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Faltering for a moment, Elle stared sympathetically at Cedric who hadn't noticed her presence yet. He was sitting with his back against the wall and his head in his hands. She didn't know how to approach him. Maybe she should just leave him in peace, but that didn't seem right.
"Cedric?" Elle's voice came out louder than she'd expected in the empty echoing corridors and seemed to startle the boy who jumped. His eyes were blotchy and he looked nothing like the confident Hufflepuff seeker she'd known. He immediately seemed embarrassed that she'd caught him crying and wiped his face on the sleeve of his blue sweater.
"Didn't hear you" he sniffed quickly, "it's um... hay fever"
"Right" Elle smiled awkwardly "do you want to talk about it?"
"About hay fever?" Elle laughed but he didn't seem to reciprocate which made her feel guilty.
Elle moved and sat down beside him with her back against the wall. She sat there for a moment quietly as they stared down the corridor as though expecting Peeves to jump out of one of the classrooms and alarm them.
"I won't mention it to anyone" she stated truthfully,
"Thanks" he muttered "it's just all the stress of the tournament and exams... it's a lot to take on"
"Yeah it must be difficult" Elle pondered, she'd found it hard last year to juggle her Owls along with her quidditch practice but she imagined the stress of the tournament must be a lot more pressing.
"You did great in the last task, I was rooting for you" she smiled cheerfully in hopes of lifting his spirits, he nodded happily but didn't say anything. Elle wondered whether she should have just left the boy in peace. Did he find her presence uncomfortable. She shifted to move beginning to believe that she never should have come when she felt his hand on her arm.
"Don't leave" he murmured "it's worse being alone" Elle slid back down onto the floor and gazed at him sadly. The amount of pressure he was under from the school was incomprehensible. Most students were hoping he'd win, although some supported Potter many still believed he'd cheated his way into the tournament.
"You can talk about it, I've always thought that helps" she added supportively,
"It's a lot more stressful than I expected... the tournament. At first I thought that three tasks over a whole school year seemed not much, I thought that it would give me plenty of time to study and have fun... you know have a good school year. I also thought that the tasks wouldn't be as hard as they are, I mean fighting a dragon, if someone had told me that's what I'd be doing I probably wouldn't have signed up"
"Yeah that came as quite a shock, you are all young after all" Cedric nodded in agreement,
"I'm glad I'm the champion because... well Hufflepuff deserve some glory, I feel like a lot of the time we're seen as the useless house, I wanted to prove that wasn't the case"
"I'd say you've been doing exactly that so far, I definitely won't underestimate Hufflepuff again" Elle smiled.
"I'm worried about the last task" he admitted "I don't know how it could get worse than dragons and mermaids but I've heard it will" Elle hadn't given it much thought as she wasn't directly involved in the games but the idea of something more dangerous than dragons and mermaids certainly gave her the creeps.
"I'm sure it'll be fine, worse thing that could happen is you get slightly bruised and you don't win" she shrugged "the best thing you can now is thing positively, you're the front runner so far"
The talk seemed to cheer the Hufflepuff up, maybe all he needed was someone to talk to. Although he did have his gang of Hufflepuff friends along with Cho who everyone assumed was his girlfriend. However sometimes it was hard to confess vulnerability to the people you know best, Elle knew that from experience.
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After the talk they shared, Cedric and Elle became fast friends. They'd say hi when they last in a corridor and they'd talk happily while waiting outside of lessons. Often they'd meet in the library and although it was silent they enjoyed each others company. Elle loved that they could sit sit in silence without it being awkward, she always admired that kind of friendship
Cedric was particularly good at transfigurations which was noted by Elle in the first task when he had turned that rock into a dog. Considering she felt like she was falling behind a lot of the time, he agreed to help her study for it. He was great at explaining everything maybe even better than McGonagall herself. Or maybe it was just the fact that George wasn't around to distract her when Cedric went through the material.
One of the friends favourite topics to discuss was quidditch. Everyone who played quidditch seemed to be equally obsessed with it and although they played different positions, the two loved discussing famous teams, tactics and (Elle's favourite) the World Cup.
Elle had of course seen Cedric at the World Cup but they'd never discussed it afterwards. Mainly because of the chaos and the fire and the death eaters. In fact Elle had talked much about that night. It seemed as though all of the excitement had been dwindled what had happened.
Nevertheless, Elle loved talking about it for once without mentioning what had gone down. Cedric too had been supporting the Irish, so there was no need for arguments over who was the better team.
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Although Elle would love to spend more time talking to Cedric about the World Cup, she found that since Cedric had opened up to her once he now found himself more comfortable to do so again.
Therefore the main topic of discussion was the upcoming third task which was still about four months away. None of the champions had any idea what it was yet which had left Cedric more nervous than he had been when he knew he was chasing dragons.
"Maybe you'll have to face off against each other, you know in a duel"
"I'm not sure, that seems too simple after what we've been through also it would be unfair to put Harry in a duel with people three years more advanced that him"
"True" Elle pondered.
"Maybe you'll be facing another sort of magical creature... though I can't think of one"
"Wearwolf?" Cedric chuckled, Elle froze at the mention of the creature as it reminded her of her uncle. Since she'd found out what Remus was, she couldn't help but feel sympathy for him.
"Maybe it'll be multiple creatures, like an assault course"
"Should've pain more attention in defence against the dark arts" Cedric sighed,
"How can you when Moody's the teacher" both the brunettes laughed.
"I wish Professor Lupin hadn't left he was the best thing to happen to the subject" Cedric mused "hang on, you're related to him aren't you... I just noticed your surnames are the same" Elle smiled happily, proud that Remus was her uncle,
"Yeah he's my uncle" Elle beamed, Cedric seemed to suddenly remember how he'd joked over the idea of werewolves as his eyes went wide however he decided not to say anything.
"Anyway I have to meet Cho now" Cedric muttered as he gazed at his watch "thanks though Elle, you're really helping me out"
"Thank you" Elle returned "for the help with transfigurations. Both of them stood up from their corner seats in the library and shot a glance over to the librarian Madame Pince who was glaring at the, for talking so loudly.
They walked out together so not to be ejected by the hawk like woman.
"Next week same time?" Elle nodded happily, "I've been feeling a lot less nervous about the tournament because of you so genuinely... thanks" Cedric beamed.
"Honestly it's no problem I'm glad I've helped" with that Cedric pulled Elle into a hug and she rested her head on his shoulder gratefully. He smelt amazing but Elle couldn't pin point the scent.
As they pulled away, Cedric strode down the corridor away from her and Elle sighed to herself happily before deciding she could get back to the common room.
"Well that looked cozy" came a voice to her right, she turned in surprise not ware that anyone had been watching. Her eyes rested on the last person she wanted to be saying those words.
It was George and he definitely did not look happy.
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