Courage

-32-

Angelina and Katie suddenly giggled.

"What?" said Oliver, frowning at this lighthearted behavior.

"He's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" said Angelina.

"Strong and silent," said Katie, and they started to giggle again.

Layla gritted her teeth, jealously bubbling through her blood. She drew in a deep breath and reminded herself that there was no reason to get jealous. Cedric wasn't her property. She didn't even know if they were actually together or not so he was free to do whatever he wanted. But still, the jealousy wouldn't subside.

"He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together," said Fred impatiently. Layla shot a glare towards him. Cedric was one of the smartest people she knew. "I don't know why you're worried, Oliver, Hufflepuff is a pushover. Last time we played them, Harry caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?"

"We were playing in completely different conditions!" Oliver shouted, his eyes bulging slightly. "Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker! I was afraid you'd take it like this! We mustn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us! We must win!"

"Oliver, calm down!" said Fred, looking slightly alarmed. "We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. Seriously."

The day before the match, the winds reached howling point and the rain fell harder than ever. It was so dark inside the corridors and classrooms that extra torches and lanterns were lit. The Slytherin team was looking very smug indeed, and none more so than Draco.

"Ah, if only my arm was feeling a bit better!" he sighed as the gale outside pounded the windows.

Layla was on her way to Defense Against the Dark Arts, not as excited for her favorite lesson as she knew her dad wouldn't be able to teach that day and Remus had already warned Layla that Snape would be covering.

On her way there, Cedric passed her on his way to the common room.

"Ced!" Layla smiled. "Hey."

"Hey, gorgeous," Cedric grinned and hugged Layla, landing a kiss on her cheek. Layla became a little flustered at the nickname and at the fact that Cedric was still always romantic with her after their Hogsmeade trip even if they weren't dating. "So, I heard Slytherin backed out. You're stuck playing us, how do you feel?"

"Excited," said Layla happily. "I can't wait! It's my first match ever and I feel better knowing that I've warmed up to the enemy team."

"Is that so?" smirked Cedric. "Well, my apologies, but I won't go easy on you. You're going down."

"We'll see about that," said Layla with a smirk of her own.

"After the match, I would like to speak to you," said Cedric. "Meet me by the stands straight after?"

"Yeah, of course," said Layla with a nod. "I'm running late for Defense Against the Dark Arts but good luck on the game tomorrow."

"You, too," replied Cedric, giving Layla one more kiss on the cheek before the younger girl hurried off.

Layla skidded to a halt outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, pulled the door open, and dashed inside. She sighed when she saw that her dad had been telling the truth. It really was Snape who was covering their lesson. She really wished that her dad didn't have to be absent for a few days each month, but she knew that he couldn't help it and she'd still stuck around and helped Remus ever since she learnt as a little girl what her dad actually was.

Layla was relieved to see that she had gotten there just in time. She took a seat beside Hermione.

"Where's your dad?" Hermione whispered to Layla.