three ~ im not leaving you

"You're putting your name in?!" Elodie stated in shock, looking up from the bench she was sat on as Cedric stood awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. "Ced do you know how dangerous this tournament is?"

"Yes Elle but I'm a big boy, I can handle it." He smiled softly, taking a seat besides her. She glanced down at her now closed book in her hands, the quill in between the pages as a frown placed itself onto her lips.

Cedric was always like a brother to Elodie, despite his popularity he still hung out with her and stood up for the girl when needed which is actually a lot more than what her actual brother did in school. He was a caring friend with a heart of gold but he was not just that, he was strong and smart and although it's not safe for him to do the tournament Elodie knew that once he had his heart set on something he would do it and succeed.

"I know you are, I just worry about you. I don't know what would happen if anything happened to you."

Just at the thought of it she felt her eyes begin to water and as they did his arms instantly went around her small body, the sent of honey engulfing her senses calming her down as a singular tear escaped from her eye.

"I'm always going to be here Elle, I'm not leaving you." He said softly, stroking her brown hair as his chin perched on her head.

She pulled away, looking into his eyes. "Promise?"

"I promise Little Elle." Cedric gave her shoulder a squeeze before standing up. "Now come on we have Charms."

Despite his promise, Elodie still had a odd feeling in her stomach, almost like something wasn't quite right but she thought to herself, the goblet of fire isn't even open yet, maybe he will change his mind by then.

They walked side by side, her eyes taking in the large hallways as Cedric discussed their next quidditch match. As Hufflepuffs captain you could tell just how passionate he was about the game, his grey eyes always sparkled when he would tell you about the new game play or how he had a new idea to improve on the team and it truly inspired the girl.

"So what do you think?" He finished, stopping outside of the charms classroom and Elodie furrowed her eyebrows as she turned her attention to him. "Elle! You weren't listening were you?"

"No no! I totally was I just... forgot?"

She definitely wasn't paying attention.

He rolled his eyes at her, a small smile playing on his lips as he looked back at her, knowing she sometimes gets rather immersed into her own thoughts, thus distracting her from what's actually happening around her. "You're hopeless."

Elodie faked a gasp, following him into the room. "How dare you! I am not." She spoke in fake sadness, whimpering slightly making him chuckle. They walked over to the rest of the students, Hufflepuff attending classes with Gryffindor in this class, and she smiled over at Billie who stood with the Weasley twins.

"Okay okay, settle down now!" Professor Flitwick called out as he waddled into the classroom, using his wand to open the blinds. "Right as it's the start of the year and we're mixing with different houses I have assigned you into a seating plan so when I call out your name please sit in the seat I am pointing at."

He continued to call out names, a pattern forming of him putting a Gryffindor and Hufflepuff on one table each so one by one everyone sat down. Finley was with a girl called Angelina Johnson who was a girl in Billie's dorm, Billie was by a boy called Theo from Hufflepuff, Cedric was sat beside Alicia Spinnet from the Gryffindor house and by the time he called Elodie's name she was to be sat on the last row of the class.

She anxiously moved past everyone, sending a smile to each one of her friends before sitting down on the end seat of the table which he placed her on. She put her notepad down along with her book for this year's class and her wand before looking up.

"Fred Weasley, by Miss Sinclair please." His nasally voice called, motioning to the seat besides the wall and the pair instantly looked at each other, sharing a similar smile with two very different meanings.

Fred found himself very intrigued in the girl, him constantly paying attention when she was brought up in conversations along with listening to anything she said, which, although she wouldn't admit it herself, she did the exact same.

"Miss Sinclair." He smirked, lowering his voice so he couldn't be heard by the teacher as he took his seat.

"Hello." She softly spoke, playing with the end of her skirt in an attempt to distract her mind.

Fred Weasley was a person who made Elodie Sinclair extremely nervous, she couldn't quite work out if it was his golden brown eyes which always seemed to find their way into her blue ones or him giving that stupid smirk he did when she would stutter over her words but she instantly fell shy around him.

"I have to say, I am rather happy I'm sat next to a fellow intelligent." He said twisting his body so that his back was leaning against the wall so that he could face her more rather than the front of the class.

She looked over at him for a moment, noticing his sarcasm through his goofy smile and she couldn't quite help but smile at this, rolling her eyes as she shook her head before facing the front. "Sure Weasley."

Professor Flitwick began discussing the topic for the class, walking up a couple of stairs to become higher to them. "Today we are learning the Aguamenti spell, can anyone tell me what this is for?" Multiple hands went up and regardless of Elodie's knowledge on the spell, she kept her hand down. "Fred Weasley?"

Fred coughed awkwardly from besides her, sitting up and furrowing his eyebrows. He didn't know the spell, in fact, he didn't even hear the spell as he was too busy taking in all the features of the girl besides him. "Er...." he trailed off and Elodie quickly scribbled the word 'water' into her notebook and nudged him with her elbow. "It conjures water?"

The small mans eyebrows rose, a small smile pulling onto his lips as he nodded his head. "That's correct, now does anyone know the wand movement?"

As he continued to ask the questions, Elodie found her hand itching to raise but she didn't bother, instead she just sat there, drawing doodles on a free page of her notebook whilst blocking out most of the class.

"Er Elodie?" A voice snapped her out of her trance and she jumped slightly, dropping her quill and turning her head to the right. "We need to produce the spell..." he motioned to the cups in front of them.

"Oh Er yeah okay." Elodie shrugged, sitting up and grabbing her wand from the table. As her right hand made a wave motion she said the spell "Aguamenti" and water shot into the cup.

"Well done Miss Sinclair!" Flitwick grinned as he walked past their table, "everyone keep trying."

"You weren't even listening." Fred stated and Elodie hummed in confusion, her not hearing him the first time. "You weren't listening and you could produce the spell."

It was obvious the girl wasn't paying attention due to her drawing in her notebook along with her wandering eyes which never once landed on the chalk board with all the information on.

She nodded, biting at her lower lip before speaking. "I um learnt it in second year, I get bored at home so I study a lot. I know it sounds really lame and—" she began to rant but got caught by surprise as the red haired boys hand went on top of her own.

"Elodie, chill. It's cute." He grinned, removing his hand to pick up his wand again to try the spell again.

The girls eyes widened, a blush creeping onto her cheeks as she blinked away the shock from her face, something Fred found indeed, cute.

"I-" She stopped herself before she could stutter, turning to the front sharply. "D-Do you need some help?" She pushed out, glancing over at him as he smiled shyly back.

"Please."

Elodie sent him the same smile back before drying up the water in her cup by using a drought charm before explaining to him the wand movement in more detail.

"Okay so it's kind of like a wave?"

"Mhm." She hummed, rolling her lips into her mouth, "exactly like that."

"Right okay..." he let out a sigh, running a hand through his soft locks before whispering to himself, "you've got this Fred." Okay that's cute Elodie thought with a smile, watching as he did the motion that she taught him and said the charm.

Water filled into the cup and his grin grew, his eyes shining with happiness as he turned to her. "You did it!" She said in excitement.

"I... I did it." He stated in shock, looking back at the glass. "Thanks, you're quite a good tutor you know."

"You're quite the student." She licked her lips, looking up at him through her long lashes. His smile dropped slightly, his eyes searching her face and she quickly looked away, her nerves slowly coming back as she stared forward, noticing that not even half the class have finished the task.

This is going to be a long class.