Chapter 15

When the Quidditch World Cup rolled around the next day, Sage decided to hide behind her family all through the game. She walked in front of her parents with Athena, not sparing Harper or Cedric a glance when she passed them on their way out of the campsite. She was thankful she didn't sit with them during the game.

Ireland ended out winning the game, though Bulgaria's Victor Krum had caught the snitch. On their way back to the campsite, Jill approached Sage and her family. "Sage, i'm coming to your tent." She declared, obviously not daring to bring up the night before in front of Sage's family. 

When they got back to the tent, Sage explained everything, with the help of Athena, who would not stop interrupting. 

"So what are you going to do?" Jill asked when Sage finished her story. "I have absolutely no idea. Cedric's going to be furious with me, and i'm worried Harper might ask me out. What would I do then?" She sighed.

"Well, what would you do if Harper asked you out?" Athena grabbed a canned butterbeer from the mini fridge. "I don't even know if I like him. What if I just feel like this because we kissed?" She groaned, sending Athena back to the fridge to get her a butterbeer.

"I think you should just not speak about it to Harper. See how everything plays out, pray to Merlin that he doesn't ask you out, and work on calming down Cedric." Jill advised her.

"Harper should be easy, he's not a get to the point kind of guy, he likes to mess around." Jill shrugged. "Getting Cedric to forgive you? That's the difficult part." She sighed. "I suppose he doesn't know that you and Harper actually made out, and you could just say you didn't have enough Galleons, like what you told Harper." Athena added. 

"Try to act normal around Cedric, don't be weird or avoid him. Maybe this could even result in him confessing that he likes you if you play your cards right." Jill began to strategise. "If he even likes me." Sage rolled her eyes.

"He so does, you can't deny it." Athena laughed. Sage knew the possibility that he did, though she hadn't completely made up her mind on whether or not she believed he had feelings for her. "So, lets just establish that Cedric does like you, no arguments. From Cedric's point of you, you don't know that he likes you, and you may not even like him." Jill continued.

"So, for him to get mad at you for kissing another boy, is completely unfair. If he pulls the 'If you date another guy, we can't be as close' card, tell him that's manipulative. Tell him that one day you're both going to get into relationships, and you can't just hide your feelings to protect him. Make him look like the bad guy." 

"Jilly, that's so manipulative." Athena giggled. "I love it, it's perfect." She clapped her hands together, and Sage banged her head on the table. "Ugh, this is so bad. Okay, I guess I have no choice." She convinced herself. "I'll do that. God, this is going to be a long year."

-----

"If this doesn't work, I'm screwed." Sage whispered to Athena as they arrived at the Hogwarts Express, spotting Cedric across the crowd. "Why did I choose a super long train ride stuck in a compartment with both of them, to be the first time I speak to them since the Cup."

"You did it to yourself." Athena shrugged. "I can only blame myself, I know." She groaned. "Can't I sit in your compartment?" She pleaded. "With me and all the other Slytherins that are two years below you? No."

"Wish me luck." She waved goodbye to Athena as they entered the train. "Luck!" Athena called back to her, before she entered into the compartment. Both Harper and Cedric were already there, and no one else.

They were not looking, or speaking to each other and the feeling of impending doom crept up on her when Cedric looked up, noticing her in the doorway. "Hi, Ced, Harper." She smiled casually, sitting across from them.

They were both as surprised as each other at her sudden appearance, and simply nodded at her in confusion. She found it slightly amusing, how panicked they were, but she kept together. "How good was Krum during the Cup?" She stuffed her luggage on the rack above them.

"Krum- Yeah, really good." Harper smiled, Cedric said nothing. "Is something wrong, Cedric?" She furrowed her brows at him, and he looked up in disbelief. Harper also seemed shocked by her question, after all, they had discussed how Cedric would be unhappy that they spent seven minutes in heaven.

He still said nothing, just shook his head and looked back down as Rowan entered the compartment. "Hi, Rowan. How was your summer?" She smiled as he sat beside her. "Really good, thanks. What's up with them?" He frowned at Harper and Cedric who were still acting very strangely.

"I was just asking Cedric, I don't know either." She pouted. Sage felt utterly ridiculous, having to play dumb, but she had to follow through with Jill's plan. It was the most logical thing to do. "Where's Jill and Olive?" Sage asked. "Right there." Rowan pointed behind her, where Olive and Jill were entering the compartment. 

"Hi, guys." They both smiled. Olive had been informed on what had happened at the Cup, and didn't question their odd behaviour. "How was Italy, Cedric?" Olive asked. "Huh? Oh- Good.." This was going to be a long train ride. 

About two hours into the trip, Sage couldn't handle it anymore. "I think my 'Athena's being bullied' senses are tingling, i'll be back in a bit." She got up from her seat, exiting the compartment. "That was suffocating." She laughed, wandering down the end of the train, sandwich in hand. 

"Athena." Sage knocked on her sisters compartment, pulling her out of her conversation with Daphne Greengrass. "Sage? Oh-oh, what happened." She got up, following her sister into an empty compartment.

"They're like fish out of water, I swear." Sage laughed. "They just stared at me with their mouthes open, it was hilarious, but it was so awkward. Every time someone spoke to them, it was like they'd been shot in the head or something, they could comprehend what they were saying, they were too shocked that they'd been spoken to in the first place." She giggled, unwrapping her sandwich.

"Like those clown things at Amusement parks, you know the ones where you have to throw balls in their mouth to earn a prize." Athena laughed. "Yes, exactly like that." She but into her sandwich. "What do I do if this continues?" 

"Aim popcorn in their mouth or something, then maybe they'll stop gaping at you." Athena shrugged. "That's only half the problem." Sage chuckled at her sisters suggestion. "They'll calm down eventually, give them a day to think everything over."

"If you say so."

----

"The Triwizard Tournament.. Ugh, I wish I could enter." Jill whined. "Do you think Cedric will? He turned seventeen in the summer, it'd be allowed." Olive turned to Sage. "How should I know? He can't form a proper sentence around me, as of this morning." 

"Potions should be interesting then, you're partners." Jill giggled. "You have to get some progress in at breakfast, come on." Jill dragged Sage and Olive out of the dorm, and they made their way to breakfast.

"Morning." Sage sat beside Cedric, as she usually did, and he noticeably flinched. "..Good morning, Cedric." She smiled. "Morning." He picked at his food. Normally Sage would be upset at his lack of enthusiasm, but this was a step up. 

"Okayy.. What do we think about this tournament thing?" She turned to the rest ion the group. "I'd be able to enter if the submission was a week later." Harper sighed, and Sage was glad he was acting normal.

"Will you enter, Cedric?" Rowan asked. "Yeah, I think I will." He didn't look up. "You can't be serious?" Sage stared at him. "You don't think I can do it?" He raised his eyebrows at her, daringly. "No- Ced, people die in that tournament, you only just turned seventeen."

Cedric ignored her. "We're talking after breakfast." She whispered. "No we aren't." He shook his head. "Yes. We. Are." She said, sternly this time. Cedric didn't respond.

At the end of breakfast, Cedric packed up his things very quickly, but so did Sage, she was able to intercept him before he escaped. "We're talking." She sighed. "I have nothing to say to you." He didn't look at her. "Well I do." She grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the hall, into a deserted corridor. 

"What's wrong. Is it because of seven minutes in heaven?" She raised her eyebrows, and Cedric nodded. "Cedric, it's really not that big of a deal. We kissed, fine. Neither of us wanted to give away twelve Galleons, and what does it matter anyway?"

"So you gave away your first kiss because you didn't want to give away twelve Galleons? Are you seriously that easy." He muttered bitterly. "How dare you." She scoffed. "It's none of your business if sleep with a Hogwarts Professor. You're not my boyfriend."

Cedric looked as though he'd been slapped in the face. "I know i'm not your fucking boyfriend." Sage had never heard Cedric swear before. "But if you get a boyfriend, we won't-"

"Allow me to stop you right there. Do you know how manipulative that is? 'You have to suppress your feelings and never get a boyfriend to protect our friendship,' is our friendship that fragile? One day we're both going to get into relationships, we can't just ignore our emotions for the rest of our lives." She stuck closely to Jill's advise.

Cedric stared at her. She had caught him in a trap. The only way out was to confess his feelings, if he had them, or to give in. It was perfect. "Okay." He sighed. "Okay, fine. I just- I worry about you, Sage. Harper's one of my best friends, but he's.. He's reckless."

"Harper and I aren't dating, you don't have to worry about anything." She smiled, it had worked. The plan was successful, and she couldn't wait to tell Jill, Athena and Olive every single detail. She had played her cards right, exactly as Jill had told her to, she had triumphed. 

"Oh, and before we go for potions. Are you actually going to enter your name in the tournament?" She bit her lip. "I am, i'm serious." He nodded. "Cedric, please." She exhaled. "Cedric, this is.. This isn't Quidditch, or some silly school activity. People die in this tournament."

"People die in Quidditch." 

"No. People don't die in Quidditch like they do in this tournament, okay. The chance of you dying in Quidditch is so high because it's played so much. This tournament.. There's three games, three tasks. How is it that the death rate is so high if there's only three tasks, and three contestants?" She went on. "Because it's crazy dangerous, that's why."

"Look, Sage. I can handle myself, i'll be fine." He sighed. "I'm sure that's what every other contestant who died said." She rolled her eyes. "Please, at least think it over. The fact that you decided to enter your name on the same day you found out the tournament is happening, shows that you're being careless."

"Okay. I'll think it over a bit more."

----

Sage sat in the Hufflepuff common room by herself that night, reading The Tales Of Beetle The Bard, a book she had discovered in her bedroom during the summer.

"Sage?" A voice called from behind her, and she turned her head to meet Harper, who made his way over to the couch, taking a seat beside her. "Harper." She smiled, setting her book down. "That's a children's book." He laughed, reading it's cover.

"I was feeling nostalgic." She shrugged. "Did you fix things with Cedric?" He asked. "I did." She nodded, anxious as to where this conversation was going. "That's good." He bit his lip, and she could tell he wasn't really happy for her.

"Soo.. The Quidditch World Cup." Sage decided she'd bring it up first, then perhaps she could decide the conversations outcome. "Yes. Eventful." He smiled. "Very... I had more than twenty two Galleons, by the way." She picked her book back up, pretending to be engrossed by the page she was on.

"You lied?" He smirked. "You wanted to kiss me so badly, that you lied." He chuckled, leaning back into the couch with his arms behind his head. "Did I surpass your expectations for your first kiss?" 

"You did." Sage didn't look up from her book. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, want to do it again?" He leaned forward. "In your dreams." She rolled her eyes, tossing a pillow at him. "Yes, you have been." He sighed, and it took Sage a moment to realise what he'd meant. 

 "I suppose my duty has been fulfilled, alas.. You belong to Cedric." He gripped his chest dramatically, right where his heart was. "You're pathetic." She laughed. "And she continues to break my heart." He flopped back onto her, playing dead. "Harper." She giggled, pushing him off. 

"Alright, alright." He sat up, plucking her book out of her hands."The Fountain of Fair Fortune, one of my childhood favourites." He nodded approvingly at the chapter she was up to. "I'm glad you approve. Now give it back."

"Why?" He cocked his eyebrows. "Because it's mine." She rolled her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about." He yawned. "Give me back what's mine." She groaned. "You first." He winked, getting up off the couch, and departing from the common room, her book still in his hand.

"Very funny, Harper!" She called after him, but he did not turn. "Well played." She groaned.