All I Ask Of You (Sequel to "The Point Of No Return (Draco Malfoy)"

Chapter Two

Natalie

            I love summer. Summer means I can get thousands of miles away from Hogwarts. Summer means that I don’t have to focus on anything school related. I don’t have to think about magic, or Cedric, or Draco.

            After I had gotten over the initial shock of losing my best friend, I was in need of a new one. I found a form of that in Cedric Diggory.

            We officially met one day when he bumped into me after transfiguration. Lucinda said she had an exam to study for so she went ahead, while Cedric helped me pick up my things. He noticed the name on my papers and asked me how things were going. I told him that I was having a hard time keeping up and that my grades were slipping. That’s when he offered to help me.

            Cedric said that he could tutor me after dinner every night until I’m caught up in my classes. I agreed and we ate lunch together that day. For the next two months he helped me catch up on everything I’d missed.

            I learned more from Cedric than I had any teacher. He taught me how to block and counteract and confuse my opponents. Although, I still haven’t been able to produce a patronus charm. Cedric said that it’s extremely difficult to master and that it’s fine that I can’t do that just yet.

            After my last grade was improved greatly, which was in potions, Cedric stopped tutoring me and we began to just hang out as friends. I liked Cedric as a friend. He was loyal and never said a thing when I told him about what happened with Draco. I told Cedric everything. I told him how hard it still was and how I was reminded of Draco everywhere I went.

            He reminded me that Draco was my best friend and that it wasn’t a little thing. It was real and Cedric decided that it would take me awhile to feel better, but that it would happen. He said that one day I would realize that I hadn’t thought about Draco. That was a day that I couldn’t wait to come.

            Cedric promised me that he would never tell a soul what I told him and he took that secret with him to the grave. I devastated when Harry came back with Cedric’s body. They wouldn’t let anyone through and Kay and Lucinda had to hold me up when my knees gave in.

            I think I cried for days, but I don’t remember anything up until the moment I stepped off the plane and landed in my father’s arms. Then I cried some more. Monica cried too. I couldn’t tell if she was crying because I was crying or if she had been friends with Cedric as well.

            Monica told Mom and Dad what happened at school. She even told them about Draco. She told them that we had been best friends and once we got back after the holidays, the friendship was over. Then she told them about Cedric helping me with my grades and how we became friends. And then it happened.

            Mom and Dad let me lie around the house all summer. Mom said I needed grieving time and she was right. I cried more this summer than I have ever cried. Sure, I still had Kay, Aly, Luce, Laney, and in a way, Monica. But, I lost Cedric and Draco. Cedric was supposed to help me get over Draco and move on.

            It’s only pushed me down. It’s like I’m back at the beginning of January but ten times worse. The only good part is where Laney and Monica drag me out of the house to participate in normal teenage activities. They make me go to the beach and the mall. They take me to the boardwalk and amusement park.

            As much as I tell them that I’m fine and don’t want to go anywhere, I secretly thank them. When I go places and do other things, I feel like a normal person again. I feel like I have something better to do than wallow in self pity.

            But at the end of the day, I still feel the pain. It’s too much to take and I hate it, though, it’s better than being at Hogwarts. There I have to see Draco and perform the work that Cedric taught me. I have to remind myself that Cedric didn’t choose to die. It wasn’t his fault. It was Lord Voldemort who killed him and who caused so many people so much pain.

            I know for a fact that Cho cries more than I do. Cedric meant so much to her and suddenly he was gone. It makes me wonder if all death is like that. Is it that sudden? One moment my loved ones will be here and the next they’ll be dead? God, I hope not.

            I think about Draco all the time; more than I think about Cedric Diggory. Every moment I spent with Draco is defined so clearly in my mind, while my time with Cedric is blended together and I can’t recall every time I saw him.

            Draco Malfoy is an enchantment that I can’t escape. He’s always there and I don’t know why. I feel like he watches over everything I do. And when I cry at night, he tells me that it will be alright in the end.

            It’s insane, I know, I can hear his voice. I hear him and I look around every time I do. I look because it’s like he’s leaning on the door frame, waiting for me to turn around and see him. When I’m about to do something stupid he stops me. When I wake up in the morning he tells me to have a good day and to be strong.

            I told Monica about him in mid August. I asked her if I was psychotic and if I needed to be admitted to a mental facility. She laughed when I asked her that. She said that it was part of the process and that I shouldn’t worry about it.

            She admitted to thinking I was weird at first, but changed her mind after she thought about the events I’d suffered through. We’d become friends over the summer. We had more similarities than I ever imagined.

            We love music. Monica plays piano and so can I, but she’s better. She says I can sing better but I think it’s just her job to say that. We play piano together all day sometimes. Monica knows fancy, European pieces by heart. I know contemporary and modern in mine.

            We love water. We could swim for days on end if Mom and Dad let us. We go to the beach whenever we have a free day and I feel okay to go. We swim for what seems like minutes, but is truly hours. We are amazing underwater swimmers. Monica can stay under for four and a half minutes. I can stay under for five. Dad said that he’s going to put in a pool. That way, we don’t have to leave the house to satisfy our need to be in the water.

            We hate shoes. Monica and I never wear shoes, unless we have to. We’re not allowed to wear shoes in the house. I grew up without shoes. Sure, I wore shoes in public and when I went outside, but as soon as I got home, the shoes came off.

            We love the feeling of grass under our feet. I don’t mind the dirt on the bottoms of my feet. I like the slight prick when I slowly lower my foot to the grass. I like the cool feeling of morning dew on my skin.

            I love summer. I love watching the stars every clear night with my sister and my best friend by my side. I love picking the flowers from the garden for my mother. I love sitting on the swing on our front porch with a glass of ice tea and watching the sunset. I love wearing my dad’s old t-shirt that he got when he joined the army. I love summer because I feel freed of the horrors in Scotland. I love summer because I finally have a sister who loves me. And most of all, I love summer because it’s the perfect way to forget about Draco Malfoy.