After the tragic death of her best friend/unrequited love, Cedric Diggory, Elliana Kingsley, a Muggle-born witch, chose to leave Hogwarts and travel with her parents to the continental US, hoping for a fresh start.
But her world is turned upside wh...
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His lifeless grey eyes were staring straight up at me with a look of betrayal.
"NO!" I screamed when reality set in. I desperately cradled his face in my arms and started rocking back and forth. A stabbing pain pierced through my chest, threatening to rip me in two. "No, Cedric! NO, NO, NO!"
Violent sobs racked through my body as I held him close to me.
"He's gone," Harry whispered solemnly from over my shoulder.
***
"NO!"
I jolted awake, panting heavily as I sat up in bed. My heart was hammering wildly against my ribcage. Unshed tears welled up in my eyes. My throat burned as I swallowed hard against the sudden lump that formed in my throat, fighting against the tears. Once I started crying, it was difficult to stop.
"It's okay, Elliana," the voice of my best friend instantly soothed me as he appeared out of thin air.
"Ced," I whispered hoarsely, gazing into his silvery orbs that were full of life— A far cry from his lifeless grey eyes that haunted my nightmares.
I instinctively reached out to touch him, my hand seeming to go straight through him. That's when I remembered— He's not really here. My nightmare was all too real— Cedric Diggory, the boy who owned my heart for six years, was gone.
He knelt beside me, putting us eye level.
"Same nightmare?" He asked, tilting his head to the side to study my face.
I nodded. "It's so hard, Ced." My chest felt like it was trying to rip open as the tears spilled from my eyes. "I miss you."
He offered me a forlorn smile. "You can't keep doing this to yourself, you know. It isn't healthy."
My brows furrowed of their own accord. "What are you talking about?"
The sound of my alarm going off pulled me back to reality. My eyes drifted to the Defense Against The Dark Arts textbook that was splayed open on my bed. I had fallen asleep studying its contents with desperate eyes. Since the return of You Know Who, I was determined to learn all that I could. I didn't want to live in fear. I had felt so helpless when Cedric sacrificed himself to save me. If I had been more prepared, I had no doubt that my best friend would still be alive.
Cedric Diggory is dead because of me.
I narrowed my eyes at the open textbook before letting out a high-pitched scream as blinding rage pierced through me; I knocked the book to the floor and wrapped my arms around my torso in a feeble attempt to keep my chest from ripping open. The sound of my parents' footsteps padding against the floor pulled me from my thoughts. They were used to my strange outbursts by now, but that didn't stop them from running to me with panicked eyes every time they heard a scream leave my lips.
