Unexpected (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter 6

6.

Saturday came around a lot quicker than I would have liked. Luckily though, I still had an hour before I was due to meet Draco. Although it was only September, the weather was surprisingly nice; the sun was shining and making everywhere it hit a comfortable warm temperature. Cedric and I were outside, soaking up the rare sunshine. Cedric leant against a tree, flicking through a ‘Quidditch through the Ages’ book. I had my head rested on his torso and was making the most of the warm weather.

“How you feeling about your little date today then?” Cedric asked. I couldn’t see his face but I could tell he was smirking.

I elbowed him in the leg. “It is not a date and you know it”. He chuckled.

“But seriously?”

“No I don’t want to do it, it’s not fair. Why did I have to get put with him!” I whined.

“Oh come on he may not be so bad”.

I sat up and turned to stare at him. “Are you serious?” He shrugged. “This is the same guy who has insulted Ron’s family for the past three years, called Hermione a mudblood, tried to get Hagrid sacked”.

“Okay, okay” Cedric interrupted. “I get the picture”. He chuckled again as I resumed my earlier position laid out on the grass.

I closed my eyes, letting the sun soak through my eyelids, relaxing me. For a short moment, I even forgot about my coming meeting with the devil.

“Leah?” Cedric’s voice broke me out of my reverie.

“Mmm?”

“I’m going to enter” he said softly.

I opened my eyes and turned to face him. “The Tournament?”

He nodded. This year, it had been announced that Hogwarts would play host to the Triwizard Tournament. This meant that students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were staying in the castle for the whole year. The Tournament was a regular event, but this year an age limit had been set for the students’ safety. This meant that none of my friends would be old enough to enter, except Cedric. The serious look on his face told me that he wasn’t joking.

“Why?” I whispered.

He looked away, lost in thought for a moment. “This is my chance to make something of myself. To represent the school, show my potential.” He turned back to me, his grey eyes locking with mine. “I don’t know what I want to do with my life. But if I do this, I might just find out. It would be such an amazing experience.”

I sighed. He was right of course; it would be an amazing experience. “I just don’t want you to get hurt”.

His eyes left mine. “Oh come on I’m tough! You’re not going to get rid of me that easily”. He cracked a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

I shuffled my position so that I was sitting next to Cedric, leaning on the tree just as he was. The Quidditch book lay open to his side, abandoned. “You’re not going to change your mind are you?” I couldn’t quite make eye contact with him.

“No”.

Inside, my heart was breaking. I knew there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop him making this decision. But I didn’t show it. “When are you putting your name in?”

“This afternoon.” He paused. “Do you want to be there when I do?”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to see him put his name into that goblet and know there was something I could have done to stop him. At least if I wasn’t there I couldn’t blame myself.

I don’t know how long we were sat there in silence but it must have been a while. I just kept going over it in my head, thinking about the risks of the tournament. Of course Cedric might not even get picked but the possibility was still there. I was nearly driving myself mad, when a felt a nudge in my side. I turned to Cedric, wondering what he wanted. He nudged his head to signal for me to turn round. I knew who I was going to see before I spotted him. Leaning against the one of the stone archways, his bright blonde hair shining in the sunlight, was Draco Malfoy.

I groaned turning back to Cedric. “Please don’t make me go!”

He chuckled, all memories of our earlier conversation fading away. He playfully pushed me away so that I’d have to get up to go and meet Draco. I started to walk over, but halfway to the archway I remembered what Cedric was going to do this afternoon. I turned round to face him, all traces of a smile gone from both of our faces. I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it again shortly after. I sighed and offered a weak smile before turning round again and walking towards Draco Malfoy.

***

“Leah?” The sound of my name woke me up from my thoughts. Draco was looking at me, a questioning expression on his face.

“What?” 

“Are you alright? You haven’t spoken for about ten minutes”.  To be honest, the question surprised me. I never expected Draco to be the type of person to think of anyone other than himself, but here he was asking me what was wrong.

“Oh, yeah I guess I just have a lot on my mind”. I felt Draco stop walking, and turned around to face him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” His face softened, unlike how I had seen him before. Somehow he didn’t look like that mean, selfish boy anymore.

“I hardly know you” I replied, a little confused as to why he was taking such an interest in my personal problems.

“Maybe that’s better”.

I frowned. “Look, why are you so bothered about me anyway? You hate my friends, so why shouldn’t you hate me too?”

He dropped my eye contact. “I thought it might be nice to have someone I can be myself around”.

“I don’t get it” I responded, thoroughly confused.

Draco sat down on the grass, gesturing for me to take a seat next to him. “You’re not the only one with personal problems, you know” he said. “If you had any idea of the things going round in my head, you might not hate me so much”.

“I only hate you because of what you’ve done to my friends” I countered. We sat there in silence for a while. “Why do you do it?” I asked when my curiosity got the better of me.

He sighed. “You wouldn’t understand”.

“Then make me”.

He stared at me, his blue eyes searching mine to see if I was joking. When he found no answer, he looked away and sighed, shaking his head slightly. For a moment, Draco appeared vulnerable, unlike how he so often appeared. But then that moment ended. The smirk that I saw so often plastered on his face returned and his eyes hardened. It was as if a wall had just been put up between Draco and myself that hadn’t been there minutes before.

Without saying another word, Draco got up and walked away. I exhaled heavily, watching as he left the courtyard. He offered only one small look back in my direction before entering the doors to the castle. I reluctantly got up and headed further into the grounds. Someone had to complete this project at least.