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

Chapter 31

"Snogging Potter lately?" I mimicked Draco the next morning.

"Oh shut it."

He pushed a third year boy to the floor as we walked down the hall.

"Draco!"  I complained.

"What? He slipped."

I ran back to help the boy up, apologizing for my friend's rude behavior.

"Draco, how on Earth are you going to criticize Cho for bullying me, when you do the exact same thing!"

"I'm not a saint, alright?  But it's not like I single out one person, I just mess with whoevers around."

"That is such a lie, you act like you haven't been tormenting Harry, Ron and Hermione since the day they stepped onto school grounds."

"It's different, Cho bullied you over something you didn't even do.  I have reason for my rivalry with that trio."

"And that reason is?"

"One's a mudblood, one's a blood traitor, and the other-"

"Is a bad kisser?"  I answered jokingly.

"No!  And he was actually quite good..."

I laughed as Draco slowly turned more and more red.

Before he could retaliate, a voice called us over from afar.  We whipped ourselves around to see Cedric running towards us.

"What do you want Diggory?"  Malfoy scorned.

"Calm down Draco, you don't need to pretend to hate me to seem cool."

Draco jumped back, "I am not pretending- I-"

Cedric smirked as I tried to contain my laughter.

"My father will hear about this!"

Draco stormed away as Cedric and I giggled.

Cedric lingered around for a moment, trying to think of some sort of conversation starter.

"So..."

Cedric and I were in this awkward stage where we didn't know whether or not we had made up or not, and if we did, were we just going to stay friends?  It's not like our feelings were a secret to each other at this point, although they might as well have been seeing as we chose to completely ignore them.

"You seemed to have gotten the vinegar smell off of you, you're back to your normal honey-like scent."  I stated.

"Yeah.  I can barely smell the vinegar and rats on you as well."

"Gee, thanks."

I looked down to see a parchment in between his hand and his thigh, "What's that?"  I asked.

He rapidly placed the paper in his pocket behind him and smiled nervously, "Homework."

"Yeah right, give it to me."  I said as I playfully reached out for it.

"No."

His answer took me by surprise, not because of what he said but because of his tone.  I expected him to play along, however he was quite stern about the ordeal.

"Alright, it's your business.  I just thought that best friends told each other everything, right?"  I said mockingly.

"I thought we weren't friends."

"You're right!"  I puffed my chest out in pride, "We are not!...  But if we were-"

He laughed, "Either way, I'm not telling you."

"Is it about the tournament?"

"No, but speaking of which, the other day we found out what the third task is going to be."

"I heard Harry mention something about that, what are you guys going to do?"

He paused, "It's a maze."

"A maze?  That seems much easier than the first two tasks!"

"I'm not so sure," He sighed, "I just have a bad feeling about it."

"You're just nervous."  I put my hand on his shoulder, "You'll be fine."

He smiled, "I'm just glad we aren't fighting anymore.  It's one less thing to worry about."

I raised an eyebrow.

"We aren't fighting anymore, right?"  He asked.

"You have yet to apologize, so I'm pretty sure we still are."

"I'm sorry."  He said, unenthusiastically.

"You can do a little better than that."

He sighed, "Okay, fine.  I'm an idiot."

"Yup."

"And I'm a jerk."

"Correct again."

"But worst of all, I hurt you.  I couldn't even keep my own life together, and then I put you through all of this shit.  I've been an awful friend."

"I've been worse."  I muttered.

"We've both been terrible to each other."

"Let's just start over Ced," I exhaled, "As friends."

His lips pursed, "Why?"

"Cedric we both know that anything more would never work out.  Let's just go back to things as they were, everything was fine back then."

"I don't want to be friends-"

"Well I do."

He frowned.  I would be lying if I said I didn't want to be with Cedric, but if anything this year has taught me that we're better off just being friends.  It was my turn to protect our friendship.

"You're not going to leave me, are you?"  I asked, "Since I only want to be friends."

He grabbed my arm and pulled me right in front of him, a bit too close for comfort.

"I will never leave you."

I held him tightly, because I knew that unlike myself, when Cedric made a promise he would never break it.

He would never leave me.