The Secrets We Leave Behind | George Weasley

Chapter 7

Detention every day for a week was completely ridiculous. Sure they'd broken a few rules, been out after hours, whatever. But did that really necessitate a week's worth of detention? It was overkill really, bordering on barbaric. Was she not a human being? Did she not make mistakes? Was she not deserving of a little forgiveness, a little empathy? Was god above so cruel that he'd rip her after dinner cigarette with Lee away from her for seven full days?

Apparently he was. As day six of detention rolled around, she had been feeling incredibly sorry for herself. So far the detentions had been grueling. The past five days she'd had to polish all the kitchen's silverware, organize all of Filch's files alphabetically, by offense instead of name, clean the stables, polish the silverware again, and varnish the lower hanging paintings, in spite of the frames' less than grateful subjects hissing at her to get out of their personal space the entire time - all without magic. And to make matters worse, Filch had separated her and George on the first day, convinced they would use the detention to socialize, despite the students' insistence that they would be perfectly behaved.

"I guess our sentences are together then?"

Vivian rolled her eyes, not wanting to glance up from the stones she had been scrubbing, her shoulders aching from the half hour of work she had already put in.

Detention had started at 7 sharp, their task being to scrub the entirety of the entry hall, which was presently caked in mud thanks to the torrential rains from the previous week. An arduous task without magic, to say the least. When she had shown up (on time), Filch had told her she would be joined by another student who had yet to grace her with their presence. She had begun to fear that she would be alone for the entirety of the cleaning project, which would have greatly lengthened her detention when a much too peppy voice rang in her ears. Whoever it was thought they were going to show up late to detention and then try to be buddy-buddy with her? Absolutely not. They were lucky she wasn't shooting a hex into their face just for their perkiness alone.

The annoyed quip that had perched on her tongue immediately faltered and died as she felt her heart drop down to her stomach when she finally lifted her eyes to the newcomer.

In front of her stood a chiseled god of a man, standing over her with a confident but genuine smile. Though she had never had a chance to actually speak with Cedric Diggory, it was impossible not to know of him. The way other people talked about him, one might think he actually walked on water.

Not that Vivian was above ogling him either. She was only a girl after all. She just couldn't help but notice how muscular his shoulders looked that day, despite being covered by his robes. Or how flawlessly coiffed his hair was, apparently immune to the November wind that had turned her blonde locks into nothing short of a rat's nest. Or the way his perfectly gray eyes sparkled down at her alongside his confident grin. Or-

"I-I guess so," she stuttered, realizing she had been silent for far too long. She grinned shyly up at him, hoping he hadn't noticed her odd pause, "What are you in for?"

"Tracked mud around after practice yesterday," he rolled his eyes as he threw his bag down on the ground and crouched to grab a brush from the bucket next to her. "What'd you do?"

"Out past curfew," she grunted, working her brush against a stubborn spot of mud on the stone.

Cedric gave a loud gasp, letting his expression fall into one of pure horror, though Vivian could see him working to keep the grin off his face.

"Shameful! I don't know how you can live with yourself!" he scolded, his voice playful.

She let out a sharp laugh, not expecting this response from him. Dropping her brush to the floor, she clasped her hands under her chin, widening her eyes into a look of penance.