𝐈𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐝 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮 (𝐂𝐄𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐂 𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐱 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑)

4: The Game

Y/N PERSPECTIVE

The air was electric with lightning. I could feel it from the moment I woke up.

Sure enough, a crack of thunder made me jump as I spelled my white cat Pixie's water dish full. Pixie hated the sound of the storm, and was curled up in my sheets.

"Think the match is still on?" I asked Elaine, who was busy adjusting Oliver Wood's scarf around her neck.

"I wouldn't be surprised. Dumbledore would let them play in any weather conditions, and a little rain won't phase him," she responded.

Another loud boom shook the castle and sent Pixie bounding over to me, yowling. I reached down and deftly stroked her satin ears. 

"Do you think... I mean, do you think everyone will be safe?" I asked nervously.

"Only one way to find out!" Elaine replied, and grabbed my hand. We ran down to the common room giggling with excitement, and followed the rest of the Hufflepuffs out to the field.

★゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★

The game was a rough one, with the players being nearly unable to see and several spiraling out of control.

"GO HUFFLEPUFF, GO!!!" I screamed with the other Hufflepuffs. Elaine was down in the front, cheering for both teams and waving excitedly to Wood while blowing him kisses. The reaction was basically what we had expected– the other Hufflepuffs thought it was funny, in a way, and didn't seem to care too much.

I was mostly off in my own world. I didn't know why, but my gaze kept shifting to Cedric. But why? Why did I suddenly care if this boy, whom I only met the other day, was okay, when there was a whole team of Hufflepuffs just as in danger of being struck by lightning as he was?

And then, something happened. It was almost as if I had commanded it with my thoughts.

Just as my eyes shifted back to Cedric, a bludger smacked him upside the head, and he went flying.

Time slowed, and I heard people screaming.

One was louder than the others.

I realized it was me.

Cedric's body flew towards the ground, hitting the benches repeatedly on the way down.

I didn't realize what I was doing until I felt myself running.

★゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★

CEDRIC'S PERSPECTIVE

My head was beating like a bloody drum.

I groaned and opened my eyes slowly, and the world came into focus.

The room was white and bright, and one by one I began to make out beds, curtains, chairs, and... and a girl.

I must have been in the infirmary, I decided.

It hurt to move, but I turned my head to the side, towards the female-shaped figure standing by my bedside. Things were starting to come back to me: the bludger, my fall, and suddenly... the way I stopped falling. I remembered a voice, one that I had heard not so long ago... a girl's voice. She cast arresto momentum, I remember now. That girl...

"Y/N?" I moaned weakly.

"Oh, good, you're awake." It was Madame Pomfrey. I groaned in embarrassment, and flopped back down. 

"Sorry to be such a disappointment. But you know, there is someone waiting for you, dear," she continued. I looked up, and there, walking around the curtain, was Y/N.

Y/N smiled gently and came to sit beside me, as Madame Pomfrey got up to leave. She closed the curtain on her way out, giving the two of us total privacy. I felt suddenly acutely aware of Y/N's presence next to me, in the quiet aloneness.

"How long have I been out?" I groaned.

"A few days. You were stirring this morning though, so I figured I'd stop by and wait for you to wake up and thank me." She grinned cheekily.

"So it was you? I wasn't sure if it was all a dream."

Y/N shuffled the chair closer to the bed. "Yeah, I don't know what came over me. One minute I was in shock and the next minute, the spell was just coming out of me."

I felt my cheeks burn, and I hoped she didn't notice.

"Well. Ahem. Thank you."

She smiled shyly. "You did me a solid, now I paid you back."

I scoffed. "Opening the common room for you versus saving my life? I'd say I owe you now."

She started to get up to leave. "Well then I guess you can repay me by being my partner in herbology. The class is full of Slytherins who won't even look my way. I guess I'm not as charming as Barrows." She gave a quick wave, then ducked out of the curtain and left.

"Sure..." I said, speaking to the empty air left behind her.

★゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★