Don't own Harry Potter. I'm just borrowing the characters for my own entertainment. This takes place fairly early on in GoF, and I'm not dealing with Diggory dying in this sucker...it's already long enough as it is. I just wanted to get the two of them together. ^-^

This is currently in un-beta-ed form, so all grammatical mistakes and wonky characterizations are solely the responsibility of the three cups of caffeinated coffee I've had tonight. Enjoy, and if the mood strikes you, a review or two might be nice. ^-^

Okay, I went back and cleaned up Lee's language a bit. I have no idea where he'd gotten such a potty mouth from. *whistles innocently* X_x I really have to clean up my language before I go home for X-mas.

*****

I don't get adults sometimes. They whine, they bitch, they make you follow a gazillion rules—only half of which actually of some kind of basis in reality—and they expect you to do it with a goddamn smile on your face like they're doing you a fucking favor or something.

Well, you know what? I seriously don't need someone else to think for me. My brain works perfectly fine, thank you very much. Apparently, we're all supposed to be upstairs and tucked in our little beds, our sweet little innocent heads lying on our pillows as we sleep. Which just goes to show you that when a person becomes and adult, they promptly lose all memory of what they were like themselves as kids. Teenagers. Whatever.

I mean come on, its eight o'clock at night and I'm supposed to stay in Gryffindor tower and go to sleep? Whose whacked idea was that? Hello! I'm sixteen, not six. If I want to wander around and spend some time to myself outside of the fucking library and the Gryffindor common room, I should be able to, right? I'm not some dog on a chain or some little first year that needs to be led around by the hand.

Okay, so I'm not exactly an adult either, but with all due respect to the adults here at Hogwarts: Are you smoking crack or something?! Eight o'clock ?!

Giving a disgusted sigh I skirt past Filch. Now there's an adult who needs some serious help. Or maybe just a good lay. Argh. Filch and lay. There are two words that should never be used in the same sentence. Shuddering, I try to keep quiet as I creep through the doors to the Gryffindor locker rooms. The locker room doors are magicked so that they open right out onto the field, so at least I won't have to trudge all the way out there like I did the last time.

Well, here I am again, disobeying school rules. Rules, that I'm sure were meant to ensure my safety or some such bullshit. Hah.

Some rules, I'll give you, serve a purpose. Others, like this eight o'clock thing, are just bloody stupid, and they beg to be broken.

I grin as I walk out onto the field. The moon's only half full, and not exactly giving off a lot of light, but I don't really care. Half the reason I'm out here is simply to prove that yes, I can be out here. Go me.

" Jordan ?"

Eep! I flip around immediately, fully prepared to make up some outlandish excuse. Only when I turn around, it's not an adult I'm faced with. At least, not an adult in a literal sense. I hold back a grimace.

"Diggory. Nice night for a walk."

"What are you doing out here?"

"Having tea and crumpets with a couple of nymphs, and you?"

I wonder what he'd do if I flipped him the bird. He's a seventh year, and they're allowed to pretty much do whatever they fucking want and considering the fact that he's one of the competitors in this bullshit tournament, he's been strutting around the castle like he owned it or something. Ooh! I'm an all important seventh year with a big head and a bigger ego! Worship me! Not fucking likely pal.

Not that I'm biased or anything…Jocks like Good ol Cedric get on my nerves. Why should their lives be so perfect when the rest of us have crap for luck? Sure, he's a nice guy and all, but he's had his life handed to him on a silver spoon. And God, I won't even go into the way he's got his own fan club. You can't say the name 'Cedric' without hearing at least a dozen dreamy, I've-got-mush-for-brains, sighs. It's just sad.

" Jordan , you're not supposed to be out here."

No shit Sherlock.

"Well, no one will know, will they, if you don't tell. Now go away before Lydia gets here. She hates jocks." I wave a hand condescendingly in the air to shoo him away. I've watched Percy do it enough times that I'm sure I've got it mastered.

" Lydia ?" Damn. It didn't work. Not that I was really expecting it to or anything, it never works for Percy either when he's trying to get rid of the twins. In fact, I think the only thing I've managed to accomplish is confusing butterbeer for brains here. Which really sucks. I was aiming for 'irritated to the point of no return'.

"Yes, Lydia . And she's allergic to your type. Makes her sneeze uncontrollably. You're going to make her choke on her crumpet, so you'd better leave. Matter of precaution, you understand. Can't be endangering the lives of innocent nymphs."

"Really…" He says, and despite my resolution to not look at his ugly mug, I find myself glancing over.

Goddamn it. He's smiling.

"It's not funny." Oh brilliant, Jordan. Because everyone talks about drinking tea and eating crumpets with fictional nymphs. Why do I bother, again?

"Actually, yes it is." He gives me a million dollar grin and I glare at him. He is not handsome. Not in the least. Only a bunch of stupid girls would find anything attractive about some tall, sable haired guy with a great smile and a nice chest and…goddamn it! I am not thinking this!!

"Beat it, Diggory."

"I need to ask a favor first." He looks so bloody confident. I hate confidence. It looks so…confident and…you know…yeah.

Jock, I try to remind myself, he's a big, brainless jock. Lights are shining on a pretty nice looking house, but nobody's been home for the last seventeen years.

"No you can't have Lydia 's crumpet. She tends to be possessive of them."

"I wouldn't dream of stealing Lydia 's crumpet." Grr. He's doing that thing again. That grinning thing. I hate that.

"Okay, I give up. What the hell do you want? And if I give it to you will you go away?" I love sounding exasperated beyond all reason. There's no quicker way to irritate someone than to act exasperated about something you have no right to be exasperated over. It throws my mother for a loop every time.

"I wanted to know if you could call off the fearsome twosome and get them to stop using me as their guinea pig." He puts a hand in his pocket and pulls something out. I'm not curious. Not at all. But still, I wonder what the twins could have possibly sent him.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not curious because they sent it to him. I'd be interested no matter who it was. Yeah.

"What is it?" I ask, and he tosses it to me. I know almost before looking down that it's a ton-tongue toffee. I thought their mum'd gotten rid of them all. Apparently no.

"They sent that after I saw them at the World Cup. I got something else last month that makes a person sprout feathers, and this morning they sent me a box of condoms that sings something about being too sexy for shirts when you open the lid. Not that I don't appreciate a good joke or anything, but Justin almost fell out the window he was laughing so hard at me." They sent him a box of condoms?! Although I'm sure the look on Diggory's face had to be priceless when he opened it. Man, what I would have given to have seen that! "It's not funny." He echoes my earlier statement, but that really…uh…repulsive—yeah that's it—grin is on his face.

"Justin?"

"Yeah, Finch-Fletchley. You know, he's Potter's age."

I vaguely recall him. I think. I'm going to have to interrogate him later for all the juicy details. Ah, I mean, I'm going to have to see if Diggory is telling me the truth…Right.

"What makes you think that I'll help you or that they'll even listen to me?" I ask slightly confused after I've given it a moment's thought.

"You're friends with them aren't you? They're still pissed that Hufflepuff won last year. You know, it's not like I did it on purpose. I tried to call it a draw when Potter fell off his broom. I mean, I know everyone agreed that it was a fair game, but c'mon, the guy fell off his broom. There should have been a rematch." Guilty looking Diggory. Intriguing.

"What made you ask me though? I mean, for all you know, I could feel the same way they do." I decide to throw that out there, just to see what he'll say. I'm not doing this to draw out the conversation. Why would I want to draw out a conversation with Diggory?? I've known fictional nymphs with more personality in their pinkies than he has in his entire body. If you put everyone in his fan club together in the same room, you'd still need another whole person just to get one brain. And I don't plan on being the "whole person". Nope. No way, no how. No Hufflepuff pom-poms for me. It may not be a hell of a lot, but I do have some self respect.

Nodding to myself, I wait for his answer.

"Er…well, you know."

I do? I shoot him a confused look.

"Well you're the commentator, you're supposed to be impartial, and you are best friends with them. I see you with them all the time." He's seen me 'all the time' with the twins? Does this mean he looks? Ah, I mean…um…I don't care if he looks!

No wait…stalker! Yeah, that's better. Stalker. I refuse to think my stalker is attractive.

"Have you ever listened to me commentate? I mean, do I really give off the impression that I'm impartial??"

Stalker?! What the hell is the matter with me? This is 'the whole world would shag me if I wanted them to' Diggory. Sure he'd stalk me, and Unicorns might dance in tutus in the Forbidden Forest on Easter morning.

"Could you just ask them to knock it off, please?" He looks directly at me. No! No pleading brown puppy eyes. Won't work on me. Not at all.

"Sure, I'll ask. Just don't expect a miracle. They're pretty stubborn." Way to go, Jordan . Caved like a cheap whore, didn't you?

"Thanks, Lee."

"No problem." We stand in a nice uncomfortable silence for a few seconds. Fucking say something, ya dumb git! Or just go away, I think sourly. It's too late anyway, though. My night's already been shot to hell. I do not have a crush on the most popular straight guy in school. I don't!

So he punched Marcus Flint before the git could hex me when I was a second year. Big deal.

And yeah, so there was that one time when I was a third year that he covered for me with Snape. But still…

And I won't even think about the fact that he always laughs at my jokes, even when I make them in the middle of a Quidittch game…

"You know that eight o'clock rule?" He asks, and I nod cautiously. "It's a dumb rule."

"Ain't that the truth."

"I used to hide out in the greenhouse, especially in the winter time because it was always so warm in there." I try not to gape in shock. Diggory? Ditching curfew? Is that even possible?

"They let you?"

"No, dumbass, I skipped out like you are. I've been doing it since I was a first year." I can hear the laughter in his voice. Goddamn it! He's grinning! Again! Isn't there a law against shit like that?!

"Oh." Perfect, brainless, jock boy…sneaking out and breaking curfew without getting caught. You know, that's almost too much to wrap my poor mind around.

"Well…see you around, Jordan . Thanks again."

"Yeah, bye." Oh now that was intelligent. Where'd you get such great verbal skills, Jordan? Been taking lessons from Quirrel? I am such an idiot.

Still, it was nice to at least talk to him. And he knows my name.

Argh. I do not fucking like him!

******

Cho…ChoChoCho…hey! It's the Express!

Too bad that doesn't make me feel any better. I've just had the day from hell and the last thing I really feel like doing is talking to the twins about Diggory. I'd rather just go help them blow up something. Like Snape's lab. I think that would be an excellent place to start.

I was only slipping a perfectly innocent salamander into Barney Pritchard's cauldron. How was I to know that it would turn him into a slime covered toad? I thought that was his natural state of being. Besides, the Slytherin bastard was insulting my mother, what was I supposed to do, roll over and expose my belly? Do I look like a push over to anyone?!

So now I'm faced with detention for the rest of my life here at Hogwarts. And if that asshole thinks I'm actually going to show up… I always seem to come back to adults and their insufferable rules. Bastards. I think the only reason they like to give us all these ridiculous things to do or not do is so they feel like they're in control of something. Which is fucking pathetic. I'd be the first person to tell them that absolute control is an illusion, and you're pretty damn gullible if you buy into it.

All that aside, maybe I can convince the twins to help me slip good old Pritchard one of their trick chocolate bars that shrinks…body parts. The good parts at least. Maybe I can convince Creevey to take a picture of it. And then I could convince Angelina to put copies of it up in all the girl's bathrooms…

As if I'm not in enough trouble as it is. After Snape turned him back, I managed to pop him in the nose. Bled like the pig he is, too.

"Hey Lee! We heard…"

"…you turned Barney into a toad after we left."

I flip around to see George and Fred behind me. Okay, how long have I been standing here scowling at the portrait of the Fat Lady? Today has not been a good day. "Punched him to, the wanker." I shrug it off like it's nothing, but I'm still fucking furious. No one calls my mother a slut and gets away with it scot-free.

"Want us to slip him…"

"…one of our new chocolate bars?"

Oh no, it's not at all scary that we think that much along the same lines. I've known these two way too long. And despite myself, I can't help but grin back at them. Leave it to Fred and George to make all of this seem like a big prank just waiting to happen.

"Actually, I need to talk to you two about something else first." I tell them as we walk through the portrait hole and into the common room. Neville, Hermione and a few others are there so we quickly go on up to the boy's wing and crowd together on George's bed since it's closest.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Pretty Boy, would it?" Fred asks, that 'innocent' look on his face, which I think makes him look rather stupid. And I can tell from the way George's trying to suppress a grin and won't look me in the eye…I've been had.

"You set me up?!" I grind out. Wonderful, my day has gone from really shitty to hell-couldn't-possibly-be-worse-than-this in a matter of five seconds.

"Sorry Lee, we couldn't stand watching you goggle his ass anymore. It was getting to be all we could do not to say something. The first years are even starting to notice…what with all the drool…" George says before promptly bursting out into laughter. A guy can only be pushed so far. I jump at him, feeling rather gratified when my hands clasp around his throat.

"I'm supposed to be your best friend, you idiots! How could you do that to me? Are you trying to fucking kill me?! Why not just put a fucking bullet in my head? It would be quicker!" I'm only half aware of Fred prying me off his twin as George struggles for air.

"Calm down, Lee! We were only trying to help you out!" Fred shouts in my ear, almost deafening me. That shocks me into letting go of George completely. Help me out?! I glare at them both, daring them to explain themselves. This is one of those few rare times where they actually look a bit sheepish over what they've done, and if I weren't so insanely hacked off at them, I'd have laughed.

"We know you like him, Lee. Don't deny it." George managed to choke out as he massages his throat.

"Is it that obvious?" I ask, my voice sounding rather dead to my own ears.

"Only to those people who know that when you say 'I hate this shit' what you really mean is 'I'm scared that if I like this it'll be taken away'." Fred shrugs. "You protested too much when it came to Diggory."

What else can I do but nod and accept that? I'm still trying to get a handle on my anger so I keep my mouth shut for a few minutes. They meant well I suppose. In a really 'let's play a practical joke on Lee and see if we can set him up' sort of way. Nope, not done being furious with them quite yet. Jesus, does this mean I'm officially a part of the fucking fan club now? I'll have to work on batting my eyelashes and simpering.

"So let me get this straight, you thought you'd help me out by setting it up so I'd meet the most popular straight guy in school out on the pitch in the moonlight. Not that I don't appreciate the effort," I bite out sarcastically, "but exactly what were you expecting the two of us to do? Snog like mad little bunnies?"

"What makes you think he's straight?" George asks. I glare at him.

"Two words. Cho Chang."

"Bless you." Fred jokes and I scowl menacingly at him. "C'mon Lee, you don't know that for sure. Everyone thinks you've got the hots for Alicia, and see how wrong they are."

"Your logic is incredibly warped. Just like your sense of humor." I tell him, still feeling a bit put out by the whole thing.

"Okay, okay. Say we're wrong. All you have to do is go out there tonight and tell him it was just us playing our usual games. That ought to be believable enough, don't you think? Here, we'll even throw in a kind of olive branch gift." Fred tosses me a bag and I stare down at the two big Ms written across it.

"Hey! This is from my stash, you thieves!" My step dad's American and muggle born. Married Mum when I was a first year, and he sends me all sort of guilt packages trying to build some kind of relationship or whatever between us. He means well, and I suppose he is a fairly nice guy and all. But he sends me enough candy to put me and the twins on a permanent sugar high for the rest of our lives. It's not by accident that we're always so wired. I'm fairly sure Mum has no idea that he even does it.

"I'm sure he'll love your P and Qs." George pipes in unconcerned by my accusation.

"They're M and Ms, ya moron." I retort without much heat as I point to the rather fucking obvious letters on the package.

"Whatever." Fred chimes in. "We're sure Diggory'll love him. Heard from a pretty looking sixth year girl that he loves chocolate. Say, maybe we should send him one of our…"

"Do and you die." I intone deadly serious.

"Yeah, yeah, can't you take a joke, Lee? Don't worry, we're not going to do anything to Pretty Boy. We've got other plans with a certain toadying Slytherin tonight." George says, and I look up to see the rather unholy glint in both their eyes. They almost look downright scary like that.

"Have fun, and give the bastard my regards." I tell them with a huge smile.

*****

"Diggory."

" Jordan ."

Silence. Oh yeah. This isn't uncomfortable. Not at all. I'm going to kill them both, best friends or not. What the hell am I supposed to say 'Oh gee, Cedric, the twins were only irritating the shit out of you because they figured out that I have the hots for you'? That only slightly better than saying 'I'm fairly sure that they sent you that box of condoms with the hopes that you'd use them on me'. Don't blush, Jordan . Do not goddamn blush.

"So…you get a chance to talk to the twins?"

"Yeah." Wow, look at those amazing verbal skills at work again. I am such an idiot. C'mon Jordan ,say something! Preferably something intelligent! "So…how about that Quidditch field, huh?" Something intelligent! Not something blindingly stupid! Weren't you fucking paying attention brain?!

"Yeah, it's just so…grassy this time of year." He says with a chuckle. Rock. I want to find a fucking rock and hide under it for the rest of my natural life. "I don't know about you, but I just spent the last couple of hours practicing for next Saturday's game, and I'm exhausted, you wanna sit down?

"Sure. Why not." I attempt to shrug nonchalantly, but I feel so goddamn stiff and self conscious. We sit down on the grass in silence for a few minutes, and I can practically feel the nervous sweat trickling down my back. "Um, listen. I talked to the twins."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," oh god, look at the eloquence! I'll kill them. Murder them in their sleep. Whatever it takes to get even. "They sent a peace offering." I toss him the bag of M and Ms.

"What is this?" He looks a bit perplexed, and more than a little curious as he opens it. I have to grin, okay? It's impossible not to. He just looks so damn adorable….Ugh, I'm such a girl sometimes.

"It's muggle candy. My step father's always sending it to me, and the twins swiped a bag from my stash to give to you. I wouldn't eat it though, if I were you. I'm fairly certain they put some sort of truth potion in it." I warn. It would be just like the twins to do that. They'd find it fucking hilarious.

"What kind of candy is it?" He asks instead, ignoring my warning as he pours some of the M and Ms out onto his hand.

"It's chocolate. They heard from a Ravenclaw that you liked that sort of thing." I shrug and he offers me the bag. Er…I know the twins put something in those M and Ms. I eat them and I'm going to end up opening my big trap and saying something I'll regret. But I don't really want to turn him down either. "Thanks." I say quietly, accepting the bag, pouring a few out into my hand and then passing the bag back to him. Wuss! Oh my god! All he has to do is look at me and I cave!

"Do you like them?" He asks, looking me directly in the eye. I stare back mesmerized for a few moments before realizing that duh! I have to respond.

"Wha? Oh yeah, well, I liked them better before they made these crappy blue ones." I hear myself say as I pick up one of the offending blue ones and flick it across the pitch.

"What's wrong with the blue ones?" He's doing that grinning thing again. Do not sigh, you idiot! Don't blush either!

"Well there's nothing really wrong with the blue ones, per se." I concentrate on the candy in my hand, finding another blue one and flicking it again. "It's just that when they came up with the blue ones, they got rid of the light brown ones. I felt slighted."

"You felt…slighted?" He shoots me a look of complete confusion. I can't help but laugh.

"Yeah, slighted. You know, they got rid of the biracial M and Ms. It's kinda hard not to feel slighted when they're dissing my color you know?" I grin at him. Argh! What the hell am I saying?! I know for a fact that I haven't eaten one of the little bloody bastards yet. Why am I telling him something like that?! It's personal.

"So you're…"

"Yeah, my mum's fairly dark."

"So your Dad was white?" He asks a bit hesitantly. How in the fuck did we get into this? Me and my fucking big mouth.

"Sure." Well, why not. I mean, I may not know for sure, but it's almost a given that he had to have been considering my skin's about four or five shades lighter than my mum's.

Long uncomfortable silence. Wow, I seem to be getting better and better at those, I think miserably.

"So you think the twins put a truth potion in these things?" Cedric finally breaks the silence as he looks at the candy uncertainly.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they did."

He looks at the candy, then he looks at me, and then he kind of gives a 'what the hell, why not' sort of shrug and pops one in his mouth. I sit there goggling at him.

"Well, you told me something pretty personal." He says almost defensively as I gape. "Why don't you ask me something that you don't think I'd normally tell anyone."

Have I stepped into another alternate world of reality?

"Um…" I scramble through my head desperately for something to ask. "Er, do you really like Cho in that boy/girl kind of way?" My big mouth finally inserts for me. Is…is he grinning back at me? Oh please let him not be pissed at me for asking! I bite my lower lip and wait.

"No way. I've known her since we were little. She's something of a kid sister."

"Oh." I will not be giddy. I will not be giddy. I will not be…oh fuck it. I look down at the candy in my hand and I pop one of the dark brown ones in my mouth. "Okay, now you ask me something." Oh Jesus, we're not playing a fucking game here, Jordan !

"Okay…" He says and then looks at me real intently. After a few seconds, it gets really unnerving.

"What? Do I have an M and M plastered to my face or something?" I joke nervously.

"No," he chuckles and all my muscles relax in response. "How long have you known Fred and George?" Oh that's an easy one.

"My whole life. Mrs. Weasley helped my mum deliver me. We lived in the same safe house during the war." He gives a low, impressed whistle.

"Okay, your turn." He turns to me. Okay, now it's a fucking game. And I hope it lasts all night, I think happily as I smile back at him. Don't get too excited, Lee, he's not thinking like that. Just enjoy the company and don't get your hopes up.

"Do you actually like Quidditch?"

"Not particularly. I only play it because my father wants me to." He answers with a shrug. I kind of expected as much. I mean, he's good, there's no denying it. But he doesn't fly like he's enjoying every second of it. It's mechanical. I'm not sure I can explain it entirely; it's just one of those things that I notice sometimes as commentator. He enjoys himself just about as much as Malfoy does. I gesture to him, indicating that it's his turn to ask me something.

"Um, well…this isn't so much of a question, but…tell me one thing about yourself that you don't like." Er, okay. Weird, but fairly easy to answer.

"I've got bad blood." Those M and Ms are nasty things. When I get my hands on the twins…this is shit I've never told anyone. Not the twins, not Aunt Molly, not even my own mother.

"There's no such thing." Cedric says with a wry grin. Which of course, makes me see red. The hell there isn't!

"What would you know about it?" I sneer. His face falls a bit, and I feel like shit. See, bad blood. Sure, my mum's a great lady, and I'm sure I got a lot of nice traits from her, but that doesn't change the things I've gotten from my father.

"You know, the Diggorys adopted me." He slouches down on the grass, and it irritates me. Damn if those words of his don't sound like a fucking challenge. Well, why not. I can take you any day, Pretty Boy.

"My mum had me when she was sixteen." He blinks a bit at that. Hah!

"I've got four older brothers and sisters and a younger brother."

"Huh?" I try not to let my jaw drop too far. "What?"

"My parents died in the war against You-know-who when I was three. There wasn't anyone who would take in six kids so we all got passed out to different families. I didn't even know I had any siblings until I got an owl last year from one of my older sisters."

It's my turn to give an impressed whistle. He looks really upset about it too. Way to go, dumbass. I'm sure this is how everyone treats the person they're crushing on. Insulting them, pissing them off, upsetting them. Yeah, you're a real fucking Casanova, Lee. "Do you know where the rest of them are?"

"No, only her. She's the oldest at twenty seven. She's says I'm the only one she's been able to find so far. She thinks she might have found one of my older brothers and a sister in America , but she has no idea where to even start looking for my younger brother and my other older brother."

"You'll find them." I try to be reassuring, and we lapse into silence again. You know, in all fairness, he makes a bit more sense now. I always sort of wondered why he seemed so bent on being popular and good at sports and all that jazz. He doesn't always look terribly comfortable in the role. Not that you'd know it if you hadn't been watching him closely, but still…It's there, that kind of trying-to-prove-yourself-worthy business. I imagine he's known for a while that he was adopted. But this last year? He has been a little bit more…driven. You know, not that I was obsessing over him or anything. Yeah right.

"So I win, huh?" He finally says, pulling me out of my thoughts. I snort in response.

"Hardly."

"You can beat that?" He scoffs. Yeah, hands down.

"My mum was raped." I hear myself admit. There's another one of those long uncomfortable silences.

"Not to be cruel or anything, but what does that have to do with you?" He asks quietly, and I suppose the conclusion isn't particularly an easy one to draw from what I've given him so far.

"She was raped at sixteen."

"Oh."

"She was raped by a death eater." There. I said it. It's not something I've ever told anyone. Not even the twins, although I know they know.

"Shit Lee, I'm sorry." Cedric looks over at me apologetically.

"What are you sorry for? You didn't do it." God, can we fucking talk about something else?

"No, I'm sorry I forced you to tell me that." He moves until he's right beside me, just a couple of centimeters away. I can practically feel the heat coming off his body.

"It's okay." I shrug it off. "But I win!" I tell him with false brightness.

"You do realize that this isn't exactly a contest you want to win, right?" He asks, a small half smile on his face as he wraps a companionable arm around my shoulder. Is it possible to be in both heaven and hell simultaneously?

"Yeah, yeah…" I airily dismiss. "But see what I mean about bad blood?" I look hesitantly to see if he understands now.

"No. Just because your real Dad's the slime of the Earth, it doesn't follow that it carries down to you. We'd both be in deep shit if it did. My parents were both death eaters. They died serving You-know-who." Cedric shrugs uncomfortably, and tries to pull his arm away, but I won't let him.

"Really?" My voice is quiet, and I don't think I've ever been this serious with someone my own age before. Hell, I don't think I've ever been this serious with anyone in my entire life. Go figure. Here I am talking to Cedric Diggory, popular jock extraordinaire, and he's probably one of the few people in a position to understand what it feels like to have something like this hanging over you.

"Really. My sister had to send me all kinds of documentation before I'd finally believe her."

"You win." I say, trying to joke and maybe get him to smile. He looks at me for a second and blinks. Oh shit! Wrong thing to say! Goddamn it!

"You're incorrigible!" He whaps me upside the head lightly with a laugh, and I'm so relieved I'm laughing like a loon. "Whose turn is it?" He asks, that grin on his face. I'm beaming back, I know I am. Well, as long as I'm not sighing miss-ishly or blushing, I'm fine.

"Yours." I decide with a shrug as I watch him. He takes a moment to brush a few stray locks of his hair behind his ears. I really want to touch it. You know, just to see what it would feel like between my fingers.

"Okay, who do you think the sexiest person at Hogwarts is?" He's got this impish, mischievous grin on his face.

"You."

And then I realize exactly what it is that I've just said. I slap a hand over my mouth, my eyes going wide as I stare at him shocked. He looks rather nonplused himself. Wildly, I scramble to my feet, and after a second he does the same.

"Lee…"

"Shit. Just…shit! I gotta go." I turn tail and then run for all I'm worth.

******

"I hate you both!" I announce as I storm into the boy's dorm and see the two of them sitting there on George's bed, trying to shove something out of my view. God, I don't even want to know what they have in store for me next.

"Lee?" Fred's head pops up from the homework he's working on. "You okay?"

"No." I growl, and I haul back and swing. Of course, my luck being what it is today, Fred ducks. So instead of the satisfying crunch of fist on face, I fall forward slightly as my momentum throws me off. Not that I really fucking care. I'm way beyond caring. I just want to hit something. Preferably something named Fred or George.

"I take it that things didn't go well." George announces dryly as he trips me. Given that Fred gives me a rough shove to go along with the trip, I land rather ungracefully on the bed. I attempt—attempt being the keyword here—to land a punch on either one of them, but instead of actually managing to hit one of the wankers, they pin me.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you both! See if I don't!" I'm ranting like a complete lunatic, but since they're both sitting on me, I feel justified. You know, it just isn't fair. It's always two against one in these situations. They always win when we wrestle too. "I'll…I'll rip your eyeballs out and feed them to Fang! I'll hack off your toes in your sleep and give them to Snape. I'll tear out your hearts and stomp on them!"

"Bloodthirsty tonight, isn't he?" Fred grins companionably at George, so I use the only weapon left to me, and bite him on the leg.

"Ow! Goddamn it. That hurts, Lee!" Well, at least they got off me. I glare at them both. Okay, so maybe it's not so much them that I'm hacked off at. I knew what I was getting into. I knew those damn M and Ms were poisoned. After this I might as well be the president of fan club Diggory.

"So what did happen?" George asks, and I roll my eyes.

"Oh yes, as if embarrassing the shit out of myself once tonight wasn't enough I'm going to recount it to you two so I can relive the experience."

"That bad, huh?" I flop back on the bed and close my eyes so I don't have to see the smirk on Fred's face as he says that.

"I'm never going out in public again." I announce rather melodramatically. All right, so I'm over reacting. I think I'm fucking allowed to over react after a day like today.

"Yup, must've been bad." I hear George sigh.

"Yes, because you know, Lee never exaggerates."

"He's the most honest soul we know."

"Completely down to Earth and chalk full of common sense."

"I hate you both." I crack an eye to look at them, but this time I'm smiling. They both laugh, and I know I'm never going to get an apology out of them for this.

I sit up, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Fred making a mad scramble for the edge of the bed. Okay, you don't live with these two for long without becoming inherently suspicious. "What're you hiding?" I ask point blank.

"Hiding?" George all but yells in an attempt to divert my attention. Yeah, not falling for that. I stare at Fred for a about three seconds before making a dive behind him. There's a lot of yelling and screaming and general mayhem before I collide with a solid body.

"Er, hi Jordan ." I blink. Look again. Blink again and then look to Fred and George.

"You're kidnapping fourth years and having your mad ways with them now?" They both smack me upside the head, and Finch-Fletchley turns a rather interesting shade of red. "Justin, right?"

"Yeah, I was…ah…you know…um…" Okay, the thing about most Hufflepuffs? Haven't got the slightest clue how to dissemble.

"Just for future reference, if these two ever come to you again claiming to have this great idea…don't listen to them. They don't have good ideas. Ever."

"Don't listen to this git, he's crazy. You heard him, he wants to hack our toes off. We have great ideas." George throws an arm around me and pretends to choke me. Justin graces us three idiots with a wry grin.

"Yeah, that box of singing condoms was something."

"Hey, what do you know? Hufflepuffs do have a sense of humor." Fred announces with mock astonishment. I look at Justin, wink, and then shove Fred off the bed. He lands on the plank wood floors with a rather satisfying thud. I don't feel at all bad when we all have a good laugh at his expense.

"Well, I better get going." Justin gives a small wave and starts to head out. Hey wait a minute! I want to know exactly how he's involved in this little fiasco.

And since the world hates me at the moment, when I open my mouth to ask, Fred tackles me. "Bye Justin!"

By the time I've shoved both twins off of me, Justin's long gone. "What was that all about?"

"Er…"

"He…ah…"

"He helped you set me up, didn't he?" They both nod somewhat guiltily. "Bloody hell." Blowing out a frustrated sigh, I decide to just give up for the night. "So what were you two up to this evening, other than plotting your best friend's downfall?"

"Potions…"

"…homework." George finishes for Fred. It's downright freaky sometimes when they do that. "Say Lee, can we ask you a personal question?" Sure, why not, they seemed to have taken a vested interest in screwing around with my personal life. I shrug.

"What exactly is it that you see in Diggory?" The perplexed look on Fred's face almost makes me laugh. "Other than the physical stuff." He qualifies as I open my mouth.

"You're no fun."

"If I have to sit and listen to you wax poetical about his fucking eyes I might spew."

"House elves won't appreciate that." I quip, and Fred throws his pillow at me.

"Just answer the question."

"Have you ever watched him? I dunno, he just…you know, he just always does the right thing. Doesn't matter how hard it is to do, he always tries to do the right thing." And watching him makes me want to try harder to do the same thing. He's just one of those people who do what's right without a lot of fuss or show. However, from the looks Fred and George are shooting me, they obviously don't get it. Okay, that was a wasted effort. I try not to sigh in exasperation.

"Yeah, okay." Fred finally dismisses with a wave. "You just want in his pants."

"Can we not go there?" I groan. I'd rather not think about that, particularly when it doesn't look like Diggory will ever speak to me again. Well, except maybe to tell me to get lost…

******

I hate the Quidditch pitch. Stupid sodding grass. And ugly goddamn bleachers. The twins told me they'd meet me out here at nine. Why? Who knows, a trip into their heads is like a trip to St. Mungo's.

"Lee?" Oh, now that stops me dead. Death, I vow, will be too fucking good for that pair. Slowly, I turn around in the direction of the voice and find myself staring up at a worried looking Cedric Diggory. I struggle not to blush, but I already now it's a lost cause. I can feel my cheeks heating up. I only pray it's too dark for him to see.

"Listen, about what I said…" I start off, hopelessly nervous. Admitting my orientation to the twins is one thing, admitting it to the object of my affections, who in all likelihood is as straight as a board…See the dilemma?

"Did you mean it?" He cuts me off. I look down at my feet miserably. C'mon fellas want to run away again? They stubbornly stay where they are. I have to face the music. I look back up at him.

"Yeah." My voice is so soft that almost I don't even hear it. I stare at him for a second, and then I just can't do it anymore. I look down. I don't want to see him looking at me like I'm some sort of perverted freak. Maybe it's really weak of me, but I can't take that sort of thing. Not right now.

I all but yelp as I feel his hand against my cheek. Wide-eyed and disbelieving, I look up, and he stares at me for a second before he leans down slightly and places his lips on top of mine. His arm curls around my shoulders, tugging my body close against his, and his thumb lightly traces along my jaw. Obligingly, I open my mouth, and he slips his tongue inside. My arms curl around him, and I kiss him back for all I'm worth.

When we finally pull apart, we're both breathing hard. He looks at me a bit apprehensively, and I goggle back at him, still not capable of stringing more than three words together.

"I've wanted to do that ever since you kicked Marcus Flint in the shin for me."

"But…but…" I sputter, completely disbelieving. I was a second year when I did that. Flint , being the obnoxious wanker that he is, had been picking on Cedric, and I'd been sick of listening to his shit. (He'd been picking on Fred and George too…) So when he started in on taunting Diggory about his flying, I hauled back and let him have it. With my steel toed boots. "That was ages ago! You…you wanted to do that since then?!"

"Yes," he snaps back defensively, "You got a problem with that?"

"Only that I wish you'd said something sooner, ya dumb git." I put my hands on the sides of his face, and kiss him hard. His hands warp around me, and I sigh into his mouth. When we finally come back up for air, all I can do is stare at him, wishing I could pinch myself so I'd now that this isn't some whacked out sugar induced dream.

"So…" Diggory says, clearing his throat nervously. And that's when it sort of hits me. This whole time…this whole time, I had the most popular guy in school, and I didn't even know it.

"So," I repeat, grinning like a mad man, "what about those dragons, huh?" He goggles back at me.

"How…who told you what the first task was?!"

"Cedric, trust me, you can't keep a secret from the twins."

******

Okay, was it too incredibly obvious that I'm rather American? X_x I hope you got a good laugh out of my attempts at British slang. ^-^;;;