ONCE UPON A TIME.

02. hiérarchie

    "WHAT DID YOU MEAN when you said - but you're Cedric Diggory?"

     Amata shifts from where she's seated a few feet away. After a few minutes of delving deeper in to the woods, the two decided to settle under the shade of some overgrown trees. While Amata seemed to not feel the need to fill the silence, Cedric couldn't deny that he was - for better word - curious.

     "You're Cedric Diggory," she echoes, matter-of-fact. "Quidditch team captain. Prefect. Girls want you, guys want to be you. Oh, don't look so surprised, won't you?" Amata is laughing quietly now, amused at the discomfort Cedric is sure his face is showing. "I'm certain this isn't anything you haven't heard before."

     She was right, of course. Time and time again, people doted over Cedric, with his father taking every opportunity he could get to brag about him. Cedric wasn't really one for attention, and his father could definitely take it down a notch - nonetheless, he appreciated the people who cared for him and thought well of him.

     "Earth to Diggory."

     Snapping out of his reverie, Cedric offered Amata a sheepish smile. "I'm not all that." he mumbles, to which she lets out an indignant snort. "Modest to a fault, you are," she comments dryly. (Her eyes betray her tone. Cedric sees the humor in the way she looks at him, and he finds himself calming a bit amidst their circumstances.) "Hufflepuff's a fit for you, in'nit?"

     "The Sorting Hat did me well." Cedric says with a shrug. "That still doesn't explain why being me has to do with not knowing you."

     Amata heaves out a sigh. "Merlin, I didn't think I'd have to spell it out for you." Grabbing a nearby stick, Amata spends a minute or so sketching a crude triangle on the ground. Cedric watches with increasing amusement until Amata finishes writing down words in hurried script, pointing at her creation with a proud half-smile. The triangle seems to be one that shows a hierarchy:

harry potter

h.p ppl

ppl like you

every1 else

filch

     "Let's face it - " Amata jabs lightly at the tip of her triangle. "As pretty as you are, Harry Potter is still at the top of the food chain. That boy brings trouble wherever he goes." 

     "Next, we have people directly associated with Harry Potter. You know the likes - Granger, Weasley. Malfoy, even, because they like to act they're each other's nemesis. Personify the Slytherin slash Gryffindor rivalry and all that."

     "And here," Amata taps the middle of the triangle. "Are people like you." A laugh escapes Cedric as she points her stick at him with an almost accusing expression. "People like me." he repeats, trying to hold back the rest of his laughter for the sake of politeness.

     Amata nods, the softness of her grin breaking her facade of seriousness. "Prefects. Teacher's pets. People on the Quidditch team. People like you. Directly under that, of course, are the rest of us - your average, every day students - then, Filch." Waving her hands with a flourish, Amata tossed her stick over her shoulder. "Hogwarts in a nutshell."

     "You've really thought this through, huh?" Cedric chuckles. In response, Amata merely begins to cover her triangle in dust. "Six degrees of separation." she mumbles. Cedric is about to ask her what she means when the sound of footsteps approaching silences them both. Amata freezes, and Cedric's hands go to his pockets.

     Out of instinct, he moves as quietly as he can.

     When they are found, Cedric has positioned himself in front of Amata, his shaking, outstretched hand holding out his wand, poised to

fight.