved me off dismissively before diving back to her Butterbeer.

Hermione was wearing a worried smile, her eyebrows knitted together as we stared at Ginny who continued to drink earnestly.

"Drowning any sorrows?" Hermione asked once Ginny had downed her cup.

"As a matter of fact, I am." Ginny replied curtly, licking foam off her lip, "Tell me something— why didn't it occur to me to ask Harry to the ball? It's fucking nineteen-ninety-four and I just decided to sit pretty and wait for the off-chance of him to ask? What is wrong with me!" she moaned, grabbing a floating pitcher from midair and helping herself to more of the sweet drink.

"Well... I did tell you." Hermione said in a braggart tone which earned a glare for Ginny.

"How did you end up with Neville anyhow, Gin?" I asked, blowing steam off my Butterbeer before taking a sip.

"Oh... he just seemed so eager to go to the ball. I saw him get rejected twice, including by you," she said staring pointedly at Hermione, who shrunk in her seat, "so when he asked me, I don't know... I figured he didn't dance so bad at the rehearsal, so I accepted." Ginny shrugged. "But never in Merlin's stars did I ever imagine it to even be a possibility that I could go with Harry until my idiot of a brother mentioned it last minute. Ugh! I feel like I lost a big opportunity."

"Ginny..." I began, running my fingers through her long hair. "Harry is a stupid, little boy who hasn't got the slightest clue that you're into him. You have to tell him! If he knew, I just know he would be head over heels for you."

"That's not true, (Y/N)," Ginny quabbled, beginning to slur her words.

"Yes, it is, Gin."

"No. That's not true, and you know it. You know how much he likes Cho."

She got me there.

During the Champions dance rehearsal, Harry had become the clumsiest I've ever seen him around Cho.

She would giggle and bat her lashes at him and in turn, make him fumble his step and blubber like an idiot.

It would've impressed me in any other circumstance, but it was quite pitiful to see. Besides, I had retreated back to not feeling too fond of Cho ever since I'd caught her glaring at Cedric and me as we rehearsed our dance.

"See." Ginny pointed at me with a lazy finger when I remained silent, and then huffed in defeat.

Hermione and I frowned at her dolefully but didn't press on the matter any further.

We got another round of pints and started planning what we were going to do with our hair and makeup in preparation for the ball tomorrow.

We were about to head into our third cup of Butterbeers when Hermione made us jump in our seats when she suddenly gasped, her brown eyes on the bar's dusty old clock.

"Gods, look at the time! I have to get back to the library!"

"The library?" Ginny and I asked, synchronously puzzled.

"Yes, it's going to close in an hour and I need to check out my books for the next semester to get ahead on coursework before the break!"

"Hermione," I moaned, rolling my eyes— the alcohol loosening me up enough that I felt like I could speak my mind. "You have to take a break."

"A break!" Hermione scoffed in response.

"I'm serious, 'Mione. When was the last time you had a break? That is exactly what you need right now. Just worry about the dance, and about all the fun you're going to have with Viktor tomorrow, and we'll find another day to visit the library before the next semester starts. We have more than enough time."

Hermione abruptly took me aback when I saw her eyes welling up with tears.

"I just... feel like academics is the only thing I'm good at. You saw how clueless I am when it comes to things like the ball! I mean, I tried to prepare by checking out many books about the past Yule Balls but I still feel like a total halfwit when it comes to anything other than school."

"Hermione, that's not true." Ginny insisted.

"That's all people come to me for!"

"You're the smartest person I ever met, it's true— but there are so many other great qualities about you!" I assuaged her. "You're kind. The best friend we could ever ask for. Brave. And you're fucking gorgeous. Viktor didn't ask you to the ball became of your ability to absorb a humongous book. It might've drawn him in, but I guarantee that there is so much more to you too, hon."

"Thank you, (Y/N)..." Hermione sniffed.

"Don't even mention it," I said and hugged my friend tightly.

I suspected the Butterbeers were to blame for turning us all into sentimental disasters, but my little speech didn't manage to change Hermione's mind so we rushed back to the castle to get to the library with the exception of Ginny, who craved her bed and retreated for Gryffindor Towers to put our dresses away safely.

When we got to the library, I was surprised to see many students lounging around the room and talking freely— carefree to the otherwise strict library rules against loitering and speaking in an audible tone.

This flexibility was most likely due to the excitement towards the end of the semester and the ball that was the following evening.

Madame Pince seemed to have given up on instilling any rules because she was just simply staring at all the students with disdain when we got there.

I followed Hermione as she proceeded to grab her books for the next semester like she said she would, but I noticed her lingering by a bookshelf that I soon realized was right behind where Viktor Krum was reading about ships at his usual table.

Hermione had a book open in her hands as a prop as her brown eyes peered up at Krum through the gaps of the bookshelf.

I thought it was fucking adorable.

"Go on," I mumbled and nudged her forward.

Her eyes went wide when she realized I had caught her staring but I watched as the Butterbeer seemed to have given her liquid courage because she nodded confidently before taking her stack of books over to Viktor, courageously sat in front of him and immediately sparked a conversation.

I grinned as I watched them, leaning against the bookshelf as I thought about how good they looked together.

I was about to turn around to head to the Common Room when my skin started tingling and I felt as if someone's eyes were on me.

I whirled around, scanning the room cautiously, and found my gorgeous, brunette boy sitting in an armchair joined by his friends— his lingering, stormy eyes watching me intently.

I smirked at him, getting instant Deja Vu from back in the day when we were strangers and used to admire each other from across the room.

My heart swelled as the nostalgia washed over me, a small lump growing in my throat.

One of Cedric's friends patted him on the shoulder, trying to get his attention, but Ced couldn't take his eyes off me.

An idea came to mind and I strode away right after giving him a quick wink— briefly seeing him stand up to follow me before I disappeared over to the same aisle I was at earlier for his Scavenger Hunt— the one in which we had first met.

I ran my hands over the spine of the books, smirking as I felt someone approach behind me.

"Hello," Cedric mumbled into my ear, his big hands wrapping around my waist to turn me around so I could face him.

"Hi," I giggled softly, my heart accelerating in my chest as he brushed his lips up my neck, nipping at the skin under my ear softly. The light touch sent shivers through my nerves, shivers that made my whole body tremble.

"It's lovely to meet you, (Y/N). I'm Cedric. I've seen you here quite a bit." Cedric murmured lowly, making my smile broaden as I realized he was recounting the very first words he ever spoke to me.

"Mm, that's right. I like to do my coursework here with my friend— it's quiet." I played along, running my hands up his chest and reached up to wrap my arms around his neck.

Right above our heads was a floating candle where a branch of mistletoe began to bloom abruptly, but we didn't need it there for us to dive into each other.

Ced pulled me up by my waist and onto my tiptoes as his parted lips met mine.

The space around us had evaporated as it usually did whenever his lips were on me. Everything went strangely quiet, like the moment of brief silence between lightning and thunder, and the moment I tasted his lips, I realize that I could never have enough of him.

I felt his hands roam everywhere up my back and over my arms and suddenly he was kissing me harder, deeper, with a fervent, desperate need that I've never known before.

I clung to him since he felt like the only solid thing in a vertiginous world. His insistent mouth was parting my trembling lips, evoking from me sensations I had never known I was capable of feeling.

And even though my lips had never touched any other, I felt so sure that he was the single greatest kisser in all of the world.

Cedric and I were pressed against one another, and still ached to be even closer— he stepped forward and pinned me against the bookcase behind me, making it rattle boisterously.

"Excuse me!" Madame Pince's shrill voice called out and we sighed into the kiss, pulling away from each other knowing we got caught. "The library is no place for this wretchedness! This is preposterous!" Our librarian scolded Cedric and I, fuming as she wagged an angry finger at us.

Cedric was staring down at the floor in what seemed to be shame as we got reprimanded, when suddenly he took my hand in his and pulled me past Madame Pince— steering me toward the exit of the library.

We sprinted, laughing brightly as we heard most of the Hogwarts Library visitors applauding and cheering us on behind us.

"Absolutely disgraceful! Just vile behaviour! TEN POINTS FROM BOTH OF YOUR HOUSES!" continued Madame Pince but we were already out in the hallway, giggling madly as we ran down the empty corridors— still in shock for getting in trouble.

We slowed down to a walk as we rounded the corner, and I watched with a smirk on my face as Cedric checked our surroundings, assuring that we were all alone before he stepped forward to push me flush against the wall and kissed me again— but this kiss was the kind that could crack open the sky. It stole my breath and somehow gave it back. It showed me that any other kiss I could ever had had in my life would’ve been wrong.

His hands wandered up my torso and I went tense as he brushed my breast but they didn't stop there, to my disappointment— as he cupped my jaw and pressing himself into me.

We moaned against each other's lips and when hearing his low groan, it sent a wildfire of scorching flames racing through my body. I pressed my thighs together instinctively, needy to hear him again.

We began making out like crazy.

Like our lives somehow dependedon it.

His tongue slips inside my mouth, gentle but demanding, and it's unlike anything I've ever felt, and I suddenly understand why kissing is described as melting because every square inch of my body dissolves into his.

My fingers grip his hair, pulling him closer.

My veins throb and my heart explodes.

I have never wanted anyone like this before.

Ever.

He pushes me backward and we're making out in front of the portraits of clowns with holding red balloons and old men playing with chess sets and tourists with their laminated maps but I don't care, I don't care about any of that.

All I want is Cedric.

His weight on top of mine is remarkable. I feel him, all of him—pressed against me, and I inhale the scent of his shaving cream, his cologne, and that extra scent that's just…him.

The most mouth-watering scent I could ever imagine.

His lips taste like honey, his hands are everywhere, and it doesn't matter that his mouth is already on top of mine, I want him closer, closer, closer.

My hands roamed too, from his neck, down his chest, up his back, in his hair.

When I raked my fingers in his chestnut locks and pulled lightly, another low groan emitted from him which made my knees buckle and I felt like I had won the lottery.

His hand shifted from cupping my jaw as he dropped it so it wrapped loosely around my throat, much like the necklace I had tried on at the store earlier.

Not being able to help myself anymore, I ground down onto him just like I did the other night but my head went hazy when he didn't stop me.

In fact, he brought my leg higher up his hip— his fingertips running on the bare skin of my thigh as he rutted the strain in his pants down on me and we both moaned at the delicious friction.

It excited me to be this intimate with him.

To feel him pulsing against me.

He was so real and he was mine.

Cedric’s hand squeezed the skin of my thigh as I continued to pivot my hips, grounding my centre to his.

"Fuck, can I touch you?" Ced panted so softly into my lips that I could've mistaken it for a breath.

I instantly nodded, anticipating more of his touch as I continued to kiss him, tugging his bottom lip softly with my teeth but suddenly Cedric froze.

No, no, no, no.

"Ced?" I asked meekly as his hands moved from my thighs, setting me on the ground gently as he grabbed my hands in his.

I peered up at him curiously, both of our chests heaving as we tried to catch our breath.

"I'm sorry," he said morosely, "I'm losing control— I tend to do that around you," he chuckles sheepishly.

"You're not the only one..." I replied gingerly, stepping forward to pepper kisses from his ear down his throat which made him hum lowly, his pretty eyes fluttering shut.

"You got anything planned for tomorrow after the dance?" Ced asked, his voice strained and I pulled away inquisitively.

"I think there's going to be an after-party, but I wasn't really planning on going... Did you have anything in mind?" I asked, my voice hopeful.

"Maybe... we can spend some time together? Just you and I... after the ball?" Ced asked suggestively, kissing my cheek and trialing his kisses down my neck.

My tummy fluttered excitedly at his proposal.

"I'd love that," I replied, grinning as my heart somersaulted up to my throat.

"See you tomorrow, darling." Ced beamed and leaned down to peck my lips before we departed for a night's sleep prior to what I felt would be the greatest day of our lives.

✩ next chapter: the yule ball ✩

32 notes · View notes

papervenom · 11 days ago

Text

✩ chapter fourteen: S.P.E.W ✩

chapter warnings: heavy sexual tension, intense making out lol, emotional vulnerability & insecurity

word count: 5.7k

INSATIABLE MASTERLIST⋆˙⟡

November 16th, 1994

During the few, fleeting weeks after the Inter-House party— Cedric and I had become inseparable.

Every morning, I would find him waiting for me on the other side of the Fat Lady's portrait to walk to the Great Hall together for breakfast. He'd join us at the Gryffindor table and would make sure I was properly alimented before escorting me to my first lesson of the day.

We made a habit of leaving a few minutes before the bell rang, while the halls were still vacant, because the moment that we were out of our peers' eyesight— we would be on one another.

There'd be a make-out session before his departure for his next class and another in between lessons at the Courtyard with his friends' jeering surrounding us.

Everyone in our proximity became victims to the clingy fervor we felt towards each other, and I could tell it was annoying to most of them.

My friends, especially.

The Golden Quartet became The Golden Trio once more, since I was rarely around to spend leisure time with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

We'd hang out during class, though we wouldn't be able to socialize much then, but as soon as the bell rang— Cedric would somehow already be there, earning a scoff from Ron, an eye-roll from Harry and an exasperated look from Hermione, who thought I was being severely irresponsible with my free-time where I could've been studying.

But I couldn't care less.

I was aware that the majority of Hogwarts was growing sick of how inseverable we were, yet I couldn't keep my hands off him.

I was crushing hard on the Hufflepuff who was by far the most handsome guy I've ever known.

Cedric Diggory was a movie-star type of handsome— the kind that people would falter in their step to watch go by.

He wasn't as tall as Fred or George, and he was a bit slimmer, but he had a finely drawn, sensitive face that managed to be thoughtful and looked like it was carved by angels or Michelangelo himself.

His lively, dancing, bright-grey eyes managed to be gentle and sympathetic and held so much emotion in them.

It wasn't for nothing that he attracted girls like honey does flies.

And he was mine.

Or at least, it felt like it.

We never had much of a conversation about the exclusivity of our relationship, but Cedric didn't shy away from kissing me in areas where anybody could see— tuning out the rest of the world until it was just background noise as we got lost within ourselves.

I couldn't deny that it would be awkward when people would ask when we had made it official, but I wasn't interested in anybody else and neither was Cedric, so that's all that mattered.

As for the Tournament, the next task wasn't until the end of February and neither Harry nor Cedric had even touched their Golden Eggs ever since we heard the disturbing, high-pitched screeching they emitted when they opened them in unison at the party.

They had plenty of time to figure it out, so we all let negligence get the best of us as we grew accustomed to everything returning back to normal.

Even if it was just momentary.

The beginning of December was looming ahead and it was already bringing wind and sleet to Hogwarts.

I was always grateful for the castles' never-ending, burning fires and thick walls every time I passed the Durmstrang ship bobbing on The Black Lake or the Beauxbatons caravan, which was likely to be chilly as well.

We had just finished our last lesson of the day and were on our way to the Great Hall for dinner.

It was at the moment we'd sat down and started filling our plates with food when I noticed that Cedric wasn't beside me, like he usually was.

Not thinking much of it— I took the opportunity to catch up with my friends.

"Harry, did Sirius answer the letter that you sent?" I asked, knowing that Harry had rushed to send his Godfather an update on his survival from the dragon the morning after the first task.

Harry nodded as he worked on chewing his mouthful of pudding to be able to reply to me when Ron hastily interrupted him.

"Yes. He did. And you would've known if your lips weren't glued onto that plonker's face."

"Ron! What is wrong with you!?" Hermione seethed, glowering at him in my defense but I grinned cheerfully, nonetheless— feeling like absolutely nothing could damper my mood.

"So? What did he say?" I asked Harry again, ignoring my redheaded friend who was evidently upset with me, and Harry soon filled me in on everything.

Sirius was relieved, to say the least, but still reminded Harry to be wary of Durmstrang's Headmaster Igor Karkaroff.

Ron seemed to have been brought up to date on everything that he missed while Harry and he were fighting, because at the mention of Karkaroff's name— Ron went off on a tangent where he claimed that we ought to have suspected that he had been a Death Eater all along.

"I mean, it fits, doesn't it?" spoke Ron over a mouthful of Pumpkin Juice. He took a big gulp before continuing, "Remember what Malfoy said on the train? About his dad being friends with Karkaroff? Now we know where they knew each other. They were probably running around in masks together at the World Cup... I'll tell you one thing, though, Harry— if it was Karkaroff who put your name in the Goblet, he's going to be feeling really stupid now. Didn't work, did it? You only got a scratch! There's no way any of the other tasks are going to be that dangerous. How could they be!?" Ron went on. "You know what? I reckon you could win this Tournament, Harry. I'm serious."

As if on queue, Hermione scoffed at Ron's ignorance and I smiled privately to myself at how predictable my friends were.

I had missed them so much.

"Harry's got a long way to go before he finishes this Tournament," she said gravely. "If dragons was the first task, I hate to think what's coming next."

We all shuddered at the thought— the panic subsiding into my nervous system again, and Ron seemed to notice because he nudged my knee gently and when I peered up at him, he was looking at me worriedly.

"Right little ray of sunshine, aren't you, Hermione?" spoke Ron accusingly. "You and Professor Trelawney should get together sometime."

I giggled at the idea of Hermione and Trelawney hanging out and Ron's features seemed to soften once I did, pleased to have gotten me to lighten up as he gave me a dorky smile.

When asking Hermione what she's been up to the past weeks, she told me that she remained occupied with her usual long hours of studying at the library, but then informed me of a new project that she was currently working on.

"Hermione! Stop trying to rope her into that spew shit!"

"I'm not!" she said hastily. "And it's not spew, Ron —"

"Changed the name, have you?" he retorted, frowning at her. "What are we now, then, the House-Elf Liberation Front?"

The two bickered back and forth as Harry and I shared a look of wary solidarity for one another for once again being caught in the middle of another argument.

"Shut up, Ron. I wasn't even talking to you! I was simply trying to inform (Y/N) about a very critical situation happening in this school, out of all pla—"

"Tell me then," I interrupted impatiently before Ron could quip back at her, "What's going on?"

"Right. So remember that mountain of food Fred and George got for the party? I was curious about how they managed to acquire so much of it, so I asked them," Hermione explained in an innocently casual sort of voice, "And that's when I found out about the House-Elves! The twins told me how to get to the kitchen dungeons, so Harry, Ron, and I went a few evenings ago—"

"Against our will, might I add," Ron muttered and Harry huffed out a laugh.

"And you'll never guess who we saw, (Y/N)! Dobby! Remember we told you about the House-Elf that Harry freed during our second year who used to work for the Malfoys?"

I thought back to the night that Harry caught me up on the two years that I had missed with them back at The Leaky Cauldron and vividly recalled him telling me about Dobby, the abused elf who once lived his days getting kicked around and scorned at by Lucius Malfoy.

"I remember," I replied, letting her carry on with her story.

"He's working here at Hogwarts, (Y/N). Like actually working down in the kitchens. There are House-Elves cooking us countless of food options for the three meals we eat daily, and guess what!? Most of them aren't even getting paid for it! Dumbledore is paying Dobby, because Dobby asked for it— rightfully so, but most of the other House-Elves are so adamant about providing free labor! Oh, (Y/N), I'm just hoping the other elves will see how happy Dobby is, being free, and slowly it'll dawn on them that they want that too! So I'm making it my mission to inform others of what's going on in the kitchens. In the meantime, I made these..." Hermione trailed off as she started rummaging into her book-bag.

I waited patiently for her— my interest piqued in whatever Hermione had to show me since she seemed so passionate about the subject when I heard Ron curse under his breath.

"For fucks sake," Ron grumbled.

I searched to see what had made him so grouchy and spotted Cedric entering The Great Hall.

Many of the students erupted in cheers as they spotted their Champion, and some Hufflepuffs were even calling out Cedric's name to get him to join them for dinner— but he just waved them off, making a beeline towards me.

His bronze locks were gorgeously disheveled and his yellow House tie hung loosely around his neck— adorning his exposed collarbones stunningly, as the first few buttons of his white dress shirt were unbuttoned.

Many of the girls in the Great Hall were giggling and fanning themselves with their hands from how devastatingly sexy Cedric looked— but I couldn't find it in me to take it personally, because I completely understood the sentiment.

Once the Golden Boy was at my arm's length, I didn't waste a second before jumping into Cedric's arms and giggling girlishly as he spun me around.

He chuckled and set me down so my feet were touching the ground again, and I stood on my tip-toes to peck his lips sweetly.

I caught Hermione smirking at me from the corner of my eye.

Harry seemed indifferent to us and Ron was eyeing us odiously and told us to 'get a room'.

"Looking good, (Y/N)!" a voice called out from somewhere in the Great Hall and I noticed that it was Roger Davies from Ravenclaw and he was sitting up on his chair as his eyes roamed me excitedly.

His friends were guffawing at his boldness but the laughter quickly died in their throats— the reason being Cedric who was glaring at them furiously next to me.

He steered me to my seat, his body blocking me from their view protectively.

It was thrilling to see him become so threatening.

I didn't think it was possible— with him being so soft and gentle most of the time.

"I don't know how you can tolerate those imbeciles cat-calling you that way," Cedric mumbled as he pulled out the chair I was previously sitting at for me and took his seat right next to mine.

He soon began filling my plate generously with baked potatoes before starting on his own.

"It comes with being a woman, unfortunately," I remarked nonchalantly, pouring pumpkin juice into both of our glasses.

"It's crude," he prompted, his eyes flickering up to glower at the Ravenclaw table.

"I hate to tell you this, Ced, but most guys our age tend to be a bit crude. I just got really lucky with you," I spoke lowly so only he could hear, watching his face soften as his grey eyes peered down at me.

He grinned and pecked me on the lips.

"I'm sorry I'm late, dove. Snape held me up. Ever since he found out that the Triwizard Champions had been excused from exams this year, he's been persistent in assigning me extra coursework."

"Of course he has," I sighed.

My attention was grasped when someone stood up abruptly from the Ravenclaw table and stormed out of the Great Hall.

I noticed that it was Cho Chang who had just burst into tears and was being followed by her friends who rushed to her aid behind her.

I felt a pang of guilt at the prospect that the sight of Cedric and I had made her so upset.

When I turned to look at Cedric worriedly, I saw that he didn't even seem to notice as he ate his dinner.

"Hello, how are you guys doing?" Cedric greeted my friends, nodding at them politely like the gentleman that he was.

Only Harry and Hermione greeted him back, as Ron became engrossed with his pie.

"What's in the box?" Cedric asked Hermione, pointing at it.

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, smiling sheepishly as she seemed to forget that she was holding a box in the first place.

She took off the lid and showed us the contents.

Inside were about fifty badges, all of different colors, but all bearing the same letters: S. P. E . W.

Ron snorted as soon as he got a good look at them, earning a nasty look from Hermione.

"S-P-E-W. What does it stand for?" Cedric asked curiously, picking up a badge and inspecting it.

"It stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. I've founded it to promote liberation and rights for House Elves."

"And you expect us to walk around wearing badges that say 'spew,' do you?" said Ron

"How many times do I have to tell you, Ronald? It's S-P-E-W!" said Hermione hotly. "I was going to put Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status, but it wouldn't fit. So I made that the heading of our manifesto." Hermione said as she pushed the piece of parchment towards us. "I've been researching it thoroughly in the library. Elf enslavement goes back centuries. I can't believe no one's done anything about it before now. "

"Hermione— open your ears," said Ron loudly. "They. Like. It. They like being enslaved!"

"Our short-term aims," continued Hermione, her attention on Cedric and I as she spoke even louder than Ron and acted as though she hadn't heard a word, "are to secure House-Elves' fair wages and working conditions. Our long-term aims include changing the law about non-wand use, and trying to get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures because they're shockingly underrepresented."

"And how can we do all this?" Cedric asked, seeming interested as he pulled Hermione's parchment towards him to read through.

"We start by recruiting members," replied Hermione happily. "Two Sickles to join, that buys a badge, and the proceeds can fund our leaflet campaign."

"How many members have you got?" Harry asked.

"Well, if you four join, it'll be five members," Hermione replied confidently.

There was a pause in which Hermione beamed at all of us, and I was torn between exasperation at Hermione and amusement at the look on Ron and Harry's faces.

But the silence was broken, not by Ron, who looked as though he was temporarily dumbstruck, but by Cedric who started rummaging his pockets for two Sickles to buy a badge.

"Count me in," he assured as he pushed the coins towards Hermione and pinned the badge to the front of his robes.

After Cedric bought a badge, Harry and Ron felt obliged and also paid their two Sickles, but I felt like they had only done it to keep Hermione quiet.

I bought mine because I thought the intention Hermione had was good, and although it seemed like the House-Elves didn't care for being liberated, I was curious to see how far Hermione would take this.

Some people at our table, like Neville, had paid up just to stop Hermione from glowering at them.

A few seemed mildly interested in what she had to say but were reluctant to take any active roles in campaigning.

Many regarded the whole thing as a joke.

Cedric spoke to Hermione for a few more minutes about the elves, having some knowledge since the Hufflepuff Common Room was in the dungeons, right across the kitchen.

He was very polite in brainstorming ways that they could ease the hard work for the elves, and even promised that he'd help them wash dishes before heading to bed, which causes Hermione to grin ecstatically.

Already having finished my supper, my eyes roamed the Great Hall and saw students gossiping and glancing at our direction every once in awhile.

This disinterested me, since I was already so used to it— so I merely stared back at everyone blankly until my eyes landed on the Slytherin table where Draco was sitting, surrounded by his friends.

They looked like The Last Supper mural, but filled with assholes.

After the party, Draco and I had gone back to ignoring each other with a few occasional glances which always ended in me scowling at him or flashing him the finger.

In other words, everything was back to normal.

One morning, Draco caught Cedric and I kissing right outside of the Potions classroom as he was coming down the stairs to the dungeon.

He seemed livid— looking unreasonably scornful as he stormed towards us and I was almost afraid that he would tell Cedric about our weird moment at the party, but he just walked past us and went into class.

I felt disgusted with myself for allowing Draco to get so close to me that night.

I don't know what came over me.

My only conclusion as to why I let it happen was that I wasn't sober.

But ever since that day, Pansy Parkinson had been perched on Draco's lap and slobbering disgusting hickies on his pale neck as he sneered at me.

The sight of them was revolting, but I just hoped that our hostility would last this time around because frankly, I never wanted to speak to him again.

After some time, the Great Hall started clearing up as all the students returned to their Common Room for the night.

Cedric took the liberty to accompany us back to Gryffindor Towers, and the Champions used the time to inquire each other about their process of figuring out the message hidden within their Golden Eggs while Hermione chimed in with suggestions from some book she read but Ron remained tight-lipped and simply brooded.

When we were standing in front of the Gryffindor Common Room entrance, I lingered behind to have Cedric to myself for a few minutes.

"This was sweet of you," I murmured, toying with Cedric's S.P.E.W badge once the last student had shut the entrance with The Fat Lady's portrait behind them.

Cedric shrugged, placing his hands on my waist.

"Anything to get on your friends' good side," he smirked and cupped my face with his hands.

"Speaking of— I wouldn't get mad if we didn't spend all of our free time together, Ced. I bet your friends find me intolerable for taking their Champion away from them," I grinned, emphasizing the word 'champion' as I stepped closer to him and combed my fingers through his hair.

"They're more understanding than you think. Have you seen yourself, sweetheart? They're downright envious of me," he muttered before nipping the soft skin of my neck which elicited a giddy laugh from me as I squirmed away from him.

"Look who's talking. How very dare you arrive to dinner looking so despairingly handsome. All the girls' eyes nearly rolled out of their heads— you should show them some mercy," I scolded him humorously, my hands working on buttoning his shirt and tying his necktie.

Cedric hummed nonchalantly in response, attempting to kiss me but I moved my head away from him as I pretended to be too preoccupied with tidying him up— earning a frustrated huff from the Hufflepuff as he leaned on the staircase's banister.

"No one's giving you a hard time anymore, are they?" Ced asked, his demeanor becoming serious as he searched my eyes with genuine concern.

I thought about all the dirty looks I got from girls whenever I walked hand-in-hand with him in the hallways.

And then I remembered Cho's outburst earlier.

I couldn't pretend it didn't make me feel remorseful.

"Well... someone's always bound to be jealous... but maybe we should cool it with the PDA? I'd hate to make any of your... ex-acquaintances any more upset."

Cedric's eyes softened once I said this— looking at me as if he'd been seeing me for the first time in his life, and then he broke into a dashing smile— his eyes crinkling as he flashed his perfect, pearly white teeth.

"This is one of the many things I love about you, (Y/N). How extraordinarily thoughtful you are. I've never met a girl like you, you're incredible."

Cedric gushed as he pulled me towards him by my waist and I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him into an embrace to cover up the fact that I was blushing furiously.

I tried to steady my erratically beating heart after hearing him say 'love'.

I knew we weren't there yet, but it still felt like a genuine confession, even though he spoke it so casually.

Cedric pulled away from the hug, his large hands nestling my face in his hands before he dove down to crash his lips onto mine.

We both hummed in bliss at the contact, his warm lips gliding over mine softly.

It was inexplicably passionate, the way that we connected like magnets.

Behind us, I could hear the hushed, gossipy whispers coming from the portraits as they peered down at the both of us.

But they were inconspicuous to me— my attention enveloped by the way my skin seemed to go ablaze with electric shocks when Cedric pulled me towards him to deepen the already feverish kiss— his teeth tugging at my bottom lip as his tongue proceeded to swipe into my mouth.

Our tongues were greedily exploring each other when he abruptly pulled away, leaving me breathless.

Both our chests rose and fell as we watched each other in silence, allowing one another to breathe for the first time since he initially kissed me.

Cedric's hands were clutching my face selfishly, and his lips were pink and swollen, but it was the fervor with which he was looking at me that sent my heart racing so quickly that I was sure it was audible.

I've never been looked at in that way.

I was used to receiving the male gaze on the daily basis, but this look held much more than sexual desire.

Cedric was looking down at me as if I were a dream come true.

"You're fucking beautiful" he murmured before slating his mouth over mine again.

My bottom lip was quickly captured between his warm ones, and the kiss was slow like dripping honey this time.

The ardor and hunger were still very much prevalent, yet he was taking his time with me—wanting to savor the moment.

I tried to ignore the butterflies that rioted in my stomach.

I didn't think I could ever get enough of him.

Cedric Diggory was overpowering all of my senses and it was driving me fucking insane.

Yet, I wanted more.

I kissed him back ravenously— combing my fingers through his tousled curls as I pressed my body to his.

I could feel him smirk against my lips but to my infuriation, he didn't do anything else.

"Ced," I muttered as I clung to his robes. I wasn't sure what I was pleading for, but I needed it desperately.

"(Y/N)..." he mumbled against my lips warningly, trailing his kisses down my neck until we were both sighing— out of breath as we usually were after a few heated minutes with each other.

I looked away in shame, acknowledging that I let myself get carried away until Cedric took my chin and angled me to look at him.

"Hey... look at me," he insisted when I still wouldn't meet his eyes.

When I finally did, all my humiliation evaporated as Cedric looked at me pleadingly, his dark eyebrows furrowing in empathy.

"I want to. I just... want it to be right, okay? You deserve that."

"Okay," I replied in a small voice, not knowing what else to say.

He stood up from the banister and wrapped his arms around me tightly.

"Also, I don't want you to worry about Cho. I see her at Prefect meetings, and she's doing absolutely fine. I'll see you tomorrow angel, okay?"

"See you tomorrow, Ced. Good night." I replied and floated back to my dorm room on a cloud.

༻✦༺

The next morning, I got woken up by Crookshanks who was pawing at my face repeatedly and as soon as I saw that Hermione was awake, I filled her in on what happened with Cedric the previous night as we both got ready for the day.

I appreciated having her as an audience, because really— she was the only one that I could tell these things to.

She'd sigh dreamily when I told her about Cedric mentioning how rightfully envious his friends were that he was seeing me.

She'd coo when I brought up the nicknames he gave me like dove, angel or sweetheart.

She'd 'awww' when I added how he softened at my regard for Cho's feelings and told me it was one of the many things he 'loved' about me.

But what really piqued her interest was what happened after.

"(Y/N)! Right outside the hallway!?"

"Nothing happened! We just got carried away, a little bit. He was the one that stopped it and said he wanted to wait for the right moment. Gods, it was so fucking awkward. He probably thinks I'm a sex- freak or something," I groaned, becoming more mortified by the second and quickly buried my face in my hands.

"I promise you, he doesn't. This is completely normal. I'd bet you ten thousand Galleons that he's thought about so much more. He is a guy, after all." Hermione added, smirking at my reaction.

Once we were ready, we descended to the Common Room and met up with the boys.

We had a quick breakfast and then Harry, Ron and I sprinted to the other end of the castle for Double Divination— which became thoroughly enjoyable again ever since Harry and Ron rekindled.

We were still doing star charts and predictions, but everything became very funny, once more.

Professor Trelawney, who had been so pleased with us when we had been predicting our own horrific deaths, became quickly irritated as we giggled through her explanation of the various ways in which Pluto could disrupt everyday life.

"I would think," she said, in a mystical whisper that did not conceal her obvious annoyance, "that some of us—" she said as she stared very pointedly at Harry, "might be a little less frivolous had they seen what I have seen during my crystal gazing last night. I gazed into its crystalline depths... and what do you think I saw gazing back at me?"

"An ugly old bat in massive specs?" Ron muttered and our whole table fought hard to keep a straight face.

"Death, my dears." she announced and Parvati and Lavender both gasped dramatically, putting their hands over their mouths, looking horrified.

"Yes," said Professor Trelawney, nodding appreciatively at their reactions, "it circles overhead like a vulture, lowering itself over this castle..."

She stared meaningfully at Harry, who in turn yawned very obnoxiously.

"It'd be a bit more impressive if she hadn't done it about eighty times before," Harry said as we finally returned to the fresh air of the staircase beneath Professor Trelawney's room. "But if I'd dropped dead every time she's told me I'm going to, I'd be a medical miracle."

"Maybe you could be the next Gryffindor ghost? Give Headless Nick a run for his money," I suggested and the boys snickered.

"As if he could ever compete with Headless Nick! A lightning-bolt scar is child's play compared to nearly removing your whole head off your neck!" Ron chortled.

"You're right. Harry just has his pathetic little scar," I agreed.

"Oh-kay. Shut up, you two, before I dump you both and make the Hogwarts Ghosts my new friends. Bet they'd show me more respect than you both do,"

"Peeves!? Showing you respect!?" I laughed incredulously.

"Maybe not Peeves," Harry admitted and we all giggled as we went to go pick up Hermione from the library before getting to our Transfiguration lesson.

Once entering, we saw that the library was almost entirely vacant of students.

We found Hermione hunched over her favorite table, doing more House-Elves research— and sitting at a table across from her was Viktor Krum.

Ron hovered behind the bookshelves for a while, watching Krum and debating in whispers with us whether he should ask for an autograph— but then he realized that six or seven girls were lurking in the next row of books, debating exactly the same thing, and he lost his enthusiasm for the idea.

Hermione seemed flustered for whatever reason as we left the library, glancing over at Viktor who was peering at her over the gigantic book he was reading, giving her a small smile.

I raised my eyebrows as I noticed the discreet interaction, and made a mental note to ask her about it later.

Our task of the day in Transfiguration was to partner up and convert guinea fowls into guinea pigs before shutting them away in large cage that was placed on Professor McGonagall's desk.

Hermione and I were done within ten minutes and were trying to aid Neville who somehow managed to give his guinea pig some scales.

Ron and Harry had finished a few minutes after us, and there was still awhile left for the end of the lesson so they started having a sword fight behind us with a couple of Fred and George's fake wands.

You could almost hear Hermione roll her eyes as she neatly copied down our homework from the blackboard.

"Potter! Weasley! Will you pay attention?" Professor McGonagall's irritated voice suddenly cracked like a whip and both Harry and Ron jumped in their seat and looked up.

The whole class had finished by now, all the guinea pigs squeaking merrily in the cage.

McGonagall made the cage disappear with a swish of her wand and glared at the boys sternly.

"Now that Potter and Weasley have been kind enough to act their age," said Professor McGonagall, with an angry look at the pair of them, "I have something to say to you all. The Yule Ball is approaching— a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament, and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests."

Lavender Brown let out a shrill giggle as she clapped her hands gleefully.

Parvati Patil nudged her hard in the ribs and the both of them turned around to look at Harry.

"Dress robes will be worn," Professor McGonagall continued, "and the ball will start at eight o'clock, a week before Christmas Eve, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now, the Yule Ball is of course a chance for all of us to... let our hair down... But that does NOT mean that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student embarrasses the school in any way. We will be having a House dance-rehearsal in just a few weeks,"

Professor McGonagall stared deliberately around the class as we sat in silence, processing what she just told us.

The bell rang, and there was the usual scuffle of activity as everyone packed their bags and swung them onto their shoulders.

We were about to leave when Professor McGonagall called above the noise, "Potter— a word, if you please."

Ron, Hermione and I didn't hesitate to follow Harry up to the teacher's desk, and Professor McGonagall didn't protest either— almost as if she had expected us to be in the conversation to begin with.

She waited until the rest of the class had gone, and then said, "Potter, the champions and their partners—"

"What partners?" interrupted Harry.

Professor McGonagall looked suspiciously at him, as though she thought he was trying to be funny.

"Your partners for the Yule Ball, Potter," she said coldly, "your dance partners."

Hermione and I glanced at each other excitedly at the mention of this, but Ron and Harry's faces both seemed mortified at the prospect of having to find dates for the Ball.

"Dance partners?" Ron asked as his face turned the same shade of his hair.

"I don't dance," Harry said quickly.

"Oh yes, you do," said Professor McGonagall irritably, making me suppress a smile,"That's what I'm telling you. Traditionally, the Champions and their partners open the ball."

My heartbeat sped in my chest as I thought of Cedric and I entering the Ball arm-in-arm with everybody surrounding us.

I couldn't help but feel just as giddy at the idea as every other girl in the school.

"I'm not dancing," Harry replied vehemently.

"It is traditional," said Professor McGonagall firmly. "You are a Hogwarts champion, and you will do what is expected of you as a representative of the school. So make sure you get yourself a partner, Potter."

"But I don't—"

"You heard me, Potter," said Professor McGonagall in a definitive sort of way.

It seemed like the news of the Yule Ball was announced to the entire school now, because as soon as we stepped out of the classroom— we noticed the corridor booming with tittering and excitement.

The boys faces were still tinged green but Hermione and I turned to each other and shared a look of pure enthusiasm and immediately set off to the library to research and prepare ourselves for the highly anticipated Yule Ball.

✩ next chapter: scavenger hunt ✩

30 notes · View notes

papervenom · 11 days ago

Text

✩ chapter thirteen: champagne lips ✩

chapter warnings: heavy alcohol & drug use (weed, other fun magical substances), sexual tension, jealousy, possessiveness, first kiss!!!!

word count: 6.7k

inter-house party playlist

INSATIABLE MASTERLIST⋆˙⟡

November 1st, 1994

"Merlin, there's never been an Inter-House party before! I wonder where they're going to fit so many people? Gosh, I do hope we don't get in trouble for attending. I don't know if we should even go, (Y/N), maybe we shouldn't risk it... Oh, are you changing? What will you be wearing?"

I huffed in exasperation as I rummaged through my luggage, trying to find something to wear for the night.

Hermione had been obnoxiously word-vomiting ever since the twins informed us about the party, and I was trying my best not to get annoyed with her.

"We're going to the party, Hermione. It's a celebration for both Cedric and Harry— there's no way I'm missing it. And I'm looking for this dress that I bought back in the states..." I trailed off, finally spotting it at the bottom of my trunk and quickly stripped off my garments to put it on.

Hermione and I were in our dorm room alone. I assumed that Lavender and Parvati were already at the event— having left us behind since we got the party memo later than most of the school.

"TWO MORE MINUTES AND WE'RE BOGGERING OFF!" George warned us from downstairs and I groaned in frustration, ripping the price tag from the extremely form-fitting, burgundy mini dress that I purchased from the mall trip that I made with Harry.

The twins offered to wait for us while we got ready so they could take us to where the celebration was being held.

The dress that I put on was provocative, flattering my body in all the right places.

It was also a dress that fit the newer style I was exploring— which was sexier than anything I have ever worn last year.

I put on some boots to casualize the look and fixed the makeup that I put on this morning.

"You're not changing?" I asked Hermione, looking at her through the mirror as I blotted on some lipstick. She was still wearing jeans and the striped sweater top that she wore for the tournament.

"(Y/N), I don't even know if I'm going. You look wonderful! Don't get me wrong! But you're clearly dressed for a party, and if a Professor catches you dressed like that—"

I rolled my eyes, breaking into a grin when hearing how predictable my friend's preoccupations were, and draped my arm around her shoulder—steering her out of the room.

"Relax, M'ione. Let's have some fun," I coaxed her gently. She said nothing else but meekly nodded, taking a deep breath to calm herself down but the worry lines on her forehead never eased.

"Finally! We were about to leave y— Well, look at you," Fred broke into a smirk, his brown eyes raking down my body.

George was doing the same, with an identical cheeky grin on his face.

Waiting with them was Ron, who was staring at me in a less perverse manner but still seemed stunned with how I looked.

In a way, it was worse— he was ogling me like a lovesick puppy.

"Right. Let's go, then," I mumbled, hiding any evidence of my embarrassment on my face by turning my back to them, grabbing Hermione's hand and exiting through the portrait hole quickly.

"Lumos!" whispered one of the twins once we left the Gryffindor Tower and a bright, white light blazed from the tip of their wands to help us navigate through the castle's dark corridors.

"Where's this party, anyway? The only place that could fit all of the students is the Great Hall. It says so in my copy of Hogwarts, A Hist—"

"There's a room that not even your little book knows about, Granger. Freddie and I discovered it last year whilst we were running away from Filch, didn't we Freds?"

"We sure did, George. And good thing, that! We've been waiting for the perfect excuse to throw a party and Harry scoring first place after defeating a bloody dragon is a good enough reason for me,"

"And Cedric scoring second. This celebration is for both of them," I reminded him, shamelessly boasting Ced since I was so proud of him.

"Riight. How could I forget your boyfriend? You gonna give him a congratulatory shag later or what?" Fred peered down at me and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"FRED!" Hermione exclaimed at his raunchy comment, resulting in the twins shushing her harshly to prevent us from getting caught in the middle of the hallway.

I glanced over to Ron who was walking beside me and he seemed more aggravated with his brother's remark than I was.

The conversation, fortunately, steered to the twins telling us about all the goodies they rummaged up for the party. They got ahold of Butterbeer, pot, and more alcohol and elixirs for the attendees to have fun on.

I was surprised when they told us that even the Slytherins showed up, finding it difficult to envision Malfoy and his crowd celebrating Harry or Cedric's triumphs.

We ended up on the seventh floor of the castle when the twins suddenly stopped— leaving Ron, Hermione, and I confused since there were no doors or entryways surrounding us.

"Don't you hear it?" Fred asked, snickering at our puzzled faces.

"Hear what?" snapped Ron, still irate with him.

We stood in the corridor in silence, and it was then when I heard the low muffling of people talking and the steady beat of the music's bass thumping.

It seemed to come from inside the walls.

I reached out, and as soon as my fingertips grazed the wallpaper, a doorway appeared. I gasped in bewilderment— turning to look at my friends to make sure they saw what just happened.

"Bright little witch... C'mon, let's go in," murmured George. He put both of his hands on my waist and moved me aside as he reached out for the doorknob to open it.

My jaw dropped the moment I walked into the room, avidly taking in the scene in front of me.

There were about four hundred students in the large room that was impressively decorated with colorful banners, moving posters of both Cedric and Harry, and yellow and red party lights representing the Hogwarts champions' House colors.

I was surprised to recognize that the song that was playing so loudly was one that was currently in the Muggle's Top Charts. I watched as my peers danced to the upbeat song, grinding against each other on the dance floor— the lot of them clearly under the influence of something.

The air had a heavy aroma of pot mixed with the smell of liquor and sweat.

It was truly the perfect party environment.

"How did you two put this together so fast!?" I yelled over the music, turning to face the twins to show them my pure admiration.

"Funny you ask, love. We were walking down this hall, yeah? Just doing our heads in over planning a party with so little time... completely forgetting this absolutely treasure of a room and then— voilá!" Fred grinned, extending his hand out towards the expanse.

"Everything was already decorated and ready to go," George continued, staring around the space adoringly.

"Like magic," Fred quipped, winking at me.

"And where are the guests of honor?" Hermione asked, stretching her neck as she looked over the hundreds of heads in an attempt to spot Harry or Cedric.

"They'll be here any moment, I s'pose. Be right back," George retorted absentmindedly, and he and his identical brother walked off towards Lee Jordan who was hitting the biggest bong I've ever seen in my life.

I giggled and turned towards Ron and Hermione with a massive grin on my face.

"Let's go get drinks!"

༻✦༺

"No, man. I'm telling you. It's WAY different over there! The girls put out more! That's common knowledge," Lee Jordan informed the group animatedly about how easy American girls were.

I wasn't paying attention to the conversation, as I took a long drag from the joint that had been passed to me.

The party was still at its peak, even though Cedric nor Harry had arrived yet.

Apparently, they were kept late by Crouch, who gave them all the necessary information for the second task.

Last we heard, they were both just now taking a shower and getting ready to join us.

So while we waited— Fred, George, Ron, Hermione, Lee, Neville, Seamus, and I were all sitting in a circle and chatting.

We were all drinking, smoking, or doing both with the exception of Hermione who merely had the tiniest sip of Butterbeer before claiming that it was enough for the night.

My eyes scanned the room and I laughed softly as I watched Dean spin Ginny around on the dance floor, making her giggle erratically.

Lavender, Padma and Parvati were a few feet away from them, sandwiching Cormac McLaggen who looked pleased with himself for having three girls dance so closely to him.

What caught my attention, though, was the far right corner of the room where the Slytherins were.

In what seemed to be some sort of lounging area— sat Draco with the rest of his group.

He was manspreaded on the sofa with Pansy Parkinson perched on his lap while his friends snorted what seemed to be powdered Alihotsy from the table.

Draco looked too dressed up compared to the rest of the students. He was wearing an elegant black dress-suit that looked immaculately tailored for him.

His pale, blue eyes would meet mine every now and then— having the perfect view of each other from where we were sitting. I would stare at him blankly whilst he'd give me his infamous smirk.

"Earth to (Y/N)?" George waved his enormous hand in front of my face.

"Hm?" I replied, shifting my gaze away from Draco to pay attention to George.

"We're talking 'bout America. Seamus asked you a question. C'mon lass, how much did'ya smoke?"

"What was your question, Seamus?" I asked, reaching towards Ron to grab his bottle of Butterbeer from him, taking a sip from it.

"Oh, I was just wondering about your school experience in America? Before studying here, I mean," Seamus asked, his eyes widened in excitement as he waited for my answer.

I swallowed the sweet, foamy liquid down— handing the bottle back to a very flushed Ron, and mulled my response before speaking.

"Um, well I went to a Muggle-school for a few months as a kid before having to drop-out since I couldn't contain my magic... Then I was homeschooled— got my High-School diploma and studied some Wizardry classes... History of Magic, and how to control my powers, mainly. Then I was debating going to Muggle college but Dumbledore asked me to attend Hogwarts so... here I am,"

"Aren't we lucky," murmured Fred from beside me, draping his arm lazily over my shoulder.

"How's Muggle school like? What did you learn?" Hermione asked in fascination.

I scrunched my nose in distaste before answering.

"It's alright... We learn the basics— Maths, History, Language Arts, Science. I didn't get to do Physical Education since I was homeschooled but I did get Sex Ed. It's all pretty boring,"

"Wait—"

"Sex Ed!?"

"What on Merlin's bloody earth is that?"

The twins and Lee Jordan's interest piqued and I rolled my eyes at their dirty-minded absurdity.

"It's not what you think it is. We just get taught how to practice safe sex and about... diseases and shit," I shrugged, looking around the circle and became heavily aware that we were out of drinks.

"So they don't teach you how to fuck?" Lee Jordan asked dumbly which made me giggle and shake my head at the absurdity.

"No, not at all,"

"Gods. American Muggles are so strange," complained Seamus.

"Is it true you haven't heard about He-who-must-not be-named before arriving here?" Neville asked tentatively, wiping Butterbeer foam from the corner of his mouth.

"No, I've heard about him before. Always knew him as Voldemort, though. Not that silly nickname you all have for him, sorry," I apologized to the group as they flinched at my use of the Dark Lord's name before continuing, "But yeah... He was never a big threat to the states so I guess that's why we've never refrained from using his name as the British do... We're out of drinks, I'll be back,"

I excused myself, letting Fred's arm drop limply from my shoulder as I stood up from my seat, swaying slightly as I felt the alcohol and weed get the best of me right then.

"Woah," I muttered, balancing myself before heading to the table where all the liquor and Elixirs were piled on.

I hummed as I inspected the different colored bottles, reading their labels hastily until I spotted one that looked desiderating.

It was an unopened, expensive-looking bottle of Firewhiskey and as soon as I laid eyes on it, I grabbed it and began unscrewing the cork.

"Need any help with that, angel?" an unknown voice murmured from behind me.

I jumped as I felt them place their hand on the small of my back and I turned around to find one of Draco's friends towering over me.

It was the attractive, blue-eyed Slytherin boy who was indiscreetly looking at me during our Care of Magical Creatures lesson.

He had the same, Old-Hollywood charm that Cedric had, only that the Slytherin had somewhat of a bad-boy thing going on for him. There was a natural glimmer of mischief in his eyes which was enough of a reason to convince me to stay away from him.

"I'm fine, thanks," I replied in monotone as I started to step around him with the bottle of liquor tucked under my arm.

To my frustration, he stepped right in front of me— blocking me from going anywhere. He seemed amused at my blatant annoyance with him.

"Can you move?" I snapped at him, deciding right then that all Slytherins were dickheads.

"I don't think I can. You've got my bottle of Firewhiskey. The least you can do is share some of it, don't you think, love?" the boy smirked, his blue eyes flickering from the liquor bottle to my face.

"Oh! Shit, sorry," I apologized and immediately held the bottle out for him to take. He shook his head, though— grabbing two plastic cups from the table and gestured for me to pour the liquor in.

"Cheers," the boys said after I poured us both a drink and set the bottle back on the table where it belonged. He gave me a handsome, crooked smile as we raised our cups towards each other and downed the alcohol.

I immediately noticed the rich quality of the Firewhiskey as the pure liquid burned down my throat deliciously. I have never tasted high-calibre liquor before and it showed.

"Fuck, that's good," I marveled, wincing at how strong the drink was. The Slytherin chuckled, ostensibly entertained by my reactions, and stuck out his hand to introduce himself to me.

"I'm Theo Nott, we share some classes together," he said after swallowing down the potent liquid without even a flinch.

"(Y/N) (Y/L/N), nice to meet you," I took the hand he was offering and shook it.

"I finally get to meet you one-on-one. You're quite the talk of this school, you know?" Theo smirked.

"So I've 'eard," I groaned, slurring slightly. I scowled down at my cup as I pondered the ridiculous gossip that surrounded me and took another swig to drown my irritation.

"What's the pout for? You're the sexiest girl in Hogwarts. Boys would leave their girlfriends in a heartbeat to be with you... It's not the worst reputation to have, you know," Theo said matter-of-factly.

I don't know if it was the fact that he called me sexy or just the drunken buzz that was catching up to me but I felt my face and neck heat up when he said that. I decided to derive the conversation and defend my point.

"Well, I feel object... objectified. People don' even know me and they'refucking treating me like 'm a piece of meat. 'S gross,"

I struggled to get my words out but I knew that Theo understood.

He tried suppressing his amusement behind a tight-lipped smile but failed miserably.

"That's not all, though... I've heard you're fucking brilliant. That you can do wandless magic. Although, I'm not all that surprised because you were supposed to end up in Slytherin, weren't you? Isn't that what the hat said at your Sorting?"

"Mhm. Slytherin o-or Hufflepuff but I got Gryffindor. Thank fuck," I scoffed into my cup.

"Yeah? Why's that?" Theo asked as he cocked his head to the side. I was distracted for a brief moment by his baby blue eyes that were staring so intently down at my face. He seemed to notice because a cheeky grin started spreading on his lips and I had to clear my throat to snap out of my libidinal daze.

"Not the biggest fan of your House, sorry," I responded, scrunching my nose in distaste and glanced over to where Draco Malfoy was sitting.

To my surprise, he was staring right back at Theo and me, and I let out a small gasp when I saw how incomprehensibly furious he looked.

"Do you see why? Blonde fucking bitch," I seethed and Theo broke into fits of laughter.

I felt strange gratification in knowing that he found me funny. I grinned broadly as I watched him shake his head, still chuckling whilst finishing the last of his drink.

"Yeah, I've heard about the... aversion you have for Malfoy. But we're not all like him, y'know?"

"Yeah, I suppose you're not..." I trailed off, smiling at Theo slyly and for the first time during our conversation— his suave demeanor was gone.

His lips parted slightly and I audibly heard his breath hitch as his eyes appeared transfixed as he stared down at me.

"Can't imagine how different things would've been if you were in Slytherin, though..." Theo murmured lowly, swiping his tongue on his bottom lip.

"So you won't socialize with me because I'm a Gryffindor?" I challenged him, raising an eyebrow.

The blue-eyed brunette then leaned down almost a whole foot so his lips were close to my ear.

"Well, I'm here, aren't I?" he spoke gently.

He pulled away, seizing me up with sultry eyes.

I stared back at him, stunned, for a few passing moments— not knowing what to say.

There was no denying that he was flirting with me.

And it was possible that— with the alcoholic influence, I might've given the impression that I wanted to be pursuited.

Though that wasn't the case.

And I needed to clear that up.

"Theo, I think yo—"

"(Y/N), can I talk to you?" Draco interrupted, striding towards us so hastily that it caused me to back up against the liquor table, making the bottles rattle loudly against each other.

"N-no, I'm talking to Theo,"

If looks could kill.

My answer was clearly one that Draco didn't want to hear. He stared at me lividly, his nostrils flared and his jaw clenched so tightly that it had to be painful.

Draco then fixed his furious glare to Theo who, to my surprise, didn't seem bothered at all.

Theodore Nott bore his callous, ocean-blue eyes back at the blonde in silent resilience.

I half expected for him to cower under Malfoy's ice-cold stare like the rest of his friends, but Theo did the exact opposite.

"Come on," Draco growled through gritted teeth and wrapped his ring-clad hand around my arm and yanked it, dragging me towards the far side of the room which was vacant from anybody's prying eyes and ears.

"Fucking let go of me!" I complained, struggling to release myself from his iron grip but he ignored me.

I tried writhing away and hit his back repeatedly to no success until Draco finally released me only to back me into a wall.

"What is fucking wrong with you!?" he yelled, making my jaw drop at his absurdity.

"What's wrong with ME!? YOU are the one who just hauled my ass like a rag-doll and YOU'RE ASKING ME WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME!?"

I was shaking with fury.

All effects of the alcohol and pot left my system as I felt myself sobering up solely with how livid I was.

"You flirting with my friends now?" Draco replied harshly, squinting his eyes at me accusingly, however not screaming anymore.

"Flirting? Are you insane?"

"I can tell when Theo is grafting when I see it and he wouldn't graft if he didn't think he had the slightest chance. Don't play fucking stupid," Draco's words spilled past his lips vigorously.

"Fucks sake, Malfoy. Just 'cause I met a decent Slytherin with more class and manners than you could ever have hardly means I'm flirting with him. You're being irrational," I pushed past him and started walking away— feeling his eyes boring onto my back as I did.

"You're right, (Y/L/N). Maybe I'm wrong. 'Cause you clearly have a penchant for Seekers, and Theodore's just a lousy Chaser, right? Silly me..."

I froze in my step and turned around to find a shit-eating smirk on his face as Draco indolently leaned against the wall with crossed arms.

This was the first time I've been so close to him ever since the Courtyard last year and I hated to admit it, but he looked good.

Just like Ron and Harry, Draco had gotten taller this year. He had also let his hair grow longer but it wasn't untidy and disheveled like Ron or Harry's, but perfectly styled.

There was also something very commanding about his presence. His jet-black dress suit definitely influenced this but there was something else to it. He wasn't a boyish Slytherin anymore. Or at least he didn't look it.

Draco Malfoy might've been an annoying son of bitch but something that he wasn't was unattractive.

But my god, was he fucking annoying.

"What do you mean a penchant for Seekers?" I asked him, narrowing my eyes.

"It's quite obvious isn't it, dollface? Potter, me, now Diggory..."

A burst of laughter escaped my lips. I was giggling uncontrollably as his expression became less cocky by the second and was quickly replaced by insecure irritation.

"You are DELUSIONAL, Malfoy," I spoke through my cackling.

He was glowering at me silently, and my bewilderment set in like I was just drenched in ice-cold water.

Why did he even care?

I didn't understand what the fuck this boy even wanted from me.

We stared at each other blankly for several seconds before I decided to question him.

"What's up with you? Why are you even bothering me? Now you want to talk to me again? Be my friend? Because I tried. I tried last year and at the World Cup but you decided to be an absolute dipshit like you always end up being. The way that you disrespected the Weasleys? You really think I want anything to do with you after that!? Give me a fucking break!"

My temper returned and I didn't have any control over my words, as they came streaming out in hopes to hit a nerve so amply that Draco Malfoy would leave me alone for good.

All he did was confuse me.

He was a head-fuck.

"Don't twist my words, (Y/L/N). I do not want to be your friend," he spoke tranquilly. Eerily calm after I just spewed at him.

"Then what do you want from me?" I groaned in exasperation, my eyebrows knitting together with the perplexed knots he was tangling in my brain.

"I don't want to be your friend. I don't want to greet you in the hallways. I don't want to smile at you from across the fucking room. I don't want any of that shit. You know this," he repeated darkly, his voice just above a whisper.

Then we were on the same page.

He wanted nothing to do with me either.

No, that didn't make sense.

He didn't sound like he was fucking me off. In fact, he was talking to me like he was confessing a terrible secret.

The last time he spoke to me with such raw genuineness was when he was proclaiming that he had feelings for me.

I then recalled how angry he looked when seeing Cedric and me at Hogsmeade and then again at the World Cup and I instantly understood.

He didn't want to be my friend. He wanted more.

"I haven't talked to you since the Courtyard, Malfoy. I enjoyed talking to you that night but it was just that one time and then you never spoke to me again. I don't know you. You do nothing but torment the people I care about, which is why I found it difficult to even consider that you felt any way about me. I still don't think you even fancy me! It's just my Veela—"

Draco took one swift step to get closer to me. I was so ridiculously short under his tall frame, he cupped my face in both of his pale hands to make sure I was looking him in the eyes.

His touch was forceful— enough to prevent me from squirming away but not enough to hurt me.

For the first time, I felt intimidated.

He backed me onto the wall he was leaning against— my hands wrapped around his wrists to keep my equilibrium as he steered me.

"That's not true and you know it, dollface..." he murmured softly, his minty breathe tickling my skin, "I'm not affected by Veelas. I couldn't keep my eyes off of you in that Top Box. I know you noticed. You were looking at me too,"

It was hopeless trying to hide my embarrassment. He probably felt the blood pooling into my heated cheeks as his thumb stroked it softly.

The best I could do was flicker my eyes to the dim-lit ceiling behind him and try to control my ragged breath.

He picked up on all of this, though. When I looked back at him— he was smiling smugly.

"You say you don't know me, princess? Then get to know me..." he hummed as he took another dangerously close step towards me.

His fingertips left a trail of goosebumps on my skin as they skimmed down my arms, hips, and finally reached my waist.

"Stop," I breathed out, trying to maintain my composure.

"What? You dating Diggory now?" he smirked, pulling away far enough to look at me but his hands didn't budge.

I thought about lying.

Cedric and I haven't as much as kissed yet but there was an unspoken adherence between the both of us.

Or at least I'd like to think there was.

But then again, if word got out that I said that Cedric and I were dating, Cedric might feel like I trapped him into a relationship and the thought of that was mortifying to me.

"No..." I replied back hesitantly, my eyes raising to meet Draco's blue ones who looked darker than they usually did.

"Then we're doing nothing wrong," he mumbled, raising a hand to move my hair away from my neck before he leaned down to brush his lips against my collarbone. The feeling made me sigh, as I fluttered my eyes close.

I didn't know what I was doing.

It had to be the alcohol that was still coursing through my veins.

I couldn't think in my drunken haze.

I couldn't think about anything other than Draco's hands on me.

They were roaming around my body, touching me tentatively— as if I were easily breakable.

I watched in admiration as his long, ring-covered digits flexed.

He had the most attractive hands I've ever seen.

His thumb grazed my bottom lip, pulling it down slightly and looked at them as if my lips were the most entrancing thing he'd ever laid eyes on.

I knew that at any moment, he might kiss me and I didn't know if I had the willpower to stop him.

My breath hitched when he leaned forward. I expected right then for his lips to meet mine, but instead, he pressed them against my ear.

"Tell me I'm better than him. Tell me I'm better than that Half-Blood Hufflefuck and I'll give you what you want,"

And that was enough to snap me out of the moment.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I scoffed in disbelief. I shoved him away from me, the ire resurfacing on my chest

"I feel sorry for you, Malfoy. I've never imagined that I would meet someone my age that could be such an ethnonationalist prick— yet here you are! Excusing your shitty behavior by saying mommy and daddy didn't teach you better," I spoke the last sentence in a mock-baby voice, taunting him for what he told me last year at the Courtyard. I knew I sounded cruel but I didn't care.

"Shut up," he spat, but I kept going.

"Strolling around campus like you're hot fucking shit, calling everyone Mudbloods, Half-Bloods and Blood-Traitors? Who do you think you are!?" I laugh ruthlessly, making him visibly angrier the more I spoke.

"Shut the fuck up, (Y/L/N), I'm warning you," he repeated again.

"Or what? You're gonna insult my friends again? Gonna throw another Knockback Jinx at me? Or how about you call your darling mom and dad to put on their Death Eater masks and make every student with an 'impure' bloodline float up in the air and spin like a goddamn rotisserie chicken, just like they did at the World-Cup! You're all talk, Malfoy. You waste your time being a little angsty shit, pathetically jealous as shit over Harry who—"

"Don't. Mention. Bloody. Potter," he spoke through his teeth, menacingly taking a step closer to me. He looked more livid than ever at the mention of Harry's name.

It surprised me that after dragging his parents through the mud, it's Harry Potter who managed to hit a nerve.

"Aww, what's wrong? You intimidated by him?" I pouted in fake sympathy, "You scared your daddy will think his only son is nothing but a complete disappointment compared to—"

He grabbed my shoulder and pressed me flush against the wall.

I knew I crossed a line.

I was doing it on purpose, but I wasn't scared of him.

I just wished that we weren't so secluded because I wanted some backup incase I needed to knock him on his ass if he tried anything.

"Listen to me, (Y/L/N). You have no idea what you're talking about. Harry is nothing but a disgusting Half-Blood, equally as pathetic as that pretty boy you're seeing. Now understand this... you will never, ever speak about my father again—"

"Don't talk about my friends, then. Don't talk about Cedric," I hissed back, narrowing my eyes at him.

It didn't surprise me that he was smirking again.

His mood swings were giving me a whiplash.

"The Golden Boy. Cedric Diggory is just too good to be true, isn't he? A total Prince Charming..." he drawled out his words, taking his turn in mocking me now. He closed the gap between the both of us again and looked down at me in a predatory way, "Too bad he's not your type."

I considered going off on him again but simply stared at him blankly for a few passing moments before taking him aback by wrapping my arm around his torso, pulling him closer to me and tilting my mouth so it was beside his ear.

"That's where your wrong, Malfoy..." I whispered, playing the same, wicked game he did.

He tensed under me as my lips brushed against his earlobe and it was compelling to know that I could put him in the same acquiescent position he put me in earlier with ease.

"I think... you're not used to someone being better than you..." I giggled softly, running my fingers through his hair, tousling his blonde locks.

"I'm right, aren't I? Jealous of Cedric and Harry because they're worthy of being the school's champions and you weren't even a thought—?"

"What did I fucking tell you about mentioning—"

Draco's hand clasped itself over my mouth to stop me from talking.

He was about to retaliate something snarky but was cut short when the room exploded in cheering and chanting of the Champions' names.

I caught glimpses of both Cedric and Harry in the middle of the crowded circle, being handed glasses of champagne as everyone praised them.

Draco looked startled.

Almost as if he were just now remembering that we were at a party.

I took advantage of his distraction to rip his hand away from my face.

"Oh look. My Prince Charming," I taunted and shoved Draco away harshly.

"I wanted to get to know you, Malfoy. I tried to be cordial with you... but one conversation doesn't change shit. Half-blood or not, Cedric is adored by many and is the man that you could never be. Leave me alone from now on. I want nothing to do with you,"

"Yeah, you didn't seem to think all of that a few minutes ago, did you darling?" he replied back cockily and I felt a pang of guilt.

Draco and I didn't even do anything but I didn't prevent anything from happening, either.

All I knew is that it wouldn't be happening again.

I flipped him my middle finger and walked away to join the crowd surrounding the Champions.

Cedric was standing right next to Harry, both of them amongst their group of friends, laughing and talking eagerly about the tournament.

Cedric looked so good.

He already seemed slightly buzzed— his dark, curly locks falling over his grey irises that were half closed and twinkling brightly.

My eyes trailed up his chest, taking in his toned shoulders and strong arms under the grey, form-fitting sweatshirt that he wore.

He wore a lazy smile on his face, and every-time that he let out a throaty laugh because his friends had said something funny— the dozens of girls that surrounding him let out an airy sigh.

I found this amusing because I felt the same way.

Every time I was around Cedric, I reveled in how gorgeous he was. Saying he was extremely attractive was an understatement.

But a privilege that I had that the fawning girls didn't was that Cedric only had eyes for me.

He raised his pearly greys and the moment they locked with mine, alleviation washed over his face which made me feel exceptionally lucky because I was the girl he was smiling to.

"There you are," Cedric approached me and pulled me into a hug, "Where were you? Hermione said you've been gone for a while,"

I didn't know what to say as the feeling of guilt rose in my chest again. Now that I was in Cedric's arms, I didn't know why I even allowed Draco to lay a finger on me.

This was enough.

This was all I needed.

I couldn't imagine ever wanting anything more.

"Hey, you okay?" Cedric cupped my cheeks in his hands, frowning when he noticed the tears prickling in my eyes.

"Better now," I replied honestly, laughing as I nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck, kissing the warm, soft skin.

"OI! Lovebirds!" Zacharias Smith called for our attention, a humongous camera at hand.

The flash went off, Cedric and I both grinned at the lens and then Cedric looked down at me dotingly moments after, causing a whirlwind of butterflies in my tummy as I prayed that the moving photo caught it so I'd have photographic evidence of the way he looked at me.

Zacharias handed Cedric and me our champagne glasses which we clinked together before downing all of the drink, our eyes never leaving each other for a moment.

"This dress should be a crime..." he murmured, his hands caressing up and down the fabric around my hips.

I grinned coyly, stepping closer to him and pressing a kiss right beside his lips softly.

I've missed him so terribly.

We've only been away from each other for about a few hours, and it was important to believe that it was only this morning that he was scared shitless to confront his dragon.

I still felt horrible for abandoning him the week before the task and I swore to myself that I would never leave him on his own regarding the Tournament's tasks again.

Harry had Hermione's brains to help him.

Cedric needed me.

Cedric grabbed an unopened bottle of champagne and guided me to the sofa where the rest of our friends were seated.

I smiled at him silently as he unscrewed the cork, popping it loudly which caused everyone in our proximity to cheer.

Cedric grinned handsomely and refilled our glasses.

"You're really quiet tonight, what's going on in that pretty head of yours?" Cedric whispered in my ear and looped his arm around me securely.

"I'm thinking about how much I've missed you," I began, shifting closer to him so I was almost sitting on his lap,"and how proud I am of you... I really hated being away from you the last few days, so I hope you're not sick of me just yet because you're not getting rid of me anytime soon,"

I kept my tone was light but I wasn't really joking.

I had no intentions in straying from Cedric and after Draco put me in the spot earlier, I had to know if Cedric had the same idea for us.

To my relief, Cedric smiled warmly.

He took my glass of champagne from my hands, placing it on the coffee table in front of us alongside his.

"(Y/N), I don't think I could never get sick of you...," Cedric sighed, his forehead pressing onto mine and my face in his large palms.

The energy between us was static electric.

I was breathless, staring into his cloudy, grey eyes and my heart pounded so loudly that the background noise of music and chattering was nonexistent.

Nothing else existed at that moment other than Cedric Diggory.

I could feel his breath against my lips and I knew it was inevitable now.

I couldn't control myself any longer and I knew he couldn't either by the way he was clinging onto my hips.

And then it happened.

I don't know who initiated it but Cedric's lips were finally on mine.

Gliding over each other smoothly, as if we've done this a dozen times before.

Cedric and I were kissing each other greedily, not being able to stop once we started.

We barely gave each other a chance to breathe, only sparing a few fleeting seconds when my bottom lip was captured between his soft, warm ones again.

I felt more intoxicated than I have been the whole night, but now I was purely drunk on the taste of champagne and Cedric's sandalwood and vanilla smell.

I was almost glad that we waited this long to share a kiss because there was no possible way that it would've been as ardent and intense as it was now in any other occasion.

He pulled my legs up on his lap, his hands returning to my face and cradling it amorously to prevent me from breaking the kiss— something I wouldn't dream of doing.

He kissed me like it was his oxygen.

As if he wouldn't survive if my lips ever left his.

"GO ON CEDRIC!"

"GOOD LAD!"

We finally broke apart and saw that the better most of the party's attention were on us.

Cedric's friend were praising him with enthusiasm.

Many, many girls were staring at me as if they wanted me dead.

Harry and Hermione were grinning at me cheekily.

Ron— envious.

The twins were muttering "Lucky bastard,"

And from the far back of the room I spotted a pair of covetous, pale blue eyes boring into me.

His pale hands tight-gripping the arms of the leather sofa he sat on.

I smirked at Draco Malfoy, kissing up Cedric's neck without breaking eye-contact, and showed him that if he thought he had me wrapped around his finger...

He was fucking wrong.

✩ next chapter: S.P.E.W ✩

14 notes · View notes

papervenom · 11 days ago

Text

✩ chapter twelve: the first task ✩

chapter warnings: physical injury, emotional distress, anxiety

word count: 6.2k

INSATIABLE MASTERLIST⋆˙⟡

November 1st, 1994

"Please exit your classrooms in an orderly manner. An orderly manner, I said! DO NOT TRAMPLE OVER EACH OTHER, YOU BARBARIC CHILDREN—" Professor McGonagall barked down the long corridor that was brimming with students who were desperately pushing and shoving each other to get to the exits of the castle.

The day of the first Triwizard Tournament task had arrived.

Our lessons were to stop midday so we could watch the tournament, so by the time that our Transfiguration class ended, the bell rang signifying that the school day was over.

Hermione and I were still grasping on tightly to Harry— not wanting to let go of him just yet.

Ever since finding out about the first task— Harry, Hermione, and I have spent most of our waking hours in the library. We read and reread every book about dragons and found nothing that could help him.

Luckily, Professor Moody suggested that Harry used his greatest abilities to get past the task.

Knowing that he was best at flying on his broom, we've practiced the Summoning Charm ever since so he could conjure his Firebolt to the playing field.

Some nights, dawn would arrive and Hermione and I would still be helping Harry— watching him go from summoning small objects such as quills and parchments to larger objects like floor lamps and even some wooden chairs. My mind was eased when seeing that he mastered the spell but he still had his doubts.

Harry remained astonishingly calm and composed during the days leading up to the first task but his panic resurfaced the morning of. He was riddled with anxiety and even voiced to me his consideration of running away from Hogwarts during breakfast. I knew that if that were an option, I would leave with him in a heartbeat and sequester Cedric to come with us, but there was no way out of this.

So Harry spent the whole day in silence, muttering the Summoning Charm under his breath until the very last second before the bell blared throughout the school announcing that it was time for him to face what he was dreading the most.

"Good luck, Harry!" some Gryffindor students called to him as they passed us. But amongst the crowd of supportive Gryffindors, there were also crude Slytherins who didn't waste a breath to wish Harry the worst of luck.

"Hope it's a slow death, Potter!"

"Can't wait to see you piss yourself in front of the whole school!"

"Don't listen to them, Harry. You'll do fine," Hermione assured him over the sounds of their wicked cackling.

But Harry wasn't paying attention to them.

He didn't seem to be paying attention to anything at all, with a disoriented look in his eyes as we walked the hallway with the rest of our peers.

"Just remember to concentrate. Like we practiced. You got this," I added, hoping that he heard what I was saying, to no avail.

His attention wasn't able to be successfully grasped until Professor McGonagall approached us, looking just as anxious as we did.

"Potter, come with me," she said shakily. He stiffly walked towards her, Hermione and I following closely behind until we were stopped by Professor McGonagall who extended her arm out to halt us.

"I'm afraid you've reached your limit, girls. He's to meet with the other champions now. Alone."

"But, Professor—" Harry argued.

"No buts, Potter. You girls head to the stadium with the other students,"

Harry looked at us hopelessly.

I pouted back at him and Hermione broke into a sob as she hugged him tightly, nuzzling her face in the crook of his neck.

I watched as she whispered something to him, and Harry responded by nodding nervously before walking away with McGonagall before I got the chance to say goodbye.

"What'd you tell him?" I asked her curiously as we exited the castle. She sniffled, wiping her tears on her sleeve as her eyes roamed around the outskirts of the large stadium that was booming with the noises of cheers, heckles, and chants of school anthems.

"That we'd find a way to see him before the task started," she replied with determination in her eyes as she scanned the expanse.

I broke into a grin and helped her search. The stadium's entrance was congested with students, but I spotted a small group of important-looking older wizards on the opposite side, entering a tent that had to be where the champions were.

"Over there," I informed Hermione, pointing out the tent. She gave me a nod, and we quickly sprinted towards it to avoid being spotted.

We got so close to the tent that we could hear a low murmur on the other side of the beige cloth that was separating us and the champions.

Hermione and I stared at each other, unsure of how we would get Harry's attention.

"Psst," Hermione suddenly called out. We felt someone come near us on the other side of the tent and I glanced at her hesitantly before speaking up.

"Harry, is that you?"

"Yeah," Harry's voice breathed out in relief from the other side. Once I heard him, I didn't think twice before pulling the cloth barrier out of the way to hug him.

"How are you? Are you okay?" I asked him, pulling away just enough so I could see his face. His pale skin was tinged with green and he looked panic-stricken.

He was about to answer me when a flash of light blinded us from the other side of the tent.

I squinted my eyes, trying to find the source of the flash as my sight adjusted to the tent's low lighting.

"Ahh! Young love!" Rita Skeeter cried obnoxiously. Her photographer kept snapping pictures of us as an enchanted quill was scribing away furiously on a floating notepad.

My arms dropped from Harry's shoulders when I noticed Cedric looking at the both of us in surprise. His grey eyes inspected the scene before him and his jaw clenched sternly.

"How... stirring," Rita Skeeter continued, choosing her words carefully for the Quick-Quotes Quill to write down.

Hermione stepped inside the tent behind us cautiously.

"You don't know what you're talking about. We're not—" I started to defend myself to Rita but she waved her hand dismissively.

"Doesn't matter, doesn't matter... If everything goes... unfortunate today... you two might even make the front page!"

"Silly bint," Hermione muttered as she took her turn hugging Harry. Rita's photographer didn't waste a second before he began taking photos of them two in embrace now.

I scoffed at how ridiculous Rita was and turned towards the tent.

Fleur was sitting in a corner on a wooden stool. She didn't look as composed as she usually did, but quite pale and clammy.

Victor Krum looked more menacing than ever, and Cedric was pacing up and down the tent.

I hesitated to approach him, remembering the stony look he gave me when seeing me hug Harry, but I needed to talk to him.

I was walking towards him when Fleur sprang up from her seat, smiling at me kindly before giving me a fleeting hug.

"Fleur, how are you doing?" I asked her politely, my eyes flickering to Cedric who was still pacing and glancing at me occasionally.

"Oh, you know... abut to battle a dragon," she replied tensely. She flicked her blonde hair back, letting out a shudder before bringing her attention back to me, "But please, take mon mind off of eet. Why aren't you hugging and smooching Cedric? Are you deux fighting?"

"No, not fighting," I blushed, embarrassed by Fleur's choice of words, "But I think he's upset with me..." I added worriedly.

"For what?" Fleur answered in surprise.

"Well... I've spent the last few days helping Harry prepare for the tournament and I haven't really found the time to check in on Cedric like I probably should've... And now, he sees me for the first time after days and I’m hugging Harry while Rita Skeeter is taking photos and screeching 'young love' after she already lied on the Daily Prophet that I was seeing him. Shit, Cedric's probably so pissed..." I was spilling my thoughts out loud, feeling more disappointed in myself by the second with how I let the situation get out of hand.

"Non, non. Stop eet. First of all, you 'ad to help Harry. He eez ze youngest of us all, He eez less expairienced and he eez a scrawny and awkward boy. Needs all ze help he can get. Cédric cannot be angry for zat! And about Madam Skeeter, if Cedric lets her get into his head, zen he eez dumber than I thought! Now go an' talk to him béfaire you have non-chance! Go!"

I was about to thank Fleur for consoling me in a time where it should've been the other way around, but she was already pushing me towards Cedric brusquely, mumbling French obscenities under her breath.

"Ced..." I called out to him, making him stop in his step. He didn't answer as I moved to stand in front of him.

Like the rest of the champions, Cedric was wearing a fire-resistant uniform. He was covered in Hufflepuff colors, and his surname was printed in bright red on the back of his garments.

He looked so good.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him tentatively.

He surprised me by scoffing humorlessly, breaking our eye contact to look around the tent.

"How do you think I'm feeling, (Y/N)?"

I felt my blood go cold when hearing his tone.

He's never spoken to me so indifferently before.

Even when we were arguing about him entering the tournament, he would always be soft-spoken with me.

"Right. Freaking the fuck out, I suppose," I replied, choosing to ignore the way he talked to me.

The corner of his lips twitched in what could've been a smile, but he still didn't meet my eyes.

"Stop," I huffed out in annoyance and reached up to cup his cheek, forcing him to look at me, "Talk to me, please," I begged him softly.

His stony expression completely melted away and his eyes softened when peering down at me. He suddenly grabbed my hand in his bigger one and led me to the other side of the tent, away from the curious eyes that were on us.

"I'm sorry," he apologized as he took a seat on one of Madam Pomfrey's hospital beds that were set up in the tent. I deeply hoped that none of the champions would occupy them after the task, "I'm just losing it, a bit. And I didn't think that seeing you and Harry would bother me as much as it did but after not seeing you for a couple of days and hearing that you were helping him, and then seeing Rita's reaction to you two— I guess it bothered me more than I let on,"

Cedric was hunched over as I stood in front of him, still taller than me even though he was sitting down. I sighed, taking a small step towards him, slotting my body between his legs.

"Harry's a year younger than you, Ced. I've been helping him master the Summoning Charm, which is something our year hasn't learned yet. But you're right, I'm so sorry for not checking in with you. You just looked so composed, I didn't think you needed me—"

"I'll always need you," Cedric murmured. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me in so our foreheads were touching. My heart skipped a beat in my chest at how close our faces were.

"Then I'll always be with you," I replied, smiling coyly. "Also, fuck Rita Skeeter,"

We both laughed giddily, turning to look at her as she continued to make Harry and Hermione deeply uncomfortable by demanding her cameraman to take more pictures.

To my surprise, Krum looked just as annoyed when seeing this as well.

"You have no business here. This tent is for champions... and friends," Viktor spoke and it was the very first time I ever heard him talk.

Cedric and I watched as Rita smirked at him and then sauntered out of the tent with her photographer and her stupid quill.

"I like Krum," I commented happily.

"Yeah, he's cool,"

"Look at you, befriending the world-famous Quidditch player. Does he know you were cheering for the opposing team at the World Cup?" I teased, nudging his shoulder with mine.

“And whose gonna tell him?” Cedric narrowed his eyes at me humorously, grinning at me with the crooked smile of his that I adored.

“Me,” I quipped teasingly.

"I didn't know that you were so evil, (Y/L/N)", he mused wittily, pulling me closer to him.

We were chuckling, smiling foolishly at each other when we heard something that was unmistakably a roar from outside of the tent that wiped our smiles off our faces immediately.

All the champions went pale when hearing the dragon and my panic returned in full force.

I didn't know how it was possible, but I have forgotten where we were for a few moments.

That usually tended to happen whenever I was around Cedric.

"What's your plan, then? For the dragon?" I whispered to him, searching his eyes desperately for the confidence that he usually held so I could be reassured.

I didn't find it.

"I thought about it last minute, but I think it will work... I'm going to use a Transfiguration spell to—"

"Good day, champions. Gather round, please!" Cedric was interrupted when Dumbledore entered the tent with Crouch (who was holding a purple velvety pouch), Madame Maxime, and Karkaroff.

Cedric grasped my hand tightly before standing up and joining the circle of champions. Hermione joined the circle as well— her hand wrapped adamantly around Harry's forearm in order to keep him close.

"Now, you've waited, you've wondered, and at last, the moment has arrived. A moment only four of you can fully appreciate..." Dumbledore's blue eyes wandered around the circle as he spoke to the champions until they suddenly stopped on Hermione's face. He then raised his bushy, white eyebrows and turned to look at me. I felt my heart drop a bit.

"What are you doing here, Miss Granger? Miss (Y/L/N)?"

"Oh, uh—"

"Sorry, we'll just... go..."

I turned to Cedric to wish him good luck, kissing the back of his hand swiftly, and then gave Harry a quick one-armed hug before Hermione yanked me out of the tent.

"We should've hidden. Then maybe we could've waited with them until the tournament started," Hermione said glumly as we headed to the entrance of the stadium.

I agreed silently, but I knew that if I was there for the moment that Cedric's name was to be called for him to battle the dragon— I would've latched on to him so tightly that he'd have to go out to the arena with me wrapped around his leg.

But Cedric didn't need my protection.

He was going to be fine.

I repeated this in my head a couple of more times as we entered the stadium where the audience had already assembled.

The atmosphere was buzzing with great tension and excitement.

Thousand pairs of feet could be heard from where we were underneath the bleachers— the students talking excitedly, laughing, joking... and I wish that I could’ve shared their excitement but I couldn't.

There was nothing remotely entertaining about this for me.

Hermione and I made our way up the bleachers to where we spotted the rest of our Gryffindor peers.

We had to pass the Slytherins to get to them, and sitting amongst them— looking disgustingly eager for the task to start with Omnioculars in hands, was Draco Malfoy.

He was, at least, intelligent enough not to throw any gibes our way because I really didn't have the patience for it.

If he did, I might've even considered helping Cedric or Harry out by throwing Draco down for their dragon to feast on. Then it would be distracted whilst it chewed on Malfoy's blonde head, giving Harry or Cedric the time to get past it.

I enjoyed thinking about a dragon munching on the blonde Slytherin while we sat down next to Ron who saved our seats for us.

"BETS! PLACE YOUR BETS HERE!" Fred bellowed out.

"BETS TAKEN HERE!" George echoed.

Both the twins were parading up and down the bleachers with a homemade gambling booth hanging from their necks.

My mouth dropped as I watched a Hufflepuff girl hand them some money as she bet on Cedric to make first place, scoring 10:1.

"STEP UP, FOLKS! WHO FANCIES A FLUTTER IN TODAY'S BLOODBATH!?"

"Tactless," Hermione muttered to me, scowling at the twins.

"SMART MONEY'S ON KRUM TO SURVIVE. ANY BETS?"

Hermione scoffed and I was glaring at Fred and George. We caught their attention and they snickered to each other as they approached us.

"Don't you think you're being a bit insensitive?" I asked them shortly, showing that I had no amusement for what they were doing.

"Insensitive? Don't be a hater, darling," replied George, counting the money that they had already made.

"Who're you betting for then, love? Your bestie or your lover? We won't tell..." smirked Fred, giving me a wink. I just rolled my eyes and was about to retaliate but my attention got derived when Crouch stepped out to the middle of the arena.

I locked my arms with both Ron and Hermione as the crowd silenced.

"Good evening, everybody! And welcome to the first Triwizard Tournament Task!" Barty Crouch exclaimed, his wand pointed to his throat— performing the Sonorus Spell just like Fudge did at the Quidditch World Cup.

The crowd cheered in response, making me feel sick.

"The objective of today's task is for each of the champions to collect their very own golden egg," Crouch waved a hand towards the egg that was already in the center of the arena, gleaming under the sunlight, "the egg, however, will be protected by a creature that has traveled all the way from Romania to be here. There are four of these creatures for each of the champions. At the sound of the cannon, the first champion is to begin. Now, I present to you the first of the four beasts— THE SWEDISH SHORT-SNOUT!"

The audience started murmuring excitedly as people craned their necks to the opening chamber where the dragon would be emerging from.

I winced as I heard a roar, and soon— a beast appeared that could not be mistaken for none other than a dragon. It looked pissed off as a wizard pulled it from its neck with a large chain.

The wizard locked the chain down to the middle of the arena, where the golden egg was located, and immediately sprinted away as the dragon let out another wrathful roar.

The flames that came out of its nose were a vivid blue color, which might've been beautiful if it wasn't possible that it could incinerate one of the champions to their death.

"Now, presenting the first champion..." Crouch's voice boomed again. Everyone was on the edge of their seat and I closed my eyes, squeezing them shut as I prayed that it would be Krum or Fleur so Cedric and Harry could have more time to get a grip on themselves.

"Cedric Diggory!"

"No!" I groaned, burying my face in my hands as the sound of the cannon went off and the crowd erupted in noise.

"DIGGORY! DIGGORY! DIGGORY! DIGGORY!"

"(Y/N), he's coming out..." Hermione informed with a trembling voice, speaking loud enough so I could hear her over the cheering.

I looked up anxiously and there he was, stepping into the arena with his eyebrows furrowed and his jaw clenched.

If he was nervous, he did his best to hide it with bravery.

"Ron, tell me about this dragon," I pleaded, not taking my eyes off Cedric. Ron would know more than most because it was his brother who had brought the dragons over from Romania.

"Erm, well this one has fewer deaths to its name than the other dragons. So... I guess that's good. But it can also be considered the most dangerous of the lot because it's good at flying and the fire from its nostrils can burn timber or bone to ash in seconds,"

"Ron!" Hermione scolded him, but I appreciated his honesty.

I was feeling like I could've possibly passed out at any given second and was on the verge of throwing up, but I appreciated his honesty nonetheless.

The dragon watched intently as Cedric's grey eyes roamed the arena. My throat went dry when noticing how menacing the creature looked.

Like a hungry cat watching a mouse.

The crowd was still cheering for Ced but it had mostly died down due to everyone's anticipation on what his next move would be.

"Did he tell you what he was going to do?" Hermione asked.

"Not really. He said a Transfiguration spell..." I trailed off, watching as he crouched down and reached for something around his feet. He grabbed a rock and stood up again cautiously. What on earth was he doing?

Cedric then muttered something under his breath, pointing his wand to the rock and everyone gasped when four, furry legs sprouted from the rock as well as a tail, eventually morphing completely into what seemed like a Beagle dog.

The audience began murmuring excitedly as the dog started yapping, running circles around the dragon and captivating all of its attention.

The dragon's beady eyes were trained on the dog.

Its big, fat, ugly head following its every move and I nearly cried of joy when it sprang up to its feet and started following the dog, leaving the golden egg unattended for Cedric to take.

While the dragon remained preoccupied with the barking canine, Cedric sprinted towards the Golden Egg, picking it up and the crowd broke into cheers.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. Tears of joy threatened to spill from my eyes as I watched Cedric's tall, lean figure run to the exit.

I desperately wanted to be close to him.

To hold him in my arms and breathe in his scent that was already so familiar to me.

I was already feeling relieved that he got past his task when I noticed that the audience's cheers turned into screams of terror.

I snapped my head to the dragon who was completely ignoring the dog now.

His black eyes were locked on Cedric's fleeting body— prowling as if it were going to pounce on him at any given moment.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK," I swore, peeking through my fingers since my hands were now covering my face.

Cedric was about five feet away from the exit when the dragon emitted a horrible, roaring shriek.

The crowd drew a collective breath as we watched the dragon's fiery, blazing blue breath flood out its snout and graze Cedric on the side of his face. My heart was in my throat when I heard him cry out in pain.

"DID HE GET BURNED!?" I stood up, watching Ced run through the exit while everyone erupted into cheers for his success.

"I- I think he did but he must be okay if he kept— (Y/N), where are you going?" Hermione asked, turning to look at me. I was trying to make my way down the row of Gryffindors so I could leave the stadium and find Cedric.

"I have to check on him," I argued but I didn't even get past Neville and Dean when Ron wrapped his hand around my wrist and pulled me back towards him. I tried to free myself but he didn't ease his grip.

"Ron, let me go," I hissed.

"They're not going to let you leave, (Y/N). They've closed all exits except the ones that the champions are using to prevent any students from wandering where they shouldn't be,"

"Shit!" I complained, ripping my hand away from Ron's and groaning in frustration as I slumped down in my seat.

The crowd was cheering for Fleur who seemed to be putting her dragon to sleep. I couldn't concentrate on anything in front of me with the thought of Cedric being hurt.

I couldn't get his cry of pain out of my head.

"(Y/N), I'm sure he's fine... We'll go right after all the tasks are completed, okay?" Hermione offered and I felt comforted.

Fleur succeeded and it was Krum's turn against the dragon. He was brooding, as per usual, while he paced around the beast, almost as if he were trying to figure out what to do with it.

Suddenly, he pointed his wand at the dragon's eyes, muttered a spell, and blinded it.

"Oh, bloody hell. He shouldn't have done that," Ron muttered under his breath as the dragon started thrashing around wildly.

It kept letting out breaths of red-hot fire as it roared angrily and stomped around its area, ultimately crushing Krum's golden egg under its gigantic foot.

"Surely he's getting points docked off for that!" Hermione exclaimed and Ron just shrugged.

"Three of our champions have now faced their dragons, and so each of them will proceed to the next task! And now, our fourth and final champion of the evening— Harry Potter!" Crouch yelled as the cannon boomed again.

My undivided attention returned to the tournament as I surveilled the entrance of the field where the champions emerged from.

The crowd wasn't as enthusiastic towards Harry as they were for the previous champions.

They watched eagerly as he stepped out into the opening. People were sneering and chanting 'Potter Stinks!' but I knew that Harry didn't have the mind to care for that right now because he was eyeing the Horntail that was on the other end of the enclosure.

The Hungarian Horntail was the ugliest of the bunch. It resembled a monstrous, scaly, black lizard as it crouched over Harry's golden egg— its wings half-furled and its evil, yellow eyes stared at my lanky friend.

I once again found it difficult to watch.

I could feel the sickness in my throat, once more.

Harry raised his wand, and I took a deep breath in as I prayed on my lucky stars that the Summoning Spell would work.

"Accio Firebolt!" he shouted, and the whole arena went quiet.

Nothing was happening.

Every fiber of my being was hoping that his broomstick would appear in the skies, but it was nowhere to be seen. The skies remained clear and blue, not even a bird in sight.

"Pathetic!" Pansy Parkinson screeched from where the Slytherins were sitting. As soon as she started her remarks, the rest of the Slytherins started jeering and insulting Harry which resulted in most of the arena laughing at him.

"C'mon, Harry..." Ron mumbled under his breath and I couldn't hold back my smile when hearing him support his friend.

I glanced at Hermione to see if she noticed and found her peering at me back with a discreet smile.

Suddenly, there was a whooshing through the air that was Harry's Firebolt— flying right towards him. I jumped out of my seat once I saw it and started cheering.

"YES!" Hermione and I yelled elatedly, giggling in each other's arms, feeling ecstatic that the hours we spent practicing with Harry were worth it.

"POTTER! POTTER! POTTER! POTTER!" The stadium chanted as Harry jumped on his broom.

The Horntail's head followed Harry closely, and my breath hitched as I watched him let out a stream of flames. Harry avoided it, though, rising higher in the air, not letting the fire touch him.

"Merlin, he can fly!" yelled Crouch as the crowd shrieked and gasped. "Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?"

Harry then plummeted down, avoiding the Horntail completely as it bared its teeth at him.

But still, it was too close.

Harry rose a few more feet again, plotting his next move and the Horntail let out a roar of exasperation.

Harry made another attempt, making the Horntail spread its black, leathery wings but Harry was too fast for the dragon.

I stopped breathing as Harry sped towards the ground in a quick blur, stretching his hand out towards the golden egg and grasping it.

"Look at that!" Crouch was yelling over the screaming and applauding of the crowd, "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is the quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter!"

Hermione and I were blinking through tears and cheering as we pulled Ron into a group hug. I watched as Harry was rushed to the exit of the enclosure where Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody, and Hagrid hurried to meet him.

"Let's go, please?" I turned to Hermione, impatiently. She nodded and we pushed past the audience who were still cheering or were already leaving the stands to head back to the castle.

Ron followed behind us.

"Fuck, I think Cedric got burned really bad. I swear I saw that stupid dragon's flames touch his face. And did you hear him groan in pain!? Shit, shit..."

"Relax, (Y/N). Madam Pomfrey will heal him up in no time," Ron grunted from behind me.

I was leading the way to the tent— pushing people aside, making them complain and give us dirty looks resulting in Hermione apologizing to everyone as we passed.

"That was excellent, Potter! Absolutely excellent! Wait here for a moment while I talk to the judges about the scoring,"

I heard Professor McGonagall's voice and I started sprinting. Ron, Hermione, and I entered the tent and I nearly tackled Harry as I wrapped my arms around him.

"Oh, Harry you were so great! Everything went perfectly!" I congratulated him, grinning at him widely.

Hermione was the one to strangle him next, sobbing into his chest as Ron stood next to them, smiling at Harry awkwardly as his hands were stuffed in his pockets.

"Harry, you were brilliant!" Hermione squeaked. It wasn't until now that I noticed the fingernail marks on her face where she had been clutching from fear, "You were amazing! You really were!"

Harry wasn't listening to Hermione, though. He was staring at Ron cautiously, who was looking back at Harry as though he saw a ghost.

"Harry," Ron said, very seriously, "whoever put your name in that goblet— I reckon they're trying to do you in,"

I saw the relief flood in Harry and I nearly cried when he broke into a grin.

"Caught on, have you? Took you long enough," Harry replied coolly.

"I shouldn't've—" started Ron but Harry interrupted him, shaking his head.

“Forget it," Harry replied.

Ron grinned nervously at him, and Harry pulled him into a one-armed hug causing Hermione to burst into tears again.

"You two are so stupid!" she whined, stomping her foot on the ground as tears splashing down the front of her top.

I was giggling at the looks of pure terror from the boys as they watched Hermione's outburst when Professor McGonagall entered, not phased that we were already by Harry's side.

"Right then, Potter, you'll need to see Madam Pomfrey before the judges give out your score...she's had to mop up Diggory already—"

"Cedric? How is he?" I asked the Professor anxiously. She motioned towards the back of the tent, as if telling me to go see for myself.

I left my friend's side as soon as I made out Cedric's silhouette through a canvas— he was sitting up on his bed.

I rushed to pull the canvas aside hastily, coming face-to-face with the handsome Hufflepuff that I've been yearning to be near ever since I left him an hour ago.

"How are you? Are you alright?" I all but cried as I cupped Cedric's face in my hands.

"Ah," he winced slightly, and I immediately retracted my hands away, not wanting to cause him any more discomfort than he was already feeling.

He reached out to grab my hands, cupping them in his as he smiled up at me warmly.

"Dragon nipped me a bit. Burned my face, but Madam Pomfrey's fixing me up. I'll be able to get my scores soon..."

"I knew it," I grumbled, perching up on the bed as I ran my thumb on the back of his hand.

I took the opportunity to inspect his injury closely. The burn was bright red on his pale complexion. It wasn't too severe. A couple of inches wide on his cheek. Cedric's skin was peeling around the wound, though, which was probably painful.

"I'm going to fuck that Short-Snout up," I fumed, my eyes never leaving his injury. An abrupt laugh escaped Cedric's lips, and he winced again as the laugh lines on his face caused his burn to sting.

"Shh, relax..." I whispered and his face eased. I leaned down to brush my lips on his burn, barely touching it as I kissed it softly. Cedric sighed and his grey eyes bore into mine fixedly as I pulled away.

"Would you believe that from the moment you've entered this tent, I've felt gradually better? Who needs Madam Pomfrey when you're around?" Cedric muttered, fiddling with my hands as he spoke.

I smirked and was about to reply when Madam Pomfrey entered, shooting me a nasty look for distracting her patient.

"How does it feel now, Diggory?" she asked him sharply. Her tone was enough to make me jump down from the bed and stand in the corner of the room.

"Much better, ma'am. May I go check my scores now?" Cedric asked, his eyes still on me.

"Give it five minutes. I reckon your burns will heal completely by then. But you must rest," Madam Pomfrey added pointedly, clearly speaking to me as she left.

"Think I'm in trouble," I grinned, returning to Cedric's side and settling down on the bed again.

"You should be. Do you have no mercy on the wounded?" Cedric teased, intertwining our fingers together.

I smiled at him and reached to the bedside table where his golden egg was sitting, putting it on my lap and observing it closely.

"All of that for this egg, huh?"

"Apparently, the egg contains a clue. It's imperative for us to figure it out before completing the next task,"

"Don't talk about the next task, this one is barely over," I moaned, pouting at Cedric. My nerves just recently had started to settle and I couldn't bear thinking of what torment was awaiting the champions in the next task.

Cedric chuckled, giving me a reassuring smile.

"Hey, I'm fine— aren't I? There was nothing to worry about,"

"Yeah, you just nearly got barbequed... no biggie," I replied sarcastically, making Cedric suppress another laugh.

We spent the remainder of the five minutes talking animatedly about the tournament and the tactics that the other champions used.

Before we knew it, Cedric's burns and scratches had disappeared as if he had never battled a dragon in the first place.

Once Madam Pomfrey checked in on him for the last time, Cedric stood up from the bed to his full six feet of height, and he took my hand before fetching Harry to get their scores.

The scores were called out for each of the champions— with Harry and Krum tied in first place, Cedric in second, Fleur in third.

"Good one, Harry," Cedric congratulated him, thumping him on the back.

"And you," Harry replied, grinning.

The energy in the stadium was surreal.

Every Hogwarts student never made it back to the castle, but instead, were standing on the playing field, surrounding the champions and chanting their names.

It was crazy to think that just a few hours ago, I was dreading this place.

Dreading that Cedric and Harry even entered the stadium. And now— they scored first and second place in the task.

I felt a swell of pride as I stood in the middle of both of them.

"Congratulations, Harry!" someone exclaimed behind us, snapping me out of my thoughts. I turned to find Rita Skeeter leaning towards him, "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How did you feel facing that dragon? How do you feel now, about the fairness of the scoring?"

"You can have a word, Rita. You can even have two..." Harry seethed savagely, "Piss off"

Rita's face fell in surprise and we all giggled under our breath.

It was then when Crouch motioned the group to enter the tent. The champions entered before Crouch stopped Ron, Hermione, and I from proceeding any further.

"Sorry, kids. Champions only," he said dismissively and closed the tent behind him.

"What the hell?" I murmured, feeling upset that we were separated from Harry and Cedric already. I was quite literally planning on never letting them out of my sight for the remainder of the day.

We walked back to the castle, still discussing the tournament.

Ron's indignation on Harry's behalf was consistent. He kept insisting that Harry should've gotten first place alone with how facile he completed his task while Krum clumsily hurt the dragon's eye and made it stomp on his egg.

It felt like everything was right in the world again now that Ron and Harry have rekindled.

"OI! Where're you two headed?" Ron called out to Fred and George who were running up the hill towards the castle. They were clutching their earnings from the bets greedily.

"Haven't youse heard?" Fred replied, disbelief painted on his face.

"Heard of what?" Hermione responded anxiously.

"Inter-house party!" George bellowed, throwing his hands in the air.

"Both Hogwarts champions made first and second place! The whole school's celebrating!" Fred continued with a broad grin plastered on his face, "C'mon you sloths, lets party!!"

✩ next chapter: champagne lips ✩

11 notes · View notes

papervenom · 11 days ago

Text

✩ chapter eleven: dragons ✩

chapter warnings: ongoing friendship conflict, smoking, anxiety, fear of death

word count: 5.9k

INSATIABLE MASTERLIST⋆˙⟡

October 25th, 1994

As soon as I got to the Great Hall, I eagerly searched for Harry and Hermione to tell them what I've learned from my talk with Fleur, but Harry had much more interesting news. He received his response from Sirius— who wanted to speak to Harry as soon as possible before the first task, which would be in a week.

This was good because, frankly, I have never seen Harry so nervous. His shock of finding out that he was a Triwizard Champion wore off, and he was now undoubtedly terrified for what the tournament would bring. I was glad that he would be talking to Sirius. He needed his godfather's support.

They made plans to speak in the Common Room that same night. We weren't sure how Sirius would be appearing, but Hermione and I promised Harry to clear the room from any lingering students so they could converse in private. If the worst came to the worst, we made a plan to drop a bag of Dungbombs, but we hoped that it wouldn't have to come to that— Filch would skin us alive.

So at one in the morning, when everyone was dead asleep, Hermione and I slipped out of our dorm room and went down to the Common Room where we found Harry pacing back and forth. We waited for any signs of Sirius, and not even a minute later, the fire burning in the fireplace started spitting wildly.

We stumbled back as the flames grew twice their size and then— to our astonishment, Sirius's head appeared to be floating. If we hadn't known about the Floo Network method of communication, seeing this would be terrifying, but since we were well aware of it, we all broke into smiles and crouched down around the fireplace.

"Sirius— how're you doing?" Harry spoke first and it felt great to see how happy he looked. He hasn't been in a good mood for weeks.

"Never mind me, how are you?" Sirius replied in a much more serious tone. His appearance was different since we last saw him. He looked much younger. Healthier.

"I'm fine," Harry replied nonchalantly. I scowled at him for lying and nudged his shoulder with mine, urging him to tell Sirius the truth.

Harry sighed exasperatedly, shooting me a pointed look— and after taking a deep breath, he told Sirius everything.

How no one believed that he didn't enter the tournament, how he couldn't walk down the corridor without being sneered at, and about his fight with Ron.

Sirius stared at his godson with eyes full of concern. He let Harry talk without interruption, and waited until he fell silent to speak.

"Harry... the Death Eaters at the World Cup... your name rising from that goblet... these can't be coincidences. Hogwarts isn't safe, anymore."

"What are you saying?" Harry asked vigilantly.

"I'm saying... the devils are inside the walls. Take Karkaroff from Durmstrang, for example. He was a Death Eater. Just promise me you'll be wary of those around you. Please be careful."

"I'll be careful, I promise... Do you think Karkaroff put my name in the goblet, then?"

"I haven't got a clue who put your name in that goblet, Harry. But whoever did is no friend to you. People die in this tournament."

My eyebrows knit together in worry once Sirius said this. I felt a twinge of guilt in the pit of my stomach for allowing my thoughts to wander to Cedric at this moment, but I couldn't deny that I was as equally terrified for him as I was for Harry. Sirius confirming that this tournament was deadly just affirmed that Harry, Hermione, and I were the only ones viewing the Triwizard Tournament with rationality.

My eyes flickered to Harry and saw that he wore the same unnerved expression I had.

"I-I'm not ready for this Sirius..." Harry stuttered. In the past year that I've known him, I've never seen him so scared. I rest my head on his shoulder and rubbed my hand up and down his back soothingly.

Sirius watched us in silence for a few seconds, his frown lines prominent on his tired face.

"I'm afraid you have no choice, son." Sirius replied solemnly, "But it seems like you're in good company. You've got good friends, Harry. Confide in them."

Harry nodded as he leaned towards me affectionately. I caught Sirius smiling at both Hermione and me appreciatively, giving us what was clearly a wordless 'thank you'.

"And about Ron... you have no idea how many stupid arguments I got into with your father," Sirius continued, a hint of amusement in his voice as he reminisced on his memories, "James and I were both very stubborn. We wouldn't talk to each other for days after the smallest quarrel. But we always got past it. Ron will come around. He's just jealous, even though he's got no reason to be. But you're not alone. Thank you, girls... for sticking by my godson's side."

"Of course," Hermione and I replied earnestly.

Sirius was just about to continue talking but Harry suddenly bolted upright and held up his hand to silence him.

We all quickly became alarmed when we heard footsteps coming down the boys' staircase behind us.

"Go!" Harry hissed at Sirius, "Go! There's someone coming!"

The three of us scrambled to our feet and stood in front of the fireplace, hiding Sirius's face so whoever was coming down the staircase wouldn't see him. If Sirius was spotted, the Ministry would get involved and he'd have to flee again.

We watched as Sirius's head disappeared with a tiny pop! and stared intently at the doorway where the sounds of footsteps were coming from.

It was Ron.

He appeared, dressed in his maroon pajama pants and a white tank top. He stopped dead in his track as his blue eyes flickered from each of our faces.

"Who were youse talking to?" he asked, his question directed to Harry.

"What's that got to do with you?" Harry snarled.

Hermione and I both scowled at Harry's unwarranted hostility and Harry rolled his eyes.

"What are you doing down here at this time of night, anyway?" Harry asked Ron in a calmer voice.

"I just wondered where you—" Ron broke off, shrugging, "Nothing. I'm going back to bed."

I frowned as Ron turned to walk up the staircase again. I missed him so terribly. I wanted to bang both his and Harry's heads together and force them to make up.

"Just thought you'd come nosing around, did you!?" Harry shouted.

"Harry!" I seethed, staring up at him angrily. He ignored me as his green eyes bore into our redheaded friend furiously.

"Sorry about that," replied Ron, his face reddening with anger, "Should've realized you didn't want to be disturbed! I'll let you get on with practicing for your next interview in peace."

Before Hermione and I could even react, Harry seized one of the POTTER STINKS badges from a nearby coffee table and heaved it at Ron, hitting him on the forehead.

"THERE YOU GO!" Harry growled. "Something for you to wear on Tuesday. You might even have a scar now if you're lucky... That's what you want, isn't it? ISN'T IT!?"

Ron strode towards Harry but Hermione and I swiftly got in between both of the boys who were glaring at each other with such pure hatred that it broke my heart.

"Stop being fucking dickheads! BOTH OF YOU!" I yelled at them sharply as I pushed Ron back with all the strength I could muster so there was a safe distance between him and Harry. I knew Hermione was doing the same because I heard her struggling behind me. The last thing we needed was the boys hitting each other.

Ron ripped his eyes away from Harry and he looked down at me. His expression visibly softened, and he heaved out a defeated breath before storming back upstairs towards his dorm room.

"Seriously?" Hermione asked Harry crossly. Her hands were on her hips as she fumed at him.

"I didn't start this," Harry said stubbornly. "It's his problem."

"You miss him!" Hermione said impatiently.

"Miss him?" replied Harry dismissively, shifting his weight uncomfortably where he stood, "I don't miss him..."

"You miss him. And I know he misses you," I scolded him.

"Whatever... thank you guys for talking to Sirius with me I'll... see you tomorrow..."

We watched in silence as Harry disappeared up the staircase. When I turned to Hermione to suggest that we go back to bed, I found her eyes filling with tears.

"Things won't ever go back as they were, will they?" she sobbed and I closed the space between us to hug her tightly.

"They will, they'll work it out," I assured her as I patted her back. I tried to hide the uncertainty in my tone the best I could because frankly, I have never seen my friends fight this way and I didn't know if they could get past this.

"I don't like this, (Y/N). I hate seeing them fight," Hermione sniffled as we headed back to our dorm room.

"I know, 'Mione. I don't like it either."

༻✦༺

October 28th, 1994

I didn't think that things could get any worse lately, but they did.

Rita Skeeter ended up publishing her piece about the Triwizard Tournament but didn't write much about the tournament itself. The whole seven-page article was based on Harry's life story. The other champions have been cropped out from the cover photo except for Harry. In fact, the only time Fleur and Krum's names were even mentioned was in the last line of the article. Cedric wasn't even mentioned at all.

It goes without saying that Harry was mortified when the article was released. Especially after he claimed that he didn't say half of what Rita wrote in her 'exclusive interview' with him.

'I know I get my strength from my parents. I know they'd be very proud of me... Sometimes, at night, I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it... I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me...'

But not even the misquotations pissed Harry off as much as the next lie that Rita Skeeter had brewed:

Harry Has Found Love at Hogwarts.

It's reported that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of (Y/N) (Y/L/N), a stunningly pretty American witch who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school.

But (Y/N) isn't the only one in the running for Harry's affections. Muggleborn, Hermione Granger, is one of Potter's earliest friends and reported to be close to him as well.

Which girl will win the heart of The Boy Who Lived in the end?

As soon as I read this, I went to find Cedric immediately to make sure he didn't believe the fibs that Rita Skeeter was writing.

Fortunately, he didn't.

Cedric had the patience of a saint. His selflessness and consideration only made me attracted to him even more. Anyone else in his position would be outraged at being dismissed as a champion the way that Rita did to him in the paper, but he was incredibly understanding to the whole situation— and was even concerned for Harry and me after reading the lies that Rita spewed up in the Daily Prophet.

The truth was that the moment the article had appeared, Harry, Hermione, and I had to endure the expected taunts from the Slytherins. Harry had it the worse, of course, but that didn't make me exempt.

"Stunningly pretty? Her!?" Pansy Parkinson shrieked the first time we had come face-to-face after Rita's article had appeared, "What was she judging against... a troll!?"

The group of Slytherin girls around Pansy howled in laughter, and I usually wouldn't have bothered to even retaliate but Draco Malfoy caught my eye.

He was leaning back against the stone wall with crossed arms, and he had the nerve to sneer at Pansy's insult, which didn't sit right with me.

"I don't know, Pansy... Malfoy seemed to have agreed with Skeeter on that at one point. Isn't that right, Draco?" I remarked, feigning innocence.

His jaw fell slightly slack at the surprise of me throwing his confession of fancying me last year in his face. I was content with the reaction I got, especially after Pansy started screeching at him angrily— the jealousy igniting in her tone as she demanded him to tell her if what I said was true or not.

I smirked as I walked away, feeling pleased with how I handled the situation and Harry followed me in fascination.

"Is that true!? Malfoy told you he fancied you?" Harry whispered, gloating as we walked to the library to meet Hermione for a study session.

"It is," I replied bashfully, "Sorry I never told you. It was really fucking weird. He found me at the Courtyard studying for our end of the year exams and confessed. We had a proper conversation about it and everything. I even made him promise to ease up on bothering you lot, though that lasted all but a few months." I grumbled apathetically.

"Huh," Harry raised his eyebrows and eyed me, "Guess there really are perks in being a Veela."

"Shut up, he swore it had nothing to do with that," I protested as we stepped into the quiet library. Madam Pince immediately shushed me and we didn't continue the conversation until we approached Hermione who was sitting at her usual table by the large paneled windows.

"Did ya know Malfoy's whipped for (Y/N)? She even used her Veela powers to force him to leave us alone last year." Harry informed Hermione as he slumped down in his seat. I scoffed, shaking my head at the exaggeration as I sat down next to him.

"I do remember finding it odd that he stopped poking fun at us towards the end of the last term..." Hermione mused. She seemed distracted— staring off at the distance behind me.

"What happened then? 'Cause he obviously didn't keep his promise," Harry asked me, immersed in the gossip.

"Cedric happened, I guess. Malfoy and I didn't talk much after that evening, then the whole Sirius situation happened, and then he saw me and Ced walking around Hogsmeade together. He looked really angry about it." I recalled, and Harry's face broke into a big, wicked grin.

"Man, that's amazing. I could only imagine his face! I have to tell R—" Harry suddenly cut himself off, flushing slightly. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Ron? Please do. That will get you both to finally start speaking again and I can call off the intervention for this moronic fight you both are having."

Harry and I both scowled at each other and the conversation was over when he started digging into his book bag to pull out his school materials. When I glanced at Hermione, she was still focused on something behind me.

I turned around to find Victor Krum sitting at a nearby table. There was a group of about ten girls a few feet away from him, giggling and spying on him from behind the bookshelves.

I smirked and faced Hermione whose face was beet-red. She tried hiding behind a textbook that barricaded the both of us but I forced her to look at me by putting the book down.

"What?" she said defensively.

"Nothing. Just noticed you looking at Krum," I replied teasingly, drawing out my words in a suggestive manner.

"His groupies are distracting me and I'm trying to study! That's all..." She stuck her nose in the air and derived our attention to our Charms homework, which we started working on silently.

About an hour later, we got most of our work done and headed back to Gryffindor Tower. Night fell and the corridors were already vacant of most students and staff, which is why we were surprised to run into Hagrid who looked more cleaned up than he usually was.

"Hello Hagrid, you look very nice," Hermione commented with a hint of surprise as she inspected his interesting outfit with curiosity. He was wearing what seemed to be dress robes. They were brown and really old, but more elegant than the furry jacket he usually wears. He was also wearing a bright, orange flower on the front pocket of his robes, to pull the look together.

"Ye think so? Thank ye, Hermione. I'm meetin' someone tonight. Harry, can ey talk to ye?"

Harry nodded and the both of them walked a few feet away so they were out of our earshot.

"Well, I'm beat. I'll see you back in our dorm." Hermione smiled wryly and set off hurriedly.

I would've gone with her if my curiosity hadn't got the best of me.

I watched Harry and Hagrid converse. Hagrid looked as if he were telling Harry a secret, as he bent down and spoke to him in hushed tones. Eventually, Hagrid sauntered off towards his cabin and Harry walked towards me, looking puzzled.

"What did he want?" I asked.

"He wants me to meet him in his cabin in a few minutes. Says he has something to show me. I'm supposed to wear my cloak." he replied, already yanking the old cloth that was the Invisibility Cloak from his book bag.

"Want me to wait for you here?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.

"Yeah, please. I'll be back in a few," Harry nodded, smiling at me appreciatively. We scanned the hallway to make sure it was empty before he draped his cloak over himself and was out of sight.

I was left standing awkwardly alone in the middle of the hallway, but luckily— I was right beside the Courtyard, so I decided to step outside to the grassy opening to enjoy the light breeze of the night's air against my skin.

As I let the moonlight embrace me, I thought about how I wished that this Courtyard solely symbolized the place where Cedric and I sat down to get to know each other for the first time.

But it also reminded me of Draco.

It was here where Draco bizarrely apologized to me and told me he liked me. And even though I teased him about it earlier, I really did enjoy talking to him that day. He was charismatic and sincere and I wished he were that way all the time.

I felt a strange longing as I accepted the fact that I would never get to talk to Draco that way again.

He let his insolent and childish traits get the best of him by deciding to be angry at Cedric and I and in turn, lashing out on my loved ones.

If he didn't choose to be that way, maybe we could be friends.

Friends with Draco Malfoy?

It sounded impossible.

The way he treated Hermione at the World Cup was borderline unforgivable. I wanted nothing to with him after that night. And I absolutely loathed him when he ridiculed Ron's parents, so why was I still thinking about that evening in the Courtyard?

I heard voices across the expanse which pulled me away from my thoughts. I squinted my eyes in the darkness, making out the silhouettes of a group of boys who were conversing brightly with one another and puffing their cigarette smoke up to the night's sky.

I started walking towards them as soon as I recognized one of the voices.

"Aren't you Hufflepuffs supposed to be nice?" I teased as I narrowed my eyes at Cedric's friends who were all wearing POTTER STINKS badges.

The group of boys roared in laughter and I grinned as Cedric opened his arms for me, pulling me tightly into his chest.

"Hi, champion," I muttered into his neck as I drew back from the hug to look at him. He smiled down at me as he brushed some strands of hair from my face.

"I told them I don't like those pins, but they won't listen. They're even selling them, the plonkers," Cedric explained, giving his friends a pointed look.

"Tsk, tsk. So it's you lot who are making my friend's life a living hell," I shook my head in disapproval, turning to look at the other Hufflepuff boys.

"Sorry, sweetheart but I'm making a galleon per pin! They're in popular demand, too. You'll have to kill me to stop me from selling these... I'd love to see you try," replied one of the boys smugly. His name was Nick. I recognized him because I met him in the library, last year, where he tried to flirt with me. It was that same day that Cedric intervened to introduce himself to me for the first time.

I didn't say anything but simply rolled my eyes as a response.

"You want a ciggie?" another one of Cedric's friends offered, digging into his pocket.

"Sure," I replied without giving it a second thought.

I really didn't care for smoking cigarettes but I didn't want the group to think I was being judgmental towards them.

I wanted Ced's friends to like me.

I stepped towards the boy and took the lit cigarette he offered me. I inhaled the smoke into my lungs, letting it stay there for a few seconds before I slowly puffed it out.

Everyone's eyes were on me.

The Hufflepuff's were staring at me dumbfoundedly, and Cedric noticed which is why he snaked his arm around my waist and pulled my back towards him territorially.

I awkwardly cleared my throat and turned my back towards the group to face the Triwizard Champion behind me.

It was a rare occasion, but Cedric looked pissed. His jaw was clenched as he looked at his friends sternly.

It was tactless for them to look at me so vehemently in front of Cedric, but I was sure that the Veela effect had crept up and grasped their attention somehow.

"Hey, do you smoke?" I murmured to him softly, pulling his attention away as his opaline grey eyes looked down at me.

"Mhm, occasionally..."

I offered him my cigarette and he took it from me gently, putting it between his lips and puffing the smoke in.

My lips parted as I watched him lean his head back to blow the smoke away.

Every anti-smoking campaign wept at that moment.

Cedric made smoking look so good.

"What?" he asked me, smiling slyly.

"You're really pretty," I cooed to him softly so only he could hear. Cedric broke into a goofy smile, laughing giddily as he cupped my face in his big hands.

"Look whose talking... you belong on the front page of a magazine, looking like this," he exclaimed as his eyes roamed my face dotingly. I was sure he could feel the heat on my cheeks as I blushed, but I didn't care. We were so entranced with each other at that moment that we even forgot that his friends were only a few feet away from us.

I wanted to kiss him.

My body ached to kiss him.

And I knew the thought was playing in his mind too because his eyes were locked on my lips. His thumb traced my bottom lip lightly, and I couldn't contain myself anymore. I stood on the tip of my toes to close the distance between our faces. My heart was hammering in my chest as we leaned towards each other but then—

"(Y/N)!" a whispering voice called out to me from somewhere in the dark.

"Fucks sake," I groaned out irritatedly. Cedric snickered and leaned down to smooch the tip of my nose as my eyes roamed the Courtyard, in search of whoever called my name.

That's when I spotted Harry underneath the large oak tree. He urgently beckoned me to go and talk to him.

"I'll be back," I mumbled to Cedric as I walked away from him.

As I approached Harry, I noticed his face was drained of color and he had a distant look in his eyes that really freaked me out.

"So? What was it?" I asked him nervously.

"Hagrid went on a date with Madame Maxine... to show her what we're going up against for the first task...."

"And?"

"Dragons," He whispered out so softly that I barely heard him. We stared at each other in silence for a few passing seconds. My heart was in my throat as I processed what he just told me.

"Shit," I finally breathed out.

"Four, enormous, fire-breathing, bloody dragons...." Harry repeated with a petrified look in his eyes as he ran his hand through his black, overgrown hair.

"That is insane, Harry..." I uttered as I bit down on my bottom lip nervously. I spent the past weeks avoiding any thoughts regarding the Triwizard Tournament. I called peoples bluffs and considered them to be exaggerating when they spoke about beasts and other menacing trials that the champions would have to defeat but really, I was in denial. I didn't want to believe it to be a possibility that two of the dearest people in my life would have to face such dangers but I couldn't escape it anymore.

"There's something else," Harry continued, looking at me again, "I ran into Karkaroff in the Forbidden Forest, he was spying on the dragons as well. That means that both Fleur and Krum know. They're probably getting prepared already—"

"Wait. But that means that the only one who doesn't know is..."

I turned to look at the beautiful brown-haired boy leaning against the wall with his friends. He was laughing and he looked so at peace. I hated that it would soon be disturbed, for Cedric would surely soon be panicking like Harry was. But he had to know. He had to be prepared or else he could be hurt.

"Harry you have to tell him," I pleaded, grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him towards the wall where Cedric and his friends were lounging by.

"Yeah, alright." Harry huffed out as he followed me.

"OI, ITS POTTER!"

"HEY POTTER, FANCY A PIN?"

"HEY! READ THE BADGE, POTTER!"

Nick and the other Hufflepuffs started jeering at Harry but he didn't pay any attention to them, ignoring them completely as he strode towards Cedric who looked embarrassed by his friends.

"Can I have a word?" Harry asked Cedric who immediately nodded, accompanying us as we walked back to the tree where Harry and I were talking a few moments prior.

"Hey listen. About the badges. I've asked them not to wear them, but—"

"Dragons," Harry said, interrupting Cedric's apology curtly, "That's the first task. They've got one for each of us. We've got to get past them."

I frowned as I watched Cedric's face intently, his expression turning more grave by the second.

"Are you serious?" Cedric said in a hushed voice. I noticed the panic flickering in his eyes the same way they did in Harry's.

"Dead serious. I just came from seeing them," Harry confirmed.

"Fleur and Krum, do they know?"

"Yes."

"Right..."

I watched as the two champions stared at each other in silent shock. I wanted so badly to whisk them far away from the perils of the tournament but it was only a few days away and they both had to find a way to get past a dragon.

A fucking dragon.

"Well... Thank you for telling me, Harry. I would've walked into that first task without knowing what to expect if it wasn't for you,"

"Yeah... Sure,"

Harry looked incredibly exhausted so I didn't take much time saying my goodbyes to Cedric. The whole journey back towards Gryffindor Tower was completely silent. I left Harry to his thoughts as we walked the vacant hallways.

"Banana Fritters," I mumbled the password to the Fat Lady morosely and we stepped inside the Common Room.

I was about to say goodnight to Harry when I noticed that Ron was sitting in front of the fireplace, with his homework laid out all around him. His red hair was disheveled and he looked extremely stressed out. Hermione and I usually helped him with assignments, but now with this newfound separation, he had no one to lend him a hand anymore. I felt guilt for abandoning him.

"You're a right foul git, you know that?" Harry seethed at Ron abruptly.

"Are you serious!?" I whipped around to look at him with an incredulous look. I couldn't believe that after the night he had, he still had the energy to pick a pointless fight with Ron.

"You think so?" Ron replied blankly.

"I know so!" Harry snapped back at him, walking towards the staircase.

"Anything else?" Ron asked him, looking unbothered.

"Yeah. Stay away from me!" snarled Harry as he bounded up the stairs.

I heard Harry slam the door of his dorm room and I scoffed at him, taking a seat next to Ron. He watched me silently as I looked over his homework, picking up a quill and filling in some answers for him.

"He didn't mean any of that, you know. He's just having a rough time..." I broke the silence after a while, already having finished three parchments worth of coursework for him. I peered up and found him staring at the wall with a far-off look in his eyes.

"No, he means it. And he's got a right to," Ron murmured out and surprised me. I half expected him to stubbornly defend himself just as Harry did.

"Do... do you agree with him?" he asked me apprehensively, his blue eyes meeting my own solemnly.

"What? That you're a right foul git?" I teased him lightly, but Ron just stared at me expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"You both are acting like gits, Ronnie. This whole fight is so fucking stupid,"

Ron sighed, rubbing his large hands on his face tiredly. I started helping him clear up by picking up his coursework and organizing them into a tidy pile.

It was upsetting seeing Ron like this. There was no possible way to pick sides when both he and Harry were being so foolish, but the truth was that Ron was the one who acted irrationally first.

Harry was just as surprised as the rest of us when he found out he was the fourth champion in the tournament, and it was unfair for Ron to turn his back on his best friend when he needed him the most. I couldn't understand why Ron even reacted with such indignation in the first place.

"Ron... can I ask why you got so upset? Because Harry didn't put his name in that goblet," I asked him tentatively, almost afraid that he'd explode on me like Harry and he did around each other.

"It's not just the tournament... I mean, it was that... but after meeting with Charlie earlier, and seeing what the champions will be up against in the first task, I figured he'd have to be mad to put his name in that goblet willingly. It's just... for the past three years that I've known him... I've felt overshadowed by him. Everyone only knows me as Ron Weasley, Harry Potter's best friend."

"Ron, come on... we're all known for that," I rolled my eyes, not being able to count the number of times that someone has come up to me to ask if I'm 'the girl that hangs around the Harry Potter'. It came with being his friend.

"No, that's not true." Ron argued as he shook his head, "Hermione's wicked smart. Everyone knows that Hermione Granger is the best in our class. And you're... admired by many," Ron blushed furiously, pink blotches pooling into his cheeks as he continued, "You're the gorgeous, charming, American transfer student with a quick-witted sense of humor. Everyone wants to get to know you. People weren't even paying attention to Harry last year, 'cause they was focused on you,"

I felt my face flush as I looked down at the carpet-covered floor to try to hide my embarrassment. Ron didn't seem to notice as he continued.

"And me, I'm just... Ron Weasley. There's nothing brilliant about me. Not even at home. Bill's bloody cool. Charlie's this incredible Dragonologist. Both of them have done more than I have when they were my age. And they've got the looks— don't deny it. I saw you drooling at the sight of them during the summer," Ron gruffed the last sentence broodily, making me bite my cheek to stop myself from showing any reaction, "Percy's the smart one, everyone's obsessed with Fred and George because they're a riot, Ginny's the only girl and the baby of the family, and I'm just... there. Absolutely ordinary. I bet my mum would trade me to have Harry as a son in a heartbeat..."

"Ron, don't say that—"

"No, it's true. Basically wets herself in excitement whenever she sees him. Always fucking coddling him..."

"Ron, that's not true!" I argued, frowning at him in disapproval for even thinking that Molly would prefer Harry as a son.

"It is true. So I just got fed up, y'know? I wanted my chance of glory. I wanted to do my mum and dad proud. I wanted to bring pride to my family's name. And he knew that. But we agreed that we wouldn't put our names in together, so you can understand why I felt double-crossed the moment his name rose from the bloody goblet,"

"But he didn't—"

"I know he didn't, (Y/N). I overreacted. I just... wasn't looking forward to another year of him being worshipped by everyone again."

Ron fell silent. He looked so miserable that it made my heart feel heavy in my chest. I wanted to point out that Harry was having a difficult time but I decided to shut up on the subject altogether. Instead, I crawled closer to him and hugged him tightly. I felt his body tense under me, startled by my actions, but he eventually wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into a tighter hug.

"It's my turn to talk now," I said to him as I pulled away. I gently grasped his jaw and tilted his head up, forcing him to look at me.

"Ron Weasley, you are far from ordinary. You're kind-hearted. Funny. Brave. Handsome. So ridiculously good in Wizard Chess, to the point it's annoying," I added teasingly, and we both giggled. I brushed strands of red locks off his face so I could look at him better before continuing, "You're a great son. A great brother. A wonderful friend. There's so much good to you but you're not ordinary. You're the best friend I could ever ask for and I feel ridiculously lucky to know you. I'm proud to be your friend, Ron. Do you hear me?"

Ron was staring at me with glossy eyes that were lightly brimming with tears. He drew in a shaky breath, nodding silently as he stared at me warmly. Despite his size, he looked like a little boy in that moment. I've never seen him so vulnerable and I loved to be able to know this side of him.

"Thanks, (Y/N)..." Ron said quietly, smiling at me coyly. I stood up, patting down my school skirt before offering him a hand. I watched him fumble to grab his school materials before he took my hand to stand up to his full height. I was slightly staggered when seeing how tall he was. I haven't been around Ron for awhile so I forgot how he made me feel like Professor Flitwick when standing next to him.

"Don't thank me, Weasley. I'll always be reminding you all of this. But I never want to hear you talk down on yourself again. Alright?"

"Yeah, alright."

✩ next chapter: the first task ✩

11 notes · View notes

papervenom · 11 days ago

Text

✩ chapter ten: fleur delacour ✩

chapter warnings: friendship conflict, light angst, fleur and reader discuss sexual harassment, mild violence

word count: 4.6k

INSATIABLE MASTERLIST⋆˙⟡

October 10th, 1994

The last few weeks have been the worst I've spent at Hogwarts yet.

It was difficult to be Harry and Ron's friend when they weren't speaking to each other.

It was absurd, and I tried to tell Ron how unfair he was being— but Harry told me not to bother.

Fortunately, Hermione believed Harry when he said he hadn't submitted his name in the goblet.

We were walking around the Black Lake during breakfast as Harry mulled over his fight with Ron.

"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione exclaimed exasperatedly, "He's jealous!"

"Jealous!?" Harry replied incredulously. "Jealous of what? He wants to make an idiot of himself in front of the whole school!?"

"Harry..." I spoke to him gently, trying to get him to see the situation from Ron's perspective, "it's always been you who gets all the attention. I know it's not your fault—" I added quickly, seeing Harry open his mouth furiously. "I know you don't ask for it... but— Ron already has all those brothers to compete with back at home. And then he has you as his best friend, and you're really famous. He's put up with you getting all the attention, which is probably why he's never mentioned it, but I guess he reached his limit... "

"Great," Harry spat out. "Really great! You two can tell him I'll swap any time he wants! People gawking at my fucking forehead everywhere I go... "

"I'm not telling him anything," Hermione replied to him curtly, "Tell him yourself."

"I'm not running around after him to get him to act his age!" Harry yelled so loudly that several birds in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. "Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying myself once I break my neck or—"

"That's not funny," I snapped at him.

So far into the Triwizard Tournament, Harry nor Cedric could enter a room without it breaking into applause.

Cedric had the support of most of the school, though— and only the Gryffindors would cheer for Harry whenever they saw him.

The Hufflepuffs, who were usually friendly with Gryffindors, had become cold toward us.

They clearly felt as if Harry had stolen their champion's glory.

I could understand the Hufflepuffs' attitude— they had their own champion to support, and I expected nothing less than vicious insults from the Slytherins, but I hoped that the Ravenclaws might have found it in their hearts to support Harry as much as Cedric.

But they didn't.

Most of the Ravenclaws seemed to think that Harry had been desperate to earn himself more fame and tricked the goblet into accepting his entry.

More than half of the school considered Harry to be a cheat and viewed him as someone who thirsted for attention.

Harry and I would linger in the Common Room every night, after everyone left for bed, and sat in front of the fireplace to talk about his troubles until we felt tired.

I knew this was mainly because he didn't want to go up to his shared dorm room with Ron, but I didn't mind— I wanted to provide comfort for my friend in any way possible.

Harry told me he was having the worst time at Hogwarts, as well.

The closest he had ever come to feeling like this had been during his second year when the school suspected him of opening the Chamber of Secrets and attacking students.

But Ron had been on his side then.

He thought he could have coped with the rest of the school's behavior if Ron had his back, but he wasn't going to try and persuade Ron to talk to him if Ron didn't want to.

I was surprised when Harry also shared his insecurities regarding Cedric with me.

He claimed that Cedric looked the part of a champion more than he did— being exceptionally tall and handsome with his dark hair and grey eyes— which got him to receive a lot of admiration.

I couldn't argue because he was right.

Cedric was being treated completely opposite to Harry.

People were behaving towards him as if he were some sort of hero, and I hated to admit that it got on my nerves.

It was hard to say who was receiving more admiration these days— Cedric or Viktor Krum.

Groups of girls would go up to Cedric to ask him to sign their school bags and would follow him around like lost puppies, swooning over his every step.

Even when I was with him.

I felt like I wasn't able to say anything because, even though Cedric and I were romantically involved, we weren't exclusive— so I had no right to be territorial over him.

Besides, he didn't seem to mind the attention at all.

Cedric and I were talking less and a rumor even broke out that we weren't seeing each other anymore and that I've left him for Harry.

This only resulted in the group of simpering girls that stalked Cedric to duplicate.

Nevertheless, Harry felt lonely with dislike pouring on all sides for him and my heart broke when he even started crying.

We didn't talk much after that.

I just hugged him tightly as we sat in silence.

This all weighed in on Harry's miserable mood and he finally snapped one day before our Potions lesson.

Hermione, Harry, and I arrived at Snape's dungeon one afternoon, after lunch, and found each of the Slytherins wearing a large badge on the front of their robes that read:

SUPPORT DIGGORY— THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION!

And when they pressed on the badge, the previous messaged vanished and was replaced by another which read:

POTTER STINKS!

"Ah, look, it's the champion! Better get a signature now, because I doubt he's going to be around much longer... Half the Triwizard champions have died... how long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task's my bet! " Malfoy announced loudly as we approached.

"Like them, Potter?" he sneered at Harry, showing off his badge proudly.

I scowled at Ron who was standing against the wall with Dean and Seamus.

He wasn't laughing, but he wasn't sticking up for Harry either.

"Want one, Granger?" asked Malfoy after Harry didn't answer, holding out a badge to Hermione. "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it— don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."

People around us scrambled out of the way and backed down the corridor when I reached for my wand, but Harry stood in front of me and pulled out his own instead.

"Harry!" Hermione said warningly.

"Go on, then, Potter," Malfoy murmured quietly as he drew out his wand as well, "Moody isn't here to look after you now... do it if you've got the guts..."

Both boys stared at each other loathsomely and then, synchronously, they both acted.

"Furnunculus!" Harry yelled.

"Flipendo!" screamed Malfoy.

Jets of light from both wands collided in mid-air and bounced off at different angles, with Harry's hitting Goyle in the face and Malfoy's hitting me. I felt a blow on my torso as I got thrown on the floor violently, the air getting knocked out of my lungs.

"(Y/N)!"

Ron threw himself on the floor next to me to check if I was alright.

I felt light-headed as he picked me up in his arms, perching me onto his lap so I wouldn't be laying on the floor limply.

Every Gryffindor was calling my name anxiously, and I even caught a glimpse of Malfoy craning his neck as he looked down at me worriedly.

"(Y/N), are you alright?" Harry crouched down to check on me and I nodded back to him weakly.

Snape had arrived, and the Slytherins were clamoring to give their explanations, but the Professor pointed a long finger at Malfoy, who looked incredibly guilty.

"Explain," Snape demanded.

"Potter attacked me, sir—"

"We attacked each other at the same time!" Harry shouted.

"— and he hit Goyle, look!"

Snape examined Goyle, whose face was springing up with ugly boils.

"Hospital wing, Goyle," Snape said calmly.

"Malfoy got (Y/N)!" Harry and Ron both growled angrily and I started to stand up slowly, wincing slightly at the soreness I felt.

I already knew I would be bruising up.

"(Y/N) is fine," I grumbled. Ron held on to me tightly to prevent me from falling down.

I glared at Draco angrily.

"The Knockback Jinx? Really, Malfoy? Even your dueling is pathetic!" I seethed at him, and his ears started reddening as he stared back at me in shock.

"Very well, very well. (Y/L/N) seems perfectly fine, by me, so let's see... Fifty points from Gryffindor and detention each for Potter and Weasley. Now get inside, or it'll be a week's worth of detentions."

We walked into the Potions classroom angrily from the injustice of Malfoy being let off.

Both Harry and Ron slammed their bookbags on their desks and were shaking with anger.

They weren't talking to each other but were both staring at Snape so furiously, and for a moment, things almost seemed normal again.

I smiled to myself slightly, willing to recieve thousands of Knockback Jinxes if it meant for my friends to reconcile.

"You should all have prepared your antidote recipes. I want you to brew them carefully, and then, we will be selecting someone on whom to test one..." Snape instructed, looking around the class malevolently.

I caught Draco peering at me over his shoulder a few times, remorse painted all over his face.

Around the fifth time of him doing this, I raised my middle finger at him when Snape wasn't looking, causing him to roll his eyes and face the front of the classroom.

༻✦༺

October 24th, 1994

Ever since Harry and Ron stopped talking, it put a strain on Ron and my friendship as well, since I rarely left Harry's side.

After I got jinxed by Draco, though, Ron would check in on me a couple times a day to make sure I was okay.

I missed Ron, and even though he was being so childish, I spared some of my leisure time to spend with him.

"I taught you all of this last year, how did you already forget?" Ron teased as I made a wrong move during Wizarding Chess which caused one of his pieces to smash mine off the board.

"I didn't forget. It's just unfair playing against you," I pouted.

Ron's blue eyes roamed the board intently, his tongue peeking out the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on his next move.

He reached forward and moved another one of his pieces again, which sprung to life and knocked one of my own off the board again.

"Fucks sake— that's it," I huffed as I picked up one of my pieces and smashed it onto one of Ron's, causing it to break as they did to mine constantly.

"OI! CHEATING!" Ron exclaimed and we giggled skittishly.

My eyes roamed around the Common Room where the other students were doing coursework, or just conversing with one another.

Harry was nowhere to be seen, and I frowned as I imagined him sitting alone in his dorm room.

"I'm going to find Harry... want to come?" I asked Ron hopefully, jumping to my feet and offering him a hand.

"No, I don't want to find Harry," he gruffed, taking my hand anyway and standing up to his full height, "I rather spend time with you."

"Why? You both are being so ridiculous. He's your best friend, Ron..." I complained again, frowning at him.

Ron was quiet as he looked down at his feet, and that's when Harry walking down the staircase. He hesitated before walking towards me, seeing that I was standing next to Ron.

"Hey..." he greeted me, ignoring Ron completely. "All the champions are meeting right now. Something about... a photoshoot. I didn't want to go alone..."

Ron snorted contemptuously when Harry mentioned a photoshoot, causing me to narrow my eyes up at him.

Harry flushed pink and looked away.

"Yeah, sure. Let's go."

I followed him out of the Common Room and we walked in silence towards the entrance hall.

"What do they want photos for?" I asked.

"The Daily Prophet, I think." Harry replied dully, "Exactly what I need. More publicity."

I looked at him sympathetically and reached up to his hair and tried to make it look tidy.

It was hopeless, as it had its tendency to stick out at awkward angles, but I did my best.

When arriving, Harry knocked on the door hesitantly, and it immediately opened for us to enter.

It was a regular, small classroom. The desks have been pushed to the back of the room, leaving a large space in the middle.

Standing in the centre of the room was a blonde witch that I've never seen before, wearing a bright green outfit that made my eyes hurt.

Viktor Krum was standing moodily in a corner, not talking to anybody as he usually did, and Cedric and Fleur were in conversation.

My eyes widened when I noticed that Fleur looked happier than I've ever seen her, throwing her long, silvery hair back as she flirtily spoke to Cedric.

The cameraman was basically drooling over her, but Cedric wore a polite, tight-lipped smile as she spoke.

"Ah, here he is! Champion number four! In you come, Harry, nothing to worry about, it's just the wand weighing ceremony. The judges will be here in a moment—" the blonde witch exclaimed when she noticed Harry.

"Wand weighing?" Harry repeated anxiously.

"They have to check that your wands are fully functional. And then there's going to be a little photoshoot. My name is Rita Skeeter, I'll be doing a piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet... I wonder if I could have a little word with you, Harry? Before we start?"

"Er—" replied Harry, glancing at me apprehensively but Rita Skeeter was already pulling him away, towards a broom cupboard.

I watched them inquisitively as they both squish into the tight space, and closed the door behind them.

My eyes flickered back to Cedric and Fleur, and this time his eyes met mine.

My heart did summersaults as he excused himself to Fleur and was walking towards me.

Fleur seemed so appalled and offended to be dismissed so nonchalantly, that she glowered at me furiously.

I crossed my arms tightly across my chest in defense, feeling intimidated by the gorgeous Beauxbatons champion.

"Hey... what are you doing here?" Cedric asked me with happy surprise in his tone, as he pulled me into a one-armed hug.

"I'm here with Harry," I replied shortly.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise, so discreetly that I almost didn't notice.

"What?" I asked defensively.

"No, nothing... but it's just a photoshoot. Why would he need you to accompany him here?" he asked, his eyes peering to the broom cupboard where Rita and Harry have disappeared.

He almost looked jealous.

"My friend needs me, Cedric... he's not enjoying this like you are. People aren't being as enthusiastic towards him like they are to you..." I was annoyed with Cedric.

Not only because we didn't speak for days, but because he didn't even try to understand what Harry was going through right now.

He was so wrapped up in his own perspective as a champion, that he disregarded everything else.

"I know... I'm sorry. You're a good friend, (Y/N)..." he apologized, lacing his fingers with my own but I pulled away.

"Have you been avoiding me?" I asked him curiously.

"No, I thought you were avoiding me. You seemed distracted, so... I figured you needed your space."

"Maybe I was avoiding you, I don't know." I sighed, looking away shamefully. "I didn't want to ruin your fun. You're so thrilled to be a champion, and I'm happy you're happy but you know I still have my concerns with this tournament... Besides, I had to be there for Harry— no one else believes that he didn't put his name in the goblet."

Cedric's eyebrows furrowed together as he cupped my face in his hands, tilting it up so my eyes met his.

"You could never ruin anything," he muttered lowly so only I could hear. My eyes flickered to look at Krum and Fleur behind him and saw that they were looking at us with great interest.

"I've missed you, (Y/N). I don't enjoy not talking to you..." Cedric retrieved my attention, and we stared at each other for a few seconds in tender silence.

"Please, never give me space again..." I sighed and he pulled me into a bear hug. At this same time, the cupboard had opened and Harry came stumbling out looking disoriented and uncomfortable.

"Ai 'ave been instructed to get Cedric so we can take ze photographs," Fleur informed us snottily, and Cedric stepped away after planting a big smooch on my cheek.

Fleur lingered though, looking at me curiously and I felt braver this time as I stared back at her defiantly.

"You are just like me.... You are Veela..." she finally spoke out in a heavy French accent as she inspected me closely.

"Y-yeah, I have a distant relation, how could you tell?" I replied back, startled.

Fleur tossed her long, silvery hair back and gave me a warm smile, to my surprise.

"Because you're absulute-lee gorgeous, mon chérie. Ai 'ave been trying to get Cedric to ask me out ever since ai first met him. Ai even used my Charm on him, which usually works, but not wit him, ai suppose... until you walked in and stole all ze attention."

"What 'Charm'?" I asked curiously, and her blue eyes widened.

"Your Veela Charm, of cours'! Nobody ever taught you to use ze Charm before?"

I shook my head, curious to learn more about my Veela capabilities which I was clearly unaware I possessed. Fleur looked over her shoulder where all the other champions were now arranged for their photos, and smiled at me apologetically.

"Ai 'ave to go now. How about after le wand weighing? Ai can tell you all about it!" she suggested excitedly and I agreed immediately, having something to look forward to now.

Fleur sat next to Krum, and both Cedric and Harry stood behind their chairs.

Standing behind the cameraman were Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Mr. Crouch, Dumbledore, and Rita Skeeter.

Flashes of light went off as the cameraman took a few photos that I knew would be moving when displayed on the Daily Prophet. My eyes were on Cedric the entire time, as he looked at the lens with his charming smile. Rita sprang up from her seat when she felt there were enough photographs, and approached the champions.

"What a charismatic quartet!" she gasped at the sight of the group. "I'm Rita Skeeter. I write for the Daily Prophet. But of course, you know that. It's you we don't know..."

Rita trailed off, running her tongue over her teeth as she stared at the champions hungrily. They were all evidently uncomfortable around her.

"You are the juicy news... What mysteries do those muscles mask? Does courage lie beneath those curls?" Rita approached Cedric, running her hand up his arms and my mouth dropped as I watched it disappear into his hair, ruffling it slightly. His jaw clenched and his grey eyes glanced to where I stood and we shared a look of disturbance.

"May I introduce Mr. Ollivander?" Dumbledore interrupted, disregarding Rita and talking to the champions. "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."

I recognized Ollivander from when I purchased my wand a year ago. The champions all stood in a line and Ollivander took his time to inspect each of the champion's wands closely. He spent much longer examining Harry's wand than anyone else's— making a fountain of water shoot out of it, and handed it back to Harry, announcing that it was still in perfect condition.

"Thank you all," said Dumbledore, standing up once the wand weighing ceremony was over. Harry and Cedric both approached me, greeting each other awkwardly. Cedric's arms snaked themselves around my waist, pulling me into him to cuddle me from behind. Harry looked at us uneasily and I rolled my eyes remembering how Cedric looked slightly jealous earlier when we talked about Harry. He was probably buying into the school's ridiculous rumors that Harry and I were a thing.

"You heading back to the tower?" I asked Harry and he shook his head.

"No, I'm going to check if... Padfoot replied to my letter. I'll see you at dinner?"

Harry's green eyes flickered to Cedric to check if he was suspicious at the mention of Sirius' nickname but he clearly wasn't. I nodded and watched as Harry left the room with everyone else.

Cedric nuzzled his face in my neck and I grinned, missing the feeling of having him close.

"Padfoot?" He murmured against my skin, and I turned around to face him.

"A friend of ours," I replied and smiled up at him warmly, admiring Cedric's handsome features.

"Where do you want to go? We can hang out at the library before dinner? Or you can come back to the Hufflepuff Common Room...?" Cedric suggested, and my heart sank, knowing I couldn't flake on Fleur.

"Fuck, I wish. But I have to go, too. Fleur and I were going to talk just now..." I frowned at him. Surely enough, Fleur was already standing by the door, waiting for me. She gave us a dazzling smile when she saw us looking. She looked like a model.

"I didn't know you two were friends," Cedric replied to me, surprise in his tone.

"We're not. Not yet, at least. She figured out I was of Veela descent, somehow, and offered to inform me more about it."

"Alright, then. But I miss you, okay? I want to spend time with you."

"We will," I assured him, and got up on my tippy toes to reach my lips to his cheek. I said goodbye and walked to Fleur who was smirking at me.

"You 'ave got zat boy whipped," she giggled. I blushed and followed her out into the hallway.

Fleur asked me to show her around the castle, claiming that she spent most of her time in the Beauxbatons carriages, and I complied. She wasn't exactly impressed, though, with her constant remarks about how her school was much more elegant and more magnificent than Hogwarts could ever be.

We walked past the high ceilings, the Courtyard, and the moving staircases but nothing dazzled her.

There were a couple of male students who gaped at the sight of us strutting down the halls. One of them even walked into a pillar because he couldn't take his eyes off us. Fleur giggled brightly as she watched the boy scramble back to his feet.

"How long 'ave boys been actin' foolish around you?"

"Oh, no... that was all you," I replied, gesturing back to the pillar that the boy bumped into. "That has never happened to me before..."

"Really? Nevair?" Fleur asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. I was about to emphasize that I have never gotten such an intense reaction but then I remembered that cat-calling and jiving from the boys' in the compartments of the Hogwarts Express and the chaos of the entrance hall that began once I walked in.

"Ai thought so. It gets more intense as we grow older. How distant is your Veela relashion?"

I thought about this for a few seconds as we turned to walk down another corridor.

"I, uh... I'm not sure. My grandmother could've been half-Veela? And maybe my great-grandmother was a Veela? It should be very distant, though..."

"Well," she sniffed proudly, "My grandmother was a Veela. It 'as its perks but also its downfalls... You said you didn't know about le Veela Charm? I'll teach you 'ow."

Cormac McLaggen was walking on the opposite side of the corridor. He was a Gryffindor and a year older than I was. He would flirt intensely with every girl in our House. It was borderline perverse.

We caught his attention and a lecherous smirk grew on his face when he noticed me and Fleur. He puffed his chest out, trying his best to look attractive but he soon faltered in his step. His glazed eyes were fixated on Fleur, and the books in his hands all fell to the floor— pooling around his feet.

A surprised laugh escaped my lips as I watched Fleur comb her hair with her fingers seductively, staring at Cormac. When she turned to look at me, Cormac seemed to snap out of his transfixed state and looked at his surroundings, clearly disoriented, and bent down to pick up his books.

"How do you do that?" I whispered to her excitedly as we walked away.

"Confidence! It is vital. You find your confidencé and let it surge you. You will feel zo powairful, and if you direct it towards someone, you'll charm zem. You can usual-lee get a man to do whatévair you want, zis way."

I thought about this newfound ability and wondered if I would ever use it. It felt wrong— like coercing.

"You said there's a downfall in being Veela?" I asked her curiously, and her face suddenly fell. She looked more serious and slightly uncomfortable.

"Oh... oui. Men are pigs, sometimes. It is in zeir nature. Zey flirt and touch wizout consent. Women are beautiful flowairs, we are more powerful than ze man— Veela or not. Zey don't deserve to even look at us. Ai had men unconsentfully kiss me, before. It was répulsivé."

Fleur shuddered and my heart sank.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Fleur," I replied solemnly and she smiled at me kindly.

"It is what it is. Men are usual-lee interested in Veelas because zey aré Veela. Zey objectify us. Don't gét to know us but are transfixed by our beauty."

My thoughts wandered off to last year, when I doubted if Cedric liked me for who I was or because he was under the Veela spell. It was still an underlying insecurity that I had. I wanted to think that everything that has happened between me and Cedric had been genuine.

"You don't 'ave to worry abut Cedric. Ai charmed zat handsome boy ze bést ai could and he didn't even look slightly interested."

Fleur spoke when she noticed my silence, seeming to have read my thoughts. She had a scowl on her face, looking remarkably pissed and I tried to hide the pleased look on my face.

"How do you know if they're truly into you or just interested that you're a Veela?" I asked.

"You usual-lee can't know. But you can tell when zere are other Veelas around. If they are charmed by you, zén they could be easily charmed by another Veela. But if zey only 'ave eyes for you... zen is you zey truly like..."

The bell that indicated that it was time for dinner rang, and students started spilling into the corridor. Girls and boys waved at Fleur giddily, thrilled to see one of the Triwizard champions.

"Well, ai 'avé to go back to le carriages. Madame Maxine is probably wondering where ai am."

"Fleur, thank you so much. I wouldn't have known these details if it wasn't for you. I appreciate it."

She startled me when she pulled me into a hug, kissing both my cheeks lovingly.

"Of course, mon chéri. Ai am here for you, anytime. Us Veela girls 'ave to stick together."

She winked and walked elegantly towards one of the exits to head outside.

"Good luck on the tournament!" I called after her, and she paused at the doorway, smirking at me over her shoulder.

"I'm going to take those liddle boys down"

✩ next chapter: dragons ✩

9 notes · View notes

papervenom · 11 days ago

Text

✩ chapter nine: the champions ✩

chapter warnings: friendship arguments, anxiety, light angst

word count: 5.7k

INSATIABLE MASTERLIST⋆˙⟡

September 3rd, 1994

"(Y/N), don't be like this. Will you please talk to me?" Cedric called out, his voice echoing across the expanse hallway which gained the attention of other students but I ignored him as I kept striding quickly towards Gryffindor Tower.

I knew he was bound to catch up to me soon, but I had one more corridor to go until I reached my Common Room so I didn't slow down.

"Balderdash!" I called out the password to the painting of the Fat Lady as soon as I rounded the corner— and she seemed to have heard me because the painting swung open.

I was about to climb into the portrait hole but two hands wrapped themselves around my waist, pulling me back.

"I don't want to do this right now." my voice came out strained as Cedric turned me around to face him.

I stared straight past him, refusing to look him in the eyes.

"(Y/N)... c'mon," he coaxed me, gently.

I had my arms crossed tightly across my chest, my back touching the wall as Cedric's lean figure towered over me.

"I just wanted you to tell me first... that's all I asked from you," I spoke softly, not trusting my voice to speak out any louder than a murmur.

He tilted my chin up, forcing me to look into his eyes and my heart sank deeper in my chest.

I felt warmth pool into my face and this time, it wasn't due to anger.

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me, I'm sorry..." Cedric apologized with pleading eyes as he pressed his forehead against mine. "It all happened so fast— The Triwizard Tournament is an opportunity of a lifetime and I didn't want to regret not putting my name in that cup..."

I felt my irritation return and I scoffed a laugh, rolling my eyes as I pulled away from him.

"Balderdash," I said again, and the painting opened once more but before I could even reach it, Cedric pushed the painting back into the wall, closing the entryway.

"Mind your manners, young man!" shrieked the Fat Lady, scowling down at Cedric but he ignored her.

"Stop it, (Y/N). Talk to me. What are you so worried about? Many students have submitted their names. Fred and George have submitted their names. The probability that I'm going to get picked is implausible."

"You know that's not true, Ced," I argued, running a hand through my hair in frustration.

"As much as I love the twins— there is no way that their names are going to get picked for the tournament. Even if Ron and Harry put their name in that goblet— I wouldn't be worried that they would get picked."

Cedric stared at me confused now, evidently not understanding me and I sighed.

"The Goblet of Fire isn't a random drawing, Cedric. It will only return the names of students it believes are most deserving of representing their schools. Dumbledore said so himself. And that's you! You're literally the perfect candidate for this fucked up tournament! Is it your dad that convinced you to enter? What— is being a Prefect and Quidditch Captain and a good student, not enough!? You need to risk your life now, too? Is the eternal glory worth it?" I was rambling, letting all my thoughts spill past my lips and Cedric kept trying to interject but I didn't let him.

"(Y/N), listen to me. I want this. My father didn't convince me to enter—"

"Just a few days ago you were calling Harry reckless... as if putting your name in the Goblet of Fire isn't reckless! You voiced how you didn't want anything to happen to me— am I not allowed to feel the same for you!? What if you get injured? What if you d-die!?" I gasped at what I was saying, squeezing my eyes shut as I tried to get rid of the awful thought.

Cedric pulled me forward in his arms and I buried my face in his chest, inhaling his scent as I tried to hold myself back from sobbing.

"I just don't want anything bad to happen to you. I care about you, Cedric."

"Darling, nothing is going to happen to me. This is a tournament that is being hosted at a school... if I get picked, I'll be okay..." He whispered, kissing the top of my head and running his fingers through my hair.

Gryffindor students started spilling into the hallway, murmuring at the sight of Cedric and me embracing.

I pulled away from him and said goodnight, entering the portrait hole with the rest of my housemates and dashing straight up to my dorm room, not in the mood to talk to anyone.

I collapsed onto my mattress after getting ready for bed and thought about how good Cedric was.

He was everything good in the world embodied in a nineteen-year-old boy.

I was so lucky to have him in my life and I now feared that he would be taken from me.

༻✦༺

September 8, 1994

A week had passed since the Triwizard Tournament had first been introduced.

Tonight, the three champions would be chosen and I woke up with a horrible feeling of dread in the deep pit of my stomach.

The whole castle was decorated for the event.

There were gigantic, silk banners hung from the walls of The Great Hall, each of them representing a Hogwarts House— red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, and green with a silver serpent for Slytherin.

Behind the teachers' table, the largest banner of all bore the Hogwarts coat of arms.

Cedric and I didn't talk much after the night he chased me across the castle.

It was awkward because I was still so evidently upset that he entered the tournament without telling me whilst he was carefree and couldn't contain his excitement for today.

I swirled the cereal oats in my bowl mindlessly as I tried to ignore the noise coming from Hufflepuff's table during breakfast.

Cedric and his group of friends and admirers were chatting away enthusiastically, and roaring in laughter within their group.

I huffed in irritation and took out my Defense Against the Dark Arts notebook to read over my notes before class.

"Whose everyone who entered from Gryffindor, then?" I heard Dean ask Seamus a few seats away from us.

"Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan, Fred and George Weasley— Hey Potter, did you enter?" Seamus asked Harry.

"No," Harry answered, shaking his head.

Ron shook his head as well, mumbling something about how time ran out before the both of them could put their name in.

There was another cheer from the Hufflepuff table and I rolled my eyes.

"That Cedric Diggory sure has a lot of supporters. He is tough, that one. Have you seen him out on the Quidditch field? I wouldn't be surprised if he gets chosen." Seamus commented, eyeing Cedric enviously.

"Has everyone lost their mind? Honestly!" Hermione scoffed. "Everyone shouldn't be this excited over a risky Tournament that hasn't occurred in centuries. Who knows if it's even safe! I'm surprised Dumbledore is allowing this to happen..."

I glanced up at her appreciatively for being as level-headed as I was but all the boys around us just ignored her and continued to contemplate possible champions that would represent Hogwarts.

The morning mail came in, and hundreds of owls came soaring into the room.

We searched for Harry's snowy white owl like we have the past few days and to our greatest surprise, Hedwig was flying towards us.

"Hedwig!" Harry shouted, and he launched himself out of his chair.

Hedwig flew on the table and stuck her leg out so Harry could untie the letter with Sirius' response.

"About time. Where were you, girl?" I asked, scratching Hedwig's back softly.

She hooted appreciatively as she closed her big eyes.

"What does it say?" Hermione asked Harry breathlessly, and he opened the letter and read it aloud.

"'Harry— I'm flying North immediately. This news about your scar is one of many strange rumors that have reached me here. If it hurts again, go straight to Dumbledore. I'll be in touch soon... My best to Ron, (Y/N), and Hermione... Sirius'"

Harry looked up at us and we stared back at him dumbfoundedly.

"He's coming back!?" Hermione whispered.

"Fuck, I shouldn't have told him," Harry growled furiously, hitting himself on the forehead with his fist and startling us.

"He's coming back because he thinks I'm in trouble! And there's nothing wrong with me! And I haven't got anything for you," Harry snapped at Hedwig, who was clicking her beak expectantly, wanting some food.

Hedwig looked extremely offended and both she and I both scowled at Harry.

I reached into my cereal bowl, taking some of the oats and fed it to her.

"Harry," Hermione began, in a pacifying sort of voice but he was already digging in his bag for parchment and a quill.

"I need to write back. If he comes back and gets caught, it would be my fault." Harry muttered, scribbling down his reply quickly.

Once he finished, he was trying to get Hedwig to look at him but she refused.

She snapped her beak at him twice and it took a lot of convincing until she finally paid attention to him.

"Just find him, all right? Before the Dementors do." Harry pleaded as he stroked her back.

She hooted reassuringly, spread her wings, and was on her way again.

The morning bell then rang and we headed to Professor Moody's classroom.

We were astonished when we found out that our task for the day was to try and fight the effects of the Imperius Curse, which Moody would be putting on us.

Hermione immediately protested.

"But— but you said it's illegal, Professor.”

"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," replied Moody sharply. "If you'd rather learn the hard way— when someone's putting it on you— fine by me! You're excused. Off you go."

He pointed a finger towards the door but Hermione turned bright pink and muttered something about not meaning she wanted to leave.

Moody called students forward and put the Imperius Curse on them— making them hop, sing the national anthem, imitate squirrels, and perform impressive gymnastics.

Every single student under the Imperius Curse did exactly what Moody told them to up until Harry was called.

Moody pointed his wand at him as he did to everyone else, but Harry didn't budge.

"Look at that, you lot... Potter fought! He fought it! Very good, Potter, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling you!"

"The way he talks," Harry muttered as he returned to his seat.

Ron was next, who Moody made skip and Hermione didn't have much luck resisting, either, as she did a few jumping-jacks for the class.

It was my turn, and I walked to the front of the class nervously— facing Moody who pointed his wand at me.

"Imperio!" he cast and I immediately felt sensationally carefree. Almost as if I was floating. As if most of my consciousness left my body.

Then, I got an urge to reach towards some bottles on Moody's desk and start juggling them.

I leaned forward to do so, but my feet wouldn't move.

There was now some rationality in my thoughts that were making a point as to why I would randomly start juggling in front of the class.

And then, I snapped out of the feeling.

I stared at Moody blankly and knew I resisted the Curse.

"Impressive..." He remarked, taking a swig from his flask.

Throughout the day, our coursework started piling up on us.

McGonagall assigned us a two-parchment long essay, Trewlaney asked us to make a months work of predictions, Snape demanded that we researched antidotes (and suggested that he'd be poisoning us before Christmas to prove that our antidotes worked), Flitwick asked us to read three books in preparations for our lessons, and even Hagrid added to our workload— when he asked us to come down to his hut every evening to observe the Skrewts and make notes of their behavior.

"I'm not wasting my free time to come down to observe these beasts. I see enough of these foul things during lessons, thanks." Draco murmured to one of his attractive friends whose name I learned was Theo Nott.

Hagrid overheard and his smile faded off his face.

"Yeh'll do wha' yer told," he growled, "or I'll be takin' a leaf outta Professor Moody's book... I hear yeh made a good ferret, Malfoy."

All Gryffindor students roared in laughter, making Malfoy flush in anger, but he didn't answer.

We returned to the castle at the end of the lessons in high spirits— despite the long, busy day, feeling satisfied with Malfoy's humiliation by Hagrid.

It's frankly what he deserved after he tried so hard to get Hagrid fired the year before.

"Ooh, it's them, look!" Hermione whispered and pointed at the Durmstrang students that were walking towards the castle.

We didn't see much of the foreign students after the Goblet of Fire descended back into its casket, but they were going to join us for dinner tonight for the selection of the three champions.

Viktor Krum was walking side by side with the Durmstrang headmaster, Karkaroff.

Ron watched excitedly, looking as starstruck as the first time he saw Krum.

We heard his name was submitted in the Goblet of Fire, and frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if he was chosen as a champion.

He was already being treated like one, anyways.

We entered the candlelit Great Hall, and it was already full.

The Goblet of Fire had been moved to stand in front of the Staff table.

We joined Fred and George who were on the edge of their seats.

"I just want to say... if it's you, Freddie, I will cheer you on— my brother..." George remarked with humor in his tone as he clasped his hand on Fred's shoulder.

Fred returned the gesture, putting his own hand on George's shoulder.

"And if it's you, Georgie... you better win and half of the prize money better be mine, or frankly, you're dead to me."

We all giggled at the twins' banter.

I always loved this about them.

I was anguishing over this day for a week— but for just a few seconds, Fred and George managed to distract me and make me feel better.

The food appeared, and we ate and talked until it was gone.

I was discussing with Hermione about Moody's teaching tactics when I felt someone sit closely next to me.

"You still mad at me?" Cedric murmured softly behind me, kissing my neck.

"Yes..." I blushed, never having been kissed there before and at the sudden display of affection by Cedric.

I turned to face him and found him smiling broadly.

"Tell me what's going on in that gorgeous head of yours?” he suggested.

I reaching for his hand and intertwined it with mine.

I missed him so much.

"With peace and love, Diggory, I really hope your name doesn't get called tonight," I replied.

He was buzzing with excitement— it showed on his face, and I hated that I couldn't meet the enthusiasm but I couldn't ignore the awful feeling I had.

"Really? Even if it'd make me really happy?" He mumbled, his grey eyes roaming my face and falling on my lips.

I sighed at how gorgeous he looked under the candlelights but shook my head, pressing my lips together in an apologetic smile.

"Nope, sorry. I'm betting on Angelina."

"OI!" The twins exclaimed in mock-offense, having overheard what I said.

I giggled and was about to apologize but the Hall fell silent as Dumbledore stood from his seat.

Cedric kissed my cheek hastily before he headed back to his table.

"Now, the moment you've all been waiting for. The Champion Selection!" he announced and raised his hands— making the lights of the candles dim so the whole Great Hall was illuminated by the blazing blue-white flames of the Goblet of Fire alone.

I felt sick as the flames of the goblet turned red, making everyone in the Great Hall gasp, and a charred piece of parchment shot out and fluttered in the air.

Dumbledore caught the parchment and leaned down to read it before standing upright again to announce the name.

"The champion for Durmstrang... will be Viktor Krum."

"No surprises there!" yelled Ron as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall.

I watched as Viktor Krum rose from the Slytherin table and walked towards Dumbledore.

They shook hands and Viktor then strode off and disappeared through one of the Great Hall's side doors which led to the next chamber.

I enjoyed the few seconds of relief but then the nerves returned as the clapping and chatting died down.

We were all paying attention to the goblet as the flames turned red again.

The second piece of parchment flung out and into Dumbledore's hands.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"

I recognized the girl as she jumped gracefully to her feet.

She was the Veela who caught most of the boys' attention, including Ron's— and sure enough, he was gaping as she walked past.

Fleur Delacour also vanished into the side chamber, and silence fell again.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..." I whispered under my breath, knowing the Hogwarts champion was next.

The panic set in and Hermione's hand searched for mine under the table.

I grabbed hers, accepting her consolation as she squeezed my hand tightly.

The Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it, and it spat out the last piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion..." Dumbledore said, his blue eyes peering up at us in suspense that I really didn't need right now, "is Cedric Diggory!"

The air was knocked out of my lungs.

I didn't even notice the loud ringing in my ears until I observed everyone cheering loudly.

Every single student in Hufflepuff house had jumped to their feet in an uproar and my eyes followed Cedric as he made his way past them, grinning so widely as he shook Dumbledore's hand and disappearing into the chamber where the other two champions were.

Once he was out of sight, I noticed that many students from every House were looking at me.

Tears prickled my eyes and I heard my name being called out near me but I couldn't answer.

I turned to face my table, avoiding everyone's stares.

Ginny, got up to console me— rubbing my back soothingly.

"He'll be okay..." Ginny whispered in my ear and I nodded solemnly.

"Excellent! We now have our three champions!" Dumbledore called happily, sounding as if he were miles away. "But in the end, only one will go down in history. I am sure I can count upon all of you to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real..."

I stared blankly at the table in front of me as Dumbledore droned on.

I knew it.

I knew he would be chosen.

I was right and I told him.

He was the perfect candidate for this.

There wasn't anything I could do now but support him.

If he was the perfect candidate then, surely, he could win this unscathed. Right?

I was pulled from my thoughts when Hermione shook me to get my attention.

"(Y/N), look!" she pointed up at the goblet who turned red again.

My eyebrows knitted in confusion as another piece of parchment flew out and Dumbledore caught it, just like he had done before.

There was a long pause as we stared at our Headmaster.

Dumbledore stared down at the small paper as if he were reading something lengthy but then he cleared his throat and looked up at us.

"Harry Potter..."

Every head of the Great Hall turned to look in our direction, to stare at Harry in awe.

Even Ron, Hermione, and I were staring at him with open mouths as he sat in his seat— stunned and looking at Dumbledore incredulously.

There was no applause.

In fact, the room has never been this silent.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore repeated.

"I didn't put my name in," Harry said blankly. "You know I didn't," he added, his green eyes flickering between Ron, Hermione, and I.

I was the only one who nodded back reassuringly.

In fact, Ron looked angry, to my astonishment.

"Go on, Harry..." Hermione told him but he didn't move.

"Harry, for goodness sake!" she muttered exasperatedly and pulled him up to his feet.

My breath was hitched as we watched him silently.

He walked slowly, almost apprehensively, as if this were all a big joke and he was waiting for someone to jump out and tell him he was getting pranked.

"He's a cheat!" someone from the Slytherin table yelled as Harry went through the same door like the others.

"Cheater!" someone else screamed, and suddenly the whole Great Hall was protesting.

Even the Beauxbatons girls were hurling insults in French and the Durmstrang boys were cracking their knuckles.

"ATTENTION!" Dumbledore bellowed, shutting everyone up instantly. "This matter will be investigated and resolved. Now, back to your Common Rooms at once!"

Everyone started chattering once again as they got up to leave, and I scowled as I overheard Harry get called names.

I turned to Ron and Hermione, who I assumed would be as defensive towards Harry as I was, but I found Ron staring at the door where the champions disappeared with fury.

"Surely you don't believe he put his name in!" I gasped, and Ron's angry eyes met mine.

"Frankly, I don't know what to believe anymore," Ron muttered.

I scoffed at him in disbelief.

"And you?" I turned to Hermione who had uncertainty painted all over her face.

"I don't know, (Y/N)... I'm not with him all the time... he might've snuck away and put his name on some parchment and—"

"Fucking unbelievable!" I growled, standing up angrily and walking towards the door where I knew Cedric and Harry both were.

"(Y/N)?"

"(Y/N), where are you going!?"

I heard Ron and Hermione call after me but I didn't care.

I pushed the door open and entered before anyone could stop me.

I immediately spotted Harry who was leaning against a wall lined with paintings of witches and wizards.

He was taking deep breaths and looked as if he was having a panic attack.

"Harry?" I called his name tentatively, walking towards him and I saw the relief flush into his face when he saw me.

I pulled him into a hug and he hugged me back, tightly.

"I didn't put my name in that goblet, (Y/N)..." he mumbled into my hair.

"I know. I know you didn't, I believe you." I soothed back.

We heard voices on the other side of the door which indicated that people were coming in from the Great Hall.

"I don't want to leave you..." I frowned, looking at Harry worriedly and he quickly dug into his pocket— pulling out his father's Invisibility Cloak and draping it over me.

He started walking towards the room slowly and I followed him, making sure my footsteps didn't make too much noise.

The room we entered was dimly lit by a blazing in its fireplace in the middle of the room.

Viktor, Fleur, and Cedric were all grouped around the fire.

They looked strangely impressive, silhouetted against the flames.

Cedric was standing with his hands behind his back, staring into the fire and Fleur was pacing closely next to him.

Her blue eyes peered up to Harry curiously when he entered.

"What is it?" she asked him with a heavy accent. "Do zey want us back in ze Hall?"

Harry didn't even have a chance to respond before the door opened again followed by angry voices coming from Professor Dumbledore, Professor Moody, Mr. Crouch, Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape.

"Extraordinary!" Moody muttered, breaking away from the angry group and limping towards Harry, squeezing his arm. "Absolutely extraordinary. Gentlemen... lady," he added, approaching the fireside and addressing the other three champions. "May I introduce the fourth Triwizard champion?"

I watched through the cloak as Viktor Krum straightened up.

His expression darkened as he surveyed Harry.

Cedric looked politely bewildered, his eyebrows knitting together.

He looked from Moody to Harry and back again as though sure he must have misheard what Moody had said.

Fleur, however, tossed her hair and said, "Oh, vairy funny joke."

"Joke?" Moody repeated. "Does it look like I'm joking, lassie? Harry's name just came out of the goblet!"

"But evidently zair 'as been a mistake," Fleur replied contemptuously. "'E cannot compete. 'E makes four. It's ze Tri-wizard Tournament."

The group had finally stopped arguing with each other and approached us by the fire.

I stepped back a few feet to avoid anyone bumping into me.

"Madame Maxime!" cried Fleur at once, striding over to her Headmistress. "Zey are saying zat zis boy is to compete also!"

"C'est impossible!" replied the tall Headmistress, "'Ogwarts cannot 'ave two champions. Dumbly-dorr, this is most injust!"

"It's no one's fault but Potter's," drawled Snape, his voice dripping in pure malice. "Don't go blaming Dumbledore for Potter's determination to break rules. He has been crossing lines ever since he arrived here—"

"Thank you, Severus," interrupted Dumbledore firmly.

I scowled at Snape as his black eyes glinted malevolently through his curtain of greasy black hair.

Professor Dumbledore was looking down at Harry, who looked right back at him blankly.

"Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Harry?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"No, sir," replied Harry.

Snape made a noise of impatient disbelief.

"Did you ask another student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?" asked Professor Dumbledore, ignoring Snape.

"No, sir." repeated Harry vehemently.

"But of course 'e is lying!" seethed Madame Maxime.

Snape was now shaking his head, his lip curling.

"Mr. Crouch... you are our— er—objective judge. Surely you will agree that this is most irregular?" asked Karkaroff darkly.

Everyone stared at Barty Crouch expectantly, wishing that he would fix this and disqualify Harry.

I even hoped for the same, not wanting my friend to compete.

"We must follow the rules, and the rules state that the names that come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament... Mr. Potter has no choice. He is, as of tonight, a Triwizard Champion." Mr.Crouch announced and everyone in the room turned to look at Harry.

He looked so intimidated, gulping nervously.

"It is now my responsibility," Mr. Crouch broke the silence, taking out a roll of parchment, "to announce the instructions for the first task. We are not going to tell you what the first task is because it is designed to test your bravery," he told Harry, Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor. "Bravery in the face of the unknown is a crucial quality in a wizard. The first task will take place on the first week of November, in front of the other students and the panel of judges. The champions are not allowed to ask or accept any kind of assistance in order to complete the tasks. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. I think that's all, is it, Albus?" Mr. Crouch turned to look at Dumbledore.

Madame Maxime had already put her arm around Fleur's shoulders and was leading her out of the room.

Both were talking in very fast French as they walked off into the Great Hall. Karkaroff and Krum left as well, exiting in silence.

"Harry, Cedric, I suggest you both go to your dorms now," said Dumbledore, smiling at both of them. "I am sure Gryffindor and Hufflepuff are waiting to celebrate with you, and it would be a shame to deprive them of this excellent excuse to make a great deal of mess and noise."

I saw Harry glance at Cedric, who nodded, and they left together.

"So," said Cedric, with a slight smile. "We're playing against each other again."

"I s'pose," replied Harry as he searched around for any trace of me.

I patted him on the back to let him know that I was there, and waited until we were in the Great Hall again before I pulled off the cloak and hugged Harry.

Cedric staggered in his step when he noticed that I had suddenly appeared next to them.

"You alright?" I asked Harry as I pulled away and he nodded.

"Yeah, fine. Thank you for staying."

I smiled at him sympathetically and turned to Cedric who was looking down at me puzzled.

"Invisibility Cloak. I was in there with you all." I explained as I pulled him into a hug, as well.

I was still saddened that Cedric got picked as a champion but with everything going on with Harry, it somehow managed to be less of my concerns.

"So... tell me..." Cedric said, grinning at Harry as he draped his arm around my shoulder. "How did you get your name in?"

"I didn't," said Harry, looking up at him. "I didn't put it in. I was telling the truth."

"Ah... right," replied Cedric.

I frowned as I noticed the incredulity in his tone.

We reached the entrance hall and I turned to face him.

"Cedric, Harry didn't put his name in the goblet," I defended.

Cedric's eyebrows shot up in surprise as his eyes flickered between Harry and me.

"Oh... okay. Why would someone put his name in, then?" Cedric asked.

I turned to Harry in search of an answer but he just shrugged.

"Cedric!" a large group of Hufflepuffs appeared at the entryway that lead down to the basements.

They looked slightly drunk and were clearly celebrating Cedric's name getting drawn from the goblet.

Cedric chuckled at the sight of them and turned to Harry and me.

"Well, see you then, Potter... (Y/N), do you want to come?" Cedric murmured to me as he cupped my hands in his larger ones.

I could tell he really wanted me to go with him but I couldn't just leave Harry.

I turned to look at my friend, who was shifting his weight uncomfortably where he stood, looking away as if to give Cedric and me some privacy.

"Another time, yeah?" I whispered up to Cedric and pressed my lips on his cheek. "I'm happy for you. Congratulations, Ced." I told him with a smile and he grinned back.

His friends called his name again and this time, he jogged over to join them.

"He doesn't believe me," Harry muttered as we started walking up the steps.

"He just heard you say you wanted to enter so he assumed you did. But hr believes you now." I reassured him.

"I mean, I thought about it as a joke. But don’t you think I've been through enough? What if Ron doesn't believe me? Or Hermione?"

I scowled as I remembered Ron's behavior but didn't say anything as Harry continued talking.

"Why would someone put my name in that goblet, (Y/N)? Do they want me to get killed?"

"Why would you say that?" I asked him, the panic clear in my voice.

I have just now started to accept that the Triwizard Tournament was harmless, and just now started to feel proud of Cedric but Harry's comment made my anxiety return.

"I don't know— I'm just thinking out loud..."

"Balderdash," I said dully as we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

We entered the Common Room where we were greeted by a blast of noise.

We got pulled in by a dozen pair of hands and Harry was yanked to the middle of the room, where he was welcomed with screaming, applauding, and whistling.

"You should've told us you'd entered!" bellowed Fred, who looked half annoyed, half impressed.

"How did you get picked as well as Diggory? Brilliant!" roared George.

"I didn't enter," Harry replied, not looking amused with the celebration for him. "I don't know how my name ended up—"

But nobody was listening to him.

I was slightly irritated when I noticed that someone took my Discman and my speakers out and were playing music.

Everyone was gathered around Harry and chanting his name but he looked like he wanted to leave.

I watched as he tried to make his way to the staircases that led to his dorm room but ended being pulled back to the celebration.

We spotted Ron leaning against a wall with a drink in his hand.

Harry looked relieved when seeing him, but I looked at our redheaded friend cautiously.

"Oh, hey... Congratulations, mate. How did you do it?" Ron asked Harry, smiling wryly with fake admiration in his voice. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What d'you mean how did I do it?" asked Harry.

"You know bloody hell what I mean— how did you get your parchment to be picked after the Hogwarts champion was already chosen? And when did you do it? Because the last thing I heard, was that you weren't going to enter and I agreed that I wasn't either!" Ron wasn't hiding his anger anymore as he startted yelling loudly.

"I didn't enter!" growled Harry, "I don't know how it happened!"

"Yeah, right," Ron laughed sarcastically. "It's okay, you know, you can tell the truth now. I don't know why you're bothering to lie, you clearly got away with it."

"Ron!" I raised my voice at him but he kept staring at Harry furiously.

Harry suddenly got really close to Ron, speaking at him through gritted teeth.

"Listen, to me. I didn't put my name in that goblet. Someone else must've done it, but it wasn't me." Harry spoke slowly, as if to make sure that Ron heard his every word.

"I'm not stupid," Ron replied curtly.

"You're doing a really good impression of it," Harry snapped back.

"Yeah? Well that's me— isn't it? Ron Weasley. Harry Potter's stupid friend." Ron shoved Harry with his shoulder as he stormed upstairs.

Their argument got the attention of most of the inhabitants in the Common Room so I strode towards my Discman, turning it off and faced the silent room.

"Party's over." I announced, and retreated to my dorm room.

✩ next chapter: fleur delacour ✩

11 notes · View notes