morph | cedric diggory

one

Thump. On the ground, face-planted. Two boys held ferociously onto the same cup, a port-key. There were gasps, neither of them dared to move an inch. Were they dead? Could they be? The entire school was watching, except from Poppy Azalea.

Malcolm rolled his eyes at the boys, he didn't harbour much care nor pity. In fact, his mind had shifted ever so gracefully to thoughts of Poppy and her striking green eyes. He doubted he would even be surprised if she returned back with a different hair colour, or soul.

Ona, who patiently sat next to Malcolm, was thinking of Poppy too. However, she seemed to be praying that Poppy would not return. Nothing to do with despising her best friend, who she loved dearly, yet she wanted Malcolm all to herself, without Poppy coming in and letting off her aura that made the boys into sloppy dogs.

Then, there was Esther. Who too was watching Cedric rise up shortly after Harry. Her heart had been pumping at double the speed for the boy with caramel locks who was initially thought to be dead. When he rose, Esther sighed with relief.

But where was Poppy? In such a time and place, an event! Nobody was surprised though, as this was Poppy, the girl who was probably enjoying the fact that the school was completely empty to explore or cause some kind of mayhem. Yet, she was watching, from the eyes of another.

Esther knew this would be the best time to sneak away, since nobody would notice her due to the amount of curiosity and fear that was focused onto the two boys. Then again, she doubted that anyone would notice her without this distraction. The shy girl was never in the eye of the crowd, like the boy she loved.

So when nobody was looking, behind the bleachers of the tournament, Esther Parks became Poppy Azalea, the hair, the eyes and all. Then she began to strut back up to where Poppy was sitting, then her name was called.

"Poppy?"

Swiftly, she fiercely turned around. Cedric was behind her, he looked exhausted, pale and weak. Though he called her name ever so easily. Poppy stayed quiet, not knowing exactly what to respond with.

"What are you doing out here?".

"The castle is completely empty, why would I not be out here?" Poppy almost rolled her eyes at Cedric, wouldn't he know her better? He looked disappointed, a frown was almost painted across his face.

He chuckled, "yeah, I suppose that sounds like you.".

"What are you doing out here though? Aren't you a big part of this tournament thing?".

Cedric saddened again, he looked exhausted. "I'd rather not talk about that, it's the last thing I even want to think about."

"Well I better be going-" Poppy began to walk away; she was stopped again.

"No wait, maybe it'll be good to let it all out?" Cedric assumed Poppy wanted to hear what happened, and perhaps she did, or maybe it was her inner Esther who was desperate to find out. Anyways, the two of them both walked down to the lake.

-

Cedric and Harry had both reached the cup, panting, exhausted. This was it, a Hogwarts win no matter what but to who? For the boy who just had hoped for some pride for Hufflepuff, or the boy who had been through hell and more. Yet the boy, with the hopes of his house in his hands, remembered how the boy next to him had given up his shot of winning to save him.

The wind started to blow again.

"Take it, then," Harry panted to Cedric. "Go on, take it. You're there." Cedric looked at the cup for a moment, allowing his brain to process the gleaming treasure in front of him. The glory, for a house with none. But, he couldn't just take it like that.