hermione and draco decided to take a trip to see her extended family who lived in forks, washington. she remembers asking draco over breakfast in the great hall as she sat comfortably at the slytherin table, which she wasn’t able to do a year ago when umbridge was in charge, surrounded by draco’s friends, whilst theo was trying to force hermione to eat a syrup covered pancake.
draco said yes immediately, around a mouth full of bacon, and hermione grinned. they spent a week packing, draco asking hermione if he needed to bring any of his wizards robes or any potion books, to which she laughed and said no.
they were excited about it, draco had never flown on a muggle plane before and he was bouncing in his seat with excitement as hermione rolled her eyes at him, tutting slightly.
“you have to be on your best behaviour, draco.” she warned.
“what? what do you think i would do?” he gasped in mock horror.
“best. behaviour.” she grinned, sitting back and enjoying the take off, giggling as draco gripped her thigh as the plane ramped up in speed.
whilst in the air, they encountered some turbulence, which sent draco west. he kept shaking hermione’s shoulder. “hermione, what’s happening?”
“it’s just turbulence, draco.” she yawned, settling back in her seat.
“are we going to fall?” he gasped, gripping her arm.
“no, draco, we’re not going to fall.”
“how do you know? how do you know!?” he cried, throwing himself back into his seat, lifting and closing the window flap.
“draco, this plane is like, 2,000 tonnes of pure metal. it’s not going to fall.”
“pure metal!?” he shrieked, distracting other passengers.
hermione sighed and opened one eye. “can you please behave? you’re embarrassing me. shut up, colour in your colouring book and give me some peace and quiet.”
draco’s mouth opened and closed in shock. “you don’t have to treat me like i’m five years old.” but he took the book off of her, concentrating so hard on his colouring that his tongue poked out between his lips.
once they landed, after stretching out their tired muscles and downing a pepper up potion each, they decided to set their bags down at hermione’s uncles and go out for dinner. they chose a small local restaurant and they had just received their mains when the sight of the door opening caught hermione’s eye.
in walked one of the most beautiful girls she’d ever seen, followed by a man who looked eerily similar, but hermione couldn’t quite place her finger on where she had seen him before, until it finally clicked.
“draco,” she whispered. “draco!”
“what?” he replied, with a mouthful of burger.
“doesn’t that man look strikingly like cedric?”
“huh?” he swallowed, looking around frantically and hermione pinched the bridge of her nose. draco couldn’t do subtlety even if he tried.
“way to make it obvious, idiot, over there, with the pretty girl.”
draco squinted, and then his jaw dropped open. “holy shit, he does look like diggory.”
“right?” hermione hummed. “maybe we should-”
“hey! diggory!” draco shouted, interrupting hermione as he stood up, hitting the table with his hips and causing the drinks to wobble slightly.
the man who looked like cedric looked up, and immediately his face went pale. the girl sat opposite him raised an eyebrow in questioning.
“hey! cedric!” draco kept shouting.
“draco, keep your voice down! we’re in public! what did i say about best behaviour?” hermione growled, the warning tone in her voice showing draco that she absolutely was not messing around.
draco grinned sheepishly at hermione, and sat back down, finishing his drink. “sorry.”
“we will talk to him after his meal.” she concluded, dipping a chip into some ketchup.
“he doesn’t seem to be eating anything.” draco unnecessarily pointed out.
“maybe he’s not hungry?” hermione challenged him, staring him down until he raised his hands in mock surrender.
“mmmm.” draco mused, stuffing some chips into his mouth. “it’s weird though, that he looks so much like cedric, especially when voldemort avada’d him in plain sight.”
“yeah. you’d know all about that night.” a voice appeared in draco’s head, and he looked around frantically, before locking eyes with the man who looked exactly like cedric diggory. draco gasped, and looked straight hermione who just quirked a brow, stirring the straw in her milkshake.
—————————————————————————
edward had a weird feeling before he walked into the restaurant with bella. “do we have to eat here?” he asked, hoping she would sense he wasn’t hungry and say they could go elsewhere.
“yes. you promised, edward, you promised to tell me why you’ve been acting so weird.” bella sighed. “you’re a mystery, and i can’t figure you out.”
she can’t figure me out? i need to know why i can’t get into her mind. edward thought, rolling his eyes slightly before he opened the door for her to walk in before him. immediately as he walked through the door, his senses heightened and he could smell people who smelt vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn’t place where he knew them from.
he smiled at bella, pulling her chair out before she sat down, and tried to inconspicuously look around before he took his respective seat. she grinned at him, picking up her menu, and as he knew he wasn’t hungry, he tried to hone his ears in on people’s conversations. he focused on random things, such as people talking about their jobs or their cars or their arguments with their partners, and whilst it was all interesting, it wasn’t what he needed to focus on.
he had almost given up, until he heard a familiar name be hissed. “draco,” the hair on the back of his neck stood up. how, and why, could he hear hermione granger right now? and why was she with draco malfoy?
“edward?” bella’s voice snapped him away from his thoughts, and he lost the conversation.
“hmm?”
“you spaced out for a second, are you okay?” bella looked at him with concern in her eyes, and he held her hand across the table.
“it’s the fluorescents. the lighting distracts me.” he smiled softly. “what questions do you have for me?”
before she could ask, there was a clattering from a nearby table, as a blonde man stood up and looked directly at him. “hey! diggory!”
fucking draco malfoy.
“diggory? who’s diggory?” bella asked, and before edward could even open his mouth to respond, draco spoke again.
“hey! cedric!”
edward could’ve lost it there and then, until draco moved slightly to the side and he could see harry potter’s girlfriend, hermione granger, urging draco to sit back down and be quiet. god bless whoever created hermione granger. bella squeezed his hand to get his attention.
“hey, ignore them. they’re probably on vacation and drunk,” she half laughed. “even though they look to be around 16 years old.”
“yeah, probably.” edward sighed, locking eyes with bella whilst listening to hermione and draco’s conversation. one small remark pissed him off, so he decided to send a thought into draco’s head.
“it’s weird though, that he looks so much like cedric, especially when voldemort avada’d him in plain sight.”
“yeah. you’d know all about that night.” he sent the thought barrelling into draco’s mind, before turning his own thoughts off completely, deciding to focus on bella and only bella.
————————————————————————
hermione shoved draco out of the door. “you’re such an embarrassment!” she cried.
“what? why! it’s very clearly diggory.” draco stuck his chin out.
“we don’t know that.”
“yes, we do!” hermione stomped her foot. “you stood up and just yelled at someone we don’t even know in a restaurant, draco!”
“it’s him!”
“you’re abhorrent.” she stalked away from him, leaving him flailing his arms like a fish.
“hermione, come back. hey! granger! get back here!” he ran after her, grabbing her by the waist and making her giggle. “don’t ever run away from me again, my heart couldn’t take it.”
hermione leant back against his chest as they walked. “i could never run from you,” she smiled softly.
draco intertwined his fingers with hermione’s and swung their hands together. “i wonder what everyone’s doing right now,”
“probably at the weasley’s store,” hermione giggled. “their grand opening that we missed.”
“i think it would’ve been a nice party, but i prefer being here with you.” draco grinned. “even though the threat of war still looms over us, i know i can do it with you by my side.”
they walked hand in hand in the evening dusk, hermione leaning into draco slightly as they strolled, draco pointing out random constellations in the sky. they felt peace, for once, which was an odd feeling for them both. they both came to the conclusion that whilst they had each other, nothing could come between them.
————————————————————————
cedric edward diggory grew up in a strange family situation. his parents had magic, but they couldn’t use magic in the normal sense. they had mind powers, rather than channelling that energy through a wand. he ate, they didn’t. he was warm, they were cold. as he aged, they didn’t seem to. he didn’t think anything was off about it, it was just his family. you don’t exactly figure out your family is different until you start playing with random kids in the park, and you ask: “hey, do your parents drink tomato juice instead of eating food?” to which, the other kids will usually respond with: “no? that’s weird.”
cedric grew up under the protection of his parents and the ministry of magic, getting his wand and robes at the age of 11 and finding his people in the house of hufflepuff. he was a quiet boy to start with, kept to himself, did his school work so he kept up with his grades and he didn’t really get into much trouble, until he turned 16. on his 16th birthday, a growth spurt hit, and he started filling out, his hair growing silky smooth, his lips a plump red against his bronzed skin from being out in the sun all the time. he started getting attention from girls, and boys alike, and he thrived off of it.
he never paid attention to anything going on in the younger years, all he knew was that harry potter had come to hogwarts and everything had gone tits up, but as long as it didn’t concern him, he didn’t really care. going into his last year of hogwarts, he wanted to go out with a bang, and when dumbledore announced the tri-wizard tournament, his friends egged him on to enter. cedric wasn’t so sure, but after his girlfriend gave him a pep talk, on an impulsive whim, he scribbled his name on a piece of paper, throwing it into the goblet of fire whilst his friends waited outside of the ring, clapping him on the back as he emerged, chanting his name.
that was the day he regretted the most.
he remembers meeting harry potter, a small, geeky kid of the age of 14, and wondering: what the fuck. this kid was so small, yet he had seen so much, done so much. cedric swore to protect harry as much as he possibly could, albeit he never told anyone, and when harry told him that the first task was dragons, he figured he kind of owed him one.
he first met hermione granger in the champions tent before the first task. harry was up against the side of the tent, whispering furiously, before a girl with wild curls launched herself at him in a huge, enveloping hug. he grinned, potter’s got game.
once the girl left, he approached harry. “hey,” cedric said.
“hello?”
“who was that?”
“what?”
“is that your girlfriend? coming to wish you luck before the task?” he pried, teasingly.
“what? no! that’s hermione granger, my best friend.” harry corrected, but cedric at that point had lost interest.
hermione granger, harry potter’s girlfriend.
cedric had the time of his life during the tri-wizard tournament. he got to go to a beautiful ball with his girl, he got to fight a dragon and he had to rescue his girlfriend from some creepy mermaids, but all in all, he had the best time. the part he regrets, is the third and final task - the maze.
he remembers fighting off viktor krum, and harry rescuing him from the vines pulling him under the hedge, god how he wished harry just let the vines have him, because maybe he wouldn’t be where he is now. after harry pulled him from the vines, they chose to run to the cup, and finish together. neither of them knew it was a portkey, and had they have known, maybe they wouldn’t have even tried.
being flung into a graveyard in the middle of nowhere, he had a sinking gut feeling that maybe this was not where they were supposed to be, and after turning to make sure harry was alright, voices pulled him from his pondering. he hardly had a second to stop and think before a bright green light was shot his way, and suddenly his heart stopped. his chest stopped rising and falling, and his body went cold, but he was still conscious. how?
watching harry fight against voldemort was heart wrenching for him, he wished he could do anything to help, but he knew he had to stay still. play dead. his father once told him. just in case you get to the point where you have to, play dead until i can find you. so that’s what he did. he played dead, until it looked like harry could get away. he tried his hardest to use legilimens, something he had been practising with his father, and it was surprisingly easier for him now. “take back my body back to my father,” he sent the thought into harry’s head. “please, don’t leave me here. take me back to my father.”
he felt harry grip onto his body and grab the cup, sending them both hurtling into the hogwarts grounds where he could hear the music, but he heard harry’s sobs louder. he wanted so badly to move, to hug the boy, to tell him it would be okay, but he knew he couldn’t. he had to play dead until his father found him. “he’s back.” cedric heard harry cry. “voldemort’s back.”
everything else was a haze, everything except his dad. he heard his dad’s gut wrenching sobs. “that’s my son!” his dad cried. “that’s my boy!” he wished he could communicate to his father that he was still here, but he couldn’t give it away.
as amos diggory hauled his sons body into his arms and walked to an apparition point, cedric finally turned his head. “father,” he rasped.
“oh thank merlin,” his father sobbed.
“father, what am i to do? realistically, voldemort’s just killed me in front of the entire school, i can’t go back.”
“you’re of age now, son,” his father started. “your mother has a friend in forks, washington.”
“america?”
“america. i’ll get a portkey ready. you’ll leave tonight, and stay with carlisle.” his father apparated them back to his childhood home. “pack some things, we can set you up there.”
“what if someone i know sees?”
“who on earth is going to go to forks, washington of all places?”
cedric nodded, but then: “do you think i should change my name?”
his father hesitated. “your mother always did prefer your middle name over your first.”