The Boy I Love -HEDRIC (2)

91.(CH) in all dimensions

CEDRIC

CXLV

"Why are you kissing me?" he whispered a few inches away from Harry.

"A day without a kiss from you is a lot. Two, worse."

"Aren't you mad at me?"

Without delaying a second, he responded, "I doubt I can get angry with you."

"It would make a lot of sense if you were..."

"At first I thought you were referring to Malcolm."

That made him laugh against his will, which could offend his best friend.

"Why?" Cedric asked, intrigued. "Did you think it would be possible?"

He recognized that they were closer than it was customary to see two people of the same gender in the magical world.

"I never thought he fancied you or anything, although back then I swore you were straight. Besides..." He was silent for half a minute. "Fred was... jealous of you. Some time ago. Don't tell Malcolm."

Cedric was grateful for the warning, because otherwise he would have told him.

"And were you?"

"No."

"Until Fred said it...?" he hesitated, causing a little smile on Harry.

"No, no."

"I never saw Malcolm that way."

Harry nodded. "If it had been anyone else, perhaps it would've bothered me. When you said who, I was relieved. I think it was... in some ways inevitable. That deep down I imagined it, that you would love him in some way. I remember those days when we exchanged places and you came and told me about your day. About his day. How much you cared about him. How could I get mad about it? Because you helped me... without even knowing what had happened? Before you knew if it was me in this future or not."

His eyes stung. "In every dimension you must be so stubborn that you don't want to accept help."

"I'll admit," Harry spoke, a hint of amusement in his voice, "that it felt good knowing I could count on you for anything. That whatever it is that you and I have goes beyond that. That, if it were the other way around, I would also have feelings for your other self. I can't imagine a way I wouldn't love you."

He had never found himself so moved and close to tears at the same time. "What if I turned out to be... a Death Eater?"

The ridiculousness of the idea caused the corners of his lips to rise.

"I don't trust easily, I considered that possibility before considering if we could be friends. Even if you handed me over to Voldemort himself, I would love you."

What had he done to make Harry love him like that?

Did he even deserve that love?

Was he worthy of it? All Cedric wanted was to be worthy.

"I would love you until my last breath, Harry." Cedric rested his forehead against his, certain that was the way it had happened.

CXLVI

"I wouldn't want... For you to forgive me because... Because you don't want to lose me."

Those days Cedric spent it thinking that Harry would hate him.

Now he suspected that wasn't the case.

"Cedric, I don't think you're cheating on me," Harry turned to him. They were sitting on the classroom floor. "I think it would be silly to break up because of that. It's still me. It's a gray area. Only you know what you feel."