Safe With Me ~ Fred Weasley

Jealousy, Jealousy

Cassidy

I brushed the dirt from my pants, knowing there was probably more lining my face that I would have to deal with back in the dorms. Hagrid had given us all Nifflers for today's lesson and set up a treasure hunt which had been quite fun until Maddie's niffler had noted her earrings and dragged her into the dirt in an attempt to reach the sparkly jewelry.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Bri asked, clearly holding in a laugh at Maddie's hair and outfit which would give the house elves a shock on laundry day.

"Oh, I'm great!" She scoffed, not even bothering to try and fix the mess of hair tangled on her head.

"Hagrid did say take off all-" Hannah began.

"I know Hagrid said take off all our valuables, I forgot them Hannah, thank you." Maddie snapped back, earning a laugh from the three of us.

"Cassidy?" A nervous voice interrupted the laughter as we crossed through the courtyard towards the castle.

I turned to see Cedric, dressed in a golden quidditch sweatshirt, his bag slung from his shoulder, the wind blowing the front of his hair up from his forehead.

"Hi, Ced." I smiled, holding in a new laugh as I watched Maddie now attempting to brush through her hair with her fingers at the sight of the older boy.

"Hi." He smiled, a pink tinging his cheeks that I assumed was from the windy March weather. "Could I have a word?"

"Uh..." I hesitated, feeling the awkward silence engulf us all. I didn't want to be rude, but Fred had hardly let a day go by without a glare in Cedric's direction since the second task. "Sure."

I nodded a goodbye to my friends who shot me three matching raised eyebrows as I followed Cedric towards a stone bench against the castle walls.

"What's up?" I asked, knowing I should make this conversation as quick as possible.

"Well..." He started. "I just... Haven't seen you really, since the lake... Not without Weasley, I mean."

I nodded, not knowing if that was a question, or what he was implying.

"I just wanted to apologize, I didn't get a real chance that day. I didn't have any idea... that they would... I mean... I don't even-"

"Cedric, it's fine!" I laughed, easily. "It was no big deal. I Hardly remember anything from that day."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that too." He muttered, reaching up to brush the long forgotten dirt from my cheek with his thumb. "I just... I know you don't like being in the spotlight like that." His silver eyes met mine with a small smile.

"Who likes being in the spotlight?" I laughed, ignoring the eye contact that he was still trying to hold.

"Your boyfriend."

I finally looked back to his gaze. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." I chuckled under my breath. "I should probably get back-"

"Do you want to know why?" He cut me off, his eyes now planted firmly at the dull grass beneath our feet.

"Why what?" I shook my head, confused.

"Why you were down there. Why they took you for me?"

I felt like a brick of ice had slid into my stomach at his words. Took me for him?

"A few days before the task... Bagman met Krum and I... gave us some drink and asked us... who we cared about most in the world at that moment." He looked up to my eyes again, and this time I couldn't look away.