It Only Takes a Second

- LI -

Cold and rainy.

Harry's least favorite type of weather.

As soon as he woke up, the chill in the air seemed to set into his joints, and his entire body ached.

Grimacing, Harry slowly sat up, letting out a small hiss of discomfort as his entire body protested the movement. Slowly but surely, he made it to his feet, wrapping one of the extra blankets from his bed around his shoulders to provide extra warmth.

"Good morning, Harry," Friday's voice spoke, just like it did every morning when Harry awoke. At first, the AI's morning greetings had frightened Harry, but he had grown to become accustom to it, and even found himself smiling every morning.

"Good morning, Friday," Harry replied, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth despite the pain radiating throughout his body.

"Can I help you with anything this morning?" Friday offered like she always did, her Irish accent sounding cheerful and ready to help.

"Can you turn up the heat in the room a few degrees, please?" Harry asked, hoping that if he remained warm, the aching of his body would be toned down a bit.

"Of course," Friday replied, and a few moments later announced, "the heat in your room has been turned up. Do you need anything else?"

"No, I think I'm alright. Thank you Fri," Harry smiled. If someone would have told him a year ago that he would be having a comfortable conversation with an invisible voice in the middle of a penthouse in New York City, he would have recommended that they go see a mind healer at St. Mungo's.

Making his way slowly into the closet, Harry began rummaging through his amassing sweater collection, looking for the warmest one. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks, hands frozen on the woven wool of an all too familiar sweater.

Cedric's.

It was a goldenrod yellow, thick and tightknit so that even the bitter winter winds of Scotland couldn't get through. He remembered the day that Cedric had given him the sweater.

They had been walking across the bridge together, talking about the impending second task. Harry, who naturally ran cold, was beginning to shiver violently. His emaciated body didn't have anything to it that would block the harsh cold.

"Harry, you're freezing!" Cedric had exclaimed, grasping Harry's hands in his own.

"I'm alright, really. It's not that bad," Harry had replied, but the chattering of his teeth indicated otherwise.

Cedric had untied his scarf, and pulled the heavy sweater off.

"Now you're going to be cold. It's alright," Harry had apologized, shaking his head as he refused the sweater.

"Harry, I will not let you freeze to death. I've still got this sweater on, and you've got nothing. Please, just humor me and put this on."

Cedric's big hazel eyes had watched as Harry grudgingly pulled the sweater on, concern etched into his expression. Harry had told him about some of his aunt and uncle's treatments. How they made him do all of the chores and would beat him badly if he made even the slightest of mistake. How they withheld food at random, not even needing an excuse to do so. It had made him sick to his stomach just to think about it.

"Thank you," Harry breathed, curling in on himself and accepting the warmth from the sweater and inhaling Cedric's scent. The sweater threatened to swallow him, with Cedric being a solid eight inches taller than him and having a much healthier, more muscular build.