It's Never Quite as it Seems
Thursday, 18 August 1994
It was far, far too early when Mrs. Weasley came into Ron’s room to shake the four boys awake. “S’ time already?” Fred mumbled. Harry rather had to agree, he felt like he’d just fallen asleep.
By some miracle, they all made it downstairs where they found Mrs. Weasley at the stove and Mr. Weasley sorting through a pile of tickets. This was the first professional quidditch match he was going to get to see but, strangely, all Harry could think about was how excited he was to see Cedric.
After Hermione and Ginny finally appeared and Mrs. Weasley had a grand old time yelling at the twins about the sweets they’d been developing, the group (minus Bill, Charlie, and Percy, who were lucky enough to be apparating in later) started the hike toward … somewhere … Harry honestly wasn’t sure.
It took a rather long-winded explanation about wizards in muggle areas before Mr. Weasley finally said they were hiking toward a portkey. When they finally reached the top of Stoatshead Hill, they split up to search for whatever the portkey might be. After a minute or two, they heard someone call “Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we’ve got it!”
“Amos,” Mr. Weasley called back, smiling as he walked toward the man.
That was a name Harry recognized, meaning … he started to search around for golden brown hair and bright grey eyes and that handsome grin.
There was a soft rustling and then Cedric swung out of a nearby tree, shooting Harry that grin and oh.
Is this what a crush felt like?
Harry was rather thankful it was dark out, hopefully no one would be able to see his blush in the morning light. He did his best to smile back and for some reason Cedric’s grin grew wider.
Harry finally tuned back into the conversation when he heard Mr. Weasley say his name.
“Merlin’s beard,” he heard Cedric’s dad exclaim, “Harry? Harry Potter?”
Oh, sweet Jesus.
Harry was getting quite sick of this being people’s reaction to him, but he knew there was next to nothing he could do to change it.
But instead of saying that out loud, Harry just said, “er – yeah.”
“Ced’s talked about you of course,” Amos said. Harry shot Cedric a look, one eyebrow raised as if to say oh, have you? And if Harry wasn’t mistaken, Cedric was absolutely blushing. “Told us all about playing against you last year … I said to him, I said – Ced, that’ll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will… You beat Harry Potter!”
Harry was starting to understand Cedric’s complaints about his dad. If he were either slightly more petty or slightly more awake, Harry probably would’ve made some quip about Amos trying to win a game while listening to his mother’s dying screams but, alas.
“Harry fell of his broom, Dad,” Cedric muttered, “I told you … it was an accident…”
Harry tried to tell Cedric either through the look on his face or just somehow magically forcing his thoughts across the circle to give it up and that he didn’t really care and that it wasn’t his fault that his dad somehow had less tact than Harry which is truly an accomplishment.
“Yes, but you didn’t fall off, did you?” Amos roared genially, slapping his son on the back. “Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman … but the best man won, I’m sure Harry’d say the same, wouldn’t you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don’t need to be a genius to tell which one’s the better flier!”
Harry was starting to wonder if it was socially acceptable to thump a grown man over the head, but he was pulled from his musings by Mr. Weasley saying, “must be nearly time, do you know whether we’re waiting for any more, Amos?”
The two adult wizards spoke back and forth, listing off the families who lived nearby that might be coming or who’d already left, Harry wasn’t paying attention though, he was just looking at Cedric … and apparently not doing a great job of covering it up if George’s elbow in his right side was any indication.
“Pretty boy, eh?” Fred whispered into his left ear.
Harry turned scarlet and swallowed hard before sending his elbows into the twins’ stomachs, “quit it,” he hissed.
He was saved from further teasing by Amos picking up the boot and Mr. Weasley looking for Harry and Hermione to instruct them on how portkeys work, his instruction was rather lackluster because they were both entirely unprepared for the feeling of being jerked through space and time a moment later.
His feet slammed into the ground, Ron staggered into him and fell over, and the portkey hit the ground near his head with a heavy thud. Harry looked up and found that Arthur, Amos, and Cedric were still standing and everybody else was on the ground.
Harry disentangled himself from Ron and got to his feet. Cedric was looking at him with undisguised amusement and Harry just barely held himself back from sticking out his tongue.
The men working at the portkey site directed them toward their respective tent site managers and the group headed down the hill. Harry couldn’t decide if he wanted to talk to Cedric or avoid him for the foreseeable future, but the decision was taken away from him when Ron and Hermione fell into step, flanking him on both sides.
Harry and Hermione spent the next 20 minutes listening to Ron ramble on about the odds of the upcoming match, when they finally reached a small stone cottage and a gate to a campground Harry nearly sighed in relief.
It appeared that this was where they’d be splitting off, Harry looked over his shoulder and caught Cedric’s eye. The older boy smiled and winked before following after his father and Harry momentarily forgot how to breathe.
* * *
The World Cup was insane from start to finish.
When they finally got to the Burrow after … everything … Harry was looking forward to being able to see Cedric. He really wanted to see him in general, but right now he mostly just wanted to make sure he was alright.
“Harry dear,” Molly said once everyone was settled inside, “there’s a letter for you, I didn’t recognize the owl.”
Harry recognized the handwriting on the outside of the parchment immediately.
Harry,
My parents have pretty well lost their minds after what happened last night so I’m on total lockdown until the train leaves. I probably won’t be able to escape to the Burrow, but I’ll keep writing and I’ll see you on the train on September 1st.
Are all of you alright? Please let me know soon before I totally freak out and try to sneak past my parents to come see for myself that you’re safe.
Your friend,
Cedric
Harry couldn’t have kept the grin from spreading across his face for anything. Of course, he was sad that he wouldn’t get to see Cedric before school, but he knew that he was safe, and Cedric was worried about whether Harry was safe. It was that last bit that made a warmth spread from Harry’s chest. He thanked Mrs. Weasley for setting the letter aside and darted up the stairs to find Hedwig and send a reply. In his haste to get upstairs, he didn’t notice the look of amusement that Fred and George shared.
Cedric,
All is well here, we’re all safe, thank you for checking. I’m glad to hear you’re safe as well, is your brother alright? I remember you saying that he was going with his friends.
I’m sad that we won’t be able to see each other before school, but there’s only a few days left before we board the train, so I’ll see you soon. Enjoy the rest of your summer.
Your friend,
Harry