The Slowest Heart

The First Task

November 24th arrived faster than anyone would have imagined, time flying by for Keoghan as she attended classes and spent time with her friends (her real friends, she reminded herself, not Cedric). Bundled up to keep out the cold, Hogwarts students and international students alike filed into the bleachers set up around a makeshift arena to watch the first task. Keoghan, though she tried to keep it far away, felt horribly anxious for Cedric. Dragons were dangerous creatures and she couldn't bear to imagine losing the honest, good-natured Hufflepuff boy she had come to know.

The Champions were nowhere to be seen, but an announcer- Ludo Bagman- cleared his throat and began to shout.

"Welcome, one and all, to the 1994 Triwizard Tournament! The first task: Retrieve a golden egg from a dragon!"

The crowd gasped, and Bagman chuckled approvingly.

"Up first, Cedric Diggory against a Swedish Short-Snout."

Cedric walked into the pitch and pulled out his wand. Right before their eyes, a large boulder sitting on the ground was transfigured into a small black-and-white beagle. The dragon, distracted, swooped at the dog and Cedric ran for the eggs.

"Unfortunately for Mr. Diggory," Bagman chortled, "the dragon has spotted him again."

It dove straight past him, followed by Bagman's unhelpful comment of

"OOH, narrow miss, very narrow!"

The beagle barked, pulling the dragon's attention away again. Cedric made another attempt for the eggs, with Bagman's anything-but-encouraging comments following him. The spell wore off just as he grabbed the golden egg, proudly holding it above his head. The dragon, noticing Cedric again, sent a stream of fire at him. He managed to dodge it for the most part, but a small amount hit him directly in his face.

Keoghan felt a pang in her stomach as if she had been stabbed. Luckily for Cedric, the dragon was subdued by handlers right after as he had gotten the egg. Without bothering to look at the scores, Keoghan ran to the medical tent. For some reason, she needed to know how he was.

Ms. Pomfrey glanced at her as she entered and sighed.

"You're the girl Cedric is always hanging around. He'll be out in a minute, don't you worry."

When Cedric exited the curtained-off area, his face was raw and bright red. Ms. Pomfrey told her it was a side effect of regrowing skin.

"You did it," she whispered, smiling at him.

Fuck, she knew he wasn't her real friend, but she couldn't help the feeling of pride for him. He smiled back.

"Wanna bet the common room will be a wild party tonight?"

VII)

For being called the most boring house, the Hufflepuffs threw quite the parties. Music blared as Keoghan and Ginny entered, coming from the Slytherin common room. Bodies moved against each other, rubbing sweat and skin on anyone who dared enter the mass of people. Keoghan and Ginny found Clementine standing on the side with a drink in their hand, watching.

"You know that's probably spiked, right?" Ginny asked, swiping it out of their hand and chugging it.

Clementine opened their mouth to protest, but promptly shut it again. Sometimes, Keoghan felt like Ginny ran the group instead of her.

~

Days passed. Cedric called for her every day, and the two spent their time attempting to figure out the golden egg. The first time they had opened it, it had screamed at them until they closed it. Keoghan could still hear the scream echoing in her eardrums when she went to sleep. The Second Task was on February 24th, over two months away, but they were intent on solving the puzzle sooner rather than later.

They tried everything that came to mind. Spells, taking it outside, bringing it back to the arena, nothing worked.

That was, until, Keoghan returned to the Hufflepuff common room one night to find Cedric waiting.

"I figured it out," he proclaimed proudly. "Water!"

In the Prefect's Bathroom that night, Cedric and Keoghan stuck their heads under the water.

Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.

"What could that mean?" Keoghan asked, breathless as she pulled her head back above the surface of the water.

"I have no fucking clue."

~

The next few weeks passed without much change. Keoghan spent some days with Ginny and the others, a continuous reminder of who her real friends were, and some with Cedric. For reasons she could not explain, Keoghan always felt a buzzing in her stomach around Cedric. Her heartbeat seemed to speed up, and she would find her face heating whenever the two were close.

It was December 20th, and the Yule Ball was approaching quickly. It had been announced at dinner one night, and the castle had been buzzing ever since. Cedric and Keoghan were holed up in the library, trying to decipher the egg's mysterious riddle, when he suddenly cleared his throat and looked her in the eye.

"Keoghan," Cedric began with a shake in his voice, "are you... willing to accompany me to the Yule Ball?"

Something fluttered in Keoghan's stomach.

"For status, of course," he added hurriedly.

The fluttering died. For status. Of course.

"Do you expect me to say no?"

~

"You're going to the Yule Ball with him?" Ginny asked, sneering at the thought. "Kay, you know there are high-status Slytherins who would trip over their dicks to get a chance with you, right?"

"But he's a Champion," she justified. "You don't get much better than that."

Ginny sighed and shook her head. "Your decision... I am going with Blaise. Theodore asked, but he's got such bad table manners..."

Keoghan tuned her out, focusing on zipping up her emerald green dress. She loved Ginny, but sometimes she reminded her too much of her own family.

"Now, Keoghan," Donnabella began, "What is the most important reason for marriage?"

"Love," Keoghan answered. It was something she had read in a fairytale.

Donnabella's hand flew across Keoghan's face.

"No, you idiot. Status. Say it after me. Status."

"Status," Keoghan repeated obediently. "The most important reason for marriage is status."