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18

Cedric smacked my arm once he walked out of his dorm and made his way down the staircase. We'd made ourselves comfortable on the yellow armchairs and couches strategically placed around the fire. We had been getting weird looks; we were Gryffindors in the Hufflepuff common room, after all(though Hufflepuffs said that everyone was welcome in their common room). Once they realized I was there, however, they went back to their business.

"I was planning on relaxing," He whined as he squished himself into my armchair. I took a stab at dragging him out to no avail. "And you four come in here like you- Wait, Ginny?"

I snickered quietly. "You always have been a bit daft, haven't you?" I got an extra smack for that.

"No, I haven't. I'm taking Arithmancy with you when we can, don't you remember?" He turned back to my younger sister. "Anyways, what're you doing here?"

"Mum came to help Professor McGonagall chew out Fred, George and Roxanne. Dad had to go to the Ministry and no one else was home, so mum brought me."

I whipped my head towards Ginny. "Wait, Bill wasn't there?"

She shrugged. "I thought you guys knew. He had something in Australia; he'll be gone a week."

I frowned, leaning back into the armchair. Bill wasn't supposed to go far, and if he did leave to go somewhere, he wasn't supposed to go for so long. Merlin, a week was insane. I knew the goblins were brats, but to go so far.... I'd have to either yell at them later or get Bill to. They needed to be put in their place.

We'd already known Charlie wouldn't be there; he'd sent a letter talking about how he started his new Dragon Tamer job in Romania and how he wouldn't be there until summer. I loved my older brother, but we'd get more space now that he'd moved out(he'd had a room to himself). Now Bill could move in there and me, Fred and George would get our own room; Ginny would have her own as always and Ron could get his own room as well. Percy would finally have a room to himself, so none of us would go crazy listening to him droning on about rules and whatnot. That'd be nice.

"Roxanne," Ginny said, bringing me out of my daze. "I brought you something, along with a letter. Read it later, in private, okay? Don't tell anyone about it, not even Cedric or the boys. Send me a letter back later."

I nodded, humoring her. Unless it was something important, I'd tell them, just make them promise not to tell her. They wouldn't obey me; they'd done it before, but Ginny wouldn't get too mad. They'd exposed me telling them to Ginny multiple times.

I took the neatly wrapped box with the note attached on top with a ribbon, and stowed it in a bag; I'd open it later along with the note. Ginny tended to be the best present-giver, though it was a bit harder for her to pick out specific presents for us since we were all away from home.

I placed the gift in my bag; I'd placed a Undetectable Extension Charm on it around the middle of first year, to carry all my supplies and books. Back then I'd already started bringing extra to classes for light reading between lessons and whatnot.

"So," I began. "What're we gonna do? I don't exactly fancy the idea of sitting in here the whole time. Besides, mum'll get mad if she can't find us."

Cedric scoffed. "Like your common room is so much better."

"It is," I retorted. "It isn't so yellow, and," I shuddered. "There aren't as many plants. Less chances that spiders'll be creeping around everywhere."

Cedric thought for a moment. "True, but it's also beautiful. The foliage. I love it. There's more bookcases too."

"Yes, I do love the bookcases. Honestly, our common room doesn't have nearly enough books. Mum doesn't know the Hufflepuff password, though. Just Gryffindor's. And she'll send me, Fred and George howlers each, on the same day. We'll sit next to you then, how about that?"

Cedric sighed, rolling his eyes. "Honestly, I hate when you're right."

I let out a quiet giggle. "So, all the time?"

Cedric sighed once more, simply leaning his head on my shoulder. I leaned my head on his, closing my eyes as Fred spoke. "So Gryffindor common room it is?"

"Yeah," I replied, but none of us moved, until my eyes flew open and I shrieked.

There was a massive crawling up my arm, and my eyes widened as I held my arm as far away from the rest of my body as I could, my breathing quickening. This thing was bigger than Lee's, and that was saying something.

The thing slowly crawled up my arm, up on my shoulder. I squeezed my eyes shut, tears leaking out from underneath my eyelashes. I opened my eyes to see that it'd stopped at my shoulder, and Cedric was slowly coaxing it into his hand. Fred, George and Ginny were staring, their eyes wide.

Cedric finally managed to get it off, setting it on the floor and it scurried off in the opposite direction. He hugged me, his chin resting on my head as he rubbed my back slowly in circles as I sobbed into his chest. Ron had arachnophobia as well, but not as bad as mine. My phobia of spiders was the most extreme....

"Hey, hey," Cedric murmured in my ear. "You're safe. The spider's gone. It's not here anymore. I promise you're safe. You're okay." I hadn't even realized I had been shaking until I stopped. I exhaled, pulling away and allowing Cedric to wipe away my stray tears. "You're okay," Cedric murmured once more.

I nodded, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. Once I opened them, Ginny appeared at my side, squeezing my hand. "We'll go to the Gryffindor common room, then. Now."