LOVE ISN'T EASY (but it sure is hard enough)

NOVEMBER 24TH, 1994

Olivia did not sleep well that night. Her mind was occupied with things far more important than dreaming. The fact that there were dragons on the school grounds, the fact that this first task could place the competitor's lives in danger, the fact that she had just left Cedric Diggory standing alone in the common room. In a strange way she felt guilty. Cedric was a lovely boy, not to mention incredibly attractive, and his hair did look gorgeous all tousled and illuminated by the firelight. But there was George.

She knew that nothing had officially happened between the two of them, save the longing glances she would shoot in his direction when she thought nobody was watching and the nickname he was very quick to adopt, although she still felt as though she had been disloyal.

These feelings didn't disappear overnight, like she had hoped. They were very much alive when she met Juno outside the Great Hall at breakfast the next day, consuming her thoughts as she tried to continue with Pride and Prejudice. But then she remembered how terrified Cedric had looked when he brought up the task and she felt sick to her stomach.

Juno was worried. She would never admit it, instead opting to put on a front and act like she was nothing but excited about the events of the afternoon. She did, however, notice that Olivia was far more anxious than she was. This was normally the case, but something else was bothering her- she just had to figure out what it was.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked, taking the book gently out of Liv's hands and placing it down beside her. She didn't fold the corner of the page like she did last time (having learned from her mistake), instead placing a clean napkin in between the pages.

"You can't tell anyone, not even the boys." Juno nodded at this, watching as Liv's eyes darted around the room, searching for someone. She let out a small sigh of relief as she realised that they weren't there, leaning over the table so nobody would hear what she was saying.

"Okay, last night after you left I was up reading until the common room cleared out."

"Nerd." Juno sniggered, instantly going silent as Liv looked at her. It was incredibly serious, telling her without words that she had been shaken by what had happened.

"It got really late and then Cedric walked in, and he just looked so afraid. So I stayed up with him for a while, just talking about stuff and when we went to leave the room he gave me his hand to pull me up and his grip was really strong. So I fell getting up and our faces were so close and-"

"Oh my god he snogged you."

"Well, no. But he leaned in."

"He totally wanted to snog you!"

"Who wanted to snog Liv?" Lee asked, appearing out of what felt like thin air.

Juno turned to her right to see that Lee, alongside Fred and George, stood beside them, unreadable looks on their faces. It could have been curiosity, or waiting to take the piss out of whoever they were talking about. But Liv buried her head in her hands, trying to avoid eye contact and Juno remained silent, shoving a piece of toast in her mouth to avoid answering the question.

Just at that moment, Cedric walked into the room. His eyes met Liv's for a brief moment before he turned to talk to a friend of his. Juno's head whipped round to face Liv, who was staring down at her plate as though it had just told her the meaning of life.

"Diggory?" George asked rather loudly, before being shushed by Juno.

Olivia's silence was the only answer that they needed. She was certain that she had never been more grateful to be sitting at the Gryffindor table.

"You're telling me Diggory tried to snog you?" Lee asked, stealing a piece of toast off of Fred's plate.

"Shove off Lee." Liv mumbled, sipping her lukewarm mug of tea.