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6

I got up and ran. I ran past students staring at me, confused, and kept running until Katie Bell, Alicia and Angelina manage to overpower me, grabbing my shoulders and the more flowy parts of my robe. I turned, looking for an escape, only to find that there wasn't one.

Angelina, being the one I was closest to out of the three, took the liberty of grabbing both of my shoulders and forcing me to look her in the eyes. "Roxie, what happened?"

I was shaking all over, my eyesight blurring slightly. "C-c-cedric, he- he-" I squeezed my eyes closed, tears dripping down my face.

I walked over to a wall, my back sliding down until I was finally sitting down, the tears coming in rivers now. "Roxanne, what happened?" Katie asked, sitting across from me. She was the most invested in boys out of all of us.

"Cedric. H-he said he loved me." I looked up straight at Katie, ignoring Alicia and Angelina on either side of me. "Cedric Diggory loves me."

"Okay..." Katie murmured. "Isn't that good? Don't... don't you like him back?"

I spread my arms, almost hitting the girls beside me as my trembling slowed to a stop. "That's the thing! He's popular, has so many friends and I'm... I'm me. I'm a Weasley, for Merlin's sake. I don't have the kind of money he has, or the looks people expect his crush, or girlfriend to have. And... he has friends... people who despise me... what if... what if they dared him to do it? I could ruin our friendship, and I can't lose him. If he doesn't like me, then-"

Alicia ran her hands through her hair, sighing. Angelina sighed as well. "Shut up, idiot. Do you no know Cedric at all? He wouldn't do that, ever. I promise."

I bit my lip. "But... I mean, he never backs down from a dare, and if Chang or something dared him to do it..."

Katie furrowed her eyebrows. "What does Chang have to do with this?"

"She despises me, and probably is in love with Ced. Every time she's near me and I'm with Ced, she tries too embarrass me, and when it's just me... if glares could kill, I'd die multiple times over."

Alicia hummed thoughtfully. "But she's never talked to him, right?" I nodded and she continued. "I know how close you are, and the only time anyone ever does truth or dare is at parties, and he always either brings you to the parties he goes to or doesn't go. And anyways, we're the house that parties the most, and we haven't thrown parties yet. No one has."

"What about the year before..? Someone could've singled him out when I was at the same party but not around him?"

"Aaaaand now you're just being paranoid," Katie said. "Just go up to him and say you like him too."

"That's the thing! I can't, I- I won't. I can't see him. I'm scared, and I-" I was trembling all over once more. "I can't see him. Not after the way I reacted, and not-"

Angelina took my shoulders. "Okay. You can stay in your dorm unless you want to stay in ours; Dumbledore let me, Alicia and Katie have one to ourselves, so we have two extra beds. Me and Alicia can get your homework and Katie can work on planning to torture Snape if he gives us a hard time about you not coming to class, and she'll rope Fred, George and Lee Jordan in on it too. The other teachers will understand."

I gave her a smile. "Can I stay in your dorm? I'll grab my stuff... It's just that the boys would ask questions, and they'd murder Cedric if they found out. They're stupid protective of me."

Angelina nodded, then glanced at Alicia, who was behind me. "You have free period, right?" Alicia must've nodded, because Angelina kept talking. "Okay. You take her there, make sure she gets comfortable and all, then you can do whatever, okay? Me and Katie have class."