15

It had been two days since Cedric's interview with Rita Skeeter, and he had almost forgotten how angry he was. That was, of course, until he saw the article on the front page of The Dailey Prophet when he walked into the Great Hall for breakfast.

Cedric Diggory the Covetous Saboteur?
By Rita Skeeter

Months have passed since the first task of the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts School of Withcraft and Wizardry, with Harry Potter in the lead, with a very jealous Cedric Diggory right behind him.

Diggory expressed his hatred towards Potter and the other champions during an exclusive interview with Rita Skeeter, stating that Hermione Granger is not dating any other champion and is his girlfriend, though she has clearly been linked with Viktor Krum and Harry Potter very recently. Diggory's voice lingered with large traces of jealousy and anger as we spoke.

With Harry Potter stealing both Hermione Granger from his arms as well as first place in the first task of the tournament, it is no surprise that Diggory is jealous. Many students are fearful that he might take action to sabotage the tournament to get a higher score in the next task. "I think that Diggory is a lying cheater and he will do whatever it takes to win this tournament. I, however, want a fair fight, since I clearly am not in need of the gold." Stated the handsome quidditch star Viktor Krum, also a competitor in the Triwizard Tournament this year.

Wait and see to find out, will Cedric Diggory be a saboteur in the next task, or will he fight to avenge his dignity?

Cedric could not believe what he was reading. "Fight to avenge my dignity? Are you bloody kidding me? At this point I have no dignity left to avenge, this mad woman just destroyed the rest of it. She put the only thing I told her in an article to destroy me because I wouldn't talk to her? This woman is mad! What does covetous even mean?" He crumpled the paper in one hand and stood up, throwing the paper. It landed in the bowl of porridge that Susan Bones had reached for, knocking it all over the Hufflepuff table. Susan looked at him angrily and got Ernie Macmillan to pass her another bowl from different section on the table.

"Covetous is when a person wants something that someone else has," Hermione said under her breath.

Cedric anger slowly melted away and he sat down next to Hermione, who had just arrived after watching Cedric's fit. "I don't know what's going to happen this summer when you're not at my side to explain anything," he sighed.

"We'll still write. Besides, the school year's only half finished, we still have months together before we go home," replied Hermione. "Have you told Harry about the egg yet?"

"No, I was planning on telling him today."

"Cedric! The task starts tomorrow! He won't have time to prepare unless you tell him right now!" Hermione pushed Cedric off of his seat and he started to walk towards the main entrance. As he strolled down the passage between the tables, several students grinned at him and pointed at their badges, which read Potter Stinks; Support Cedric Diggory - the real Hogwarts champion. Which, though he felt terrible about, assures him that none of them believed Skeeter's most recent article.

Distracted by the bright badges, Cedric bumped into a miserable Harry outside the Great Hall and knocked the scrawny boy onto his bottom.

"Oof- sorry Harry, didn't see you there," he helped Harry onto his feet and quickly pulled him into an empty classroom. "Look, I've been meaning to talk to you about the second task."

Harry looked up desperately. "Yes? Do you know something?"

"You know the prefects bathroom the fifth floor? It's not a bad place for a bath," hinted Cedric.

"What? Cedric, why would I care about a bath? What do you know about the second task?"

"Just bring your egg, the password's Pine Fresh," Cedric said, and left Harry alone and confused in the abandoned classroom.

After confirming with Hermione that he had spoken to Harry, Cedric ventured off to the Hufflepuff common room, and was thankful to find that nobody was in it. He sat down and took out the Standard Book of Spells year 6, he remembered something about breathing underwater when Hermione was reading his book aloud earlier in the year. He continuously flipped through the pages until he reached the Bubble Head charm. He read the effects and side effects of the bubblehead charm and tested it out.

"Papula caput!"

A bubble slowly formed around his mouth and nose in the shape of an upside down fish bowl. He heard the door to the common room open and popped it immediately when he saw Ian standing in the doorway.

"Hullo, Cedric. What're you up to, my good fellow?" He asked.

"Well, I was testing out my bubblehead charm, but I don't know if it works. I've got to see if it'll block out the things around me so I don't breathe it in," explained Cedric.

"Oh I have a perfect way to test it out," Ian grinned mischievously and grabbed Cedric's wrist and dragged him up the moving staircases until they were on the fifth floor in front of a door with a gold eagle knocker.

"Ian, where are we and what are we doing here?"

"This, my friend, is the Ravenclaw common room, which was shown to me by Marietta Edgecombe after a late night drunken stroll through the grounds," explained Ian with a grin and a wink.

"Oh, wow- Okay, I didn't need to know all that. But why are we here?" Asked Cedric.

"Hold on-" Ian grabbed the knocked and banged it against the door thrice. The eagle came to life and spoke to them in a raw deep voice.

"What gets broken without being held?" Asked the eagle.

"A heart," said Cedric.

"A promise!" Answered Ian.

"Ooh- nice one Ian, I didn't think about that."

"Oh yeah, it asked the same question when I was with Marietta," he explained while the door opened. "Okay, now do your bubblehead charm."

"Pupula Caput!" Cedric said and the bubble formed around his face and neck. Ian did the same thing.

"Alright, now lets get down to business." He said as he dropped a dungbomg on the floor of the Ravenclaw common room. As soon as he said that, Cho Chang walked down the stairs and screamed, running back upstairs at the sight of the dungbomb and slamming the door when she reached the top. The students that were in the blue and bronze common room rushed out of the door to avoid smelling terrible for weeks. The two boys ran out of the common room laughing hysterically.

"Well, now we know it works!" Exclaimed Cedric with a chuckle.

Cedric and the other three champions stood on a pedestal as the students and teachers from Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons cheered in the stands behind them.

As the horn went off, signalling for the champions to dive in the water, Cedric said the incantation for the Bubble Head Charm and a waterproof bubble formed on his head. Cedric dove into the water and swam around, looking for a clue of where to go.

It had been several minutes since Cedric had realized that he was all alone and that all of the other champions took off in different directions. He swam further into the murky water for a long while until he found a wall of seaweed. He pushed a gap in the plant just big enough for him to swim through without his entire body touching the disgustingly slimy stuff. He squeezed through and was immediately greeted to the beautiful song that was familiar.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground."

Cedric was mesmerized by the beautiful song and tried to remember where he had heard it before.

"And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss."

He thought and thought until finally he remembered why it sounded so familiar.

"An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took."

That's when he spotted the mermaids swimming around him and four figures tied up behind them. He looked closer-

"But past an hour - the prospect's black
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back"

- and he spotted Hermione.