Time Is Life

Darkness

Cedric waits for his father to get out of the box and bids Harry goodbye. The other boy shakes his head moves closer to his ear and whispers almost inaudibly. "Just be careful. We'll see you in the clearing earlier."

Cedric nods with a shocked and fearful expression. Can you blame him when you hear that death eaters will attack later on during the night? Harry quickly scurries off behind the Weasleys and rows himself between the twins with soft laugh. Cedric smiles softly despite the dread he feels stirring inside his head. He throws a look at his father and quickly turns to follow him with a straight back and stiff shoulders.

"Now dont fall behind, boy! And get a move on."

"Of course sir." He meekly looks at the ground biting his lip in his nerviosity. They are soon caught up in the crowds now flooding out of the stadium and back to their campsites. When they finally reach the tent, Cedric doesn't feel like sleeping at all, and given the level of noise around him he just decides to stay outside.

"Father do you mind if I stay outside for a while?"

Amos gruffly shrugs and grunts, "So long as you leave me in peace and aren't too loud, I don't care what you do."

Cedric inclines his head and moves towards the small table outside of their tent. He looks out into the vast campsite and listens to the distant singing of the Irish magicals. He sighs softly, reminiscing on his relationship with his father, which only deteriorated after Cedric got sorted into Hufflepuff.

There is absolutely nothing remarkable about him, because he is a Hufflepuff. The house for failures and the side characters. None of his achievements will ever change the fact that his father doesnt acknowledge him. Cedric can try as hard as he may, nothing will ever change. Th worst part is that the people around him just wont understand. His friends at Hogwarts think of him as a role model student, who can do nothing wrong and as such he is forced to abide by those wishes.

But with Harry... with Harry it's so different. With Harry he can be himself and show his emotions in ernest. With the young Gryffindor he doesn't need to keep up pretences. He is stuck in an endless loop of self deprecation and putting up masks. It seems as though that's what he can do best.

Cedric knows his home life isn't something to be considered normal but he doesnt know it any other way. He looks down at the still red palms of his hands. He slowly traces the rough calluses marring his skin. The hands of manual labour and Quidditch.

Refocusing on the noises surrounding him he didn't realise just how much time has passed, since he started his rampant tirade of thoughts. From the other side of the campsite he could still hear much singing and the odd echoing bang. He wonders if Harry was only pulling his prank with the entire Death eater warning. But Harry wouldn't do that right? Right?

Mulling over his doubts he groans and rubs his temples. All this thinking is making his head hurt and he shouldn't be so worried. Yet here he is breaking his head for answers he cant provide himself. He can only hope that Harry was truthful with him. He smiles a bit at the thought. He's a closet gay and he knows that both his parents are homophobic, which doesn't make his situation any easier. He sighs again, not even his pleasant memories about the small Gryffindor can make him smile this time around.

He listens again taking a hand into his pocket and grabbing his wand tightly. The noises in the campsite have changed. The singing stopped. He can hear screams, and the sound of people running.

Amos comes bolting out of the tent and hisses for Cedric to get away and into the woods, something according the lines of not needing a weak hearted buffoon meddling around in ministry affairs. Cedric sets off running towards the clearing of earlier in the day. Keeping in mind what Harry said. They would meet up there.