Harry Potter Idiot

Harry sits in a large, cushy chair in the Gryffindor common room, a small ring clasped tightly in his right hand. The sky outside is still dark, not even a sliver of sunlight out yet.

_Probably three or four in the morning._

He pulls the comforter around his cold body tighter around himself so he can maximize his body heat, at the same time gripping the ring tensely, so much so that the rock encrusted onto its surface digs sharply into his skin. But his hand is cold and numb, so the pain won't come until much later. Harry knows when to stop, though, so he relinquishes his grip on it, but can't bring himself to look at it.

Instead, he focuses on the fire. It crackles slowly, rather weak now that it's been burning the whole night. Here in this room, alone, with the darkness outside cloaking all life, he pretends that he is the only person that knows he's there. The creaking sound from the door of the girls' dormitories, the hushed whisper of an illumination spell and the slow footsteps toward his chair tell him otherwise.

"Morning, Hermione."

Somehow, he senses her eyes flit to his hand, sticking out from the chair, still wrapped around the ring.

"It's been two months, you know." She mumbles perceptively.

"But how can I forget?" Harry smiles sadly, not that she can see.

"You can't. But you can move on." From her tone of voice, he deduces that she doesn't agree with what he did, but she's his friend and she'll be at his side no matter what.

"I was an idiot, Hermione." Though Harry is over the dull throb by now, he can't help but inwardly die a little bit more at the regret and shame he feels at his actions.

"We all make mistakes, Harry. You can't undo what you did. You just have to keep going."

He unclenches his fist and sees the gold ring, with diamonds and rubies scattered all around the surface. On the inner side, he can see _Cedric and Harry_ inscribed in it. His eyes flicker to the light from the fireplace that allowed him to see the inscription in the first place and briefly considered chucking it into the flames. Then he realizes that he'd die because it's the only thing he has, other than the memories, that ties Cedric to him.

Slipping it around his finger for what seems to be the quintillionth time since they'd broken up, he clenches his fist and stands, turning to Hermione with gratitude in his eyes, waiting for her own understanding expression to dawn over her face before he returns to his dorm to sleep the rest of the morning.

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Harry quickly strides over to Cedric, who is alone in the corridors for the first time in two months. Cedric stops, taken aback.

"What do you want, Potter?"

Harry winces at the cold use of his last name instead of the friendly _Harry_ that he had grown accustomed to during their time together. Pulling it together, he raises the ring in between his forefinger and thumb, holding it high enough for Cedric to see.

"I thought you might want this back." After a long pause, Harry looks down at the ground as Cedric carefully takes it from him, handling it as if it were much more fragile than it actually was.

An even longer moment passes before Cedric, gentle as always, takes Harry's hand and tenderly opens the semi-closed fist with his thumb. Harry's gaze shoots upward, then to his hand as Cedric carefully places the ring onto his palm.

"I want you to keep it. Take it as a reminder that I still love you, even after what you've done." Cedric's voice cracks heartbreakingly at the last word, and the tears spring to his eyes even after all this time. Harry can feel his heart break into hundreds of pieces at the sight, but Cedric looks away, blinking back the tears before bravely looking him in the eyes again. "It's just that there are some things that can't be forgiven."

Hastily turning away, Cedric strides off to rejoin his friends, the shaking of his shoulders and his hand coming up to his eyes to wipe away the tears that refused to abate a telltale sign that Cedric still hasn't gotten over what Harry had done.

Growling with compunction and self-hatred, he swirls around quickly and rams his fist into the nearest stone pillar with all of his strength. Not caring that his hand feels like jelly now, that his knuckles hurt like hell, and that he won't be able to write for days, he storms off toward the Great Hall.

_I'm a first-class idiot._

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"I guess the three hundred 'sorry's I told him had some effect after all. Just not enough." Harry tells Hermione as they head to dinner together. "Argh, Hermione, I'm dying without him."

"What can you do? You have to move on. Things'll be alright." Hermione assures him.

Sadly, he glances outside to the courtyard where Cedric and some of his friends are headed toward dinner as well, but still have a bit of a way to go. "You know what, Hermione, why don't you go ahead." Harry says absently.

"What are you planning to do?" Hermione asks keenly.

"I don't know. I'll wing it. I have to talk to him." Harry replies. He was determined to do something to patch things up between the two of them, even beg for forgiveness.

"Alright. But if you aren't at the Great Hall in thirty minutes, I'm coming to look for you." She hefts her pile of books and walks off into the darkness.

Smiling slightly after her, he returns his attention to the boy in question, automatically standing out, joking loudly with his friends.

Then, the last person he wants to see decides to stroll around the corner and flash him an infuriating smile.

"Malfoy." Harry's eyes narrow dangerously, but the tone of his voice is otherwise neutral.

"Hey, Harry . . ." Draco is clueless, and plows forward, "it's been two months since we last got together." Harry's insides began to boil. "How about we go for a romp in the nearest bathroom?"

"No, thanks." Harry believes he's said enough, and his gaze begins to wander towards Cedric again. Strangely, he's gone. But he has no time to ponder this as Draco interrupts his train of thought.

"Oh, c'mon, Harry." Draco grins wolfishly, raising a disarming eyebrow and completely missing Harry's dismissal. "There's nothing wrong with a good shag."

"I really don't feel like it." Harry's hand clenches and unclenches, looking around the courtyard for Cedric. His blood is literally boiling in anger. _You're the reason I'm not with the love of my life right now. Go away._

"Why don't you loosen up a bit? C'mon, let me help you." Draco reaches out, his hand landing on Harry's hip. And that's when Harry explodes. His good hand springs out and bashes Draco in the chin, causing his head to snap upwards. Draco reels backward and falls, head bouncing slightly against the wall.

"What is wrong with you?" Draco touches his chin, scrambling to stand up.

"What's wrong with me?" Harry shouts, all the anger, guilt and frustration of the past two months pouring out of him in torrents. "This is all your fault! You seduced me when you damn well knew that I was with Cedric! And he loved me! We had something before you came into the picture, you know that?" He's so caught up in his outburst that he doesn't hear the approaching footsteps.

He grabs for Draco's robes and slams him up against the wall. The anger in his eyes shines in the moonlight, a furious green color that blurs and sharpens as his conflicting emotions sing in his mind.

"You were the one who gave into temptation." Draco says accusatorily, at once returning to his old icy demeanor.

"You're an asshole." Harry spits. "I wouldn't cheat with you or anyone else in my life ever again."

"All this for Cedric?" Draco scoffs. "You aren't even together anymore. Why stay faithful?"

"Because I love him." Harry says simply, and hurls Draco to the ground several meters away.

Harry turns around to leave, but he stops cold when he sees—

"Cedric?" Harry whispers, disbelieving. Cedric and his whole group of friends. But Harry doesn't notice them—all he can see are the tears in Cedric's eyes and the brilliant, forgiving smile on his lips. Cedric runs to him, sweeping him up in a majestic embrace, spinning him around and around from sheer joy and not hearing his friends mumbling about history repeating itself, and their footsteps following Draco's downtrodden ones toward the Great Hall.

"You heard everything?" Harry squeaks loud enough for only him to hear.

"Yeah." Cedric replied, burying his face in Harry's neck and hair, breathing in his scent as though he'd missed it for a billion years, hugging him tightly as if Harry might slip away if he didn't. "I love you, Harry. I love you."

"I was an idiot, Cedric. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. Everything's alright now." Cedric murmurs, eyes closed, too caught up in snuggling Harry to care about anything else in the world. When he's had his fill, he releases Harry and holds out his hand to him. "Can I walk you to dinner?"

Harry merely nods, taking the offered hand and starting towards the Hall, but not before he leans up and rests a firm kiss onto Cedric's lips.

A/N: Okay there really was no witty or relieving way for me to end this, so I just decided to end it like that. Apologies! Flames are hot but reviews are orgasmic.


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Harry Potter, Angst, Romance