Firecracker | George Weasley

Chapter 24

Scarlett was doing last minute packing before leaving for Hogwarts. She was slightly panicked and the dread of going back to Hogwarts and being in the Hufflepuff common room without Cedric there had started to grow. She felt all her progress with coping with her grief slip away. She was back to square one, unable to eat anything or stop crying. She had even started crying in her sleep again, thankfully she hadn't screamed and woken Ginny and Hermione up in the middle of the night which she was relieved about.

She packed up the last of her things and levitated her trunks down the stairs towards the front door with everyone else's. She followed behind them and once they were set down, she went into the dining room for some breakfast. As she walked through the door her mother enveloped her in a hug

"Morning mum." Scarlett greeted winded by the sudden and tight hug.

"I'm going to miss you so much Letty." She replied still hugging Scarlett and now started stroking her hair.

Scarlett looked towards the group who were sat at the table, she caught eyes with Fred and George who were smiling sympathetically at her. Their faces made her realise there were a few tears rolling down her cheeks. When a tear fell onto Mrs Diggorys shoulder, she realised she'd made a mistake and should have waited till they were in private or just held herself back

"I'm sorry Scarlett I didn't mean to make you cry." Mrs Diggory said as she let go of her daughter.

Scarlett wiped her tears and smiled at her mother "It's fine mum, I'm going to miss you too."

They walked over to the table and everyone smiled sympathetically to both of them as they both wiped their eyes and tried to compose themselves before helping themselves to some breakfast and chatted to the others. Everyone went back to talking and eating like nothing had happened as did Scarlett and Mrs Diggory, who just held hands under the table, neither of them ready to let go of each other just yet.

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Scarlett was on the train to Hogwarts looking for Bianca, Andrew and the rest of her friends. George and Fred decided to stick with her instead of getting a carriage for themselves because they wanted to make sure Scarlett didn't get overwhelmed.

She eventually found her friends and entered the carriage.

"Scarlett." They said in unison pleasantly surprised

Scarlett smiled by the warm welcome "Hi guys"

She sat down next to Bianca with George following and sitting next to her and Fred opposite him.

"How have you been?" Bianca asked

"Not great it's still hard." Scarlett replied

Everyone smiled sympathetic smiles at her and George held her hand for support

"How was everyone else's summer?" she asked trying to change the subject

They talked and caught up about their summer.

Scarlett felt happy that she was reunited with her friends but she couldn't help but sense the void where Cedric should have been. It was starting to sink in the fact that life at Hogwarts will now be a bit emptier no matter who she was with or what she was doing. She was relieved this was her last year at school, the memories of Hogwarts wouldn't be tainted with loss and emptiness. She only needed to get through this year and then she wouldn't be surrounded by memories of her brother. In a few years she could see herself coming back and enjoying the memories of her and her brother growing up and learning magic together but at the moment the memories were too painful, especially since she was dealing with illusions of him whenever she felt any negative emotion towards Harry. She knew if she didn't get that under control while she was in Hogwarts she would lose her mind. Too many things were building up and she needed to make sure she stayed grounded otherwise she would spend her whole time living in her illusion where she could be with Cedric.