The Boy I Love -HEDRIC (2)

36.(CH) time is no joke

CEDRIC

I

The next morning, he waited for Harry outside of the Great Hall. 

Distracted as he was for a second when his friends came out, and he greeted them before they headed towards the first class, he heard Harry's voice.

“Ced, I missed you,” Harry murmured, pressing his cheek against Cedric’s chest in a welcoming hug, a hand on his robe, just above his waist for an instant too short. "Hello again."

He wanted to lean down for a kiss, but Cedric had to remind himself that he couldn't.

What would be the point of keeping it a secret if he would hide it so poorly?

"Come, let's go to…" he said, and resisting to take his hand was difficult. "We have a couple of minutes."

Even though he hadn't finished his sentence, Harry followed without hesitation.

The first floor was almost empty, and their much-frequented classroom was around the corner. As Cedric cast the spells swiftly toward the door, Harry wrapped both arms over his ribs and rested his face against his back, squeezing hard for a moment before holding Cedric so gently that his breath was caught up in his chest. Not even breaking the touch at all, he turned to finally give Harry the kiss he had promised.  

II

By noon, Cedric could say he was up to date.

One would not think that there would be news being the first day after the winter break. In addition to end-of-year stories and amusing anecdotes from the wizarding and muggle world, he hadn't expected to find so many copies of the newspaper and magazines in the hands of most of the students.

Nor that the Gryffindor table was getting more attention than usual. 

HARRY

I

He did not usually read the Daily Prophet when he was away from school.

Nor did he plan to do it after the long hours of classes, with the headache that was just beginning to dissipate with the delicious food. The thing was, something seemed wrong, because Hagrid could not be found in the Great Hall for lunch and word got around that the Care of Magical Creatures class was canceled until further notice.

He asked why, but none of his classmates knew.

Maybe he was sick. I’ll stop by later to check on him, he decided.

"I've been getting strange looks today..." 

Harry leaned towards Hermione across the table. "Me too," he admitted, taking another bite into his mouth.

It wasn’t like he found it alarming, really, just curious. 

"About that," Ron murmured from his spot beside him, eyes flicking from one to the other. "There’s an explanation that I don't think either of you're going to like. Have you read Witch Weekly these days?"

While Harry shook his head, not even knowing what that was, she replied, "Tabloid magazines are not of my interest."

Ron didn't seem surprised by it, but he did look slightly uncomfortable.

Since the train ride, the two of them had exchanged a few respectful and civil words that were certainly a good start that they shouldn't push too much.

"It's not of mine either," Ron hastened to make clear, "but Ginny is subscribed and the cover caught my eye a few days ago. There you were, Hermione."

"Me? Why?" she frowned, confused until, "Oh, me and Viktor."