THE SECOND TASK was in a week. Arden was frustrated; every time she spoke to Cedric, he either had a reason to excuse himself, kept his responses short and blunt, or was just blatantly not to be found.
He was avoiding her.
But why didn't he just talk to her? Nothing could be fixed if he didn't communicate back. Trickling through her veins like blood was a subconscious hope that felt as if she could understand Cedric's feelings. That she knew he was hurt by her words. Yet whenever she confronted that possibility, she would flush and mentally scold herself for even thinking it was possible. That he could like her more than friends.
So, her weary conclusion was that he needed to come to her. She did everything in her power to amend whatever was tarnishing their relationship, and his lack-of only stained it more.
At the moment, Arden was walking around the Black Lake, contemplating, yet again, what the treasure could be for the second task. Though it wasn't her job anymore to assist Cedric, she couldn't help but wonder anyway. Is it a pet? A clothing item? A family heirloom?
The clouds rolled in above, covering any ray of sunlight that shone, and visibly darkened the scene. The Black Lake, though it was still daytime, actually looked black in the center. The sandy (and somewhat dirty) bank that outlined the circumference of the water lost any color it held, becoming a pale gray. Everything but the nearby trees were monotoned. It was like Arden had stepped in to another cinematic century — a black and white universe.
The further she walked around, the darker the sky became. And as she checked her watch to see the hour, drops of rain that softly fluttered down began to pour, angling at an almost horizontal degree from the force.
"Oh god," Arden muttered, pulling up the hood of her school robes. It was no use however; the fabric, though thick, was not water resistant. She tucked her chin inside of her collar and tilted her head down so she was watching her feet (which were hardly visible at this point) and trekked onwards.
A few yards down the bank of the lake — towards the dock — Cedric broke the surface of the water, struggling for air as he realized the rain pouring down from the sky was almost as thick and compact as the water below. He had been practicing his swimming, particularly with the bubblehead charm, before he heard the pellets of rain hitting the water. Misjudging the force and amount of rain, he didn't think to retouch the charm in case the transition from being underwater to land was not much drier.
The boy managed, with great difficulty, to drag himself out of the water and to the beach in the general direction of where his stuff sat, now soaked. Coughing up water as he stumbled forwards, Cedric didn't see the body crossing his path before they clashed.
"Ow," the familiar voice groaned, barely audible through the echoes of pouring rain. Arden, who managed to stand before the boy, covered her forehead and eyes with her hands, squinting as she tried to make out who was on the ground. "Cedric?" She held out her hand in front of him, who just stared wide eyed at her, despite the drops of rain that jabbed into his eyes. The pain was extremely uncomfortable, not unlike shards of glass, but his unsureness of what to do outweighed his desire to shut his eyes. "Cedric?"
"Yes?" He questioned back, shaking his head of its previously frozen state. "Thanks." Taking her hand, he stood up and blinked as he continued to look at her. She stared back, and he couldn't tell whether or not she was crying or if the drops falling from her face were just drops of condensation.
Arden returned a slow nod and bit her lower lip before turning around to continue her journey back to the school. Cedric lingered in the same location for a few moments before he realized that her eyes had been red and her cheeks hollow. She had been crying after all.
