PRANKSTER [1] ↝ C. DIGGORY

thirty-two

"What's the matter with him?" Clary asked Fred and George, eyeing where Ron sat sulking at the other end of the Gryffindor table for lunch, as far away from Harry as the boy could've possibly gotten.

"You didn't hear?" Fred asked, and Clary shook her head in response. "He thinks Harry's lying about not putting his name in the Goblet of Fire, so he's mad that Harry won't just tell him the truth."

"But... him not putting his name into the Goblet of Fire is the truth." Clary stated slowly, raising her mug of tea to her lips and taking a sip as her eyes darted back and forth to her triplets sitting across the table and their younger brother at the other end of the room.

"Exactly," George said. "Ronnie'll catch on eventually. He always does."

"Yeah," Clary said, eyeing Ron with a small smirk as she made a mental vow to slip one of Fred and George's dungbombs into Ron's shoes later on, whenever she managed to get close enough to the young fourth year without him deeming her as suspicious, before she turned back to Fred and George. "Are you boys ready?"

"Our girl's got her groove back," Fred and George chorused, proud expressions on her brothers' faces as Clary led both of them from the Great Hall, down to where they needed to meet up with Cedric, Newt, and Vasantha before the Gryffindors had Potions and the Hufflepuffs were to be in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

As Clary walked, she could nearly feel the small package full of Hiccough Sweets burning a hole in her schoolbag, both out of anticipation of the upcoming prank and from the nerves of whatever was to follow. She hadn't pranked Cedric at all since the end of the last school year, and to Clary, it was like welcoming an old friend. Aside from the fact that he'd been her favorite pranking target for nearly six years now, he'd earned a little trouble from the near hell he'd put her through for the first few months of the term.

And honestly, he should have expected this when he'd asked her to be friends again.

Clary caught sight of the two sets of yellow robes next to one donning scarlet, and the Weasley triplets greeted their friends with a nonchalant grin, not wanting to let onto the fact that something was happening. She'd remembered Cedric mentioning the day before that he thought he might be coming down with a small cold, so when he coughed lightly that afternoon, it only seemed natural for her to offer a Cough Sweet from her bag.

"Here," Clary said, rummaging through her things before she found the package, clutching it tightly in her hand. She pulled out one of the sweets, passing it to him. "You'll feel better."

There was a point in Cedric Diggory's life where he'd learned to never accept anything from a Weasley, however the months free of any of their pranks had done wonders for the boy letting his guard down, and he took the Hiccough Sweet with a graceful smile. "Thanks, Clary," Cedric said gratefully, unwrapping it and popping it into his mouth without a second thought.

Newt watched the scene before him unsuspectingly, as only Vasantha and the triplets had known about that day's upcoming prank, not wanting a repeat of the Belch Powder debacle, but his sister had a slight grin on her face as she began to pull the other Gryffindors away, before the sweet could begin to take effect. "We should really be going," Vasantha said nonchalantly, gesturing for the redheads to follow her. "If we're late, Snape will have our necks."

"You're right," Clary said, bidding the two boys goodbye before the first of the hiccups could emerge from Cedric. "See you boys later!" she called after them, the four Gryffindors only waiting until they were around the corner and out of sight before bursting off into a run.

"How long d'you reckon it'll be before he notices they aren't just normal hiccups?" George asked as they continued their quick descent towards the dungeons, putting as much distance between them and Cedric as possible. Though Clary knew the boy wouldn't risk being late for class to run after them, it was always better to be safe than sorry.