prospicere futurum | fred weasley | cedric diggory

7.

Corinne's eyes felt as though they would pop out of her skull at any moment, finally relaxing and allowing herself a deep breath as Cedric chuckled from next to her.

"How do you make it look so easy!" She complained, turning the stick on the ground before her, confirming that it was indeed not made of stone as she had been hoping for.

"It's hard for me too. I have to say it at least three times in my mind before anything happens." He assured her, although the smile behind his eyes led her to believe that he was simply being generous.

"I've literally only done it once ever, and it was just lumos, and I'm still not even sure I didn't say it out loud."

Cedric burst into laughter, grateful when she joined in as well, leaning back against the tree behind them and looking out towards the lake.

"I shouldn't have taken so many classes. I knew it would be hard, but I think I might actually flunk out."

"You're not going to flunk out. I won't let you." He tucked a finger under the girl's chin, pulling her gaze to his. "Try it again."

She sighed, dramatically, and looked towards the stick again, gripping her wand before her and focusing on the words in her head.

Duro... Duro!

The stick twitched slightly on the ground, but remained wood all the same.

"Did you do that?" She accused, shooting the Hufflepuff a glare.

"I did nothing!" He held his hands in the air in innocence. "You're getting closer. You've just got to practice, I know it's hard."

"Duro." She said aloud, watching the stone appear before her, picking the now heavy stick up with two hands. "I'm just going to be a verbal spell castor for life."

"Let's take a break." Cedric offered, pulling the stick from her hands and transforming it back silently, Corinne shooting him half a glare this time. The two of them leaned back onto the dry grass, fall colored leaves crunching beneath their arms. Each small wave from the lake lapped at the pebbles on the beach before the water dragged back into itself.

"I wish we could swim." Corinne muttered, eyeing the dark water apprehensively.

"It's too cold." Cedric laughed, cocking his head as he looked to her. "You're in a sweater."

"I wouldn't mind the cold," She started, "It's how black the water is. You can't see anything under there. All we know about is the squid and I'd not care to know anymore."

"I'm sure he's a friendly guy." Cedric assured her with a small grin. "You like swimming?"

She nodded, picking up a deep red leaf from next to Cedric's arm and twisting the stem lightly. "I love swimming. We have a lake back home, but... you know... with no monsters."

"That you know of." He pointed out and she shot him a glare, laughing under her breath as he raised his eyebrows a few times. "Listen... I wanted to talk to you about something."

She looked to him, her head falling to the side as her heart sped up slightly.

"Um... So... Have you heard of that potion everyone was talking about at the start of term?" He finally blurted, watching her face closely. "Prospicere futurum?"

She pulled her bottom lip beneath her teeth, nervously, listening to him speak. "Um... Yeah, I did."

"Right... so..." He trailed off, a rare shy smile spreading over his lips. "I made one."

Corinne's mouth moved before she had planned any words.

"And... I just don't want to freak you out or anything. I shouldn't even have made one, I don't know why-"