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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 . . .
"𝐼𝑛 𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑒𝑑. 𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑜. 𝑀𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝐼 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢."
—𝐽𝑎𝑛𝑒 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛, 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑗𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑒
𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟐𝟕𝟑𝟒

⋆⋆⋆✧⋆⋆⋆

𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐌𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐇𝐀𝐃 happened in the week following the task, with students just recovering from the excitement that had led into and followed the challenge with the dragons. 

Classes had gone back to normal after numerous congratulations', but unluckily for Liliana, Cedric's fan club had only seemed to grow larger. The number of girls following him and asking for autographs seemed to triple every day, and nothing made Liliana roll her eyes more than when they would bat their eyes and plaster on a dazzling smile. 

Again, she wasn't really worried about Cedric suddenly falling in love with one of them, but damn they were annoying. It was becoming harder and harder to get even a moment alone with Cedric, so whenever she did, she was grateful. 

The five of them were spending their free period in the Hufflepuff common room. Seeing as they were the only ones there (Riley had managed to scare off the gaggle of girls using his mandrake impression), they had decided to pull out Cedric's golden egg and see if they could figure out the clue.

Cedric clutched onto the egg, not having opened it just yet, as the others peered at it.

"Do we really have to open it?" Liliana questioned, her nose wrinkling. "It's so loud and annoying."

"So is Devon, but we still deal with him," Wesley sniggered, receiving a glare from Devon.

"Why am I the only one that ever gets made fun of?" 

"Nevermind that, just open the egg!" Riley bounced on his spot on the sofa, clearly not able to hold his excitement in any longer. "Now!"

Liliana used her hands to cover her ears as Cedric's fingers dug into the grooves at the top and twisted it open. The wail that she had been dreading echoed off the walls and, despite her attempt at protection, destroyed her eardrums. 

After a good half-minute of listening, they weren't able to take it anymore. Cedric quickly closed the egg, bringing them back into a much-desired silence.

"Kind of sounded like a banshee," Wesley said, much too loudly while rubbing his ears. "Not that I've ever heard one. But that's what the books say banshees sound like."

Devon, his fingers still stuck in his ears, nodded. "Maybe you have to fight a banshee!" 

"I don't know, isn't that too similar to the first task?" Liliana questioned as she leaned back in the seat, Cedric wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she did so. "Wouldn't they want to make it at least a little different? So people don't get bored?"

"Maybe . . ." Riley looked up, his brows furrowed in concentration. "Maybe you just have to scream louder than the egg? It's a screaming competition!"

"Yeah, because people will find that entertaining," Cedric laughed. "Besides, I really don't think I could scream louder than that egg."