PRANKSTER [1] ↝ C. DIGGORY

thirty-five

"Well you may not know," Vasantha said, unfolding the newspaper and passing it to them. "but the whole world does, thanks to Rita Skeeter."

Clary's jaw dropped as she studied the article before her. On the side of the front page, next to an article about the First Task and its competitors, lay a picture of her and Cedric watching the First Task, his arm around her and her head on his shoulder with their backs to the camera, the headline reading Hogwarts Champion Cozies Up to New Girlfriend After Triwizard Task Victory. Through the moving photograph, it was easy to see the two were smiling and laughing as they chatted with one another, though she couldn't quite be sure what was being said in that moment. Below that was a picture of Harry and Hermione hugging with a very similar headline, of which she'd no doubt hear complaints about from them later on.

"To be fair," Clary said, "if he didn't have on that bright yellow jersey, this really could be anyone."

"Come on," Vasantha said, "You guys can tell us, we're your best friends. What's going on here?"

"Honestly?" Clary asked, looking back at Cedric, who shrugged before she turned back to Newt and Vasantha. "We don't know."

"You don't know." Newt repeated skeptically, and the two of them shook their heads.

"Still figuring it all out." Cedric said, glancing at Clary before turning back to their friends.

"Alright then," Newt said, changing the subject. "So, any luck yet figuring out the egg?"

"Nothing," Cedric said, shaking his head.

"Well, what happens when you open it?" Vasantha asked, reaching for it.

"Don't open it!" Clary, Cedric, and Newt exclaimed as she picked up the egg, and Vasantha froze, holding it away from her as if it could explode at any moment, Newt having experienced the screams of inside the golden egg with Cedric the night before.

"Okay, okay, I won't," she said. "What happens if it's opened?"

"It shrieks," Clary said, "Trust me, you don't want to open it."

Vasantha looked down at the egg again with a nervous expression before tossing it to Cedric, who caught it swiftly in his hands. She shivered a bit and stood up, dusting off her jeans.

"It's getting chilly out here." Vasantha said, fixing her scarf as Newt rose to his feet as well. "We should get heading back, it's almost dinner time. But Newt said you guys were out here working on the clue, and we just thought you should see your big newspaper debut."

"Catch you later, lovebirds!" Newt exclaimed as they walked off, and Clary looked back at the egg one more time.

"We'll figure it out," she assured Cedric again, shivering softly, and Cedric finally stood up, reaching out a hand to pull Clary to her feet.

"Come on," he said, taking her hand in his once more and gesturing back towards the castle. "Let's get inside where it's warm and I'll walk you back to Gryffindor Tower."

This time Clary didn't complain about Cedric having to go seven flights of steps out of his way to walk her all the way back, but instead let him lead her through the grounds back to the castle as the sun began to set over the Black Lake, turning the blue skies into hues of orange and pink. However, as they began to pass the throngs of students moving about in the castle, all eyes fell on them, as it seemed their fellow classmates hadn't missed out on seeing the front page of the Daily Prophet that morning, even if Cedric and Clary themselves had. They continued walking up the stairs, dodging their way through crowds until Cedric stopped them in an empty corridor just inside the sixth floor.

"What's wrong?" Clary asked, her eyebrows furrowing together slightly in confusion.

"Nothing's wrong," he assured her, his eyes wandering back to the staircase. "I just figured this would be better if the Fat Lady wasn't there to be our audience when I..." he trailed off, taking a deep breath before his eyes met hers. "...when I asked you to be my girlfriend."

"Y-your girlfriend," Clary repeated, stammering slightly and mentally cursing Cedric for forcing her to lose her normal calm, cool demeanor, even if it was only for a moment.

"Yeah," he said, smiling slightly, though she could tell he was also nervous. "It's not like this hasn't been a long time coming for us, and I know we've both tried to fight it, but I'm done fighting my feelings for you, Clary. So what do you say?"

Clary smiled softly, her eyes drifting downward to where their hands lay entwined. It really had been years in the making, from the rain prank at the beginning of their first year, to a rivalry that had somehow led to kissing after fighting off dragons and holding hands in the corridors, saying that they wanted nothing more than to finally be together. Every prank, every argument, had somehow always led them back to each other.

She looked back up at Cedric, her eyes meeting his as her smile grew wider, and she nodded, gripping his hand tighter in hers.

"Okay," she said, unable to help as her smile continued to grow wider and wider. "Let's do this."