warmth - cedric diggory

chapter twenty-six

omg this story is #3 for cedricdiggory rn thats so crazy thank u sm that made me so HAPPY thank you guys for the love and support, genuinely: now enjoy

the next task was only a few weeks away, so every day was spent researching in the library. cedric already knew what the task was about for the most part, with the merpeople, but he still had no idea what to expect.

"very thin, freakishly long arms, and a slimy fishtail." edmund shook his head as he spoke, pacing back in front with a book in his hands.

belle's grey eyes scanned the same page over and over again. "they also tend to stand at seven feet tall," her eyes darted over to cedric, feeling sympathy for the poor boy.

"how do you even breathe underwater for that long?" cedric looked around the table before running a nervous hand through his already messy hair, the expression on his face not hiding his fears.

athena came up from behind him, sliding her hands down his shoulders. "we can figure it out, no matter how long it takes." when pressing her head against the side of his, she could feel his smile against her cheeks. cedric thanked the soft girl by running his hand up and down her arm against him as he flipped the textbook in front of him, trying to find something to help him out.

"has mcgonagall ever taught us anything about transforming your mates into fish?" edmund's question made the group of friends chuckle, all of them buried into a book and not glancing up.

"piscifors." ivy added, writing something down in the journal beside her. edmund met the eyes of the three others who suddenly gazed up before shrugging his shoulders and pulling out his wand.

"piscifors," he cast the spell on a small ink container that sat on the wooden table, watching as it transformed into a small silver and blackfish. "absolutely brilliant. ced, stand up."

cedric abruptly stood up from where he sat, fixing his uniform a bit as he moved. "woah, woah, hold on." athena scolded, tightening her arms around the boy standing in front of her. "i'm not letting you turn my boyfriend into a fish."

ivy and belle started to laugh as they looked up to the standing boys, chuckling at the fact that cedric diggory was ready for edmund to cast a spell he barely knew about, which could definitely result in something awful.

edmund slipped his wand back into his pocket with a sense of defeat, mirroring the other boy as they both sat down in their seats once again, reading a few more pages for a few more hours.

x

five days before the second task, cedric still hadn't had a clue about how to breathe underwater for a full hour and still wasn't aware of what part of the merpeople song meant, also meaning he didn't fully understand the task.

"and while you're searching, ponder this: we've taken what you'll sorely miss," ivy repeated the poem for the seventh time in a row, analyzing each word that spilled out of her mouth. "but past an hour - the prospect's black; too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

"what is something that you could sorely miss?" belle had her knees crossed on her side of the table, leaning in from the outside of their numbers. cedric blew out a huff of air from his nose, thinking into the deeper parts of his brain.