✦✧✦
Cress wants it to be known that she was prepared for any outcome. Whether it be freak weather or running through a maze of fire while blindfolded, she was ready. She prepared herself and Cedric and she made sure that, on the day of the task, he would be ready.
Which is why, she isn't expecting him to come up to her the day before and say, "Cress, it's bloody dragons!"
Perhaps she should have seen this outcome; it is on her list, right under Digging Your Way out of a Dungeon: The Dos and Don'ts. Maybe she should have prioritized that list more adequately so that dragons would be at the top. Because it is obviously more likely for dragons to be inserted into a dangerous tournament rather than digging your way through a dungeon. How foolish of Cress to forget that.
"Of course," she says. "Why wouldn't it be fucking dragons? It's gotta be dragons because dragons breathe fire! Can't forget about that hot breath, can we?" But she's sifting through the nearest book she can get her hands on, trying to see if she can recall any information that might be useful against a fucking dragon.
"Oi," Fred says, "it could have been something way worse than dragons, Little Diggory."
Both Cedric and Cress send him a look because really? What could be worse than dragons? Absolutely nothing is worse than dragons, Fred. He gives her a sheepish smile when she just continues to give him a deadpan look and scribbles something on his parchment and Cress continues her search for anything useful during the task.
The books are scattered out all around her in piles of alphabetized stacks. She skims through them all but none of them have what she is looking for. She goes back to the D section, but there's no Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland in there. Cress tries to not have a panic attack.
"Okay" she says, glancing at Cedric, who is staring at her expectantly. "What do we know about the dragons?"
Cedric says, "Well, Harry didn't really give me much. He just told me that it was dragons."
"Bloody brilliant, Potter," Cress grumbles.
"That's my mate, Diggory," Fred says, pointing at her. "Watch it."
"Bite me, Weasley," Cress replies with a smirk.
Cedric says, "Guys."
"What?" they both say simultaneously, turning to glance at him.
"Seriously?" Cedric shakes his head. "Hams was right." He rolls his eyes when Cress gives him a confused look. "Nothing. Tell me how to survive tomorrow before I freak out and start cursing so bad that even Dumbledore will consider expelling me."
"At least you won't have to participate in the tournament then," Cress tells him pointedly.
Fred hums. "She makes a great point." Cress smiles in gratitude.
Cedric makes a strangled sound in the back of his throat. "You guys aren't helping."
"Sorry, sorry," Cress chuckles and picks up another book. Fred continues to scribble on his parchment. Cress isn't too sure what he is scribbling on there (but she's going to assume it's some kind of assignment), but he's been writing ever since he came in here and plopped down across from her at the library table. He wouldn't even let her ask any questions, just sat there and started writing with his quill until Cress got fed up with him dipping it in ink, therefore spilling it because he's secretly a klutz, and gave him a nice, easy-to-use pen. (There have been no more accidents since.)
"Okay," Cress voices as she skims a book about dragon breeding. "Dragons? What do we know about them?"
"Well you know nothing about them because you are not in Care of Magical Creatures because, 'it was a stupid elective, Ced, I'm not going to waste my time on it. Besides, you already took it,'" Cedric mocks with a glare. He runs a hand through his hair. Cress winces. "Yeah, I took it but you think I remember the information from a class I took last year?!"
"Yes?" Cress says. "Ced, you remember everything about lessons."
Cedric sighs. "Yeah, but Care of Magical Creatures was different."
"How?" Cress raises an eyebrow.
Her brother mumbles something about distracting best friends and Cress really does not want to know. Except, she kind of does. And she would ask if they weren't on a tight schedule. She saves it away for later.
When she finally finds the book she has been looking for she brings it out victoriously, just as Axel and Mallory come back to the table. Mallory takes her seat at the end of the table and Axel glares at Cedric.
"You're in my seat, chap," he says, arms full of books.
Cedric groans. Cress feels for him but she knows that once Axel finds his spot, he will not let anyone else take it. So, either Cedric is going to have to go to the only spot — which is directly beside Fred — or Axel is going to shed some blood. And Cress does not want to see that so she decides to take one for the team.
Before either of them can argue about who goes where, she is packing up her stuff and dropping down right next to Fred. She ignores the heat in her cheeks because this is a favor for all of them. Cress is stopping the spread of violence within Hogwarts one chair swap at a time. She is not doing this to be closer to Fred. Nor does the fact that he is warm sway her in any means. Nope. No swaying here. Just a girl trying to help out her best friend and brother.
(And the grin Fred sends her way does not send her straight into the heavens. No. She is unaffected. Her heart is tame.)
Axel sends her a knowing look, along with Cedric, and Mallory because apparently Cress is easy to read and her wanting to be close to a friend is absurd. There obviously must be some ulterior motive. Which there kind of is, but that is totally beside the point.
"Axel," Cedric says, "you're taking Care of Magical Creatures, right?"
Axel nods. "Mal and I are, yeah."
Cedric heaves a sigh of what must be sweet relief. "Sweet Helga, do you know anything about dragons?"
"Er — a little," Axel says uncertainly. "Maybe. I'm not too sure. I don't think we really cover those this year. I'm pretty sure that's N.E.W.T. stuff."
Cress winces again when Cedric looks three seconds away from crying. He looks to Mallory for some sort of help, but the girl just gives him a sad smile and shakes her head. Cedric all but wails. She flips through the book and finds exactly what she is looking for. "Hey, wait. Stop the tears, bro."
"What?" Cedric says hopefully.
"Here's a book on the breeds of dragons and everything you need to know about them. And since I'm sure that they won't make you kill a dragon, you are most likely going to have to get past it to do something or get something. I dunno. Maybe. That's probably how they work. They wouldn't really make you kill a dragon. Or they could. Because it's the Triwizard Tournament. Anything goes. Heavens, I hate these stupid games." Cress quirks a smile when Fred chuckles wholeheartedly. He looks down at her and her heart about bursts from her chest. "But anyway, I think reading this will help you understand dragons better." She hands Cedric the book. He takes it greedily. "Read it all, Cedric Diggory. All of it. Don't skim it or get distracted by Hamlin. Read this book and then come up with a plan to get past it and then talk to me, okay?"
Cedric nods. "Of course. Merlin, you're a life saver, sis." He leans over and kisses her on the forehead. "I love you!" he exclaims.
And then he's gone.
"He is not sane under stress," Axel comments.
"You're telling me," Cress mutters.
She starts collecting her books so she can put them back where they belong. Mallory doodles on her parchment since she really only came in her because Cress and Axel asked her to. She's always ahead with her homework. Axel continues with his Arithmancy essay, chewing on the cap of his pen when he isn't writing. Fred, however, stands with her and asks, "Want some help?"
Cress is pretty sure she just falls in love (like) with him all over again. She sends him a thankful smile and nods. He takes the majority of the books in his arms and she follows him.
"So," he asks, "are you nervous for tomorrow?" Fred glances back at her as he stows away the A sectioned books. They all fly up to their respected slots.
Cress shrugs. "I mean, I dunno. I don't think it's hit me yet that tomorrow, Cedric is going to be fighting for his life in a battle against some giant dragon."
"I see," Fred says, standing on his tiptoes to reach a particularly hard spot. Cress does not watch the way his shirt rises to show a sliver of tan skin.
She clears her throat, and glances down at her books. "What about you?" she questions. "Nervous for Harry, then?"
"Bloody hell, yes!" Fred throws her an incredulous look. "I'm going to be shaking in my boots tomorrow at the thought of him facing off against a beastly creature." Then, he smirks. "But, I know he has it in the bag. This is Harry we're talking about."
"That's valid," Cress says. She has to agree because somehow, even though Harry is always faced with trouble and turmoil, he manages to overcome his obstacles and rise up to the top. Which is saying something, because the chap is always struggling with something. Ever since he's come to Hogwarts, it's been one thing after another and she knows it's hard. Bloke's probably going to fizz out by the time he's seventeen.
"If we're being honest, though," Fred says, "I think that Fleur bird and Viktor are going to come in first and second tomorrow."
"Wow," Cress says, following him down another row of books. She dodges a flailing first year, helps another one up, and hands her books to Fred so he can put them up. "Really loving this school spirit, Freddie."
Fred smirks at her. "Oh, don't act like you weren't thinking it, too. You said yourself that the Durmstrangs ate nails for breakfast."
"But they don't," Cress points out. Her theory had been proven wrong when she saw Viktor Krum eating bloody pancakes with so much maple syrup on it. Definitely not nails. (Except, she did she an oddly suspicious girl munching on something that did not look like regular human food but more like a metallic substance, but Cress didn't mention it because Axel made her drop it. And it have been a "trick of the light." Pfft. As if. Cress still stands by her original theory.)
"But you believed they did, Little Diggory," Fred gripes, grinning cheekily at her. Cress wonders how she ever started to fancy someone like him.
"I feel like you're missing the whole point of this ridiculous argument," Cress tells him in retaliation.
Fred leans up to place some more books in the right spots so they can fly to their respected places. "My point," he drawls, "is that the Durmstrangs and Beauxbatons basically live for the competition. Hogwarts does not."
Cress laughs. She laughs and Fred looks at her but she doesn't stop laughing because what he said was complete and utter bullshit. Hogwarts doesn't live for competition? Ha! Okay, tell that to the eighty Quidditch matches she's seen where the whole Gryffindor team basically went out for blood and nothing else. Tell that to the grumpy expressions that Fred and George wore around every time they even glanced at Cedric after that horrendous match in her fourth year. Tell that to the countless Slytherin versus Gryffindor matches where Malfoy and Harry would banter it out like two middle schoolers who were pulling each other's pigtails. And tell that to the way that Hamlin and Cedric basically play Quidditch like they're going out to war, like if they don't win, it's over for them all.
(And do not even get her started on the House Cup. Cress cannot count how many times the Hufflepuffs screamed frantically at one another because they lost yet again. How many times they called bullshit on the Gryffindors winning because Harry sodding Potter was in that specific House. Helga.)
So, yes, Fred, Hogwarts does live for competition. Cress believes they invented it.
"You're a nutter, Fred," Cress says once she's calmed down. Fred looks oddly concerned for her health.
He pouts. "What'd I do?"
"Nothing." Cress gives him a big smile, endeared by the way his eyes are all rounded and his bottom lip jutted. No one should be able to get away with being that perfect, honestly. Cress thinks it should be against the law. She pats him on the arm. "Nothing at all, Frederick."
"It's Fred, Little Diggory," Fred groans, the discussion from before forgotten. "Just Fred."
They start making their way back to the table in which they came from. Cress knows that her break is going to be over soon and therefore, she is going to have to, grievously, depart from the library (and Fred). Which, of course, sucks major bollocks and Cress doesn't think she's ever hated lessons more than she does today because Fred Weasley actually sought her out and wanted to be with her. With Cress. With Crescent Hope Diggory. It's like a miracle, really.
But soon it's going to be over and she's going to have to lug herself to Transfiguration and figure out how to change a lamp into some kind of rodent while Fred goes off to his better classes with his better friends and he'll realize that he shouldn't have went after Cress, not when there were so many better people out there. And then he'll stop talking to her slowly, day by day, until it's just her sending him longing glances in the corridors whilst he converses with his fucking soulmate and love of his life who is probably Angelina Johnson — which is totally okay with Cress because Angelina is great and Cress couldn't compete with her even if she tried. (Because Angelina could probably rip her a new one without lifting a finger.)
"Apologies," Cress says before she can get to enthralled in her thoughts, "I'm afraid I missed what you said, Frederick. Could you repeat it?"
Fred groans again, sticking his hands into the pockets of his trousers. He says, "My name is Fred. Not Frederick."
"Is it now?" Cress asks with a raised brow. "Pray tell, Frederick, what's my name?"
"Oh," Fred says. He laughs. "Oh." He gives Cress a radiant beam, eyes crinkled and all, and throws an arm over her shoulder companionably. "Oh, my. Is this about Little Diggory?"
"That's usually what it's always about, yes," Cress says. "If you want me to respect your wishes, then respect mine, you loon." She tries to shove him off of her because Fred and this proximity are not a good combination for her heart. Her cheeks are already sweltering and she is highly aware that he can probably tell that she is panicking internally from the closeness, but he doesn't relent his grip.
"See, that's kind of hard, though," Fred says. "I can't stop something when I know it makes you irritable."
Cress looks up at him. "You like seeing me angry?"
"Of course!" Fred says brightly. "Have you seen your face when your annoyed? It scrunches up all cute-like and your nose wrinkles and your eyes kind of narrow in the totally endearing way. And when you huff it's all small and you do this thing where you put your hands in your hair before giving me this most demeaning look and — I'm a goner, Little Diggory. A goner."
And there it goes. Every ounce of self-control that Cress had just disappeared. Poof. Out the window. She's hanging on by strings now, but the urge to just get on her tiptoes and snog Fred's face off until they're both seeing stars and hearing colors is so empowering. She wishes Axel were here. He's her impulse control. But he's not and Fred Weasley called her not only fucking cute, but endearing. Fucking endearing.
You don't just call someone endearing and then tell them you're a goner — and describe the way they very angrily and threateningly puff out their breath — and expect them not to fall head over heels. It's like asking for the impossible. And don't even get her started on the fact that he looks totally serious about what he just said. Cress doesn't want to go there because going there means divulging into phantom dreams that will never become a reality. And she does not feel like having Axel pick her decomposed body off the floor when she dies from the sorrow.
So, Cress holds back, doesn't reach up and wrap her arms around Fred's neck or reach up and slot their lips together. She just rolls her eyes because her acting over these past months have gotten phenomenal and says, "You're an idiot, is what you are."
"Ouch, cool it with the burns, Little Diggory," Fred exclaims, hand over his heart in mock hurt. He pulls her in closer when she tries, yet again, to escape his tight grip. "My heart is a fragile thing and a man can only take so much until he truly shatters."
"You're unbelievable," Cress tells him. "Absolutely impossible."
"Wow, even when you're bashing me, you're adorable," Fred says easily like he didn't just make Cress's heart burst from her chest. "How does that work out, Crescent?"
Cress is done. Godric, is she done. She can't do this anymore. First with the teasing and now her name? Her birth-given name that she asked him to use but didn't expect for it to happen? Is the world going mad? Has she stepped into another dimension with a reality that Fred Weasley might actually fancy her? Has Cress accidentally tried some drugs that she doesn't know about? She thinks she might have because her stomach is turning in all different directions and she's warm all over, her whole-body aching. Her cheeks are basically small fires now with the way they're burning and, to make matters worse, Fred is still staring at her with this stupid expression of softness and Cress is done.
Seeing Axel and Mallory is like her way out and she grasps at that straw like it's a lifeline. She runs over to the table quickly, finally managing to get away from Fred before she had a heart attack in his arms. She throws herself in her chair with a sigh of relief and tries to recollect herself but it doesn't work because she's pretty sure her brain is fried and her heart is still hammering and Fred is coming over here like nothing affected him (which is cool aspect to have and Cress will ask pointers on how to be nonchalant later but, for now, Cress is done).
When Fred sits down the bell rings and he leaves with a, "See you later, mates!" and it's all bright and cheery and he ruffles Cress's hair (she's sitting with her head slammed onto the table) before he leaves and she wants to die.
Axel laughs, the traitor. "What went down with you two? Did he finally declare his unfaltering love for you?"
"What?" Cress perks her head up, shakes it. "No. Godric, no. Why would you think something so ludicrous?"
"Because you look like you're about to bust," Axel comments and none of them leave, even though they should be heading to Transfiguration. Students pile out of the library and Cress watches them with a faint disinterest.
"You do look a little flustered," Mallory says. "Your hair is a little knotted, too. It looks great, but it's knotted." Axel snorts.
Cress murmurs, "Thanks, guys. Really know how to make a girl feel special."
"S'what we're here for." Axel slaps her on the shoulder.
Mallory says, "What happened?"
"Fred is just so —" Cress makes a gesture with her hands, flailing them and then making a noise of frustration, "— ugh! He's so ugh and he makes me want to annihilate buildings. Just take my wand and BOOM. No more building." She makes an explosion with her hands and tiny Viktor, who is sitting beside Axel's notes, glares at her. Cress flips him off.
"Strange way to take your frustration out, but I see where you're coming from," Axel says. "I, too, want to destroy buildings when I'm around you. Also, let's continue this on the way to Transfiguration because McGonagall will end us if we're later than ten minutes."
Grudgingly, Cress picks up her things and follows Axel and Mallory to the Transfiguration classroom. On the way, Mallory hums a tune and twirls a little because she's been in an oddly good mood today. Axel sashays through the corridors like it's a runway, his new hair giving the confidence boost he needed so long ago. He doesn't even walk anymore — he saunters. It's pretty impressive and she sees people checking him out on more than one occasion and all she has to say about that is Viktor better get himself in check before that piece of arse is off the table.
She doesn't say anything about Fred and the whole debacle in the library because she is still recovering but Axel grills her later, after lessons are over and everyone is at dinner, and she spills a can of beans. Cedric and Hamlin are hunched over the book she gave him earlier, speaking in low voices, but they look over when Axel, the worst best friend to ever grace the world with his presence, cackles.
Actually, most of the table looks over, but Cress isn't too bothered, can't really pay attention to them because her ears are ringing and she hates Axel.
"You're telling me you got flustered because he called you by your given name?" Axel laughs louder, leaning over his bowl of minced pie. Tiny Viktor puts his hands up like he's going to save him if Axel falls too far and Cress would appreciate the gesture if she wasn't so mortified.
"Oh my gosh, keep it down!" she exclaims petulantly. "Also, it was fucking weird hearing it from him. My reaction was reasonable. Plus, he called me endearing. Did you miss that part or—?"
"You only mentioned it eighty times, Mo," Axel scoffs. "Merlin, you act like you've never been complimented before."
"Not by the person I fancy, you wad of dead hair," she snaps.
"Oh, this isn't any different."
Cress begs to differ. Hearing those words from Fred was a different experience. It wasn't like hearing her mum tell her that she was molding herself into a beautiful, young woman or hearing her grandma tell her that her teeth looked nice — a weird compliment, but Nana Lianne has always been a peculiar person. Hearing those words from Fred was like taking a jump into an active volcano and living. It was like falling out of one of those airplanes that Axel always has to ride. It was like facing off against a giant dragon.
It was a thrill and a terror all at once. Cress loves the adrenaline that peaks in her body but she hates the fact that she could take one sentence, one word the wrong way and do something that could potentially ruin the friendship her and Fred have. That dark cloud of doubt and anxiety is what always stops her, is what keeps her from putting her foot forward onto the creaky ice and taking a leap into the glacial waters.
Mallory, who is eating some kind of noodles, says, "I think it's cute. Axel, stop being mean."
"I'm not being mean," Axel denies, but he's got a childish pout on his face. "I'm just saying, she should have jumped his bones."
"I'm not going to jump someone's bones!" Cress snaps. "Especially when I don't know if I'm reading the signals right!"
"Well, you are," Axel says, rolling his eyes and helping tiny Viktor pick up the spoon. Tiny Viktor glares indignantly from where he's dangling and Axel just rolls his eyes and lets him down, putting the spoon beside his plate.
Cress looks at Mallory for assistance. Mallory says, "I cannot help you, Crescent. I have never had a crush nor gotten any kind of affection from anyone of the opposite gender. People usually tend to ignore my presence."
She says it in such a nonchalant way that Cress wants to cry. And give her a hug. She does the latter. Mallory hugs her back hesitantly, like she can't quite understand why Cress is holding her so tightly. Cress sniffles into her shoulder and pulls back.
"Those pricks are missing out, then," Cress says.
Axel hums. "Naturally. Mal is the best. They just can't handle the perfection that is you."
"Oh," Mallory mumbles, looking down at the table, "well, thank you. But, no one is perfect, you guys."
"I think we just established that you are," Axel says.
Mallory shakes her head. "I am not perfect. Not even close. But the sentiment is appreciated and, for that, I am grateful to you guys. But this is not about me. This is about Crescent." Mallory glances at Cress with a soft grin. "I think your reaction was warranted. You had every right to freak out."
"Thank you!" Cress emphasizes, throwing a look at Axel. He rolls his eyes, flipping her off. Cress is offended. "That is all I needed to hear."
"But," Mallory continues; Cress groans, "I do think you should tell him how you feel."
Mallory states it like it's so easy — like Cress can just walk up to Fred and say, "Hey, guess what? I like you and want to stick my face on your face and maybe go out on some dates and have hot snogging sessions because that would be terrific, wouldn't it? Blink once if you agree." There is no way in hell that would work out the way she would want it to. Plus, there's a hole in this plan. Fred likes Angelina, unless he has stated otherwise, and Cress is not about to ruin that budding relationship. She is not a homewrecker.
So, she is going to sit on the sidelines and enjoy the fleeting bursts of teasing and laughter Fred Weasley brings her and she's not going to listen to any advice Axel (and now Mallory because confessing to Fred? A next to impossible task) gives her.
Cedric asks her for some help on understanding the Hungarian Horntail and Cress pushes everything out of her head — all the nonsense from today, mostly — and focuses solely on the task at hand. They go to the common room and commandeer the couches until it's dark and the fire is dimly lit and her eyes are heavy from the reading and the Charms she's been helping him with. But it's worth it because Cedric looks more confident than he did earlier and Cress wants him to be as prepared as he can be. She goes to bed after he demands her and lays there for a while, staring at the ceiling forlornly.
(Cress prays tomorrow will end with her not going to the hospital wing to due stress on her heart.)
✦✧✦
Cress does not get a wink of sleep. This is expected, of course, seeing as how her brother is about to compete in a threatening match that could result in his untimely demise. There's no time for sleep when she is too busy thinking about all the things that could go wrong during this dragon scavenge. Her stomach is filled with dread just thinking about it.
Mallory comes over to her bed to wake her up for breakfast. Cress groggily picks herself up and throws on her uniform and finds her glasses that have somehow managed to fall under her bed, which she uses for lessons (on rare occasions when her eyes hurt from squinting and she has a headache) and events like the one today (far away where she is unable to see). She slaps them on her face and doesn't even bother with her hair, but Mallory suggests a nice combing will do the trick, so Cress lets her brush it out before leaving it down. It's getting darker, she notices as she stands in front of the mirror. It's almost a brown rather than a blond. She sighs and rubs at her eyes from under the glasses.
Axel is waiting in the common room for them and Cress is silent all the way through breakfast. It's a bit of a blur but Cress bites an apple and then makes her way to her first lesson, dazed and distracted. It's Potions, too. Which makes sense because the world seems to want to watch her fail at everything in life.
Snape takes away twenty points from Hufflepuff because Cress puts in troll toenails instead of hippogriff feathers and her cauldron explodes. She thinks maybe she should be bothered, since Snape turned a mild shade of grey that probably isn't natural for the human body, but she isn't. She already has detention with the git sometime this week, what's twenty points off Hufflepuff going to do to her now?
Lunch comes much too slowly and Cress walks through the hallways like some kind of robot. She hasn't seen Cedric all day and her nerves are eating at her stomach. She is going to need to take a Calming Draught if this continues. Axel lets her have her space, goes off and gives his blessings to Viktor (still a weird concept for Cress but she isn't going to ask because Axel seems happy and that's all that really matters) while she wallows over a bowl of mashed potatoes (which shouldn't be out since at lunch they usually have sandwiches and other useless things but she asked Gadby for a favor and he delivered). She feeds tiny Viktor some, too, because he's angry that Axel had to leave him here. (Big Viktor still doesn't know about him.)
Ginny comes over when she's on her second bowl. "He'll be fine," she says, nudging Cress's shoulder.
Cress does not give Ginny a hug because a) she doesn't know if Ginny will snap her neck if she does, and b) the position is awkward and it would just be too tense. She does tell Ginny that she wants to hug her, though, and Ginny grins and opens her arms. Cress hesitates for a moment and then slips into them easily and finds that it isn't that tense. Like, at all. And wow, she's missed Ginny a lot. She hasn't been able to talk to the girl in a while due to being swamped with O.W.L.s and research for this forsaken first task, and Cress kind of hates herself for it. But Ginny doesn't seem to mind since she's sitting here, comforting Cress. Because Ginny is a blessing to this world. Cress is going to name her first-born after her — even if it's a male.
"I agree," Mallory says when Cress pulls back from Ginny. "Cedric is a strapping man, he will do fantastically."
"Of course, he will," Ginny states. "This is Cedric we're talking about. He's a prefect, the top in his class, has great arms, a nice arse. . . Basically, everything you need in a man."
"He's also my brother," Cress says because she feels like Ginny was getting way too dreamy there. (And the arse comment was totally unnecessary. Cress totally doesn't divulge in her fantasies about Fred around Ginny. She could give her the same respect.)
Ginny waves her off. "Yeah, there's that too."
"Cedric is a very handsome bloke," Mallory tells Cress, cheeks pink.
"Fuck yeah, he is," Hamlin says, sliding down the bench to sit beside Mallory. "Have you seen that jawline? I could cut cheese on it. Gods, he's beautiful. Like, gorgeous. The epitome of perfection."
"Please. . . stop." Cress runs a hand over her face. "Can we not talk about what an attractive person my brother is? He could very well be burned to death today!"
"He's not going to burn to death," Ginny says.
"Nope, it's only Tuesday. Burning to death is scheduled for Thursday," Hamlin says.
Cress rolls her eyes and adjusts her glasses. "Why are you here again?"
"All Cedric's other friends are talking about bloody Potter and that blasted article again." Hamlin rolls his eyes in irritation. "It was funny the first ten times, but it just got annoying after the eleventh."
"You're all lunatics," Cress tells him.
"I'm not participating!" Hamlin exclaims. "Not anymore, at least. . ."
Cress shrugs. Ginny glares at Hamlin. Mallory is finishing off a piece of pie that Gadby brought out for her. The Great Hall is chattering with students, most of them excited for the first task of the tournament. Cress wishes she could join in on the festivities, but there's still a gnawing presence in the back of her mind, telling her all the things that could go wrong.
When it's time to depart to the first task, Professor Sprout gathers the Hufflepuff House, most whom have painted their faces and decked themselves out with those sodding badges, and instructs them to follow her to the field where it would be taking place. Cress walks with Mallory, Axel, and Hamlin; Ginny is with her other friends from Gryffindor since all the Houses must remain in order until they get there.
"PUD!" Lee yells when they get there. Cress swivels around and finds him. He isn't hard to miss. Him, Fred, and George all have their faces painted in Gryffindor crimson and molten gold. "Oi! Come sit with us!" He flails madly to the section where they're going to sit in. Cress sees Fred and George give her identical smiles of hope and she questioningly stares at her friends.
Axel shrugs. "I don't care."
Mallory says, "I don't mind, either. It will be nice to sit with them."
Hamlin is already running over there and clapping Lee on the back. "Lee, mate! Good to see you! How've you been, you git?!"
Cress heaves a sigh but weaves her way through the overbearing number of students to get to where Fred and George are. Lee and Hamlin are already making their way up the stairs towards the top. Cress squints up at them.
"Nice glasses," Fred says when she reaches his side. He gives her one of those soft, private smiles that Cress does not know what to do with and she all but falls out.
"Thanks," she murmurs, pushing them onto her face. "I need them to see."
Fred laughs. Cress wants to bury herself alive from the mortification. Even Axel sniggers from her side and she glares at him, but her cheeks are flaming and she needs to get up the stairs and sit down now. She tries to take them two at a time, but she has tiny legs so she's forced to walk on them like a normal person whilst Fred and George and Axel show off like arseholes and make her and Mallory sashay up them like they have some sense.
The seats overlook a forest with a fair-sized space holed off in front of the stands that had probably been conjured beforehand. There's a Swedish Short-Snout lounging in the middle of it, hunched over a nest of eggs protectively. Around her, students from Beauxbatons, Durmstrang and Hogwarts bustle around, talking animatedly as they wait anxiously for the first contestant to come out. Cress thinks she might be sick.
"Down you go." Fred gently grabs her arm and hauls her down so she's beside him. She tries not to think too much of it. She fails. And he's warm. Godric, is he warm. All flaming fire next to her ice-cold body.
(She may or may not lean closer to him. For warmth purposes only.)
(He grins down at her like maybe he knows she's lying to herself.)
(Cress wants to kiss him.)
"I have a feeling Ced is first," Axel tells her. She shakes her head to ride herself of these thoughts, and to break the eye contact with Fred, and stares at Axel. "What? It's just a feeling."
"I hope so. Then he can get it over with quickly and I won't be such a nervous wreck."
Fred says, "You gotta have more faith in your brother, Crescent."
Cress abruptly coughs. Axel laughs. Mallory hides a smile in her cardigan. Tiny Viktor, from his spot on her thigh, looks mildly amused with his bushy eyebrows and dark eyes that are twinkling. Fred looks confused but unabashed because nothing embarrasses him.
"What?" he asks.
"Nothing," Cress says quickly, catching herself. "Just had something stuck in my throat."
"Sure," Axel drawls. Cress puts the force of You-Know-Who in her glare. He doesn't relent. Arsehole.
"Anyway," Cress intervenes, putting her attention back on Fred, "I do have faith in Cedric. I just don't trust the dragons. Okay, well, I do trust the dragons," Cress says when Axel makes a disbelieving noise in the back of his throat. "It's just. . . they're nesting and they're Mama dragons which means they're going to be a force to be reckoned with and I just — can't do all that. Don't have the capacity to handle all that stress."
"But we've established that Diggory is more than capable of doing it," Fred tells her. "He's a force to be reckoned with himself."
"Yeah, but. . . dragons, man." Cress sighs and tries not to think about it anymore. Thinking about it only makes it worse and she does not need to throw herself into a frenzy over something that could turn out all right. And Cedric is capable, more than capable, really. If anyone has this in the bag, it's him.
Cress doesn't worry. She shoves the worry deep into her chest and makes sure it stays there and she talks with Fred and Axel, fiddling with tiny Viktor all the while. It's good and it's distracting and she might really be leaning on Fred now, but it's because he's emitting so much warmth and nothing else. Plus, he doesn't seem like he minds either and his sweater is soft. (And brown, but not like the ugly brown that people usually think of when they think of this color; it's more of a dark, rich brown, one that reminds Cress of hot chocolate and late nights in the kitchen.) (It even smells like it.)
When the whistle finally blows and the first champion does come out, Cress almost knocks tiny Viktor off her shoulder she jolts so much. The crowd roars loudly at the arrival of Cedric and Cress can feel it ringing her ears. She adjusts tiny Viktor and stands up to get a closer look because everyone decided that it would be a good idea to leap up as soon as he came out. Her heart jumps to her throat when she sees that he looks a sickish kind of green, even from her perspective. She briefly closes her eyes and prays to the heavens that Cedric makes it out of here alive.
The dragon roars when Cedric gets closer to the nest of eggs. In a second, it's up and on him, hissing and snarling and breathing fire like a maniac. Cress bites her lip and clenches her fists so tightly that she fears she may have drawn blood. Cedric dodges and weaves everything the dragon throws at him and for a while, Cress can only see a blur of blueish-grey along with the yellow and black of Cedric's tournament uniform.
The crowd continues to roar like one person bellowing out a off-key song and Cress continues to watch on her tiptoes, mind whirling at the spells he could use, the techniques he could apply and she wishes she could be down there, helping him.
After another close call from the Swedish Short-Snout, Cress gasps and lowly says, "Come on, Cedric." She doesn't want to be loud about it, in case her anxiety shows, but she figures it doesn't matter anyway since she's as stiff as a board.
Cedric misses another slash from the dragon and Transfigures a rock into a dog. Cress almost sobs in relief. Finally. She was worried he would be stuck out there forever until he grew tired and the dragon decided that it was hungry for its next meal.
The dragon goes for the dog and Cedric, in a moment of confidence — or maybe it's panic; Cress is going to go with panic — runs for the golden egg hurriedly. Cress grips Fred's hand in anticipation. She would have grabbed Axel's but him and Mallory were beside her hugging in fright. Fred doesn't seem to mind though, so she keeps her grasp on it and watches and watches as Cedric gets closer to the egg and the dragon gets. . . bored.
"CEDRIC!" she yells and it's broken and there's fire — so much fire — and Cedric hasn't gotten the egg yet and no. No, no, no, no. He can't be. "Cedric," she mumbles lowly, sadly and her eyes well up.
But then he's there and the egg is in his hand and he's burnt but he's alive and that's all that matters. Cress sobs in relief, stares at the burn marks on her brother and scorch marks on his cheeks and the bright grin on his face and she cheers with the crowd, loudly and happily for her brother. She doesn't even hear what the judges say or listen to Bagman introduce the next champion. Cress is letting go of Fred, throwing tiny Viktor at Axel, and running down the stairs to the tents, headed in the direction Cedric went.
Madam Pomfrey is fixing him up when Cress enters the tent. Cedric gives her a small smile when he sees her. "Wasn't too shabby, was I?"
Cress doesn't throw herself at him because Madam Pomfrey would probably skin her alive should she try but she cries and she smiles, wide and huge and relieved and says, "You were amazing, Cedric." She doesn't tell him how worried she was or how much today terrified her because it doesn't matter. He's alive and he accomplished what he needed to do and that's all that matters.
"You're being generous," he says. He grunts when Madam Pomfrey touches a particularly sensitive spot. Cress grimaces. "I wasn't that great."
"Shut up." Cress rolls her eyes. "And stop being modest. Merlin, bro, you're like the perfect package and I'm pretty sure everyone is going to fall in love with you. All of my friends basically are."
Cedric blushes. "You're ridiculous." The crowd continues screaming and cheering for whatever champion went out there, but Cress ignores it.
"But, really," Cress tells him, "I don't care what the judges say or who gets first or last. I just know that you were utterly fantastic and I'm sorry for every doubting you."
"It's okay," he says softly. Madam Pomfrey finishes patching him up and Cress goes to sit beside him on the cot. She stares at him sadly. "Stop that. I chose to do this, Cress. Don't feel bad because I got hurt."
"It was a pretty nasty burn," Cress responds. "How do you still have skin left?"
Cedric huffs. "It skimmed me. I wasn't burned alive."
"Looked like it to me."
"You're ridiculous."
"Cedric, that is a burn! Are you blind?"
"Obviously you are if you think this is an actual burn! Please, I know what's wrong with my own body."
"Do you, though? If your leg was blasted off, you probably wouldn't even know until someone told you. And then, you'd be like, 'Oh, that's nothing serious. Just a cut.'"
"I would not!"
"Would to!"
"How would I not feel my leg being blasted off?!" Cedric asks, hands flailing.
Cress throws hers up in the air in exasperation. "I don't know, Cedric! You tell me! You're the one who broke your bloody arm when you were ten and refused to get help because it was 'just a scratch.'" She rolls her eyes at his indignant face.
"I thought it was!"
"Cedric, the arm was bent! Like a fucking boomerang!"
Cedric rolls his eyes. "Now, you're just making things up."
"Madam Pomfrey told you it was a burn!" Cress groans and throws her hands up, pushing her glasses up on her head because they keep falling in her face while she's trying to tell Cedric why he's wrong. "It's a burn, Cedric."
"Okay." He levels her with a look. "It's a burn."
"Godric, thank you!" Cress sags in relief. "Was that so hard?"
"Yes," Cedric says with a pout. Cress doesn't know why she got a child for an older brother, but here she is, talking to an infant.
She's glad when Hamlin comes in, all frantic and worried, grabbing Cedric's shoulders and making sure he is still intact, his brown eyes wide in concern and his hands flailing madly. Cress smiles into her hand but that pang of sorrow for Hamlin stirs at her when she remembers the obliviousness of Cedric. She hopes Hamlin will get Cedric to open his eyes to the greatness that his best friend is, but for now she'll just have to watch as Hamlin embraces Cedric like a lifeline and Cedric grip Hamlin back just as securely.
She leaves after they start getting sentimental and walks back up to the stands. Her seat is still open and she takes it. Fred greets her with a grin.
"Everything okay?" he asks, the whites of his teeth prominent through the fading paint on his face. She nods happily.
Harry Potter is down there, on his Firebolt, flying away from the Hungarian Horntail's sharp projectiles and angry roars and Fred turns away and cheers for him when Potter does something spectacularly skilled. Cress watches, greets Axel and Mallory and answers their inquiries of concern smoothly. Axel tells her about Viktor's trial and Mallory fills her in with Fleur's and Cress has found a newfound respect for the other school's champions. Tiny Viktor has returned to Axel's pocket, Axel tells her, because supposedly he didn't want to see any of the other champions compete. Cress laughs.
A hand grabs her own. She glances up to see Fred staring at the field anxiously, watching Harry weave through the dragon to get the golden egg. When he feels her eyes on him, he turns and smiles.
"Are you okay?" he asks.
Cress bites her lip, can hear her heart beating in her ears as she adjusts their hands until they are intertwined with one another's. Her face is on fire, but she thinks this is okay, decides that she might just take Mallory's or Axel's advice one of these days and tell him how she truly feels. But, for now, Cedric is okay, Harry caught his egg, the first task is officially over and she can breathe easier than before and Fred is here, by her side like he wants to be with her. Tomorrow, a new obstacle will arrive but that's in the future and Cress isn't going to worry about that right now. For now, Cress is going to bask in the glory of today.
"I'm great," she says, gives his hand a squeeze.
Fred beams.
✦✧✦
A/N; OKAY NEW CHAPTER AND WOW, NOT EVEN A WEEK LATER ARE YOU PROUD OF ME?? IT KIND OF SUCKS? NOT EXACTLY HOW I WAS EXPECTING THE FIRST TASK TO GO BUT THERES FRESS FOR DAYS SO THATS SOMETHING AND PLUS IT ALL KIND OF FITS?? CRITICISM IS WELCOME
THANK YOU ALL FOR 10K READS I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH LIKE YOU DONT EVEN UNDERSTAND IM SORRY I HAVENT RESPONDED TO THE COMMENTS IVE BEEN WRITING THIS CHAPTER AND LEAVING WATTPAD AS SOON AS I WAS DONE EEP
ANYWAY I JUST HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS AMD LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK
(A LITTLE EDITED?? KINDA. I TRIED.)
(ALSO!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE WERE ALMOST ON CHAPTER TWENTY? BECAUSE I CANT! THANK YOU GUYS FOR GIVING ME THE MOTIVATION TO REALLY STICK WITH THIS STORY I LOVE YOU AND SORRY THE A/N IS SO LONG!!)