I Know And I Don't Care (Cedric Diggory x Reader)

Chapter 20

The debate of whether or not I'd be late, was one i was determined to win. When I made it up the stadium sets which seemed never evendi, I was almost sweating despite it being quite chillier in the stands.

As high as we were, the overwhelming number of people had heat rushing to my cheeks. People who didn't even know Cedric or Harry personally, had made it in time. Yet, I somehow was the last one showing up.

Pushing away the thoughts of me being a bad friend, my eyes roamed the crowd for someone who was a good enough friend to be on time. But before my eyes could land on Hermione, the sound of a canon caught my attention.

And apparently everyone else's attention. While the crowd around me erupted into screams I lost the ability to speak. My mouth went dry and my throat dried up. I all but forgot how to breathe when the sight of him in his yellow Hufflepuff uniform. He was a blurb of color in the gray rocks of the ring. More accurately, his clothes were the spark of color. He looked as pale as a ghost. He even putting Moaning Myrtle, the cheeriest ghost of Hogwarts to shame.

He looked as close to tears as Myrtle, too.

I couldn't believe it. Cedric Diggory, close to tears.

And close to a dragon.

Suddenly, a blue scaled dragon jumped toward Cedric, making his presence known to all, as the crowd let out a gasp.

If only I could gasp. Or breathe. Or do anything. I felt frozen in my spot. My feet were glued to the wood below me, despite the shaking that the jumping students were causing. The dragon could've come for me for all I cared and I don't think I would've moved.

Thankfully, Cedric did. In a flash, Cedric squared up the monstrous dragon before running to hide behind a rock. Watching him disappear from sight made breathing even more difficult. If that was even possible. Was it possible for your breath to go away even more once you've stopped breathing?

Air reached my lungs just as a the retriever did. I knew Cedric had planned to transfigure a rock, but I had never been so happy to actually see a spell work out. Partly because my lungs needed some air and partly because that meant Cedric could win the task. He could distract the dragon, grab the egg and be done.

And that's just what he did. Cedric sprinted across the other end of the stadium as the dragon found interest in the dog rather than the Hufflepuff racing from him. Gold had always been Cedric color, so when he raised the egg in triumphant, he looked like he belonged with it. He belonged with a prize.

Maybe even the Triwizard cup.

I wiped off my proud smile to cheer with the crowd. As loud as the people around me were yelling, I couldn't help but hear someone yell my name.

Two someones, actually. The sight of the Weasley twins was never hard to see. And never hard to ignore either. It was easier to say yes to their exciting waves, though, as a familiar brunette stood in the row in front of them. As much energy talking to the twins took out of me, I still had enough energy to talk to her.

"Where were you?" I asked Hermione, stepping down from the row where the twins stood. Ron was beside her and glanced at me for less than a second. We hadn't talked much since our argument, sticking to polite chatter. As the volume of the cheers increased every moment Cedric spent showing off the egg, polite chatter didn't even make the cut. Instead, he looked up at his brothers, starting to discuss theories on Krum's strategy.

Ignoring Ron ignoring me, I turned back to Hermione, whose eyes hadn't left the field. "Where were you?"

She looked up at me for a moment, her eyes going back to the rocky terrain below. "What are you wearing?"

I didn't even have to look down to remember. I knew Cedric's sweater still hung on my shoulders. My arms wrapped around my middle self-consciously.

I opened my mouth to ask again where she had been this morning when she posed another ponderous thought. "What's the dragon doing?"

Following her index finger, which had slowly raised to point down below us, I felt my stomach drop.Before I had even seen it, I knew Cedric was no longer showing off his prize. The dragon was trying to show off his.