WILD ➞ Fred Weasley

xvii. all for nothing at all

Cedric took a deep breath and stabbed a sausage with his fork, slowly taking a bite. "So how about we not talk about the task... God forbid, I know. How's it going with you and Fred. Tell him how you feel yet? Term is almost over, you might not get the chance to for a bit."

Rory groaned and buried her face in her hands, "Cedric! No, I haven't told him. It's a fairly new discovery, only a month old. Besides, if he had feelings for me, he would tell me."

"Well why haven't you told him?"

The girl shrugged, "I'm waiting for him to tell me."

Cedric smirked, "He's probably using the same logic. One of you has got to do it first."

"After tomorrow. After the tournament." Rory nodded. She was sure that there was nothing that would change their situation in two days, except Rory would be a lot less anxious about Cedric. It was fine that she was waiting. Rory looked at Cedric's plate and smiled, it was nearly empty.

"I'll take notes for you in Charms today, alright? Please, at least sleep through that. Not like Flitwick is going to care." Rory said, placing a hand on Cedric's.

The boy nodded and smiled back, then pulled Rory in for a hug, "Thanks, Rory. What would I do without you?"

"You'd be just fine, Cedric."

"I'd probably be dead," he joked.

"Cedric! Don't say that!" Rory said, shocked. "You've survived in this tournament because of you. It's got nothing to do with me."

Cedric shrugged, "You take good care of me."

Before Rory could respond, the screech of owls rang out in the Great Hall as the post came. Rory ignored it, given the fact she usually didn't ever get any mail. Cedric however, was given three letters.

He sighed and shook his head, "My grandparents. Probably just wishing me luck for tomorrow."

"Sometimes I wish I got letters while I was here. Even Aaron gets them from mum. Dunno, it'd be a nice surprise." Rory shrugged.

Cedric smiled, "I'll write you one!"

"Very funny." The girl said, cracking a small smile. "Well, I'm going to go get ready for Charms. I better not see you there."

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TIME SEEMED TO PASS SLOWER THAN it ever had before. The rest of the day, Rory could hardly focus in class. She wasn't alone though. Most of the school couldn't focus, it being a Friday near the end of the term. Luckily, most of her Professors had gone easy on her. Professor Sprout decided to give them a free period as her way of showing her Hufflepuff pride in support of Cedric. For a moment, Rory thought everything was going to be okay and maybe she was being over dramatic or worrying too much.

That was, until she tried going to sleep that night. She was restless. Tossing and turning, waking up every hour from some nightmare she couldn't even recall the details of. At a certain point, she gave up. She saw on the clock it was around five in the morning. She decided the best use of her time was finishing all her homework for the weekend in the common room. Rory didn't expect anyone else to be awake, not for hours. Most of the Gryffindors loved to sleep in when given the chance.

Except for George Weasley. The most insufferable morning person anyone had ever met. Sometimes at the Burrow, when Rory visited, he would get bored of being the only one awake and drag Rory and Fred out of bed for sunrise Quidditch or a nice chat on his bedroom floor.

Rory nearly jumped when she saw him enter the common room, still in his pajamas. For a moment, when he saw Rory, he smiled but quickly frowned (Rory guessed he realized just why she was down there so early).