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

DECEMBER 3RD, 1994

Cedric Diggory was a truly awful dancer.

The four oldest year groups of Hufflepuff house watched in horror as poor Professor Sprout attempted to waltz around the room with the champion, who grimaced as his friends cheered words of encouragement from the side lines. Olivia stood at the edge of the room, struggling to take her eyes off the incredibly uncomfortable boy. After what felt like hours, the music finally ended and he drew away from the woman who was much shorter than him. She stifled a giggle as he looked over towards her, a teasing smile on his face.

"Now, everybody pair up and we'll do it altogether!" Sprout called enthusiastically, clapping her hands together and gesturing for them to mix. A large group of girls stood, giggling as Cedric walked past them, flirtatious expressions falling as he made his way over to Olivia.

"Fancy it?" He asked her, holding out his hand to her. She smiled, taking it in hers and making her way to the floor with him.

"As long as you don't step on my toes like you did poor Sprout's."

He rolled his eyes at her, placing a careful hand on her waist as they stood in the starting position for the dance. They heard the music strike up, and began to spin around the room a smidge more gracefully than he had in his demonstration. For a moment, it was incredibly quiet, nothing but the instrumental floating through the air.

"I'm really sorry about what happened that night by the way." He apologised, spinning her under his arm.

"You don't have to apologise for anything, you were having a really tough time and it was wrong of me to just leave you there."

"But I overstepped the mark, I made you feel uncomfortable and it was wrong of me."

"Cedric, it's okay. We're friends."

"We... we are?"

"Course we are!"

He grinned at her, twirling her around the room. Narrowly missing groups of people as they went, the music swelled as they laughed loudly through the routine.

"So how long have you and George been together?"

Liv stumbled over Cedric's feet, falling straight into his outstretched arms. Looking up at him, her face flushed red as she pushed herself back up almost instantly.

"I- we- he's not my..."

"Really?"

The music stopped as they moved to the side of the room, Liv avoiding eye contact as she brushed imaginary dust off her robes.

"We aren't together."

"Are you sure?"

"What do you mean?"

"Dunno. You just seem like a couple is all, you would look good together."

Cedric watched as her cheeks began to glow red, following her out of the room and towards the Great Hall. He continued to tease her as they walked down the hallway, until he suddenly stopped. Liv turned around to face him, watching as his eyes followed a Ravenclaw girl.

"So..."

"Shut it."

She smirked, walking towards her as his desperate pleas for her to stop faded into nothingness.

"Cho!"

The girl turned around, waving goodbye to her friends as she made her way over to Olivia.

"Hey Liv! What's up?"

"Just wondering if you had done that Defence essay yet? Could work on it the next free period if you wanted."

"Sounds great." She grinned at her, eyes flickering over to Cedric as he appeared over Liv's shoulder.