Cedric Diggory

Cedric Diggory (February 21, 1977–24 June 1995), a fictional character in the Harry Potter series of novels, was the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain and Seeker through Harry's third year of school. Cedric's father is Amos Diggory, who works at the Ministry of Magic; his girlfriend was Cho Chang. Cedric has been described as "the strong, but silent type" and "extremely handsome"; as a character he showed a notable streak for modesty and fairness. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, he is played by Robert Pattinson.

In Harry's third year, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Cedric captained the Hufflepuff team which beat Gryffindor.

His father Amos Diggory was extremely proud of Cedric for "defeating" Harry Potter, saying that the better man won, but Cedric was extremely embarrassed about his father's bragging. The Weasley twins, however, continue to harbor ill feelings towards Diggory for that defeat.

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Cedric was selected to be the Hogwarts champion in the Triwizard Tournament. When Harry is mysteriously selected as well, Draco Malfoy makes Support Cedric Diggory badges for the Slytherins.

For the first task, Harry clued Cedric that their task involves dragons. During the task, he transfigured a rock into a dog which distracted his dragon, unfortunately mid-way his dragon lost interest in the dog and went after him instead. Cedric successfully retrieved his golden egg but received a burn on the cheek in the process. He later took Cho Chang to the Yule Ball as his date much to Harry's dismay.

Cedric, along with Moaning Myrtle, assists Harry in solving the clue of the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, by telling him to open the egg - a Triwizard clue from the first task - underwater in the Prefects' bathroom, in return for the help Harry had given him for the first task.

He was the second of the champions to reach the mer-village and successfully saved Cho, his hostage, using a bubblehead charm. He surfaced one minute over the one hour time limit earning him forty-seven points for the second task.

Cedric and Harry showed indignation at what was done to their Quiddich field which has tall hedges for the third task. Cedric refuses to take the cup without Harry, each of them having helped the other through the maze, so they grasp it together.

The cup turns out to be a portkey which transports them to Voldemort and his servant Wormtail. Voldemort has Wormtail murder Diggory with the Avada Kedavra curse. Harry escapes, bringing with him Cedric's body in accordance with Cedric's posthumous wish: that he be brought back to his parents.

Professor Pomona Sprout is chosen to comfort Amos and Mrs. Diggory. The Ministry of Magic doesn't want to believe Voldemort has returned, so they institute a coverup and publicly attribute Cedric's death to an "accident". At the year's end feast, Dumbledore reveals to the entire school that Cedric was murdered by Voldemort and to attribute his death to an accident would be an injustice to Cedric. As a boy who was "good, and kind, and brave", he was the embodiment of all things Hufflepuff. Dumbledore ends the speech by saying "Remember Cedric Diggory".

Diggory's death has an profound emotional impact on Harry; he feels survivor's guilt of having been spared initially while Cedric was killed outright, just because he had insisted that they should share the victory. He is reluctant to talk about Cedric's death and even vigorously honors his memory, both by offering the reward money to Cedric's parents with the words 'It should have been his...' and by refusing to retell the tale during the first meeting of the future Dumbledore's Army in the Hog's Head.

Cedric was the first victim to begin Rowling's tradition of killing off one main character per book. By many, his death is seen as an end of the childhood innocence that the series once portrayed, though this is debateable. In the movie, his death is heavily noticed after the graveyard scene, in which his father mourns over his son's lifeless body.

Cedric's wand had a unicorn tail hair in it. It is remarked in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that "Always the innocent are the first victims." The character, Ronan, was referring to unicorns, but he could also have been foreshadowing Cedric's murder.