Call it what you want {Theodore Nott}

chapter twenty-three

The Great Hall was a lot more full this morning. Every table filled with talk about how the second task is going to go.

"Made anymore bets this time Blaise?" Theo asked

Blaise put his spoon down. "Well, as a matter of fact I have" he said, "my money is on Diggory" he turned his head to look at Iris but her seat remained empty.

"Uh where is she?" He asked.

"You've only just noticed?" Enzo asked him in disbelief.

"Well she hardly ever speaks now so wouldn't be hard to not notice her." Blaise defends.

"She's probably with Cedric" Amy said. They all looked over to see him with his friends. But there was no a single Slytherin in sight. They all quickly looked back when Cedric looked up and saw them all starting.

"Did you see her last night?" Enzo asked Amy

"No." She replied bitterly, "but she always turns up later anyway."

"Guys we have attracted a badger" Blaise said looking behind them.

And he was very right. Cedric Diggory was walking toward their table curiously.  Once he reached them he cleared his throat.

"Hey, I was just uh wondering if you have seen Iris?"  He asked.

They all looked to each other confused.

"No we thought she would be with you?" Amy said.

"Oh I thought she was with you?" Cedric replied just as confused. "Sorry to bother you then" he said and walked back to his table.

"Ok that's weird" Theo said.

He was right. Yes her and Amy had their issues but she would still be with them, especially on the day of the second task.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The five of them were now in the middle stand, in the lake waiting for the task to begin. They still had no sight of Iris.

"Well!," rang out the voice of Ludo Bagman, "all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One.......two......three!"

The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause. All of the champions dived into the lake.

"And now we wait..." said Blaise who already sounded bored. He suddenly got an idea, "let's play kiss marry kill!"

Everyone let out an annoyed sigh.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Why wouldn't you want to marry Micheal Jackson?" Blaise defended, "I mean have you seen his dancing skills?"

The task has been going for thirty minutes now and they were all slowly going insane listening to Blaise

"And I would kisss......CEDRIC?!" Blaise shouted.

"He wasn't an option?" Enzo said confused.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "No. Look!." He pointed out to the lake and Cedric had just resurfaced.

"Who's that with him?" Theo asked.

"Oh my god" Amy said

"Iris!" Mattheo yelled.

They were in the middle of the lake swimming over to the stand with everyone cheering and clapping.

"Let's go!" Amy yelled as she headed towards the steps to go down to the judging panel.

Once they got down there, Cedric was pulling Iris out of the water and onto the dock.

There was a first year Gryfindor boy who was holding a towel watching them.

Mattheo snatched it off of him and ran to Iris and put it over her shoulders and pulled her into him.

The rest of the group ran over to them.

"Holy shit Hayes." Blaise said looking at the shivering girl, "we thought you were dead or something, what happened?"

" I..don't...know.. I was just w-walking back last n-night and then it was like I passed out" she said still shivering

Amy just stepped forward and hugged her. She didn't care if they were fighting, she thought something bad had happened to her best friend and she doesn't want her to distance herself anymore.  "Ris I'm so sorry about everything I should have told you and I was being a bitch." She rambled on.

"No I'm sorry I shouldn't have said any of that to you I was being crazy." She replied straight away.

Amy just laughed and hugged her again.

"They grow up so fast" Blaise said with a hand on his heart and the other wiping a fake tear.

Suddenly there was another wave of cheers. They turned to face the water and see Krum and Hermione. They also made their way over.

"Was Fleur first?" Iris asked, looking over to Fleur who was wrapped in multiple towels.

"No she didn't make it past the Grindylows" Enzo explained.

"The what now?" Iris questioned, and looked down at the lake and  leaned her head against Mattheo as if to try not to think about what else could have possibly been down there with her.

"What about her person?" Amy asked

"What do you mean?" Theo replied.

"Well if she's not down there then who is going to get her person?" This put everyone in thought

"Well," Blaise said patting Iris' back, "good thing I betted on Diggory otherwise that would have been you." He said calmly.

"You betted on Cedric?" Iris asked smiling in disbelief.

"Don't get use to it." He replied

Suddenly the clock rang out , signalling it's hour.

Thud!

The group looked next to them to see Harry Potter, who had just dived out of the water. He started coughing up water when Hermione brought a towel over to him and starting hugging the boy.

They then saw how Ron Weasley and who Amy guessed to be Fluers sister, was standing next to him.

Fluer suddenly ran over and kissed Harry and Ron on the cheek. They all looked to Blaise and saw him with an annoyed expression.

"See that could have been me if-" he started, earning an eye roll from them all.

"Ladies and gentlemen the winner is.." interrupted Dumbledore. "Cedric Diggory!"

Huge cheers came from the crowd, louder from Hufflepuffs.

Cedric came over and pulled Iris into a hug, which was photographed and most likely a cover in the Daily Prophet tomorrow.

Mattheo stood there and watched as she was pulled away from him.

Amy and Theo both looked at him with sympathy.

"Although Mr Potter was out of the hour," Dumbledore continued, "as he managed to rescue not one, but two people we award him second place!"

Amy clapped for him, of course he would go out of his way to rescue someone else.

"Leaving Viktor in third place and Fleur in fourth!"

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June!" Interrupted Bagman, "the champions will be notified of what is coming, precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions." He finished.