The Yule ball had been the talk of the castle ever since Professor Dumbledore announced that the Triwizard tournament would be held at Hogwarts.

Now that the ball was less than a month away, everyone was scrambling around the halls of the castle, trying to find a date; nobody wanted to be the poor bloke who went alone.

And it was no different for Cedric. Of course, he wasn’t exactly short of options; there were plenty of girls who pined to go with him, but he had a special someone in mind.

He didn’t know if you would say yes; there was a very real chance that you already had someone to go with, you were gorgeous, but Cedric was willing to take his chances.

He’s got it all planned out. He’ll present you with a flower Professor Sprout had given him and ask you nicely—like a gentleman, because you liked that.

Butterflies flutter in his stomach as he walks through the hallways of the castle to find you. He knew you would be somewhere near the courtyard; he’d asked around and found out you had Defense Against the Dark Arts.

And surely, there you are, scarf in your house colours around your neck, cheeks slightly rosy from the cold weather, and the sleeves of your robes pulled to cover your hands.

This was going to go just as planned, no need to be worried

Then just as he’s about to ask you, Harry comes up, the red-headed boy who was usually by his side, now nowhere to be seen.

Cedric felt a bit bad for Harry; almost the whole school hated him. Maybe hate was a strong word, but he wasn’t very liked after his name was somehow pulled out of the Goblet of Fire, despite being under the age to even put his name in there in the first place. Even Harry’s best friend was mad at him.

Pitying the younger boy, Cedric motions for Harry to speak first, even if Cedric had been about to talk to you when the latter interrupted.

What Cedric hadn’t anticipated when he let Harry speak first was that Harry would ask you to go to the Yule ball as his date. The second Harry uttered the question, in the sort of desperation that gripped everybody who didn’t have a date two weeks before the ball.

Would you say yes to Harry? Had Cedric just given away his Yule ball date?