The Little Things

Challenge by MDB : ‘I'd like to see one the day Cedric left Hogwarts with Harry thinking for a minute that he's going to be forgotten and left behind and then Cedric proving him wrong’.
Rating: T
Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Language

XxXxXxX

“Harry,” Hermione uttered, slightly shocked to open the compartment door and find Harry still there, staring out of the window a little grumpily. Harry looked up at her and Ron as they filed in, back from their prefect rounds. “Thought you would be looking for Cedric.”

“I did,” Harry muttered, crossing his arms. Hermione opened her mouth to say more but Ron quickly put a hand on her arm to silence her, sensing the dark cloud brewing over Harry’s head.

When Harry got moody, Harry got very moody.

Harry turned from his friends to resume staring at the passing scenery they drove by on the Hogwarts Express. It was the last day of his fifth year, and he wasn’t particularly thrilled to be going back to the Dursley’s. But that wasn’t what had him in such a bad mood.

“Is everything all right, Harry?” Hermione queried after ten more tense minutes of silence. Harry grit his teeth but didn’t say anything. “Is it... the Dursleys?”

Harry shook his head, but didn’t say anything else. He couldn’t open his mouth, knowing that the moment he did he’d go off into one of his famous tirades about how awful life was and how he never should have gotten together with Cedric Diggory, because it was only a matter of time before he left and forgot Harry even existed.

“Fucking Diggory,” Ron snapped before Hermione took another tentative guess. He got up and stormed out of the compartment. Ron had never been completely supportive of Harry and Cedric’s relationship. He admitted it was better than a Slytherin, but there was something about the Head Boy that rubbed him up the wrong way.

Maybe he just reminded Ron of all his brothers, whom he was overshadowed by.

It never really was a problem, they treated each other civilly enough even though Cedric had, in time, come to like Ron a lot less as well. But whenever Harry was upset over Cedric, it threw Ron into a mood right along with him, leaving Hermione to sigh and clear everything up again.

She, of course, idolised Harry’s boyfriend.

“Is it... Cedric?” Hermione asked once Ron had made his dramatic exit. Ron was rarely wrong when it came to guessing what caused Harry’s constantly swinging emotions, but she had to be sure. Ron was also quick to jump to conclusions.

“Yeah,” Harry admitted. “He’s just... I mean... I should have expected it, shouldn’t I?”

Hermione sat silently and waited for him to continue. “It’s so stupid. What could he really want with me anyway? There’s not much reason to stay with me. I’m just, you know... a kid.”

Realisation dawned. “Ohh,” Hermione murmured. She should have expected something like this to happen, silly of her to think everything would be just fine and dandy.

After all, this was Harry.

“Harry, start from the beginning. What’s made you think that Cedric... wouldn’t want anything to do with you, exactly?”

Harry bit his lip and looked at the ground. It was silly, really, when he thought about it, and he knew logical Hermione wouldn’t understand.

But he just felt so... rejected. He’d been waiting for it, ever since it suddenly dawned on him that Cedric was leaving. Leaving school, leaving Harry’s side. Would he even want Harry now?

When he heard nothing from Cedric, he set off to find out which compartment he’d got stuck in. Maybe it wasn’t that he’d forgotten Harry. Maybe he’d just got attacked by his almost stalkerish female friends? It happened often.

Harry sometimes had to fend them off with a stick.

However, when Harry opened the door to one compartment and peeked his head inside, he came across the sight of Cedric seated quite comfortable between Cho Chang and Jonathan Yoke, having the time of his life. Not forced down into the spot and looking desperate to escape.

Harry scowled and slammed the door closed, storming away. If Cedric even noticed, he didn’t investigate further.

Which found Harry brooding in his compartment twenty minutes later.

“Oh, Harry,” Hermione said, exasperated, when Harry had finished his story. “Maybe he just wanted to spend some time with his friends? This is the last time he’ll probably see most of them for quite a while, but he’ll be seeing you soon.”

Harry narrowed his eyes at Hermione suspiciously.

“What does that mean?” he asked. Hermione clamped her mouth shut and blushed to the roots of her hair. “I’m at the Dursley’s. How will he be ‘seeing me soon’?”

Harry turned and sneered at nothing again, dismissing what Hermione said entirely, assuming it was just something she was saying to comfort him.

“You mean...” ‘He hasn’t told you?’ Hermione cut herself off from the rest of her sentence, eyes narrowed. What was Cedric planning?

Had he changed his mind? Could Harry be right?

Hermione shook her head, and dearly hoped Harry’s instincts were wrong, as they often could be.

“... Where did Ron go?” Harry suddenly asked, worry colouring his voice.

Hermione winced and shook her head, although they both had an idea of just where the other part of their trio had gone off to.

XxXxXxX

“There he is!” Hermione said cheerily, grabbing Harry by the sleeve of his oversized muggle jumper. Harry grumbled and was grudgingly tugged over to a gaggle of seventh years taking up most of the platform.

Cedric was in the middle.

“Look, Hermione, I don’t think...” Hermione blatantly ignored whatever Harry was saying, knowing it was for his own good. If he left now, neither he nor Cedric would be particularly happy for the rest of the summer.

“Look, just wait here,” Hermione commanded, fixing him with a stern glare when Harry opened his mouth to protest. He sighed.

“Fine,” he grumbled, scuffing the floor with a trainer that was falling apart. Hermione smiled, satisfied, and dove into the large group, pushing students out of the way and leaving Harry to hang uncomfortably on the outskirts.

“Mate, there you are.” Harry jumped and turned around to see an out-of-breath Ron who looked like he’d dashed off the express.

“Where were you?” Harry asked. “And what is that?!”

Ron gingerly touched his bruised cheek, as if realising just what Harry was talking about. “Well, the thing is...”

“Did you go looking for Cedric?” Harry asked wearily, rubbing a hand through his hair. Ron nodded sheepishly. It would appear that Harry and Hermione’s earlier suspicions were right. “Did he give you that?”

Harry desperately hoped the answer was ‘no’. He wasn’t entirely certain what he would do if Cedric had punched Ron, and Ron hated him even more. The situation was already quite tense between them.

Ron shook his head, much to Harry’s relief. “Nah, one of his mates when I began yelling at him. Diggory... Diggory held him back,” Ron admitted with grudging respect.

Harry grinned when he heard that, and saw Ron’s disgruntled expression. “See? He’s not such a prissy little Hufflepuff after all, is he?”

“Fuck off,” Ron said, pushing Harry playfully. Harry laughed and began looking for Hermione, wondering what was taking her so long.

Ron was looking in a different direction, and waved suddenly. Harry turned to where he was waving and saw the Weasley gaggle. “Mum’s waiting. Want to come say goodbye to everyone? Maybe we can convince them into smuggling you back to ours.”

Harry laughed and picked up his trunk and Hedwig’s cage, following Ron towards his family. He was instantly smothered in a hug by Mrs Weasley as Ron snickered from somewhere nearby with the twins.

“Take good care, you hear me?” Mrs Weasley was saying when she pulled back and allowed Harry room to breathe. “If those Dursleys aren’t treating you right, just send the word and I’ll show them what-for!”

Harry rolled his eyes at Ron as Mrs Weasley continued to fuss about giving Harry some food and telling him to make sure the Dursleys fed him because he was already ‘skin and bones’.

Finally, she backed off. Ron clapped Harry on the back and promised to write, and the twins plied him with yet more prank gifts. Ginny waved shyly and Mr Weasley told him all about the in-depth conversation they were going to have about foreign muggle plugs when they rescued him from that summer.

Finally, they were gone, leaving Harry to look around despondently. He wished for the madness of the Weasleys again, anything to halt his impending doom.

However, he finally gathered his stuff and left Platform 9 3/4 , searching out the Dursleys as he made his way down the train station. Upon finding no-one, even outside, he settled down on a bench and resigned himself to waiting for who knows how long.

He determinedly pushed all thoughts of Cedric from his mind, no matter how much he wanted a long goodbye kiss. He hated the thought of being parted from the Hufflepuff, of never seeing him at school again.

Would Cedric even bother to keep in contact?

Harry slumped on the bench, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes.

Maybe Ron had it right.

“Harry?” a familiar, and very welcome voice, asked. Harry lowered his hands, eyes shooting open, to see Cedric looming down at him, concern in his eyes.

Harry sat up straight. “Cedric?”

“What are you doing out here?” Cedric asked, quite confused. Harry looked back at him, equally as perturbed.

“I’m... waiting for the Dursleys,” he replied, as if it were completely obvious. Which it was, really. Cedric frowned and sat down on the bench, next to him, and wrapped an arm around his waist as if it were second nature.

Harry couldn’t help but smile at the craved-for touch and snuggled into Cedric’s side.

“Why?” Cedric asked, resting his chin on the top of Harry’s head.

“Because I’m going to their house for the summer?” Harry pulled away to look up into Cedric’s face. Cedric looked quite surprised and Harry felt himself mirroring that. Cedric knew about the Dursleys, so why was he looking so confounded?

“No, you’re not.” Cedric stood and pulled Harry up. Harry allowed himself to be pulled.

“But I have to, blood protection wards and all that.” Cedric grinned and hefted Harry’s trunk up, dumping it next to his on the trolley, before perching Hedwig’s cage on top. He then wrapped an arm around Harry’s waist and began wheeling the trolley.

“Screw blood protection, I’ll protect you with my life,” Cedric told him seriously, not looking at Harry. Harry turned a shocked gaze upwards.

“Really?” he asked. Cedric nodded and stopped wheeling suddenly. He then pulled Harry’s face closer to his, and pressed a long, hard kiss to his lips.

“Really really,” he confirmed with an impish grin once the kiss ended. He then resumed his wheeling like nothing had happened, tugging Harry along with him.

“So... where am I going?” Cedric laughed to himself, shaking his head. His fingers entwined with Harry’s.

“I can’t believe I forgot to tell you, and I’m so sorry for that. Good thing Hermione finally dragged me away, right?”

Harry had no idea what Cedric was going on about, so he just nodded and waited for an answer.

“You’re coming with me. To live with me,” Cedric told him. Harry gawped at him. “I mean, I’ve got my own place and everything, just outside London, we won’t be bothered by my parents or anyone, either. Except, you know, for Order business.”

They stepped out of the station, and Harry squinted against the bright sunlight. Cedric was still rambling on, and Harry wasn’t certain he’d ever stop to take breath.

Instead, Harry tugged him closer, pulled his head down and delivered a passionate kiss. When he pulled back, Cedric looked dazed, and Harry was certain he wouldn’t say another word for a minute or so.

“It’s... This is perfect. I thought... you know, I thought you’d just forget about me or something.” Cedric stared at him, eyebrows furrowing together. “Insecure idiot, that’s me.”

Cedric lifted a hand and stroked Harry’s cheek. Just that small action was enough to take Harry’s breath away. Cedric smiled softly. “I would never, ever forget you. I love you so much, Harry Potter.”

Harry had no idea why that affected him so much. He didn’t know why his eyes were burning, or why Cedric was giving him a concerned look, until wetness began trickling down his cheek. Cedric wiped the tear away with the pad of his thumb.

“Me too,” Harry mumbled. “I love you too.”

Cedric pulled Harry to him and pressed a loving kiss to his forehead. After a few moments, they parted, and Cedric gave him a charming smile, one guaranteed to make every female in the vicinity, and Harry, swoon.

“Right. Let’s go to our new home, shall we?”

Cedric took Harry’s hand again and began to guide him towards a shiny new car. Harry looked down at their joined hands, a sappy smile on his face.

He was fairly certain that he’d never been happier.

XxXxXxX

Hope that was what you had in mind MDB! I loved writing this (I’m such a sucker for angst sometimes...)
Thanks for all the reviews, as always! Love you guys :D