To Hell ~ Fred Weasley

Chapter 37.

"...And that feint Krum did-- Nina, are you alright there?"

"W-What? Oh, yes. I'm fine."

She could not stop thinking about what had happened earlier at the stadium.

It caught her off-guard when Fred kissed her, realising they had won the bet they had made with Ludo Bagman. Both didn't say a word after it, an awkward silence between them from the shock. Fred was obviously shocked as well and tried to dismiss the fact he had kissed her with a joke, saying "I couldn't kiss George!"

She had no idea how to react or what to say to Fred, so she decided to not do anything at all. Part of her was embarrassed it even happened since it involved one of her best friends.

It didn't mean anything. Forget about it already.

Helena left the group to find Cedric after the game, like she had promised the boy, parting ways with the rest at the entrance of the stadium and losing herself amongst the cheerful crowd, telling them she would be back at the tent.

She was currently with Cedric outside the tent he shared with his father a few feet from the woods, enjoying a warm cup of tea over the campfire they had, talking about the Quidditch game they had witnessed. Mr. Diggory had run off for a bit to catch up with some co-workers, leaving the two surrounded by a big party of Irish folk celebrating their victory.

But Nina had trouble concentrating on the subject and demanded herself to stop thinking about the kiss and move on.

"So... someone lost a bet!" she said smiling wickedly from her cup of tea.

"Damn, I was hoping you'd forget about that," chuckled Cedric scratching the back of his head. "But you're right. A deal is a deal. Here..."

The brunette reached for the pocket inside his jacket and took out a piece of folded paper which turned out to be a picture.

"My most embarrasing photograph I could find," he said handing it to her very slowly, regretting having bet Bulgaria would win the World Cup. "If you show it to anyone--"

"Don't worry! It's safe with me. Wouldn't want to ruin your pretty boy image," Nina winked at him, looking down at the picture.

There was a toddler version of Cedric, maybe 3 or 4 years old, with his signature brown locks and charming smile even at a young age, standing center stage at a play dressed as a cat with a doctor's lab coat on, sporting a red plastic stethoscope around his neck. He had painted whiskers and nose to compliment the costume.

Nina's first reaction was to say "Awww", but then she proceeded by hitting his arm lightly, confusing the Hufflepuff.

"This is adorable! Look at that cute face!" she pointed at the young boy in the picture, showing it to Cedric as if he hadn't seen it before. "Oh my god. And those tiny curls... Cedric, this is not embarrassing at all!"

"Are you kidding me?" laughed the boy at her commentary, "I'm dressed as a doctor cat!"

"Why are you dressed like that?" Nina squinted her eyes to look at the other kids in the picture. "You're the only one dressed as an animal."

Cedric was going slightly pink in the face, smiling to himself, embarrassed of the explanation behind his costume he was about to share.

"We were told to dress up as something we wanted to be when we grow up. And according to my mother, I refused to go on stage unless I was a cat. So... to not stand out from the crowd that much, my mother threw in that doctor's coat and the stethoscope to blend in a bit. But it obviously wasn't enough, I mean... I'm a bloody cat!" he laughed.