Snake in the Sunflowers {Draco Malfoy}{Cedric Diggory}

☠ Four; a Summer.

"He what?!" Hannah exclaims, and you cover her mouth with your hand. The two of you are sitting next to each other on your bed, gossiping about your kiss with Cedric, and the subsequent invite to the World Cup.

For the duration of your friend's stay, Hannah will be sharing your room and bed. It's a queen sized mattress so the two of you fit comfortably with plenty of space between you. The boys share one of the guest rooms in which there are two bunk beds. The farm house has lots of space for visitors for the event that your large family may come to visit for a holiday. There is enough space that everyone could have had their own room, but it's not really a sleepover if everyone sleeps alone. So everyone agreed it would be most fun to sleep together. You had tried to get your parents to let all of you share a room, but your father had gone uncharacteristically red-faced and declared it out of the question.

"Shh! You're going to wake the whole house." You laugh under your breath before releasing your friend.

"Sorry, but the World Cup?!" Hannah's chocolate brown eyes look like they may bulge out of her skull, and she clutches one of your throw pillows against her chest. "Do you have any idea how much those tickets cost?"

"I know - I couldn't believe it when he asked me..." You sigh as you recall tonight's events, feeling sparks ignite on your lips at the memory of the long awaited kiss. Before the embrace had gotten too out of hand, Cedric had pulled away and blurted out the invitation. "I've never been that big of a fan of pro quidditch, but it means so much that he would want me to come... and I'll be meeting his father!"

"I'm so happy for you!" Hannah smiles, letting go of her pillow and taking your hand.

"Thank you, but enough about me. You and Neville seem awfully close." You wink teasingly, but her smile falters. "What's wrong?" You ask, your brow creasing with concern.

"It's nothing really... It's just, after you mentioned meeting Ced's dad, I realized that Neville always acts so strange whenever I bring up the topic of his family. I know he lives with his gran, but he doesn't seem to want us to meet." She pulls her hand away from you and brings her fingers to her lips, starting to nibble at her thumb.

"Well, he is pretty shy." You shrug, nudging her gently. "I'm sure it doesn't mean anything. He's mad for you."

Hannah seems satisfied, and scooches over to her side of the bed. "Not as mad as I am for him, the dork."

You giggle softly, blowing out the candle on your bedside table. As you go to lay down, you notice the chain of Draco's necklace tugging at your skin.

You freeze, suddenly reminded of the ache that bad been dormant in your chest for the first time since you'd met him.

With a swallow, you push the unwelcome thoughts to the back of your mind before unclasping the chain with shaking fingers.

The necklace is difficult to remove, either from some stubbornness in the jewel itself or simply from your unstable grip. When it's finally off of you, it's absence is undeniably noticeable. Where there was once a constant cold heaviness above your breast is now an emptiness that feels out of place.

Wrong.

Trying your best to ignore the feeling, you shove the necklace in the drawer of your nightstand, hoping that once it's out of sight it will get out of your mind.

☼☼☼

The next two weeks of the holiday goes by far quicker than you would have liked. Time truly does fly when you're having fun it seems.

You are hardly able to keep your hands off Cedric whenever you have a moment alone together. If it weren't for his bashfulness and caution you would certainly be caught in a compromising position.