Work of Karma || Cedric Diggory [2]

Chapter 8: Rewards and Regrets

Dear Analeigh,

I hope this letter doesn't reach you too late. I had to send this owl past midnight after a particularly hard Ministry case study. Actually, I've been swamped with all these cases that were assigned to me and my colleagues. Our superiors have made sure to nitpick every single detail in our reports. Even when I think I've said everything possible — what went wrong, how to reverse it, the unintended consequences, what should've been done — there's always something more to it. I suppose that's just how the world of Transfiguration and Reversal Magic is... McGonagall wasn't lying when she told me that before I left Hogwarts. Then again, I'm glad she made sure not to beat around the bush. I'm sure I would've been too confident entering into this field if she hadn't warned me, especially since Sprout was excessively supportive of me (I still appreciate her, though).

On the bright side, I just finished my first day of field work. An official from the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad took a few of us along with him to a muggle-born's school. Apparently, a young girl's classmates were jealous of her new pencil case and kept taking it away from her, so she got angry and transfigured it into a tarantula. Only a few students were inside the room as it was during break time, so the Ministry official modified their memories while I turned the pencil case back to normal. It seemed like such a simple task, but it was so thrilling at the same time. And my colleague was assigned with damage control involving the teachers — that just means she had to come up with an alibi. That sounds even simpler than what I did, but now that I look back at it, it must've been tricky to come up with an excuse as to why there was a tarantula in the first place, and why there were a bunch of young girls screaming and fighting in the room. As my instructors have taught us, though, the last resort would be to modify their memories as well, but it wasn't necessary today.

That's enough about me. How's Katie Bell? Are your friends alright after what happened, too? Are there any updates on who might've cursed the necklace?

And are you doing okay in your N.E.W.T. classes? How are the Quidditch matches looking so far? I'm betting on a Hufflepuff win this year (I'll never stop being loyal to my house, sorry).

I hope you're doing well. Please stay safe always. I love you.

Cedric

Analeigh's eyes scanned the letter a couple more times before deciding that she'd read through every single word already. She sighed, somehow both sadly and happily. She was missing Cedric even if she'd just seen him a while back during the Hogsmeade trip, but glad that she could still hear from him regularly through their letters.

The overlapping chatter and noises of utensils hitting plates in the Great Hall that morning were muffled to Analeigh as she worked on writing back to Cedric. Her hands moved rapidly as her quill scribbled onto the parchment paper, addressing every thing Cedric brought up and adding more of her thoughts and questions to it.

What other Ministry cases have you here working on?

Make sure you're still getting enough food and sleep.

I can only imagine how those little girls tried to explain a pencil case suddenly turning into tarantula...

... Katie's still in St. Mungo's... N.E.W.T.s are tough but manageable... there's a Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match soon...

"Leigh, we should get going."

Analeigh looked up from her parchment to find Hermione eyeing her expectantly. The girl had already finished breakfast and was in the middle of checking through the things in her bag one more time. Harry and Ron were scarfing down the lasts of their waffles and drinks, also getting ready to leave for their first class of the day: Herbology. Deciding to finish her letter later, Analeigh folded the paper up, packed it up along with her quill and ink, and prepared to leave.