TimeTurners: Saving Cedric Diggory

The New Couple

When Judi exited the girl’s dormitories the next morning, dressed in her school robes, she once again ran into Cedric. He smiled at her. "Morning." Before Judi could utter a single word he added. "I hear you’re dating a Gryffindor. One of the Weasley twins, right?"

Judi nodded. "Yeah. Fred. He’s amazing. He’s one of the reasons I’m here."

Cedric began to descend the staircase and Judi fell into step beside him, examining his movements. "That’s nice to hear. He can be a nut. Along with his brother and their friend Lee Jordan."

Judi smiled more to herself than to Cedric. "I can be as devious as those three. And Ginny may end up giving them a run for their money."

At this, Cedric laughed. "That is quite understandable. I’ve seen the way she jinxes those idiots from Slytherin. What are their names?"

"Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle."

Cedric threw his arms out. "That’s them." He laughed harder. He was still laughing when they entered the Hufflepuff Common Room. Several students turned to look in their direction but it looked as if half the house was crowded around the bulletin board.

"What’s going on?" Judi whispered to Cedric.

"Oh." Cedric sounded as if he’d just remembered something very obvious. "They put the notice to go into Hogsmeade. I forgot all about that."

Now Judi was immensely interested. "The first trip to Hogsmeade? When is it?" She made to join the students but Cedric grabbed her arm holing her back.

"Why bother looking," he grinned. "When you can just ask a Prefect."

Rolling her eyes, she sighed and jutted out her hip, pretending to be one of those clueless cheerleaders in the muggle world. "Uh-Like, I don’t know a Prefect."

This made Cedric laugh harder than ever before. Finally he said," OK. OK." He took another minute to calm down. "The first trip is this weekend." Cedric’s eyes became dreamy as if he’d just remembered something. Something else is happening in October, but what is it?"

Judi knew exactly what it was. The other two schools competing in the Triwizard Tournament would arrive on Halloween, just in time for the feast.

Readjusting her bag on her shoulder, Judi said, "Thanks Cedric. I’ll see ya later. I have Herbology today."

This, of course, was a lie. She’d had Herbology Monday. After discussion with Dumbledore, she had Wednesdays free. She was going to use today as a way to catch up on the plan with the others every free moment they had. She rushed from the room, bag swinging a bit painfully against her thigh, headed towards the Great Hall.

"Well, you seem a bit lost don’t you?" Laughed Fred, when Judi threw her arms around his neck minutes later.

Her bag fell to the floor, slipping under the bench as Judi maneuvered herself onto Fred’s lap. Fred obliged, cradling her in his arms. She wrapped an arm around his neck, bending the other on his chest so that her hands locked. "Nope. I’m right where I want to be," she whispered with a smile.

"Good," Fred said back. "Because I want you to stay." His arms tightened around her body.

"How sweet."

The familiar, unfriendly and snarling voice sounded from right behind the couple. A moment later, Draco Malfoy sat on the bench in full view. His smile was mocking, and she could also see the betrayal in his gray eyes. Judi glared at him. "What do you want?" she rasped, refusing to release her hold on Fred. He was already tensed as if he would throw her off his lap to attack.

Draco sneered. Then, his voice flew across her mind. "You move from Diggory to Weasley, how touching is that?" Out loud, he said, "A Hufflepuff with a Gryffindor. And a Weasley nonetheless. And here I thought you would end up with Diggory over there." He shook his head with a tsk, tsk. "A Hufflepuff at the Gryffindor table. I wouldn’t be caught dead here."

He realized the problem with his words too late, because at that moment, Harry laughed. "Pretty hard to go along with Malfoy. In case you haven’t noticed, you are at the Gryffindor table. And you look very much at home."

Harry smirked at Draco’s sneer. Draco stood, obviously annoyed, and appearing repulsed. "Only tocongratulate," The emphasis was apparent on his voice. "The new couple."

Then Draco turned away, laughing, with Crabbe and Goyle lolling along behind him.

"Git!" Fred seethed in Judi’s ear.

Judi walked Fred to his first lesson of the day, her fingers entertwined with his. There was hardly any space between the two as they walked down the corridors. Several people stopped to watch them. Many pointed, stared, and even whispered behind each other’s hands. After a while, Judi rolled her eyes and said, loud enough so everyone could hear. "These people should take a damn picture. It’ll last longer."

Colin Creevy walked up, grinning from ear-to-ear, with a camera in his hand. "Would I still have permission?"

"Sure," Judi said, hearing Fred echo her. They released the others hand slipping their arms around each other’s waists. They turned into one another, smiling. Colin lifted the camera, backing away a bit. "OK. Are you two ready?"

"Yup!" they both said.

The camera flashed and Colin lowered it. "I’ll make you plenty of copies."

"Yes," Fred smiled. "I’m sure people would pay for one of those pictures."

Fred said this sarcastically, but Colin’s face still lit up at his words. "If they do, we’ll split if ninety/ten. You getting the bigger half of course."

Judi stepped forward as the rest of the students began buzzing in the corridors. "Now wait a minute, you take the pictures, you should get the bigger portion."

Colin waved it off. "Please. I just like taking the pictures. All those Galleons would only go to more film anyway."

At that, Colin walked away, clearly stating that the conversation was over.

Judi turned back to Fred who was watching Colin walking away with a look of awe on his face. "That is one strange kid he is."

Judi could not help but to agree.