The Heart's Thorn

~ 11 ~

(Song attached: Death of Cedric, track 19 of the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire score)

Everyone filled into the stands, the chatter was deafening as was the loud music being played, beyond the stands was the maze, a vast dark block of hedge with confusing passages carved into it, Celeste decided then and there that she would grab Harry and Cedric if she could, and just run them far away from the whole thing. As she found a seat near her friends she felt her anxiety grow, the maze looked more threatening than she had pictured it, with the music pulsing in her ears and the endless chatter of excited spectators, Celeste hardly heard when the Weasley twins approached her.

"George?" She asked looking at both twins who hadn't sat down yet.

" 'fraid not" Fred grinned as he switched with George so that he could sit with his girlfriend.

Celeste sighed as George gave her a quick peck on the cheek "I thought I was getting better at this" the twins laughed, then an older, plump looking woman with matching ginger hair to the twins, Ron and Ginny, approached them with a few other gingers shuffling behind.

"This is our mum, our brother Bill, and you know Ron and Hermione" Celeste suddenly went red at the word 'mum', she didn't know she'd be meeting her boyfriends parents, or one of them at least, the other was further down in the stands waiting for someone else.

Mrs Weasley beamed at the Hufflepuff in grey and extended her hand "hello dear, I'm Molly Weasley, you must be Celeste, George never stops talking about you in his letters-"

"Mother" George said as his face started to match Celeste's red colour.

Bill, his rather daring looking brother, squeezed past his mother and twin siblings, as he did he said "so this is Celeste" he stooped down to take Celeste's hand, kissed the back of it and bowed his head a little (which promptly made George go a little redder), as he looked back up he winked and said "enchanté"

"Hello..." Celeste croaked out, a little lost for words, she didn't know there was such a thing as a suave Weasley boy.

Bill shuffled back to his own seat and sat down, quite proud of the reaction he got out of George "don't mind him, he thinks he's gods gift to women"

Ron and Hermione sat down and gave Celeste a nervous wave, they must have been just as worried as she was. Just then the four champions were announced into the open area, each of them as nervous as the other. Cedric came out first, with- as Fred had informed her- his father, then came Fleur with Madame Maxime, then Viktor with Karkaroff, and finally Harry who was accompanied by Dumbledore, in fact, if it was possible, he looked more nervous than the rest.

Dumbledore stood at a podium and announced each of them, as their names came the appropriate supporters stood and cheered, Celeste did so for both Cedric and Harry, and Celeste noticed that with his cheers Harry's confidence grew a little higher. As Dumbledore explained the rules and gathered the champions for a silent talk, an unearthly fog started to roll out of the maze, and Celeste's heart sunk as Cedric and Harry took their places.

The canon sounded and the music started again, everyone was cheering, and as she looked around Celeste noticed Draco was cheering too, since he had made friends with a few of the Durmstrang students it made sense he was cheering for them. After a few moments the champions disappeared into the maze, and after a while the music died down.

As they waited the supporters in the stands chatted and speculated over who would win, Celeste looked at Fred and George, they were chatting eagerly with Bill across their mother, and Hermione was talking anxiously to Ron. Then she looked around at her few other friends who were doing much the same thing, and then finally her eyes found Draco again, who was already staring at her. They shared eye contact for a few moments, in which time Draco could see how worried she was, but then as one of his friends smacked his shoulder he quickly looked away as if he never saw her.