Best Years

Chapter 36

TW: May be a bit uncomfortable. I'll put a '*' right before the scene.

Zahira

I gasped for air feeling my lungs practically beg for it. It was surreal coming back to consciousness. I was soaking wet obviously subdued in water and my vision was blurry. I felt a strong arm wrap around my waist pulling my body to move.

"Come on love. We're almost there," I heard Cedric say.

I blinked several time to finally be able to see I was in the lake. Cedric was pulling me towards the stands that were full of people cheering. I began moving my arms and legs to help speed up and once we got to the stands the twins were there to help pull us up.

Fred let an arm to Cedric and Cedric hesitated a bit before taking it. Once he was on board he turned to help George lift me up.

"There you go love," George mumbled as I stood on my feet.

Theo and Blaise were covering us in towels and Serena and Ella now approached us. Serena mumbled warming spells on both Cedric and I and immediately I felt my body relax.

Blaise and Theo were excitedly chatting away with Cedric, congratulating him on his win. Fred, George and the girls surrounded me blocking the cold wind.

"You ok?" Serena asked.

"I'm finally warm. But that was... different I suppose," I replied looking over at Cedric.

He turned his head and met my eye contact. He walked over to me with the guys and our eyes never left each other's. He grabbed my arm and pulled me in a tight hug. I shivered into his touch and his hands rubbed my sides up and down.

"Congratulations," I mumbled.

He parted from me and smiled stepping back a bit.

"You're the perfect motivation," he winked just as his Hufflepuff friends were calling for him.

"Are you coming to the Gryffindor party?" I asked with hopeful eyes.

"Hufflepuff is throwing a huge celebration for me but I'll stop by later?" He offered and I nodded giving him a small smile. "See you guys later."

He smiled at me shyly before going over to his friends who practically jumped on him out of excitement. I released a sigh and everyone awkwardly looked at me.

"So are ya together or?" Serena asked.

"I don't even know honestly. I think he's just being cordial." I replied.

"That's not what it seemed like last night," Fred snorted and I rolled my eyes blushing slightly.

"It's whatever," I groaned and everyone looked back and forth between Fred and I confused.

Way to be obvious guys.

-

Music was blasting through the speakers and I can already hear Fred and George yelling every single lyric at the top of their lungs. They were in the middle of the crowd jumping up and down excitedly with drinks in their hands. I shook my head at them laughing and walked over to the drink stand. I filled up a cup and took a big sip sighing in satisfaction.