"Ok, who's ready for quidditch?" I asked when I sat down in the Great Hall for breakfast on Saturday morning.
"We are going to wipe the floor with Ravenclaw," Danny laughed as he helped himself to some toast.
"Maggie, you are supporting Hufflepuff even though you're dating Davies?" Henry asked her, looking genuinely concerned that she wouldn't be supporting us.
"Don't be stupid, Henry. Of course, I'm supporting Hufflepuff. By best friends play on the team."
Henry and Maggie continued to bicker in a friendly way about who she was going to be supporting for a few minutes but immediately went quiet when we all saw Cedric walk into the Great Hall with Cho desperately trying to hold on to his arm which he kept pulling out from her grip. He looked like he hadn't slept in months and like he was completely over Cho's clingy behavior.
Don't feel sorry for him, not after what he has done, Danny said to me, knowing me far too well.
I can't help it Danny, look at him. He looks like he's been through hell.
I don't care, he hurt you and deserves everything that he gets.
"Okay guys, it's time for me to go undercover," Henry said, trying to sound sneaky.
"Go play spy and tell us what you find out," I laughed as he smiled at me then going to sit with Cedric and Cho.
"Do you really think Cho has something to do with Cedric acting so odd?" Maggie asked as she watched Henry start to talk to the pair.
"Yeah, I do. But what he said still hurts. I don't know if I could ever forget the words, he said to me that night," I told her, playing with my porridge.
"I'm not going to forgive him. Not after what he did to you. Family sticks together, Elsa. I will always stand by you, no matter what happens," Danny said, glaring at an obviously uncomfortable Cedric.
"Together, till the end of the line," I said to him.
"To the end of the line, Elsa. Forever."
For the first time ever, I felt nervous walking into the Hufflepuff locker rooms. I hadn't been in the situation where I would have to be in close contact with Cedric since that night on the astronomy tower and I didn't know what to expect. Danny kept his arm around me as we walked in together. I kept my eyes on the ground as I headed into the girl's locker room.
"Elsa, are you ok?" Emily asked. She had taken over from her brother as Captain when Chris graduated the year before. She was in her last year of Hogwarts and I didn't want to be the one to ruin her last year of quidditch so I did the only thing I could. I lied.
"I'm fine, Emily. I've just got a bit of a headache, that's all."
She looked at me like she didn't believe me, but wasn't going to push it. Emily trusted me enough to know that if something was really nothing me enough that it would affect my playing that I would let her know.
"Okay, but if you even need anything I'll always be here for you."
As I pulled on my quidditch uniform and put my hair up in a high ponytail Bonnie, the team's keeper, came over to talk to me.
"Look, I know that you and Cedric had a falling out. But give him time, he will come around," Bonnie told me kindly.
"Thanks, Bonnie. I hope you're right."
I headed in to the main area of the locker rooms with Bonnie to see Emily was setting up in the main part of the locker room so she could give her pregame speech. There were only two open seats that I could talk, one was next to Cedric, the other was next to Hamish McLaggen who was the new beater now that Chris had graduated. I didn't know much about Hamish even though he was in our year. He was quiet and kept to himself most of the time. What I did know was that he was one of the top students in our year and his younger brother, Cormac, was a Gryffindor who was in the year bellow us. Not having the nerve to sit next to Cedric, I walked over to the seat next to Hamish and sat down.
Author note: Introducing Ben Hardy, one of my absolute all time favourites, as Hamish McLaggen. Any other Bohemian Rhapsody fans out there? That was the movie that really made me love Ben Hardy. He was the perfect Roger Taylor.
Hamish looked up at me and gave me a shy smile when I walked over to him. He seemed like a really sweet guy and I regretted not taking the time to get to know him. Placing my nimbus 2000 next to me on the ground, I smiled back at him and gave him a little wave. I could see Cedric looking very torn as he watched us, it seemed like he wanted to look like he didn't care that I had sat down next to Hamish but at the same time he looked like he hated poor Hamish for just sitting next to me. I honestly had no idea what was going on inside of Cedric's head, but it was exhausting.
"So, are you nervous about your first game?" I asked Hamish.
"A little, I mean what if I miss the bludger and one of you end up getting hurt," he asked in a soft voice.
"Don't worry. We have all taken a bludger once or twice and besides I know you're going to be great," I said making him blush a little while he smiled.
Thankfully Emily's speech was nowhere near as long as her brothers used to be, so within no time we were lining up to head out onto the quidditch pitch. I took my place next to Danny but looked over my shoulder at Hamish and gave him a small smile and gave him a thumbs up. With that little bit of encouragement, he stood up a little straighter and smiled back at me.
Within no time the game had started and I had the quaffle in my hands, heading straight towards the Ravenclaw goal posts. As I got closer, I could hear the telltale noise of a bludger heading straight at me. Not having the time to pass the quaffle, I braced myself the best I could for the bludger to hit me but the hit never came. Looking up I saw Hamish smiling as he sent the bludger hurtling down the other end of the pitch. Taking the opportunity he gave me, I threw the quaffle at the center post and scored.
"I told you that you could do it!" I called out to Hamish.
"It's thanks to you and your support that I could."
I smiled at Hamish then headed over towards Danny who had just got the quaffle to support him.
The game continued for an hour and we were only a head by 20 points, making the score 120- 100. We were all getting tired from how physical the game was but there had been no sign of the snitch. I has sweat dripping off me as I tailed Emily who had the quaffle, but all of us stopped what we were doing when we spotted Cedric speed off towards the snitch. Just as he almost had the snitch within his grip, Roger Davies grabbed the tail of Cedric's broom and rammed into his side so hard that he fell off his broom and hit the ground hard. I could hear Madam Hooch blow her whistle for a penalty as I rushed down to Cedric's side.
When I was few feet off the ground, I jumped off my broom and ran to Cedric's side. His eyes were closed but from the way he was groaning and clutching on to his side I could tell that he was still conscious. He was breathing hard from the pain that he was in and all I wanted to do was to make the pain go away.
"Oh my god! Cedric, where are you hurt? How bad is it?" I asked frantically.
"I think I broke one of my ribs," he said between moans.
Without thinking, I gently placed my hand over his broken ribs. The second my hand touched him a warm golden glow appeared under it and within a few seconds Cedric stopped groaning and opened his eyes.
"Elsa, what happened? Where am I? What happened?" he asked, his grey eyes looking at me without any hate for the first time in months.
"Davies rammed you off your broom and you fell? Don't you remember," I asked him as he took hold of my hand.
"How can it be quidditch season? We have only just got back to school," he said, panic filling his voice.
"Cedric, it's the end of November."
I could see him start to have a panic attack as he began to hyperventilate.
"Cedric, calm down just breath. Everything is going to be okay," I told him, brushing the hair out of his face as Madam Hooch came rushing towards us.
"Please don't tell her. I just want to finish this game so I can figure out what is happening to me," Cedric begged me. I wanted to say no but I couldn't when I saw the panic in his grey eyes.
"Okay. But as soon as this game is over were figuring this out together," I told him, making him calm down a little bit.
"Diggory, are you okay? Can you keep playing?" Madam Hooch asked him, crouching down to talk to him.
"I'm fine, Madam Hooch. I just want to finish this game."
Even though she didn't look over convinced, Madam Hooch let him continue the game. I helped Cedric up off the ground and passed him his broom. He smiled as he took the broom out of my and for the first time in months, I felt like everything was going to me alright.
When the game started up again, we got a penalty shot that I took and scored. Davies was off his game from the lecture that he has just got from Madam Hooch. This played to our advantage and Cedric caught the snitch quickly helping us win the game.
Now all we needed to do was figure out what had happened to Cedric.
Cedric refused to go to the hospital wing after the game, even though he had a server headache. So, we headed back to the dormitories where he headed straight to bed. I hadn't told anyone about what Cedric said to me on the quidditch pitch, it wasn't my place to tell anyone. I sat in the common room on one of the oversized couches with my feet tucked under me while I patted Freya in front of the fire and Freddie sitting on my shoulder.
I couldn't understand what had happened. This morning Cedric was essentially repulsed by my presence and now he can't remember a thing. And what was with that weird golden light that no one else seemed to have noticed when I touched him that seemed to magically healed him. I wished that Loki was here so I could talk it out with him.
I don't know how long I sat there just staring at the fire but at some point of time the common room emptied out leaving me alone with my thoughts. Eventually Danny came down from his dorm room as sat next to me. He didn't push me to tell him what I was thinking. He just sat with me and waited. After ten minutes I finally opened up to him.
"Danny, something strange is happening and I don't know what it is."
"You mean other than Cedric's sudden change in attitude making him the biggest jerk that walk the nine realms."
"I'm serious Danny. Cedric was clearly in a lot of pain when I got to him and he told me that he thought he had broken ribs. But when I touched him there was a warm golden light that lasted only a couple of seconds and Cedric was healed and he came out the strange mood he's been in the past few months. There's something happening to me and I don't know what," I started to cry to him.
"Elsa, it's going to be okay. I promise were going to figure this out," he said wrapping his arms around me.
I jumped up off the couch and started to pace the common room, startling Danny. My powers were getting stronger and I was able to do things I was never able to do before. It was scaring me and there was nothing anyone could do change it.
"No, we can't figure this out Danny. I have to figure this out. I'm scared I'm going to hurt you or someone else that I love. I can't control it anymore! This is going beyond ice powers and I don't know what it means! You have to stay away from me Danny, I can't stand the thought of any one getting hurt because I can't control my powers."
"You won't hurt anyone Elsa. It's because of you, I'm me again," Cedric said walking down from the dorm rooms.
"What do you want Diggory? Haven't you done enough damage over the past few months," Danny snapped at him.
"I know and I will never be able to say how sorry I am for what I have done. But please give me a chance to explain myself."
Danny got up to confront Cedric but I walked back over to him and pushed him back down on to the seat.
"Danny, let him talk. I think what he has to say will explain a lot."
Danny wasn't happy at the idea of letting Cedric plead his case but with one look form me, he kept his opinions to himself. Cedric hesitantly walked over to the arm chair opposite from Danny and me and sat down.
"When I first opened my eyes on the quidditch pitch after Elsa came to check on me, I couldn't remember the last few months. But over the past few hours all the memories came flooding back to me. It all started on the first day of classes when Cho came to talk to me at breakfast. I thought I saw her put something in my drink but when no one else said anything I thought I was going crazy. But then I started to think all these horrible things like Elsa had been lying to me. Cho started talking to me more and as I spent more time with her, the worse it got. At first, I thought it was the fall that knocked some sense into me but now I think it was something you did, Elsa. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make up for what I have done."
"So, let's say I believe your crazy story. How would Cho have done this to you?" Danny asked skeptically.
"With a potion of doubt," Hamish said from the stairs and startling us. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to listen in to your conversation. I couldn't sleep so I thought I would get a start on my arithmancy assessment but I realised I left my book in the common room."
"That's okay Hamish. Why don't you come sit and tell us what you know about the potion," I said, patting the empty seat next to me. Hamish stumbled over his feet as he walked over to us dressed in his pjs and sat down next to me.
"It's am extremely complicated potion to make, but I guess it was an easy thing to make for a Ravenclaw. It's kinds the opposite of love potion. Instead of making you become infatuated with a person, it makes you doubt them instead. The more of the potion that you take the worse the effects become. You can end up hating the person and being repulsed by the sight of them."
The three of us looked at Hamish with our mouths open in shock. I knew that Cho was underhanded but this was another thing all together.
"So, Cho has been controlling me in a strange way for months," Cedric said starting to get angry.
"Well, what are we going to do about it?" Danny said, finally believing Cedric.
"I'm going to deal with her. I'm going to make sure that she never does this to anyone again. I'm going to tell her that she needs to stay away from me and my friends or I will make sure she gets expelled," Cedric said with determination.
"We won't tell anyone then, Cedric. We will follow your lead," Hamish told him before getting up to go back to bed.
Danny, can you give me some time alone with Cedric. There are somethings I need to talk to him about.
Fine, but you are telling me everything in the morning.
"I'm going to head up to bed. Everything today has made me tired. I'll see you guys in the morning," Danny said, walking back up to bed.
Cedric and I sat in silence for a few minutes before either of us found our voice.
"So... Do you remember everything that I said that night on the astronomy tower?" I asked, looking down at Freya who was now curled up on my feet.
"Uh, yeah. And I'm so sorry for what I did."
"That's not what I'm talking about," I said quietly, remembering how I confessed how I felt about him.
Cedric didn't say anything for a few minutes, then he got up from the arm chair and sat next to me. His hands were shaking as he reached out and took hold of my hands. He slowly leaned forward and placed his other hand on the back of my neck. Slowly leaning forward, giving me every chance to pull away, Cedric kissed me. All of a sudden, nothing else mattered any more. I had Cedric and that was all I cared about. Moving closer to Cedric, I wrapped my arm around his neck. After a few minutes we both pulled apart. Cedric brushed a curl from my face so he could see me better.
"I know this is going to sound crazy," he began to tell me as he took hold out of my hand again. "I know I'm only 15 and your 14, almost 15. But I love you Elsa Margret Rogers and I have since the very first day I saw you in Diagon Alley. I know you probably hate me because of the last few months but I just wanted you to know."
"Oh, Cedric," I said, happy tears falling down my checks. "I have always felt the same way about you but I have been too scared to tell you."
Looking happier than he had in months, Cedric wrapped his arms around me and kissed me again. I just hoped that the rest of the year would turn out just as well.