tell me you love me (cedric and draco)

seven

I was your prize.

2 weeks. It's been 2 weeks since I've spoken to either Draco or Harry. Ron is also not speaking to Harry at the moment, so we've been spending some time with each other.

Actually, a lot of time.

Which has somehow managed to piss off Hermione, Harry, and Draco all at once. I'm assuming Hermione is upset because she likes Ron, but she knows I don't have any feelings towards him whatsoever, and he has none for me. Completely platonic.

As for Draco, I'm not really sure why he's not talking to me, but he's now grown a liking to calling Ron my boyfriend, which surprisingly doesn't annoy Ron but instead inclines him to stick up for me more.

The only one with an actual reason to be upset with me is Harry.

After Dumbledore had taken all of the champions into a room off of the Great Hall, the entire hall started talking about Harry. Naturally, Hermione and I shut down any rumors immediately, but Ron just sat there sulking.

After the hall had emptied of people, I stayed and waited to talk to Cedric, which was my mistake. I wanted to talk to him about our little deal now, since it was entirely possible that he could win and I would have to be his girlfriend (which is what I secretly hoped would happen). Just thinking about it made me feel giddy and my stomach fill with butterflies.

Harry took this personally though, thinking I had stayed to talk to him, and has been giving me the cold shoulder since. Cedric, oblivious, took me on a walk around the castle and once he walked me back to the Fat Lady, kissed me. And he was good at it, too.

I smile, thinking of the thought, and return from my daydreaming, sitting in potions, doing my best to ignore Snape's teaching. I doodle on my paper with my quill, drawing stars, when the paper is snatched from under my hands. "Would you care to tell me what potion I was just explaining to the class, Ms. Miller?'

I close my eyes, cursing myself for not paying close attention. "Draught of Peace?" I say, praying it is correct from my half-listening.

His eyes natrow, clearly surprised that I knew the name of the potion, considering I wasn't paying great attention as to what he was saying.

"10 points from Gryffindor for Ms. Miller drawing," he looks closer at my paper, "stars on her paper during my class and not paying attention." The way he punctuates each word makes me shiver and my cheeks flame from embarrassment. Snape turns and starts to slowly walk away, looking at other student's papers as he does, eager for any opportunity to make the Gryffindors suffer.

"She answered the question correctly," Harry says abruptly, eyeing Snape's back and greasy hair.

Not even turning around, Snape replies, "And another 5 points for Mr. Potter's comment to protect his girlfriend."

The Slytherins in the room whistle and hoot. Harry snorts but says nothing, opting for rolling his eyes.

I look at him, wondering why he said that, my cheeks even more red then they were before. I hang my head and stare at my desk, trying to ignore everyone's whispering and rude comments, telling myself that class will be over soon, praying I don't cry.

He turns around in his chair and looks me, catching me looking at him too. I give him a small smile, which he doesn't return, turning back around. Although he didn't smile back, he also didn't give me a cold look like usual, which I could only hope was progress.

I feel another pair of eyes on me and see Draco looking at me from across the room. I don't smile at him and instead turn my attention to the rest of Snape's boring lesson, embarrassed and mad at Draco for some reason.

After a failed potions class (Harry ended up losing Gryffindor another 15 points for random things), I walk into the hallway and feel a hand on my arm. I look up and sneer, "get off me."

Draco doesn't respond, but drags me into a different hallway that's smaller and empty. "What are you doing?" I hiss, pulling my arm from his, fury building up inside of me, ready to spill over at any moment now.

"I wanted to talk to you."

I gape at him. "You can't just talk to me when you feel like it after giving me the cold shoulder for 2 weeks," I say, my face growing hot.

"Why not?" he asks, eyebrows raised, a smile on his face.

"Because that's not how it works."

"That's now how what works?" He asks innocently.

"Friendship!" I shout, finally reaching my breaking point.

"So you admit that we're friends, Lolo?" he asks, smiling.

"We're not," I respond as soon as the words come out of his mouth.

"But you just said-"

"Forget what I said, alright? I'm done being confused over whether you're mad at me, or you want to talk to me, or you're making fun of me."

I re-sling my bag over my shoulder and make a move towards the main hallway.

"When do I make fun of you?" I hear him ask, so quietly that I almost miss it.

"All the time, I guess, I... don't really know."

"I don't mean to hurt your feelings," he says quietly.

"I never said you hurt my feelings," I say, turning around.

"You didn't need to." And with that, he walks out of the hallway, leaving me alone and wondering what the hell just happened.

I meet Cedric after dinner in a hallway with large windows that overlooks a lot of trees. We sit on a bench, just the two of us, alone in the small hallway. We're talking normally, making jokes and discussing our day, when he looks up and says, "I'm really worried, Ren."

"About what?" I ask, taking his hand and smiling, loving the way our hands fit so perfectly together.

"This tournament. The reason they stopped it was because too many people had died competing in it, did you know that?" he asks, his face dead serious.

I smile at him, saying, "you were the one who wanted to compete in the first place. But do you really think Dumbledore would allow this competition to happen if he thought one of his students would die? You heard what he said that night, extra precautions have been set into place, and-"

"But what if something goes wrong?"

"Nothing will go wrong," I assure him. "Plus, if you win you get fame and a ton of money."

"And I get you," he says, finally smiling. "The best prize of all."