Harry Potter Imagines

fluff-c.d

tw- eating disorders 

In the run up to the Yule Ball, your confidence was taking a battering, you were unsure if anyone would ask you and every time you looked in the mirror you found another reason for someone not to ask you. Your best friend of the longest time had assured you that someone would ask, someone would want to go with you, but no one had asked you yet. There was still time, but Cedric had asked Cho and you felt that as he had a date, you should do. You based a lot of what you thought of yourself on Cedric, continuously comparing yourself which was an unfortunate habit as Cedric was not only a natural wizard but a bloody good one too.

Cedric was oblivious to the comparison, oblivious to the fact that whilst he was the most popular person in the year, you had a small tight knit group of friends. Everyone was nice to you, respected you and never caused any trouble for you, but you had always thought that this was because of your relationship with the Hufflepuff hero. You had been looking at different dresses, your mother having sent multiple options, knowing that you were indecisive when it comes to fashion; you had tried all of them on and whilst every dress was beautiful, they didn't feel beautiful on your body. You had ended up standing in front of the mirror in each dress and writing down the pros and the cons; you found that every time the list would be the same. Pros: the dress is stunning, the colour is beautiful, I love the dress. Cons: My body doesn't do it justice.

It ended up becoming a habit. Every night you would try the dresses on, trying to eliminate which dresses were a definite no and which would make it to the next round of criticism. You soon decided that in order to wear the dresses and feel confident, in order to get a date so that you could go to the ball, you would start making changes.

It started small at first; never having second portions, having small desserts which soon became only having desserts on certain days of the week. Cedric didn't clock on at first, it didn't seem toxic and honestly, he was preoccupied with the second task that he had barely been paying you any attention. It didn't help that the beautiful women who Cedric was taking to the ball had been spending more time with you, that she had been asking you all manner of questions about Cedric; you had happily obliged in answering and every time you spoke to her, you found yourself comparing your body to hers. When she showed you what she was wearing so that you could ensure that Cedric matched without him seeing her dress, you had found yourself deciding that you needed to do more to look good.

Not only were you skipping breakfast but you had taken to spending more time in the library exploring different potions and spells that could make you more confident, make you feel prettier and generally anything that would possibly help you get a date to the ball. Cedric was beginning to notice your absence more, he would go searching for you whenever you missed breakfast but when he found you in the library, you would hide what you were reading from him. Cedric grew more suspicious, keeping his attention on you when you were at his side; he tried to get you to open up to him in the common room but for the first time in his life, you refused to tell him what was wrong. All he had managed to get from you was that the ball was causing you to stress.

Cedric was hoping that someone would ask you soon, he didn't understand why no one hadn't. Everyone loved you, you were clearly stunning and there was no doubt that you had a cracking personality. When you didn't appear at lunch, having already skipped breakfast, Cedric grabbed a plate of food and stalked off into the library. He found you sat there, pouring over a book, your arm covering the words so that he couldn't read what it was; you looked up at him, your skin pale and the bags under your eyes dark. He placed the food down in front of you, smiling at you and grabbing a book that was strewn across the table. He noticed that certain pages had been folded and he subtly turned to those pages. He glanced at you from time to time, the occasionally bite of food entering your mouth; not enough to sustain you but enough to show him that you were eating.