FicWad

Shortly after his birthday Maglor said that Cedric had better have a semester of Muggle school starting in the winter. Cedric didn't like this at all, and protested mightily, but most of the other Elves seemed to think it was a good idea. So despite his protests, they began getting him ready to stay for a while in a tiny Muggle town nearby which went by the name of Forks ("not to be confused with Spoons, my lad," said Maglor). Among the more difficult preparations was learning how to drive a Muggle car.

The Ducks helped, too. They taught him how to use a computer, how to use both a landline and a cell phone, and how to use Muggle appliances like toasters and microwaves. They gave him a bundle of American dollars and got him Muggle clothes. Cedric tried to protest this, but it turned out that Adam Banks in particular came from an extremely wealthy family, and he, if no one else, had nothing but money to burn. Not for nothing was he called "Cake-Eater" by the other Ducks.

"But there's no point in my going to a Muggle school, especially if it's only for the last semester!" complained Cedric as Maglor handed him a stack of Muggle school textbooks to look at.

"You are a sharp and diligent student," said Maglor ignoring him as usual. "I think you can keep up easily at this school, even though you have never attended a Muggle school before."

Cedric heaved a sigh and began dutifully looking over the textbooks.

The day after New Year's, Daeron took Cedric down to Forks in a Muggle car to a Muggle house where lived a Muggle family. They had agreed to let Cedric stay with them for the remainder of the school year, and their name was Stanley. Cedric was not sure how Maglor had got them to agree to have a complete stranger share their house for five months, but he decided not to ask too many questions.

"Now remember, Cedric," said Daeron anxiously as they neared their destination. "You must look, speak, and behave exactly like a Muggle for six months. Call me on the phone if anything goes wrong. I know you have your wand in case of emergencies, but once again I urge you - do not use magic otherwise, and - "

"I know, Daeron!" said Cedric. He was already beginning to be depressed; he had been missing his parents and his friends, but now that he was going to spend six months trying to be a Muggle he realized just how very lonely he was going to be. He was not used to loneliness; he had been liked and admired a great deal at school (at least among fellow Hufflepuffs; he was not unaware of the scorn in which he had been held by most everybody else in Hogwarts, especially during the Tournament) and had never wanted for companions.

Mr. Roger Stanley was for the most part polite and rather disinterested; he didn't particularly seem to care what Cedric did or where he went as long as he was inside by midnight and didn't disrupt things in the house. Quite the contrast, Mrs. Stanley and seventeen-year-old Jessica, who was attending the same school as Cedric was now attending, seemed most fascinated with him, especially Jessica.

Indeed, the first time she saw him as he walked in through the front door with his suitcase she gaped openly at him for a full minute, making him very uncomfortable as he stuttered his way through his prepared introduction.

Later on, when she was taking him up to the room that was going to be his, she explained herself. "I'm sorry about staring at you like that," she said. "I just freaked out for a minute because you look almost exactly like someone whose family recently moved away. Like seriously, the resemblance is scary."

"Oh," said Cedric. "That's all right." He paused. "Er, Jessica, would you mind showing me around a bit tomorrow?"

"Oh, sure, no problem," said Jessica. Cedric now rather wished she would leave him alone to get unpacked, but she hung about, chattering on about which teachers were harshest and which couples were cutest. It was when she began talking about the Cullen family that he started actually listening.

It seemed that Edward Cullen, whom Cedric seemed resemble so closely, was part of a family that had been much envied and rather anti-popular while they had lived in Forks. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen had three adopted children - Alice, Emmett, and Edward - and an orphaned niece and nephew, Rosalie and Jasper Hale, in their care, and all five of them had gone to the high school where Jessica now attended. They had given the impression of being very rich, and they were also uncommonly good-looking, both of which factors should have made them the most popular kids in school, if they had not been so aloof toward everyone around them.

What made it even stranger was that they were all in pairs - Jasper Hale with Alice Cullen, and Emmett Cullen with Rosalie Hale. Only Edward, Cedric's look-alike, had been "single," and he had not expressed interest in any of the girls around. Or at least, not until last March.

It was then that the daughter of the Chief of Police, Bella Swan by name, had moved in from Arizona to live with her father. All of a sudden, Edward had seemed fascinated with her - he had seemed to hate her at first for some reason, but all too quickly it became evident that he was interested in almost nothing else besides her. Bella herself, according to Jessica, had been quite obviously besotted with Edward from the first, and after the two had started dating she was almost never seen without him.

"And it's not as if she's even that pretty," said Jessica. "Sure, she gets decent grades, but she doesn't have any real talents. And she's incredibly clumsy - or maybe accident-prone is a better word. It was like anything and everything dangerous goes looking for her."

Cedric wondered briefly if Jessica was just jealous because Edward had chosen Bella, but did not press the issue. Instead he said, "Well, what happened to the Cullens, then? You keep referring to them in past tense."

"Oh, they're not dead or anything," said Jessica, and some unmentioned thought made her roll her eyes. "They just moved away a few months ago - Dr. Cullen got an offer in New York that I guess he couldn't refuse. The whole family went with him. But I think something must have happened between Edward and Bella, because ever since they left, she's been like a walking corpse.

"I heard her father had to send a tracking party after her, when she went for a walk with Edward and didn't come back, and they found her lying unconscious in the woods. Ever since then she's been like a walking corpse. I mean, I can understand something like that for a couple of weeks, or maybe a month, but the Cullens left in September and Bella's still totally lifeless."

She passed on to more gossip about the Cullens and about the various girls who had tried their hand with Edward for what must have been another half an hour before she finally left. Only then could Cedric take out his wand, which was the only magical article he had brought along, and find a place for it in safety.

Then he got into bed, and tried without success not to think too much about the coming day. When he did manage to sleep, he slept fitfully.

The next morning he woke up feeling groggy and disoriented. It took him a few moments to remember where he was and why. When he did, he got up reluctantly and trudged off to the bathroom with a set of clothes, where he showered and dressed. He went back to his room, put on his new boots, and packed up his books. It was while he was doing the last that Jessica knocked at the door. "Are you ready, Cedric?" she asked.

"Nearly," said Cedric, who was at that moment hastily shoving his wand into his backpack with his books. Then he opened the door to find Jessica waiting.

"I'm ready now," he said, and followed her down the stairs to the kitchen where they both a bowl of cold cereal which was called Raisin Bran and a glass of orange juice. Cedric found he did not much care for the cereal, as it turned into soggy mush if you didn't eat it within the first few minutes.

"Don't they have Raisin Bran where you're from?" asked Jessica in amusement as she watched Cedric down the last of the mush.

Cedric busied himself with a mouthful of orange juice, which he liked considerably better, as he tried to think of a good answer. Of course had had never had Muggle food before in his life, and he had no idea if Muggles in England regularly had stuff like this for breakfast. At length he settled on, "Well, I've never had it, I don't know about Britain in general."

After breakfast they went out into the cold and the drizzling rain and climbed into Jessica's car, which was parked in front of the house. Jessica drove since Cedric did not know the way, and within a quarter of an hour they arrived at Forks High School. Cedric had not expected it to look in the least like Hogwarts, but he was still rather startled at how small it was. It was no more than a collection of seven or eight single-story buildings just off the highway.

Jessica told Cedric that since it was his first day he would have to go to the office and get a map, his class schedule, a slip which was to be signed by all the various teachers, and would be returned by the end of the day. She parked in the lot next to the building which had a sign on it that read FRONT OFFICE. Cedric climbed out of the car and walked up to the office alone.

The office proved to be small, but warm and brightly lit. Behind the long counter that cut across the middle of the room were three desks, one of which was occupied by a woman with glasses and red hair. She looked up when she heard Cedric come in, and started a little.

"Mr. Cullen?" she said uncertainly.

Cedric blinked. "Er, no," he said hastily. "I mean, no, I'm not Edward Cullen - my name's Cedric Montgomery - "

"Oh, I'm sorry," said the woman seeming to recover herself. "It's just that the resemblance is so strong, though I'm sure you already know that. All right, I know I have your schedule and map here somewhere. . ." She began riffling through a pile of papers on her desk for a few seconds before pulling out a few sheets of paper and handing them to Cedric. He took them rather carefully; he was still unused to using paper instead of parchment, and had received quite a number of cuts on the sharp edges and corners.

"That is your class schedule and a map of the school," she said. "And here is a slip for all your teachers to sign. Please bring it back to me at the end of the day, and good luck!"

Cedric thanked her and went back out to join Jessica in her car again. She drove around the school till she reached the student lot, and there she parked again.

"What's your first class?" she asked.

Cedric pulled out his schedule and looked over it. "I've got Gym first," he said.

She seemed disappointed. "Well, I can show you the way there, if you need me to. . ."

"Thanks, but I think I'll be fine," said Cedric. He climbed out of the car and took a good look at the map before setting off.