Cedric

After Kyle boarded, the first few compartments were practically full.

There was no helping it. He'd boarded at the last minute, and finding an empty seat now wasn't easy.

Using the Levitation Charm to carry his luggage, Kyle walked all the way to the end of the train before finally finding a fairly spacious compartment at the rear.

There was only one boy inside, about his age. As for his looks... he might not have been as handsome as Kyle, but he was still far better-looking than the Weasley twins.

"Knock, knock..."

Kyle tapped on the compartment door and asked politely, "Hello, may I sit here? The other compartments are all full."

"Of course. Come on in," the boy said quickly.

"Thanks."

Once inside, Kyle put his luggage on the rack, then held out his hand.

"Hello, I'm a new student this year. Kyle Chopper."

The boy seemed lost in thought and didn't respond right away. When he finally came to, he quickly shook Kyle's hand. "Oh... sorry. Cedric Diggory, second-year at Hogwarts."

Cedric?

Kyle was a little surprised. He hadn't expected to meet an "old acquaintance" as soon as he boarded the train. The future Hogwarts Champion—no wonder he was so handsome.

Kyle remembered that Cedric's family also lived near Ottery St. Catchpole, but for one reason or another, they'd never met.

Not even once.

Kyle had tried to visit him a few times at first, but the Diggory family's front door was always shut tight. Before long, Kyle had given up.

He hadn't expected their first meeting to be on the train...

But Cedric seemed to have something on his mind, so Kyle didn't say anything more. After a brief greeting, he pulled out the copy of Standard Book of Spells he'd bought at Flourish and Blotts and started reading.

Cedric went back to staring into space.

At some point, a light rain began to patter outside the window. It was always like this here. Rain came and went without warning.

Kyle glanced out the window but didn't think much of it. He was used to it, and he quite liked reading in weather like this.

Kyle's example seemed to bring Cedric out of his reverie. He, too, took out a book and began to read. Judging by the cover, it was Dark Arts: A Guide to Self-Protection.

Reviewing Defense Against the Dark Arts on the train to school was perfectly normal for Hogwarts students.

After all, nobody knew how long this year's professor would last. What if he kicked the bucket after just a couple of lessons? It was always best to read ahead.

For a while, the only sounds in the compartment were the rustling of turning parchment, in sharp contrast to the commotion in the corridor.

But it didn't last long.

Cedric hadn't even finished two pages when the compartment door opened again.

"Finally found you, Kyle."

"We saved you a seat, and you stood us up, leaving us waiting here like a pair of idiots."

"I think you owe us an apology."

Fred and George leaned against the doorway, taking turns grilling Kyle.

Both of them looked furious, as if Kyle had committed some unforgivable crime.

"I can apologize," Kyle said, calmly closing his book. "But only if you swear on a Dungbomb that everything you just said was true."

In an instant, the anger on Fred's face turned to uncertainty. "Um, can I swear on the headmaster instead?"

George looked just as unsure. "Or Professor McGonagall?"

"No!" Kyle shook his head. "It has to be a Dungbomb."

"Oh, George, I think Kyle's riding the Hogwarts Express for the first time. He doesn't know his way around, so he couldn't find us."

"That's right, Fred. It's not his fault. We should've kept a better eye out."

The twins exchanged a look, wordlessly ignoring what they'd just said. Then they squeezed into the compartment as if nothing had happened.

Naturally, they noticed Cedric, too.

Fred gave a mischievous grin. "Look who it is. Why can't I remember?"

George raised an eyebrow. "Why, it's Hogwarts' very own good boy, the Light of Hufflepuff, Mr. Cedric Diggory."

The moment the words left their mouths, Cedric's face turned bright red. That string of painfully embarrassing titles made him want to punch a hole through the train.

But he couldn't argue with them.

The titles "good boy" and "Light of Hufflepuff" had both spread because of his father. In just one summer, practically everyone at the Ministry of Magic had heard about them.

Their families, of course, were no exception.

As a result, nearly half the letters Cedric received that summer had been signed "the Light of Hufflepuff."

The other half had come from Muggle-born classmates who hadn't heard about it.

That was exactly why he'd chosen the compartment in the farthest corner. He hadn't expected to be found anyway, let alone by the two most troublesome people.

"Please, spare me!" Cedric put his hands together in a pleading gesture. "I'll lend you my homework."

As he spoke, he placed a stack of parchment on the table.

The twins had been about to tease him some more, but the price he offered was simply too high.

That was the homework of the top student in their year!

George's expression turned serious. He quickly gathered the parchment into his arms and said solemnly, "What are you talking about, Cedric? We know you didn't mean it. We were only joking."

"Exactly." Fred nodded beside him. "Don't worry. We're not going to make fun of you over this."

Fred and George left, beaming as if they'd just found a Galleon.

Once they were gone, Cedric let out a breath of relief. Looking a little embarrassed, he turned to Kyle. "Sorry, I..."

"I should be the one apologizing," Kyle interrupted. "They came looking for me. Otherwise, they wouldn't have found you."

Cedric gave a wry smile and shook his head. "It was bound to happen sooner or later."

He could hide on the train, but not once they reached Hogwarts. He'd have to face it eventually. It was only a matter of time.

Besides, the Weasley brothers' sudden arrival hadn't been entirely a bad thing. They'd shown Cedric a way to deal with the situation.

Homework.

As the top student in his year, his summer homework was in high demand. The Weasley brothers' reaction just now had made that clear. So he could use his homework to keep Hufflepuff and Gryffindor quiet. That should do the trick.

As long as he could keep those two houses under control, the problem would be eighty percent solved.

As for Ravenclaw and Slytherin... Given the way those houses were, they probably wouldn't join in. At least most of them wouldn't. Even if a few did, it wouldn't matter much.

As long as the students in his own house didn't join the teasing, and the energetic lions of Gryffindor stayed out of it, the whole thing would blow over in three days at most.

Just three days. That was nothing.

Thinking it over, Cedric suddenly felt that things weren't quite as bad as they'd seemed.