The Slowest Heart

Fake Friend

"Harry fucking Potter," Red moaned, "Great. Now I owe Ginny twenty Galleons."

"Shut up, Red. We have bigger problems than your money," Ginny snapped. "I don't want it anyways. How did that FUCKER get in?"

"Thank you, Champions," Dumbledore said calmly, interrupting once again. "The first task will take place November 24th."

Two and a half weeks from the current date.

~

One thing that Keoghan had learned about Cedric in their many talks was that he was honest, almost to a fault. She assumed it was his Hufflepuff nature shining through, but it made it strange when he did not talk. Their current meetup, held in the library, was one of those things.

"What's going on?" she asked, trying to get him to speak.

He sighed. "Harry told me what the first task was."

"Don't believe a word out of that fucker's mouth. He's probably trying to sabotage you-"
"I believe him, Keoghan," Cedric cut her off. "He said it was dragons."

Dragons. Well, shit. Keoghan knew nothing about dragons.

"Well, if you're sure you believe him... we're in the library. Let's research."

Cedric was downcast at the idea of dragons, but he agreed and the two set to work.

After an hour of looking through every book that even mentioned dragons, finally, Keoghan saw Cedric's face light up.
"Keoghan, I found something!"

He seemed to be radiating light, a human sun with his excitement. Keoghan couldn't help but smile.

"What did you find?"

"I can transfigure a rock into a living creature to try and distract the dragon," Cedric proclaimed. "It's genius!"

She nodded. "It is."

In his fit of happiness over finding the spell, he locked her in a tight embrace. Once he realized that he had hugged the girl, he let go with a bright red tint in his face.

"Well- I-"

"I'd better go," she interrupted, speeding away.

Somehow, she had let herself enjoy the hug. Ginny was right. She had forgotten her real friends in favor of Cedric. He may be her ticket back to her family's good graces, but he was just pretending to be her friend. Right?

Right?

~

Red, May, Ginny, Keoghan, and Cedric sat underneath Keoghan and Ginny's tree. The three Slytherins and Keoghan had planned to picnic, but Cedric had caught Keoghan as she was heading out and she decided to invite him.

Merlin, she was an idiot. Why would she invite him, her fake friend?

"Potter O'Clock," Ginny said, clicking her tongue and taking a bite of her sandwich. The Slytherins and Keoghan turned around, and Potter and his friends were rapidly approaching.

They almost walked by, quickening their pace, until Granger stopped and did a double take.

"Cedric?" she asked, confused. "What are you doing with them?"

He blinked and swallowed his food.

"Um..."

"He's one of us," Keoghan answered quickly, "Why? Surprised?"

Granger huffed and walked away with the others, muttering something about evil Slytherins' corruption. When Keoghan turned back to the group, she was met with Ginny's glare.

"Cedric," she began, pointing at him, "is not one of us. He's your toy."

Keoghan began to defend herself and Cedric, but it was too late. She saw the hurt in his eyes as he got up and left the picnic. A voice inside her reminded her that it was his right to leave. He was her fake friend whereas Ginny and the others were real.

But if he was only a fake friend, why did it hurt so much when he left?