In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter CXIV: So We Fight

LUCY:

Falling.

It was first year again. We had successfully defended the Stone. I was heading up to the castle after filling in for Harry at Quidditch practice, and Cedric was sprinting full speed in my direction.

My brother collided with me so forcefully I would have fallen to the ground if he hadn't been holding me tight enough to make sure I didn't.

The scene disappeared into blackness.

Falling.

It was second year again. The Chamber of Secrets would haunt Hogwarts no more. I was heading to the Hospital Wing with Ron and Lockhart, and I spied Cedric at the end of the hallway. I called his name and hurtled toward him.

My knees buckled with relief the second I was in his arms.

The scene disappeared into blackness.

Falling.

It was third year again. Cedric was leaving for St. Mungo's, and I was crying because I wasn't going to see him for two and a half months, and Buckbeak was going to be executed at sunset, and the full moon would rise after that, and Cedric wouldn't be there in the morning, and my world was falling apart.

I launched myself at him.

The scene disappeared into blackness.

Falling.

The Quidditch Pitch was packed to the brim, but I wasn't in the sky. I was in the stands, between Henry and George. The crowd was erupting into cheers.

I shook my head. "No, no, no, no, no..."

The scene disappeared into blackness.

"I miss you," I whispered to the darkness.

I thought about getting up and writing him a letter, but I knew that it wouldn't help. I just wanted him back, I just wanted to write a letter I knew he would read, I just wanted to be able to slip down to the Hufflepuff common room and wake him up and talk to him, I just wanted him back.

All at once, it was too much, the storm inside of me. I parted the curtains the slightest bit, shoved my feet into slippers, and stole from the dormitory without a second thought.

I didn't even bother pretending to sleepwalk. I jumped through the portrait hole, pretended not to hear the Fat Lady asking where I was going at 2 in the morning, and made my way down the stairs. My feet did my thinking for me, and after a little while, I was standing at the entrance of the Room of Requirement.

Why am I here?

"You won't find him in there."

I jumped about five feet into the air and whirled around to face the voice.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," the Fat Friar, the Hufflepuff house ghost, said gently.

"It's alright," I replied, blushing. "I frighten more easily now than I used to."

"I can imagine." He folded his hands in front of himself. "That room is among the most remarkable magic I have seen in my existence, but I am afraid not even the Room of Requirement can bring back the dead."

My eyes filled with tears without warning, and I tried to force my emotion away, but the storm continued to churn. "I just want to talk to him again," I managed. "He would know what to do. He would make it better."

"You are not the only one to say that. I've heard variations of that phrase whispered throughout the Hufflepuff common room every single day since school resumed. Transfiguration homework, friendship troubles, even in regards to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor. You're not alone in wishing for Cedric's guidance."