metanoia - cedric diggory

chapter twenty

January 6th, 1995

Cedric woke up in his room, next to the same people he wakes up to every day, thinking about how tragic it appeared outside. The glistening snow on the ground even appeared more dull, and the grey sky seemed to be dragging on. 

Day after day, everything seemed to be going slower and more depressing, even the people around him seemed to be just as down as he was. Students held their heads down and seemed to forget their friends existed.

It must be this time of the year, Cedric said to himself. It couldn't just be him, it couldn't just be missing Clementine and all of her glory. It definitely didn't help that every time he saw her, she had a smile on her face. 

They used to take the same way to transfiguration, sometimes even acknowledging one another with a nod, but she walked a different way now. He wasn't sure with who, where, and when, but parts of him wished he did. 

Sure, he had friends. He had George, Fred, Winston, and a handful of others, but he didn't want their sympathy, everyone seemed to know that the two weren't the same since the Yule Ball. It had only been a few days, but word and rumors traveled faster than any owl. 

"Did Clementine finally give up on you, Diggory?" A Slytherin asked him with a snicker a few days ago, earning a few brownie points with his friends as they all laughed. Cedric just ignored the classmate, continuing to walk with his head pointed at the ground. 

Instead of going up behind her and giving her a large hug, he walked past her in the common room as she read a book by the fire. Instead of helping her with the second years in the Great Hall, he sat at his spot and began to study.

Class was the hardest part, feeling like he did at the beginning of the year, but this time he knew she loved him, and he loved her. Yet, everything was coming in-between them, someone seemed to be cursing his thoughts and wishes. 

Luckily, Cedric had the Triwizard Tournament to focus his time and energy on, once again. As scary and lonely as it was, it gave him an out to the real world. He could tell his friends he was too busy figuring out the next task, otherwise, he would just be sitting there wondering what Clementine was doing. 

He had spent days, maybe even weeks, he wasn't sure, trying to figure out the egg he had retrieved during the first task. The screeching of the egg bruised his ears every time he opened it, somehow expecting a different result upon each crack.

It just didn't make any sense to him, how are any of them expected to learn the language of screeching? Was he supposed to open it until every single student had blood coming out of their ears from listening? 

He spent the majority of his time in the library, nothing unusual, researching golden dragon eggs. If only he had a hint, if only Harry Potter could give him the knowledge once again, if only.

January 7th, 1995 

Clementine had been summoned into a deep, dark corner of the castle by Harry Potter and the others. When he says he's coming, she always knows Hermonie and Ron will be following shortly behind. 

Olive and Blaise had no idea about her meeting with Harry, and also not taking a second beat when she went missing. She had been spending a lot of time alone the past few days, attempting to distract herself from her lonesome thoughts.