"I open at the close"

First Task

Ember POV:

Currently it is five in the bloody morning and all three of my sisters have somehow managed to sneak into Gryffindor common room. "EMBER FALLON ESTELLE WEASLEY! WAKE THE BLOODY HELL UP!" Freddy yells from the bottom of the stairs, rather angrily might I add. After I don't immediately respond to her yelling, I feel something cold slither up my body until it finally stops and lightly flicks it's tongue across my cheek.  "CLEO!" I scream as I sit up quickly. Looking at my lap I see my sisters pet snake curled up, looking at me with interest. "Come on." I hiss at her as I extend my so she can wrap herself around it. I angrily toss open the door to my dorm and stomp down the stairs to see the twins smirking at me and Flicker looking as if she was going to be sick. 

"My snake?" Freddy asks me with a raised eyebrow. "Take your little hell spawn." I rudely say as I extend my arm and watch Cleo uncoil herself from my arm and recoil herself around Freddys. "What the hell do you three want at five in the damn bloody morning?" I ask angrily. "We came to wake your dumb ass up so you could go for your bloody morning run with Cedric... Who is waiting in the corridor as we speak." Flicker says coolly. As soon as it sinks in that Cedric is waiting in the hall I transfigure my sleep clothes into my muggle workout clothes and my slippers into a pair of runners. I run out into the corridor, braids flapping behind me as I run. "Cedric?" I ask with a rather dry throat. He looks bloody hot as hell wearing nothing but a pair of black loose muggle basketball shorts and a pair of black and white Nike running shoes. "The one and only." he says with a grin before asking if I was ready to do our pre-task workout. "Lets do it." I say with red cheeks as I think of other things I would love to do to this boy... 

*Time Skip: First Task*

"You ready?" Cedric asks me as we watch Victoire being carted out of the stadium on a stretcher. "I was until I saw that." I answer truthfully, "My mum is having a bloody heart attack in the stands. I heard her yelling at dad about how she already lost one Cedric due to this damn thing and if she lost another one she would personally damn this school." Cedric says with his usual cocky smirk... but I can see the fear in his eyes. "Nothing will happen to you. I swear." I tell him, pulling him in for a good luck kiss as his name is called. "Duty calls." he says as he pulls away after he hears his name being called for the third time. I watch him walk into the stadium and immediately the dementors are released. My heart nearly stops when I count nine dementors instead of the three we were told we would have to face, and judging by the look on the three headmasters faces this wasn't planned. 

Without a second thought I run out into the stadium and quickly draw my wand. I hear Cedric trying (and failing) to cast his patronus. I raise my wand, yell "EXPECTO PATRONUM!", and watch as a silvery white thestral shoots out of the end of my wand and runs to help Cedric. "Ember?" "Don't question it! Think of your happiest memory, and cast the damn spell so we can get the bloody clues and get the hell out of here." As soon as he hears how frantic my voice is he closes his eyes, smiles, and screams "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!!" I am in shock when I see not only my thestral fending off the dementors, but his thestral fending them off as well. As soon as the dementors are far enough away, I spot his clue and run over to retrieve it. 

"LETS BLOODY GO!" I yell at him as I pull him back into the room we had been made to wait in and slam the doors behind us. "What the hell happened?" Cedric asks panting. "Well, Lets see... The ministry fucked up, nothing new. Uncle Percy better be expecting several howlers from the family though... It's his departments job to deal with those damn things." I explain quickly, tossing the two scrolls I had grabbed on the floor, and pull Cedric in for a hug... Cedric being Cedric goes in for a kiss though and nearly has a heart attack when the doors bust open to revel his mother, his father, his sister, and my entire flipping family. 

"Um... Hi." I say sheepishly as I detach myself from him. My dad and uncle George look ready to kill Cedric, and my father is trying hard not to laugh at the sight before him. "HI MY BLOODY ARSE! FIRST YOU ENTER THIS DAMN THING, KNOWING THAT IT'S FUCKING DANGEROUS. THEN YOU FEEL THE FUCKING NEED TO RUN INTO DANGER TO SAVE FUCKING CEDRIC KRUM! FUCKING HELL YOU ARE JUST LIKE YOUR BLOODY MUM." Dad yells as he pulls me in for a tight hug and then passes me over to uncle George for a hug, which starts a lovely game of pass the Weasley. I hear Cho yelling a Cedric who looks frozen to the spot as he watches his father chuckle silently behind his screaming mother. "It could have been worse..." I say just as Freddys hand makes contact with my face. "WHEN THE HELL WERE YOU GONNA TELL US THAT YOU AND KRUM WERE BLOODY SOULMATES?" 

"WE ARE WHAT?!?!?" I yell as I jump about a foot in the air, It's only been almost three years since Kory died... I'm not ready for something like this! The snogging and all was fine but soul mates is sure as hell not. "Actually, Her patronus is the same as Korys was." Damon says quickly as he walks in. "Cedrics patronus changed." I hear Hermione Krum whisper under her breath. "WHAT?!?!?!?" I shriek out loudly, causing all three of my sisters to flinch. "His patronus used to be a fox. It's been a fox since he and I learned the spell our third year." My mum is listening her mini talk and struggling to keep the smile off her face. "You know what that means, Right?" I hear my mum whisper to both my dad and my father who still look confused. 

"You're in love with me?" I ask Cedric as I finally bring my eyes up to meet his. "Yes." He breathes out softly, looking at the ground as he speaks. I run out of the room without waiting to hear anything else. Once I reach the black lake, I toss myself down onto some rocks and allow the tears to finally fall. The only thing I can think is 'No. It's too soon for this... What if what happens to Kory happens to Cedric? What if I'm cursed?', I'm so busy crying I don't hear the footsteps running towards me until they stop right in front of me. "It's going to be okay." I hear a voice that I haven heard in nearly a year and a half... 

"Pax?" I ask stupidly as I look up to find the pink haired idiot that left me with Damon's dumb ass alone.  "I came back to 'talk some since into you' on Damon's request." Paxton says with a sad smile. "Why did you leave?" I question in the smallest voice I've probably ever used. "I couldn't deal with loosing Kory and Cassius in the same year... I had to leave. I'm only back for the year, Ember. I can't be in this castle. Every time I close my eyes I see them. Kory with his messy red hair and lopsided grin and Cassius with his always perfect hair and perfect grin. I can't take that kind of pain Ember." Paxton says, tears pooling in his eyes. "He loves me." I say to Paxton, referring to Cedric. "I know he does. I also know Damon does too... But what I really know is how much Kory loved you and how he would hate to see you in all this pain, he would want you to move on and to get over him. He would tell you not to dwell on the past, Ember. I know you're scared, and that's fine, but you can't keep avoiding this. You have feelings for Cedric. I can see it, Damon can see it, Cedric can see it. Just face your fears, Em. You've gotta let Kory go."

I launch myself up and into Paxtons arms, hugging him like I was terrified if I let go he would disappear. Paxton slings his arm around me and we walk back to the castle, him cracking jokes every so often and me struggling to walk from laughing. As soon as we are within viewing distance of the castle Damon's head snaps up and he locks eyes with Paxton. Paxton smiles at Damon and gives him a nod. Damon on the other hand, begins to cry... right in the middle of the bloody entryway. When we reach him, I untangle myself from Paxton and allow him to embrace his brother. "Can we talk?" I hear the low voice of Cedric Krum ask from behind me. I reluctantly nod my head and follow him to the courtyard. 

"Listen, Ember. I love you... It's pretty clear I'm head over heels for you. I know about the whole Kory Boot thing, your sisters filled me in while you were gone. I understand that you love him and that you are afraid to get attached to anybody because of what happened to him, but, I will wait for you. As long as it takes." Cedric says to me sweetly, caressing my face as he speaks. Using all my Gryffindor courage I say "Cedric, I have feelings for you, strong ones at that, but like you said the Kory incident is holding me back from being able to fall in love with anyone. I think I could love you, eventually... but it's going to take time. Until I'm sure how I feel, how would you feel about dating? I know my feelings are here, I just need to push to get them going." He smiled and says, "If you're asking me to be your boyfriend... then yes." I smile and press my lips to his... maybe this year wont be so bad after all. What could be worse than bloody dementors and feelings?

(Let me know what you think below and leave me ideas for the second task!)