KISS AND TELL ✷ Cedric Diggory.

𝟬𝟰. salt in the wound

01. — 04.

✷

The entrance doors of the ball room of Ilvermorny, flanked by the marbled statues of Isolt Sayre and James Steward were wide open, when Jamie arrived on the first of September. This year, just like the years before that, it was Everett who had driven her all the way up to the top of the highest peak of Mount Greylock, where the huge premises of Ilvermorny sat, warm and welcome as always. The landscape strechted in front of her, as Jamie stepped out of the car; the Quidditch pitch, the road to the villages where the students lived, the two school buildings and the greenhouse — The mist, that was all too familiar for Ilvermorny, illuminated the buildings in a way that was almost scary, if Jamie didn't feel so comforted by it.

"Now," Everett started tight lipped with his eyebrows drawn together seriously — an expression that hadn't left his face since the Quidditch world cup, "I love you, don't get into trouble, I'll see you next summer — and don't forget to write to me."

Jamie nodded earnestly, opening her arms for a hug. Merlin knew how much he needed that — Her ankle had been healed quickly by a medic, but that still hadn't eased her brothers' and her parents' worry. For the days following the world cup, life had been hectic at the Abernathy residence; with her mom being the Captain of Aurors, her dad being Chief Auror and even Everett and Bennett both being Aurors at the MACUSA, they were going in and out of the house day and night and with each day the worry lines on their faces deepened.

"I love you.", she muttered into his embrace, her face muffled by his jacket.

Jamie waited until Everett let go this time. Jamie wasn't oblivious; she heard her parents coming in to check on her every few hours during the night, saw the looks they send each other, felt their bodies relax whenever she hugged them — Something was going on and it couldn't be good.

Jamie watched as Everett got into his car, his movements unsual slow and hesitant. She watched him drive away and saw his eyes looking at her through the rear mirror — It was a tale as old as time; the youngest sibling always left in the shadows, but as mad as she wanted to be, the sound of Bennett sobbing in the tent after Jamie's ankle got healed was stuck in her brain like a broken record. keep her safe... my baby sister! Not safe... not safe... not safe...

The world had seemed to shift off its axis that morning. Jamie had skipped breakfast and lunch and her brothers hadn't bat an eye about it. They had gone home and her mother wasn't there, then her father had cooked dinner and they had eaten it in silence, before her mother came home, pressed a kiss to Jamie's cheek and went to a bed with a bottle of wine and a muttered apology about being tired.

That night there was no rock music blasting from Everett's room and Bennett arguing that he couldn't hear his movie over the sound of Facelift by Alice in the Chains seemlingly echoing from every corner of the house. Icarus didn't come into her room to talk her ear off. Her mom wasn't laughing. Her dad wasn't bustling on his work bench. For once, the Abernathy residence was silent.

Jamie hated the silence; she hated the intimacy of it all. In her head, it was always the loudest when it was silent — It was, why she filled her days with family and friends and parties; it was, why there were bottles of alcohol stashed away in every corner of her room and she reeked off cigarettes and there was always a record playing in the background.

She remembered how Asher had asked her about it one time after one of their famous Ilvermorny parties had once again gone out of control and he had found a sobbing Jamie in the middle of the dimly lit quiddicht field. Why do you drink so much?, he had asked, his voice soft in a way that only Jamie ever got to hear.