After Anna had walked off from her encounter with Cho, she hadn’t been anticipating the fallout. She had been too preoccupied with her own swirling emotions to realize that Ginny - her best friend - had been listening to every word that came out of their mouths.
“What the bloody hell was that?” She demanded, pulling Anna aside in one of Hogwarts’ grand stone hallways.
“What?” She tried to play dumb, discreetly wiping her eyes as she attempted to avoid the conversation. “C’mon - we’re going to miss the Sorting, and the feast…”
“You know very well that this is way more important than some stupid Sorting or feast.” Ginny’s eyes were smoltering with fury. “You didn’t tell me.”
Her tone was accusative, yet Anna knew her well enough to know that she was using her anger to conceal the hurt.
“No, I didn’t.” She sighed, sounding exhausted as she ran a hand over her face. Merlin, was she tired. “I found out about them right before everything went down. Before I was kidnapped, before he….died.”
Ginny crossed her arms. “And you just weren’t going to tell anyone. Again?”
Anna stayed silent, deciding that telling Ginny she told Draco was worse than her finding out she hadn’t told anyone at all.
“I just...I didn’t want people to remember him like that, you know?” She attempted to explain. Anna shrugged. “He’s already dead. How much more grief can I put him through? I would just be putting the people he loved in turmoil.”
“What about you, Anna?” She pressed on. “Sure, everyone else is fine and dandy, but what about you? You’re the one who was hurt - you’re the one left behind with the broken heart.”
“I’m not broken.” She snapped, quicker and harsher than necessary. Anna took a deep breath, realizing her mistake.
“I’m...dealing with it.” She amended, softer in tone. Anna shrugged. “Besides, it wasn’t like we meant anything, you know? We didn’t have some epic love story. After all, first loves aren’t supposed to last long anyway.”
Anna thought her response had been okay, but her heart clenched at the emotion in Ginny’s eyes. She didn’t think she had been through anything that warranted that much pity or grief.
“You know, it’s okay to be sad - or mad.” She touched Anna’s arm reassuringly. “It’s an honorable thing you’re trying to do, but he still hurt you. It’s okay to be selfish.”
“No, Ginny. It’s not.” Anna closed her eyes, trying to keep Ginny from seeing right through her.
Because in truth, Anna was selfish. Too selfish. If she had just told them the truth of it - about everything, Harry would’ve surely killed her by now, and they would be one step closer to defeating Voldemort.
“Hey,” Ginny prodded her, forcing her eyes to open. “It’s okay.”
And that was the last straw.
Tears streamed down Anna’s face - not tears of sadness. In fact, Anna didn’t know if she was sad at all.
These tears were tears of rage.
“I’m mad, Gin. Of course I am. At him - at Cho.” Her fists clenched. “I tricked myself into thinking I loved him. He tricked me into thinking there was something there when there really was nothing at all. We were nothing.”
Her words were harsh, but sure.
Ginny only nodded, but she looked like she wanted to say something more.
“Be mad now - in fact, you can be anything you want to be right now. You’re grieving. But don’t shut down. Don’t be numb.”
“I won’t.” This was a promise.
Anna offered Ginny a small smile. “Thanks - for being here, I mean.”
And she meant it, because as much as Draco’s support over this meant to her, there were just some things she couldn’t say to him that she could rant to Ginny.
“Just no more lies, okay?”
“Of course.”
This was a lie.
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There are 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, depression, bargaining and acceptance. So right now, Anna is kinda between the first and second stage - she doesn't want to believe that Cedric ever meant anything to her and she's beginning to feel more and more frustrated with the fact that he cheated on her - especially since now Cho is around as a constant reminder.
So yes - there is definitely more angst to come.
But yay - I finally got the chapter out on time🎉🎉 wooooo
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Lillian 'Anna' Potter || Order of the Phoenix
Fanfiction"SOMETIMES, IT'S EASIER TO FORGIVE THAN IT IS TO FORGET." It was revealed by J.K Rowling that when Lily Potter originally died, she was with child. What if Lily had her second child before Voldemort showed up at their house in Little Whinging? H...
