delicate [hedric fanfiction]

long before then (prologue)

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Sunshine prickled Harry's face as he slowly opened his eyes, trying to remember his dream from last night. He was sure it was a happy dream, because he wasn't soaking wet of his own sweat. For some reason, Harry could only remember the bad dreams and he hated it. The boy had enough negativity that found him every moment, that he would like to remember some nice things from his dreams, even they weren't real.

Harry grabbed his glasses from the nightstand and saw that Ron had already left the dormitory. He changed into a uniform before he went out of the door — Ron and Hermione were chatting inside the common room. Hermione was the first one to notice Harry with his messy hair and sleepy face. She laughed at the sight.

"Good afternoon, Harry," she greeted, holding out a comb towards him. Harry took the comb and brushed his hair, looking inside the mirror on the wall. "What is it with you? Usually Ron is up so late in the weekends."

"I have a feeling I had a good dream, Hermione." He turned to his two friends and smiled. "Maybe I loved it so much, I just didn't want to wake."

Ron scoffed. "Well, your little dream land made you miss breakfast — that's certainly not a good thing. Are you hungry?"

"Quite," Harry responded. The ginger stood up. "Well, it's one o'clock already, and everybody's in the Great Hall already for lunch. We were as kind as we are to wait for you."

Harry chuckled. "Mhmm. Thank you very much, Ron." The sarcasm was clear in his voice, but none of them bothered to say anything about it. On their way to the Great Hall, Hermione tugged on Harry's sleeve. "Harry, Cedric came to us this morning — he said he wanted to talk to you. But he left as soon as we said you were still sleeping."

That was a surprise to Harry. The dreamboat in third year, Cedric Diggory, a boy who was perfect in literally every way. Lately they had been talking and became friends, even agreed on practicing Quidditch together once in a while, as they were both a Seeker. Harry had no clue why Cedric would look for him in the morning, though — usually he would just talk to him whenever they accidentally met somewhere, like in the library or the hallway. "I see," Harry murmured, lost in thoughts. "I'll talk to him later."

The Great Hall was indeed filled already and the Gryffindor table had no seats except for at the edge, nearest to the doors. Harry noticed Cedric, who was also at the edge, but at the Hufflepuff table. Their eyes met and they exchanged smiles — Harry could only give an awkward one. Hermione nudged him in his side.

"What?" Harry asked.

"What?" she repeated. "I can see the way you look at him, Harry. You have a thing for Hogwarts' Heartthrob, don't you?" She giggled when Harry denied it and refused to look at her.

After lunch, Ron and Hermione went on ahead — Hermione wanted to do some "light reading" and Ron wanted to yell at Fred and George for pranking him overnight. So they left Harry on his own, considering to ask Cedric why he'd come to his common room.

"Harry!" He jumped at the sound of his own name, but even more because of the voice that said it so smoothly. Cedric jogged up to him, ignoring the few eyes he got from his surroundings. "Glad I can talk to you for a moment."

"Yeah," Harry said, "Hermione told me you stopped by the Gryffindor House this morning."

"True," Cedric said, giving a small smile. It was enough to make Harry's heart beat somewhat faster — why did it do that? "I wanted to ask you if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade. I've been wanting to go with someone, but I guess I never really had the chance."

"W-With me?" Harry stuttered, a little surprised. Cedric had a lot of friends — he was popular among the entire school population, so why did he never ask someone else to go to Hogsmeade? Cedric gave him a nod in response. "Well, do you want to? If you're busy, that's alright too—" But Harry cut him off.

"Yes."

"Yes?" Another smile curved Cedric's lips. Harry thought it was slightly handsome — not just slightly, actually. He nodded, and his upperclassmen bit his lip as though he tried to hold back a grin. "Good, okay. I'll, uh, meet you in half an hour at front?" It was more of a question than a statement. "Alright," Harry answered. Cedric then nodded and turned around to walk out of the Great Hall. Neither of them was aware that Dumbledore had been listening the entire time, until he held Harry's shoulder firmly.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed, turning around with wide eyes. "D-Did you hear—?"

"You and Mr. Diggory make a fine pair, now," Dumbledore winked and pat Harry's shoulder before he, too, walked out of the Great Hall. As he was totally alone now, Harry decided to go somewhere else too, preparing a little bit of money for his date with Cedric.

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"You like Quidditch a lot, right?" Cedric asked. "Well, you must — you're the finest Seeker I've ever laid eyes upon."

Harry snickered. "You must've never looked in a mirror, then," he answered. He could faintly see the pink blush on Cedric's cheeks, before he pulled up his scarf to hide it. "Ah, now you're just talking nonsense."

"I'm really not!" Harry insisted. "I really like you— your Quidditch skills, that is."

Cedric hummed. He looked at Harry's green eyes, seeming to get lost in them for a few seconds. "I really like you too, Harry," he mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Harry blushed, desperately hoping that what he thought he had heard was actually what Cedric had said.

"Like you too," Cedric repeated.

"Like... me too?"

"Yeah. Your Quidditch skills, that is."

Harry blushed as he got flustered. His own words backfired at him — what a mess. He really wanted Cedric to tell him that he likes him, or even better — loves him — but that'd only happen if Harry would say it first.

"So, what is the actual reason you've brought me to Hogsmeade, Ced? I'm pretty sure a heartthrob like you wouldn't struggle in finding a date to get here. There's a line waiting for you to ask them."

"Hmm, but it's hard to find a date that I want." His eyes met Harry's once again. "And... I've found him."

It took everything to not cover his face inside his own hands, it must've been pretty visible since Cedric burst into warm laughter, one that made him happy inside. "Oh, Harry. I must say— I mean, if you don't mind, I'm— I've— I might've... developed feelings for you."

"For me, out of all people," Harry muttered on his breath. Cedric chuckled and scratched behind his ear, not knowing what else to say. "Anyway, I just wanted to ask, if you'd like to go out on dates with me more often."

Cedric's face was irresistible. It didn't take Harry long for him to say yes.