Changing Destiny

Forty-Five: Mulling Things Over In Hot Water

Harry

After being released from Madam Pomfrey's care, he found his connection to Tom Riddle was more...spotty than it was before. He knew the cause was Hermione, his foster sister, and Professor Snape. A part of him hated them for ruining his connection to his greatest confidante, but he couldn't hate them, not really. He didnt exactly hate Professor Snape, but he didn't like his attitude, especially towards underachieving students like Neville Longbottom who tended to be accident prone in their spell work.

But then, there was Daphne and Cedric to distract him. They were there when he woke up in the hospital wing after his ordeal, and Cedric explained that he only wanted to check on him, but Daphne seemed to know better.

"He's totally into you, dear," She pointed out during Charms class one day. "He denies it, but I think you should make a go of it."

"What about you?"

Daphne smirked, winking at him knowingly, "I'm down with double dating if you are. Besides, he's gorgeous too."

Harry blushed. "He might not be into guys too. I only see him with witches, and he discards them like day old socks."

Daphne flipped her hair out of her face. "You never know until you try, Harry. Geez, I can't be the brains of our relationship all the time. You have to step up too sometimes."

Class dragged on, and he noticed Cedric throwing him looks from across the Charms classroom that weren't all platonic. Did he like him too? Suddenly, he wondered, and the curiosity was driving him crazy.

As usual, his Hufflepuff fan club trailed him everywhere, including his groupies. "Cedric!" He called. "Wait up."

Cedric stopped in his tracks, and lifted an eyebrow. "Um, yeah, Harry? What's up?"

"Have you figured out your egg riddle yet? I haven't had time with the workload the teachers have been giving us," He prayed that he bought the lie, and Cedric grinned in response. Up close, his brown eyes had hints of green in them, and it matched his sandy brown hair perfectly.

"I've heard that," He agreed. "Would you guys excuse us? Potter and I have to talk Tri-Wizard Tournament shop talk."

His group melted away, and they walked towards the Black Lake. Cedric put his hands in his dress slack pockets and asked, "What did you really want to see me about?"

Keep it platonic, you don't know if he's bi or not, but you're pretty sure that you are, so don't freak him out. "Well...see the thing is, since I didn't exactly sign on the dotted line to play in this tournament, I was wondering if we could help each other out with this riddle in our golden eggs."

Cedric seemed to get the hint. "Oh. Yeah, that's gotta suck. I think the age restriction is stupid as hell, since you're a damned good Quidditch player. With you and Malfoy on the Slytherin team, you're a double threat."

Harry laughed, "Thanks. So, what do you say we team up for this thing? I won't ask Krum or Delacour, they're too tight with their Headmasters."

Cedric agreed. "Sure. I got a tip from that flaky Ludo Bagman chap who runs the safety committee with Mr Crouch that this riddle involves getting this egg thing wet, so maybe we could...I don't know, mull it over in hot water. Like, say in the Prefect bathroom, and I happen to be one this year so...we should meet up after dinner to work this out. You can swim, right?"

Harry felt the urge to flirt then, "Why? Are you going to give me mouth to mouth if I start drowning?"

Cedric laughed, "Do you want me to?"

"Maybe."

"We'll see. Is it a date?"

Harry nodded. "Definitely. I'll see you tonight. Wish me luck, I have Moody for DADA."