Gold Blood - Cedric Diggory

Chapter 8 ➵

"Me?!" I almost shot from my bed; "You must be delusional, Harry"

"No, I don't think so, Via. Tell her, Harry" Ron spoke.

"I was in the library-"

"Even though you should have been at practice" Wood jabbed, to which Harry ignored.

"I was in the library and I heard whispers, angry whispers, so I checked, you know. He had his wand out on Malfoy, I couldn't make much out and then Cedric just...hit him"

"Brilliant" Ron grinned quietly.

Harry continued "Draco must have ran and told Professor Sprout. But Via, Cedric was angry... really angry"

"I can't say we're close but I've never known Diggory to be violent, not even in Quidditch. He's actually pretty reserved if you ask me" Oliver spoke.

"Okay but what has that got to do with me?" I asked, confused.

Harry looked over at Oliver, not wanting an audience for what he was saying.

"Okay, well I guess that's my que" Wood huffed as he placed his hands on his knees and lifted off the seat; "Erm, get some rest okay? I want to see back on the pitch soon" He smiled, placing a hand on my shoulder and squeezing gently.

I smirked back "Yeah, absolutely"

Oliver nodded a happy, almost giddy smile my way, pushing his lips together and briefly scanning over Ron and Harry before walking away with his hands shoved into his pockets, subtly looking back at me and allowing me to catch his smirk before he was gone.

I stopped myself from smiling and looked back at Harry; "You were saying"

Harry lowered his suggestive eyebrows and continued; "You told me about Malfoy... Lucius Malfoy, about how he might be a Death Eater. I heard Cedric talking about a death eater to Draco before he pommeled him"

"It makes sense that Cedric might have heard you in the hall, Via" Ron spoke.

"I mean, I guess he could have" I frowned; "I was so quiet though, and that doesn't really explain why he beat the living moonlight out of Draco"

"So there must be a reason, right?" Harry spoke more encouragingly.

"Maybe Diggory just really hates death eaters" Ron shrugged with an unconvincing smirk.

"We all do, but we don't go around hitting Slytherin students because of it" Harry spoke.

I looked between Harry and Ron a couple of times, both of them staring at me until I got it; "You want me to find out why?" I monotoned.

"You heard Wood, he's not a violent bloke" Ron said his voice a little shaky; "Figured you've either got to be pretty brave or pretty stupid to beat up Lucius Malfoys son too. Somethings not right"

I hated to admit it; "You do have a point. I don't know how you expect me to find anything out though, the guy will barely even look my way"

Harry looked at me again; "That might not be a problem anymore, actually"

I furrowed my brows, this time an ache went through the back of my head.

"You haven't heard? I thought Wood might've told you at least" Ron got a little more excited in his tone.

"No, what is it?" I said.

Harry took a deep breath, hitching his glasses up his nose; "Looks like Hufflepuff has a new Seeker"

-

I woke up around dawn, the ward had an orange hue and was halcyon. Harry and Ron were nowhere to be seen and I couldn't see Madame Pomfrey or Cedric, I guess the ghastly liquid she had made me drink must have worked because my wrist felt even better than before; although my head gripped onto a dull, foggy ache and the last thing I remembered was dreaming that Harry was telling me that I was Hufflepuffs Seeker.

I sat up and stretched, my legs hanging over the bed as I twisted my new improved wrist in circles. I looked down to see a note and a jar with a few round silver chalk like pebbles inside. The note read:

'For your head'

Madame Pomfrey wasn't usually this generous but she seemed more fond of me than some of the other students, so I flipped the chalky tablets out of the jar and onto my hand, throwing them into my mouth and chewing as they fizzed and dissolved, the taste like summer pears and wheatgrass; miles more pleasant than the Skele-Gro potion. My robes had been placed on the stool next to the bed; I pulled the curtain round and changed, swiftly leaving the wing as a wave of relief lifted from my head and I was free of pain.

I walked straight to The Great Hall and spotted Harry and Ron almost instantly, but when I tried to make a beeline for them I was met by an array of cheers and applause, similar to my first day. I stopped in my tracks as Fred and George patted my back; "Congrats, Greystone" They said in unison.

"And don't worry too much..." Fred said.

"We'll try not to put you back in a hospital bed..." George followed.

"At least for the first game!" They both shouted again, disappearing before I could get a word in.

Another Gryffindor shook my hand and congratulated me, followed by several Hufflepuffs and even a Ravenclaw player.

Luna then floated by; "I'm sure you'll be fantastic, Via. I've always fancied flying myself, but then I remember the Nargels" Her sweet smile drifted past me as I shuffled through a sea of hands, shaking and thanking each one before I finally got to Harry and Ron.

"I think you might be more famous than Harry now" Ron laughed as I managed to pass everyone and sit down, Harry smiling also.

"How're you feeling?" Harry spoke over the table.

"Yeah, great actually" I said, surprised; "What's going on?" I gestured casually toward the congratulations that still hovered around me from other tables.

"You don't remember?" Ron raised his eyebrows through stuffing his face as usual.

"The new Hufflepuff seeker isn't ringing any bells?" Harry questioned a little sarcastically.

I looked over to the Hufflepuff table behind the boys, remembering what they had told me; "I thought that was a dream" I put my elbows on the table and covered my face with my hands in embarrassment.

I could hear Ron and Harry chuckling.

"Ah there she is, congratulations!" I heard a familiar voice from next to me.

I peeked out the side of my hand and saw Oliver sat, straddling the bench next to me with a smile on his face. I looked at him apathetically for a moment; "Does this mean I get to send you to the hospital wing now?" I grinned, taking my hands away from my face and watching as Oliver let out a laugh through a large smile; "I guess I should thank you. I do one lesson, fall of my broom, concuss myself and you still recommend me for the Hufflepuff Seeker"

Oliver's smile faded slowly, shaking his head lightly and frowning; "I didn't recommend you"

"Right, good one" I laughed, taking a small bite out of a bread roll.

"I wish I had, Via" Oliver spoke seriously.

I scowled with confusion, looking over to the Hufflepuff table again where Cedric sat with an actual smile on his face as he talked with some of our fellow housemates.

Oliver followed my eye line; "You know, Cedric isn't just the team Captain, right?"

I looked towards Oliver and then over to Ron and Harry who pretended not to listen to our conversation.

"He's the Seeker" I said to myself, the reality hitting me, imagining the kind of curses Diggory could put on me.

"Was. He must've had his Quidditch privilege taken away too" Oliver shrugged "That's what happens when you mess with the Malfoy family" He spoke, rolling his eyes and shaking his head, disapproving of the fact that anyone should ever have their Quidditch privileges taken away from them.

My gaze traveled back to Cedric, he was still laughing and seemed to be genuinely having a good time with his friends which was strange; and for a moment I could have sworn he smiled at me too.