honeysuckle. (cedric diggory.)

nineteen. ( in the shade. )

ELAINE WAS GRINDING her teeth again, as she dozed on Milo's shoulder in a blanket of soft spring grass. As she slept, he could feel the harsh tension in her limbs, in her jaw — a sharp contrast to her typically easygoing nature. Overhead, thick foliage was a green veil that shaded them from the onslaught of bright, midday sunlight. Gentle winds made the leaves sway and the grass ripple and the wildflowers dance, and they rippled the Black Lake's glassy surface. Milo could hear birds wheeling above them, on the hunt to forage food for their newborns and chirping melodies of springtime bliss. Down the hill, Blake and Cedric were skipping rocks across the water and chatting casually with Melvin, the Giant Squid, about their latest escapade skateboarding down the moving staircases.

Wind teased at the pages of his books, flipping aimlessly through Hamlet and Advanced Potion-Making. It tried to take away all his revision notes too, but Milo had thought ahead to weight the scrolls down with the plate of pink chocolate-chipped scones Elaine had brought for the four of them to snack on. They'd planned to spend the afternoon studying and preparing for exams or, in Cedric's case, preparing for the Third Task. Almost immediately, however, Elaine had fallen asleep upon his shoulder, and Blake and Cedric had decided that a stone-skipping contest was more important than reviewing the brewing process of a Laughing Potion, or how to turn a Fairy Cake into a Fairy, or how to care for a Flutterby bush. ( Milo swore he was the only one who ever took his studies seriously around here! )

Milo shifted his weight, trying to lower himself down closer to the grass without disturbing Elaine, as he hoped it might lessen the pressure on her jaw and the tension in her slight frame. She'd been having trouble sleeping the past month, and she'd been sneaking into their dorm at night more and more often. Milo had seen the way she looked at Cedric, when his head was turned or he was too distracted to see the anguish in her expression. Milo had never seen such blatant despair, dark as thunderclouds, in her eyes.

Elaine's head lolled as Milo eased down onto his forearms, and he cursed himself for disturbing her as she startled upright, looking around in a panic until the sound of Blake and Cedric's rolling laughter reached her from the base of the hill. She exhaled a sigh of relief and leaned back against Milo, winding her small fingers through his.