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One would think having a few girlfriends here and there would smoothen Cedric’s words. Apparently not.
Cho looked at Cedric, head on the library table and wallowing in his self-pity, then rolled her eyes. She turned back to her Arithmancy essay, quill scratching along the nearly two-feet long essay. Cedric looked up with a pout.
“Are you not going to ask what’s troubling me? Your bestest friend since, I don’t know, nine years old?” Cedric asked.
Cho stopped writing and turned to Cedric, head turning comically slow. She set her quill down and leaned close to him.
“No.” Then turned back to her essay. Cedric bristled.
“This is an emergency! Cho-“
An irritated sigh shut Cedric up.
“Ced, I don’t give a rat’s arse if no one’s dying. Surely you can see I am busy?”
A beat of silence, then another irritated sigh: “Okay fine. What?”
Cedric seemed to lighten up but then his smile fell almost immediately after remembering what he was about to say to her.
“I asked Harry if I could court him.”
There was a pregnant pause.
Cho looked unsure, then squinted at him. “…Congratulations? How is that a bad thing?”
Cedric groaned and hid his face in his hands, rubbing almost ferociously at his cheeks. Cho raised an eyebrow as to why Cedric looked like he just ate a lemon.
“I asked Harry. In front of the entirety of Gryffindor Quidditch Team.”
Ah.
Which has led to why Cho and Cedric had equal ashen looks and rigid postures with their faces in their hands. It took them a few moments to sober up but it was Cho who broke the silence.
“Sorry, what exactly possessed you to do that?” Call her mean and all but she was a no-joke person in times like this, this was serious. Cedric sputtered.
“I- I don’t have a clue! It suddenly just bloody came out of my mouth!” He was making these wild gestures that Cho had to grab both of his hands to stop him from getting them both kicked out by Madam Pince.
“Sorry.”
“It’s quite alright,” She brandished her wand and charmed her quill to do her essay for her then turned back to Cedric, pocketing her wand. “It couldn’t have been that bad?”
Wrong question.
It was as if Cedric would explode at certain words that was mentioned. He went red in the face.
“I blundered! Blundered in front of the lad! I had this whole speech me and mum made and I just- just-“
He broke off, a look of horror on his face.
“I just half-arsed it! Oh, the look on Longbottom and Weasley’s face-“
He didn’t want to talk about it. Cho sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time.
“You couldn’t have gone to me first?”
“You weren’t anywhere!” He hissed accusingly. “You were busy snogging Granger!” Now it was Cho’s turn to blush. Yep, she wasn’t anywhere. She was off busy snogging her girlfriend. She shrugged, looking awfully pleased with herself and had that stupid unapologetic look on her face, the same face she shot him when they played against each other on Quidditch.
Cedric groaned.
“And bloody Professor Lupin and Professor Black was passing by! Oh Merlin-“ He looked at Cho, mortified. “D’you think they already wrote to Lord Potter? Oh Merlin and Morgana! I got to go!”
He hastily packed up his things, half of which were sticking out of his satchel. Cho could only watch in amusement.
“Hey wait! What are you going to do?!”
“None of your business!”
“Oh you-“
Harry blinked owlishly as he watched Cedric easily find him in the crowded hallway. He turned to Ron and Hermione (she looked quite smug, and Ron looked pleased by something.)
“We’ll leave you to it, Harry.” Hermione replied, voice coming out a pitch higher than necessary. Ron snorted and patted him on the back.
Harry watched in confusion as the two practically pushed at each other to get away from him as quick as possible, turning their heads ever so often. It only served to confuse him even more. He was about to chase after them when he was stopped when Cedric grabbed him by the sleeve of his robe. He blinked up at the handsome Hufflepuff and tilted his head questioningly.
“Diggory.”
“Potter.”
A stillness engulfed the two of them, not minding the stares and whispers thrown at them as students passed by them.
Cedric broke the silence.
“I-I’m sorry about-“ He flushed. Hard. “About earlier.” Cedric looked mortified.
Harry blushed too. “It’s alright.” he looked down a moment before coughing, clearly clearing his throat.
“So um-“
“I uh-“
They both paused, both twitchy and awkward. Green met Gray and suddenly Harry thought red looked good with yellow-
“Harry!”
Both of them swiveled their heads to turn to the source and saw Professor Lupin jogging up to them, Professor Black in tow. Cedric flushed, sirens blaring in his head.
Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go-
Cedric dropped his hold on Harry’s sleeve, looking like he was about to pelt off in a second. He looked at the two approaching teachers and then at Harry, mouth opening and closing wordlessly.
“Gotta go- goodtalkbye.” And the Hufflepuff ran.
Harry looked at his retreating figure, he never seen Cedric run away that quick.
He turned his attention away from the older Hufflepuff boy to his godfathers, squinting at them suspiciously. They looked way too joyful.
“Never thought we’d see the day, Harrikins!” Exclaims Sirius, joyfully ruffling his godson’s hair, much to Harry’s chagrin. Remus pulled his husband off of Harry and smiled knowingly at the younger boy, who was a blushing mess.
“Congratulations on the courtship proposal,” he glanced at Sirius, who was rambling on about James and Lily. “You did accept his proposal, right?”
Harry did a double take. “I had to audibly accept?” He asked dumbly.
Oh boy.
Back at Potter manor, James Potter had received a letter. His eye twitched as he read the content of Sirius’ letter, feeling both relieved yet irritated. Lily was reading from behind him, pretending to clean the mantel behind his desk. James pursed his lips.
“Okay, enough with the theatrics,” He called to his wife with a scoff, setting down the letter. She chuckled. “Harry got himself a courtship proposal.”
Lily looked delighted. She charmed the feather duster to continue on without her and moved to sit on the desk, picking up the parchment and skimming through the content. She hummed.
“It sounds like it was Amos Diggory’s boy. Cedric was it? I think he’s sweet.” Lily comments, carefully rolling the parchment back up. She patted James on the shoulder. “There, there love… We know this was bound to happen one way or another.”
“Well its going too fast. Time is moving too fast. Merlin-“ He ruffled his already messy hair up and slumped further down his chair with his arms crossed like a petulant child. James shook his head. “I still remember bringing prongslet to the train. God, he’s just 15! How old even is this Diggory boy?”
“I think he’s turning 18 soon..”
“What! No, no, no this can’t be! This has to be stopped-“
Lily kissed her husband’s worries away and cupped his cheeks, brows furrowing but an amused smile was on her lips. She tilts their heads together and chuckled once more.
“James, Harry can make his own decisions. It’s just courtship. You remember the first time you asked me for courtship, don’t you?”
James snorted loudly. Of course he did, it was one of the highlights during his time in Hogwarts. Lily hexed him to oblivion with a face bright as a tomato and walked away, leaving a dumbfounded group of Marauders and Snape. It was a few days later she finally accepted his courtship and it all worked out in the end.
“If you’re so sure…” He replied grumpily. “I’m only agreeing because we were the same age as Harry! I still don’t like the idea of marrying my son off…”
Lily rolled her eyes affectionately.
“What does courtship even entail?” Harry asked one evening.
The three of them were in the shared office of Remus and Sirius. Hermione was making an eggcup perform cartwheels in the air while Ron was helping himself to the sweets trolley Remus had just in case. Hermione hummed.
“You get gifts.” She shrugs. Ron looked up, almost aghast at the lack of tact.
“Gifts!” He huffed. “They’re not just gifts, Hermione! They have meaning to them!”
Remus offered Ron some tea while Sirius finished with his tinkering on his desk. The Black heir looked up and grinned, almost as if he was waiting for this conversation to be brought up. Harry looked at Sirius.
“Ron’s right,” Sirius muses. “Sure Harry’ll get gifts but those will be carefully curated. I believe the first gift is something… I think it was the House flowers…” He scratched his nose absentmindedly.
“House Potter flowers are Amaryllis and Baby’s breath.” Remus supplied helpfully. “Then the second gift is the House flowers of the one who initiated the courtship.”
“House Diggory’s flowers are White Jasmines and Irises.” Ron comments offhandedly. Upon the look of surprise on Hermione’s face, he blushed and busied himself with his tea cup. “Mum made us study these from a young age…” He cleared his throat to steer the conversation back to Harry.
“The third gift is some trophy. Honestly, it can be anything really. Knowing you-“ Ron points at Harry. “-You’ll take anything Diggory might give.”
Harry bristled, but Sirius laughed heartily followed by Remus. He looked at them with a betrayed look which fueled their laughter even more. Harry scoffed and threw a crumpled ball of paper at Ron and laid down on the couch he was previously sitting on.
“That’s right about it. The gifts can continue on if he’s really that old-fashioned. I bet he is, considering Amos…” Remus shuddered and turned back to the trio with a smile.
“Then after courtship is…”
“Marriage.” Hermione and Sirius answered at the same time, differing in tones. Sirius was frowning while Hermione had a look of wonder to her face. She looked at Harry then hummed.
“I call dibs as your maid of honor.”
“Now hang on-“
“Hey, I’m his best mate! I should be the maid of honor!” Ron argued. Hermione rolled her eyes.
“You’re not even a girl!”
“I can wear a dress just fine!”
And it went on from there until Remus had to intervene when Hermione challenged Ron to duel for the role of maid of honor.
Cedric was nervously chewing on his nails as he watched Harry, flanked by his mates, enter the Great Hall for lunch the next day. He could barely stomach in the Shepherd's pie in front of him when he remembered he had to talk to Harry. Cho was beside him, a look of sympathy on her face.
“It’ll be alright Ced-“
“I feel like I’m about to puke my liver out.” He comments, ashen faced while poking his pie as if it had offended him. Cho sighed.
“Just imagine you’re talking to me-“
“That’s just weird.”
“Okay, imagine talking to Dumbledore-“
“That’s even more weird.”
Cho sent him a severe look.
“Just be yourself.” Cedric looked indignant. “Your advice isn't helping!”
Okay maybe he was right, her advice was something someone would say when everything is about to go wrong. Cho looked at Cedric then at Harry then back at Cedric (who now found comfort in chewing the sleeves of his uniform’s sweater.) She pried his hands away from where his mouth is, her face scrunched up in disgust.
“That’s just disgusting, Cedric. Have you no manners?”
“Oh shove off, Cho.”
“I’ll shove that Shepherds pie up your-“
“Cedric?”
Both turned their heads to the voice. It was Harry, looking warm in his robe and scarf. Cedric blinked dumbly at him while Cho gave a nudge of encouragement. Harry cleared his throat.
“I, uh…” He turned his head to the side, making Cho look over too. Ron and Hermione were watching their conversation like a hawk, eyes sharpened with their wands ready. Cho nearly cackled at the look on her girlfriend’s face.
“I accept your proposal.” Harry blushed. Cedric gaped at him, oddly resembling a goldfish Cho had owned for a brief moment in time during her second year. Cedric soon realized he looked like a fool as he gaped at Harry and straightened up, a somewhat goofy smile on his face.
“Oh! Yes. Yes. Proposal. Yes, thank you.”
Harry sent a dazzling smile his way, nodded at Cho then trotted off back to the entrance of the Great Hall where Ron clapped him on the back and Hermione handed him a tissue with treacle tart in it. If Cedric wasn’t busy fawning, he would have seen the pleased and giddy smile on Harry’s face.
“Did that just happen?” Cedric asked, turning to Cho. He looked a bit dazed.
“Oh yes.”
“Wow.”
Harry blinked. Cedric blinked back.
Students flooded out of the room, gossip stirring as they gawked at Cedric (who now felt as stupid as he probably looked.) He swallowed nervously, his hand that held a bouquet of Amaryllis and Baby’s breath with a mix of White Jasmines. He blushed a deep shade of red, stammering.
“I-I had help from- from Professor Black.” He managed to get out, his flush growing even more red. Harry looked at the embarrassed and shy seventh year in front of him, then peeked behind him. Behind a pillar was Cho and Sirius, watching very closely.
Harry turned to Cedric with a smile. “You’re very thoughtful, Cedric. Thank you.”
He took the bouquet from Cedric’s shaking hands, took his much bigger hand into his, and squeezed it. Harry’s smile widened when Cedric’s face now resembled a tomato he’d spot in a salad. Giggling, he let go of Cedric’s hand and stepped back.
“See you at lunch, Cedric. Thank you again for the flowers.”
And with that, Harry walked off with Ron and Hermione in tow, who looked just as ecstatic to see Harry’s first gift.
Once they were out of earshot, Cedric turned to Cho and Sirius.
“What just happened.”
“That my dear,” Sirius comments, patting Cedric on the shoulder. “Is true love brewing.”
He waved the two students off, tucked his hands into his pockets, and walked off while whistling a tune with a little pep in his step. Cho waved Sirius goodbye and turned back to Cedric.
“I’m going to marry Harry.”
“I know, bud.”
That is if Harry accepts the next gifts. (he will, Cedric doesn’t know that though.)
It was Quidditch season and first to play was Hufflepuff and Slytherin.
Cedric nearly grimaced as he watched the Slytherin team pass by them, all with arrogant sneers and smirks. He squinted at the smallest player they had, Malfoy, oh how he wishes he could hex him-
“Cedric!”
Peeling his eyes away from that pompous brat’s head, Cedric turned to see Harry rushing over to him. He blinked in shock then blushed furiously, to which he earned some snickers from his teammates.
“We’ll be in the locker rooms, Ced.” One of his seventh year friends said, bumping him on the shoulder as he led the Hufflepuff Quidditch team to leave the two alone.
“Hi.” Harry greets breathlessly. Cedric thought he looked cute all flushed like that.
“Hi, Harry.” Cedric nearly jolted as he remembered. “Oh yeah, I have something for you.”
He searched for something in his Quidditch robes, patting around before finding it in the pocket. He pulled out a pin, Harry squinted at it and gasped. It was a pin with House Diggory’s flowers pressed and preserved. Cedric smiled shyly.
“It’s our House flowers, and it would mean a lot if you wore it as support- You are supporting Hufflepuff, right?” He added nervously, gripping his broom tightly. Harry smiled at him and took the pin, pinned it right above the Gryffindor insignia on his robes, and flashed it proudly.
“Of course. Always for you.” Harry replies with a faint pinkness to his cheeks. Something warm settled in Cedric’s chest and he sent Harry a stupidly giddy smile.
“Thanks, Harry.”
The match ended with Hufflepuff winning.
It was a few months after Cedric first started courting Harry and he learned a lot from the boy.
He learned that treacle tart was Harry’s favorite thing in the entire world, he learned that Harry originally wanted to be a Chaser just like his father, and so much more. It was honestly endearing.
It was nearing sundown, Harry and Cedric were by the lake with a picnic blanket and some snacks and books scattered about. Harry was laughing at something Cedric said and the older boy was smiling at him fondly. He still hasn’t given Harry the third and final gift but tonight was the night he would.
After a bit of reading and talking, Cedric cleared his throat. “Harry.” He calls, voice serious. Harry looked up from where he was buried in a Quidditch magazine.
“Hm?”
“I…” Cedric started lamely. He blushed shyly and fished something out of his pocket, presenting a necklace with a charm that awfully looked similar to the-
“Is that… The Triwizard trophy?” Harry gasped. Cedric smiled sheepishly.
“I used a Shrinking charm to turn into a necklace charm. Honestly I couldn’t think of anything else that’s above this-“
Soft lips were pressed against Cedric’s and his throat made a noise. Harry was kissing him. The you ger boy put his arms around Cedric, moving closer while Cedric finally closed his eyes and deepened the kiss.
His hands settled on Harry’s waist, guiding the boy to his lap as it got more heated that Cedric had to pull away before they did something unbecoming. They looked at each other silently, foreheads touching as they basked in each other’s warmth.
“Is that a yes?”
Harry snorted. “Of course it is, you muppet.”
Cedric could only laugh. No words could describe how he felt, but he was sure he was the most happy and lucky guy in the entire Wizarding World.
“So?” Cho asked. She cornered Cedric in the library one afternoon and he looked up from where he was fixing his oddly designed owl printed socks.
“Oh. We kissed.”
“Ah. Nice.” a nod.
“He’s my boyfriend now too.”
“Nice.”
”Diggory!”
Cedric stopped in his tracks, hands holding a stack of books. It was Ron catching up to him, Harry or Hermione nowhere in sight.
”Yes?” Cedric asked curiously as he watched Ron catch his breath the moment the red haired boy reached his side. The freckles boy looked up from where he panted and glared fiercely.
”Harry’s just told us, blimey-“ Ron brandished a handkerchief and wiped his forehead before straightening up. He pointed an accusing finger at Cedric.
”If you ever so much as touch Harry in a wrong way or hurt him-“
Cedric gulped.
”I’ll deck you so hard. Hermione’ll have my back.”
Then Ron smiled and clapped him good-naturedly on the shoulder.
”Cheerio.” And just like that, Ron was off and left a stunned Cedric in his wake.
He stood there for a good minute or two before snapping out of it when Nearly-Headless Nick went right through him, whistling a jolly tune.
”Urgh, Nick!”