Diggory Is A Loser

16- Dishonour For The Diggory's

When Celia saw Cedric in the week that followed, he gave her a sad look, before moving on and giving her the space that she had asked for.
Just as he had predicted though, pretending that she was not a Diggory, was not an easy task. Especially with all of Hogwarts still comparing her to Cedric.
So Celia began avoiding all communal spaces, except at meal times, so that she wouldn't have to be around other people.
This also meant that she wouldn't accidentally bump into Benjamin, who she had been ignoring, as she was too embarrassed to talk to him after what had happened at the Yule Ball.

Celia was glad when the holidays ended, as she was then too focused on her work, and she didn't have much time to worry about anything else.
But even she couldn't study all the time, so when the opportunity to go to Hogsmeade arrived, she decided to go and spend some time out of Hogwarts.
Even though there were other students in town, there were a lot of other magical folk as well, who didn't immediately recognise Celia, so she could walk around without anyone staring at her.
That was until Rita Skeeter the journalist spotted her, and headed straight for her.

"Miss Diggory, how nice to see you out and about. Mind if I have a little chat?" Questioned Rita, as she sat down on the bench, beside Celia.
"What do you want?" Asked Celia warily.
The journalist had recently written a horrible article about Hagrid, so Celia didn't want to do anything to anger the woman, or give her any information that she could spin.
"I wanted to talk to you, afterall you do have a rather famous brother" admitted Rita.
"I don't want to talk about Cedric" insisted Celia.
"Why not? Don't you like talking about your brother?" Quizzed Rita.

"Cedric has half the school talking about him, he doesn't need me to brag about him as well" admitted Celia.
"I'm sensing a great deal of resentment between the two of you. Do you not get on?" Asked Rita curiously.
"I don't get along with anybody, and Cedric is not an exception to the rule" answered Celia.
"But he's your loving older brother, is he not?"
"If you say so"
"And what about your parents? Are they not the caring people they pretend to be?".

"Oh they are, just not to me. My mother is nice enough to me, but my father doesn't give me the time of day, all he cares about is Cedric. Now, I know you're expecting me to say nasty things about Cedric, so that you can write mean things about him, like you did with Hagrid. But I'm sorry to disappoint you, because Cedric is exactly the kind of person everyone thinks he is. He's kind and compassionate, and unfortunately he's also good at everything. So, if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to Hogwarts and study for my OWLs. You'll have to get your juicy scoop from someone else" informed Celia, before getting up and heading back to school.

****
Celia didn't think that she had given Rita Skeeter any information that she didn't already have.
But when they entered into February, Celia realised what a big mistake she had made, talking to Rita.
She headed down to breakfast as normal, and as she did, she noticed even more people talking about her than normal.
Celia tried not to think too much about it as she began to eat her breakfast while reading one of her books.
But before she could get very far, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching.
Celia put down her spoon and looked up from her book, in time to see Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout marching towards her.

"What's happened?" Celia asked nervously.
"Please can you follow me to my office, Miss Diggory?" Replied McGonagall.
Celia put away her things before following the teachers out of the hall.
Once they had arrived at McGonagall's office, the teachers formed a semi-circle around her.
"What have I done?" Questioned Celia.
"I take it that you don't read the Daily Prophet?" Asked Flitwick.
"No. There are much better things to read in the morning" answered Celia.

McGonagall sighed and picked up the Prophet from her desk before handing it over to Celia.
"This was published by Rita Skeeter, in the paper this morning. And since it's about you, we think you should read it" admitted McGonagall.
Celia frowned and began to read the article that had made the front page that morning.

'DISHONOUR FOR THE DIGGORYS

Amos Diggory, the well respected head for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, is now believed to have been harbouring a secret for 15 years. Amos is the father of the Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory. And while no one is disputing that fact, there are some concerns that his second child is not his at all.

Not many people have heard of Celia Diggory, the younger sister of Cedric. Many find this strange, as Amos is often heard boasting about the achievements of his son. So why does he keep his daughter a secret, and not brag about her as well?

New information has come to light, that Celia Diggory may not be a Diggory at all. Celia and Cedric look very different from each other, and Celia also looks nothing like Amos. She is a quiet and unattractive girl who sticks to the shadows, never wanting to stand out like Cedric. Her classmates admit that they didn't even know she was Cedric's sister before the start of the year.

So, how come this quiet girl was able to attend the ball with a good looking Beauxbatons student named Benjamin Taylor? As it turns out, Benjamin's father Fredrick, used to live very close to the Diggory's. He even attended Hogwarts in the same year as Celia's mother Martha, and the two were said to be very good friends.

Martha of course married Amos, and Fredrick eloped with a French woman. However, Fredrick regularly returns to England to see his friends and family. He also happened to be in the country at the same time Celia was conceived. Could this be a coincidence?

After attending the Yule Ball with Benjamin, Celia ran away and hid in the Forbidden Forest for several hours. What did Benjamin reveal to her, that shocked her so much? Could he have told her the truth about her birth, that she is the love child of Fredrick and Martha? Celia has avoided both Benjamin and Cedric since the Yule Ball, as she is clearly too ashamed to talk to them.

Celia admitted to me that she does not get along with her brother or her father. She revealed that Amos likes to brag about Cedric while pretending that she does not exist.
Could this behaviour be because Amos knows that Celia is not his child at all, but a bastard? Could his attempts to hide her from the world, be to keep secret his wife's infidelity?

We have no official evidence to suggest that Martha has been unfaithful to her husband. But the information I have collected, seems to suggest that there is more going on in the Diggory family, than anyone on the outside, knows.'

Celia lowered the paper once she had finished reading, and she didn't know quite what to say.
She knew that Rita Skeeter had made the story up, for she had seen photographs of her ancestors, who looked like her.
But she also knew that no one else in the world was going to believe her, over Rita.
The rest of the wizarding world was now going to believe that she was illegitimate, despite there being no official evidence to support Rita's claim.