metanoia - cedric diggory

chapter seven

listening to sparks by coldplay while writing REALLY enhances this story for me js

November 23rd, 1994

With the first task around the corner, the school buzzed with anticipation within every room. Students, of course, had already begun to place their bets on who was bound to win the first task.

The most enchanting part of it was not knowing what was gonna happen, not knowing the task, and not knowing who was gonna crumble and suffer under the rough pressure.

"No way Krum is as good as everyone believes him to be," Blaise grunted fixing the placement of his spoon in his hand, tossing a random food item onto the golden plate in front of him.

"He's quite the quidditch lad, he's definitely got some chance." Shoving greens into her mouth, Olive added with a sinister tone and scowl. Her shoulders hung low over the dining table, distracted by the meal in front of her.

Clementine peered hastily down to the plate laying before her, feeling her appetite disappear second by second, the conversation was not light on her stomach. Thinking of the competition, thinking of poor Harry, unwillingly thinking of Cedric.

"Diggory's bound to win," A brunette Hufflepuff boy leaned over with a confident smirk, finishing the bite held in his mouth. His black hair fell softly in front of his eyes when he sat back up.

Clementine questioned silently in her mind; when did hearing his name begin to hurt? It had been stinging for some time now, she knew that, but even his last name forced a tight fist to form in her throat.

"Diggory barely passed Divination and Transfiguration 4th year, he's not as smart as you'd think." Olive barked, following as Clementine's body language shifted when the boy first spoke of Cedric's name.

That might've been a lie, Clementine thought. The second part definitely was, she remembered. Cedric was smarter than most people expected him to be, he knew every answer to all the questions she used to ask him. He was always top of the class in Transfiguration.

The Hufflepuff boy wordlessly turned back to the people beside him, appearing paler than before. Blaise and Olive didn't speak again but just kept their eyes distantly on their gloomy friend.

Harry Potter had sent Hermione to find Clementine from the Hufflepuff Common room, dragging her to the infamous library, explaining in a panicked manner that Harry needed her help.

"Dragons, Clementine," Harry said breathlessly when she was in ears reach, grabbing various books from the wooden shelf in a panicked manner.

"Pardon me?" She replied, leaning against the rack while crossing her arms. Noticing the expression on Harry's face and remembering the date, the thought struck her.

"Oh!" She chirped, unfolding her arms and grabbing any book on dragons that she could carry. Hermione gathered a few in her hands, found a table for them, and calmed down Harry a bit.

The three students buried themselves into the chapters straight away. Hermione flipped through the pages the fastest, placing a new book into the discard pile every few minutes.

"A Common Welsh Green, a Swedish Short-snout, a Chinese Fireball, and a Hungarian Horntail," Astonished, Clementine repeated the names for the third time. Her unfamiliar eyes traveled the pages that contained photos of each dragon printed out.