GLORY // book one

- PART 8 -

THEO

~

IT TOOK ONLY A  days for me to remember why I didn't draw positive attention to myself. Attention means people talking to me, patting me on the back, trying to get on my good side or be my friend. As far as I see it, Cedric is the only . . . friend that I need. One was more than enough, especially when that friend is Diggory; the over-protective, much too-cheery, annoyingly-tall teenage boy that had been on overdrive the past week.

Today was he was even worse than usual.

All it took was one sneeze and a headache for him to be convinced I was sick. After seeing my hands— which were basically healed by now —the other day, I had been forced to disclose the classified information involving my rage-fest. That, combined with my potion incident on Halloween, ended with him watching me like a hawk. It figures, I was able to hide my injuries from Pompfrey— while basically blind —but I couldn't get past a Hufflepuff with a over-sized heart.

This morning, I found him waiting at the exit from the Dungeons, holding a black-and-yellow hat he would force me into not a minute later, claiming if I had been wearing a hat, I wouldn't have gotten a cold. Even though I didn't have a cold.

As we passed other students in the hall— him content and me angry, as I wore the knitted material —I noticed they all wore badges proudly. For a second, I thought it was for that SPEW thing; something I thought ridiculous, seeing as the House Elves were paid as much as the school could get them to take.

But, they weren't badges supporting rights already in place. In bright letters, they read—

SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY, THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION

I snorted upon reading them, suspecting the Slytherin lower years had put them together to get at Potter. At least they didn't involve me. Munchkin Malfoy smirked as he walked past me, showing off his badge and pressing on it, changing the message.

POTTER STINKS

I snorted, noting the lack of subtlety. It managed to ease the pain of having to deal with Potter's existence only slightly. Unlike me, Harry didn't let things go; he was stubborn to a fault, and it made him act rashly. I had learned a long time ago that it was better to ignore the problem and move on from it; or plan a well-thought-out act of revenge that leaves the subject of your aggression in trouble and your hands clean.

__

It took approximately two weeks for Pomfrey to get me a new pair of contacts and have them shipped to Hogwarts. Though I forgot easily I was wearing the rather ugly pair of spectacles, others didn't. Cedric would constantly pluck them off my face and clean them, seeing as I often didn't bother to do it myself. George had made it a habit to randomly push them up on the bridge of my nose when I attempted to read. And I'm sure Potter would've been comparing our glasses or something if he wasn't hiding from nearly everyone at Hogwarts.