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11. the date

It was well known at Hogwarts that Nessie Goodstrikes and Cedric Diggory were as close as they could be, but being known as the person Cedric would miss the most definitely had its' downsides.

For example, since Nessie came out of the water with Cedric helping her up to the docks, Cedric started acting weird around her. He barely hung out with her, gave her awkward smiles across the Great Hall, and the thing which stung the most was that Nessie saw him hang out with Cho Chang just as much as she once hung out with him.

The semi-good thing was that she had some spare time to hang out with Vlad. After the second task, it was quite awkward to explain to him that Cedric and she were just friends. But after that, they were A-Okay.

He even took her on a date once during a Hogsmeade weekend. The Bulgarian boy was so kind towards her, so polite and nice.

"Hey, there!" Nessie heard from behind her in the Great Hall, while having some lunch with Ron, so she turned around, only to be met with Vlad's large smile. Ron groaned next to her, which earned him a rough elbow in the ribs by the older girl. "Do you have a minute?" Vlad asked once Nessie's full attention was on him.

"Uh, yeah, of course! See you later, Ron!" Nessie exclaimed, throwing the strap of her bag over her shoulder and following Vlad out of the Great Hall. The two walked in comfortable silence, their hands brushing against the other's until Vlad got the courage to grab her small hand in his bigger one. Nessie cleared her throat, feeling her chest tighten and butterflies flying all around her stomach.

Once they were out of the castle they walked to a quite big tree, both of them sitting under it in the shadow it had cast. "So, what do you want to talk about?" Nessie asked, turning towards him, crossing her legs, and placing her hands in her lap.

"Right, are you free tomorrow?" He asked, cutting straight to the chase. Nessie thought for a bit, not remembering if she had any plans with her friends, but she didn't. After all, Cedric was now pining after Cho, the twins and Lee were actually going to Zonko's shop that day, and the young trio were, of course, doing whatever they wanted to. She didn't have anyone to hang out with.

"Yeah, I'm free. Do you have something in mind?" She asked, leaning her head on the tree as she looked at the man in front of her. The older hummed and looked at the girl with a smile. "Yeah, I was actually wondering if you'd like to go out with me!" He said.

Nessie's eyes widened and her throat went dry. 'A date?' she thought, but quickly cleared her throat and looked back at Vlad. "Oh, Uhm, yeah!" She said, feeling her cheeks getting hot. Her hair fell in front of her face as she leaned her head down to prevent Vlad from seeing her smile.

"Great! We can, Uhm, take a walk, go around here and there! I don't really know my way around Hogsmeade, and was hoping if we could actually have like a small walk around it." said Vlad with a smile. Nessie lifted her head up and nodded quickly before locking eyes with him. The two stared at each other for a few minutes, not saying anything, but they were comfortable.

Nessie lifted her head from the tree and moved a bit closer to Vlad, laying her head on his shoulder.

Their date the next day went amazing. They walked around all shops as Nessie explained everything she knew about the village. They stopped by Honeydukes Sweetshop, where Nessie showed Vlad all of her favourite candies, which resulted in him buying her a bag of them, making her blush. The two nibbled on some Sugar Quills as they walked to the Three Broomsticks, hand in hand. They talked so much that day, and Nessie felt as if time had gone on too fast, feeling as if it had been five minutes since they left the castle, when in reality it had been five hours.