Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| Eight |*|

"The simple act of name calling is no reason to place a dungbomb under another student's seat, Miss Whitman!" Professor McGonagall stated. Aquila was in the headmaster's office with Snape, Dumbledore, and McGonagall, and it appeared as though McGonagall was the most disappointed.

"That wasn't my dungbomb!" Aquila lied. She thought that if she placed the blame on someone else, she could keep herself out of trouble.

"Who's was it then?" Snape asked, his voice an icy growl.

"Um... my brother's."

"Very funny, but this is no joking matter, Miss Whitman," Snape told her. "Detention for a week and don't think about pulling a stunt like that again or it'll be more."

Might as well chop off my fingers and feed them to me, Aquila thought dramatically. I cannot survive a week of Snape detention. From what I've heard, it's literally hell on earth.

Aquila kept her mouth shut and accepted her punishment without protest. On her way out, however, she had to get the last word in, "She deserved what she got. They all will."

|*|*|*|

"Mom and Dad are not going to be happy," Nash told Aquila in the common room later that night. "I have to tell them."

"Let me," Aquila said. "I'll write them a letter tonight."

"As you should," her brother said. "Alexis is out for blood, you know that?"

"As am I! You mess with Cedric; you're messing with me."

"How nobel," Nash said. "You've got the heart of a Gryffindor."

"Is that an insult?" she asked.

"Not at all," he said kindly. "You see, Aquila, I know the hat didn't want to put you in Slytherin at first. He wanted to put me in Ravenclaw, not gonna lie. But I was persistent on Slytherin. I only wanted to honor our family. I have a feeling you did the same thing."

"You're right, but it wanted to put me in Hufflepuff," she admitted. "But I wanted to make Mom and Dad proud of me for once, and the hat did say I was a good fit for Slytherin. Besides, a lot of people fit well in more than one house."

"Quil, Mom and Dad are proud of you."

"They weren't until I was sorted into Slytherin."

Nash sighed and placed a gentle hand on his sister's shoulder, "Mom and Dad might not be the best at communicating their feelings to us, but I know they're proud of you. I'm proud of you, Quil. You don't need to wait around for someone else to be proud of you; be proud of yourself. On that note, I'm proud you didn't get expelled."

"It wasn't that hard," Aquila said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Still," he said. "Okay, write to Mom and Dad now. I promise I won't say a word."

"Thanks, Nashy," Aquila said, hugging her brother tightly. She skipped to her dorm and cautiously checked for any spells or traps Alexis had set up. Once she deemed the coast clear, she sat on the edge of her bed and wrote a brief letter to her parents explaining she had detention. She tried to pin all of the blame on Alexis, and after rereading her handiwork, she thought she did a pretty good job of that. Also, most of the letter was filler material, saying things like, "Being in Slytherin is so fun!" "Are you well?" "I had some tea this morning."

She sent the letter, heaving a loud sigh once her owl flew off. She had managed to sneak to the owlery that night, and she was dreading returning to the Slytherin Tower. She looked up at the sky and wondered what she should do, then the stars by the Little Dipper began spelling out a message to her.