Reflections (Cedric)

[Blair de la Fontaine]

Blair was finding that the most enjoyable thing about being in a new country was the different way that it looked. The green seemed more green and the forest was more dense. But the most beautiful place that she had come across so far on the grounds of Hogwarts was the lake. It was picturesque, with it's smooth surface and silent surroundings. Usually there was a student or two filtering past, if not more, but for once it was completely void of life other than her and the creatures that dwelled beneath the glassy shine. Laying out a small blanket from her bag, she sat comfortably on the ground and pulled a book out. Reading about the English language was a favourite past time of hers, but with few people to practice with she found that her accent was often still too think for some to understand.

[Cedric Diggory]

Cedric, taking his free period outside for once to both get some fresh air and get away from all the hype and talk about the upcoming first task, walked, his nose in a book of poetry, along the edge of the Black Lake. It was clam here, and he liked it. This was just what he needed to relax his slightly frazzled nerves. As he walked, Cedric tried his best to keep his mind, not on the tasks ahead, but on his book and the images pained by the words it held. Before long, he felt his foot step on something that was very different from the grass he had been walking on. Looking down, he was surprised to find that his foot was actually on a blanket being sat on by a blonde he didn't know, her nose just as far in a book as his was. "I'm so sorry. I didn't even see you there," he said with a friendly smile and stepping back so he didn't mess up her blanket further.

[Blair de la Fontaine]

Blair felt a slight shift in the blanket below her, and hadn't even had the chance to look up when someone apologised to her. "Oh, euh.." she said, dragging her gaze from the book up to the English boy who had spoken. The blonde examined him for a moment, recognising him to be the first Hogwarts champion. She'd never seen him up close before, and for a moment she allowed herself to appreciate him- he was as attractive as the other girls from her school were often saying. "It eez okay. 'Ow do you say? Euh.. dzere eez no worries? I 'ad not 'eard you, also." Glancing back down at her book, Blair felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. There she was, reading a book about speaking English, right in front of an English person. "'Ow is zat book you are reading?"

[Cedric Diggory]

As the girl looked up at him, Cedric smiled back. She was striking, that was for certain, and as soon as she spoke, he knew that she was from Beauxbatons. Her accent, while thick on her words, was actually quite lovely. Chuckling lightly at her attempt to say their way of 'it's nothing', he said, "No worries." As a warm flush entered her cheeks, Cedric found that simple reaction only added to how pretty she was. Her question about the book he was reading snapped him back to the moment. Looking down at the plain, brown leather cover, he shrugged, "Full of wonderful...relaxing...things. Nothing like a few good poems to calm the mind when it's a mess with busy thoughts..." Bringing his eyes back to the girl, he asked, "What about yours?"

[Blair de la Fontaine]

“No worries? Yes, dzat is right!” she said, a bright smile lighting up her pale features. She was often embarrassed when someone corrected her on her phrases, but even more so when it was a fellow French person. Coming from Cedric, she simply saw it as being offered advice from an English speaker, so she didn’t mind quite so much. “I like to read, in specially plays I will be honest, but anything else, also,” she admitted, her fingertips gently brushing over the pages of her own book, “but of course your mind must be very busy, what wid dzee tournament and dzee like.”

Letting out a light laugh, the blonde shook her head as if to say that it was hardly near as interesting. “It eez a book about Engleesh. To learn me dzee way to say dzee words better. I need practicing, you see.”

[Cedric Diggory]

The girl's smile at his helpful correction only made Cedric smile in return. Slipping a hand into his pocket, he listened as she told him about all the things she liked to read, particularly plays. Wetting his bottom lip slightly, he dropped his gaze to the blanket she sat on and nodded when she mentioned how busy his mind had to be with the up coming tournament. "That it is... Kind of hard to think about anything else, really," he said with a sigh and a shrug. Cedric didn't mind that he had been selected as champion. If he hadn't had wanted to be considered, he wouldn't have put his name in the cup. Be that as it may, knowing that he was going to be facing three, highly dangerous, potentially deadly tasts didn't make getting up every day knowing he was one step closer to facing the first challenge any easier.

Glancing back at her when she sighed and shook her head in answer to her book being interesting, Cedric was surprised that she would read a book if it wasn't interesting. But, her explanation over why she was reading it cleared up just why she was reading it after all. "Um... If you like, you can practice with me. I'm not really busy with anything right now. I'd...be more then happy to help," Cedric offered, with a smile and a small tilt of his head.

[Blair de la Fontaine]

Blair tilted her head to the side, with a look on her face that said she was examining him. Her gaze drifted over his face and she wondered why it was that such a boy had been drawn from the Goblet of Fire. The French girl was rarely proven wrong about many things, but she realised that not all of the students drawn from the cup her hard and focused solely on the win. This conclusion can from the way that his mind appeared to be elsewhere, and yet he had the time in his day to stop and speak to an absolute stranger.

“Would you like to sit down?” she asked, sure that she had managed that simple question just fine. The smile never left her lips as she continued to speak, “I believe dzat I would have already.. given up. I did put my name in dzee cup, ‘owever I am very ‘appy dzat I was not.. selected. Now dzat I consider more, I ‘ave decided that I much prefer being in dzee stands.” Though she briefly wondered if her words were not the right thing to say, Blair didn’t dwell on it for too long. It had already been said, and to admit that she didn’t believe she’d have managed to cope was enough of a feat as it were.

“Really? You would do dzat?” she asked, her smile quickly forming into an ecstatic grin at the prospect of not only getting better at English, but also at spending more time with someone from a different school. “Dzat would be very lovely.”

[Cedric Diggory]

Giving the blonde a small tip of his head in thanks, Cedric took a seat next to her on her blanket. "Thanks. Not everyone is suited for this tournament, but sometimes you get surprised by just whom the cup thinks is worthy of it. If it's not too bold to say, I think I'd rather you be in the stands, too. You're far to pretty to be facing these dangerous things..." Cedric said in a gentle compliment, smiling at her. In an odd way, he was happy that she would likely be in the stands. At least, she wouldn't be in danger there... Cedric was a little surprised with himself, really. He hardly knew her, didn't even know her name, and he was already slightly protective over her. Internally shrugging to himself, he returned his focus to her.

"Of course, I would," he answered her with a light chuckle, enjoying her brightened smile for several moments. "How can you get better if you don't get to practice?" he mused, setting his book aside. "I'm Cedric, by the way. Cedric Diggory..." he said extending a hand in greeting to her, even though they had been chatting for a few minutes prior. As soon as he introduced himself, he couldn't help but smile. She's gonna know who you are, mate... You ARE a champion, after all... Your name was announced for everyone to hear that night...

[Blair de la Fontaine]

“I do not think it surprising,” she said, “dzee people dzat were selected must ‘ave been for a reason. Dzee goblet eez not ever wrong.” Blair sometimes wondered about that statement, though, when she thought about her school mate Fleur. She also knew, that there was more to the blonde part-veela even if one couldn’t see it, and as such she reminded herself not to forget that at this point, any of the champions could win. That was only because not even the first task had come to a head yet. But at the words that she took to be kind rather than imposing, Blair smiled and said a quiet, “thank you.”

Blair watched the boy for a few short moments before she nodded. “I know,” she answered, “a pleasure to meet you, though. My name eez Blair. You are very right.” She was hardly containing her excitement as she thought about how much she could learn from this boy, even if he could only spare her a few minutes. With a quick glance down at the book and back up to Cedric, offering a sheepish smile. “What can you teach me?”

[Cedric Diggory]

Tipping his head in a way of thinking and agreeing at the same time, Cedric answered, "You have a point there. The cup chooses for it's own reasons. It apparently saw something in all of us and that's why we were picked." Be that as it may, Cedric was still troubled with why, and just how, Harry's name was selected. Harry was smart, he knew that, but to put his name in the cup...somehow... No... Cedric believed what the Gryffindor said. If he didn't put his name in the cup, then he didn't.

"You're welcome," he answered her softly with a smile. He didn't know what was coming over him, really, but it truly made him happy to know that this girl would be watching in the stands. When he finally had a name to go with the beautiful face next to him, he grinned. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Blair," he said softly. Blair... It fit her. Her next question made him glance from his book to hers before bringing his eyes back to her own. Shrugging, he asked with a chuckle, "What would you like to learn?"

[Blair de la Fontaine]

“I ‘ave a.. what?” she asked, not quite understanding what Cedric meant by her having a.. point, “yes, dzee cup believed dzat dzee four of you were dzee right choice, for whatever reasons.” She knew that Fleur was much more magically and physically equipped for such a thing than one would believe when they looked at her. She was pretty, and gentle in appearance, but in reality she could be lethal.

Blair smiled, flicking through the pages of the book until she reached the one that she had been reading when Cedric appeared. “Well,” she said, placing the book next to her outstretched, crossed legs so that he could see the page, “I am up to ‘ere, about dzee.. euh.. my mouth will not allow me to make dzee sound properly.” She pointed to where the letters ‘TH’ stood together at the top of the page before elaborating, “whenever I try eet sounds like.. tttzz.... ttssss. I can not get eet to come out correctly, no matter how hard I try. Dzere must be a.. euh.. trick or something to eet!”

[Cedric Diggory]

At her question of what he had said, Cedric smiled. "A point. You have a point. It means... You're right," he explained. Based on all that, the cup knowig what it was doing, he, in a way, looked forward to the first task that was to take place soon. If they were all, Harry included, more then able to take the tasks offered, it was certainly going to be interesting to watch.

When Blair set the book down so he could see, Cedric listened as she explained how she was having trouble with the TH sound. Looking at her as she did try, Cedric's eyes narrowed slightly as he focused on her mouth while she spoke. Blair's last comment made him chuckle as he shook his head. "There isn't a trick really," he told her, "Rather, you're trying too hard. You're stiff when you try." Thinking of how he could show her what he meant, Cedric turned so he was face to face with her and said, exagerating his words, "THe walk to THe THeatre was divine. You need to relax your tongue and rest it between your teeth when you say it." Hopeing his explanation made sense, he tipped his head to her, "Give it a try."

[Blair de la Fontaine]

“Oh! Right!” the blonde exclaimed, looking down once more in embarrassment. She couldn’t understand how the other girls from her school didn’t get so bothered when they didn’t understand the things that their British peers said. It made her feel like a failure, especially considering she hoped to one day take employment in Britain.

Blair furrowed her brow and held her tongue between her teeth. Thinking that she understood what Cedric was explaining, she attempted to repeat his phrase. “T.. Tzee walk to tsee..... tsee zeatre.. Let me try again. Tzee walk to tzee,” she took a breath and thought about how the Hufflepuff’s tongue and lips had moved, along with his words before continuing, “thhhheatre was divine.” Blair chewed on her lower lip, and sighed, “I believed I did eet, but eet didn’t quite sound right...”

[Cedric Diggory]

Cedric listened closely as Blair worked on trying to say the TH sound right, and when she seemed to be flustered about how much trouble she was having, he put a gentle hand on hers. Not saying anything, he allowed her to simply keep trying until she finally nailed the correct sound. Smiling brightly at the blonde, Cedric gave her hand a squeeze and nodded. "Well done, Blair," he told her, trying to help her feel better. "It might not have sounded quiet right, but you had it. Just takes practice... That's all..." he added, looking into her bright eyes, his thumb lightly stroking the back of her hand.

[Blair de la Fontaine]

Blaire couldn’t help the pride that washed over her when Cedric complimented her attempt at the difficult sound. It was something small, and slightly childish to be so happy about, but that didn’t stop the rare grin from creeping over her features. “Thank you!” she said, reminding herself how she had managed to do what she’d done. That was when she took conscious notice of his hand over hers and her cheeks flushed once again. Blair made a mental note to find out later why her face didn’t want to remain its usual snowy white that day, when she so rarely blushed on any other. “Well, I do know tz.. tss.. thhhat every time I ‘ave learned some English eet ‘as taken a while to.. stay in my mind. But I was right about talking to an English person, no?”

[Cedric Diggory]

The small grin that Cedric noticed on Blair's face only made him smile. As if she wasn't attractive enough as it was, this only added to that fair beauty she carried with her. "You're most welcome," he answered her softly. Even on that simple 'thank you' her TH- was already sounding better then before. When her cheeks blushed again, Cedric didn't know what prompted him to do what he did, but he reached out and lightly rang a finger over the color. When she spoke, it was like Cedric was snapped back to the present. Letting his hand fall from her cheek, he nodded. "Learning a new language can take a while to stick in your mind. Especially, when you don't use it," he told her, understanding completely what she was saying. Then he got an idea. "Blair, if you want, I'd be happy to speak English with you to help you learn and retain it better," he said was a smile, and secretly hoping she'd say yes to his offer.

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