Fic: Sound of the Revolution, Chapter 5
Title: Sound of the Revolution, Chapter 05
Author: kevo
Pairing: Harry + Cedric. Four years strong.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership to these characters or the series they’re from.
Summary: In his fifth year, Harry faces ostracism with boyfriend Cedric for coming out and for declaring Voldemort has returned. (Order of the Phoenix canon re-write.)
Author’s Note: Happy Holidays! (And Happy 24th Birthday to me this Thursday!) And Happy 4th Anniversary of this series! Woot! Thanks to superbillylopez and my fiancé for beta reading for me. (Nicholas thought the chapter was a bit bleak - hope you all like it anyway!)
( A Lack of Color - Chapter One)
( A Lack of Color - Chapter Thirty)
( Sound of the Revolution - Chapter One)
- - - - - - - -
( Sound of the Revolution - Chapter Four)
The Love So Green Collection
Playlist #2:
sound of the revolution
CHAPTER FIVE
“Easier to Lie”
Entering the Great Hall for the first time of the year was always equally a good and a bad thing, from Harry’s perspective. It was always wonderful seeing the old castle, and all of his school friends, again. Yet no matter how many years he attended Hogwarts, there was still the inevitable wave of heads turning in his direction, and this year was no exception. If anything, the number of people gaping in his direction had increased, exponentially so. Harry tried to ignore them. He had enough on his mind already, with Hagrid still missing, not to mention his recent and disturbing discovery of thestrals.
As Harry, Cedric, Ron and Hermione neared the far end of the Great Hall, Cedric split from the other three to sit at the Hufflepuff table. There was no kiss-on-the-cheek goodbye this time, only a small, stony-faced nod. With every eye in the Hall on them, Harry didn’t blame Cedric for his stoicism, but any sign of affection would’ve done wonders to bolster Harry’s own confidence. The three Gryffindors found seats at their own table, and within minutes the Sorting was underway.
As new students were Sorted into their various houses, Harry looked up to the staff table and saw, for the first time since he last sat in the Great Hall, Albus Dumbledore. The headmaster was watching the Sorting with the same mildly amused expression Harry so often saw him wearing. Despite the ill will Harry felt toward the man lately, he still found Dumbledore’s presence to be a comfort.
The feast itself was mostly uneventful. There was a lot of discussion about the meaning behind the Sorting Hat’s song, Hermione being the first to point out the irony of a Hat meant to Sort students into separate Houses advocating unity. Harry opted not to participate in the conversation, though the Hat had left him with some heavy thoughts. His initial reaction to the idea of inter-House unity was to scoff. He could imagine no circumstance under which he’d ever be chummy with a Slytherin
Then he recalled Fred and George’s New Year’s party, when the twins nearly threw out a seemingly innocent younger student simply for being a Slytherin. Cedric had immediately jumped to the boy’s defense. It was Cedric, the Hufflepuff, who had been courageous that night, while Fred and George, both Gryffindors, were the ones behaving like bigots. Perhaps where the Sorting Hat chose to place you didn’t mean anything, in the end.
Harry’s eyes wandered over to the Hufflepuff table, an old habit they returned to easily now that he was back in the Great Hall. He was able to locate Cedric in a matter of seconds. The boy was not sitting among those Harry normally saw him with. His head was bowed over his plate as he prodded the food on it apathetically with his fork. Harry thought back to last year’s Welcome Feast, when he discreetly snuck glances at Cedric with his Hufflepuff friends, laughing and smiling. Harry couldn’t help feeling he was to blame for the loneliness Cedric was now suffering. Were it not for him, Cedric would be surrounded by friends now. He knew what Cedric would say to that; that he’d rather be honest and happy with Harry than living a lie without him. Yet even with this reassurance, Harry’s guilt remained.
As the feasting wound down, Dumbledore rose to make his usual announcements. The news that Grubbly-Plank would be taking over Care of Magical Creatures, with no addendum on the location of the subject’s former teacher, made Harry’s spirits sink even lower than they already were. The appointment of Dolores Umbridge as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher didn’t mean much to him, only that she had his pity, for she, like those before her, was probably not long for the job. It did appear to mean something to Hermione, however, whose brow was furrowed.
“Dolores Umbridge,” she repeated. “That name sounds familiar.”
Now that she pointed it out, Harry did think he’d heard the name before. Unable to place where, he simply shrugged. Like everyone else, he was then taken aback by the woman’s blatant interruption of the headmaster. Also like everyone else, Harry chose to ignore Dolores Umbridge’s long-winded speech. Harry looked over at Cedric, who was listening the new teacher speak. This didn’t surprise Harry. What did was the expression of extreme distaste that he wore as he watched her. Harry turned to Hermione and Ron.
“Why d’you think Cedric looks so mad?” he asked. “Do you reckon he knows who Umbridge is?”
“That’s it!” Hermione hissed. “Don’t you remember? Cedric’s trial. She was there! She’s one of the ones who voted against him.”
“Really? But she seems so sweet,” Ron said dryly.
“What’s she doing teaching Defense if she’s from the Ministry?” Harry wondered.
“Good question,” muttered Hermione. “Now hush, I’m trying to listen.”
The boys remained obediently silent for the rest of Umbridge’s speechifying. Once the toad-like woman finally finished, and Hermione and Ron began bickering over what her words meant, Harry waited for Dumbledore’s dismissal, poised on the edge of his seat like a runner waiting for the starter’s pistol. As soon as the headmaster gave the word, he was off, weaving between students to reach the Hufflepuff table. Cedric was barely up before Harry reached him.
“Some speech, eh?” Cedric observed.
“Hermione said it meant something like the Ministry’s interfering here,” said Harry.
“I gathered the same thing.”
“Are you okay?” Harry asked. “I know she was at your hearing.”
“And voted to have my wand taken from me,” Cedric added grimly. “It doesn’t really bode well for me. Nothing has so far today. Everyone keeps staring at my neck. You’d think I was attacked by a vampire or something.”
“Now you know how I felt when you gave me a hickey last March,” Harry said.
“It’s not really the same thing,” Cedric replied snappishly. Then, seeing Harry’s wounded reaction, he sagged, frowning. “Sorry. I shouldn’t take my bad mood out on you.”
“Unless it’s between the sheets,” said Harry, an impish smile upturning the corners of his mouth.
“Tempting offer,” said Cedric, now with a small grin to match Harry’s, “but I’ve got to help the other prefects shepherd the first years. At least they haven’t taken away all of my duties yet.”
“Oh, all right,” Harry groaned. “But you owe me one.”
“I owe you a lot more than one,” Cedric told him. He placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder, then, like he had on the train, wavered a second before swooping down to kiss Harry on the cheek. He pulled back blushing. “Well, good night, then.”
“Yeah,” said Harry, only now realizing that he and Cedric wouldn’t be sleeping in the same bed for the first time in almost a month. “Love you.”
“Love you, too,” Cedric smiled.
While Cedric disappeared into the crowd, calling out for first year Hufflepuffs, Harry followed the flow of traffic out of the Great Hall.
He found himself amazed at how small the confused-looking first years appeared. It was all too easy to forget how much he’d grown since he was their age. Seeing the pint-sized first years underlined this fact, and allayed the unease he had felt earlier in the summer about the difference in age between he and his boyfriend. He was not a little boy anymore.
He was almost at the Fat Lady when he realized he didn’t know the new password. Luckily a group that did was entering right ahead of him, so he slipped in with them. Harry made a mental note to ask Ron later what it was. He took the stairs up to his dormitory, where he found Neville, Dean, and Seamus already unpacking their things.
“Evening, all,” said Harry. “Seamus, Dean. How was everyone’s break?”
“Mine was all right,” Dean replied. “Probably better than Seamus’s, anyway.”
“Why, what happened, Seamus?” asked Neville, changing the position of his new plant from the bedside table to the window sill.
There was a long, unusually tense silence. Then, finally, Seamus spoke.
“Me mum didn’t want me to come back to Hogwarts.”
Something about his tone told Harry that he really didn’t want to know why. Because he could already guess what the reason was. Neville, however, did not seem to possess the same amount insight, and pressed on.
“That’s weird,” the boy said. “How come?”
“Well,” Seamus said after another lengthy pause, “I suppose... it’s because of Harry. And Dumbledore.”
And there it was. The thing Harry had been dreading since his name started appearing slanderously in the papers.
“I don’t understand,” said Neville.
“Leave it alone, Neville,” Harry urged him.
“No, really, what do they have to do with it?
“Let me guess,” Harry muttered, unable to prevent his irritation from slowly rising. “Your mum reads the Daily Prophet.”
“So what if she does?” barked Seamus.
Harry chose not to answer. He didn’t want to pursue the conversation, which had potential to rapidly develop into a fight, any further. There was always a possibility of something like this happening, Harry knew that, had known for weeks and weeks. He’d hoped it wouldn’t, but he was never naïve enough to truly believe that.
He quickly changed into his pajamas, hoping to get into bed before anyone could say anything else to him. Harry was on the verge of pulling his bed curtains closed when Seamus spoke again.
“It’s just... That night,” he said. “No one really knows what happened.”
“Yes you do,” said Harry. “Dumbledore told you. He told the whole school.”
“All he said was that You-Know-Who came back, and that you and Diggory were there,” Seamus shot back.
“Yeah, we were, and Cedric has the scar on his neck to prove it,” Harry replied, leaping off his bed. “But if you and your mother would rather believe the papers than Dumbledore, whatever, I really don’t care right now.”
“Don’t you start on my mother,” Seamus warned.
“Why shouldn’t I?” asked Harry. “She’s the one calling me and my boyfriend liars.”
Seamus’s expression contorted into a hideous mixture of disgust and fury.
“So it’s true, then,” he said. “You and Diggory.”
“It’s all true,” Harry confirmed. “What is this? You knew we were together. The whole school knew by the end of last year.”
“People talked, maybe, but nobody knew,” Seamus replied. “There were rumors. No one was certain, though. All anyone knew was that you two were spending a lot of time together. I thought it was all dragonshit. I never suspected you were actually queer!”
“What the hell’s going on in here?”
It was Ron who spoke, having entered somewhere in the middle of Seamus’s last response.
“Did you know Potter’s a homo?” Seamus demanded.
“Don’t call him that!” Ron snapped. “And so what if he’s gay? What’s the big deal?”
“He sleeps in the same room as us!” cried Seamus, as though nothing more needed to be said on the matter.
“Afraid I’m going to molest you while you sleep?” Harry scoffed. “Don’t worry, mate. You’re not my type.”
“That’s not funny! Two men together,” he spat, like the words had an awful taste to them. “It’s sick. And it’s wrong!”
“That sounds an awful lot like Death Eater talk for someone whose mother married a Muggle,” Harry remarked.
“I told you to leave my mother out of it!”
“That’s enough!” shouted Ron.
“How can you defend him!?” Seamus screeched. “He’s a fucking pervert!”
“Yeah, well I’m a prefect, so unless you want detention you’re going to shut the hell up right now, Finnigan,” said Ron.
Harry was impressed. Ron, who normally shrank under pressure, was being more forceful than Harry had ever seen him before. Maybe Dumbledore really did know what he was doing when he made Ron a prefect.
“Now,” Ron continued, “we’re all going to sleep. If you still have a problem tomorrow,” he told Seamus, “you can go see McGonagall. Either way, that’s the last time you talk to Harry like that, got it?”
In lieu of answering, Seamus got into bed and yanked the curtains around it shut.
“What about you?” Harry directed at Dean, who hadn’t spoken or even moved during the altercation. “You gonna have a problem like your friend over there?”
“Leave me out of it,” said Dean. “I don’t care what you do or who you do it with. I just don’t wanna see it. So long as you aren’t throwing your business in my face, we’ll be fine.”
“And I knew about you before either of them,” Neville pointed out. “I’ve never had a problem with it.”
Harry offered Neville a faint smile as a show of gratitude for his support. Ron patted Harry on the shoulder.
“Why don’t you get some rest, mate,” he suggested. “You know what they say: things always look better in the morning.”
Nodding, Harry climbed into bed once more and crawled under the covers, hoping that Ron was right, but not quite believing he would be.
O O O O O O O
Whoever said that things always looked better in the morning was full of crap.
This was the conclusion that Harry came to the morning after the Welcoming Feast, after his row with Seamus. In fact, it seemed the opposite was true.
Harry thought that a night’s sleep might take the edge off the student body’s fascination with, and in some instances fear of, him. However, it quickly became clear, as he entered the Great Hall for breakfast, that, if anything, they’d actually gotten worse. The novelty of being reunited with school chums had worn off, so now everyone had moved on to gossip, and Harry Potter was the subject at the top of everyone’s list.
He ignored it as best he could, instead joining in on his friends’ conversation about new schedules and O.W.L.s. As he was leaving the hall for his first class of the morning, he bumped into Cedric just coming in. The older boy appeared exhausted and incongruously cheerful.
“Morning,” Harry greeted him. “You look like hell.”
“Ooh, now that’s what I love to hear from my boyfriend,” Cedric snorted.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean - you always look handsome, you know that,” Harry flushed. “I only meant you look tired.”
“I am,” Cedric replied. “I was nearly all night with my dorm mates.”
“Oh, no,” said Harry, thinking of his experience with his fellow Gryffindors. “Did something happen?”
“No, no, it’s nothing bad. Actually,” he beamed, “it’s sort of really good. But I’m going to be late for class if I don’t get some breakfast quick, so I’ll explain later. Uhh, tonight, after dinner. I’ll meet you in the entrance hall?”
“All right.”
“Listen, Harry,” Cedric said, his tone heavy, “we both need to be careful today. The school’s an Erumpent horn over this whole You-Know-Who situation. I think we should just keep our heads down right now, try not to make any waves, you know?”
“Definitely,” said Harry, thinking again of Seamus. “The last thing we need right now is any more trouble, right?”
“I’m glad you agree.”
And Harry did agree, and had every intention of staying out of trouble. He truly did. He even kept his mouth shut during Potions, where Snape was as foul to him as ever despite their mutual affiliation with the Order of the Phoenix.
But then came Defense Against the Dark Arts.
He probably should’ve known better than to get involved in the war of words that took place between Professor Umbridge and the rest of his classmates. In fact, he did know better, but he couldn’t help himself when she started spouting the same Ministry lies as the Daily Prophet.
“So we’re not supposed to be prepared for what’s waiting out there?” Harry demanded in response to her ‘no magic in class’ decree.
“There is nothing waiting out there, Mr. Potter,” she responded in the most sickeningly sweet voice Harry had ever heard in his life. “Who do you think could possibly want to attack children such as yourself?”
“What about Voldemort?” he asked in earnest. “He’s out there, I saw him, he’s back and he…”
He trailed off as the shocked outcries of his classmates finally registered in his mind, and he became aware that he’d said the most taboo name in the Wizarding World aloud, and proclaimed the Dark wizard’s return, in front of the entire class, in front of a teacher. A teacher who’d been placed at Hogwarts by the Ministry of Magic. The look of satisfaction on Umbridge’s face told Harry that it had been no accident either. She had been goading him, trying to provoke a reaction.
“Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter,” she announced. “Now, let me make a few things clear. You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has risen from the dead and is currently at large once more. This is a lie.” She stared Harry down, as if daring him to respond again. When Harry said nothing, she continued. “The Ministry of Magic guarantees that none of you are in any danger. If you are still concerned, my office door is always open. If someone,” again she turned her gaze on Harry, “is feeding you such lies, I would like you to inform me at once. I am here to help you. Now, I would like you to continue your reading. ‘Basics for Beginners’, page five.”
Staring down at his textbook, Harry fought the urge to respond to Umbridge’s statement. Once again, he knew he shouldn’t. But after months of accusations, people from the Ministry calling him a liar, this was his first chance to confront one of them face to face. To defend himself.
“Professor, it can’t be a lie,” Harry said quickly, making sure to raise his hand. “I was there! I fought him! If nothing happened the final night of the Triwizard Tournament, then how does the Ministry account for the scar on Cedric Diggory’s neck?”
Only then did Umbridge’s smug expression falter. For a split second, Harry could’ve sworn she wore the same expression that Seamus had the night before upon learning that Cedric really was Harry’s boyfriend. But it was gone the next instant, replaced by her persistent cheerful smile, though it wasn’t as bright as it had been a minute earlier.
“The Ministry does not feel the need to account for such things,” Umbridge replied. “As I’m quite sure that you yourself are aware, Mr. Diggory is a felon -”
“He was acquitted!” Harry interrupted. “Those charges were dropped!”
“ - and the Ministry of Magic,” she continued, raising his voice over his, “does not take the word of known felons and notorious delinquents.”
“Cedric is not a delinquent! We were attacked by Lord Voldemort and you know it!”
He really had meant to stay out of trouble.
Instead Harry earned himself a trip to McGonagall’s office and a week’s worth of detention. McGonagall briefly scolded him for mouthing off to the new teacher, and cautioned him not to cross her again before sending him off to dinner.
At the end of such a long, awful day, Harry was eager to see his boyfriend. He wolfed down dinner so he could get to the entrance hall sooner. He sat on one of the bottom steps of the marble staircase to wait. From there he recalled meeting Cedric there for their first “date”. Harry had been so anxious that night, all nervous to be around Cedric alone. He still got that way at time, but it was a different kind of anxiousness, more exhilarated than edgy. It was the way Harry felt as he saw Cedric exit the Great Hall, heading straight for him.
“Hey!” Harry called cheerfully, rising from the stairs.
“Hey,” Cedric replied. He lowered his head to give Harry a kiss, grinning at the enthusiasm with which Harry returned it. “I’ve only got a few minutes, I already have loads of homework. The N.E. in N.E.W.T. is not an exaggeration.”
“Oh.” Harry struggled to mask his disappointment that their meeting would be so brief. “Okay. So what did you want to tell me?”
“Hm?” said Cedric. “Oh, yeah! Last night! Um, well. You already know how much I was dreading last night, sharing a dorm again after how awkward things were before we left. So I got to my room, and as I’m opening the door I can hear them all talking, but they go dead silent when they see it’s me. Clearly they were talking about me, right?”
“Clearly,” Harry concurred.
“I ignored it, said hi, went about unpacking and such. Acted like nothing was wrong. After a minute or two, Kellan asked me how my summer was. And it just felt so ridiculous, that he would be asking me that, so I started laughing. And I said to him, ‘You’re seriously asking me how my summer was?’ Next thing I knew, all of us were laughing. After that, we were up talking for hours. They told me that stuff with the scar, and me suddenly being gay, it freaked them out, but they’ve all had time to adjust and they’re okay with it. It’s such a relief, to know that they accept me, and that they’re still on my side. I had to assure them all that I wasn’t attracted to any of them, of course.”
“Which is a lie,” Harry smirked, remembering Cedric talk about his dorm mates last year. “You’d totally do Taylor if you could, or Kellan. Or Peter. Or even Jackson, for that matter.”
“I’d only do Jackson under the right circumstances,” countered Cedric. “Sometimes he does his hair weird, and that’s a turnoff. But you’re right, it is mostly a lie. It’s not as if I can tell them the truth, that I’ve lusted after them since we were twelve. Does a straight guy tell his female friends that he fancies them, even when he knows nothing’ll come of it, simply for the sake of full disclosure?”
“Hey, I’m not arguing,” Harry said. “I’m sure it was the right thing to do. Anyway, it’s not as if I blame you. They’re all pretty damn hot.”
“Hmm, should I be worried?” asked Cedric.
“Nah,” said Harry, his hands traveling determinedly down his boyfriend’s torso, toward the boy’s belt. “I’ve already got the best seventh year boy at Hogwarts.”
“Smooth talking will get you nowhere tonight,” Cedric insisted, seizing Harry’s hands before they could reach their destination. He kissed Harry’s forehead. “But I’ll keep it in mind for later. How about you? How was your first night back?”
Harry thought of all the things that’d happened to him since returning to Hogwarts; of Seamus, of Snape, of Umbridge. He’d been waiting all day to talk to Cedric, to take comfort in his reassurances, both verbal and, he’d hoped, physical. The latter was definitely out, Cedric made that profusely clear. And after hearing how well things were going for Cedric, Harry was embarrassed to admit that they weren’t going so well for him. Plus, the last thing Harry wanted to do was ruin Cedric’s good mood after all the terrible things that’d happened to the Hufflepuff in such a short time.
“Harry?” said Cedric. “You okay?”
“Yes,” Harry replied. “Yeah, I’m fine. I mean, it’s pretty much what we expected, people looking at me funny, whispering, stuff like that, but, uhh, that’s it, really.”
“Are you sure?” Cedric asked. “I’m getting this feeling from you that’s sort of… off. Like something’s bothering you.”
“Nope,” Harry maintained. “Just been a long day, you know?”
“Yeah,” Cedric said. His brow creased slightly as he looked the younger boy over, but then he gave Harry a tight smile. “We’ll just have to get used to it, I suppose. Listen, I’ve really got to get going - homework and all that - are you certain everything is all right?”
“Totally,” said Harry. “It’s fine, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” said Cedric. He gave Harry a quick peck on the lips, pulling away before Harry could even try to make it any deeper. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” Harry muttered to Cedric’s retreating back.
So much for that bit of comfort, Harry thought gloomily.
O O O O O O O
After yet another long and stressful day, Harry went into his first detention with Umbridge with exceedingly low expectations. He did not anticipate the possibility that it would be worse than he was prepared for, yet it was.
All Harry wanted to do now was get back to his room. When he reached the stairs, however, he was stunned to find Cedric sitting there, waiting for him like Harry had in the entrance hall the night before. The older boy looked up as Harry approached, smiling. As he came closer, Cedric’s smile slowly transformed into a deep frown. Instinctively, Harry grabbed at his sleeve, tugging it down further over his wounded hand.
“Hey,” Harry said casually. “What’re you doing here?”
“I heard you had detention,” Cedric replied, scowling. “I was waiting for you to get out.”
“That’s really sweet of you, Cedric, but I’m very tired, so I’m going to go up to my room - “
“What’s wrong with to your hand?” Cedric demanded.
Harry moved the appendage in question behind his back, saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I really need to get going…”
“Don’t lie to me, Harry,” Cedric fumed. “I can feel it.”
“It’s nothing,” Harry said evasively.
“Then let me see!”
Cedric grabbed Harry’s arm. Harry almost fought him, but knew that would only cause more damage in the end. Plus his hand hurt too damn much to fight him. Harry let Cedric pull back his sleeve. The look of revulsion on Cedric’s face made the truth Harry had been trying to hide seem all the more real, and horrible.
“What did she do to you?” Cedric asked, horrified.
“She made me do lines,” Harry mumbled. “She had this quill. It - when I wrote, it would cut - it showed up on my skin…”
“And you didn’t even argue?” Cedric asked. “You, the one who challenged her in front of your entire Defense Against the Dark Arts class, just sat there and - “
“What would that have accomplished?” Harry inquired. “What would arguing have helped? She would’ve just started targeting me worse if I made a fuss.”
“But if you told someone, told McGonagall or Dumbledore or -”
“You mean the McGonagall who gave me a direct order not to cross Umbridge anymore?” Harry shot back. “And the Dumbledore who won’t even look at me right now, let alone speak to me? And what about you? One minute you’re all telling me to keep my head down, not to make trouble, and now all of a sudden I should be tattling on her?”
“This is different, Harry,” insisted Cedric. “This isn’t like mouthing off on your first day with her. This is abuse!”
“The Ministry put her here, Cedric. And I don’t think she was chosen at random. They put her here, for a reason. Probably because they knew she’d resort to these sorts of methods. So what if I do go to McGonagall, or even managed to somehow get to Dumbledore, and she goes over their heads to Fudge? I’m not going to give her the satisfaction of winning that battle, not if I can help it.”
“Okay,” Cedric said after a prolonged silence. “I can understand that. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I can understand it. What I don’t understand is you lying to me about it. Umbridge gave you this detention yesterday, and you never once mentioned it to me.”
“How did you find out?” Harry wondered.
“Well, don’t get mad at him, but Ron let it slip.”
“When were you hanging out with Ron?”
“I’m not letting you change the subject, Harry,” Cedric said evenly.
“Right,” said Harry. “Sorry. I wasn’t - I didn’t mean to lie about it. Things were going so well for you, I didn’t want to ruin that by telling you that they weren’t for me.”
“What do you mean? Did something else happen?”
Deciding there was no point in hiding things any longer, Harry revealed the argument he’d had with Seamus. Cedric was disheartened, though not at all surprised.
“I’m sorry he treated you that way,” he said once Harry finished. “But I’m really disappointed that you kept it from me.”
“I didn’t want -”
“I know. Your intentions were good. But I thought we were going to be honest with each other. Isn’t that what you said this summer, the morning I showed up at -” Cedric stopped short of saying too much out in public, and instead finished with, “ - at the place we stayed this summer?”
“I did say that,” replied Harry. “I simply hadn’t anticipated it being turned around on me.” This evoked a slight smile from the older boy. Harry sighed. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I should’ve told you. I’m sorry.” Harry felt his throat constrict, and his eyes begin to sting. He fought hard against both reactions. “It’s just, it’s only been two days. And school sucks, and I’ve barely gotten to see you, and it feels like every single fucking person is against me.”
“C’mere,” said Cedric.
He tugged Harry to him, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy. Harry let his tears fall soundlessly. His boyfriend’s embrace was an amazing restorative, and already the need to cry was leaving him.
“I’ve never hated it here before,” Harry told him. “Hogwarts is supposed to be my escape from the place I spend summer. It always has been.”
“I miss the summer, too,” Cedric concurred. “Well, parts of it, anyway. All of them involving you. Spending time with you every day. Holding you every night. I haven’t slept soundly since we got here.”
“I thought it was only me,” Harry smiled. He gave Cedric a squeeze and drew back, wiping his eyes. “So, seriously, when were you hanging out with Ron?”
“Ohh, that,” said Cedric. “Don’t tell him I told you, but he’s trying out to be Gryffindor’s Keeper this year. He asked me to help him train. Tonight was our first night, that’s when he told me. I came up here to wait for you as soon as we finished.”
“Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” Harry wondered.
“Err, yes, perhaps a bit,” Cedric admitted. “I’m choosing to overlook that fact because he was sort of desperate when he came to me.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t say anything to me,” Harry mused, failing to keep the resentment completely out of his tone. “I could’ve helped him, or at least been supportive. I’m supposed to be his best friend, after all.”
“Hey, now,” Cedric said, taking Harry’s unblemished right hand. “You are his best friend. Maybe he was going to ask, but then the whole detention thing happened and he didn’t want you to feel bad about not being able to help because of it. Or he was just too proud to ask you.”
“But then why would he ask you and not me?”
“Because sometimes it’s easier to ask for help from someone you barely know than someone you’ve known for four years,” Cedric responded sagaciously.
“How is he, anyway?” Harry asked, a little nervous to hear the answer.
“Not bad,” said Cedric. “Actually, he’s pretty good. His biggest obstacle is himself. If he can just relax, I think you guys would be lucky to have him.” He nibbled on his lip for a moment. “You’re sure I can’t talk you into going to McGonagall about Umbridge? I can even go with you if you want.”
Harry hesitated, because there was still one more thing he wasn’t saying. He couldn’t prove it, but something about the way Umbridge spoke about Cedric made Harry highly suspect that she had it in for the both of them. If they went to another professor about Umbridge’s cruel methods, it would almost certainly get back to her. As far as Harry was concerned, she could do whatever she wanted to him, but he was not about to give her any excuse to punish Cedric, too.
“I’m sure,” said Harry.
“All right,” Cedric sighed. “Let’s get you upstairs.”
And with that, the pair headed off toward Gryffindor Tower.
End Notes: I never imagined this series would still be going four years later. Thank you all so much for still reading!
I’m sorry to say this, but updates are going to become a bit more sporadic again. I’m going into my last undergraduate semester of college, and my senior seminar / capstone course is going to have to get most of my attention. I have to write an original work “of significant length”. ‘A Lack of Color’ is 125k+ words, so I imagine I’m capable.
I’ll work on this story over winter break, and hopefully finish at least chapter or two before the semester starts.
Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to each and every one of you! Lots of love! -kevo
Continue to Chapter Six
Author: kevo
Pairing: Harry + Cedric. Four years strong.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership to these characters or the series they’re from.
Summary: In his fifth year, Harry faces ostracism with boyfriend Cedric for coming out and for declaring Voldemort has returned. (Order of the Phoenix canon re-write.)
Author’s Note: Happy Holidays! (And Happy 24th Birthday to me this Thursday!) And Happy 4th Anniversary of this series! Woot! Thanks to superbillylopez and my fiancé for beta reading for me. (Nicholas thought the chapter was a bit bleak - hope you all like it anyway!)
( A Lack of Color - Chapter One)
( A Lack of Color - Chapter Thirty)
( Sound of the Revolution - Chapter One)
- - - - - - - -
( Sound of the Revolution - Chapter Four)
The Love So Green Collection
Playlist #2:
sound of the revolution
CHAPTER FIVE
“Easier to Lie”
Entering the Great Hall for the first time of the year was always equally a good and a bad thing, from Harry’s perspective. It was always wonderful seeing the old castle, and all of his school friends, again. Yet no matter how many years he attended Hogwarts, there was still the inevitable wave of heads turning in his direction, and this year was no exception. If anything, the number of people gaping in his direction had increased, exponentially so. Harry tried to ignore them. He had enough on his mind already, with Hagrid still missing, not to mention his recent and disturbing discovery of thestrals.
As Harry, Cedric, Ron and Hermione neared the far end of the Great Hall, Cedric split from the other three to sit at the Hufflepuff table. There was no kiss-on-the-cheek goodbye this time, only a small, stony-faced nod. With every eye in the Hall on them, Harry didn’t blame Cedric for his stoicism, but any sign of affection would’ve done wonders to bolster Harry’s own confidence. The three Gryffindors found seats at their own table, and within minutes the Sorting was underway.
As new students were Sorted into their various houses, Harry looked up to the staff table and saw, for the first time since he last sat in the Great Hall, Albus Dumbledore. The headmaster was watching the Sorting with the same mildly amused expression Harry so often saw him wearing. Despite the ill will Harry felt toward the man lately, he still found Dumbledore’s presence to be a comfort.
The feast itself was mostly uneventful. There was a lot of discussion about the meaning behind the Sorting Hat’s song, Hermione being the first to point out the irony of a Hat meant to Sort students into separate Houses advocating unity. Harry opted not to participate in the conversation, though the Hat had left him with some heavy thoughts. His initial reaction to the idea of inter-House unity was to scoff. He could imagine no circumstance under which he’d ever be chummy with a Slytherin
Then he recalled Fred and George’s New Year’s party, when the twins nearly threw out a seemingly innocent younger student simply for being a Slytherin. Cedric had immediately jumped to the boy’s defense. It was Cedric, the Hufflepuff, who had been courageous that night, while Fred and George, both Gryffindors, were the ones behaving like bigots. Perhaps where the Sorting Hat chose to place you didn’t mean anything, in the end.
Harry’s eyes wandered over to the Hufflepuff table, an old habit they returned to easily now that he was back in the Great Hall. He was able to locate Cedric in a matter of seconds. The boy was not sitting among those Harry normally saw him with. His head was bowed over his plate as he prodded the food on it apathetically with his fork. Harry thought back to last year’s Welcome Feast, when he discreetly snuck glances at Cedric with his Hufflepuff friends, laughing and smiling. Harry couldn’t help feeling he was to blame for the loneliness Cedric was now suffering. Were it not for him, Cedric would be surrounded by friends now. He knew what Cedric would say to that; that he’d rather be honest and happy with Harry than living a lie without him. Yet even with this reassurance, Harry’s guilt remained.
As the feasting wound down, Dumbledore rose to make his usual announcements. The news that Grubbly-Plank would be taking over Care of Magical Creatures, with no addendum on the location of the subject’s former teacher, made Harry’s spirits sink even lower than they already were. The appointment of Dolores Umbridge as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher didn’t mean much to him, only that she had his pity, for she, like those before her, was probably not long for the job. It did appear to mean something to Hermione, however, whose brow was furrowed.
“Dolores Umbridge,” she repeated. “That name sounds familiar.”
Now that she pointed it out, Harry did think he’d heard the name before. Unable to place where, he simply shrugged. Like everyone else, he was then taken aback by the woman’s blatant interruption of the headmaster. Also like everyone else, Harry chose to ignore Dolores Umbridge’s long-winded speech. Harry looked over at Cedric, who was listening the new teacher speak. This didn’t surprise Harry. What did was the expression of extreme distaste that he wore as he watched her. Harry turned to Hermione and Ron.
“Why d’you think Cedric looks so mad?” he asked. “Do you reckon he knows who Umbridge is?”
“That’s it!” Hermione hissed. “Don’t you remember? Cedric’s trial. She was there! She’s one of the ones who voted against him.”
“Really? But she seems so sweet,” Ron said dryly.
“What’s she doing teaching Defense if she’s from the Ministry?” Harry wondered.
“Good question,” muttered Hermione. “Now hush, I’m trying to listen.”
The boys remained obediently silent for the rest of Umbridge’s speechifying. Once the toad-like woman finally finished, and Hermione and Ron began bickering over what her words meant, Harry waited for Dumbledore’s dismissal, poised on the edge of his seat like a runner waiting for the starter’s pistol. As soon as the headmaster gave the word, he was off, weaving between students to reach the Hufflepuff table. Cedric was barely up before Harry reached him.
“Some speech, eh?” Cedric observed.
“Hermione said it meant something like the Ministry’s interfering here,” said Harry.
“I gathered the same thing.”
“Are you okay?” Harry asked. “I know she was at your hearing.”
“And voted to have my wand taken from me,” Cedric added grimly. “It doesn’t really bode well for me. Nothing has so far today. Everyone keeps staring at my neck. You’d think I was attacked by a vampire or something.”
“Now you know how I felt when you gave me a hickey last March,” Harry said.
“It’s not really the same thing,” Cedric replied snappishly. Then, seeing Harry’s wounded reaction, he sagged, frowning. “Sorry. I shouldn’t take my bad mood out on you.”
“Unless it’s between the sheets,” said Harry, an impish smile upturning the corners of his mouth.
“Tempting offer,” said Cedric, now with a small grin to match Harry’s, “but I’ve got to help the other prefects shepherd the first years. At least they haven’t taken away all of my duties yet.”
“Oh, all right,” Harry groaned. “But you owe me one.”
“I owe you a lot more than one,” Cedric told him. He placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder, then, like he had on the train, wavered a second before swooping down to kiss Harry on the cheek. He pulled back blushing. “Well, good night, then.”
“Yeah,” said Harry, only now realizing that he and Cedric wouldn’t be sleeping in the same bed for the first time in almost a month. “Love you.”
“Love you, too,” Cedric smiled.
While Cedric disappeared into the crowd, calling out for first year Hufflepuffs, Harry followed the flow of traffic out of the Great Hall.
He found himself amazed at how small the confused-looking first years appeared. It was all too easy to forget how much he’d grown since he was their age. Seeing the pint-sized first years underlined this fact, and allayed the unease he had felt earlier in the summer about the difference in age between he and his boyfriend. He was not a little boy anymore.
He was almost at the Fat Lady when he realized he didn’t know the new password. Luckily a group that did was entering right ahead of him, so he slipped in with them. Harry made a mental note to ask Ron later what it was. He took the stairs up to his dormitory, where he found Neville, Dean, and Seamus already unpacking their things.
“Evening, all,” said Harry. “Seamus, Dean. How was everyone’s break?”
“Mine was all right,” Dean replied. “Probably better than Seamus’s, anyway.”
“Why, what happened, Seamus?” asked Neville, changing the position of his new plant from the bedside table to the window sill.
There was a long, unusually tense silence. Then, finally, Seamus spoke.
“Me mum didn’t want me to come back to Hogwarts.”
Something about his tone told Harry that he really didn’t want to know why. Because he could already guess what the reason was. Neville, however, did not seem to possess the same amount insight, and pressed on.
“That’s weird,” the boy said. “How come?”
“Well,” Seamus said after another lengthy pause, “I suppose... it’s because of Harry. And Dumbledore.”
And there it was. The thing Harry had been dreading since his name started appearing slanderously in the papers.
“I don’t understand,” said Neville.
“Leave it alone, Neville,” Harry urged him.
“No, really, what do they have to do with it?
“Let me guess,” Harry muttered, unable to prevent his irritation from slowly rising. “Your mum reads the Daily Prophet.”
“So what if she does?” barked Seamus.
Harry chose not to answer. He didn’t want to pursue the conversation, which had potential to rapidly develop into a fight, any further. There was always a possibility of something like this happening, Harry knew that, had known for weeks and weeks. He’d hoped it wouldn’t, but he was never naïve enough to truly believe that.
He quickly changed into his pajamas, hoping to get into bed before anyone could say anything else to him. Harry was on the verge of pulling his bed curtains closed when Seamus spoke again.
“It’s just... That night,” he said. “No one really knows what happened.”
“Yes you do,” said Harry. “Dumbledore told you. He told the whole school.”
“All he said was that You-Know-Who came back, and that you and Diggory were there,” Seamus shot back.
“Yeah, we were, and Cedric has the scar on his neck to prove it,” Harry replied, leaping off his bed. “But if you and your mother would rather believe the papers than Dumbledore, whatever, I really don’t care right now.”
“Don’t you start on my mother,” Seamus warned.
“Why shouldn’t I?” asked Harry. “She’s the one calling me and my boyfriend liars.”
Seamus’s expression contorted into a hideous mixture of disgust and fury.
“So it’s true, then,” he said. “You and Diggory.”
“It’s all true,” Harry confirmed. “What is this? You knew we were together. The whole school knew by the end of last year.”
“People talked, maybe, but nobody knew,” Seamus replied. “There were rumors. No one was certain, though. All anyone knew was that you two were spending a lot of time together. I thought it was all dragonshit. I never suspected you were actually queer!”
“What the hell’s going on in here?”
It was Ron who spoke, having entered somewhere in the middle of Seamus’s last response.
“Did you know Potter’s a homo?” Seamus demanded.
“Don’t call him that!” Ron snapped. “And so what if he’s gay? What’s the big deal?”
“He sleeps in the same room as us!” cried Seamus, as though nothing more needed to be said on the matter.
“Afraid I’m going to molest you while you sleep?” Harry scoffed. “Don’t worry, mate. You’re not my type.”
“That’s not funny! Two men together,” he spat, like the words had an awful taste to them. “It’s sick. And it’s wrong!”
“That sounds an awful lot like Death Eater talk for someone whose mother married a Muggle,” Harry remarked.
“I told you to leave my mother out of it!”
“That’s enough!” shouted Ron.
“How can you defend him!?” Seamus screeched. “He’s a fucking pervert!”
“Yeah, well I’m a prefect, so unless you want detention you’re going to shut the hell up right now, Finnigan,” said Ron.
Harry was impressed. Ron, who normally shrank under pressure, was being more forceful than Harry had ever seen him before. Maybe Dumbledore really did know what he was doing when he made Ron a prefect.
“Now,” Ron continued, “we’re all going to sleep. If you still have a problem tomorrow,” he told Seamus, “you can go see McGonagall. Either way, that’s the last time you talk to Harry like that, got it?”
In lieu of answering, Seamus got into bed and yanked the curtains around it shut.
“What about you?” Harry directed at Dean, who hadn’t spoken or even moved during the altercation. “You gonna have a problem like your friend over there?”
“Leave me out of it,” said Dean. “I don’t care what you do or who you do it with. I just don’t wanna see it. So long as you aren’t throwing your business in my face, we’ll be fine.”
“And I knew about you before either of them,” Neville pointed out. “I’ve never had a problem with it.”
Harry offered Neville a faint smile as a show of gratitude for his support. Ron patted Harry on the shoulder.
“Why don’t you get some rest, mate,” he suggested. “You know what they say: things always look better in the morning.”
Nodding, Harry climbed into bed once more and crawled under the covers, hoping that Ron was right, but not quite believing he would be.
O O O O O O O
Whoever said that things always looked better in the morning was full of crap.
This was the conclusion that Harry came to the morning after the Welcoming Feast, after his row with Seamus. In fact, it seemed the opposite was true.
Harry thought that a night’s sleep might take the edge off the student body’s fascination with, and in some instances fear of, him. However, it quickly became clear, as he entered the Great Hall for breakfast, that, if anything, they’d actually gotten worse. The novelty of being reunited with school chums had worn off, so now everyone had moved on to gossip, and Harry Potter was the subject at the top of everyone’s list.
He ignored it as best he could, instead joining in on his friends’ conversation about new schedules and O.W.L.s. As he was leaving the hall for his first class of the morning, he bumped into Cedric just coming in. The older boy appeared exhausted and incongruously cheerful.
“Morning,” Harry greeted him. “You look like hell.”
“Ooh, now that’s what I love to hear from my boyfriend,” Cedric snorted.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean - you always look handsome, you know that,” Harry flushed. “I only meant you look tired.”
“I am,” Cedric replied. “I was nearly all night with my dorm mates.”
“Oh, no,” said Harry, thinking of his experience with his fellow Gryffindors. “Did something happen?”
“No, no, it’s nothing bad. Actually,” he beamed, “it’s sort of really good. But I’m going to be late for class if I don’t get some breakfast quick, so I’ll explain later. Uhh, tonight, after dinner. I’ll meet you in the entrance hall?”
“All right.”
“Listen, Harry,” Cedric said, his tone heavy, “we both need to be careful today. The school’s an Erumpent horn over this whole You-Know-Who situation. I think we should just keep our heads down right now, try not to make any waves, you know?”
“Definitely,” said Harry, thinking again of Seamus. “The last thing we need right now is any more trouble, right?”
“I’m glad you agree.”
And Harry did agree, and had every intention of staying out of trouble. He truly did. He even kept his mouth shut during Potions, where Snape was as foul to him as ever despite their mutual affiliation with the Order of the Phoenix.
But then came Defense Against the Dark Arts.
He probably should’ve known better than to get involved in the war of words that took place between Professor Umbridge and the rest of his classmates. In fact, he did know better, but he couldn’t help himself when she started spouting the same Ministry lies as the Daily Prophet.
“So we’re not supposed to be prepared for what’s waiting out there?” Harry demanded in response to her ‘no magic in class’ decree.
“There is nothing waiting out there, Mr. Potter,” she responded in the most sickeningly sweet voice Harry had ever heard in his life. “Who do you think could possibly want to attack children such as yourself?”
“What about Voldemort?” he asked in earnest. “He’s out there, I saw him, he’s back and he…”
He trailed off as the shocked outcries of his classmates finally registered in his mind, and he became aware that he’d said the most taboo name in the Wizarding World aloud, and proclaimed the Dark wizard’s return, in front of the entire class, in front of a teacher. A teacher who’d been placed at Hogwarts by the Ministry of Magic. The look of satisfaction on Umbridge’s face told Harry that it had been no accident either. She had been goading him, trying to provoke a reaction.
“Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter,” she announced. “Now, let me make a few things clear. You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has risen from the dead and is currently at large once more. This is a lie.” She stared Harry down, as if daring him to respond again. When Harry said nothing, she continued. “The Ministry of Magic guarantees that none of you are in any danger. If you are still concerned, my office door is always open. If someone,” again she turned her gaze on Harry, “is feeding you such lies, I would like you to inform me at once. I am here to help you. Now, I would like you to continue your reading. ‘Basics for Beginners’, page five.”
Staring down at his textbook, Harry fought the urge to respond to Umbridge’s statement. Once again, he knew he shouldn’t. But after months of accusations, people from the Ministry calling him a liar, this was his first chance to confront one of them face to face. To defend himself.
“Professor, it can’t be a lie,” Harry said quickly, making sure to raise his hand. “I was there! I fought him! If nothing happened the final night of the Triwizard Tournament, then how does the Ministry account for the scar on Cedric Diggory’s neck?”
Only then did Umbridge’s smug expression falter. For a split second, Harry could’ve sworn she wore the same expression that Seamus had the night before upon learning that Cedric really was Harry’s boyfriend. But it was gone the next instant, replaced by her persistent cheerful smile, though it wasn’t as bright as it had been a minute earlier.
“The Ministry does not feel the need to account for such things,” Umbridge replied. “As I’m quite sure that you yourself are aware, Mr. Diggory is a felon -”
“He was acquitted!” Harry interrupted. “Those charges were dropped!”
“ - and the Ministry of Magic,” she continued, raising his voice over his, “does not take the word of known felons and notorious delinquents.”
“Cedric is not a delinquent! We were attacked by Lord Voldemort and you know it!”
He really had meant to stay out of trouble.
Instead Harry earned himself a trip to McGonagall’s office and a week’s worth of detention. McGonagall briefly scolded him for mouthing off to the new teacher, and cautioned him not to cross her again before sending him off to dinner.
At the end of such a long, awful day, Harry was eager to see his boyfriend. He wolfed down dinner so he could get to the entrance hall sooner. He sat on one of the bottom steps of the marble staircase to wait. From there he recalled meeting Cedric there for their first “date”. Harry had been so anxious that night, all nervous to be around Cedric alone. He still got that way at time, but it was a different kind of anxiousness, more exhilarated than edgy. It was the way Harry felt as he saw Cedric exit the Great Hall, heading straight for him.
“Hey!” Harry called cheerfully, rising from the stairs.
“Hey,” Cedric replied. He lowered his head to give Harry a kiss, grinning at the enthusiasm with which Harry returned it. “I’ve only got a few minutes, I already have loads of homework. The N.E. in N.E.W.T. is not an exaggeration.”
“Oh.” Harry struggled to mask his disappointment that their meeting would be so brief. “Okay. So what did you want to tell me?”
“Hm?” said Cedric. “Oh, yeah! Last night! Um, well. You already know how much I was dreading last night, sharing a dorm again after how awkward things were before we left. So I got to my room, and as I’m opening the door I can hear them all talking, but they go dead silent when they see it’s me. Clearly they were talking about me, right?”
“Clearly,” Harry concurred.
“I ignored it, said hi, went about unpacking and such. Acted like nothing was wrong. After a minute or two, Kellan asked me how my summer was. And it just felt so ridiculous, that he would be asking me that, so I started laughing. And I said to him, ‘You’re seriously asking me how my summer was?’ Next thing I knew, all of us were laughing. After that, we were up talking for hours. They told me that stuff with the scar, and me suddenly being gay, it freaked them out, but they’ve all had time to adjust and they’re okay with it. It’s such a relief, to know that they accept me, and that they’re still on my side. I had to assure them all that I wasn’t attracted to any of them, of course.”
“Which is a lie,” Harry smirked, remembering Cedric talk about his dorm mates last year. “You’d totally do Taylor if you could, or Kellan. Or Peter. Or even Jackson, for that matter.”
“I’d only do Jackson under the right circumstances,” countered Cedric. “Sometimes he does his hair weird, and that’s a turnoff. But you’re right, it is mostly a lie. It’s not as if I can tell them the truth, that I’ve lusted after them since we were twelve. Does a straight guy tell his female friends that he fancies them, even when he knows nothing’ll come of it, simply for the sake of full disclosure?”
“Hey, I’m not arguing,” Harry said. “I’m sure it was the right thing to do. Anyway, it’s not as if I blame you. They’re all pretty damn hot.”
“Hmm, should I be worried?” asked Cedric.
“Nah,” said Harry, his hands traveling determinedly down his boyfriend’s torso, toward the boy’s belt. “I’ve already got the best seventh year boy at Hogwarts.”
“Smooth talking will get you nowhere tonight,” Cedric insisted, seizing Harry’s hands before they could reach their destination. He kissed Harry’s forehead. “But I’ll keep it in mind for later. How about you? How was your first night back?”
Harry thought of all the things that’d happened to him since returning to Hogwarts; of Seamus, of Snape, of Umbridge. He’d been waiting all day to talk to Cedric, to take comfort in his reassurances, both verbal and, he’d hoped, physical. The latter was definitely out, Cedric made that profusely clear. And after hearing how well things were going for Cedric, Harry was embarrassed to admit that they weren’t going so well for him. Plus, the last thing Harry wanted to do was ruin Cedric’s good mood after all the terrible things that’d happened to the Hufflepuff in such a short time.
“Harry?” said Cedric. “You okay?”
“Yes,” Harry replied. “Yeah, I’m fine. I mean, it’s pretty much what we expected, people looking at me funny, whispering, stuff like that, but, uhh, that’s it, really.”
“Are you sure?” Cedric asked. “I’m getting this feeling from you that’s sort of… off. Like something’s bothering you.”
“Nope,” Harry maintained. “Just been a long day, you know?”
“Yeah,” Cedric said. His brow creased slightly as he looked the younger boy over, but then he gave Harry a tight smile. “We’ll just have to get used to it, I suppose. Listen, I’ve really got to get going - homework and all that - are you certain everything is all right?”
“Totally,” said Harry. “It’s fine, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” said Cedric. He gave Harry a quick peck on the lips, pulling away before Harry could even try to make it any deeper. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” Harry muttered to Cedric’s retreating back.
So much for that bit of comfort, Harry thought gloomily.
O O O O O O O
After yet another long and stressful day, Harry went into his first detention with Umbridge with exceedingly low expectations. He did not anticipate the possibility that it would be worse than he was prepared for, yet it was.
All Harry wanted to do now was get back to his room. When he reached the stairs, however, he was stunned to find Cedric sitting there, waiting for him like Harry had in the entrance hall the night before. The older boy looked up as Harry approached, smiling. As he came closer, Cedric’s smile slowly transformed into a deep frown. Instinctively, Harry grabbed at his sleeve, tugging it down further over his wounded hand.
“Hey,” Harry said casually. “What’re you doing here?”
“I heard you had detention,” Cedric replied, scowling. “I was waiting for you to get out.”
“That’s really sweet of you, Cedric, but I’m very tired, so I’m going to go up to my room - “
“What’s wrong with to your hand?” Cedric demanded.
Harry moved the appendage in question behind his back, saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I really need to get going…”
“Don’t lie to me, Harry,” Cedric fumed. “I can feel it.”
“It’s nothing,” Harry said evasively.
“Then let me see!”
Cedric grabbed Harry’s arm. Harry almost fought him, but knew that would only cause more damage in the end. Plus his hand hurt too damn much to fight him. Harry let Cedric pull back his sleeve. The look of revulsion on Cedric’s face made the truth Harry had been trying to hide seem all the more real, and horrible.
“What did she do to you?” Cedric asked, horrified.
“She made me do lines,” Harry mumbled. “She had this quill. It - when I wrote, it would cut - it showed up on my skin…”
“And you didn’t even argue?” Cedric asked. “You, the one who challenged her in front of your entire Defense Against the Dark Arts class, just sat there and - “
“What would that have accomplished?” Harry inquired. “What would arguing have helped? She would’ve just started targeting me worse if I made a fuss.”
“But if you told someone, told McGonagall or Dumbledore or -”
“You mean the McGonagall who gave me a direct order not to cross Umbridge anymore?” Harry shot back. “And the Dumbledore who won’t even look at me right now, let alone speak to me? And what about you? One minute you’re all telling me to keep my head down, not to make trouble, and now all of a sudden I should be tattling on her?”
“This is different, Harry,” insisted Cedric. “This isn’t like mouthing off on your first day with her. This is abuse!”
“The Ministry put her here, Cedric. And I don’t think she was chosen at random. They put her here, for a reason. Probably because they knew she’d resort to these sorts of methods. So what if I do go to McGonagall, or even managed to somehow get to Dumbledore, and she goes over their heads to Fudge? I’m not going to give her the satisfaction of winning that battle, not if I can help it.”
“Okay,” Cedric said after a prolonged silence. “I can understand that. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I can understand it. What I don’t understand is you lying to me about it. Umbridge gave you this detention yesterday, and you never once mentioned it to me.”
“How did you find out?” Harry wondered.
“Well, don’t get mad at him, but Ron let it slip.”
“When were you hanging out with Ron?”
“I’m not letting you change the subject, Harry,” Cedric said evenly.
“Right,” said Harry. “Sorry. I wasn’t - I didn’t mean to lie about it. Things were going so well for you, I didn’t want to ruin that by telling you that they weren’t for me.”
“What do you mean? Did something else happen?”
Deciding there was no point in hiding things any longer, Harry revealed the argument he’d had with Seamus. Cedric was disheartened, though not at all surprised.
“I’m sorry he treated you that way,” he said once Harry finished. “But I’m really disappointed that you kept it from me.”
“I didn’t want -”
“I know. Your intentions were good. But I thought we were going to be honest with each other. Isn’t that what you said this summer, the morning I showed up at -” Cedric stopped short of saying too much out in public, and instead finished with, “ - at the place we stayed this summer?”
“I did say that,” replied Harry. “I simply hadn’t anticipated it being turned around on me.” This evoked a slight smile from the older boy. Harry sighed. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I should’ve told you. I’m sorry.” Harry felt his throat constrict, and his eyes begin to sting. He fought hard against both reactions. “It’s just, it’s only been two days. And school sucks, and I’ve barely gotten to see you, and it feels like every single fucking person is against me.”
“C’mere,” said Cedric.
He tugged Harry to him, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy. Harry let his tears fall soundlessly. His boyfriend’s embrace was an amazing restorative, and already the need to cry was leaving him.
“I’ve never hated it here before,” Harry told him. “Hogwarts is supposed to be my escape from the place I spend summer. It always has been.”
“I miss the summer, too,” Cedric concurred. “Well, parts of it, anyway. All of them involving you. Spending time with you every day. Holding you every night. I haven’t slept soundly since we got here.”
“I thought it was only me,” Harry smiled. He gave Cedric a squeeze and drew back, wiping his eyes. “So, seriously, when were you hanging out with Ron?”
“Ohh, that,” said Cedric. “Don’t tell him I told you, but he’s trying out to be Gryffindor’s Keeper this year. He asked me to help him train. Tonight was our first night, that’s when he told me. I came up here to wait for you as soon as we finished.”
“Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” Harry wondered.
“Err, yes, perhaps a bit,” Cedric admitted. “I’m choosing to overlook that fact because he was sort of desperate when he came to me.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t say anything to me,” Harry mused, failing to keep the resentment completely out of his tone. “I could’ve helped him, or at least been supportive. I’m supposed to be his best friend, after all.”
“Hey, now,” Cedric said, taking Harry’s unblemished right hand. “You are his best friend. Maybe he was going to ask, but then the whole detention thing happened and he didn’t want you to feel bad about not being able to help because of it. Or he was just too proud to ask you.”
“But then why would he ask you and not me?”
“Because sometimes it’s easier to ask for help from someone you barely know than someone you’ve known for four years,” Cedric responded sagaciously.
“How is he, anyway?” Harry asked, a little nervous to hear the answer.
“Not bad,” said Cedric. “Actually, he’s pretty good. His biggest obstacle is himself. If he can just relax, I think you guys would be lucky to have him.” He nibbled on his lip for a moment. “You’re sure I can’t talk you into going to McGonagall about Umbridge? I can even go with you if you want.”
Harry hesitated, because there was still one more thing he wasn’t saying. He couldn’t prove it, but something about the way Umbridge spoke about Cedric made Harry highly suspect that she had it in for the both of them. If they went to another professor about Umbridge’s cruel methods, it would almost certainly get back to her. As far as Harry was concerned, she could do whatever she wanted to him, but he was not about to give her any excuse to punish Cedric, too.
“I’m sure,” said Harry.
“All right,” Cedric sighed. “Let’s get you upstairs.”
And with that, the pair headed off toward Gryffindor Tower.
End Notes: I never imagined this series would still be going four years later. Thank you all so much for still reading!
I’m sorry to say this, but updates are going to become a bit more sporadic again. I’m going into my last undergraduate semester of college, and my senior seminar / capstone course is going to have to get most of my attention. I have to write an original work “of significant length”. ‘A Lack of Color’ is 125k+ words, so I imagine I’m capable.
I’ll work on this story over winter break, and hopefully finish at least chapter or two before the semester starts.
Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to each and every one of you! Lots of love! -kevo
Continue to Chapter Six