The first week at Hogwarts wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Teachers are usually more lenient regarding tardiness and homework assignments toward the beginning of the year, so things were relatively calm.

My only problem was the pesky first years constantly coming up to my room to ask questions, especially ones that I've answered time and time again. Luckily, they seemed to have gotten the hang of things after being at Hogwarts for a whole week so I'd been left alone a bit more. Could finally get some decent sleep.

On the other hand, this meant my prefect duties at night would be starting.

For the first week, just the Head Boy and Head Girl are tasked with patrolling around at night, until they organize a schedule and job it out to the rest of the group. I hoped that tensions with Cedric would mean he'd assign me less work, wanting to see me less than the other prefects, but I knew I couldn't get out of my assigned work just because we had a falling out.

This resulted in myself, as well as the other prefects sitting in the library as Cedric and Hermione Granger (obviously who'd been named Head Girl, no surprise) going over the schedule with us. Well, all of the prefects except one person.

Cedric and Granger sat at the head of the short, but rectangular table with some parchment at their fingertips; no doubt Granger whipped that up for efficiency's sake.

Ron Weasley sat to Granger's left, next to me on one side of the table. Both of our partners were elsewhere. At least his was still at the table, but mine was... wherever a Malfoy might be found. I didn't waste my time trying to figure out what his degenerate self could be up to.

Across from Weasley and I sat Padma Patil and Terry Boot, the Ravenclaw prefects, and at the other end of the table was Hannah Abbott, Cedric's Hufflepuff partner.

"—while Padma and Terry will take Tuesday and Thursday, Ron and Hannah have Monday and Wednesday, which leaves Friday for Hermione and I to rotate," I heard Cedric babble on, while I zoned out from the chat. I was too embarrassed about Draco not being here.

I only caught most of what he said, but of course that meant that Draco and I had the weekend shifts. No doubt that was calculated so Draco couldn't stir up trouble by throwing parties in the common room. He was infamous for wild Slytherin-only parties that would get busted by teachers over and over again. He always kept having them, though. I'd admit, his tactics of keeping them under wraps had improved over the years, as well.

"Any objections to the schedule?" Granger inquired.

I deadpanned and then raised my hand mockingly, as if she were some teacher I couldn't be bothered to listen to. I didn't like listening to Granger babble on in classes, let alone outside.

The ends of Cedric's lips turned up in something of a smile. More of a smirk, but one of humor or amusement. "Y/n, you don't need to raise your hand," he told me.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "How am I supposed to trust that Malfoy will stay on this schedule if he can't be bothered to show up to prefect meetings? Saturday is the worst day to patrol, especially. I can't handle that myself; it's too much ground to cover."

Granger nodded, understandingly. "In the event that happens, we can assign you a temporary, stand-in partner. That goes for all of you, we can make adjustments if need be."

"Such little faith in me already, Vitelli?"

I turned my head to see where the owner of the voice was that called my name. I should've been able to tell by the malice in his voice, but I didn't know who it was until my gaze landed on my white-haired spouse sauntering over and sitting at empty spot next to Abbott. He removed his bag from around his shoulders and dropped it on the table obnoxiously, causing a loud thump.

He sat with one ankle over his knee, legs spread far apart. He had an irritating smirk playing on his lips.

"Why yes, actually," I glared at him. "The meeting started fifteen minutes ago. Of course you're late."

His eyebrows bounced up, like he was surprised. This was then replaced by a look of satisfaction with himself in a playful way. "You all waited for me? How kind."

I could tell that Cedric was having none of that. "Could you move your bag, Malfoy? You should see the schedule."

"And put it where?... the floor? Have you seen how dusty this library is? Really, Diggory, even you could have some standards—"

Since I was sat closest to him, I just picked his bag off the table and plopped it on the floor, earning a look of disgust from him as he reached down to grab it.

Before he could open his mouth to complain, Cedric slid over the large parchment for him to see, which shut him up quickly since he had something else to occupy his mind. He even left his bag on the floor... such a short attention span.

Cedric gave me a silently mouthed "thank you" which I returned with a warm smile. Cedric's expression, which was annoyed with Draco a second ago suddenly changed into a small grin, kept to himself. For a moment, I thought I saw a tinge of red tint his cheeks but our mutual gaze was cut short by Draco's whiny voice.

"Weekends? Diggory, I can't patrol weekends. It's the only free time I have off," Draco complained.

"You and everybody else, Malfoy," Cedric shook his head. "This is just for this month, we'll rotate eventually so everyone will have each night at some point."

Draco visibly relaxed. "Good. I didn't want this position to start with, and now I have to give up my spare time to look out for first years wandering around? Unbelievable."

"Is there something else you'd rather be doing?" Granger spoke up.

I knew Granger wasn't one for parties, and I can't say that I necessarily was, either. But she had some strict vendetta against them. She was obviously prying for something to give himself up. Maybe we could get him stripped of his title if he admitted to something, but that was a long shot, considering how many times he's been cited for other things.

Draco snorted. "Of course, mudblood. Anything."

We all turned to look at him with our own expressions of shock, but none quite like Cedric.

"Malfoy that is enough!" Cedric raised his voice, clearly angered by Draco's lack of respect for Granger. I didn't like her much, either, but he was a prick for stooping so low as to call her by that slur. "Keep up this attitude and you won't be a prefect for much longer!"

Draco's eyes widened with what looked like hope. "You promise?"

I shook my head and looked over at him, clearly upset with his treatment of our head prefects. I glared at him intensely while I chided his actions. "Merlin, Draco, control yourself! Have some respect for their roles!"

"Me? Control myself? While we're on the topic of respect, y/n, you could certainly have a lot more respect for me as—"

Before he could finish, I grabbed his wrist resting on his leg and pulled him over closer to me with a force that I didn't know I had. Luckily there was nothing to bang his head on, or he might've gotten whiplash from how hard I pulled. This resulted in, to my favor, him gasping rather than finishing that sentence.

"If you know what's good for you, you won't even think of bringing that up. Ever again."

Our heads were less than a foot away from each other, a few inches away was a better assessment. I could almost sense something in his wide eyes that I hadn't noticed before... something that probably wasn't even ever there before. It looked something like fear, but not quite. More so like an anxiety or jittery nervousness. His eyebrows were scrunched together and caused wrinkles to form.

We sat like this for a few moments before I felt the warm hands of Cedric prying us apart. Even if it was just for a second, I reveled in his familiar touch and a blush crept its way up my neck as I turned away. I couldn't say if he felt it too... I looked away before I could analyze his face.

"You're coming with me, Malfoy. We're going straight to Dumbledore and I'm requesting a revocation of your prefect status," Cedric pulled Draco up by the collar to stand facing him.

Cedric was an inch or two taller, but Draco was excellent at feigning confidence. He stood tall, standing up straight and looking quite intimidating for someone who looked almost scared just a moment ago.

"For what? Using a silly little school insult? I doubt the Headmaster has any time to entertain this notion of yours, Diggory," Draco persuaded him, dismissively.

While the two bickered on, I looked over at Granger who now was in the arms of Weasley. He was patting her hair and whispering some things to her, probably sweet nothings to calm her down. I knew she was an intelligent and confident girl, but I can't imagine that being called that word would ever feel good, or even tolerable. We weren't friends necessarily, but it hurt to see her upset. Especially at the hands of Draco, nonetheless. He's not my responsibility in the slightest, but as a result of our new relationship, I felt some remorse by proxy.

The other prefects at the table kept to themselves, mostly. The two Ravenclaws just muttered amongst themselves while Abbott watched Cedric and Draco have at it.

I turned my attention back to the arguing boys.

Cedric, to his merit, was authoritative but still making logical arguments. It would've been easy for anyone else to fly into a rage and sink to Draco's level, trading insults. It was quite mature on his part to keep a level head.

"You've continually disrupted the workflow of this group, Malfoy! This is nothing personal, but you're no team player and do not deserve the honor of a prefect if you act this way. You show up late, having no respect for the time that this group has set aside, then you make jokes and complain about your schedule, then viciously insult Hermione!"

"'Team player'? Diggory, you sound like such a summer camp leader. We're not away for arts and crafts and singing kumbaya around the fire, so don't think you have some authority over me."

"You will respect your superiors... both of us. That includes respecting your Head Girl."

"My superior?" Draco almost looked offended at this. "If you think that Granger is, in any way, my superior, you're sorely mistaken, Diggory."

A sly grin reappeared on his face as he got closer to Cedric, their faces just inches from each other. His eyes narrowed and he lowered his voice. "But you wouldn't understand any sort of hierarchy... being a dirty half-blood."

Cedric simply rolled his eyes at this comment. He had no reason to be insulted by any of Draco's petty offenses; he was truly a wonderful guy and was aware of his assets. Cedric was always the bigger person, and mature enough to let bygones be bygones.

However, I wouldn't tolerate his behavior.

I stood up and grabbed Draco by the arm, like Cedric had a moment ago. He looked down at my fingers around his forearm and groaned, trying to wriggle out of my grasp. "Hands off, blood traitor!"

"We are going to Dumbledore," I glared at him. I turned back to Cedric who stared down at me with a certain surprise in his eyes. "You can go back and continue the meeting... comfort Granger, whatever. I'll handle Malfoy."

"Y/n, that's really not necessary. I'm Head Boy—"

"Which means you have bigger responsibilities than ridiculing this nuisance here."

I let go of Draco for a moment and instead reached for Cedric's arm. Draco wiped his arm on his pants in a disgusted fashion, as if I had the plague.

The familiar feeling of his arm was soothing, and I could tell by how he visibly relaxed at my touch that he was calmed by the gesture, as well. He inhaled then exhaled deeply. I lowered my voice and looked at him with a gentler expression.

"I can handle it, Ced."

His gaze lingered for a moment before nodding in agreement. He leaned down close to my ear and whispered, "If he gives you any trouble, come to me." His fingertips brushed the hair by my neck out of the way and behind my shoulder.

The sensuality of his voice almost made me shiver. His touch, however, succeeded in that.

I silently agreed and once again grabbed Draco by the arm, pulling away from Cedric. Quickly, I escorted him out of the library as we made our way to Dumbledore's office. Well, more like I resorted to physically dragging him there. The whole walk over, he was mumbling out offenses and petty remarks.

He uttered out a slew of insults, some about prefect meetings being a "waste of time", that he had "better things to do", or the likes of him generally being too good to lower himself to this job. I did my best to ignore most of his comments.

"He's being so obvious, you know," Draco snorted, his mood changing a tad, to just annoyed rather than gloating.

"Obvious?" I looked at him.

"It was the most pathetic play for a girl I've seen in a long time, and I've seen a lot of desperate lads in my day."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Malfoy."

"Don't play dumb, y/n. It's so clear that he wants you."

I stopped in my tracks and dropped my hand from his arm, which I was using to heave him along. "What makes you say that, Draco? Genuinely, what?"

He let out a breathy chuckle. "Did you not see his act of heroics? That was obviously just to make you fall at his feet. Diggory: always the man of honor..."

"Unlike some people in that group, Cedric happens to be a naturally good person. He doesn't stoop to 'heroics' to appear like the good guy; he just is."

He snorted. "I knew how you two were. Even back then, I disapproved of it... for obvious reasons. Or have you already forgotten that you two were only the most annoyingly perfect couple at this school? Apart from the fact you filthened your blood status, associating with that."

"That was before... whatever happened between us. No... not between us, but to us. And don't call him such things! Of all people, he doesn't deserve the insults."

He flicked his tongue, cheekily. "Judging by his attitude toward you, I take it you haven't told him?"

I shook my head. "I'm not exactly flaunting it, although you'd certainly want to... and, for that, I have a bone to pick with you for almost exposing us to everyone!"

I desperately wanted to change the subject from Cedric and I; the less I had to talk about it or think about him, the sooner I'd have moved on. It just so happened that I had the excuse of Draco nearly outing our relationship to the group conveniently on hand.

I was angry with Draco for what he almost said anyway. I'd be too embarrassed to show my face in that prefect group again if they knew what we really were.

He shifted his weight from one leg to the other in what seemed like a nervous fashion.

"I didn't mean for that to happen," he looked down. He spoke softer than he had a minute ago, not quite out of remorse for disrespecting my request, but more like he was upset with himself for doing it. "It almost just... slipped."

"I don't care what you meant to happen. You promised me that you wouldn't say anything, and just a week into the school year you almost announce it to the entire library! Merlin, I'm lucky that I stopped you before you got carried away."

"I didn't even mention anything! For all they know, I could have been talking about being a prefect, in your house, my blood status, among the likes. Don't read too much into it, or it'll cause actual suspicion."

"Or you could just leave me in peace—"

"Why is it such a big deal?!" He suddenly became animated again, not quite yelling, but certainly driven by an emotional response. "If you didn't have a choice, there's nothing to be embarrassed about!"

"We've been over this! I just don't want anyone knowing. And quiet yourself before you let it slip again and anyone walking down this corridor hears!"

"Fine, y/n! Have it your way! While you're at it, go back to your own bloody dorm, I can go to the Headmaster myself," he threw his head back in annoyance.

"You're funny, Malfoy. The second I leave you, you'll just go to your friends. I want to see that you get what's coming your way."

He scoffed a little. I was growing to hate that amused expression that rested on his face.

"You think that when we go to Dumbledore he's going to do anything about it? Y/n, you're really stupider than you look. And stop calling me Malfoy! We've been over this."

Before I could open my mouth to rebut his insult (or his request), he continued on. "My father made a big donation to the school and I was given this position. He thought it'd... straighten me out, or something. I'm telling you, if we go in there, you'll be disappointed that I'll be let off the hook."

While Draco was indeed a liar, he was always honest about his father's influence on things... people, more so. In fact, when I first heard he got the position, I figured he scammed his way into it.

"That may be so, but I'm still reporting you for a clear lack of respect for your fellow prefects and especially Head Girl," I stood my ground, staring him dead in the eye.

He sighed. "Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you."

I led the way, him trailing slightly behind me. I kept my pace up, intentionally leaving him behind a little.

After a few moments of silence, he had the nerve to pipe up again.

"Since when are you and the mudblood Granger so well acquainted now?"

I didn't bother turning around. "We're not."

"Yet you still defended her."

"Because sometimes people don't deserve to be insulted. It's not so wrong to want to be a decent person from time to time. I'd suggest you try it, but I don't think you have the capabilities."

He snickered behind me, causing me to turn my head for a moment. That provided him an opportunity to catch up to me, taking longer strides so that he was now on my side.

"I'm more capable than you think, y/n."

"Not when you go around calling the Head Girl a mu— an offensive term."

"If I remember correctly, y/n, you've used that term a number of times before. Quite a few, actually."

Unfortunately, he was correct. But I was a child, when I didn't understand the full meaning of the word, or the worth of people, for that matter. I did in my first few years of school, and that's when Draco and I were somehow friends; we clung to the same group of entitled children who didn't know any better.

All of that changed in my fourth year when I had a crush on Cedric. I didn't care if he was a half-blood; I liked him for who he was, not what he was. Especially after we started dating in our fifth year... he turned me into a better person. Since then, I'd never called anyone by that name, even if some people in my circle continued to.

It especially bothered me when the Slytherin boys called Cedric a mudblood. They constantly harassed me for "mixing blood" with someone like him. They couldn't stand the notion of a pureblood and a half-blood together, especially a Hufflepuff. I could handle the remarks from my own house, but nothing irked me more than when the Slytherin boys, especially Draco and his cronies, went after Cedric.

"I don't anymore. Some of us have matured, Draco. You'd do well to do the same."