Hedric vs. Drarry

I step into Transfiguration slowly. I watch as McGonagall turns herself into a cat, quite an absurd sight. I cheer with the rest of them, and make a mental note to ask Cedric if he'd seen McGonagall as a cat before. A picture in my mind of a kitty cat wearing glasses just like McGonagall and with fur in a bun makes me chuckle a bit.

Ron, Hermione and I spend the whole class trying to turn glass beads into wooden cubes. Hermione manages to make five, while Ron and I only manage to make one each. McGonagall tuts as we hand her the cubes.

"Cedric Diggory is much better at Transfiguring than you, Potter," she said. "Much better. I say! Ask him to teach you a few tricks. And Weasley, you're doing the wand movement wrong. It's a swish and a jab, not a twirl and a flick."

Ron complains over Transfiguration for the whole of History of Magic. I sympathize with him, but for the most part, I daydream about Cedric. His eyes are so bright and adorable, and his hair is perfect and soft. Not to mention his gentle and kind manner!

After that boring class, we head to a new subject for Ron and I, Divination. Hermione rolls her eyes as we enter. "Divination will be the least important class I'm taking this year."

"It's a whole lot of crap," Ron agrees.

Professor Trelawney comes out from behind the shadows. "Why, hello, children," she says. But she had might as well said "child", as she only looks at me. I feel my cheeks burning. All I did was destroy Voldemort, okay? Big deal.

"We will be starting with tea leaves," she says in a misty, strange voice. "Everyone here get a cup of tea."

We each get a mug. Professor Trelawney walks over to me and picks up my cup. "Now everyone turn to page 33 in your textbooks: Tea Leaf Reading. Done? Good. Now look at Potter's cup over here. There's a shape like a flower...that means he'll have a good family. And here, a bear's head..." She turns to me. "Am I right in saying that you were born at the end of July?"

"Um—yes," I say, amazed. Then I find out, by myself, that I will become a gifted Seeker for the Kenmare Kestrels and will own a pet dog. At the end of the lesson, I find out I'm a "Natural". Ron is "okay", and Hermione is "progressing". She's still fuming as we head for lunch.

"Hermione, you're just jealous Harry's better than you," says Ron, smirking.

Cedric comes over to the Gryffindor table to eat with us. We have some fun with spaghetti (if you catch my drift). Kissing Cedric is perfect, like all my worries just melt away. Then, after a lunch of pasta with meatballs, I head to DADA with Professor Lupin. We head to the Staff Room, where we battle a Boggart.

It's my turn. I step up and suddenly I hear nothing. I see Voldemort, Voldemort killing Cedric.

No, I think. Voldemort is dead...

All goes black. I only hear shouts of fear, and Lupin shouting "Riddikulis!" 

I wake up ten minutes later. My cheeks are slick with tears and sweat. Cedric and closer friends are gathered round me. Lupin has postponed the class until further notice.

Cedric hugs me. Ron and Hermione look on. My cheeks turn red in embarrassment.

"What did Voldemort turn into? A sea urchin?" I ask Lupin. There are a few chuckles.

"No," the DADA professor answers. "Into a harmless sixteen-year old boy with a comically shocked look on his face."

"He was quite good-looking," said Hermione, dreamily.

"He didn't touch on me," muttered Cedric. "Harry agrees."

"Yeah, yeah," replied Hermione, looking amused. "So are you really alright, Harry? Are we bothering you?"

"No. Where's Madam Pomfrey?" Harry asked.

"Oh, someone got hexed and is sprouting tentacles out of his mouth," replied Ron with a shrug.

"Yikes," said Harry with a grimace, just as Madame Pomfrey entered Harry's area.

"Alright, Potter, eat some chocolate and you can get out of here," she said. "I've got a whole line of patients with that strange tentacle hex."

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey," I say, quickly gobbling up my chocolate. I leave out the back door with Cedric, Hermione, Ron, and Lupin, where there are fortunately no people with tentacles growing out of their mouths.

However, someone is waiting for me in the corridor. I roll my eyes. Here comes Malfoy. Cedric scowls at him.

"You really fainted, Potter? You actually fainted? What Longbottom here says is true?" He sneers at me, holding Longbottom by the collar of his shirt.

"Yes, but I think you would too, if you saw Voldemort again," I answer coolly. Malfoy gasps and lets go of Neville at the sound of the Dark Lord's name. "Exactly my point. Someone afraid of a name has to be afraid of that thing. As for me, I need to hurry up if I want to finish my homework." I turn around and strut to the library with Ceddy, Hermione, and Ron.

"Smooth, Harry," says Ron, impressed.

"Yes, I am," I say, jokingly. "Ced, can you help me with my Transfiguring spell? Turning glass beads into wooden cubes is way too hard..."

"Yeah," Cedric says. "Definitely. I'll help you." We get at it, and the problem is that I'm not saying the spell completely right and my wand movement is kind of too swishy.

"Thanks, Ceddy," I say gratefully as we finish up. I've made six wooden cubes already. I finish my History of Magic homework (Why did the Goblins Stop their Attack on Wing 5?) and read Chapter 6 on Divination, about reading tea leaves. I'm feeling pretty happy, as the homework is quite simple, and there isn't much of it. I still have time to play wizard chess with Cedric using some very angry knights. Of course, Ceddy wins, having always been the stronger one at the game. We spend two hours in the library, alone, before heading to our common rooms.

"Jigglypuff," I say, and the Fat Lady swings open. Then common room goes quiet, as it always does when I enter it. The silence is uncomfortable, as always, so I walk past everyone quickly and head straight to my dorm. Neville and Seamus are already there.

"You alright, Harry?" asks Seamus.

"Fine, after the hospital wing. Just tired."

"Thanks for saving me back in the corridor, Harry," Neville says, his voice kind of shaky. "I owe you one more."

"Oh, yeah?" I say. "What's the other one you owe me?"

"Well, I'm too chicken to report it to any of the teachers, but I saw Malfoy hexing people and having tentacles come out of their mouths. I thought you might want to get Malfoy in trouble. After all, y'all are kind of enemies, right?"

"Oh yeah, I remember those tentacle jinxes. I had to leave the hospital in a hurry 'cause so many people were hexed."

"Malfoy's a pain," mutters Seamus.

"Hey Harry, I just remembered!" Neville shouts excitedly. "We've got Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid tomorrow!"

"Awesome!" I say, 'cause I've forgotten.

"Yeah, but it's with the Slytherins," Seamus mutters. "What a pain. They have to ruin everything we like."

Suddenly I feel tired. "G'night, you guys."

"Night, Harry."

I fall asleep with a picture of how tomorrow will go in my mind's eye.