My Father's Only Rule {DRACO MALFOY X SNAPE'S DAUGHTER}

Chapter Twenty-Three: Real Reconciliation

April 1995 - Hogwarts

The next morning at breakfast, we couldn't really talk to one another. Draco kept glaring at Cedric from across the room, and Cedric hadn't spoken to me since he pulled me out of the water.

"I don't know whether to punch him or thank him," Draco said.

"Why would you want to punch him?" I asked. "He saved my life."

"Grace, don't you realize?" Jane asked.

"Realize what?"

"The challenge was for him to save someone he cared about who had been kidnapped. And if you were the one who got kidnapped for him to save instead of Cho..." I started to connect the dots.

"He cares about me more than he cares about Cho," I realized.

"I don't know whether to thank him for saving you or punch him for caring enough about you to have to save you," Draco said. I looked at him and noticed he was sitting alone, and not with Cho. I sighed and turned to Draco.

"If I take care of this for good, will you promise to drop it?" I asked him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean if I go over there and sever any remaining feelings there may be on his end, will you promise to stop acting like you hate him?" Draco looked at me and nodded. "Okay," I said.

I walked over to Hufflepuff table and sat across from Cedric. He looked happy to see me.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," he said back.

"Thanks by the way," I said. "For saving me."

"Of course," he said. "Part of the job."

"Where's Cho?" I asked.

"I, uh," he said. "I'm not sure. She won't talk to me." I took a breath.

"Cedric I'm about to ask you something. And I need you to answer me honestly. Do you still have feelings for me?" He didn't say anything. "Because when I said that I miss you, I didn't mean I wanted to get back together. So what's going on?"

"I," he said. He couldn't get words out.

"Hey," I said. "I just want the truth. So I can help you." He took a breath.

"You want the truth? Grace, you broke me," he said. And it broke my heart. "I asked Cho because I didn't want to be dateless. I didn't really like her. And after a while, I started to like her more and more. And then you said you wanted to be friends again. I guess it just reopened all the feelings. But I can't help it that I still like you, Grace."

"You have a girlfriend," I said. He sighed. "You like her, right?"

"Yes," he said. "But not as much as I like you. I'd break up with her for you right now."

"Cedric, that's not ok," I said. "I want to stay friends, but if it's causing you to mess up, it can't happen." Cedric sighed.

"Why did you break up with me?" he asked me.

"It just...it didn't feel right," I said.

"But how?" he asked me. "It felt right for me. Why did you just break up with me abruptly instead of trying to talk things out?"

"I don't know," I confessed. "It was stupid. And mean. And I really am sorry. But it just didn't feel right to me and I didn't know how to tell you, and I honestly think that makes me no good for you. Don't you want someone who communicates with you?"