He looked magnificent. Draco could never do anything else than to stare at him when Cedric Diggory was close. Not that Diggory realised that he was standing beside Draco Malfoy. He never noticed him, not even as he made all those stupid pins to support the real Hogwarts Champion. Sometimes Draco wanted nothing more than to throw every single pin right into Diggory's face, but as soon as he looked into those grey eyes he was not able to think straight.

It was the same right now…

Draco caught his breath as Cedric's shoulder touched his. He was standing at the entrance to the Great Hall and watched the dancing couples. The Yule Ball was probably the only event in their school time where they were able to dance, but Draco didn't like the whole situation. He was a quite competent dancer, what didn't count for Pansy Parkinson. She never missed an opportunity to step on his feet.

"Oh, sorry," Cedric murmured and grabbed Draco's arm, as the smaller boy stumbled backwards. Draco looked up with big eyes but shifted his gaze immediately away. His cheeks turned bright red just because Cedric was so close to him and Draco was not the kind of guy, who blushed easily. It was an embarrassing feeling.

"It's okay," Draco said his voice barely audible, which must have been the reason that Cedric did not went away straightaway.

"Are you sure?" he asked, trying to look Draco in the eyes. "Maybe you shouldn't stand here in the shadows. I'm probably not the first, who bumped into you." He smiled kindly and Draco could barely suppress a sigh. How he wished that Cedric would oftener smile at him like that. Or just look at him. This would probably remain the only time.

Except he didn't missed this opportunity. He had watched Cedric Diggory long enough from afar. It had to end today. He would scrape every bit of courage together he possessed and talk to Cedric like it was the easiest thing on earth.

"I… I…" Draco took a deep breath. It wouldn't work as well as he had imagined…

"You?" Cedric still smiled. He was much too nice for the world and would surely wait until Draco managed to disgrace himself in front of him. What he promptly did…

"Would you like to dance with me?" Draco grinned, realised what he had said and wanted to run away, hide under his blanket and die. Just die. Cedric stared at him, grey eyes as big as a quaffle, mouth slowly falling open. "I…"

"S-Sorry," Cedric managed to say and cleared his throat, before he smiled again. "You know, I'm here with Cho." He pointed towards his girlfriend, but Draco didn't dare to look away to give Cedric the chance to run away.

"Oh… I know that," Draco said and shrugged. "I'm just very drunk. Harold Dingle is selling Firewhisky over there." Like Cedric he pointed towards the place where Dingle hid and tried to sell banned substances. Of course Draco was totally sober. He wished that he was not, but he could still change that, so…

"Yeah." Cedric leaned so close that their lips were nearly touching. "I know that you watch me, Malfoy. I'm not stupid." He smiled again, gently stroking over Draco's hot cheek before taking a step back. "But I'm sorry." His gaze was full of pity and Draco lowered his eyes in shame. "Have fun tonight, Malfoy. See you around." He waved and turned away, leaving Draco alone in the shadows of the entrance doors.

It hurt. It hurt so much to see Cedric walking away. But it hurt more to know that Cedric had known. Or something like that… Draco huffed and searched in his pockets for some gold, which he could give to Harold Dingle to receive the only thing on earth what would make him happy again: Firewhisky.