Avenger of Blood by ElrondsScribe

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Chapter 5

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With the help of the map, he found the gym easily enough. Coach Clapp, the sports teacher, signed his slip and handed him a uniform and promptly sent him off to the boy's locker room to change. Most all of the other boys were tired and only mildly interested in him, and didn't ask much about him besides his name and where he was from. No one commented on his resemblance to Edward Cullen.

When they had all trudged out of the locker room, Coach Clapp had everybody take turns playing tennis, a game that Cedric had never seen or heard of before. He did the best he could on the fly, but of course he could hardly be expected to master an entirely new sport in one hour of Gym class. He felt he had made a complete fool of himself before the hour was up. It was possible, of course, that as a Seeker and captain of his Quidditch team he was not used to being bested at a sport, and he acknowledged this to himself as he was changing back into his clothes after another shower. It didn't make the blow to his pride any easier to tolerate.

He pulled his class schedule out of his bag and read it again. His next class was Calculus in building five. He stifled a sigh. Calculus was the subject that, of all his school subjects, he wasn't sure he would be all right in. He had been frankly terrified when he had first cracked open a Calculus textbook, and only the knowledge that he would be studying it in this new school made him even look at the book again. Now he was going to a real class to study it, and at the moment he rather hated Muggles for inventing it.

But there was nothing for it. After a look at his trusty map he walked outside into the drizzle for the second time. It seemed that the other students were more awake now that their first class was over, and it was not long before Cedric found himself accosted by Jessica.

"Hey Cedric!" she cried, running to catch up with him. "How was Gym?" she asked.

"Gym was all right," said Cedric hastily, not wanting to talk about the complete fiasco. "I've got Chemistry next, actually."

"Lucky you," said Jessica making a face. "First period Gym and second period Chemistry!" And she was off again in one of her monologues, mostly complaints this time, while Cedric listened with half an ear, and tried not to notice how many people were obviously trying to listen in on their conversation. Jessica walked beside him until he had fairly reached the door of building five, before saying she had to go and scurrying off to her own next class, which seemed to be Calculus.

The Chemistry laboratory looked a little bit like a Potions classroom, with the obvious exception of the cauldrons and fires. Also this classroom had quite a bit more cheer than the dungeons at Hogwarts. The black-topped tables had two seats each, most of which were filled already.

Mr. Banner, the teacher, stared a little when Cedric told him his name and handed him the slip to sign. He signed it, however, and handed it back without asking Cedric to introduce himself; he merely directed him to an empty chair about the middle of the room next to a tall, pretty girl with just a little too much makeup and light blond hair in a strange short haircut. She gave him an openly flirtatious smile as he sat down next to her.

"Hello!" She said brightly. "I'm Lauren Mallory, and I'm guessing you are Cedric Montgomery?"

"That's me, yeah," said Cedric.

Mr. Banner began the lecture then, effectively ending the conversation for the present, and Cedric opened his notebook. It might have been his resemblance to Edward Cullen, or it might have been the fact that he was new, but Cedric felt the other students staring at him during the lecture, and it made him feel uncomfortable.

The subject matter in itself was difficult enough to engage Cedric's full attention, though, and he distracted himself by trying to follow what Mr. Banner was saying. He was beginning to wonder why wizards (purebloods in particular) considered Muggles of lesser intelligence - Chemistry at least was hard.

His brain was in a muddle from trying to make sense of it all by the time the bell rang. Lauren turned to him and bestowed on him another broad smile. "Hey, what's your next class?" she asked sweetly.

Cedric checked his schedule. "I've got Civics, in building six." Muggle government - what would that be like?

She looked disappointed. "Well, I'm headed in that general vicinity, I could point you in the right direction if you needed me to."

"That's all right, thanks," said Cedric. "I've got a map." He was not entirely sure he liked her, and he was pretty certain that she would not leave him alone unless he left her no excuse for hanging around.

"Well, let me know if I can help you in any way," said Lauren Mallory, and off she went for her next class.

Cedric picked up his backpack, put on his jacket, and went out behind the others.

Apparently Lauren Mallory was not the only one eager to talk to the new boy. On the way to building six, another girl approached Cedric. She was small and slender, with blue eyes and ruddy cheeks and long black hair that looked artificially colored. She introduced herself as June Richardson and asked him how he liked Forks.

"Well, it's cold and wet, but I like it otherwise," said Cedric, wondering how many different answers to that question he could invent while being at least partially truthful.

"Different from where you're from?" asked June.

"Well, we do see the sun a bit more in Devon," said Cedric. "England, I mean."

She looked at him for a moment, then asked, "Is it true that over there you always drink a cup of tea in the afternoon?"

Oh gosh - do they?! "Yeah, we do," Cedric hazarded, wishing desperately that he had taken Muggle Studies back at Hogwarts.

"And that you have buildings and streets there that are, like, hundreds of years old?"

Cedric relaxed. "Sure. I don't really know that much about them, though, and I lived in the country."

"What made you decide to come to America?"

Well you see, June, I actually got killed by the most powerful evil wizard in the world. And then I came back from the dead to get myself killed again, as like as not, fighting against him. Till then I'm sort of in hiding. Kindly don't tell anybody, will you? "It's a long story."

"Oh. Okay." She looked rather more disappointed at this than was strictly necessary. So, if Cedric was not mistaken, did the boys and girls who happened to be walking close by. Oh, come off it, this is a small town. Of course they're curious. Why shouldn't they be?

June was silent for the remainder of the walk, and soon they were going into Civics class together. Having had rather a roundabout path to get there, Cedric and June were among the last to enter the room. June went straight to her seat next to a boy with curly red hair; Cedric, of course, went up to the teacher, Mr. Jefferson, to get his slip signed and a seat assigned to him. The man sent him to a desk near the window with one seat empty. The other chair was occupied by a girl with long mahogany hair.

"'Scuse me," said Cedric as he moved around to the far side of the desk to sit down. The girl looked up automatically as she shifted her books.

She froze when she saw him, and her already pale face went so much paler that Cedric feared for a moment that she might faint. She was pretty too, in a waxy colorless sort of way, quite the contrast from the heavily made-up Lauren Mallory or the rose-colored June Richardson. She looked somehow delicate, as if someone had broken her and she had not quite mended. But it was the tortured look in her wide brown eyes that stopped Cedric in his tracks.

"I'm sorry, is something wrong?" he stuttered, blinking.

At the sound of his voice the girl started violently. "No," she said in a strangled sort of gasp. "Nothing's wrong." Cedric could see that her hands were trembling now as she moved her books.

Belatedly it struck Cedric what the trouble must be. He sat down next to her and put down his backpack and started pulling his own books out of it. "Aren't you Bella Swan?" he asked.

"Maybe. Why?" said the girl in the same breathless, dried-up voice. The anguish that stared from her large eyes went straight to his heart.

"I, er, I've been told I look like someone you used to know - ," he broke off, searching her white face and finding no answers. "Is it something you'd rather not talk about?"

Bella Swan nodded and with an obvious effort wrenched her eyes from his face, turning her head toward the front of the classroom. Cedric took the hint, and said no more.

But throughout the lecture (which was about the inner workings of presidential elections) Cedric could not help but glance down at Bella every now and again. Once or twice he caught her looking back at him with that same tortured look in her eyes. It unnerved him very much, and he wondered what about Edward had so traumatized her that she would react like this at the sight of someone who looked like him.

Or perhaps it's just that she liked him so much that she can't bear being separated from him, he reasoned. I really ought to give him the benefit of the doubt, I suppose.

It seemed an eternity until the bell finally rang. Cedric shoved his books into his backpack before getting up the nerve to turn back to Bella. Come on, be a man! "Er, Bella?" he said cautiously.

Bella immediately dropped her books. Cedric went scrambling after them, and when he straightened up found that she was staring fixedly at the floor, which was rather a relief. I'm not sure how much more of that stare I can handle, he thought nervously as he handed Bella her books back.

"Thanks," she mumbled as she took them.

"You're welcome - can I walk to the cafeteria with you?" asked Cedric all in a rush.

She blinked. "Uh, sure, whatever."

Cedric walked beside her in silence for a minute or two, wondering what on earth he had intended to say. Bella would not look at him, for which he was grateful.

At length he blurted out, "Bella, listen - I'm frightfully sorry about what happened between you and Edwin Cullen - "

"Edward," said Bella automatically.

Cedric felt himself flush with chagrin. At least I could have gotten the wretched name right! "Sorry, Edward," he ground out. "I know it's no business of mine, but - well, I know what it's like to - to lose somebody I cared for - " (Honestly, that made it sound like somebody died!) " - and I wondered if perhaps we could be friends? Just friends of course - I, er, haven't really got friends here yet." Merlin, I sound like such a sap. He cringed and looked at Bella.

"No," she said, her voice suddenly cold and abrupt. "I don't think that would be a good idea, at least not right now."

"Right," said Cedric, a little shocked at her tone. "Sorry about barging in like that." He began to hurry on ahead, but a frantic "Wait!" from Bella stopped him.

He turned and looked cautiously back at her. She had stopped too, and was standing with her arms wrapped around herself as if to hold herself together. She looked small and lost and lonely, and her eyes seemed to beseech him - don't go, don't leave me!

Confused, Cedric walked back to her. When he reached her, he took her gently by the arm. "Come on," he said gently. "You can't stand out here in the cold and wet."

She nodded, but did not move.

Cedric stifled a sigh, and adjusted his hold in Bella's arm. Then he began to walk back toward the cafeteria, pulling her along beside him.