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That evening, Cedric mentioned to Jessica that Bella had invited her along for a movie on Friday.

"She invited me?" Jessica seemed rather more surprised than was necessary.

"Yes, she did," said Cedric. "It's totally up to you if you want to come."

Jessica pursed her lips, but she said, "What movie are we watching?"

"Think that's up to you too," said Cedric honestly. "I don't really know what's in the theater, and Bella doesn't really either."

"So she invited you to a movie that she hasn't decided on?" asked Jessica quizzically.

"That about sums it up," said Cedric.

Jessica shook her head. "Bella Swan just gets weirder and weirder," she said, but the remark held rather more humor and less resentment than before.

The next day, Friday, passed without event. When Cedric walked into Civics, Bella was already sitting at the desk they shared. When she saw him, she actually smiled a little - guiltily, as if someone had forbidden her to speak to him and she was doing it anyway.

"Hullo," he said tentatively as he sat down next to her.

"Hey," said Bella just as cautiously. "I, uh, talked to Jessica in Calculus this morning, and she says she's coming to see the movie with us this evening."

"Did she?" said Cedric. "I thought she might. Is she choosing the movie?"

"I guess," said Bella. "Since I don't know what's playing anymore than you do." Her lip curled in irony.

"We'll come pick you up this evening, then," said Cedric. "By the way, have you got any plans this weekend?"

Bella blushed, paled, and blushed again. "Are you - " she seemed to choke a little on the question. "Asking me out?"

Cedric started violently, blushing himself. "No!" he squeaked, and cringed at the sound of his voice. "I mean no!" he reiterated in a rumble like the sound of an oncoming train. "Er, no, Bella," he said in what he hoped was his normal voice; and then he recognized his mistake. "Not that you aren't pretty or anything!" he said in a great hurry. "But I wasn't asking you out. I mean, I know you were very close to Edward Cullen and - "

But this was apparently forbidden ground, for she went rigid in her seat and all the color drained from her previously flushed face.

"Bella!" hissed Cedric. "Bella! Are you all right?"

Her eyes were wide open and vacant, and what with her sudden unnatural stillness and her extreme pallor she looked like a corpse.

"Bella, pull it together!" said Cedric catching her by the shoulders and giving her a shake. She gave a little gasp and blinked hard. Cedric let go of her immediately, and watched as she seemed to come back to herself.

"Don't do that again," she panted.

"Sorry," said Cedric penitently. "I know I've no right to lay hands on you like that - "

"Not that," said Bella rubbing her forehead. "Don't say his name to me. Just don't."

Mr. Jefferson began the lecture then, effectively ending the conversation. Bella seemed to recover herself, and every now and again glanced Cedric's way. Cedric tried not to meet her eyes; he was a bit dazed at all the drama that already come up.

After class let out, Cedric offered once again to walk with Bella to lunch, and Bella said he could do whatever he wanted. Cedric tried not to take offense, for it was obvious that she didn't quite mean it; but he walked by himself anyway.

He joined Jessica and her friends at their table, and very soon he wished that he hadn't; for Jessica and Eric and Lauren all wanted to know if he was trying to date Bella. He denied it earnestly; nobody believed him. Mike seemed rather cross with all this talk of Cedric liking Bella, and said nothing. Cedric now felt sure that Mike liked Bella, and had been refused by her in the past.

Cedric's remaining class, Calculus, passed slowly and painfully; then he sat and tackled his assignments for an hour while Jessica had her last class.

"So when should we go get Bella?" asked Jessica during the ride home.

"How about an early showing and then some dinner later?" Cedric proposed.

"Sounds good to me," said Jessica.

So they went home, told Mrs. Stanley that they were going up to Port Angeles (which was an hour's drive away) for a movie, and went almost directly back out to drive to Bella's house. Jessica drove this time; she said she knew her way.

She seemed excited about the trip, and chatted merrily about some of the movies that had just been released. She seemed most in favor of an action movie called A Night at the Museum, and Cedric decided it sounded interesting too. A Muggle museum full of exhibits that came to life during the night! That he had to see.

The Swan house was small and only one story high; the only thing parked in front of it was Bella's old rusty red truck. Jessica honked when they pulled up to it, and after about five minutes Bella came out, her purse swinging on her arm. She walked up to the car and climbed into the back seat.

"Hi, guys," she said as she fastened her safety belt. "Did you guys decide on a movie yet?"

"I was thinking maybe A Night at the Museum?" Jessica suggested.

"That's fine by me," said Bella, and Cedric said, "I'm down for whatever, really."

Jessica, predictably, carried the conversation for the duration of the ride to the city. She talked as much to Bella as to Cedric, and if Bella's antisocial behavior of the previous months still rankled, Jessica said nothing about it.

The movie theater was unlike anything Cedric had seen before in his life. After paying for the tickets, Jessica led the way into a very large, somewhat dark room with row upon row of chairs all facing in roughly the same direction. At the end of the large room facing the chairs was an enormous blank screen.

Cedric followed Jessica and Bella, who obviously knew what they were doing, and plopped down beside them when they chose their seats. He noticed as he did so that a number of the other people choosing their seats held bags of popcorn (a few were already eating it), the sight of which made him hungry. Evidently people ate while watching movies.

"I say," said Cedric to the two girls. "Are either of you hungry?"

"Sure," said Jessica. "You want popcorn, Bella?"

"I'm fine," said Bella.

"Okay, I'll be back," said Jessica, and she left the theater and went back out to the room where they'd bought the tickets. In a minute or two she had returned with a large bag of popcorn and three tall cups with straws in them.

"It was a special," she said. "Buy three large drinks and get a free order of popcorn. Hope you guys like Pepsi, because that's what I got."

"Pepsi's fine," said Cedric, who had in the past week taken a liking to soda.

Bella just shrugged and accepted one of the cups without comment.

The previews in the beginning were a bit of a shock. After the first one was finished Cedric thought the whole movie was over, and began to get up only to be yanked down again by Jessica who hissed, "Where are you going? It hasn't even started yet!" And Cedric sat down again feeling rather glum. Thanks for nothing, Ducks, he thought darkly, for no one had warned him about the previews.

Then at last the movie finally seemed to be starting; or so Cedric guessed, because it took so long to introduce. It was exciting and funny, and Cedric rather enjoyed it. The story, as best he could tell, was all about a man who took a job as a night security guard at a museum where all the exhibits came alive at sunset, which seemed to be the doing of a magical stone from Egypt. He wondered why wizards hadn't yet found a way to to replicate this - if Muggles could do it with what Jessica called "fancy editing and greenscreen," why couldn't wizards use magical means to do nearly the same thing?

The movie itself ran for about an hour and a half, not counting the end credits, and as soon as they started most everyone stood up to go, including Jessica and Bella. Cedric followed their lead, and together they filed out to where Jessica had parked the car. It was about half past seven at this point, and Cedric found that even after numerous handfuls of popcorn he was quite hungry.

"Where are we going to eat?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm down for anywhere," said Jessica. "How about you, Bella?"

Bella's answer was a little wide of the mark. "There's a McDonald's down the street," she said, pointing to where a big lighted yellow "M" was visible from the parking lot.

"McDonald's it is, then!" said Cedric.

So they drove into the lot and ordered their food at the drive-thru. Cedric found it rather odd, and rather uncanny, to talk to a big black screen which talked back in a muffled human voice and blinked their orders in red letters; he had never ordered fast food before. They paid at the first window and were handed their food in paper bags at the second; then as they started to eat, Jessica pulled out of the lot and began the long drive home.

Cedric wondered how anyone could eat and drive and talk at the same time, as Jessica was doing. He wondered if he should have offered to drive, but it was too late for that now. And anyhow, Jessica seemed to take pleasure in multi-tasking. Bella, on the other hand, couldn't seem to quite manage eating her meal while doing nothing else. Cedric looked back at her every now and again, and the second time he looked he saw that she had dropped her sandwich all over the front of her sweater, and was trying to wipe herself free of mayonnaise.

It was a quarter to nine o'clock when Jessica pulled up to the Swan house. A white police cruiser with its red and blue lights on top now sat next to the big red truck, and Jessica merely pulled up to the curb for Bella to get out.

"Thanks for the ride, Jess," said Bella, and left the car. Jessica stared after her as she left.

"Well, that was interesting," she said.

"What was interesting?" asked Cedric.

"Bella. She's not rude, but she never goes out of her way to talk to people. At least not recently."

Bella had by now reached the front door. She opened it and went inside, and Jessica at once drove away from the house.

oo00oo

Elrond sat in front of his desktop. Celebrian stood behind him, reading Cedric's e-mail over her husband's shoulder.

"Carlisle is gone?" said she.

"So it would seem," said Elrond. "What do you make of it?"

"I do not know what to make of it," said the silver-haired elleth. "His coven is not nomadic; it was my belief that he had only returned to the area two years ago."

"He did," said Elrond. "That is why I do not like this. He would not leave so soon unless there was an urgent reason to - perhaps Jasper gave in to his thirst for human blood?"

Celebrian shook her head. "There would be news of an unexplained disappearance if he had. All the same, I think it is time to visit La Push at least, and see for ourselves what is happening. Perhaps we might even pay Cedric a visit."

"Certainly," said Elrond. "And it has been thirty years since last I saw Billy Black; I am rather overdue, certainly since Sarah died. Rachel and Rebecca must be out of college by now, and Jacob I have never met in person. Yes, it is long past time for me to see him."