-={I'm Holding You Closer Than Most}=- [Cedric Diggory, 4]

Whispers. The Devil's voice in my ear. Coercing me into performing his hideous tasks of immoral behaviour against those who were only ever collateral damage. Inserting himself into the lives of strangers in order to get a better hold on those he so frequently wished to conquer. And I helped him. With a little piece of me I added to his list of terrors fulfilled.

But it wasn't right. That I, the sinner, came out of this unscathed. And she, the saint, existed only in theory. She wasn't real anymore. She wasn't Lizzy, the darling daughter of Rupert and Anna Dimakos. She was the goner. As much as my parents liked to believe otherwise.

I was standing outside, and the clouds were black above us. Striking feared expressions into the marigolds and lilacs our mother spent hours grooming. "Gardens were a little slice of heaven," she used to say. But heaven was gone. Right now, it was hiding safely beneath the golden gates as darkness swept over the earth. My father's classical records sounding out from his study on the top floor, third door to the left. He loved his study. It was his retreat when the world got too dull.

Lizzy and I. Standing twenty feet apart in the backyard of our quiet house, on the quiet street, where nothing was supposed to happen. A "nice neighourhood" was the selling factor, which drew in my parents in the first place. This was a place for families. With siblings that fought sometimes. But not like this...

"Why won't you just get out of my life!" She screamed at me, a furious expression painted on her face. I looked at her confused.

"I...I was just trying to play with you..." I mumbled back. Crack! Boom! Thunder and lightning sounded and flashed around us, a storm brewing in the midst of our fight.

"Well now all of my friends think I'm weird!" She cried, glaring at me with hatred that was typical of preteens. This would be short lived, and her friends would forget about it by the time drama ensued in one of their lives. Which was frequent, for their age group. But not for mine. At the rip age of 9 anger was an uncontrollable force.

It bubbled within you, encasing every part of you until you could no longer tell right from left. The entire world seemed to writhe with laughter, mocking you. And witnessing your own sister, your best friend and most idolized hero, look at you with such distaste...It was heartbreaking. And with such a powerful emotion emanating from me, it was like a call for him to come.

"Say it." He whispered. He was a shadow, hidden somewhere beyond my sight, but he was there. I just didn't know who he was.

"I was just trying to make you smile..." I muttered pathetically. She scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Mom told you not to do it in public, it's not normal, Isis. You're not normal. You can't just walk around whipping out your stick and turning mushrooms into faeries."

"Don't let her talk like that." He said, in an almost loving tone. "Say it, show her how you feel and she'll say she's sorry." I twitched, almost cringing away from myself with the inner dilemma. She made me so angry.

"Crucio..." I whispered, flicking my wand at her. Nothing happened. She rolled her eyes, turning to walk away.

"Say it like you mean it!" He hissed at me. I hated being yelled at, and that hatred poured out of me and into the curse.

"CRUCIO!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, watching the green streak of light explode from my wand and hit her in the chest. Her eyes widened as she collapsed to the floor, shaking uncontrollably and writhing. After a brief moment of anxious silence her screams came, piercing through my ears. It knocked me out of my daze.

How did I stop it?! I didn't want to hurt her anymore, I wanted to apologize. I didn't mean it! Tears began to spring from my eyes as she continued to scream. I knelt down at her, trying to make it stop as my mother's scream from the kitchen window joined the gaping hole inside of me. My father's music ceased as Lizzy's eyes locked onto mine, making me freeze. She was staring right at me, crying and dying, and I couldn't do a thing.

My father was outside in an instant, mumbled a spell, and my mother slapped me across the face. But those eyes, they stayed with me forever.

**

"So Hermione, do you ever plan on telling me what you had to do with that newspaper?" I asked as the two of us sat on the common room floor together. We were working on a project for Muggle Studies together, putting the finishing touches on our papers. She looked around at the few people in the common room and caved in.

"Well...you saw all the rubbish Rita Skeeter was writing about Harry last year during the cup, right?" She asked. I nodded. "I did some research, and it turns out the Inquisitor's famous journalist is an unregistered animagus." Hermione said, smiling smugly.

"Are you serious?" I asked in shock. She nodded proudly.

"So I payed a little visit to her." She said nonchalantly.

"You blackmailed her, didn't you?" I said proudly. She nodded excitedly. "You're brilliant, Hermione."

"Really?" She asked, showing that she was extremely nervous about the task she completed.

"Dip into that side of you a bit more, it's great." I assured her. The remebrall I had placed on the table turned brilliant red, reminding me of my plans. "Will you be okay finishing the rest up by yourself?" I asked, and then remembered how stupid of a question that was. I was talking to Hermione Granger.

"Yes, of course. Where are you headed?" She asked.

"The twins want me to come watch their quidditch practise." I said, packing all of my things into my bag and stretching as I stood up.

"Harry and Ron never mentioned anything about quidditch practice." She said.

"Oh, it's just the two of them and Cedric." I replied.

"Hmm." She said, looking down at her papers again. "Have fun." She added, almost taunting me. I rolled my eyes, walking up to our room and throwing my things onto my bed. Opening my trunk, I shuffled through until I found an outfit I was pleased with.

I threw on a pair of brown leggings, ran a brush through my hair, and put on an over sized red plaid shirt. It was comfy, and I'd be able to lounge in it. I looked around the room, trying to decide if I should bring something to do despite my promise to Fred and George. I decided they'd no doubt keep me entertained, but I brought my sketchpad and pencil.

http://chanelwood.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/grunge.jpg

"I'll see you later Hermione!" I called as I exited the common room. My navigational skills through Hogwarts were effortless. I knew my way through every nook and cranny, and every secret passage way thanks to the twins. I never understood how they always managed to find the easy way out of things. But I didn't question them, I enjoyed being blissfully ignorant sometimes.

As I exited the school I was greeted by a beautiful night breeze. It was a perfect night for star watching. The temperature was just right, there were no clouds, and due to the massive lack of city lights the sky was clear and the stars visible. I heard the nearing voices and laughter of the twins, and smiled subconsciously as I sped up. Entering the pitch, I listened to them as they spoke.

"That girl is never on time for anything, Fred."

"Let's go get her then, George. She needs to-"

"Improve on my timing? Yeah, I kind of gathered that." I remarked, entering the pitch. They flew high above me, and grinned when they saw me. Giving a devilish look to one another, I immediately put myself on alert. "What are you going to do..." I asked cautiously. They swooped down unbelievably fast and began circling me like a vicious band of vultures. Again and again the spun around me, laughing wildly. It reminded me too much of the whirlwind I felt when I was younger.

"Repello wizardarum!" I yelled, shooting the spell at the blur in front of me. Both boys were sent flying backwards, and I took comfort in the open space once more. They quickly caught there balance and continued to laugh.

"Nice one, Isis!" Fred said, and I laughed with him. Nothing phased these two.

"Didn't think you'd be so quick to react!" George added as I walked to the middle of the pitch. The three of them slowly descended to my level, and I acknowledged Cedric with a nod.

"So you guys better have some nifty tricks to show me, because I could be doing a lot of work right now. But I'm not. I said, clutching my sketchpad close.

"What's in your hand then?" George taunted. I rolled my eyes, showing them what it was.

"Come to draw our portraits?" Fred teased.

"How high are you guys going to be?" I asked.

"Not too far, you can sit in the first row." Fred replied, and I nodded, making my way their while they went back to the air. I climbed the few stairs and made myself comfortable, slipping off my shoes and putting up my feet on the chair before me. Flipping open the sketchpad, I smiled as the twins began to egg Cedric on, teasing him about how well he could fly.

I focused on the closer twin- Fred, as far as I could tell, and began to sketch. I liked drawing, and in a sense it was my release. It helped me calm myself whenever things got hectic. Sort of like work. When my mind was focused on my work, I didn't have the ability to think about other things. It was a robotic quality I possessed, but I found it useful.

"So boys, you never did get around to telling me what my part is in the prank." I said, keeping my eyes on the paper.

"Isis!" Fred complained, I looked up at him, confused.

"We can't go discussing our plans in front of everyone!" George complained, and because they looked at me while they spoke Cedric got the quaffle from George's grasp and flew off with it. I laughed.

"Come on, Cedric's not about to go telling her what we're going to do." I protested. The twins looked at one another, debating whether or not I was right. But as usual, I knew they would give in sooner or later.

"Alright..." Fred said.

"But not a word of this to anyone, Diggory!" George added.

"I won't repeat a word." He said, holding up his free hand in an act of innocence. George smirked, taking that moment to rush by and take back the quaffle. Then they started flying around again, while explaining what I was to do.

"We give you a concentrated dose of our patented love potion," Fred began.

"You casually bump into said victim during, let's say,"

"Morning meal? You spill the potion into her pumpkin juice, and-"

"Bam! She has an uncontrollable attraction to the first person she sees." George said proudly.

"Only, we've made a special dose just for her." Fred informed me. I looked at him quizzically. He flew down to my level, and leaned in close. "We've made it so she falls in love with Snape." He winked. I gaped at him.

"Merlin's beard, Fred...George...You're wonderful." I mused, and their faces were plastered with arrogant smiles.

"We know." They said in unison, Fred flying up once more to join the boys. My sketch took a different turn, becoming more sarcastic. It felt more Fred.

__________________________________

"Alright, that's enough practice for tonight, Diggory." Fred said, flying down to my level and hopping from his broom to the seat beside me. I immediately turned away, hiding the sketch. "What's that?" He asked.

"You'll see when I'm done." I mumbled as George sat on my other side. Cedric followed, sitting beside him. I tried to work but Fred was much too anxious to see what I'd been drawing. I rolled my eyes closing the book.

"Come on, Is. Just a little peak!" He pleaded.

"No." I said sternly. "You can't see until it's finished, it'll ruin it." I said, keeping my ground and promising myself I wouldn't give in.

"Fine, be like that." He said immaturely. It always made me laugh when he pretended to be angry. "Race you back, George?" He asked.

"Ready to be beat again so soon?" His brother challenged, and with a blink of my eyes they were gone. When I was content they were gone, I flipped the book back open, and continued. I felt a pair of eyes lingering on the page.

"Way to peak, Cedric." I said sarcastically, putting the finishing touches on the drawing.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I-" He began.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just bugging you." I laughed. With one final swish of my pencil and my signature at the bottom of the page, I held it away from me, satisfied. It was a snapshot of Fred mid flight, calling out profanaties at either Cedric or George, I couldn't remember.

"That's fantastic." Cedric said, scrutinizing the page. I smiled, maybe even blushed slightly.

"Thanks." I said. I let him take the book so he could see the picture better, and I looked up at the sky. It was so beautiful out. "Did you know that pretty much every scientific element was originally created inside the cores of stars? Except hydrogen and helium." I smiled, leaning back and admiring the sea of stars.

"Seriously?" He asked, looking over at me. I nodded. "What are stars even made of?" He asked, leaning back as well and looking up.

"It's basically just a big ball of ionized gas held together by gravity. The gas is called plasma though. You can use that in Astronomy class, Professor Sinistra will be quite impressed." I teased, causing him to laugh. From my peripheral vision I saw him smile, and something small went off inside of me. He had quite the endearing smile.

"She doesn't really look like most of the teachers here." He pointed out.

"Of course not, that's what makes her wonderful. Isn't she absolutely beautiful?" I asked and he laughed once more.

"Is that a...trick question or something?" He asked.

"No, not at all. I think she's gorgeous. I wish I had her sense of style." I remarked. "Anyways, who's your match against next week?" I asked, turning to face him.

"Slytherin." He said, sticking out his tongue in disgust. I laughed, and he joined me. "They're bloody vicious."

"I would imagine so. But that's why people like Fred and George exist, to keep them in check." I smiled.

"Who are you getting?"

"Millicent Bulstrode." I said.

"She deserves it." He said. I inhaled and exhaled the night air, completely content with my current position. Cedric was nice, easy to talk to. A good friend. "Would you like to learn to fly?" He asked suddenly. I looked at him as if he were crazy.

"I couldn't fly a broomstick to save my life." I laughed.

"Then learn." He smiled.

"Well this all depends on how dear your broom is to you." I remarked, and it was his turn to laugh.

"It's not the easiest thing in the world to break a broomstick, Isis." He reasoned. "Come on." He said, getting up and placing my sketchpad under his arm as he descended the stairs to the pitch. I sighed, but followed him anyways. Maybe it'd be fun?

"I'm not sure if this is such a good idea..." I said honestly. He smiled, beckoning me forth. His broom was hovering a few metres off of the ground.

"Get on. It won't go anywhere." He instructed. I took a weary step towards the contraption, swinging a leg over the broom. It rose up a little so that I was suspended in the air, and I gripped the handle with immense force, causing him to laugh. "I've got you." He said, holding onto the front end of the broom with his hand. "Okay, lean forward a little. You're going to move." He pointed out and I sarcastically glared.

Doing as I was told, I leaned forward ever so slightly. He walked backwards while the broom projected itself across the field slowly. I smiled to myself, proud of the minuscule achievement I'd made.

"Hmm." I said in approval. "Not so bad..." I muttered, risking a little more speed. He began jogging lightly to keep up with me. I smirked, and leaned more, causing him to run. He caught on to what I was doing and laughed.

"Try turning." He said, and I gave him a look of disbelief. "Just tilt to the right a bit." He said, and I did as I was told again. It worked.

"If only the twins could see me now." I remarked.

"Would you like to fly a little higher?" He asked, and I stopped altogether.

"Definitely not." I said, laughing at the thought. "I'll fall and break my neck. Or worse, your broom."

"You'll be fine." He said in an assuring tone.

"What if I lose control?" I asked. He pondered for a minute, and I liked that he took things in with serious consideration.

"I could come up with you if you'd like." He offered.

"Okay." I said, nodding. He lowered the broom a few metres in order to get on behind me.

"Um, my hands will have to reach around your waist, is that okay with you?" He asked, and I smiled. What a sweetheart.

"Mhm." I replied, and his arms brushed my sides as they gripped the broomstick. Lifting us off of the ground slowly, so as not to scare me, we rose into the air. His chest was warm against my back, a nice break from the cool breezes brushing through my thin shirt.

"Just tell me when we've gone too high." He said patiently. I liked that he didn't force things onto me. It was a refreshing change from Fred and George, although I loved them dearly.

"So what exactly happens if we fall?" I asked as we continued to rise, even beginning to fly around a little now. We were quite high, higher than the goalposts.

"Well, generally I'd save us?" I almost asked, causing me to laugh.

"I get paranoid, hights aren't exactly my best point." I confessed.

"Would you like to go back down?" He asked, backing up slowly.

"No, no. It's actually...really nice. Surprisingly." I remarked. "Can we...go higher?" I asked. He rose us up more, at a slightly heightened pace. I could no longer see my sketchpad on the floor, nor make out the outlines of the chairs in the stands. We were high.

"This is basically the minimum distance I'm at during a match." He said. I turned around to look at him in shock.

"That's not exactly something you can get used to all that fast." I remarked.

"It never really bothered me." He shrugged.

"The summer equinox is coming up." I smiled.

"What's that?" He asked.

"It's when the seconds of daylight and seconds of darkness are exactly the same." I replied. "It happens when the earth doesn't tilt more away or towards the sun. Only happens twice a year."

"When is it?"

"The twenty second, two days before the lunar eclipse!" I said excited.

"I take it you're going to Professor Sinistra's then?" He smiled.

"Of course. You should come too." I said as he circled around the pitch. It was rather relaxing, much more pleasant than I had planned. "It's getting close to curfew, we should head in." I said, thinking about how long I had been out.

"Right." He said, immediately beginning to lower us back to safety. We touched the ground and I had to re-adjust to the gravity difference. I straightened out my shirt a little before turning back to him.

"Thanks for the flying lessons." I smiled.

"Anytime." He said, smiling back. I pulled him into a quick hug before walking away. It amused me that I had been in this boy's school for a number of years, and only just realized he existed. Foolish, on my part. He was a really sweet guy. I made a mental note to bug Hermione about what her hidden opinion was about him.

---------------------

I hope this makes up for the last chapter's suckiness?

thanks to

Dysthymia
xXxDodgerxXx
PanicHunter94
withXaXfreakingXy