In Many Forms

Autumn, 1989 

As September faded into October, Anna found herself a bit more settled at Hogwarts. 

She had, for the most part, memorised her class schedule and worked out a system for figuring out how to get from place to place. Though, she was a bit embarrassed to admit that her ‘system’ consisted of following familiar-looking students and, when that failed, asking the portraits to point her in the right direction. 

Along with her navigation skills, her willingness to attend meals also improved. Cedric was a big part of that. 

After their talk he’d brought Anna to the hospital wing and held her hand diligently as the healer, Madam Pomfrey, bustled around, taking her temperature and pouring fever-reducing potion down her throat. The hospital wing hadn’t been as scary as Anna feared, but she was glad to not have to face it alone. 

There were no words to truly describe how grateful she was to Cedric for caring so deeply about her—a girl he’d met a few short weeks ago—so she showed her gratitude as best she could. She always invited him along to study in the library, made sure she always had an extra ink well for when he ran out, and stayed awake all during History of Magic taking notes for the both of them. 

But despite her fever having resolved, the sharp pains inside her were becoming more and more common. At first she’d attributed them to hunger. But she was eating normally now, and she wasn’t so sure that hunger was the issue. 

Rationally, she knew it could be something bad and she should go to the hospital wing again, but she feared that this issue might require something more severe than a potion to fix. Besides, the pain never lasted long, so Anna set her worry into a far corner of her mind and did her best to forget it. There were more important things to focus on. 

“Happy birthday!” Anna, along with a dozen or so other Hufflepuffs from various years, all shouted when Cedric exited the boys dorm. She rushed forward and stuck a handmade party hat onto his head, tightening the string under his chin. 

Cedric laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He hugged her tight and they swayed in place for a moment before breaking apart. Cedric kept an arm around her shoulders until his other friends came forward to hug him as well. 

It hadn’t really surprised Anna how many people wanted to wish him a happy birthday. Cedric was easily one of the most kind and unselfish people she’d ever met, and it was plain as day that everyone else saw that in him too. She was glad. 

Silly pangs of jealousy still hit her occasionally when watching Cedric’s natural ease around people, but she was happy that other people saw him for the person he was and wanted to celebrate him too. 

“You all didn’t have to do this.” Cedric laughed with a shake of his head. 

“’Course we did,” Oisin said. “But it was all Anna’s work.” 

She quickly shook her head. “No way, everyone helped set things up.” 

“But it was your idea,” he argued. “I wouldn’t have even known it was Ced’s birthday if you hadn’t brought it up. Speaking of which.” He turned to Cedric. “Why didn’t you tell us!” It was more of an accusation than a question. 

Cedric rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding Oisin’s eye. “Dunno, just didn’t really feel like celebrating I guess…but honestly I’m relieved that everyone knows now.” Cedric laughed it off but Anna filed the statement away. She’d ask him about it later. 

“Well c’mon, we can all keep celebrating over breakfast.” Oisin slung an arm over Cedric’s shoulder and they led the way out of the common room. 

Anna was the last to clamber out of the tunnel and she watched to make sure the barrels rolled back into place to conceal the opening. She glanced at the group ahead of her, who were all chatting merrily. Anna hung back in the kitchens, waiting for them to leave her sight. 

At the last moment before he rounded the corner, Cedric turned back and scanned the group, then the rest of the room, until he spotted her. "Coming?" 

She nodded quickly. "In a bit, I forgot to grab something." 

Cedric's brow furrowed. He looked far too serious for an eleven year old. 

"Anna..."

"It's not that, Ced, I'm fine. I'll meet you up there in a bit, just need to grab something first." When he didn't look convinced she sighed. "I promise." 

His expression relaxed. "Alright. See you up there." 

As soon as Cedric and all the others had cleared the kitchens Anna was off. The week prior she’d managed to briefly set aside her fear of being a bother and asked the house elves for some help. 

Cedric had been such a good friend to her that it seemed only right to treat him in kind. So she’d come up with a little plan. 

And as it turns out, the house elves were incredibly happy to assist. With their help, Anna put together a massive picnic basket filled with the foods that Cedric always grabbed at meal times, along with some dishes his mum makes that he’d mentioned missing. Anna put the final addition in—a small chocolate cake that she baked and decorated herself—and shut the basket, throwing a few folded blankets on top of it. 

Packing everything had taken longer than she’d planned and breakfast would be ending soon. She hoped Cedric hadn’t eaten too much already. Anna heaved the basket off the table and thanked the house elves profusely as she hurried up to the Great Hall. 

“Anna!” Cedric spotted her as he was leaving the Hall. He waved goodbye to his friends and ran over to her. There was a concerned crease sitting between his eyebrows and his shoulders were tense, sitting near his ears. 

“You missed breakfast. Where were—what’s that?” 

Anna laughed, hefting the side of the basket against her hip so some of the weight was off her arms. “It’s your birthday present.” 

“My—”

“Come on, this is just part of it.” Anna grabbed his sleeve and pulled him to the massive doors that led out of the castle. 

Cedric stumbled a bit before finding his footing beside her. 

“What’s in it?” he asked. 

“You’ll find out.” 

“Where are we going?” 

“You’ll see.” 

He narrowed his eyes at her. Anna grinned at him in return and his shoulders finally relaxed. 

“Fine, but I hate surprises,” he grumbled.

“Well it’s not exactly a surprise, so you’ll be fine.” 

Anna dragged Cedric outside, across the school grounds, and towards the Quidditch pitch, which sat on a tall hill a fair distance from the school. It was then that Cedric gasped in delight. 

“Quidditch tryouts are today! I’d completely forgotten.” 

Anna beamed. “You talked about Quidditch so much I thought you might like to watch tryouts. I’d hoped the weather wouldn’t be so miserable but…” she trailed off, shuffling nervously on her feet. 

“No, it’s brilliant. C’mon, lets sit before they get started!” He dragged Anna up the winding steps within the stands until they were at the very top. 

They sat in one of the towers, which had a sort of half-roof that kept the rain off them. The rest of the stands were uncovered but there were still a few students dotted around the stadium. 

Cedric shook out the largest blanket Anna had brought and threw it around the two of them while she positioned the basket between them on the bench. Inside of it was a whole assortment of pastries that smelled heavenly. She’d been worried that they would go cold in this weather but they were just as toasty warm as when she’d packed them into the basket. 

Not long after Cedric had devoured a pumpkin pasty and Anna was halfway through a scone, the Hufflepuff Quidditch prospects walked out onto the field, two of them carrying a large wooden trunk. She recognised one of them as Christian, the Prefect who had led them to their dormitory on the first day, but no one else looked familiar. 

They set down the trunk and opened it up. One of the older students seemed to be saying something to the rest, though Cedric and Anna were too high up in the stands to hear a word of it. A moment later the group on the pitch mounted their broomsticks and leapt into the air. The one student still on the ground threw a red ball into the air, which was quickly caught by a girl in a black jumper as she zoomed off to the far end of the pitch, pursued by four more players. 

To Anna, the tryouts were interesting. The players swooped and dived and raced past each other at impossible speeds, all the while throwing that red ball around. 

“That’s the quaffle,” Cedric explained to her, “shame they haven’t let out the bludgers.” 

All in all it was unlike any sport she’d ever seen—though she couldn't say she was a big fan of any muggle sports—and she quite enjoyed watching the action on the pitch. 

Cedric, however, was having a grand time. He whooped loudly each time someone got the quaffle through one of the three hoops, no matter which end of the pitch they scored on. He even shouted encouragingly at the players as they went racing past them in the stands a few times. Anna simply watched and laughed, occasionally joining in to cheer or boo when Cedric did, though she wasn’t too sure what they were cheering or booing for. 

But all the while, a question burned at the back of her mind. 

"Ced?" 

"Hm?" He didn't look away from the pitch. 

"What did you mean earlier?" 

"Earlier?" 

"You said you didn't want people to know about your birthday...why?" 

Cedric stopped chewing the bite of pumpkin pasty in his mouth and set down the rest. 

"I dunno really. I guess—" he sighed and pulled a hand through his hair. "I guess I've just always been with my family for my birthday and it doesn't feel the same to be away from them. Y'know?" 

"Oh um...I suppose I don't know," Anna admitted quietly. 

Cedric's eyes went wide. "Merlin—I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I know you don't have a family to spend your birthday with. Blimey that was an even more lousy thing to say." 

Anna tilted her head, confused, until it dawned on her why Cedric was panicking. She laughed. 

"Cedric, it's not news to me that I don't have parents. Honestly I'd meant that I don't know how you must be feeling because the children's home kind of is my family. Miss Frethey isn't a mother and I'm not related to anyone there, but we always have cake and at least a small present. And my birthday's in August so I've never spent it at school. Even now, with being at Hogwarts, I'll still be back home for my next birthday." 

"Oh..." Cedric mumbled, picking at the crumbling edges of his discarded pastry. 

Anna set her hand over his. "I'm sorry you can't be with your family today." 

"Thanks." A barely-there smile tilted his mouth, not looking very happy at all. 

"Maybe we can do something that you'd do for your birthday at home, like continuing a tradition. D'you have anything like that?" 

Cedric sat quietly for a moment, staring at the pitch without really watching the action. Then, his face lit up. 

"Yeah! Dad and I always went flying after dinner and cake. Mum usually didn't come since flying makes her sick but she'd stand outside with her tea and watch." Cedric smiled, a real one this time. "We always kept going until it was too dark out to see two feet in front of our brooms." 

"That sounds great, Ced—" 

His mood soured again before Anna could even get the sentence out. "We can't do that here though." 

"What? Why not?" 

"Curfew," he mumbled, scuffing his shoe against the floor. "Plus first years aren't allowed to have brooms outside of Flying class." He sighed. "Would've been nice though." 

Anna's heart wilted in her chest. The sorrow Cedric felt was so deep that it physically hurt, she could see it in the way he curled in on himself. She felt frozen. Anna had never been very good at handling emotions—her own or others'. 

And so they sat silently, the sombre mood hanging over them alongside the rain clouds. When it looked like the Quidditch tryouts were nearly over Cedric excused himself and trudged away before Anna could gather everything and follow. She could practically hear the cracking of his heart beneath his feet. 

So Anna stayed back and watched the Hufflepuff tryouts finish up. All the flyers landed on the pitch and started making their way off the field. As they went, a group of other students, Gryffindors judging by their robes, entered the pitch. 

Anna folded up the blankets she’d brought and stuffed the rest of the food into the basket. The chocolate cake was untouched. She hauled the basket into her arms and paused. On the other side of the stands two heads of flaming red hair bobbed into view. 

A mad idea popped into Anna's head. 

Before she could think better of it, she hurried down the wooden steps and around the length of the stands. By the time Anna made it to the top of the stairs on the other side of the stands, she was sweaty and had a cramp in her side.  

"Blimey, Anna, take a breath," one of the twins joked upon spotting her. 

"Trying—to," she gasped. 

"Should've left that giant basket back at the dorm. It's slowing you down," the other said. Anna was too busy trying to get air in her lungs to figure out which was Fred and which was George. 

"Yeah, I'll do that next time." She finally straightened up, hand pressed to the stitch in her side. "I need your help." 

Fred and George both whipped around to face her. 

"What kind of help?" one of them asked. 

"The kind that might land us all in massive trouble." 

"We're in," they said at once. 

"You know, Georgie,” Fred said after Anna explained her plan to them, “I think she might be a bad influence on us." 

"I fear you're right, Freddie. No good can come of hanging 'round this one." 

Anna sighed at the two of them. "Oh please, as if you two haven't got some scheme brewing as well. At least mine is for a good reason." 

"Pranking Filch is a good reason," George argued. 

Anna rolled her eyes. "Come on, please." She sat herself on the bench next to George and folded her hands in a pleading gesture. "Pretty please with sugar on top. I don't think I can pull this off alone, and I know that you two know where they keep the brooms around here." 

Fred and George glanced at each other. Fred raised a brow. George cocked his head. They turned back to Anna. 

"Alright," Fred began. 

"We'll help you," George continued. "But if we do this for you—"

"Then you owe us a favour." 

Anna's spine stiffened. "What sort of favour?" 

"You'll find out when the time is right," Fred said cryptically, much to her annoyance. 

"And if I don't agree?" 

"Then you can try to pull this plan of yours off alone." George shrugged. "But do try to not get caught. I heard Filch threatening to hang someone by their thumbs just for spilling pumpkin juice on the stairs." 

"I saw him polishing the chains a couple days ago," Fred chimed in. 

"Would hate to see you without thumbs." 

Anna sighed and tossed her head back. Fat grey rain clouds floated above her, threatening to unleash a torrent at any moment. She squeezed her eyes shut and breathed, considering her options. 

On the one hand Fred and George would be taking a massive risk if they helped her. On the other, she'd be taking an even bigger risk if she did it alone. Anna wasn't a stranger to sneaking around and scheming, but there was a stark difference between getting in trouble at home, where Miss Frethey would pat her on the head and send her off, and getting into trouble at Hogwarts, where apparently she could be hanged by her thumbs. 

A cold raindrop hit her nose. 

"Alright," she finally conceded. "I owe you one." 

The twins broke into nearly identical smiles. "Brilliant."