The Artifice, Part One

[join_the_conga]

Title: The Artifice

Author: join_the_conga

Rating: teen friendly (adult language and themes, but no nastiness)

Characters: Cedric Diggory*, Tom Riddle Jr., Hermione Granger

(* denotes main character; story revolves mostly around him)

Summary: Cedric Diggory wants nothing other than to survive through the tournament that he can take lightly no more.

Comments

[mary_greenman]

Wow. Just wow. I love the narration you have going here and Cedric is so utterly in character. I easily fell into the fic the same way I fell so well into Harry Potter. I loved the interactions between Cedric and Tom - and the differences you showed here between interactions with the book and Hermione.

and Hermione. It's been so long since I've read any HP fics. I forgot how much I loved her. <3

That whole scene with the fake Professor Moody. Gawd, I just love the subtly there in the characters interactions. Poor Cedric. All the Hufflepuffs get snubbed far too often.

A sigh. A scoff. A whimper. Cedric Diggory and the shelves of leather bindings surrounding him were quite familiarized with these sounds.
Wonderful piece of description. The details made me laugh.

“Uh, yes sir! Just, uh, perfecting the magic.” He smiled and cleared his throat, though, in reality, he really only wanted to choke himself. Perfecting the magic? He sounded like a complete dunder-head! Cedric tried not to let his eyes widen in realization. He sounded like he was trying to come on to him. Oh, bloody-hell-
Aha! Charming Cedric, perhaps not so charming after all?

“Dragons!” Cedric felt like hitting something. Or dying. Which he probably would. Tomorrow.
I can’t really tell you why I like this line - except that it’s just so …. Panicy! It’s one of my favorites, I think.

His astonishment only increased after the words disappeared again. His letters were gone. And in their place were someone else’s.
We have established that the date is, in fact, Monday, 23 of November, 1994.
Cheeky book.
He was completely baffled.
Ahahaa. Yes indeed, cheeky book. I can almost hear Tom rolling his eyes.

Well. Good for her, bollocks for him. What now? Keep it talking.
Another line that had me grinning.

The morality of lying is not what fazes you?
The way Cedric writes this, it says so much about him. It also rings so true.

I killed a man.
And then I wrote myself in.
Now that, right there feels like a prompt. It really jolted something in me. And it’s such cruel words to use for a joke…again, very utterly Tom.

[join_the_conga]

Bah! I'm SO SORRY that I've never replied to this thoughtful and extremely nice comment of yours. I looked at it when it first came up and thought, "I HAVE to respond tomorrow." Time passed and passed, and, when I looked at it again, I thought, "It's been MONTHS?! OH NO!" So sorry...

Anyway, I appreciate that you like the story and maybe feel inspired to write something of your own...? (referring to your last line, of course) :D I feel like The Artifice deserves another installment, so I'm writing (at my own pace...) diligently for the next piece. Hopefully this summer comes with the furthering of one of my favorite stories that I've written.

Again, thank you SO MUCH for your delicious comment. I hope you stick with me in the future, and I look forward to hearing from you again.