The Half-Blood Black

Chapter Thirty-Five✨

"I'm really nervous for tonight." Cedric says. "I want to win."

"I know you do, Ced." I say ruffling his hair. I pull my Gryffindor scarf tighter around me and pull my sweater on from my bag. "This is so weird, is it normally this cold?"

"You're cold? I'm a little chilly but not 'I need two sweaters' cold."

"I'm not used to this weather. You are."

He laughs and then I say, "So do you have any idea what the final task is?"

"A maze, I'm surprised you haven't heard." He says sitting down on a large rock over looking the lake. "The cup is hidden somewhere inside it."

"Are you prepared?"

"I don't know." He runs his hands through his hair and shakes his head. "I need to win this, Lyra."

"I know you do, Cedric. I am going to be rooting for you the whole time. Unless Harry wins, then obviously I was rooting for him. I told him the same thing this morning in the dining hall."

Cedric laughs again and I add, "But I will be rooting for you, Ced. And when you come out of that maze I will be the first one to congratulate you on winning. You know I will. Even if I have to body check Cho Chang out of the way."

"Lyra," he says turning to me suddenly serious.

"Ced."

"What has been going on with you these past few months? It was like you were so happy after the Yule Ball and now you aren't. I'm afraid to ask but is it Draco Malfoy?"

I sigh and shake my head. His father isn't a part of the Order, he wouldn't understand.

"Not everything is all that it seems." I reply. "What you've seen of me and him ... it's all just a facade. Someday I hope that I can tell you about it."

Cedric stands again, always restless, and bends down, offering me his hands. "Here, I skip rocks when I have troubles. Let me teach you."

We walk down to the Black Lake and he teaches me how to skip rocks. I fail multiple times and he laughs at me mercilessly when I dive into the water for a perfect rock that I wasted.

I am damp and shaking when I finally get the hang of it and he says, "See? Not once did you think of Draco. You don't need him, Lyra. You are a strong witch, and I know that you will be able to go very far with your life. I know you will. You just need to believe that."

"Cedric..." I say. "I don't know where I would be in this world if you hadn't been so kind to me that first night. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough."

"Sit down, let me lecture you." He says with a grin.

We go back to our rock and I take off my sweater and my scarf, they are dripping wet and I squeeze some water out of them.

"Lyra Lily Black, I am here to tell you that you are going to do amazing things in your time. And you will get past this time at Hogwarts and everyone here will be far from your mind. I see you as an Auror, maybe even the head Auror. You are far more talented than you give yourself credit for. I promise you, I wouldn't lie to you about these types of things.

"Now, I also want to add that I never wanted to hurt you in any way looking for information on your father and that I never got the chance to apologize and I am doing it now so you can't stop me so please accept my apology!" He lets out a huge breath and smiles. "Continuing with my lecture--" I laugh and he does too "--I want you to know that you are one of the best students at Hogwarts and that you will always have a place in my heart, no matter if I die in 100 years or never wake up tomorrow--"

"--Ced don't say that you aren't dying anytime soon--" I say seriously.

"--because I love you, Lyra Black. In the most platonic way possible, I love you. And I mean it. And if there ever comes a time when you feel like you are worthless, just know that Ol' Cedric Diggory always will." A pause. "And you already pinky promised we would get married if we are alone at 30 so we don't die alone. So, you really don't have a choice anymore." 

"You are such a goof."

He sits back down, wrapping his Hufflepuff scarf around my neck. "In all my years here, in all my life really, I don't think there's one person who I can think of that has really known. That looked past the pretty boy, that looked past the dead mother, that looked past Quiddict and prefect and everything else ... and really knows me." He shakes his head and laughs. "Not until you. Almost a full adult and it's taken me all my life to find that type of friendship." 

I clutch his scarf tighter against me, closing my eyes against the warm sunshine when the clouds part. 

"I'm scared." he whispers it so quietly I almost don't pick it up. 

"You are going to do great, Cedric. Do not worry about anything."

"I just feel like ... I don't know. Do you ever get like that? Where you know that you'll be fine but there's this sense of almost impending doom?"

"Do you know who you're talking to?"

"I think I'll be fine. I also think I have a fair chance of winning this whole thing. Eternal glory sounds amazing. My father would be so proud."

I'm shivering from the cold clothes, my feet are about to freeze off. It's so cold today, it's like a switch flipped and spring turned back in to winter. Harry said it feels like dementors are close, but nothing has come across the lines of Hogwarts.

Cedric starts again. "Do you ever put yourself in a situation where you think you have total control of the situation, then you're suddenly not? Like your body is controlling you, telling you what to do. It's no longer mind over matter, it's just your body leading you in a direction that you don't want to be in?"

Oh, Ced. I think. If only you knew.

"I think ..." I start. "I think that when something is meant for you, you'll know. There won't be any questions about what's right and what's wrong. It'll no longer be an issue of mind over matter. Everything will fall into place exactly as it should be."

"I guess. When I entered into the Triwizard Tournament I was just so excited. I wanted that eternal glory. And when Harry and I were pitted against one another I felt like my body was pulling me through the tasks and I was just no longer in control."

"Control is ... uncontrollable. Sometimes you think you're doing everything you can to be in control of the situation you've put yourself in, but in reality you're just a pawn in your own game."

The silence between us breaks when Cho comes walking down to us. She doesn't even acknowledge me as she tells him it's time to get ready. He kisses my hand, right in front of her, and leaves me on the rocks. I wrap his scarf tighter around me as a chill goes straight to my bones. 

Tonight is the final task of the Triwizard Tournament.