Letters- Cedric Diggory

36

January 1995

I had been thinking about what I was going to say about what Laura and Brendon are planning. It's not really an easy thing to say to your boyfriend. I didn't know how to say it. I hadn't even said it out loud since I told Anthony a few weeks ago.

I had asked Cedric to go on a walk with me after lunch, at first he had a split moment where he looked terrified. Of course he knows somethings wrong. I'm a horrible liar.

We had walked to the secret garden. Of course we did, why is that always the place we have to have serious talks.
"Is everything alright?" Cedric asked. I'm not lying to him. I have to tell him everything.

"No, everything definitely not alright." I murmured, leaning against the castle wall.
"Would you like to talk about anything?" He sat down next to me, lacing his fingers in between mine. There wasn't any point in hesitating, I was going to tell him no matter what.
"Laura wants me to marry Brendon and obviously I said no but there's really nothing I can do about it when school ends." I let out a shaky breath, the cold air in front of me fogging up.

Cedric moved his hand away from mine, skinning his hands over his thighs while his leg bounced.
"I don't know what to say about that." He murmured, looking anywhere I wasn't.
"I'm not marrying him, if that helps" I whispered, tears threatening to fall down my face.

"I knew you weren't going to marry him love" He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close.
"I don't know if there is anything you can do, but I'll be with you through everything" Cedric reassured me.
"Promise?" I stuck out my pinky finger
"I promise" he wrapped his pinky around mine, shaking on our promise.

"C'mon let's go inside, you look like you're about to freeze" He joked, kissing my cheek.

***

Cedric and I walked closely along the corridors,  not saying a word to one another.
"Would you like to take a bath?" Cedric asked as we walked down the 5th floor corridor.
"Yeah" I said quietly. Cedric smiled before saying the password.

I hadn't ever actually used the prefects bathroom before. Only because I was terrified that anyone would catch me taking a bath, instant awkwardness for the rest of time. I was still skeptical of the idea, but I decided to just go with the flow. And who could deny a chance to take a bath with Cedric? Definitely not me.

Cedric stripped off his cloak, hanging it on one of the many hooks along the wall. He tugged at his belt as he turned the many faucets on. The room had become engulfed in a perfume scent, it had smelled mostly of lavender and vanilla.

I hung up my cloak up on the wall, letting the weight of it lift off my shoulders. I untucked my shirt and lifted it off my torso. I folded it neatly, setting it on the nearby bench. Cedric had already gotten undressed and slipped into the bath.

"Are you going to watch the the whole time I get undressed?" I laughed, unbuckling my belt.
"I might" He shrugged, his cheeks turning a darker shade of pink.
"Turn around" I said, once I had removed my pants and was left in my bra and underwear.
"As you wish" He smiled, turning around.

I stripped the rest of my clothes from myself and got into the bath a few feet behind Cedric. The water was the perfect temperature. Why hadn't I done this before?

The bathroom itself was huge, but the bathtub took up the majority of the space. It was the size of a swimming pool, with many faucets pouring fragrance, soap, and warm water. The bathtub was just about as deep as a swimming pool. I didn't understand why it needed to be that deep but I wasn't complaining.

I tied my hair up, not wanting it to get wet as I sat next to Cedric.
"How is it that you always know how to cheer me up?" I leaned my head on his shoulder.
"I've spent years learning what makes you happy love" He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me closer.
"You're not the only one who did that" I smiled to myself.
"Tell me." He whispered, "What makes me happy?"

"Your dad mostly, but you also really love making other people happy. The moment you see their face light up, you have the same reaction. You do everything for anyone just to make them happy. Oh! and dragons of course, but maybe not as much after you had to face one." I rambled. "And pancakes. You really love pancakes" We laughed.
"You forgot about one very importing thing" He murmured.
"What is it?" I asked.
"You."

He really knows how to make me melt just with his words.

I pressed a light kiss against his lips. The tiny bubbles around us had stuck to our skin immediately after we had moved any part of our bodies away from under the water. Cedric had gotten up from the sitting bench and swam over to the deepest part of the bathtub, bubbles covering his back.

I enjoyed the warm water on my skin, and the smell of the fragrance. My mood had improved immensely from this morning. This was really peaceful.

Cedric swam back over to me when a thought had lit up in my brain.
"Have you read all the letters yet?"
"Yeah, twice"
" You read all of them twice?" I was shocked. "That's years worth of letters."
"Well once I had gotten over the shock of basically reading everything you thought about me I had to read them again to make sure I wasn't hallucinating" He smiled.
"I don't think I've even read all of them. Not since they were written at least" I laughed slightly.
"They're absolutely lovely" He pressed a few light kisses on the back of my neck.

I want to stay in this moment forever.