An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Eleven

Cedric and I got lost in each other for a long, long moment before we finally broke apart and came back down to earth. We were both smiling and behaving like idiots, and I knew our friends would tease us for it, but I didn't even care as we sat together in our compartment, hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder.

"You know, Adrian and I are a couple too, but we don't have to make such a big deal about it every ten seconds," said Jackson.

"Yeah, come on guys," said Adrian, grinning even as he put an arm around Jackson anyway.

Hypocrites.

"Alright, well, you were in the same house as your boyfriend all summer," I said, addressing both of them. "I saw Cedric, like, three times, thanks to all that stupid training and the time difference."

Jackson just shrugged, and Adrian kept grinning. We all turned our attention to the rest of the compartment as Fred spoke up.

"So, Diggory, how was the Prefect meeting?" he asked, mock sweetness dripping from every word.

"How did ickle Ronniekins do?" asked George, making a face that looked remarkably like his mother's before both twins dissolved into laughter. Cedric looked a little confused, but he gave them an honest answer anyway.

"He did quite well! It's always interesting with a new group of Prefects, but this seems like it's going to be a good class," he said with a smile. I could tell the twins were ready to kick off another round of jokes, so I cut them off before they got the chance.

"So! Who's ready for senior year?" I asked, smiling around at all my friends. Everyone grinned back and started chatting away, even as the twins gave me a look. They knew what I was doing, but I just shrugged at them. They'd have plenty more opportunity to tease Ron without dragging Cedric into it.

We all laughed and talked for a while longer, finally starting the Uno game we'd been planning on when Cedric arrived. After a few rounds of the game, Cedric had to go back out into the rest of the train to make his rounds as Head Boy. He promised to return as soon as possible, and I gave him a quick kiss before he got up and headed out the door.

"It's not like he's going off to war!" mocked George. I just ignored him and reshuffled the Uno deck.

"You're just bitter because you haven't won a single game," I said. George stuck his tongue out at me, but I just dealt the cards and started the next round.

Another half hour passed, and I was starting to get restless. I hadn't left the compartment for almost the whole ride, and as fun as it was to sit here playing Uno, I needed to stretch my legs.

"I'm going for a walk," I announced, standing up and stretching after Lee won his second straight Uno game. "Anyone else wanna come?"

"Are you kidding? I'm on a roll!" cried Lee, reaching to reshuffle the deck himself.

"Yeah, and we've already been out on the train," said Adrian. "There's nothing interesting to see in the corridors, other than some obnoxious classmates."

Jackson nodded, and the rest of my friends were still caught up in Uno, so I just shrugged.

"Alright, well, have fun while I'm gone. And somebody please take out Lee."

I headed for the door as the twins swore up and down that they wouldn't let him win three times in a row, even as Lee gave them an evil smirk. I smiled to myself as I stepped into the empty corridor of the train.

I took a deep breath, then just started walking. We were closer to the back end of the train, so I headed towards the front. Maybe I'd go find Cassidy and say hi to her, or maybe David.