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"I'M NOT GUILTY!"
MAGNOLIA AND CEDRIC sat with his parents, eating breakfast before they were to leave for Magnolia's house. She was excited to see Luna, and hopefully, her dad was excited for her to come home, and to also meet Cedric.
Magnolia wrote her father all the time, but he never answered. If he did, it was usually through Luna. Luna could see how badly this effected her sister, and she pleaded with her father to talk to his eldest daughter more, but he never did.
"So, do you have a clue as to what the second task is, Magnolia?" Amos asked.
"Well, they gave us a golden egg, but if you open it, it only screams like a banshee. I plan to plunge it under water, perhaps that will muffle the sound a bit." She told them.
"Professor Moody said it was a good idea when he asked how studying was going for the second task." Magnolia shrugged. Moody had been...oddly interested.
"Well, Anne and I will be attending the third task in June. To support you, of course." Amos told her. Magnolia smiled, wondering if her own father would even show up.
***
"Luna? Father? I'm home. I've brought Cedric with me." Magnolia called out. She heard footsteps from upstairs, and saw Luna hurrying down the stairs.
"Mango, I've missed you!" Luna exclaimed, pulling her older sister into a hug. She didn't hesitate to pull Cedric into a hug, too. Cedric smiled. hugging back. It was clear Luna already saw Cedric as part of the family.
She looked up as her father entered the room, a somber look on his face. Magnolia was used it — it's the only face she ever really saw from him.
"Father, I want you to meet Cedric Diggory. My boyfriend." Magnolia smiled, hoping this would get a good reaction out of him.
"Yes, hello." He waved them off, turning to his printings of The Quibbler. Though upset, Magnolia wasn't surprised.
"Cedric's also been helping her study for her tasks, daddy. Did you see her fight that dragon?" Luna attempted to make conversation.
"Of course, I didn't think she could win on her own..." He muttered. Magnolia didn't hear him, but Cedric did.
"Oh, Luna, she didn't need my help. She was a natural out there. I know she'll preform just as brilliantly in the second task."
"You know, family of the champions are encouraged to come during the third task. Will you be there to support me? Or Harry, I suppose, as long as it's Hogwarts who wins." Magnolia lightly chuckled.
"I'm afraid not, I have the Quibbler, and all..." Xenophilius mumbled. Cedric was not impressed with the Lovegood patriarch. Of course, Magnolia had told him how her father barely looked or talked to her.
"You could do an article about Mango! It would be brilliant." Luna gushed, causing her father to slam his cup of tea on the table.
"There will be none of that! She's not even worth mentioning!" Her father shouted.
Magnolia's father had always ignored her, looked away... but he had never snapped like this.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Cedric asked angrily, as Magnolia's eyes filled with tears.
"I will not praise the child who murdered my wife!" He screamed, sending his glass to the floor, shattering. Magnolia went numb.
"Daddy...what do you mean?" Luna asked, holding her sister's hand. Xenophilius moved closer to his eldest daughter.
"You were always so...persistent with your mother. She thought it made you strong; I thought it made you bothersome." He began. Tears streamed down Magnolia's face, and Cedric glared at him. Luna stood wide eyed, holding on to her sister.
"The day she...the day she died; she wasn't planning on practicing one of her spells. We had planned a nice evening but you begged your mother to show you her new spell. As sweet as she was, she turned you down politely, but you just kept persisting. She gave in. You're the reason she's dead." He told her, not breaking eye contact while he ranted.
"I wanted to see those spells just as much as Mango wanted to! Mother was happy to show them to us. If it's Mango's fault, then it's my fault, too!" Luna screamed. Magnolia had never seen Luna truly angry.
"No, Luna, you were polite and took no for an answer. She's not even my child, yet I've been stuck with her for seventeen years!"
"She is your daughter!" Cedric practically growled.
"No, she belongs to that...bastard Lucius Malfoy. Pandora was pregnant when we married. I always knew one day that his genes would present themself in you; and they did when a spoiled brat couldn't take no for an answer! You are a bastard child and a murderer!"
Without giving herself time to process what he'd really admitted, she screamed: "I'm not guilty!"
Xenophilius smacked Magnolia across the face, causing her to stumble backwards.
Cedric raised his wand at the man, yelling profanities, and threatening him.
"I hate you! I never want to speak to you again!" Luna screamed at her father. She hugged her sister tight as she sobbed.
"Don't you ever touch her again." Cedric said, after abandoning his wand, and using his hands to fight the Lovegood.
"Come on, we can go back to my family until we return to school." Cedric said, kissing where Xenophilius had slapped her. Cedric, Magnolia, and Luna made their way towards the door.
"Luna, if you walk out that door, don't you ever come back." Luna glared at him, slamming the door shut behind her.
When they arrived back at the Diggory cottage, Amos and Anne were surprised to see such a commotion. Cedric, furious, broken knuckles, Magnolia having a panic attack, and Luna sobbing.
Cedric explained what had happened, leaving the Diggorys appalled.
"Why don't we get you some tea. Let's get you two settled in here. Cedric, let your father fix your hand. I'll look at the cut on Magnolia's face." It must have been from the wedding ring that her father, no, Xenophilius wore.
Magnolia had too many thoughts going through her brain, she didn't even know what to say.
