"we're finally finding out tonight what the third task is" i walk out of transfiguration, turning to draco. mcgonagall held me back to tell me that i have to meet mr. bagman and the other champions on the quidditch pitch tonight. when i walked out, draco was leaning next to the doorway, waiting for me.
"took them long enough" he scoffs, straightening up and starting to walk down the hall with me. he's right, we've all been dying to find out what the final task is. it's now the last week in may, nearly three months since the second task, two months since things started up between draco and i, "any idea what it will be?"
"we've got no clue" i sigh, "cedric and i have been trying to puzzle it out for weeks now, still haven't come up with anything"
"speaking of cedric" draco mutters, stopping short and glaring down the hall. i see cedric walking quickly towards us, a serious look on his face.
"y/n, hey" he smiles, stopping in front of me and then looking at draco, "malfoy" he says curtly, draco nods back in response. the two of them still don't get along, by any means, but i think they try their best for me, "they told you about the meeting tonight, yeah?" cedric says, turning back to me
i nod, "yeah, mcgonagall just told me"
"good. want to meet in the entrance hall to walk over?" he says hopefully. i see draco's face fall slightly
"i have to go meet blaise to study" draco says, "i'll see you at dinner" he smiles a little, waving goodbye to me and then continuing to walk down the hall
cedric watches after him for a second before looking at me, "still not kissing you goodbye?"
"no" i shrug, "he's still keeping things 'private'... although i'm sure all of our friends have figured it out by now" i laugh a little, but i'm sure cedric can hear the doubt in my voice. the past couple months have been odd, with draco. i've pushed down all of my fears about him not wanting to talk about our relationship, not wanting to define it, but every now and then they come back up again, and i question how he really feels about me.
"prick" cedric says, shaking his head, "anyways, entrance hall?"
"yeah, i'll meet you there" i nod absentmindedly, saying goodbye to him and then walking down to the dungeons to find daphne.
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"i just want a normal relationship" i sigh, laying back onto my bed
"any relationship with draco will be far from normal" daphne laughs, "only time he's come close to one before you was pansy, and he hated her" i chuckle, turning my head to look at daphne, "bottom line is, he needs to get used to someone actually liking him for him, not his status like she did"
"i know" i sigh, she gives me this talk every time i start to spiral. i said it to her after a couple weeks with draco, when she started to question his intentions. now she repeats it constantly, throwing my own words back at me, "it's just hard sometimes"
"it'll get better" she says reassuringly. i nod slowly, turning my head as the door opens
"hey" pansy says coldly, "draco's looking for you"
"is he still in the library with blaise?" i sit up, reaching down for my bag
"no, he walked back here with me" she smirks slightly. i look at daphne, who's rolling her eyes. i nod, trying not to let her get to me. she's never formally confronted me about draco, but everything between us has been more tense lately, so i'm pretty sure she knows... and isn't very happy about it. i put down my bag, now just having to walk downstairs. I reach the bottom step, sweeping my eyes back and forth across the room before seeing draco in the armchairs by the back corner. I make my way over, taking the seat across from him and smiling
"hey pansy said-"
"diggory wants to meet you in the entrance hall?" he cuts me off, looking at me sternly
"yeah" i say slowly, "to walk over to the quidditch-"
"well he'll see you there" he argues, "don't understand why he has to see you before"
"you're acting like i'm meeting him in some empty classroom late at night-"
"you have done that before" he retorts, raising his eyebrows
"not recently" i scold him, "you're being horribly unreasonable-"
"am i?" he crosses his arms, leaning back in his chair, "did he tell you he broke up with cho?"
"really?" i gasp, "oh my god, when?"
"last week" draco smirks, proud of catching me off guard, "interesting how he conveniently left that out. he's probably waiting to get you alone and prey on your pity-"
"cedric wouldn't do that" i shake my head, "i'm sure he-"
"what's stopping him?" draco shrugs, leaning forward against his knees, "it's not like he knows-"
"well if you'd let me tell anyone than he would"
draco exhales slowly, his face hardening. i can tell he's thinking deeply, but his thoughts are cut off by the loud ring of the dinner bell, and the subsequent rush of people out of their dorms.
"we'll talk about this later" he says lowly, his voice hushed. he stands up, grabbing his bag and following the flow of the crowd out of the common room.
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draco's pov
i'm scared of a lot of things. i'm scared of getting attached. i'm scared of messing everything up, like i have time and time before. i'm scared of putting her in danger, with all of the things happening behind the scenes that she doesn't know about. but most of all, i'm scared of losing her for good.
if i could just tell her-
but i can't.
i sigh, jogging to catch up with crabbe and goyle and walking into the great hall. when y/n walks in with her friends, she sits across from me rather than next to me like usual. she spends all of dinner laughing with daphne and pansy, hardly paying attention to me.
"hey" a nudge in my side tears my attention away from her, "did you get the answers to the history exam?" crabbe says
"um" i clear my throat, "no, i think blaise grabbed them from binns"
crabbe nods, turning to his other side to bug blaise. i look back to my food, my gaze meeting y/n's for just a second. she was looking at me. she looks away once i turn back, turning her attention back to her food.
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your pov
"i'll be back soon" i wave bye to daphne and pansy, shutting the dormitory door behind me and starting down the stairs, on my way to meet cedric in the entrance hall. i walk through the common room, checking quickly to see if draco is around. nothing. i approach the door, it opening up for me the second i stop in front of it. as the stone's part, it reveals just who i was looking for standing on the other side
"hey" draco says quietly, fixing his bag on his shoulder, "can we talk now?"
"i have to go to the meeting" stepping over the barrier separating us, "but i promise, the second i get back-"
"okay" he nods, "sounds good" he smiles, leaning forward and kissing my cheek lightly before walking past me into the common room. i turn my head to look back at him, catching a quick glimpse of him walking away before the wall closes up.
i touch my cheek, a smile spreading across my face. i look down the hall, empty. but still, this is progress. i pause for a moment, taking it in, before heading down the corridor and up toward the entrance hall.
"ready to find out what we're up against?" i laugh, running up the stairs to find cedric in the hall. he looks at me oddly as i spin around him, starting to skip down toward the grass.
"you're in a much better mood than this morning" he chuckles, following behind me
"things change" i smirk, "roll with the punches, ced" he laughs, shaking his head and coming down after me, catching up to walk by my side to the quidditch pitch.
"so, y/n..." cedric starts to say, but he quickly trails off as harry comes running up from behind us, bursting between us and joining our stride
"what do you two reckon it's going to be?" he chimes in enthusiastically
"well i don't have a clue" i say after a second, when cedric doesn't respond, "fleur thinks it's going to be underground tunnels. she keeps going on and on about it. thinks we'll have to find treasure"
harry nods, "that wouldn't be too bad" he turns his head towards cedric, "and you?"
"don't know" cedric mumbles, probably upset about being interrupted. we all talk (mostly harry and i) during the walk to the pitch, and through a gap in the stands before standing onto the field
"bloody hell" i breath out, looking over the landscape
"what've they done to it?" cedric says indignantly
the normal, flat grass of the quidditch pitch has been severely altered, now covered in low, long walls criss crossing in every direction
"they're hedges" harry observes, looking closer at the nearest wall. we all look between each other, understanding what was to come next.
mr. bagman calls us over to the center of the pitch, where he is already standing with krum and fleur. it takes us a bit to climb over the short hedges, before finally meeting them in the middle.
"well, what d'you think" mr. bagman beams, gesturing at the scenery surrounding us, "growing nicely, aren't they?" both harry and cedric are frowning, looking distraught at their pitch being worked on, "don't worry, you'll have your quidditch field back to normal once the task is over!" i look to my side, meeting eyes with cedric, who's shaking his head.
he reveals to us what we had already figured out, the third task is a maze. the triwizard cup will be placed in the center, and the first champion to touch is will receive full marks. of course, there will be obstacles. various magical creatures, and charms to be broken, but overall it seems fairly simple... in theory. harry and cedric will enter first, since they are leading in points, then krum and i, and finally fleur.
bagman finally dismisses us, all of us eager to get back inside the warmth of the castle. cedric helps me over the hedges on the way out of the pitch.
"where do you think they're going?" i look back over my shoulder, seeing harry and krum walking out a separate exit, towards the forest
"dunno" cedric shrugs and starts to walk up the hill, but i'm still focused on the pair walking into the woods, "c'mon" cedric yells back to me. i look up, seeing him holding out his hand, "i'm sure they're fine"
i nod, still not fully convinced, and take cedric's hand, letting him pull me up the hill. we walk back up towards the castle quietly, my arms crossed to pull my robe tighter around me. even in may, it gets cold at night.
"so, i had wanted to talk to you about something" cedric finally says, about halfway up to the castle
"sure" i nod, already feelings nerves gather in my stomach.
"cho and i broke up" he says quietly
"oh" i reply, trying to decide whether or not i should tell him i already knew. i also can't help but see the similarities of this moment, us being alone, walking outside at night, to what draco said cedric would do, "are you alright?"
cedric pauses, "um... yeah. it happened last week" he clears his throat, stuffing his hands into his pockets and watching his feet as we continue to walk
"oh" i repeat again, "well, i'm sorry"
"ahh it's fine" he shrugs, "just hurts you know?"
"yeah" i nod, trying not to look over at him, "i'm surprised you didn't tell me sooner"
"was trying to find the right moment" i can see him smiling slightly out of the corner of my eye
"right" i clear my throat, "what happened?"
"we just weren't right for eachother, that's all" he says casually, "meant for someone else"
i finally give in and turn my head, seeing him looking back at me. i take a deep breath, knowing what i have to do, "ced you know i'm with-"
"i know, i know" he nods quickly, "draco. it's just-"
"ced-"
"no, listen to me, y/n" he snaps, pointing his finger, "all you do is complain about him and i hate it. i hate that he gets to have you when he treats you like shit. how many times before has your friendship completely shattered over some miniscule disagreement? i can't wrap my brain around why you keep going back to him when he-"
"ced-"
"i'm not finished" he stands his ground, "he doesn't deserve you. i think we all know that, except for him. he takes you for granted and you give him too much of your trust-"
"cedric will you stop!" i cry out, not being able to hear anymore, "please" i say softly, seeing the hurt in his eyes. he nods slowly, breathing heavily, "i'm with draco, cedric. i'm sorry, but that's how it is right now-"
"he won't even admit you're together-!"
"and that's something i'm dealing with!" i shout back, "but i don't need you telling me how to handle my relationship! i understand you're just looking out for me but enough's enough, ced. i'm staying with him and that's final"
cedric exhales, keeping his face stern while he stares back at me. with a sigh, he shakes his head, turning and walking up toward the castle
"ced-!"
"it's fine" he turns back to me, "do what you want" he turns back around, storming up the hill. i take a deep breath, pumping my arms to jog up the hill and catch him, tugging on his arm. he looks down at me, his face set in a deep frown.
"study tomorrow? like usual?" i say slowly, raising my eyebrows
he considers me for a second, searching my eyes, and then nods, "yeah, yeah. i'll meet you in the usual spot" he sighs as i let go of his arm, starting to walk next to him, "you know i'm just-"
"i know" i cut him off, not needing to hear his explanation. he smiles over at me as we walk into the entrance hall, i smile back, waving goodbye to him as he trails ahead, turning the corner toward the hufflepuff common room.
with a sigh, i let my body relax, raking my hands back through my hair and rubbing my temples.
when did life become such a mess?
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sorry this took a bit to get out lol but it's cause it's longer than usual and i have school lol
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p.s. thank you for 98k reads and 4k votes!