Harry Potter and the Cursed Heart ~discontinued~

Chapter 17

Alice dragged the twins out of breakfast and towards where she had eavesdropped on them before with Russell. She stretched out her magic, forming a bubble around them with the intention of nobody being able to spy on them, trying to mimic how she had seen Harry do it. "Your secret chess club is getting less and less secret."

They shot her confused looks, quickly scanning the hallway for witnesses. "What do you mean?"

"Neville just asked me if I thought you were hiding something." She explained, a slight edge to her voice.

"Well what did you tell him?" Fred hissed to her, still wary of eavesdroppers.

"Well I wasn't going to lie to friend!" Catching the looks the twins were sending her, she decided to expand on their interaction. "But I also wasn't going to betray you guys or my other friends. I told him nothing. Just, be aware that he's suspicious."

"Thanks Alice." They nodded, "We'll let Harry know."

"Wait-" she called after them as they turned to leave, "please don't get him in trouble. He's my friend and I'm sure he was just doing what he thought was right." They cast her cautious looks, a slight grimace on their faces, but they gave her reluctant nods anyway.

And just like that, Alice tried to hide her worry behind a big smile, clapping her hands together. "Great! Well, I'm off to find Lee seeing as I haven't annoyed him recently." With that, she waved them off, heading down the hallway, missing the concerned look the twins shared.

—————

"Just down this corridor." Alice let Cedric know, pointing over his shoulder from where he was giving her a piggyback; by her request of course.

As they approached the window Alice had pointed out, they noticed an outline of a silhouette already sat there. Getting closer, the could clearly see who it was, which Cedric acknowledged with a polite nod of his head, "Alright, Wood?"

Oliver looked startled for a moment before he tried to calm down although he was still fidgeting, "Yeah, alright Diggory?"

"Yeah." An awkward silence filled the pause. "So, what are you doing here Wood?" Oliver looked around nervously, trying to think of an excuse, but Cedric already had an idea considering Oliver's competitiveness. "Are you spying on the Ravenclaws?"

Oliver sighed, "Yeah."

There was a slight pause, "Yeah, us too."

"Cool." The awkwardness hung think in the air and Anthony and Alice glanced to each other, silently begging the other for help. "Well I couldn't get any of the Gryffindors to come with so it's cool that you're a group."

Cedric went to answer but Anthony beat him to it, "We decided to make it a family outing. Isn't that right Alice?" He let out a nervous laugh at his attempt to ease the tension.

Alice shot him a glare for involving her. She leaned over Cedric's shoulder, grinning as widely as she could, "I'm looking for a new step-mummy." She said it in a childish voice to ensure it was seen as a joke.

And with that, Cedric dropped her. She elbowed him hard but he just responded with, "For that comment, you've lost piggyback privileges." Anthony was laughing at her as she went to stand beside him. Turning back to Oliver, he asked, "Mind if we join you?" Oliver nodded, gesturing to the seats on the window sill.

All awkwardness seemed to clear up as soon as they sat and got to talking, and as was a habit with Alice, she made quick friends with the boy. She liked how passionate he was about quidditch, even if it meant he talked about little else.