You Know I Love You, Right? (Cedric Diggory x Reader)

Chapter 9

Everyone fearfully watched as the large Swedish Short-Snout was hauled into the stadium.  Cedric Diggory came out of the tent, waving at the cheering crowd.  I could see him looking around for me, but he stopped when he noticed the size of his opponent.  He looked like a little ant next to the thing.  He drew his wand and jumped behind the rock as the dragon blew fire towards him.  I let out a loud scream, causing the people around me to give me judgmental looks.

Cedric regained his composure and continued to dodge the dragon's firey breath.  He noticed a large boulder beside him, and muttered something under his breath.  I assumed it was a spell, but before he could finish the Short-Snout whipped him with his tail.

"Cedric!"  I shouted, only to recieves more glares from my peers.

He bounced back up and began casting his spell once more, transfiguring the large rock into a dog.  The dragon focused its attention onto the Labrador.  Cedric ran towards the shiny golden egg and clutched it into his arms.

The crowd roared, but his victory was short lived.  Uninterested in the small puppy, the dragon drew its attention back to Cedric Diggory and blew fire at him as he was waving to the crowd.

"No!"

I pushed past the students, running as fast as I could to the tent.  I ignored the teachers telling me to come back, I had to make sure Cedric was okay.

I burst into the makeshift infirmary to see Cedric laying on his bed next to Madame Pomfrey.

"Cedric are you alright?!"

"Well, other than the giant burn on my face, I'm pretty good."  He gripped the egg on his hand, a subtle way of bragging about his triumph.

"Alright, quiet Mr. Diggory."  Madame Pomfrey said as she covered Cedric's face with a Burn-Healing Paste.

"Ow, ow!"  He cried.

Madame Pomfrey began packing up her medical cart, "It'll only hurt for today and tomorrow morning you can take it off, and it'll be like you never got burnt in the first place."

I waited for Madame Pomfrey to exit before further continuing my conversation with Cedric.

"This is exactly why I didn't want you entering the tournament!"

"Well what do you want me to do now, back out?  Because if so, there's no way I can."

"Maybe if I borrowed Hermione's time turner..."

"No.  Have you forgotten the entire reason why I entered?  I need that money.  In fact, we got a letter from Saint Mungos today."

"What happened?"

"We've got until July to pay for her medical bills, if we don't, she's out."

"You'd think with all of this magic they'd find a cure for her disease."

"Apparently they've never seen it before, but they estimated that they'd have a cure by next December."

"That's after your due date for the payment."

"Exactly, now do you understand why I need this money so badly?"

I nodded but kept my head down.  I felt selfish for trying to guilt Cedric out of the tournament when I knew how important it was to him.

"Hey, don't worry about me," He said, looking reassuringly into my eyes, "I'll be fine."

I laid down next to him and we crossed our feet together.  We didn't say much, we just enjoyed each other's presence, and the fact that we weren't fighting anymore.

Cedric turned to me, I tried not to laugh after seeing his face.  Half of it looked like it was covered in peanut butter!

"There's something I should tell you, before you and Draco get too close-"

Summoned by his name, Draco entered the tent.

"There you are!"  He ran up to me and gave me a hug.

He turned to Cedric, "Excellent job Cedric. I know we've had a bumpy relationship in the past, but I want to let you know that there's no bad blood between us at all."

"Uhh, thanks." Cedric replied.

I let go of Draco and went to Cedric, "Now what is it that you wanted to tell me?"

"Oh, nothing."  He shrugged.

"Okay then..."

I took Draco's hand and waved goodbye to Cedric, thinking about his words.  Before Draco and I got too close?  I hoped he still wasn't on that Cho Chang ordeal, there was no way I could explain that to him.  That was a secret I'd take to my grave.

There was another thought in my mind, had Cedric wanted to- no, there was no way.

But even still, I'd never know.