The Three Weasleys

A Brother's Love

In his fourth year at Hogwarts, Cedric had quite the load of homework to take care of. It was just after dinner time that Cedric found himself in the back of the Library trying to finish some homework for Transfiguration when he felt someone flop down in the chair beside him.

Without looking up, Cedric spoke to the someone, "And how is my dear little sister on this fine evening?" His smirk, practically audible in his voice, disappeared when the only response he got was a mumbled, "Fine, I guess."

Cedric looked up to find Laura sitting sideways with her legs draped over the armrest and her back facing him. She had her arms crossed and didn't look at Cedric. "Hey..." Cedric said, "are you okay? What happened?"

"Nothing happened, I'm fine."

"From your tone of voice, it's hard for me to believe that's true." Cedric might not have understood the mind of a thirteen year-old girl, but he could try. It also helped that he grew up with said thirteen year-old girl. He placed a hand on Laura's shoulder, "Come on, tell me what happened. I'm your brother, I want to help."

Cedric wasn't expecting what happened next. Laura twisted her upper body around to look at him, "But are you really my brother?!" It was at this moment he saw the tears in her eyes. "How can you be my brother when we're not even technically related?! I was just given away to the neighbours one day!! And I still haven't received an explanation as to why, mind you." She ranted angrily but soon her speech began to slow down and her tears began to flow even heavier. "I'm just...some weirdo who wasn't wanted."

To the untrained eye, they may think that Cedric ought to be offended and perhaps angry with Laura. His little sister just accused him of not being a real brother to her despite being best friends as they grew up together. But Cedric knew better, he wasn't angry at Laura but he was angry. Laura had turned away from him again and crossed her arms, closing herself up. But he was having none of it. Cedric stood up and walked around the table to stand in front of his sister. He bent down and put his hands on her shoulders. "Who said these things to you?" He demanded.

She looked away from him and stared at the table. He huffed. Laura was a master when it came to other people's emotions but if you asked her about her own, she closed up. But Cedric knew her inside and out. He took a deep breath and asked in a much calmer voice than before, "Who told you those things."

She sighed. "It's not a big deal, don't worry about it."

"I'm not worried about it. I'm worried about you."

"Why?" Laura whispered, barely audible.

Cedric gently turned her head so she was looking at him. "Because, you're my little sister and one of my best friends and I care about you. You may not have been born into the Diggory family but..." He paused, waiting for Laura to finish the common phrase among the two of them.

She cracked a small smile, "Family isn't defined by blood." She finished.

"That's right. And you and I both know that there was a reason you were given to our family."

"That Molly refuses to tell me or the boys."

Cedric sighed, "I'm sure you'll find out eventually."

"Do you know why?"

"No, mum refuses to tell me. She always says that you should be the first to find out."

Laura scoffed. "Who knows how long that'll take."

"And you know for a fact that you were very much wanted. Mum said that giving you away was hard for Molly. Aaaaaand mum took you in, so clearly she wanted you."

Laura didn't say anything to answer that. "You still haven't answered my question." Cedric said, trying to get Laura back on the task at hand.

"What question?"

"Who made you so upset?"

She didn't answer him immediately but with enough poking and prodding, Laura eventually let the names of three third-year Slytherin boys slip. Cedric reminded her, as he packed up his school supplies and unfinished home work, that she shouldn't let what people like that say get to her. She agreed and promised to just tune them out next time. Cedric nodded then made an excuse to leave. He had a pair of pranksters to find.

~~~~~~~~~

As soon as he left the Library, Cedric rounded a corner and scribbled the names of the Slytherin boys onto a piece of scrap parchment. With his hit-list in hand and his brotherly instincts kicking in, Cedric traversed the school in pursuit of finding his sister's other brothers. After ten minutes, he finally saw the identical heads of red hair.

"Fred! George!" He shouted down the hall to grab their attention. They turned towards him. He ran down the hall to catch up with them.

"Hey Cedric, what's up?" Fred asked.

Catching his breath, Cedric handed them the piece of parchment with the names on it. "These yahoos spouted some crap to Laura about her and I not being real family and being weird. She came to me all upset. Now, I'm not one for revenge but I do know a certain pair of pranksters that could teach them a lesson instead."

Instead of their usual smirks, the two boys had identical determined looks on their faces. They looked up at Cedric and he could recognize the same ambitious spark in their eyes that Laura gets sometimes. "We got you covered." George said.

Cedric smiled. "No one messes with our sister. Right, guys?"

"Right." They replied in unison.

AN/ There hasn't been enough Cedric in this story and this chapter fixes that. Especially since I'm gonna skip ahead to Harry's fourth year next and we all know what happens at the end of that year.... ;) Plus I just wanted to show Protective And Loving Brother Cedric™ with a little bit of Protective Fred And George™ at the end there.

Fun Fact: Laura started as a crappy self-insert character when I was like 12/13 and she's kinda grown into her own being.