“I’m just here to drop off your detention partner and then I’ll be on my way.” Professor Sprout cast another warning glare at Filch before stepping to the side to reveal your detention inmate.

“This is Cedric Diggory, he’ll be joining you for this week and the next. I do hope you two get along and become friends!” Sprout smiles brightly at the two of you before quickly saying her goodbyes.

Vaguely, you heard Filch order the both of you to follow him to the dungeons to the kitchens (as if neither of you knew where the kitchen was located). But you were too busy trying to pick your jaw off the floor at the fact that Cedric “Pretty Boy” Diggory was in detention.

Your mind raced, conjuring up as many possible (and impossible) reasons he could have gotten into detention. Started a fight? Nah, he’s gotta keep a clean record to stay on the Quidditch team. Dared to cast a forbidden curse? A horrifying mental image (Merlin help anyone who provokes a Hufflepuff into using forbidden curses) but also unlikely. 

Maybe he sassed Snape?

That’s how you got here but you can’t picture Diggory actively sassing Snape to his face. Not many did, and from what you knew, Sassing Snape had even been banned from Gryffindor Dare Challenges. That’s how much no one sassed Snape. 

Except you apparently, but in your defense, you do believe he was just overreacting.

A small but firm tug on your sleeve yanked you out of your head just as Filch stopped at the doors of the kitchens.

Beside you, you felt Diggory inconspicuously step away from you before Filch turned around to address the both of you with a wicked, greasy smile.

Heck, you owed the Hufflepuff now-

“Enjoy your detention, wretches.” Filch drawled, opening up the door to the kitchens. Diggory shifted on his feet, obviously uncomfortable. Which Filch obviously noticed. “A shame I can’t stay and enjoy your suffer-”

“Welp, thanks for the tour, I’ll send a tip for you at the front desk.” you interrupted, shoving past Filch who stuttered wildly. You glanced back to see Diggory shuffle in quietly behind you, stepping away from Filch as far as he could while still being polite. “Now I’m sure you’re a very busy man so I’ll leave you to it!” 

You quickly dashed up to the door and closed it in front of a fuming groundskeeper who shouted empty threats.

Feeling absolutely smug and pleased with yourself, you made a dramatic show if dusting off your shoulders as a smirk grew on your features. You turned to Diggory and grinned “Tour Guides can be so pushy sometimes, don’t you agree?” You quipped, earning a chuckle covered up by a cough from the Quidditch Star himself.

“You two!” A harsh voice came from below your kneecaps mere seconds before your shoes were attacked by a wooden spoon wielding House Elf. “Put your robes on the hooks by the door then report to the wash station! If I’m gonna be forced to watch you two delinquents in my kitchen, I’ll at least put you to work!”

The plump House Elf motioned first to the small rack of hooks by the kitchen doors then at the giant sink pressed against the brick walls to his right. He smacked his wooden spoon again, this time at the floor in between you and Diggory. “Don’t just stand there! Hurry! Pitts doesn’t run a social area! Pitts runs a kitchen!”

He turns abruptly and you turn to Diggory, half-bewildered and half-amused at being ordered around by a House Elf. You weren’t sure what to expect from Hufflepuff’s Seeker but a very terrified look on his face with arms scrunched up around his torso was not what you were expecting.

Oh no, he’s adorable- You thought to yourself, torn between cooing over the expression on his face as he nervously chewed his lip and bolting to wrap him in a large blanket to comfort him. Step one: Don’t fall for the adorable looks of my detention buddy.

You coughed softly and waved a hand in front of Diggory’s face. “Hey, pretty boy, you there?” 

Diggory’s grey eyes fluttered before looking at you. He took a sharp inhale and quickly dropped his hands and straightened himself up. “S-sorry! Yes, I’m here. Uh, can I help you with your robe?” He asked, gesturing quickly to the hooks near the door as he quickly removed his and draped it over his forearm before holding his hands up to assist you with yours.

Oh no, he’s sweet-

“Uh, yeah sure. Thanks.” You mumbled before removing your robe to brush off your out-of-class clothes. Diggory took both robes and neatly set them up on the hooks. He began folding his slightly wrinkled sleeves up his forearm and you felt every inch of your body suddenly break out into internal screaming.

I bet 10 galleons, a month’s worth of Butterbeer, and a lifetime supply of chocolate frogs that boy is part Veela-

“What are you doing?” You asked, tilting your head slightly as the two of you began heading to the wash area. 

“We’re washing dishes, aren’t we?” Diggory replied, glancing up at the large sink with a pile of dishes to the side of it. “I just didn’t want to get my sleeves too wet.” 

You blinked. Shoot, you didn’t think of that.

You quickly made sure your sleeves were out of reach of the water as you both arrived at the sink where another House Elf quickly explained your jobs and how to properly wash dishes before leaving the two of you unsupervised. 

Silence enveloped the both of you as you got to work, the only words exchanged between you both were reminders of how Pitts wanted the dishes washed and soft mutters of frustration when a dish slipped or clinked loudly against the sink.

After an eternity (*30 minutes*) of washing an endless pile of dishes, you finally caught a break long enough to stretch out your muscles and pop your neck.

Only for Pitts to gleefully drop another mountain of dishes at the sink with a pinched look on his face. “Hurry up! If you troublemakers have time to break rules and get in trouble, you have time to wash more dishes!”

You were suddenly very tempted to wash dishes while singing obnoxious songs as off-key as humanly possible.

You ground your teeth but said nothing and angrily scrubbed the closest dish. As you finished your dish, you passed it off to Diggory to dry but stopped when you saw that look from earlier plastered on his face.

His eyebrows pinched in worry while he chewed on his lip, his clouded eyes darted from the sink in front of him to where Pitts stood on a crate barking out orders.

Oof, poor guy’s gotta be stressed outta his mind…

“So uh...what are you in for?” You asked, casually handing over the dish like you hadn’t been holding it for the past minute.

Diggory blinked before looking at you. “Excuse me?”

“What are you in for?” You repeated as you grabbed the next dish “Me? I’m in for asking Snape why we don’t have Alchemy classes on the regular like at the Beauxbatons.” You rolled your eyes at the memory of Snape’s face turning red in the middle of Potions Class. “I was just wondering what the differences were between potions and alchemy classes and Snape went all ‘We don’t question the curriculums in the middle of class’ so I just asked if the reason was because he sucked at Alchemy-” Beside you, Diggory let out a choked wheeze “-and he banished me to the care of our wondrous groundskeeper slash tour guide Argus Filch.”

“I-, you-” Diggory bit his lip in an effort to contain giggles. “You said what to Snape?” He laughed and shook his head as he finished drying the dish in his hands. “I’m...honestly surprised you’re still alive.”

You grinned “I happen to be very good at avoiding death via Snape. It’s mostly thanks to the fact that we were surrounded by an entire class full of witnesses that kept me alive.” 

Diggory chuckled again and you nudged him with the next dish you passed along. “So what about you, pretty boy? How’d someone with a squeaky clean record like you end up in detention?”

“Oh, I set a student’s robe on fire.”

ExcUSE?!?!????

You physically choked on your saliva and felt your nails dig into the metal of the sink as you tried to cough your way back to a clear throat.

Diggory panicked beside you and quickly cleaned a glass and filled it with some clean water and handed it to you while waiting for you to remember how to breathe properly.

“I’m sorry, you w h a t?!”

“I overheard a fifth year refer to a first year as ‘Mudblood’ so I cast Incendio on the fifth year’s robes.” Diggory replied, shrugging as a grim countenance fell on his face. “I don’t know either of them but I hope that first year is okay…”

“Wait, wait, wait! Back up!” You made the time out sign and pointed at Diggory “If you’re the one who stood up for that first year, why are you here instead of that fifth year?!”

Diggory sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Not sure...I didn’t ask, I’m...kind of in shock that I haven’t been expelled from the Quidditch team or Hogwarts yet.”

Ah, the classic “I did a bad thing now the worst possible consequence will happen” thoughts.

“But-! You were defending the kid! Why are you in trouble?” 

Another shrug. “I mean, even if I was defending someone, I used magic outside of class in an aggressive way. That’s still a punishable offense.”

Your nose scrunched up and a frown formed on your face. “I don’t suppose you can give me the appearance of this fifth year?”

“No, I’m not going to tell you what that student looks like so you’ll try to make their life a living hell while pretending to know nothing.”

“I wasn’t gonna!!”

Diggory looked at you with a half-serious half-amused expression. “Then what were you planning?”

You stuck your tongue out and grinned evilly “I was simply going to introduce them to the mermaid friends I made in Black Lake!”

Both of you broke out into laughs only to be shushed by Pitts who ordered the two of you to stop slacking.

Diggory flinched at Pitt’s tone and you gently bumped the Hufflepuff’s arm. “Hey....you okay? Pitts isn’t bothering you too much, is he? I bet I can annoy him into being quieter if you need him to stop shouting.”

Diggory smiled softly at you “Thank you but I’m...I’m okay. It’s not Pitts who I’m worried about.”

“Is it Filch? Please tell me it’s Filch. I learned this firework spell from a Gryffindor and I’ve been dying to try it out.”

Another small laugh. “No, well...not anymore. Filch is definitely terrifying but he’s the least of my problems.”

Ah, so it’s probably a personal thing. Aight no biggie, just casually steer the conversation away. No need to get mushy on the first day of school prison- ahem- detention.

“It’s my dad that I’m worried about…”

Aaaand there goes that idea-

“He’s very proud of me and I try really hard to be this perfect son for him who never causes any trouble and I’m…” Diggory looked down at the sink and his eyes went glassy for a moment before he took a deep breath. “I’ve never gotten detention before. I’ve always found some way to avoid it by picking fights with bullies when there’s a crowd of people around to confirm the bully’s actions and my defense but this time…”

“You were set up.” Your eyes widened in realization as your jaw dropped.

Diggory nodded grimly and slowly resumed his dish drying.

“Did...did you tell any of the professors what happened?” You asked softly, silently considering any and all options to track down this fifth year and cause them some sort of harm.

“Professor Sprout.” He said, taking the next dish from you “She said she’ll do some asking around but…” His throat went dry and his eyes watered.

“She gave you the disappointed voice?”

He nodded once and you nearly teared up in sympathy.

Nothing had ever made you cry as fast as hearing Professor Sprout saying “I’m very disappointed in you, Dearie.” And you were a Slytherin. You had to deal with Severus “I’m better than all of you” Snape’s condescending tone since you arrived to Hogwarts! 

“I’m...sorry, Diggory.” You whispered, not sure how to comfort him.

“Cedric. And it’s alright...I appreciate you just listening to me ramble.”

“Uh, you’re welcome?”

“Cedric.” He said again, a bit firmer this time. “You don’t have to call me ‘Diggory’.” He clarified before turning to you with a shy smile. “We’re stuck in detention for a week together, aren’t we? Might as well get to know each other.”

“O-oh, right. Uh, thanks, Cedric.” You mumbled, trying furiously to stop a random blush from rising to your cheeks. “S-so uh...after detention’s over, wanna grab a Butterbeer?” You glared at the mountain of dishes before turning back to Cedric.

Cedric grinned widely at you and practically glowed “I’d love to! It’s a date!”