Chapter Text
A young boy, 13 years old, with light brown hair and soft grey eyes smiled from ear to ear as he entered the Great Hall once again.
The tall boy gazed up at the ceiling to see the familiar sight of thousands and thousands of lit candles floating above, and on the tables laid glittering golden plates and goblets. But soon he turned his attention to a small stool, set in front of the professors' table of which he knew the first years would be sitting in very soon to be sorted into their houses.
Cedric remembered putting on the sorting hat like it was yesterday. He had been slightly embarrassed, because it was a rather shabby hat, and he didn't want to look ridiculous. Thinking back on it, Cedric felt silly for even caring. He remembered it speaking in his ear for quite some time.
Before going to Hogwarts, he had wanted to be in Gryffindor. Admittedly, being in the house of the courageous and daring seemed much more appealing than any of the others. When he was sorted into Hufflepuff, however, although somewhat disappointed, an unmistakable sense of pride had spread through his body. Because he knew that Hufflepuff was, after all, generally the "best" house. As far as being nice was concerned at least. But now he realized that staying true to his house's traits took a different kind of bravery. Being loyal and dedicated all of the time was difficult, but being Cedric, he was going to prove it was possible. "You will do great things for Hufflepuff," the sorting hat had said to him.
As soon as the former students had all taken their seats, the great doors flung open, and Cedric peered over the heads of his fellow classmates to get a glimpse of the new students. He couldn't help but grin when he saw the look of awe on all of their faces. He supposed he had probably looked like that.
Professor McGonagall ushered them to the front of the hall, and quickly explained to them, "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted."
They all shifted around nervously, shuffling their feet and clinging to their robes with sweaty hands.
"Abbott, Hannah!" A pink-faced girl walked forward and took a seat, then shakily placed the hat on her head. After a moment, it shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
Cedric and his table cheered loudly as she went down to sit with them. Several more names were called; Boot, Terry, being the first Ravenclaw, Brown, Lavender, going to Gryffindor, and the first Slytherin, Bulstrode, Millicent.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" A lanky brown haired boy made his way to the seat, and cringed as the hat was placed on his head.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" it shouted almost immediately. The boy hurried down the steps and ran over to his new house table. He smiled with delight as he was patted on the back by older students and he settled in a seat next to Cedric.
Smiling at the boy, who still looked slightly nervous, he introduced himself, "Hey, I'm Cedric. Cedric Diggory." He held out his hand and Justin Finch-Fletchley shook it firmly.
"Nice to meet you, Cedric."
A few more names were called, before all of a sudden, there was silence. Professor McGonagall had stopped calling names, and probably determining how she could say the next one drawing the least attention, took a deep breath and called, "Potter, Harry!"
Suddenly, the room broke into whispers as a small, skinny boy with jet-black hair, brilliant green eyes, and round glasses walked up to the stool.
Cedric lifted himself off his seat a little to get a better look. That was... he couldn't believe it. He would be going to school with Harry Potter? He noticed that the boy seemed especially nervous as the hat whispered things in his ear. But then, after about a minute, it yelled, "Better be, GRYFFINDOR!"
Cedric was almost slightly disappointed. If someone like the boy that made You Know Who disappear was in Hufflepuff, that would show the other houses. The whole of Gryffindor House, however, were on their feet cheering, and he watched as they embraced him. In Hufflepuff or not, it was still cool he got to go to Hogwarts with Harry Potter. That would definitely be something to tell his dad.
~~~
News had broken out that Harry Potter, a first year mind you, was the new Gryffindor Seeker. Cedric's jaw had dropped when he heard. No first years had played in the Seeker position for the past hundred years.
"Wh... you're saying he's playing Seeker?!"
Finch-Fletchley nodded with an awed expression himself.
He couldn't help being a little jealous. He was the Seeker for Hufflepuff, but had only just achieved that position this year. He turned away from Justin and sighed quietly, trying not to show his envy.
But Cedric didn't have to pretend being impressed when he saw Potter at the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor. He was impressed. Very.
The boy must've spotted the Snitch because he put on a spurt of speed, clearly a better flyer than Higgs. And he had been on a broom for... what, two and a half months? Out of nowhere Marcus Flint knocked Harry of course, and he watched as Potter held on for dear life. Cedric scowled.
When Lee Jordan commented, "All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penal...." he laughed.
So far this game, his eyes had only been on Harry— his envy fading away as he watched in amazement. He admit, Harry Potter was already better than him on a broom. And his flying was stunning to look at.
But all at once, his broom gave a lurch, and Cedric thought for a moment that Potter might fall off. No one else seemed to be noticing as it suddenly went berserk, and Harry clang on tightly, as it seemed to be out of his control.
Then Cedric gasped, as did the rest of the crowd. His broom had rolled around and the small boy was hanging on with one hand as Fred and George circled beneath.
Cedric began to feel very anxious, and started panicking... What if he falls? What would happen?! At this height? He would probably... Well, Cedric preferred not to think about what would happen. It was only after all of these thoughts had been through his head that he wondered why he cared so much.
After a good five minutes filled with an excessive amount of anxiety for a stranger, Cedric watched as Harry could finally clamber back onto his broom, and immediately started racing towards the ground. He landed on all fours, and then the Gryffindor Seeker looked as though he were about to be sick. But instead of his breakfast, something small, gold, and round came out of his mouth, and Harry Potter immediately held it up high, shouting, "I got the snitch!"
He looked so happy, and proud, and was grinning so widely that Cedric could see his smile from high up in the stands, and he couldn't help but feel incredibly glad for him. He cheered loudly. A first year had just won a Quidditch game for Gryffindor against Slytherin. That was incredible! He doubted they'd be forgetting that soon.
The rest of the year went by, and Cedric and his house constantly heard rumors about Harry and his two best friends, Ron and Hermione. The three of them had supposedly killed Professor Quirrel, who was supposedly bad, and had supposedly gone through a series of obstacles set up by teachers to do so. Cedric didn't quite understand any of this, and didn't know how close to the truth it was, but he knew it to be somewhat along the lines of accurate, and it only kept increasing his already high opinion of Harry Potter.