prospicere futurum | fred weasley | cedric diggory

23

"Taylor, I'm telling you." Corinne groaned, running her fingers over the bridge of her nose. "No party."

"Come on!"  Taylor whined, stamping one boot to the ground and sending an echo through the hallway. "You can't both be lame! We didn't throw a party for Ella's, this was my compromise!"

"I don't remember ever accepting that deal!" Corinne bit back a laugh as they started up the next staircase.

"Well, duh, because I didn't say it out loud so you couldn't say no." Taylor grinned, "And now it's too late! Because I've already started planting the idea in everyone's heads-"

"Who's everyone?" Corinne asked.

"Katie, Angelina, Lee! Lee's in of course, I'm sure it won't take much convincing to get Cedric and all his friends up-"

"I don't need a birthday party." Corinne re-iterated. "We have exams coming up, and Cedric is supposed to be working on the third task-"

"The boy needs breaks, Corinne!" Taylor argued.

"Do I get a say here?" Ella cut in at last.

"No!" Taylor shouted just as Corinne nodded yes, grabbing onto Ella's arm.

"Of course you do, Ella! And I'd be so happy to hear your thoughts!" She shot a smug grin to Taylor who groaned once again.

"In less than two weeks, we'll have a Hufflepuff Tri-Wizard champion, and I'm sure they would love your help planning that party, Taylor." Ella pointed out and Taylor seemed to toss the idea around in her head, Corinne holding in a sigh of relief.

Though she wasn't going to argue with Ella, and she did truly believe Cedric was capable of winning the final task, she wasn't going to be the one planning any extravagant parties just yet. Cedric hardly had any ideas for what obstacles or creatures they'd be faced with inside the maze, and she had to admit that Krum likely knew loads more about darker magic than any professor at Hogwarts would ever have uttered out loud, even Moody.

"Heads up." Ella muttered under her breath, pulling Corinne's attention back to the present, her eyes catching sight of Fred at once, his long legs tucked deep into the stone alcove at the side of the portrait hole, eyes thankfully latched to the ceiling. Perhaps he hadn't heard them coming, though how anyone could have missed Taylor's voice ringing throughout the castle was beyond her.

"Look who it is!" Corinne's stomach jolted, unpleasantly, the girls stalling in their tracks as Cormac stepped through the portrait hole and into the vacant hallway. "Gryffindor's least favorite traitor."

"Who's the favorite, then?" Ella muttered, Taylor laughing nervously at her side, eyes skimming between Corinne and Cormac.

"Well, certainly not the girl keeping Cedric Diggory's bed warm every night." Cormac chuckled, obviously finding himself quite funny.

"Dude, get over yourself." Taylor called out as Corinne rolled her eyes, glancing towards each end of the corridor for any chance they could avoid the rest of this encounter.

"What's wrong, Corinne? Your friends don't know you're a little slut-"

Ella's mouth opened with what was sure to have been an amazing comeback before Taylor's breath hitched into the start of a scream, watching as Fred yanked the back of Cormac's collar, the large Gryffindor choking slightly before slamming against the stone walls behind him.

"Want to try that again?" Fred's voice was low, though Corinne felt as though she could have picked out every word, even from across the stairwell.

"Oh, come on, Weasley. You're going to play white knight, now? Everyone knows she's not fucking you-" His voice trailed off into a groan as Fred's knee drove hard into his groin, his mouth set into a dark scowl before he tossed McLaggen roughly to the floor.