Cedric swam trying to look all around him. It was murky and soon Cedric found himself lost. But he wasn't the only one, Krum seemed just as lost.
Swimming farther away from Krum he seeme to just get even more lost. Then he saw someone or something swim across him. As he looked closer he noticed the features of the something. Yellow eyes, broken teeth, and just plain not what he expected a mermaid to look like. He followed the merman and soon he encountered a village.
Just beyond the village he saw a familiar floating body. Eyes closed, brown hair floating around her like a halo. His breath caught as he knew who it was.
As he got closer he saw Harry struggling with two of the mermen. He said a spell and a shot of light came out to chase the mermen away.
Harry turned around quickly and caught sight of Cedric. The two nodded at each other.
When Cedric got closer he saw that there were four floating bodies. One that had red hair who had to be a Weasley. Then there was Cho… and a small figure that had white blonde hair that seemed to glow even in the murkiness. Wait why was Cho here? The Weasley was obviously for Harry and the small blonde was for Fleur. But then… Wait then what was going on? Why were Hermione and Cho both here? Unless… oh merlin they must've chosen the dates of him and Krum. So Mimi was here for Krum. That thought made him feel sick.
When he went to grab the two girls, Cedric was stopped by a merman threatening him with a trident like object.
Only one! The merman said.
Cedric felt taken aback. He opened his mouth but he still had the bubble head charm on so nothing could be heard.
Only one. You decide who matters more.
Cedric didn't know how to respond to that.
But then he saw Krum swimming towards them. Krum headed straight to Hermione, swimming past Cedric and the merman without even a look.
Cedric narrowed his eyes then turned away from the merman. Krum was having trouble getting to Hermione's ropes as he was a half man half shark creature. Meanwhile Cedric took less than a second to get Cho free.
He waited for Krum to get Mimi free not sure what he was going to do but he'd be damned if he let him have her.
When Krum finally got Mimi free, Cedric swam up to him and switched Mimi out with Cho and swam away before Krum even had the chance to comprehend what happened. He felt bad handing Cho like that as if she was nothing more than a game pawn. But he knew Krum would rescue her or he' be out of the competition.
Hermione suddenly felt cold and began to cough up water.
She opened her eyes to see a smiling face of Cedric and there were cheers all around her.
"Meems." Cedric said then hugged her even though they were still in the middle of the lake.
"Ceeeedrrriccc." She said her teeth chattering as she clung to him. "Ittt's reeeelly coooold."
Cedric gave her a concerned look then swam as fast as he could with her still wrapped around him not that either really noticed but the crowd certainly had.
Professor McGonagall and Sprout both looked at each other unsure of what to say about the spectacle to of their favorite students were making.
Cedric handed her off to Ian whom immediately wrapped her into a towel.
"Where's Haarrrry." Hermione asked.
"He should be up soon Meems. He was already there when I got there." Cedric said.
"I'm sorry Mr. Diggory, what did you say?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
As Cedric began to explain, Krum soon emerged from the water. The crowd around them began to cheer but they all grew silent when Krum yelled "Diggory" at the top of his lungs.
"Oh hell." Cedric muttered underneath his breath.
A week later and the hype from the second task hadn't even gotten close to dying down.
Everyone whispered when they saw Hermione. Granted many were snide.
Well the fourth years and above were very snide while many of the younger years had began to look at her in awe. Many of them even started to mimic her. They copied her style of wearing the uniform. How she did her hair and being makeup free. They even began to read and go to the library a lot. They all wanted to be just like her and have guys fighting for them.
"Oh lord." Hermione said as she walked with Cedric. As they walked past they could hear the very loud whispers of her peers. They were whispering such things as 'like she's not that pretty' or 'I don't see anything special' and even 'What does she have that I haven't? I'm so much prettier'.
Cedric looked down at her and could see that her eyes were on the verge of watering. His fists clenched. He stormed to where the girls were that they had passed and stormed up to them.
Hermione realized that Cedric was no longer walking with her an turned to her side trying to find him but then when she heard his angry voice behind her.
"What does she have that you all don't? A lot of things. She has manners for one, a good heart for another, she's also brilliant an loyal. Can the five of you say that?"
"Cedric!" Hermione yelled before grabbing his hand. "Don't yell at them."
"Why not? They are a bunch of rude, petty girls. And they enjoy bringing others down to make themselves feel better." Cedric said.
"Oh god Ced." Hermione said as she dragged him away. "They're not worth it believe me."
The two left the girls staring in shock.
When the two of them approached Ian at the Hufflepuff table, he immediately hid whatever it was that he was reading.
"What was that?" Cedric asked as he sat down.
"Nothing." Ian said a little too fast.
Cedric made a motion as to grab the magazine but was too slow.
"Ian seriously give it."
"No Cedric, I don't think I should."
"Ian."
"Let me see." Hermione said as she said a spell then the magazine went flying to her. "Oh it's just this." Hermione said as she realized that it was only Witch Weekly.
"Hey, that's not fair." Ian complained.
"Should I be worried that you're reading Witch Weekly?" Cedric asked raising an eyebrow at his best friend.
"Hey I like girls, thank you very much." Ian defended himself. "So Mimi does this mean you've read the article already." Ian asked.
"Yep, actually Parkinson and Malfoy gave it to me to read."
"What article?" Cedric asked but the two ignored him and kept on talking.
"Did Krum really ask you to visit his home in the summer?"
Hermione blushed a bright red.
"What?" Cedric yelled.
"He did, didn't he!" Ian yelled.
"Ian shush." Hermione said.
"But how'd Skeeter find that out? I mean I tried really hard to get near so I could eavesdrop on you two and not be seen but it was hard believe me. I got dragged away by Madame Pomphey."
"You did what?" Hermione yelled.
"Could the two of you stop ignoring me?"
"Don't be mad Meems, I only meant to make sure he didn't do anything rash. I mean he looked pretty pissed when he got out of that water. Not that I blame him I guess, I mean his treasure was you but Cedric took you instead. I just wanted to make sure he wasn't going to like kiss you or kidnap you."
"Ian!" Hermione yelled turning an even darker shade of red.
"What!" Cedric yelled as he had given up getting the two to talk to him and just listened to their conversation.
Cedric decided to skip breakfast that morning so that he could read the darn article that no one seemed to let him near. He threw the covers off Ian's bed and levitated the mattress so that he could grab the magazine.
Cedric scowled as he read the Witch Weekly article. They accused Mimi of putting love potions into his, Harry's, and Krum's drinks. Then they kept mentioning how Mimi was plain and how else the three champions could have fallen for her other than a love potion.
No wonder girls had seemed to be extra snide these days. They probably believed in the stupid article.
"Cedric!" Ian yelled as he threw open the doors to the 6th year Hufflepuff boys dorm.
Cedric looked up from the article to see him leaning on the door out of breath. "Yes Ian."
"Oh, you're reading the article." He said looking at Cedric. "How' you find it?"
"Easy, under your mattress."
"Damn, I'll have to find a new hiding spot." Ian muttered.
"Um so why did you come barging in yelling at the top of your lungs?"
"Oh yeah that, Mimi's in the hospital wing…"
"What!" Cedric yelled then ran past before Ian could finish his sentence.
"Hey, wait!" Ian yelled. "Mate she's not dying!" Ian yelled again but Cedric didn't even slow down.