Switching Sides | Cedric Diggory vs. Fred Weasley

Chapter 39: The Night We Met

Millie pulled at the sleeves of her sweater as she stood outside the door of Professor McGonagall's office. She was kept in the hospital wing for a week, and having just been released last night, her first act of freedom was to get Paisley out of trouble for something she'd done.

She felt horrible, throwing all the blame on Paisley like that. She'd told Alicia what Paisley had said to her, and Alicia hadn't bought it for one second.

"That's bullshit," she spat. "You and Cedric were all over each other right after the game. I saw you with my own eyes,"

"Maybe you don't know what you saw," Millie replied. 

"Hadn't George said she was holding the wand when he found you?"

"It's her wand...she probably just grabbed it back," she groaned. "God, I thought you'd be happy, knowing one of our friends didn't do this to me,"

"First off, we don't know that she didn't do it," she scowled. "And second, one of your friends. The rest of the team only talks to her cause you practically force us to,"

"I do not!" Millie scoffed. "You guys are just so closed minded. We've had the same friend group since second year, would it really hurt to welcome someone else in?"

"When that someone is a manipulative psycho that obliviates my best friend, then yeah. It would hurt,"

"Why can't you just believe her? Believe me?" 

"Because Cedric wouldn't cheat on you," 

"He did before," 

"But believe me when I say there's no way he would've done it again. I know you don't remember how in love you two were, but everyone else does. This was Paisley's doing, and I'm gonna prove it one way or another." 

And with that, Alicia stood up and stormed out of the hospital wing to go to the common room and inform their friends of Paisley's pathetic story, leaving Millie aggravated and, once again, wildly confused. 

But she knew what she was going to say to McGonagall. What she needed to say. 

"Miss Barrett," Professor McGonagall exclaimed, opening the door a few moments after Millie's knock. "I hadn't expected to see you so soon,"

"It's kind of urgent," she said. "Could we speak in your office for a moment?"

"Very well," she muttered, stepping aside so Millie could enter.

"It's about Paisley," Millie stated as she made for the seat opposing her professors. 

"I figured you'd like to have this conversation with me," she said, sitting up straight in her office chair. "And I'd be willing to discuss harsher punishments for Miss Baxter, but right now she is still-"

"Harsher punishments?" Millie's eyes went wide. "No, no. I wanted to talk to you about revoking her punishments entirely,"

"I'm sorry?" McGonagall gasped. "Revoking her punishments? Whatever for?"

"She told me what really happened," Millie sighed. "It wasn't her, professor. I used her wand to obliviate myself,"

"Miss Barrett," McGonagall frowned. "First of all, that's not proven to be true. She said the same thing to me and the headmaster and we passed it off as her trying to weave her way out of trouble-"

"But she would never-" Millie tried.

"And second," her professor spat. "A witch or wizard is not capable of obliviating themselves,"

"With their own wand," Millie added, reaching into the back pocket of her jeans to pull out a folded page of a textbook she'd ripped out. She opened it up and placed it before her professor. "It says right here that a witch or wizard is incapable of using the obliviate curse on themselves with the use of their own wand. Meaning I could've done it to myself,"