Backfire • Cedric Diggory [✓]

• TWELVE •

"How are you feeling? Okay?" Hermione asks and Holland tried to stop the chuckle trying to come out of her throat, ready for Harry's sarcasm. The situation was intense, but Holland couldn't help herself with how stupid her friends were. Having successfully conquering live wizard chess pieces, a follower of the Dark Lord, and even dementors, but when they spoke to each other, it was as if they had never left their houses.

"He's feeling spectacular, Hermione!" Holland sneers, looking around them in case there were professors nearby. Holland wanted to make the encounter as brief as possible, not wanting to see Cedric, either.

Hermione, who was probably too scared for her friend to acknowledge Holland's remark, continues on. "The key is to concentrate." She says, looking like she were trying to calm herself down instead of Harry. "After that you just have to—"

"Battle a dragon?" Harry's words also made Hermione's pulse quicken. She couldn't handle it, she pushes through the tent's fabric to engulf the boy in a hug, Holland following suit, hugging the boy after Hermione had though not as manically.

Woosh! A loud sound crack echoes through the tent, the two blinking as light had flashed in front of their eyes. Holland inwardly groaned, knowing that picture must have looked good enough to take out of context by the one and only..

"Young love!" The nasty woman gasps, Holland glaring at her. Harry had already been facing enough trouble as it was with the tournament and entering as a fourth and underage champion, but of course Rita Skeeter couldn't not juice up their interview so she could have a front page, insisting the boy had his eyes glistening with the ghosts of his past, and that he'd joined the competition as a desperate call for attention. And when Holland says 'juice up', she means completely fabricate. It was tasteless, the worst part was she'd barely written about Cedric, making it easier for Harry to look like he'd really entered for popularity. "How.. stirring." She comments, her magical quill scribbling all the words her garbage mouth was spitting out. Holland wanted nothing but to pounce on the woman and start barking at her like a dog. Hermione grasped her wrist tightly and pulled, probably reading Holland's mind.

"I don't suppose I could get a hug as well?" Holland hears a voice ask, she turns around to see the boy sporting a black and yellow cape with that smile of his. Cedric looked well. He looked as if he wasn't moments away from soiling himself in fear that very morning at the thought of battling a dragon, he looked composed and ready to conquer.

"I don't suppose you could." Holland says, not wanting any more photos of her hugging champions reaching the paper, somehow thinking this could get her in trouble with George. He'd been acting weird after seeing her enter the Great Hall with Cedric, even though Holland left him at the door before sitting down with them. It was funny how Holland didn't want George mad at her even though she was supposed to be the one mad at him. She had every right to be, still not able to believe that he'd kept the dragons from her. He knew she was trying to help Cedric, she couldn't understand as to why he wouldn't say anything. There was no chance he would have forgotten, either. How often are dragons brought to Hogwarts? It was obvious they were here for the tournament.

"Well, this may be the last time you see me alive and unscathed." Cedric says, hopeful visibly aching to be hugged by the curly haired witch. Holland snorts, shaking her head.

"Well, how are you feeling?" Holland tries to divert his focus, talking about the task itself instead.

"Well, it's been a mixture of emotions, really. One moment I'm completely alright, ready to win this." He admits, Holland smiling and nodding at his confidence. The boy always knew how to speak like a true champion, confidence with no trace of boast. "But about a second after, I'm listening to this voice in my head telling me that this tournament will be the end of me." Cedric says, Holland winces at his choice of words. It was very much a common saying, but it felt a bit wrong to say such at a moment like this, at a tournament that could actually put the boy's life at risk.