Pen Pals [Cedric Diggory]

chapter five

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Contrary to Cedric's words at the beginning of summer, the Quidditch World Cup really did come fast enough. Before he knew it, music and cheers surrounded his father and him at the campsite, the stadium looking like a small model in the far distance over the sea of tents. Cedric couldn't sleep the entire night before they set off to trek to the Portkey early in the morning. The adrenaline of getting to experience the World Cup had him going for the past few days and now that he was finally in Dartmoor it felt all too surreal.

After the trek, the task to find their assigned spot for a tent and to set it up with an extendable charm, Cedric found himself lying in his cot, taking a first breather that day. A certain parchment with dried-up ink was in his hands and his eyes flew over the words again.

Dear Pal,

since the World Cup finale is practically tomorrow already, I'm here to lay on you a few tips for the ultimate experience.

First of all, don't stress about where the assigned space for your tent is. Sometimes it's even better if it's a bit further away from the stadium because when the matches aren't on, teams tend to practice a lot, which you are not allowed to see and hearing them shout from a near distance without getting to see the excitement is rather annoying.

Secondly, there are multiple stands with merch across the entire campsite (though they won't sell any of Magpies uniforms, unluckily for you). I do recommend buying a pair of Omnioculars, especially if your seats are really high up in the stadium. Also, do bargain with saleswizards or you will be out of your money too quickly.

Even when you are there, stop thinking how surreal all of it is or you will start to forget it actually happened. Live in the moment and take it all in. A long time will pass until anything like this will be so close in England again.

And lastly, how are you liking your odds at our bet? I don't know if you have been reading the Daily Prophet but the Irish are set for the finale.

I'm definitely winning this one.
Pen

Cedric folded the parchment neatly and stored it back into his bag. This was the last correspondence between him and Pen as to her saying she was already at the campsite for a week, whereas Cedric and Mr Diggory only came for the finale. It took some will for Cedric not to bring a whole box of these letters just for the night, he liked to reread old replies from Pen from time to time. Even if his bag did have an extendable charm, he thought it rather lame to read at an event like the Quidditch World Cup. Or to write a responding letter, the owls weren't at the camp anyway.

And yes, he was calling the girl Pen in his brain ever since her first reply.

Even after almost two months of going back and forth with letters every few days, he was no closer to figuring out who she was. He knew she liked Quidditch, she has an older brother, she's also sixteen and is going into her sixth year in September. She sounded smart like a Ravenclaw, although her comment on the cleverness of other Houses made him doubt she was. She was also quick to joke around and had a way with her words, which could mean she is either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. He doubted she was Slytherin, but if she was, it would be a shocker of the year.

"Dad, I'm going to get some merch from the stands," said Cedric already halfway out of the tent.

Mr Diggory could only manage a small sound of acknowledgement as he was concentrating on making other parts of the tent comfortable to live in. He was overstressing about their living situation, which was just for one night, but Cedric didn't fight him on it. It was better that his dad was focused on furniture rather than on him, otherwise, Mr Diggory would not let him wander about the camp just like that.