The Boy In My Dreams -HEDRIC (1)

3.(H) smile, please

HARRY

I

His head had been anywhere but where it was supposed to be. Attend classes. Train for Quidditch matches. Study and practise all the spells that he could just not find a way to cast as successfully as he should. That's for not thinking about everything that being Harry Potter implied, like being wanted by a serial killer. The occasional questions about the dark events of the previous year from people he had never spoken to. The photographs that that student, Colin, sometimes took of him in the halls. Among other things Harry was starting to get used to.

When was his life not in danger? When didn't he have problems?

This year at least half the school didn't look down on him.

His distraction had a particular name. One that at the beginning of third year he didn't even know. It was hard enough to take care of everything when he couldn't stop thinking about a certain person that he shouldn't be thinking about in the first place.

Cedric Diggory.

A boy from Hufflepuff who he had never been close to or shared a single word with. Harry must have seen him around at some point. The image of his face slipped from his mind, just a glimmer in his memory. Bumping into him in the hallway changed things in a way it was not supposed to happen. There was no doubt that it had been one of the most embarrassing moments Harry had ever experienced. A complete display of clumsiness on his part. And yet, he had mixed feelings and wasn't sure if he appreciated or loathed that precise moment that he had seen Cedric.

It wasn't because of his embarrassment, the shock of running into someone he hadn't seen or the pain of the impact. It was the first thought that popped into his head when he saw him. Automatic. Without any reflection. Uncontrollable.

And confusing.

This boy is gorgeous.

II

Harry didn't usually think that way about anyone.

Especially about boys. He could logically regard a person as attractive. Agree with others. Beauty was not something Harry cared about. Or that caught his attention. He used to believe he was too young or too busy for that sort of thing. This time it had been his own mind that thought Cedric wasn't simply attractive, a word that fell short. That he was handsome in a pretty way. A combination of delicate features, light brown hair and grey eyes that had searched into Harry's face in a way that made him feel exposed.

Vulnerable.

His heart was racing and he could not manage to breathe in the air that had escaped from his lungs. Still, he hadn't run off and stood there, motionless as Cedric watched him. He had never felt like that before. Not even when he met the magical world and people stared at him. Instead of running away, he walked to his side and talked to him. Harry's social skills weren't so great, and he did not have a lot of friends. He wasn't the type of person who enjoyed chatting with someone he didn't know in the hallways, either.

But he had no problem with trying it out in this case.

There was something about that boy he couldn't let go of. Something in his interaction that day. The way Cedric looked at him. Harry was nervous, but he saw it. The fleeting expression in his beautiful face. There was something about it. And there was something between them. Electric. Weird. He could feel it.

It did scare him -just not enough.

III

Like some sort of stalker, Harry wanted to know things about Cedric. It started out as pure curiosity. Anyone who bumped into someone would want to know who that person was, right? Harry could definitely make sense of it. Who was Cedric, anyway? Besides a cute Hufflepuff boy?