PRANKSTER [1] ↝ C. DIGGORY

fifty-three

It had taken Clary two days, but she finally managed to finish the entirety of A Vampire's Monologue, taking breaks when Cedric had visitors, or if she just needed a minute away from the inner contents of the book and wanted to focus on something much more entertaining.

In the time since she'd begun speaking to him during her days spent with him, Cedric had made steady progress, much to the delight of Madame Pomfrey and the St. Mungo's workers. Even Professor Trelawney found herself stopping in over the next couple of days, agreeing that he was getting closer, and was almost home. His temperature was almost back to normal, his breathing was more evident, and she only hoped it was enough for him to finally find his way back to himself.

She had just closed the book, apologizing for putting Cedric through the torture if he had, in fact, been able to hear her speaking when footsteps sounded from behind her, and she turned to see Newt, Katie, Fred, George, and Vasantha all walking towards her, expectant looks written across their faces. Newt and Katie took their usual seats across from Clary without a word, the chairs typically occupied by Amos and Anne in the evenings when they were off work. As they sat, Fred and George stepped on either side of Clary's chair, each of them grabbing her by the arm and pulling her up, much to her surprise.

"What are you doing?" she asked, wrenching her arms from their grip as soon as she was in a secure standing position and crossing her arms over her chest, her voice hoarse from having spent the past two days reading from the book, as well as other stories she'd sprinkled in here and there on their breaks.

"You're coming with us to get dinner." Fred said.

"And we're covering Cedric duty for the evening so you can eat an actual meal in the Great Hall." Newt assured her, Katie nodding next to him. "Clary, he's been in here for almost two weeks. Take a break, get out of these four walls for a while that isn't just a trip to your room to take a nap. If anything happens, I promise you I will come get you, but for now, he's safe with us, okay?"

Clary looked back at Cedric one last time before nodding. "Okay," she agreed, eyeing the clock on the wall to see that it was almost six o' clock. "One hour." she said, and the other three nodded in response.

"One hour's all we need." Vasantha assured her, linking arms with Clary as the four made their way out of the Hospital Wing and to the Great Hall.

Clary hadn't been to the Great Hall in days, or even walked for an extended period of time that wasn't just to Gryffindor Tower to get a few hours of sleep, and if she was being honest, it felt wonderful to stretch her legs after days spent sitting in that chair. There were banners strung all over the school, congratulating the Triwizard Tournament's dual victors, the Hogwarts champions Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory, and Clary smiled at the sight of them.

Cedric had achieved his goal of winning the tournament and making them all proud.

She took her usual seat at the Gryffindor table, a sea of others in scarlet robes greeting her with smiles, and asking how she was. Seamus Finnigan informed her that it hadn't been the same without her and her brothers goofing off in the common room and distracting him from the stress of his homework, Heidi Macavoy and Maxine O'Flaherty from Hufflepuff stopped by to tell her it was good to see her out and about again, and even Viktor and Fleur stopped by the table to wish Cedric well, and ask her how he was doing. Since the Third Task, the entire school was standing by to wait and see what would come of Cedric's condition, and any sort of good news at all was enough to send them into fits of excitement.

Clary picked up a piece of chicken from the platter in front of her, piling it onto her plate along with a scoop of mashed potatoes and a few green beans. At the smell of the various foods laid out in front of her, her stomach began to grumble, as if agreeing that she hadn't had a full-size meal in days, and that she was hungry.