"How could you?" Cedric's voice is pained, as he regards me. "Weren't you the one who didn't want to do this in the first place?"

"I still don't," I reassured him. "I'll just get the damn picture done, and that's it. There's no chance that I'm going to be picked any further than this stage. The people who picked must have had a shot too much of firewhiskey." I laughed, but he didn't smile back.

"Well, we'll see." his tone was still angry, so I shied away from that topic. This was new for us. We didn't fight- Well, when we did, it was over in an instant. I felt as if as well as me, he was battling his insecurities.

He didn't know that I was on the same side as him.

"What happened to your face?" he asked, and I bit my busted lip, wincing as it throbbed.

"Some gits tried to feel me up for money, then when they realized I had nothing worth taking, they beat me up." my voice faded to a whisper, as he clenched his fist.

"I'll kill them." he hissed, and I tensed. This was Cedric. Cedric who never liked conflict.

"Calm down. He... The leader. Dudley Dursley. Yeah, he's getting his photo taken too." I didn't know why I said that, but I did.

Cedric didn't say anything to that. He just turned away. "Look, I need to go," he whispered, and, just like that, climbed out of the treehouse.

I'd never felt so separate from him in my life.

***

It was time for the pictures. Sirius and Remus didn't put me into nice clothes like I assumed the other boys' parents were doing. Probably because I didn't have any nice clothes.

Remus couldn't help fussing though. "Come on, Harry. Comb your hair." or "Come on, Harry. Tuck in your shirt to hide the dirt."

It made me feel better, in a way, that they were more nervous than I was. Yeah, I was nervous. Why? I didn't know. But I was nervous, and that feeling wasn't going away.

Sirius and Remus came with me, but when I got there, I saw Cedric's parents there as well. Confused, I scanned the area for Cedric. He wasn't there. When I went up to them to ask them why they were here, they smiled at me in an odd sort of way.

"I'm sorry Cedric couldn't make it. We're just here to keep you company... And... Could I talk to you in private?" his mother asked, looking at me. Sirius and Remus turned and walked a few paces away, but I could tell they were curious.

"What can I do for you, Mr. and Mrs. Diggory?" I asked, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Look, Harry. We like you-" his mother started, and I smiled, but then his father cut in.

"That's a lie. We don't really like you all that much. Harry, we just wanted to keep you away from Cedric. He's... He's a good kid, Harry. And you... I mean, with all this going on-" he broke off and gestured towards where the pictures were being taken. "He might get hurt. And if he gets hurt, well... We won't be very happy. So keep away from him, is that understood?" his voice wasn't angry. More like commanding. It had certain laziness to it that made me think that he was used to having orders followed.

Why did I seem that bad to them? I mean, I knew I wasn't the best, but why did they hate me so damn much?

"I think you've said enough." Cedric's mother told her husband and pushed him away. I saw him give me a seething glare, but he walked away. Then, she turned to me. "I'm very sorry, dear. He got a bit of firewhiskey, and..." she shrugged, and I nodded. "But what he is trying to say, is we would appreciate if you're careful with Cedric. I'm not saying that you're a bad person but Cedric... Cedric is fragile."

I nodded in understanding. I mean, it made sense. After all, they were parents, and they were concerned about him.

I just didn't understand why. It wasn't as if I was a player. This was my first and only relationship. I didn't have a reputation. And I hadn't known that anyone knew about it. But clearly, most people knew.

Guess we weren't dating in secret after all.

I nodded again and shook her hand. "I understand. And... He means a lot to me. So I'll take care of him. That's a promise." I smiled, and she suddenly reciprocated in kind.

"You know why we're telling you this now, Harry? We've known that you two have been together for a while. Well, the reason is that... Well, Cedric has been saving up for something. Nobody knows what, but he doesn't usually save up very much. But... He's saving up for something. And we wanted to let you know that, in case..."

She didn't have to finish. The thought warmed my heart. He was saving up... In case we got married.

He was working hard towards our dream.

"Thank you so much," I replied, more sincerely than I had talked to her before. "Thank you."

She nodded and backed away to her husband, who still looked pretty angry at me. Did he really think that I'd play with Cedric's heart like that? He meant something to me.

The line for the photo-taking was long, and even though I was waiting with Remus and Sirius, who generally made time pass by quicker, it seemed to drag on for more than forever.

When we got to about halfway down the line, and it had been at least an hour, I noticed someone trying to get my attention from the corner of my eye. After we had talked, the Diggorys had gone home. So who could be signaling me? I whirled, but there was nobody there. Frowning, I turned to face the front again, but there it was. A speck of red, and an arm waving to me.

"I'll be right back. Hold my place." I told them, and, even though I felt bad, I moved out of the line, with many shouts of "you can't cut the line!" and "I'm going to take your place!"

I guess the other boys were getting pretty damn angry at waiting so long.

When I got to where I thought the hand was waving to me from, I realized that I hadn't been mistaken about the red. It was Ron. I didn't know how I hadn't sought him out before, and I felt guilty for a moment, but then he waved cheerily at me.

"How are you?" he asked, and I nodded to indicate my good health. He looked around us. "I wonder which of these people are going to be selected. Do you think you're going to be one of the ones?"

I laughed. "No."

At that, he laughed too, but when he saw I wasn't joking, he stopped.

"Then why are you doing it?" he asked, confusedly. I waited for him to understand, as he surveyed my dirty clothes which were almost akin to his. Almost, but not quite. I could already tell he came from a higher caste because I could tell that the fabric, the thread, even the style... They showed higher quality.

Higher quality, but not highest.

Probably a Four, I thought.

"Money." I whispered "The money."

It would have been awkward telling that to anyone else, but Ron just stared for a split second, then shrugged.

"Everyone's here. Do you want to meet them?" he asked, and I looked at him in confusion. What did he mean by "everyone"? He must have understood my look because he quickly told me it was his family.

I hedged. I usually didn't know how to talk with people very much, but if the rest of his family were as outgoing as Ron, I knew I wouldn't really have much of an issue. So I nodded.

"Sure." I followed him.

As soon as Ron stopped, I couldn't see above his head, as Ron was slightly taller. Then, Ron moved, and I saw the immediate chaos of redheads. I stared for a second, unsure of what to do. Immediately, I sussed everyone out.

There was the obvious mother figure. She looked... Homely. The red hair was prominent in the entire family, but she was clearly the one that everyone revolved around. She was currently telling off one boy that was smiling mischievously at another boy who looked identical to him.

Twins, then.

And there was a girl, who should have looked overwhelmed, but instead looked in her element, as she teased her father, who was sitting warily next to his wife on the floor. Then there were three older boys, sitting a little further away.

Ron cleared his throat but to no avail. Everyone was being too loud for it to have any effect. When he cleared his throat again, excessively loudly, everyone stopped what they were doing, and turned to look at him.

"This is Harry... He's a friend I met." Ron smiled. It could have been weird, but instead, the mother stood up and chuckled.

"Harry, eh? Well, he'd better introduce this rabble. Any friend of Ron's is welcome." she was positively beaming, I noticed. I suddenly felt a yearning for my own mother, so strong that I almost keeled over.

But I couldn't stay down for long, I learned when I was around the Weasleys.

"Well, Harry. This is Mother. She's the old caretaker." he guffawed as his mother hit him over the head playfully. "Her name's Molly-"

"May as well call me Molly she smiled, but I felt as if she knew I had needed that. As if she'd known that I... That's what I'd secretly yearned for. Someone to be a mother figure. Not that I'd tell Sirius nor Remus.

"This is Dad." he pointed to the man sitting next to Molly.

"Arthur," he said, standing up, smiling, and shaking my head.

"This is Fred, and this is George." he gestured to the twins.

"No, I'm George, and this is Fred." the one on the left smiled, and red colored Ron's cheeks, almost the same hue as his hair.

"Sorry. Yeah, this is George, and this is Fred," he muttered, and Fred whooped.

"George's a right old liar. You were right the first time, brother." they laughed, and Ron pretended to get angry.

"Then, this is Ginny." he smiled, and I could immediately tell that he had a soft spot for her. Everyone probably did. After all, she was the only girl and the youngest.

"I can speak for myself, thanks." she stuck her chin in the air and smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"Then there are the oldies. Percy, Bill, and Charlie." he pointed to three older-looking boys in quick succession, and the one that he called Bill stepped forward and messed up his hair. Percy seemed to be the most serious out of the lot and Charlie... He seemed eccentric.

"You look like you just got run over, Harry." Fred snickered, and George chimed in. I allowed myself to smile. I already felt like I'd known everyone forever.

"Shut up, Fred," Ron muttered. "Want to sit, Harry?"

I almost said yes, but then I realized that Sirius and Remus were probably getting worried. And who knew how fast the line was moving? Speaking of which...

"Why aren't you in the line, Ron? You got through... And why is your entire family here?"

"Well, we're taking shifts to go in the line, even though I am the only one entering because everyone wants a break from the rest of us... But Fred and George always go together. But they're all my cheerleaders, ain't that right?"

At once, his entire family seemed to shout at Ron, calling him a prick, and he laughed. I marveled at how close they were.

I felt a longing, a longing for something that I couldn't have.

"I'd best be going. See you soon, Ron." I quickly made my exit, before the yearning consumed me.

When I got back to the line, we were only a bit closer to the front, and I immediately felt bad for just leaving them like that.

"Where have you been?" Sirius asked. His voice was low and grating, and my guilt surfaced.

"I'm so sorry... I lost track of time. I was meeting with a friend."

"Who's this friend?" Remus demanded, and I saw Sirius put a calming hand on his arm. I could see that Remus wasn't angry. He was worried. And somehow, that made it worse.

"Ron... Ron Weasley." I replied, and suddenly, Sirius smiled.

"I know him. Nice boy. Nice family, in fact." Sirius patted me on the back.

Perhaps Molly did know about my parents. Maybe the entire family did.

"You're not off the hook, Harry. We've been far too lenient as to where you go at night, and so and such. Just remember, Harry, that no matter what, we're the ones who are going to have to stick by you. Not your friends, or anyone else." Remus sounded like he was about to shout or cry. I didn't know which.

"Remus..." Sirius whispered under his breath. "Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down. The boy needs to learn. You've been too forgiving." Remus argued. They'd never argued about me. No. This had probably happened before, but not in front of my eyes.

"Moony, not here." Sirius seemed to be begging for him not to do something, and Remus exhaled and relaxed.

"Fine." he still sounded angry. Then, he whirled to me. "Be grateful that Sirius is here, Harry. You don't know what the consequences of your actions are. But you're going to have to learn. You're going to have to learn if you want to succeed in life, and in general."

I'd never really seen him this mad before, but when he turned away, all my thoughts became trained on one thing.

We'd been moving forward without me realizing it.

And they'd just called my name for the photo.