Letters- Cedric Diggory

30

November 1994

"Hey, I'm gonna be okay, that dragon isn't going to hurt me." Cedric whispered as he kissed my forehead.
"Cedric, dragons breath fire. Fire burns if you didn't know" I said bluntly.
"I'll be okay, trust me" He said, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

"Young love!" A woman, who I recognized as Rita Skeeter gasped. The flash from her camera blinded us momentarily.
"Triwizard champion, Cedric Diggory fallen for Remus Lupin's daughter!" Rita spoke, looking me up and down. "Oh dear, I know all about your fathers, ahem, um problem. As one might call it" Rita smirked as her quill wrote on her notepad in mid air.

"I'm going to go see Fleur" I muttered, walking over to where she was sitting.
"Comment tu vas ?" (How are you doing?) I asked, sitting down next to her.
"Super, j'ai un bon plan." (Great actually, I have a good plan.) Fleur smiled.
"Je vais être d'accord avec Alexandrie, ne vous inquiétez pas." (I'm going to be okay Alexandria, don't worry.) She reassured, placing her hand on top of mine.

"Good day champions! Now, we mus-" Dumbledore entered the tent, along with a few other people. "What are you doing here Miss.Lupin?"
"I was just about to leave, sorry professor" I stammered, walking out of the tent.

I found my seat along with the other Beauxbaton students. Everyone was talking excitedly around me. I felt like I couldn't breath. Even the thought of losing Fleur and Cedric was devastating.

Suddenly, the cannon from the champions tent fired, signaling the first champion to come into the arena. I sat anxiously waiting to see who it was.

Unfortunately, Cedric was the first champion. The dragon had noticed him sneaking near the rock with a golden egg. Cedric had moved away just before the dragon sent a flame towards him.

The crowd went silent for a moment as Cedric hid behind the rock. He all watched as he nodded to himself, taking a deep breath he perked out from behind the rock.

The dragon had curled up its tail around the egg, protecting it. Cedric took his moment where the dragon wasn't paying attention to execute his plan.

He snuck behind the dragon as he transfigured a far away rock into a dog. The dragon took the bait. Cedric ran towards the egg, scooping it into his arms. The dragon had realized what Cedric was doing almost as soon as Cedric was turning towards the exit doors.

The dragon breathed fire in his direction, burning the side of his chest. He had made it just after that. I could hear his fathers voice call out from the stands.

The judges were conversing about Cedric's performance in the arena and his score. I took this as an opportunity to check on him while he was in the medical tent with Madam Pomfrey.

I squeezed thought the stands of cheering voices and clapping hands. I had made it down the way to Madam Pomfrey's tent, I could hear Cedric groaning in pain.

I walked into the tent to see Madam Pomfrey bent over Cedric's bare chest. I was frozen in place. Madam Pomfrey had been muttering spells under her breath, they were healing spells, I had heard them while she had fixed dad's wounds after a full moon.

Someone had come rushing into the tent, pushing me forward as the breath I had been holding left me.
"What are you doing here!" Madam Pomfrey hissed, turning to face me.
"I'm sorry, we needed to see Cedric" Anthony stood behind me, breathing heavily.
"Can we please stay with him"

Madam Pomfrey looked defeated. She had pulled up two chairs on each side of the bed Cedric was resting on. His deep slow breaths were the only thing I could hear.

I held his hand and ran my fingers through his hair as his father walked in.
"My boy! Is my boy alright!" He rambled. The worry that was across his face transformed into relief. I stood up, ushering Amos to my seat.

"Dear, I'm alright please, sit." He stammered, refusing to sit down.
"It's okay, I promised one of the other champions that I'd watch her. Please, sit." I said, walking towards the exit.

Dumbledore had come on the intercom just as I had made it to the stands, announcing that Fleur had just entered the arena. She had picked the common welsh green, I had only known that because Cedric had told me about them once.

Fleur was completely focused, she hid by the entrance, never turning her back towards the dragon. She whispered a spell, enchanting the huge dragon into a state of sleep. She ran towards the egg, slipping it into her arms.

The dragon had woken up momentarily after she lost her focus of the spell. It blew the flames from its mouth at her, catching the bottom and side of her skirt to be engulfed in flames.

"Auguamenti!" She shouted, water poured out of her wand, putting the flames on her skirt put. The Beauxbatons students erupted in cheers and cries of happiness for Fleur as she ran back to the entrance.

All of Fleurs friends, as well as her sister Gabrielle, ran towards the champions tent to wait until she would be released by Madam Pomfrey.

"Miss. Lupin! Mr.Diggory would like to see you." Madam Pomfrey called, peeking her head out of the tent. This had sort of caught me off guard. I stumbled my way through the crowd of my fellow classmates, ignoring the sneer comments people were making about me as I walked past.

Cedric looked much healthier than when I had seen him not that long ago. He sat up against the backboard laughing along with his father and Anthony. The bandage attached to his chest was now removed, only a faint burn scar was left.

"Oh dad! This is my girlfriend Alexandria." He said, a beaming grin across his lips.
"Merlin's beard! I've heard so much about you the last few months! It is truly lovely to get to know you dear." Amos smiled excitedly.

***

Viktor Krum had arrived in the tent soon after Madam Pomfrey had released Cedric.

The news of the rankings was spreading like wildfire within minutes. Fleur was in first place, defeating the dragon without being injured severely and not injuring the dragon as well. Cedric was in second place, for being mostly uninjured and the dragon being in perfect condition. Viktor was in third place, the had shot a spell into the dragons eye, making him lose points for injuring the dragon. Viktor's dragon had also slipped on his egg, sending its rock hard tail right into his rib cage.