Letters- Cedric Diggory

15

December 1993

I thanked Fred and George for wishing me a happy birthday, even if it did end in all of us getting detention with Snape. Harry, Ron, and Hermionie had come up to us and expressed how amazing they thought that was. They all wished me happy birthday once more.

I walked to the Hufflepuff table and was just about to sit down when I realized that Cristina and Stephanie were staring at me with disgust.
"What?" I asked, the feeling of anxiety spreading over my chest.
"Why the hell would you let them do that" Stephanie scoffed, looking away from me while shaking her head.
"I-I didn't know they were going to" I stuttered, feeling very self conscious. They were blaming me for something I didn't have control over.
"You know what! Just stop hanging out around us! It's not like you matter to me anymore!" Cristina said, raising her voice so the whole table could hear.

I leant down and grabbed my bag from the floor. I walked out of the great hall as quickly as I could. The tears in my eyes threatening to run down my face.

So much for Hufflepuff loyalty.

I walked into the nearest girls bathroom, thankfully no one was in there. I walked to the sink and held onto it tightly as I let the tears fall down my face. They wouldn't stop, no matter how hard I tried to just stuff all of my feelings back inside of me, tears slowly slipped down my cheeks.

I didn't know what I was feeling. I felt completely empty inside. She didn't care about me anymore. What did I do? Why do I always have to mess everything up.

It took a lot to stop the tears. My breathing had returned to normal again. I looked up into the mirror, mascara streaks running down my face. My eyes were puffy and red. I wiped the streaks of mascara from my face and walked out of the bathroom as calmly as I could.

***

I was sitting in charms class, sitting through a lesson full of note taking. I didn't do any of it, I didn't have the energy. I didn't care anymore, nobody really cared about me so why should I care about anything anymore?

Flitwick had assigned seats at the beginning of the year, meaning we couldn't switch them. I just happened to be seated next to Cedric. I could see him looking at me occasionally, I had to keep telling myself that he didn't care anymore just so I could stop thinking about him.

"Lex" Cedric whispered softly, pushing his pages full of notes towards me.
"No" I said, shaking my head slightly and pushing the papers back towards him. Next thing I know Cedric grabbed my bag and left his papers in there without another word to me.

Why did he always have to do things like that?

***

Alastor Moody, the auror, also known as Mad Eye Moody, had always filled in for dad after a full moon. The lessons he planned were... interesting, you could say. He would teach us about dueling mostly, but sometimes we would practice jinxes, on each other.

I didn't mind it most of the time, but it would usually get a little out of hand depending on what jinxes or curses we were going. Today was the perfect example of class getting out of hand.

I had been paired up with a Ravenclaw boy, he was going all out. We were told to practice the stinging jinx on each other, aiming for the hands and ankles. He had accidentally hit my neck a few times. Obviously, he wasn't paying that much attention to where he was aiming.

I walked out of class that day with an aching neck and the urge to cry more than I had ever felt. I decided to stop at the hospital wing again, to see if dad was still there.

Madam Pomfrey let me in, dad was sleeping. I slipped behind the curtain surrounding his bed and sat down in the chair next to him. I pulled out some spare chocolate I had and put it on the bedside table.

We hadn't done that much in any of my classes, except for charms. I pulled out the notes Cedric had shoved in my bag. I decided that it would be best to just copy them down and give them back to him tonight.

I had gotten through the first page of notes along with most of the second page before I noticed a note at the bottom of the page.

We're not doing rounds, meet me in the kitchens.

I had managed to scribble down the rest of the notes before realizing that I had detention with Snape soon. I walked quietly down the corridors leading to the dungeons.

I had gotten there before Fred and George, leaving the classroom empty except for professor Snape and I. The awkward silence didn't last for long. Fred and George casually walked in with proud smirks across their lips.

***

After Snape had us scrub all of the cauldrons, we were finally done with our detention.
"Y'know Lexie, we still need to take you to hogsmeade" Fred nudged my arm slightly while giving me a soft smile.
"I can't right now, I'm busy" I laughed, at both of them staring at me intently as I answered.
"C'mon, skip the rounds, we can have actual fun" George rolled his eyes.
"I'm already skipping rounds, and I'm still busy" I said, while the sudden realization that Cedric was waiting for me.

I said goodbye to the twins and headed off to the kitchens. Luckily the common room was right by the kitchens, so any lingering teachers would just think I was going back to the common room.

I tickled the pear that lead into the kitchens until the door opened. Cedric sat at a small table in the corner, having a conversation with a house elf.

"Miss is here!" The small house elf squeaked. They had a very excited look on their face as they quickly walked across the room towards a cabinet. Cedric stood up and pulled a chair out for me.

"I wanted to do something for you, s-since your day was kinda shitty" He said awkwardly looking around the room. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him. After the slight shock had passed him he hugged me back.

We shared a delicious chocolate cake that night. Forgetting all of the problems between us.

***

Cedric,

Thank you for the best birthday I could've asked for.

I love you.

-Alexandria