Our Tantalizing Trials

Bleacher Gossip

I wake up surprisingly well rested but my stomach is grumbling so loud, I think it might eat me soon. I got dressed in my school robes quickly, remembering there are actually classes today and I can't just lounge around in my weekend clothes. I headed towards the great hall for breakfast.

Hermione and Ron were already at the table eating, but Harry was nowhere in sight.

"Good morning." I say to the group with a smile.

"Good morning to you too. How'd you sleep?" Hermione replies, while Ron still stuffs his face with food.

"Pretty good actually considering I was up late with the study session."

"How'd that go anyways?" She asks.

"It was whatever. Just a normal study session."

"I'm glad to hear he didn't give you any trouble."

"Well I wouldn't say that, but it definitely could have been a lot worse."

I grabbed a bowl of wheats and ate some toast with jam. I was stuffed after ten minutes.

"Are you guys going to watch the quidditch game today?" I ask, finishing up my final bites of toast.

"Yeah we were planning on it." Ron replied, still gorging on the breakfast sausages.

"Okay, I'll see you there. Any idea where I could find Harry?"

"I think he was clearing his head at the quidditch pitch. Says he didn't sleep well."

"Okay, thank you!"

I get up quickly and head out of the big doors to the great hall. Pacing quickly across the hall towards the front doors, Cedric falls in step next to me.

"You coming to my game today?" he asks, leaning towards me and placing another kiss on my cheek while we walk.

"I was planning on it," I am flustered and look away from him. Why does he keep kissing me?

"Okay glad to hear it. See you later." He smiles and then turns quickly back in my direction, grabbing something from his bag. He throws a shirt my direction. "Wear that to the game!" he shouts and skips away in the other direction.

Skips? I never thought I'd see Cedric skipping but part of me is definitely icked by it. Lol. I hold the shirt up to see it's a long sleeve Hufflepuff practice jersey with his name and number on it. Interesting.

The walk to the quidditch field is nice and breezy, but I can see clouds in the distance. I love the rain but I really hope it stays dry for most of today because I do not want to stand in the rain throughout the entire quidditch match.

Harry is sitting up in the stands, head in his hands.

"Hey, are you okay?"

He turns, surprised to see me and a blush creeps up his cheeks.

"Hey Ave, yeah yeah I'm good." He replies but I notice he's still rubbing his scar.

"Are you getting pains again?" I reach up and put my hand to his forehead, pushing his hair to the side. The scar even looks a bit irritated, He must have been rubbing at it for a while.

"You know me too well Avery. I can't hide anything from you."

"And you don't need to, Harry. If your scar has been bothering you again, you should tell me and our friends. We worry about you."

"But that is the thing. You guys are already so stressed with your own lives, I don't need you to be worrying about me."

"Shut up Harry. Don't make yourself sound like a burden. I want to know when you're not feeling okay. I care about you. Especially when it comes to your scar, because in the past that has always meant You Know Who was up to something."

"I know, I know. I promise I will try my best not to keep things from you anymore." Harry turns and gives me a helpless grin.

I know he struggles with being open about his feelings, but when it comes to things as serious as Voldemort, he needs to keep me up to date. He cannot handle all of that alone.

"So anyways," Harry says, changing the subject and flipping it on me, "How are things with you? I saw Cedric earlier and wanted to ask you how tutoring went last night."

"Well tutoring with Draco went well and I think we actually covered a lot of ground. He seems to already be a bit better with his plants than he was before. I'm not sure if he'll admit I'm the one that helped him though. He'll probably try to say it was all him." I chuckle to myself.

Harry is looking at me strangely, one eyebrow quirked up and a silly grin on his face.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well first of all you just talked about him like you didn't want to bite his head off for the first time I could ever recall, and you called him Draco. I have never heard you call him by his first name."

"Oh," I look down at myself, "I guess that's true."

I don't even think I've ever called him Draco to his face.

"Well anyways, it actually went well. I hate to say it out loud, but ever since detention I've learned that Draco and I have a lot in common. We both love reading and running. I would never say that to his face though."

"Wow, he actually has interests. I thought when he wasn't busy insulting people and threatening to tattle to his father he just sat in front of a mirror admiring himself."

I let out a loud laugh and fall onto Harry's shoulder.

"You're too funny. I could definitely see him doing all of that." I replied.

"So what about the Cedric situation? How do you feel Ave?"

"Well I would be lying if I said I had zero feelings for him. After how well we were getting along, and even after he stopped talking to me, it was still hard for me to let go of the friendship that we had. He came up to me again before I was here and asked if I was going to watch him play."

"I can't believe he's acting all friendly again, especially after leaving you in the dust."

"Yeah honestly I have whiplash. He kissed me on the cheek again, and gave me this to wear to the game."

Harry eyes me and the practice jersey. I punch him in the shoulder.

"You're not my dad Harry. Stop giving me dirty looks when I talk to you about boys kissing me."

"I know I'm sorry. I just don't want you to get hurt, and Cedric has a bad track record."

I scoot closer to Harry and rest my head on his shoulder. The Cold morning sends a big, icy breeze our way. The storm clouds look closer than before.

"He seemed really genuine at first. I'd hate to not give him another chance and lose out on something great."

"I guess I'll agree with you to make you happy. But I'm warning you Ave, if Ced makes one wrong move he will regret it. Me and Ron will make sure of it."

"I really appreciate that, I honestly do. Thank you for understanding and not calling me stupid for wanting to give him another chance."

"Yeah yeah, I didn't call you stupid... out loud."

I pick up my head up off of Harry's shoulder and give him another solid punch to the arm.

"Oweechie." He backs up and puts his hands in the air in front of him. "It was just a joke. You keep hitting me like that and our quidditch team is doomed. I won't be able to reach out and grab the snitch."

"That's fine with me. You can just pull out your trick moves from first year and catch it with your mouth." I retort, sticking my tongue out at him.

"You're so dumb Ave, I swear." He laughs to himself, standing up and catching my head in a chokehold. He rubs his other hand against the top of my head, messing up my hair and rubbing in the fact that he's way taller than me.

When we started here at Hogwarts, I was the tallest of the group, and taller than most of the boys in my class. Now Harry and Ron both tower over me. Stupid Hogwarts and their huge meals.

"I hate you." I say muffled, trying to escape his grasp.

"You love me." Harry replies with sass.

I really do.