Happily ever after? /// Cedric Diggory

7

"Did you just bark at me, Evan?" he teased while even more people crammed in and pushed past them trying to get a better view of the lawn where Dumbledore was standing.

"Be quiet or someone will hear you. I won't show you what I am hiding if you keep shouting," Evan hissed at him while glancing around at the swarm of people, making sure no one had overheard. Satisfied with his symbolic zipping of the lips, she flashed him a glimpse of the puppy in her robes with a smile glued onto her face. He stifled a laugh and looked back at Evan curiously.

"Did you just come from Transfiguration by any chance?" he asked slyly. He then made a move towards her cloak, clearly wanting to hold the puppy.

"Now now now, why would I give you the puppy?" she answered back, turning away from him so he couldn't snatch the puppy from her.

"If you let me hold the puppy, I'll buy you a book when you accompany me to Hogsmeade next weekend," he bartered. He gave her the most pitiful puppy dog face, making it impossible for her to refuse.

"Only because I will make sure you buy me a book, no backing out," Evan agreed while quickly sticking the bundle of joy into his robes, praying no one saw the exchange. He greedily wrapped him up and smiled at the girl triumphantly. He cradled the puppy, but to an onlooker it looked like he was just awkwardly grabbing his cloak. At that thought, Evan chuckled quietly to herself while shaking her head. Before either of them could banter more, Dumbledore starting shouting and students where muttering and pointing at the sky. Looking up, Evan saw what looking to be a house approaching them from the sky, although surely it couldn't be a house.

"Here comes the Beauxbatons in their carriage. Pay close attention to the size of the horses, it's quite extraordinary," Dumbledore mentioned to the crowd while also looking at the sky. Before long, the carriage grew significantly closer and was closing in on the lawn in front of where Evan was standing, and it looked as though it was going to fly straight into them as it had yet to slow down. Even as it landed, it almost flattened Hagrid who was guiding the horse, but thankfully he jumped out of the way.

An older looking student got out of the carriage and fumbled by one of the doors, and ended up setting up what looked to be a step stool. Once he was finished he opened the golden door to the carriage, and the largest woman Evan had ever seen stepped out of it. She was wearing a dark maroon fur coat and had her dark silky hair cut into a bob around her face. Following behind her were close to a dozen slender students dressed in light blue silks, which probably weren't the best idea on such a chilly fall night. Dumbledore went to greet the woman and kissed her hand. She was so ginormous Dumbledore needed to bend but a little in order to reach her hand. Her and Dumbledore discussed something quietly but Evan was too far away to hear, although she did see the woman gesture to her horses before following Filch into the castle.

Wrapping her robes around her tighter, Evan hoped the Durmstrang would hurry up before she froze to death. Watching the Beauxbatons, she realized they were much colder than her and were in fact shivering. Ripping off the scarf she had around her neck, she pushed through to find one of the girls who she saw was shivering the worst. The girl was absolutely stunning with her waist length silvery blonde hair and slimming figure, although she was shivering and was looking slightly put out. Evan handed the scarf to the girl with a kind smile on her face.
"Hi I'm Evan! I'm guessing Beauxbaton's climate is warming than here? Please take my scarf so you can at least not freeze to death," she said warmly. The girl looked at her oddly then took the scarf. "Ello, I am Fleur Delacor It's nice to zee dat there is some 'ospitality here. Thank you very much," she replied with a heavy French accent. She turned and walked away with the rest of the group while wrapping the scarf closely around her neck. Satisfied, Evan return to the spot by Cedric, seeing he was still cradling the puppy.
"Where did you just disappear to? One minute you were and then poof!" he asked her while continuing to star lovingly at the puppy, who was peeking out of the robes, probably tired of being stuffed in clothing.
"Oh, so just needed to stretch my legs a bit," she answered, not wanting to get into the details.
"But where did your scarf go? It's practically freezing out here! And look, you're shivering!" he accused while pointing at Evan's arms which were indeed shivering slightly while clutching her cloak closer.
"Oh look, there are the Durmstrangs arriving now!" she shouted and pointed towards the lake, glad to turn the attention off of herself.
In the Black Lake, the top of a ship appeared from the water and it was slowly drawing up. Reaching it's full height, it revealed a giant ship that looked as though had come straight from Captain Hook's crew. When it had landed, an older man with a mane of gray hair along with a goatee and thick beard exited the ship first. He walked up to Dumbledore and gave him a huge. While they talked quietly, a dozen students who all resembled  what she believed Vikings to look like ascended from the ship. They were all stocky, even the girls. Evan thought it might be due to the huge fur coats the lay had draped on, although even then she figured they would be larger than the average student at Hogwarts. They too walked through the same doors the Beauxbatons had just disappeared through, but Evan caught sight of the famous quidditch player, Viktor Krum just briefly, hearing whispering among the crowd who had seen him as well. Once they had all gone inside, Dumbledore ordered all the students to go to the Great Hall for a celebration. Evan turned to follow the rest of the students in, excited at the prospect of being warm, until Cedric grabbed her arm. He signaled for her to wait, and not wanting to be rude, she complied. She stood close to Cedric as students pushed by her. Once they had all gone inside and they were alone in the courtyard Evan saw Cedric grinning suspiciously.
"Why are we out here when we could be in there and warm? I'm going to freeze if we stay here much longer," Evan complained, annoyed she was still outside in the bitter cold.
"Well we can't very well bring a dog to dinner, can we? I thought you might want to say goodbye to this little fella before he returned to his original state as a rock," Cedric sassed back while holding up the puppy. Evan looked at the puppy and immediately pulled him into her arms. She looked into his eyes lovingly, as though she was looking down at her own baby. She cuddled him and continued smiling adoringly at him while Cedric waited patiently.
"Oh we have to give him a name before he goes! Can we call him Padfoot? He looks like a Padfoot, doesn't he?" she asked while pinching his precious cheeks.
"Well Padfoot, it has been an honor hiding you from professors for the past little bit, maybe we will meet you again someday," Cedric addressed the dog. With a wave of his wand, he turned the puppy back into a rock. Evan looked a little sad, but understood it had to be done. Determined, she handed Cedric Padfoot the rock and quickly walked past him into the castle once more.
They shuffled into the Great Hall. Thankfully the introduction of the two guest schools hadn't happened yet so their entering hadn't drawn anyone's attention. They nonchalantly sat down at the Hufflepuff table with the rest of their friends.
Everyone who had been present for that one game night had started to gravitate and form real friendships. At meals it wasn't uncommon to see them all sitting together. Even walking through the halls it's not uncommon to see members of the group chatting it up. Even Katherine seemed to be warming up, which is impressive for her.

It also seemed to Evan that Dallas and Becca were getting closer, though she wasn't sure if it was romantic or not. It seemed every corner she turned she would find them huddled and whispering secretly, but anytime Evan would try to bring it up to Becca, Becca would just laugh hysterically and shake her head, as if it would be impossible for them to be an item. True, Becca ALWAYS went for the broody and brawny quidditch players, too thick to carry a conversation with but fantastic eye candy. Dallas, however, was a witty little nerd who would probably choose fighting Voldemort over playing quidditch. Despite the differences the two have, Evan hoped nonetheless that they would get together, as they would make a fierce-some match.

Evan was pulled out of her thoughts by the loud bang of the huge wooden doors being slammed open as the large woman from Beauxbatons, Madame Maxine and the man from Durmstrang, Igor, walked through the doors. Behind them, the two schools danced in; the Beauxbatons first, with the girls seemingly enchanting every teenage male in the room with their whimsical entrance. The Durmstrang entered and there could be several sighs from girls heard around the room when Viktor Krum walked by, but Evan was less than impressed with his physique. The Beauxbatons sat at the Ravenclaw table while the Durmstrang opted for Slytherin.

Once everyone had settled down and taken their seats, Dumbledore gave a brief introduction of the two schools and their sponsors. Then Dumbledore talked about the Triwizard Tournament.

"It is extremely dangerous and might even change you. I would think long and hard about putting your name into this goblet, as once you are chosen, you cannot back out," he said while gesturing to the huge goblet full of blue flames that Filch had rolled out moments before. "You have 24 hours to put your name in the cup, as the champions will be chosen tomorrow night at dinner" And with that, he sent us on our way.

Most students were excited about the tournament, but Evan had a dreadful feeling something terrible was going to happen and couldn't help the rising panic that was consuming her. Looking quickly at Cedric's determined face, she couldn't help but fear for him and wish that he wouldn't put his name in the goblet, if only to protect himself. But of course she could never tell him any of this because she had no explanation for her paranoia, and didn't want Cedric to think she didn't want the best for him. The fact of the matter was that she would even put her own name in if that meant Cedric wouldn't but she wasn't old enough and was the least competitive or aggressive person she knew, definitely not capable of competing in a cut-throat tournament. Consumed by her thoughts, she didn't even notice she had walked outside once more into the courtyard, or that she was being followed.

OK this chapter is rough. 1. I had to rewrite over half of it because my computer was sassy and didn't save right, so it might feel slightly disconnected, it was definitely better before. 2. Even now it won't tell me save, only publish, so I haven't even proof read it once!! Please tell me if you find a mistake!