"What are you two doing here?"

"Wonderful to see you, too, Ced. Can I call you Ced?" Without waiting for a response, he continued, "Who'd have thought you'd be headed back to your room? Important guy like you, just wandering around? What kind of example are you setting for the young Hufflepuffs?" Fred grinned and smacked Cedric on the shoulder in what he hoped was a particularly manly way.

"Yeah, we've been looking all over for you." George, never far from his twin, grabbed Cedric's other shoulder. "For a popular guy, you weren't easy to track down."

Cedric's eyes darted from one brother to the other. "What do you want? I'm kind of headed back to..."

"It's not us, Ced old boy," George cut in. "We've had an..."

"Assignment, you might say," Fred said. "A very important one."

George nodded. "So you'd better just come with us." He and Fred started pushing Cedric away from the Hufflepuff dorms and toward the main entryway of the castle. As the Hufflepuff captain struggled, Fred and George exchanged a glance and lifted him bodily from the floor, one on each arm, and carried him, still struggling, from the castle.

* * *

The interior of the Gryffindor locker room was musty, but that shouldn't have been a surprise, since the Hufflepuff locker room was much the same. But standing to the side of the bright gold lion, at the doorway to the men's side of the showers, Cedric suddenly felt cold. Absurd at the beginning of May, he knew, but this had nothing to do with the temperature.

"Well, don't keep the man waiting!" George said playfully, and shoved Cedric through the entryway. He and Fred stepped together behind Cedric, their breadth forming a wall between him and the outside door. "Go on!"

Cedric knew it would be futile to argue with them stepped into the locker room, an exact double of the Hufflepuff men's room save for the colors and abundance of lions rampant. One of the cubbyholes was in use -- a set of school robes and shoes hung next to the scarlet and gold quidditch robes. Embossed above the cubbyhole were the letters "CAPT" in gold leaf and Cedric could hear somewhat tuneless humming and running water coming from the showers.

His ears pounded. This was... not hostile territory, but certainly unfamiliar. He knew exactly who the captain of Gryffindor's quidditch team was, and that made him even more nervous. As he rounded the corner into the shower area, he stopped.

"Finally those Weasleys did something right."

Cedric was at a loss for words. Oliver Wood stood under one of the showerheads, rubbing a washcloth trailing suds across his chest and looking straight at Cedric. He was half-hard, and Cedric mentally kicked himself for noticing that; when his eyes flicked back up to Oliver's face, the older boy's face was set in a smirk.

"What, not going to join me?"

It should have sounded completely absurd, but somehow Cedric found himself wondering how soon he could be naked and back in the showers. Here was his idol, a rival, and one of the hottest men at Hogwarts all wrapped up in one broad and muscular package. Sheer disbelief kicked in. "I. What am I doing here? You... they dragged me down here -- what's going on?"

Oliver cocked his head to the side, a position Cedric found distracting because of how the water ran down Oliver's neck. He wanted to lick it. "You mean they didn't tell you? Typical Weasleys." Oliver straightened up and raised his voice. "Don't think I won't get you two before we leave!" he shouted toward the entryway. Laughter echoed back, and Cedric made a mental note to get back at them as well.

"I just wanted to thank you." Oliver's grin was lopsided and his voice was quiet.

"Thank me?" Cedric was wary. This didn't sound like the brash Wood he knew.

"You know, for being... good competition."

There was definitely something there, Cedric thought. Oliver's tone was way too playful, and Hufflepuff never really made a great showing at quidditch. "You'd have flattened us if Harry'd caught the snitch..." he started, but was quickly interrupted.

Oliver looked Cedric right in the eyes. "I'm not talking about the score. You care about the game and playing it fair. That's good competition." He paused, then looked away. "Now are you coming over here or not?" his tone suddenly playful, Oliver flicked a few droplets of water at Cedric, smattering on the front of his robe.

"Hey!"

"Oh, and you'll need to drop your robes. Right there; they'll be fine. Or are you going to make me come over there and take them off for you?"

Cedric's eyes almost glazed over at that mental image, but he slowly stepped out of his shoes and slipped off his robe and other clothes, piling them on the tiled floor of the large shower area. He felt ridiculous, but this was Oliver Wood. What girl (or boy, for that matter) didn't have a crush on him?

Oliver was only slightly taller than Cedric, but definitely broader. When Cedric stepped forward, close to the shower, Oliver grabbed him around the chest, pinning his arms to his sides, and shoved him under the water. Cedric sputtered and struggled a little, but only managed to get free when Oliver loosened his grip. Wiping water off his face and slicking his hair back, Cedric glared at Oliver. "What was that for?!" he demanded. His question simply earned a grin from Oliver and as Cedric stood there dripping, Oliver advanced on him again. "Hey, not again! I don't want to..."

What cut him off this time wasn't being dunked under the shower, though. Instead, Oliver's very insistent mouth took his, Oliver's tongue massaging his own, as the strong arms that had grabbed him before circled his waist. They stood there, dripping on the tiles and kissing, for a solid few minutes. When Oliver licked his ear, Cedric's gasp was audible throughout the locker room.

They eventually made their way back to the still-running shower and finished what Oliver had started. When he was wrapped in a towel, trying to dry himself enough to put on his clothes and robe, Cedric looked over at Oliver, who had his towel slung around his neck, and grinned. When Oliver saw him looking, Cedric blushed, but didn't stop grinning. "You're welcome," he said.