Kjærlighet Verbrennt

VIII.

When Cedric found out they had only won the match due to the dementors that had sent Potter off his broom, he begged Madame Hooch to let them have a rematch. The rest of Hufflepuff was willing to forget the unhappy accident and accept their victory - it had, after all, been the first win for them in years, but their attitude soon changed as they saw how distraught their Captain was. When Madame Hooch refused, citing they had won the game fair and square, the entire issue was more or less banned from common room conversation. Any mention of it to Cedric would send him into a grand speech of Hufflepuff´s hallmark sense of sincerity, and though the team, as well as the rest of the House, were sad to have their celebration cut short, they agreed with Diggory and the matter was dropped.

The other events of that fated day, however, were not.

Rotis was in the owlery, spending some time with her tiny speckled owl Hemulen, a gift she´d gotten from her brother when his own owl had laid eggs. Hemulen had been the smallest one, but he was the first one to attempt flying out of the nest, and Oliver had given him to her for just these reasons.

"He reminds me of you," Oliver had said. "Stubborn little git, small and speedy, and ever anxious to be in the air."

She stroked the owl´s red and brown spotted feathers with her smallest finger, and he hooted happily, clipping her finger with his beak in affection. With the rigorous practices she had been through, she hadn´t had much time to be with Hemulen, and she had been afraid the owl would be angry at her for her negligence, as she heard owls were wont to do. But fortunately, the bantam avis had been thrilled to see her, and she realized poor Hemulen didn´t have much to do to pass the time of day, what with Mum and Dad using Oliver´s great snowy owl, Snufkin, Hemulen´s mother, for all their letters.

But she didn´t mind, though she was sure Hemulen did. His attention wavered from her to the great window where a mass of owls were perched, parchments tied around their feet, prolonging the moment when they´d have to journey out and deliver them. The sun was sinking behind the trees, and the whole Owlery was illuminated in the orange glow from the sunset.

She carried the tiny bird to the sill, asking him aloud if he desired a fly about. He flapped his wings impatiently in response, and making a space between what looked like a great horned owl and some sort of barn variety who looked as though he could eat Hemulen if the mood took him, she leaned out over the sill and let him go.

Hemulen soared in the currents, swooping around as though he was trying to impress her, his tiny form flapping around in the pink and blue skies. She smiled, wondering if the other birds felt resentment for the duo, since he never had to do anything and she was always so kind to him. She couldn´t help it - she had a soft spot for the fluffy fledgling.

"Rotis?"

She turned from the window to see Cedric standing in the doorway, her face immediately reddening. She was glad to see him, too, turning a bit pink as she waved him over to the window.

"Gaiter and Dicken both said you´d be up here," he said, his nose wrinkling (in a ridiculously adorable way, thought Rotis) at the smell of so many birds in such a small space and the dirty hay that covered the floor. "I was going to tell you - "

Just then Hemulen swooped back in, flying the perimeter of the room before landing softly on Rotis´ shoulder, his claws digging gently into her skin. Cedric´s eyes lit up.

"Is that your owl?" he exclaimed, pointing at the tiny bird, who was fluffing his feathers up, trying to look large. Rotis laughed at both the boy and her bird before unhooking his claws out of her shoulder and holding him out to Cedric.

"Hemulen, this is Cedric," she said to the owl. "Hold your hand out," she whispered to Cedric, who looked as though it had suddenly been declared year-round Christmas. She nudged the small owl onto Cedric´s hand, and he took a few tentative hops forward, continuously swiveling around to see if his Rotis approved of this.

"He´s so little," said Cedric, bending in for a better look. "He´s like a baby owl - "

Hemulen suddenly pecked Cedric´s nose with his beak, and he backed away quickly. "Guess he doesn´t like to be reminded," he said, smiling.

"Now, Hemulen, that´s no way to treat someone when you´ve just been introduced," she said mockingly, looking sternly at the little bird, who was still residing unhappily in Cedric´s hand. "Cedric and I," she said, as Cedric suddenly looked up, and she stumbled, "are very good friends," she finished, looking abruptly back at the owl.

"I´d hoped we were more than that, Rotis," said Cedric, taking her hand and putting Hemulen gently back into it. The bird snuggled against Rotis immediately, already forgetting his new acquaintance.

Rotis blushed furiously, the orange glow of the setting sun doing nothing to hide it.

"I came to apologize for the last few days," he said, running his hand through his hair, the forelock in front bouncing back up once his hand passed it. "I´ve been so caught up with trying to convince everyone that I didn´t know about Potter falling off his broom, I feel I´ve sort of," he said, looking down to the hay covered floor, "well, forgotten things that are important."

She wondered if Hemulen could hear her heart thumping through her thumb where his head was resting.

"So I wanted to make out, er, make it up to you," he said, his face now twice as red as hers ever was. "This Friday. If you´d meet me down by the lake," he finished, looking up at her questioningly, the sunset´s glow setting off the angles of his face.

She wanted to grab him and kiss him right there in the Owlery in reply, but all her nerves would allow her was a simple nod, but it was more than enough for Cedric. He immediately let out a breath he´d been holding, his dazzling smile appearing yet again, looking as though she´d just told him he´d made the Quidditch team.

"Great," he said, and she smiled back at him. "Fantastic, just. . . "

He sort of hopped in place, grinning foolishly, before leaning in and

"Not," she said, her empty hand meeting his lips as his eyes flew back open, "with so many eyes watching. . . " she said, glancing over at the company of owls that had accumulated, watching the pair unblinkingly.

Cedric smiled. "Right," he said, turning around and waving to the birds. "Till Friday, then?" he asked, and she nodded, her blonde hair bobbing.

"Say good bye, Hemulen," she said, but the owl had fallen asleep against her thumb. She shrugged and smiled at Cedric as he backed out of the Owlery, his eyes shining, her face aflame.

She waved as he shut the door behind him, a wave of relief and a rush of excitement crashing inside her, her mind exploding with thoughts. But first things first, she remembered, kissing the little owl on the head and setting him gently on his roost, where he shuffled to the corner and promptly fell back asleep.

She smiled to no one as she walked towards the door, resisting an overwhelming urge to leap out the window and fly with the birds, knowing she wouldn´t fall, and not caring if she did.

_____________________

Dicken and Gaiter were squashed up in the Hole again late one evening, books strewn all over the small space. The days were getting shorter, and though they´d only just returned from supper, the window that provided their light had gone dark, so the two were reading by flickering candlelight.

"Pillows and flame," muttered Dicken, eyeing the exceedingly drippy candle. "Not a good mix."

"What was that Hovering Charm Professor Flitwick taught us last week?" asked Gaiter. "Zonorus something?"

Dicken drew out his wand expertly and flicked it at the diminishing candle. "Zoniferous risio," he commanded, and the knobby stump of wax floated up from its precarious position amongst the cushions to hover near their heads.

"Much better, thank you," said Gaiter, turning back to her stack of parchments. "But I still can´t concentrate. Maybe I´ll go weed the garden." Dicken shrugged at her, and she resolutely closed her textbook and clambered up to the room above, taking another stumpy candle with her.

Dicken chewed his hawk quill and tried to focus on the diagram of a Muggle camera. He sighed and regretted ever signing up for Muggle Studies - having come from a long line of reclusive wizards, he had had little contact with the non-wizarding world, but this didn´t necessarily mean he was missing anything. He sighed, causing the candle to drift in mid-air, and closed his book as firmly as Gaiter had done.

The wardrobe door opened and Rotis soon climbed inside, shutting it quietly before crash-landing in a corner of the Hole.

"He´s not out there," she explained, answering Dicken´s raised eyebrows. For the last few days, in fact, ever since the win, Rotis had hardly been in the Hole, instead lingering outside to see if Cedric would drop by, and her presence had become something of a phenomenon to the two remaining Hole-dwellers. She wasn´t sure if it was simply bad luck that made the two always miss each other, but she hadn´t seen Cedric since the evening at the Owlery, giving her all the more reason to look forward to Friday.

"Oh, surely," said Gaiter, hanging upside-down from the floor of the room above, her pink hair hanging like a curtain, "you can´t have given up already? It´s only been half an hour!"

Rotis smirked, the bit of annoyance she felt at the mockery soon trampled by the joy that had been following her ever since Cedric´s invitation.

"And," Rotis hastily added, "I couldn´t bear listening to any more horrible speculations about Sirius Black. They´re just trying to frighten each other, it´s ridiculous. I´ll be glad when there´s another match, so they´ll be too occupied with expectancy to tell ghost stories."

"Speaking of ghosts," said Dicken as Gaiter´s head disappeared back into the greenery. "Lupin brought in a banshee for us to banish - it was thrilling."

"She didn´t deafen everyone?" Gaiter asked from above.

"No, he gave us ear plugs, we were fine. Only that Meelo girl, you know, from Ravenclaw, walked in to get a signature during the middle of it, and she immediately had this sort of fit right there in the classroom."

"But she didn´t die?" asked Gaiter.

"No, fortunately Snape was right behind her, and he and Lupin got rid of the banshee instantly, though Snape seemed more afraid of Lupin touching him that he did of the banshee."

"Curious," said Gaiter. "He wasn´t effected by the screams?"

"No, worked the fastest Deafening Charm I´ve ever seen on himself - had a bit of trouble getting out of it, as he couldn´t hear what he was saying."

Rotis listened to the two´s conversation, finding herself zoning out as she did every class period (she was getting quite talented at it), dreaming of tomorrow night, when she and Cedric would fly to Egypt on one broom, talk softly in the midnight blue sands, wake up the next morning in the shadow of a pyramid. . .

"Think I´ll call it a night, comrades," she said, watching the flickering flame above her.

"Already? But your company´s so rare these days," Dicken said, only half-jokingly. "You´re there, but you´re never there."

She smiled weakly, genuinely flattered that Dicken missed her as much as he did, but nodding anyway, standing and exiting through the wardrobe door, hopping lightly out to the common room.

"This is worse than Quidditch, Gaiter," said Dicken to her upside-down face beside him. "Diggory´s great, but. . . "

Gaiter plucked an orange blossom from one of her many plants and slid it behind Dicken´s ear. "These things happen," she said, all the wisdom in her words lessened by her inverted state.

"So you´ll leave me, too?" he asked as she crashed back into the Hole, the floating candle swaying with the impact.

"Course not," she said smartly. "I like hanging around you too much." And she smiled fiendishly. "Now what´s troubling you about Kodak Cameras?"

_____________________

Friday dragged on as though it would never end. Potions with the Ravenclaws was a nightmare, as Snape belligerently insulted both the houses, citing Meelo´s banshee mishap as proof that the clever Ravenclaws really weren´t so clever, further displaying his favoritism towards his own House of Slytherin.

Professor Binns droned on for hours over some crazy witch-hunt Muggles had conducted 400 years ago that Gaiter insisted was real, though the majority of the class was asleep and could have cared less, Rotis included, minus the sleeping part.

She was too excited to sleep, even in the snooze-inducing confines of Professor Binns´ classroom. Her stomach was a knot full of butterflies, and though she knew it was stupid, she kept daydreaming of what would happen tonight. Even though they had shared the kiss on the Quidditch field (a memory she relived nearly every day), it had been so long ago, and so spur-of-the-moment, that Rotis doubted it had actually happened. It felt like the two were starting from square one, and she would be an absolute wreck until her expectations were fulfilled or denied that night.

"Rotis, you´re not eating anythi - oh, yes, it´s Friday, how could I forget," muttered Gaiter that night at dinner. Less than ten students down, Cedric was sitting with his own friends, his plate just as untouched as hers, his face twice as bright. He glanced over at Rotis for the third time in the last ten minutes, but she was busy fiddling with her mashed potatoes.

"He´s looking at you," Gaiter sing-songed in her ear, and Rotis only fiddled with her potatoes more intensely.

"Keep it down, will you?" she asked Gaiter. "I don´t need the whole of Hogwarts knowing what we´re doing tonight - we´re already under enough surveillance due to those damned dementors, not to mention the match."

Gaiter nodded and went back to her food. "You know I´m horribly jealous," she said brightly, as though she was wishing someone a happy birthday.

"What, of me?"

She nodded, her pink hair catching the light from the masses of floating candles above them. "So´s Dicken, though he won´t say why."

Dicken was a few feet away, having come into the Great Hall late and nabbing the first spot available, currently looking very intent on vinegaring his spinach.

This was news to Rotis. "I don´t believe you," she said back. "You have each other for company, besides, it´s nothing special."

"Oh, no, the Quidditch Captain, defeater of the mighty Gryffindor team, nothing at all," said Gaiter, an unpleasant note in her voice. She hesitated. "And Dicken doesn´t like me in that sort of sense," she added forlornly.

"I should hope not," thought Rotis, but held her tongue, not wanting to upset her friend more. The thought of her two best compadres being romantically involved was more than she wanted to think about at the time, her mind too occupied with dreaming up events for tonight to think up ones for anyone else, especially in such a hypothetical situation. She said nothing.

"You don´t get it, do you?" Gaiter asked angrily, glaring at her plate.

"Gaiter, I´m sorry, I really am, I want us all to be happy," she said genuinely, halting her mash potato sculpturing.

"No, you don´t understand -Dicken likes you," she whispered harshly. "More than he knows what to do with. Always has and always will."

Rotis felt her bountiful supply of happiness suddenly run out. She started several phrases, wondering whether to apologize or inquire more, but all of them died on her tongue.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked finally. Gaiter looked crossly at the pitcher of pumpkin juice, as if willing it to dump itself over Rotis´ head. "Gaiter, look at me," she demanded, and she met the faint bronze eyes of her friend. "Please don´t be mad with me. I´m terrified right now."

Gaiter shrugged, her eyes floating to the ceiling, which was quickly turning lavender with the setting sun. "I´m not angry, Rotis, I apologize, that came out all wrong. It´s just hard to be around one person whose so doting over another who´s completely blind to it; it´s got nothing to do with me at all, honestly, just I feel a little overwrought sometimes." She sighed, pushing her dumplings around on her plate aimlessly. "And I wish he knew. I wish he knew a lot of things."

They both turned to see Dicken, who glanced up and smiled at them, his gaze lingering on Rotis. She felt a weird cold weight in her stomach as she noticed this.

"But forget all that," said Gaiter suddenly, returning to her cheery self. "Go get ready for your date."

"My wha - oh, cripes, I completely forgot it!" She swiveled quickly out from the bench. "Gaiter, everything will be all right, you know that."

She nodded, "Sure, sure, just tell me all the juicy details when you get back. That´s what our gender is supposed to do, right?" And she flashed Rotis a genuine grin, making the girl feel a thousand times better as she bounded out of the Great Hall and down the stairs to the dormitory.

_____________________

Cedric was already by the lake once she emerged from the castle some minutes later, her blonde hair redone but still in its usual buns, her shoulders straight and her posture perfect. Resisting every impulse to race and meet him, she strode as gracefully as she could to where he stood, the magnificently violet shade of the sky warping all colors, turning the rather plain ash tree he stood under into a silvery blue arbor.

"Hi," he said, smiling, his teeth just as ivory as she remembered, his brown hair still floating up in that one spot.

"Hi," she said, smiling back. They looked at each other for a few moments, till she turned awkwardly away, wondering if this battering ram of a pulse would stay with her all night as she surveyed the twilit surroundings. The lake was calm and lilac, the faraway mountains a misty blue.

"It´s a beautiful night," she said, looking over at the stone castle turned gray and shady, spotting the wall of windows belonging to the above-Hole room, wondering fleetingly if Dicken and Gaiter were up there watching her.

"Yea," he said, his eyes never leaving her. "Are you ready to go?"

Her sight snapped back to Cedric as he held his broom out. Visions of moonlit sand dunes and luminescent pyramids danced through her head as she nodded and sat behind Cedric on the broom, wrapping her arms around his waist, chopping his stereotyped warning of `hold tight´ short.

They lifted off smoothly and were soon high above the lake, immersed in the purple night sky.

"Where are we going?" she asked, crossing her fingers that he´d answer `Egypt,´ but knowing if he did it would only be moments till she awoke.

"You´ll see," he said, and she leaned against his back, listening to his heart hammering within his ribcage. So he´s just as nervous, she noted thankfully, watching the mass of black trees passing beneath her. She thought she saw a unicorn as a flash of light suddenly darted out of the thicket, but it was too dark to tell, and she didn´t want to interrupt the voyage that was making her feel so at ease, calming her heartbeat.

Cedric nudged the broom closer to land, and as she always did when a ride at a fair began slowing down (especially one when she was in close quarters with a boy like Cedric), she wished it would never end, and that they would fly on till morning, maybe beyond.

But they were definitely descending now, and her sadness at leaving the broom was soon replaced with her excitement at being with Cedric, and her curiosity as to what he had in store. They landed in a clearing in the Forbidden Forest, an exotic locale for a first outing. In the middle of the shadowy grasses stood a massive tree, its thick trunk pale, its empty branches jutting out into the sky. All around them were the dark trees of the forest, impenetrable to the eye, and Cedric distracted Rotis as he grabbed her hands and brought her to the tree.

Cedric smiled smugly, his eyes twinkling like another set of stars, and Rotis watched as he pulled out his wand, directed it at the tree, and recited some Greek lines, a Latin verse (she caught the phrase lumos at least half a dozen times), and finally something in an elegant tongue she had never heard before.

When he was done he lowered his arms and stood back to where Rotis was staring intently at the tree, not sure what to expect. She grabbed Cedric´s hand as she waited, and he waited, and the whole forest seem to be waiting when the tree suddenly lit up like a firecracker, thousands of tiny lights no bigger than her smallest fingernail appearing, hovering between the branches. The whole thing looked like a spectacular Christmas tree, and she drew in her breath as the lights blinked and glittered at her, a thousand tiny stars.

"Do you like it?" Cedric asked nervously, completely ignorant to just how fantastic the magic he´d worked was, his entire focus on Rotis and the childlike glow that had suddenly entered her sky blue eyes.

"Oh, Cedric," she said, her gaze darting from one glow to the next, "it´s the most beautiful thing I´ve ever seen..."

And she wasn´t lying. The whole thing was mind-boggling, and the glow that was radiating must have been visible from the castle, it was so bright. She didn´t realize Cedric had scooted in so close until he spoke right into ear, his words finally diverting her attention from the magnificent tree.

"Not as beautiful," he whispered, and she felt an entirely new rush pass through her veins, "as you are."

"Come on!" he said, seemingly unaware of the thrill his previous words had given Rotis. She watched gleefully as Cedric swung himself up into the tree, the lights scattering as he intervened them, then zipping back in place once he was settled. Rotis approached the tree with reverence before deftly maneuvering till she was next to Cedric on the lowest branch. It took on a whole new appearance from this spot, and she gazed up at the shining points till her neck began to hurt, Cedric waiting patiently beside her.

"It´s incredible, Cedric," she said, turning back to the boy next to her, the little glows frolicking around his head, mirrored in his eyes. "How did you manage it?"

"It´s an old family incantation," he said, surveying his handiwork, realizing how happy he´d made her. "Some Latin, some Greek, some Elvish - I haven´t a clue what it means, but it works."

"Your dad taught it to you?" she asked, thinking this sensational phenomenon didn´t concur with what Cedric had told her of Mr. Diggory.

"Oh, no," he said, shaking his head. "Me mum´s family is all Irish, they have all sorts of ancient charms like that up there. To tell you the truth," he added, "I don´t think my father even knows it."

He scooted closer to her on the branch, both of them swinging their legs like kindergartners, their shoes falling off with two sets of thuds.

"What are they?" she asked, squinting at the tiny glows, but they were too bright to be deciphered.

"Just bits of magic," he said, more set on Rotis than on his creation. "Here," he said as he suddenly reached out and grabbed one in his fist.

"No wonder you´re the Seeker," she muttered as he cupped the bitsy effulgence in his fingers. Its glow had calmed down a bit, and Rotis could see it was a tiny little squirming thing of pure light, and that it seemed to float by its own radiance. She held out her hand, and he dropped the golden thing into her palm, holding it up for closer examination.

"It´s warm," she said softly, feeling the tiny pill wiggle in her hand, unaware of Cedric moving himself closer. "And it tickles. . ."

She felt Cedric´s lips against her face and sensed the little beam grow hotter in her hand, closing her fingers around it as she turned to face him. His eyes seemed brighter than any of the lights, hopeful, sanguine. He smiled at her faintly, and she leaned in to kiss him, the light growing twice as brilliant the moment their lips touched. He pried her fist open, releasing the fiery being back to the night, stroking her neck, and she was soon lost, the darkness behind her eyelids filled with tiny pinpricks of light, diamonds and stars. She budged herself closer, trying to take in every inch of him at once, the colors on her eyelids so bright that she had to open them and see the tree so illuminated it nearly blinded her, and she gasped, Cedric´s mouth sliding smoothly to her neck as she clung to him, her hand ruffling his soft chestnut hair.

Their cloaks slid off in spite of the nippy darkness, the treelights giving off such a glow that it was like sitting inside a fireplace, a nice, warm, small fireplace. It wasn´t Egypt, she realized as Cedric´s hand unloosened her hair, but who needed Egypt when you could be here, with this, doing this.

"Rotis," he suddenly said as he drew away, and she immediately missed him, though the distance had only grown by mere inches, "I do like you, you know that, right? Not just you," he clarified, reviewing her petite figure as it balanced on the tree branch, "but you and your eyes and the way you think and say `cripes´ and murder Bludgers on the field and make me want to never go anywhere without you. You know that, right?"

"Of course," she said, this time advancing on him instead of he on her, not finding his sudden rush of compliments in the least way surprising. "And I like you," she said, kissing him, "but not just you," she added, running her hand under his necktie. "I like your steely eyes and your flyaway hair and your smile that could bring wars to a halt and the way you grab a Snitch," she said, surprised herself at where her words were going (other than straight into Cedric´s ear, where she was breathing directly, though by the way he was respiring, she figured it wasn´t bad). "I want to fly to Egypt with you," she whispered, "and take the long way around, so we - "

Cedric suddenly silenced her with an overwhelming kiss, and she could feel him tensing up, like he was trying as hard as he could to restrain himself from doing she didn´t dare think what. She thrilled in this sudden acceleration, and was trying to move herself into his lap when she suddenly lost her balance and fell straight out of the tree.

"Rotis!" Cedric called as she watched the lights suddenly diminish and seem to back away from her. It was only a short fall, but the landing was tough enough, and she stayed still for a moment, trying to make sure all her bones were in place before rolling onto her back.

"Rotis!" Cedric cried again, leaping out of the tree, by her side in an instant, his face above her framed with glows, the spectacular tree even more stunning from this perspective. "Rotis, are you okay?"

She only smiled and grabbed his necktie, which was hanging down in her face, pulling him down on top of her.

"This is new," he remarked as she loosened the yellow and black cravat and slid it forcefully out of his collar.

"This is good," she replied, recounting all the hours they´d spent in the common room chatting, secretly wishing they had been as they were now. She grabbed him by the shoulders and reeled him in for another kiss, a much more heated one, as they were literally lying on top of each other, the weight of each other´s bodies starkly present in both their minds.

She yanked his shirt out from where he had tucked it in in accordance with the uniform code, and he did the same with hers, working on her buttons as she did on his, their mouths never leaving one another´s. She felt the noises at the back of his throat as he threw her blouse open and she hitched her leg up his side, his own shirt already been tossed away with the necktie.

It seemed like hours as they tussled beneath the magic tree, his hands never wandering below her waist and his mouth never below her neckline, while she tried to touch every bare part of him, with either her lips or her fingers. The stars shifted overhead and the tree glowed on as they went on this way, till suddenly they heard a gruff voice that was embarrassingly familiar.

"Oi!" called the voice, a lantern swinging in front of the enormous figure, who was still partially hidden in the shadows. "What´s goin´ on `round here?"

Cedric immediately leapt up, throwing Rotis his cloak (which she inhaled of deeply, she admitted mawkishly) to cover up her barely clad torso and scrambling around frantically to find his shirt, which he had both his arms in by the time Hagrid appeared in the clearing, his boarhound Fang notably absent from his side.

"´Lo, Hagrid!" Rotis called cheerfully, as though she was always caught snogging in forbidden places by gamekeepers in the middle of the night, and this was no rare occurrence.

"´Lo thar, iffn´ tisn´t Rotis Wood, hallo - hang on, what´re you two doin´ about at these hours? An´ especially out here?" he asked, looking at Rotis curiously and glancing at the tree. "An´ wasn´t that tree alighted few moments ago?"

Cedric suddenly reemerged from behind the tree trunk, having whispered a spell to make the lights vanish, his buttons fastened crookedly.

"Cedric Diggory!" he exclaimed, pointing the pink umbrella he carried (though it was a cloudless night, Rotis noticed) at the boy. His lantern swung precariously from his other arm. "What in blazes is goin´ on?"

She was suddenly thankful that it was Hagrid who´d interrupted them, as he was more amused by the situation that he was angry at the two for breaking a very serious rule of sneaking out after-hours, especially when a murderer was on the loose.

"Well, Hagrid," Cedric began, noticing his buttons were amiss and trying to fix them in the dark. "We just flew out for some privacy and - "

"Oooh," said Hagrid slowly, watching as he undid and redid his shirt buttons. He looked over to Rotis, who was trying to tighten the robe around her, and over to a piece of cloth he was sure was the lass´ top. "Oooh," he said again as Cedric smiled sheepishly at him.

"I´d leave yeh two ter yer, erm, business, but I´m s´possed to keep a watch `round these parts, due to times as they are n´ all. Fang´s keeping guard on th´ other side as we speak," he said, squinting at the group of tress across from them, causing both Cedric and Rotis to turn around a bit fearfully. "So `ssuming you two´ve, erm, finished with, er, what yeh were doin´, yeh´d best head on back ter the castle, or at least, erm, continue it there, and not here." He was going slightly pink under his great shaggy beard, and Rotis smiled, holding back giggles.

"Hagrid?" she asked, pouncing on her knowledge that his only weak spot, aside from the often hazardous beasts they read about (but did nothing with due to that Slytherin weasel Malfoy´s injury at the start of the year) in Care of Magical Creatures, which Hagrid now taught, was a student in need, especially as sweet and gentile a one as Rotis. "You won´t tell anyone, will you? Especially not," she said, sudden actual anxiety creeping into her play-acting one, "my brother?"

Cedric himself looked a bit pale at the thought of this, but Hagrid soon shook his bushy head.

"Not a word," he promised. "´Sides, not sure how I´d explain it, anyhoo. Yeh best go back now, though," he said, turning around, his lantern swinging in front of him. "These´re dangerous times, even for yeh two," he said, "even fer, erm, doin´ what yeh were doin´."

"Thank you, Hagrid!" she called after him as Cedric sat beside her and slipped his shoes on. She put his tie back under his collar where it belonged, and he shyly helped re-button her shirt (as though she found the task difficult). She took one last look at the enchanted tree as they flew off into the night, nestling her head between Cedric´s shoulder blades and wondering if she´d ever be able to concentrate on schoolwork again. It didn´t seem likely, and Rotis was exceedingly happy of it.