Darkest Hours (A Cedric Diggory Fanfic)

Chapter 4: Hallways and Goblets

It was a good day for Kiara, being back in the hallways and in her robes. She was home and exactly where she should be. Hogwarts was her favorite place in the world, like it was to many others, and Kiara could not believe she only had these two years left. She could not picture a life outside of Hogwarts and never coming back to the school unless for official visits. She was cherishing her numbered days.

The hallways were a little more crowded than usual with the two other schools also attending classes with the Hogwarts' students. But there was excitement in the air thanks to the Triwizard Tournament. It was refreshing, especially after everything that was going on in the outside world.

"Are you going to put your name in?" Nathan asked Kiara as they walked to Ancient Ruins together on their first day of classes after breakfast.

"Are you mad?! As if I don't have enough on my plate with Prefect duties and Advanced classes," she shook her head, "and even if I wanted to, I couldn't. I'm not seventeen until next May. What about you?"

He shook his head too, "Watching Quidditch is where my athleticism ends."

Kiara laughed, "Exactly."

Her morning classes went by fast and after Advanced Arithmancy, which she knew she was going to despise, she headed toward the Great Hall for lunch. Kiara had to stop by the dormitories to drop off the books she did not need for the remainder of the day, which was why she beat the rush in the hallways.

But as soon as she landed on the first floor, she saw the Slytherin Quidditch team rounding the corner. Her plan was to continue on straight to the Great Hall, but one of them strayed from the group and fell into step with her as the rest turned down a different hallway.

"So you're ignoring me," he stated confidently.

Kiara turned her head to her right and looked at the tall, handsome, dark haired boy with deep blue eyes, who had her crushing on him last year. Seeing him now in his Quidditch uniform reminded her of the time he pushed up against a wall in a spiral staircase and hid their identities from the students passing them, by kissing her before a big game day.

Summer was good to him. He looked broader and toner than she remembered. His dark hair had a fresh cut look and fell on his forehead. Kiara remembered gripping it when they hooked up. Graham was fun and exciting because there was a certain thrill about sneaking around and being with someone you can't, but it was over now. They were never supposed to be serious. They were never supposed to last and they both knew that.

She sighed, "Graham, I'm not ignoring you."

He stepped in front of her, blocking her from going anywhere, "Then what's going on with us, Kiara?"

She frowned, a little confused, "Graham, we ended things before summer and I thought you understood that when you and Jillian became exclusive."

Kiara was not going to lie to herself, because when she found out he made Jillian his girlfriend, it did hurt her. It was almost immediate, about a day after they ended things. It wasn't a hard breakup between them, more of a mutual acceptance, but she wasn't expecting him to make another girl his so soon, especially since he always claimed to not be relationship material. But a part of Kiara knew she was hurt even more so because an exclusive relationship was something she could never give him or get out of him.