s e v e n

"May?"Elizabeth's eyes widened as the girl walked into the Hufflepuff common room after her Hogsmeade visit. Cedric and Henry, who were sitting with her, also had shocked expressions on their faces.

"Hi." she smiled nervously.

"You cut your hair?" Cedric asked, his mouth literally dropping open. "You haven't cut your hair since you were six years old."

"Yes, well..." Maeve trailed off, joining the three on the couch. "... I decided that it's time I changed that, don't you?"

"Don't you have a date with Goyle today?" Henry asked.

"Had. Past tense. And it went perfectly." she grinned.

"Woah, what?" Elizabeth asked, "You fancy Goyle?"

"Of course not!" Maeve said, her cheeks blushing red. "I suppose it's my fault for saying it that way. When I mean it went perfectly, I mean it went horribly, and that Gregory Goyle will never ask me out ever again." she concluded.

Cedric finally closed his mouth, his shock replaced by curiosity. "Really? How?"

"Well, it's all thanks to Pansy." Maeve smiled at the thought. "She knows Gregory well since they're in the same house and she told me everything he dislikes. We had a whole plan." the Hufflepuff said excitedly, gesturing to her dress.

"I'm sorry, but you expect us to believe Pansy Parkinson helped you?" Henry scoffed, "She's a bitch."

"No, she's not!" Maeve glared at the boy, taking him by surprise, because she was never that rude to anybody. "She's my friend."

"I'm going to Hogsmeade to send a letter home." Elizabeth stood up abruptly. "Bye guys, bye May."

"Bye..." Maeve frowned, confused as to why the girl was leaving in the middle of a conversation but didn't think much about it as she turned back to Henry.

"I'll have you know, Henry, that my hair was in a much worse state when I'd initially cut it. Pansy was the one who called Daphne who fixed it." she said crossly.

"Looks like I hit a nerve." Henry put his hand up in surrender as he chuckled. "Sorry, May I didn't realize you were so close with the Slytherins."

"Speaking of, would you mind if they all sat with us during the First Task tomorrow? Daphne invited me to sit with them but I want you and Liz to get to know them too. They're not as bad as they seem."

Henry looked at her to check if she was joking. When he concluded that she wasn't, he sighed. "Alright, I suppose. But Lizzie's not gonna be happy. She's formed a particular dislike for Pansy this year, taking every opportunity to catch her misbehaving in the corridors." the boy said dryly.

Maeve wondered why that was before she turned her attention to Cedric. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Thanks to Harry, yeah." Cedric nodded. "Henry and I finally decided on a concrete strategy."

"Sounds great." Maeve grinned. "I'm sure you'll do well, Ced."

"Don't worry, May." Cedric said confidently. "Nothing's going to happen to me."

_____

"You know Maeve Kingston, when I said you could sit with us, I wasn't expecting your Hufflepuff friends to join along." Theodore frowned when he saw Elizabeth and Henry next to the girl.

"Hey, I'm just here because Maeve asked me to. As if I would willingly want to sit with you lot." Elizabeth scoffed, rolling her eyes before looking straight ahead at the empty Quidditch-Field-turned-Dragon-Ground.

Daphne looked like she was about to say something back but decided against it.

"Where's Blaise?" Maeve asked, desperate for a change of topic.

"He decided that staying indoors sounded more entertaining than watching four people he didn't even know compete for a tournament which was of little significance to him." Pansy shrugged. "Boy, am I glad my name wasn't chosen. Dragons are too intense for my taste." she made a face at which Maeve laughed, missing the angry look on Elizabeth's face who was standing right next to her. Pansy, however, was not as oblivious as the Hufflepuff and sent the prefect a glare.

"Your attention, please." Ludo Bagman spoke over the microphone, clearing his throat. "This is a great day for all of us. Each of the three tasks involves very considerable danger. -"

"Yeah, no shit." Theodore mumbled under his breath.

"-Please keep your seats at all times. This will minimize any risks you may be exposed to. I'm sure we will all wish our four champions the very best of luck." he declared before he and the other judged entered the Champions' tent.

No one said anything for the first five minutes before Henry decided to break the silence. "Who do you think is going to go first?"

"I don't know, but whoever it is, is going to be battling a Swedish Short-Snout." Daphne answered with a gulp as the yellow dragon was given entry upon the field.

A canon was fired and the stands cheered as the first Champion walked out of the tent. Maeve's face went white as she gasped, watching Cedric walk to the field.

Pansy fastened her hand around Maeve's and squeezed, causing the latter to look at her. She gave her a reassuring smile and Maeve nodded, squeezing back as her eyes trailed back to Cedric.

The boy pulled out his wand, stealthily running behind a huge boulder, avoiding the Dragon, who had not yet been aware of his presence. Peeking behind the stone, he aimed at something and the rock on the other side of the field transfigured into a dog.

The Dragon's head rose readily at the movement, but he lowered his head back down. It was only when the dog started yapping and running around when the Dragon finally got distracted due to the dog. Once Cedric was certain its focus was on the animal, he took his chance and sprinted for the Golden Egg, picking it up stealthily.

Maeve let out a relieved sigh as he did so.

However, the Dragon, noticing Cedric's rapid movement turned its head towards him. Cedric was a good deal away from the creature to be clawed, but not far enough to escape its fiery breath. And with that, the dragon unleashed fire upon Cedric who continued running.

Maeve screamed, but Elizabeth held her back, just as Cedric had made his way out of the field – barely. It was no surprise to anyone who looked at Maeve that she was going to burst crying. And so she did as Elizabeth hushed as she pulled the hysterical girl in for a tight hug.

"Hey, he's fine, okay? He made it out, didn't he?" Henry stroked her back, trying to comfort her.

Even Daphne and Theodore looked at her sadly, having no idea how terrible the girl would be feeling. As for Pansy, well Pansy was too shocked to say or do anything.

"Let's go to the Hospital Wing. Cedric's sure to be there." Elizabeth decided. "You'll see then that he's fine okay?"

The Slytherins nodded, too; agreeing to the plan.

Maeve hardly heard anything as Henry and Elizabeth led her back to the castle. However, by the time they had reached the Hospital Wing, her misery had turned into anger.

"Cedric Amos Diggory." she thundered, walking to the bewildered boy just as Madame Pomfrey had finished attending to the burns on his face, "You are so damn lucky I love you because I could kill you right now." she scolded, absolutely losing her temper. "Do you have any idea how irresponsible that was?" she fumed.

Cedric opened his mouth to speak.

"No." Maeve said firmly, scowling at him. "I won't hear a word. I'm not talking to you." she said before crossing her arms over her chest and looked away.

His shoulders slumped. Elizabeth and Henry – after making sure that Cedric was fine – left the two alone.

"May?" Cedric asked, only to hear no reply. "May are you actually going to ignore me for the rest of your life?"

The girl in question sighed exasperatedly before finally turning to him. "I know it sounds incredibly selfish, especially since you were the one who were up against a dragon, but Cedric..." she groaned, covering her face with her hands as stopped unable to go on. "You could've actually died." she looked up at him, her face stained with wet tears.

"But I didn't." Cedric said gently, wrapping an arm around her. "And I get that you were scared but Maeve, that's what this competition is about." he explained.

"I know that. You think I don't know that?" Maeve said bitterly, her mind going back to her argument with Draco. "I just – I don't know what I would do if you were gone, Ced."

"Then I suppose it's a good thing I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." he said assuringly, squeezing her. "You know what? You can help me figure out the next clue."

Maeve looked at him and nodded. "Okay."

_____

"Are you okay?" Pansy asked her softly, her voice snapping Maeve out of the intense mood of their library study group. She looked up and grinned.

"Of course, why wouldn't be?"

Pansy frowned before yanking her face closer and whispering, "Prissy, I've known you for about half a year by now. You can't possibly expect me to believe that bullshit."

Maeve scowled before looking away. "I'll tell you later then, okay? Let's just study right now. Mid-terms are coming up."

Maeve tried to leave as soon as the three hours were up after giving everyone a quick goodbye but Pansy had expected that she would try to avoid her and was at the Hufflepuff's heels the whole way out of the library.

"Okay, fine." Maeve huffed, turning around. "I'm a little worried about Cedric's second task." she confessed. "We've been trying to figure out what clue the egg contains but every time we open it-" she stopped abruptly. "I've just been a little on edge. But that's fine, really. Are we done?"

"How about I help you?" Pansy offered, with a smile.

"I doubt Cedric would want that." Maeve bit her lip. "Pansy you've been such a great friend and all but I-"

"May!" a voice cried out, making the Slytherin and Hufflepuff turn around.

Elizabeth Daniels stood a few feet away from the duo.

"Hi, Lizzie." Maeve grinned, her mood making a rapid turn. "What're you doing here?"

Pansy greeted the sixth year by simply rolling her eyes.

"I uh- Professor Sprout has um- asked the prefects to gather all the Hufflepuffs up. Something... about the Triwizard Tournament." Elizabeth said distractedly, looking between Pansy and Maeve.

Maeve looked at Pansy, contemplating what to do. "We'll talk about this after dinner, okay?"

Over the course of weeks of private training, Maeve had decided Pansy was finally ready to actually sing with the choir. And she would rather eat her hat than admit it, but she felt that if she were with Pansy alone any longer, she was going to lose control.

Pansy said nothing and walked away. Maeve, a little hurt by her actions turned away as well.

"Did I interrupt something?" Elizabeth asked slowly as the younger Hufflepuff started walking to the Kitchens.

"No." Maeve shook her head softly and looked down. "Nothing at all."

_____

"The Yule Ball has been a magnificent tradition of the Triwizard Tournament since its commencement. On the night of Christmas Eve, everyone – students and staff included – meet in the Great Hall for a night of love and fun." the stout Herbology Professor said, looking into the distance dreamily. "Why I myself remember the magical night – but I'm getting ahead of myself – Minerva wouldn't like me talking about that." she chuckled, watching the entire house standing around nervously in the Kitchens. "We are the host school, and so we must maintain our best behaviour and provide a good example for the other schools to look up to." she said wisely. "Now for the fun part... the Yule Ball is a dance."

Almost immediately, excited chatter rose up from almost every Hufflepuff in the room.

"A dance?" Susan whispered to Maeve who was also glowing at the idea. "I can't wait! Oh, I hope Zach would agree to go with me..."

"Now now, children." the professor laughed. "I know you're all excited. And while I want you all to have the most fun, we can't have you all behaving in an incessant manner. Also, every other House of Head will deny this but we have a ledger amongst the teachers you see – whichever House behaves the best, wins. This is exactly why you have all been gathered here today."

"Mr Chaudice, if you please." she gestured behind her and the boy turned on the giant gramophone. "Who would like to be my partner? Ms Kingston, perhaps?" she looked at Maeve with a wide smile as she extended a hand in the girl's general direction.

Cedric, who was standing behind her nudged her ahead with his elbow earning a fierce glare from her. Maeve turned back to her Head of House before stepping ahead. "Of course, professor."

Putting Maeve's right hand on the Hufflepuff's waist she led the two according to the music, giving counts. "Come on, grab someone and join in!" she beckoned for the rest of the students to join in. Slowly, people came together, and Maeve saw from the corner of her eye as Cedric stepped forth with Elizabeth. Both of them had bored looks on their faces – as if they were only dancing because it was their duty as prefect to set a good example.

"Exemplary, dear. Your partner is going to be glad they chose you." Professor Sprout praised.

Now, the wizarding world was rather traditional. And topics of homosexuality were still slightly taboo. It was in a word, a cis-dominated society. And that's why it caught Maeve completely off guard when her teacher said 'they' instead of 'him' – which would have been the typical way a wizard of the professor's age would talk.

Her eyes widened but before she could say anything, Professor Sprout spun her around suddenly and she went spinning and crashed into someone's arms.

She looked behind her partner's shoulder as Professor Sprout gave her a wink and a grin.

Maeve gawked. Not in her wildest dreams would she have expected a professor to play cupid.

"You're quite the dancer aren't you?" Elizabeth grinned, looking down at her.

"Um – I try." Maeve gulped, blushing furiously as she looked down. "You're quite good yourself."

The prefect shrugged carelessly. "I was in my first year the last time the tournament was held. Managed to pick up a few moves." she answered. "Do you have a date?"

The question completely made Maeve's thinking stopped before she blinked rapidly to get herself back on track. "Um – not yet, considering I got to know there was going to be a dance a few moments ago."

Elizabeth laughed. "Of course. I keep forgetting we aren't in the same year. Well, are you planning on asking someone?"

Maeve, finding it quite ironic that the person she wanted to ask was asking her that question but shook her head. "I don't know... I haven't had time to think about it... excuse me." she broke her hold on Elizabeth and hurriedly walked back to her dorm. 

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