Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| Twenty Five |*|

No matter how much Aquila bothered him, Cedric refused to curse. Even the first year joined in, encouraging him to "Just let it out, man."

Aquila didn't even know the first year's name, but she already liked him.

Despite all of their pleading, Cedric remained silent. "No, Quil!" he yelled. "I'm perfectly content with using appropriate language."

"Yes, but when you're mad, cursing is appropriate language," Aquila reasoned.

"Maybe for you," Cedric said, "but not for me."

"Whatever, Ced," Aquila sighed. "I guess you'll be a loser forever."

"I'm perfectly okay with that so long as you keep me company," he said.

"You know I willa, cause I'm Aquila."

"That was ridiculous."

"But you smiled! I made you smile; admit it!"

"Fine, fine, I'll admit that it was a bit funny."

"A bit? That was straight up hilarious! You can't deny it."

Cedric opened his mouth to deny, but he quickly closed it. He didn't want to get into the endless, petty fight with Aquila over some silly rhyme.

"Ha!" Aquila yelled. "I was right! There's no denial!"

Cedric laughed, and Aquila put her hands on her hips. "You're in denial right now, aren't you?" she asked.

"I would say no, but lying is bad for the soul."

"Then you're soul must be pure," she said, "and mine must be dead."

"I am pure, thank you very much," he said proudly.

"I'm not," the first year said before walking away. Aquila had forgotten he was even there, but his words made her snort.

"Hey, kid!" Aquila called. "What's your name?"

"Richard," the first year said. "I'm in Gryffindor."

"Well, hello, Richard from Gryffindor," Aquila said, extending her hand for him to shake. "I'm Aquila from Slytherin."

"And I'm Cedric from Hufflepuff," Cedric added with a smile.

Richard's eyes widened, "A Slytherin and Hufflepuff? For real? She hasn't tried to kill you yet?"

"Key word is yet," Aquila pointed out.

"You wouldn't," Cedric said. "I'm too pure to kill-like a unicorn."

"A stupid unicorn who doesn't swear, yeah," Aquila described.

"Are you two dating?" Richard asked.

The question didn't bother Cedric. He had been asked on many occasions if he was dating Aquila, but he wasn't. He felt that their friendship was great where it stood, and he didn't want to make things complicated by dating her.

Richard's question had completely caught Aquila off guard. Sure she liked Cedric-it was a part of friendship-but did she like him as more than Responsible Mom? Did she want him to be Responsible Boyfriend?

It was all too much for her to process in such a short amount of time. The two friends both shouted "no" at the same time, causing Richard to jump backwards.

"No," Cedric said firmly, as if confirming an already known fact.

"Pft, no," Aquila said quickly, as if lying to cover up a shocking truth. "I mean, don't get me wrong kid, we're very close friends-too close if you ask me-but nothing more than that. I mean, I obviously like him, because that's, like, friendship 101, but no, not dating."

Aquila tended to ramble when she was thinking deeply. When she didn't want people to find out what she was thinking, she'd ramble out lies and half-truths. Cedric knew that, but he didn't know what she was trying to cover up.

His first conclusion was that she didn't think they were good friends. She'd said they were too close, but then he realized he was being ridiculous. If they weren't friends, Aquila wouldn't've been speaking to him.

His second conclusion was that something was going badly in Slytherin. Was Alexis bothering her about the stars again? Aquila hadn't spoken about star messages in a while; maybe something in the sky spooked her.

It never crossed his mind that she might've fancied him.

"Oh, I see," Richard said, snapping Cedric out of his thoughts. "So, you're single?"

"Yeah, I guess," Aquila said with a shrug.

"I wasn't asking you," Richard said. He turned to Cedric with a sly smile. "Are you single?"

Cedric blinked a few times before responding, "Well, yeah."

"Who wants to know?" Aquila asked.

Richard smiled and pointed to his chest, "This guy!"

"Are you kidding?" Aquila asked. "You're, like, eleven. How do you have this all figured out?"

"Love is genderless," Richard said, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't get me wrong, Aquila, you're fabulous, but Cedric is fine!"

"You go, Richard!" Aquila cheered.

"I don't know if I should be concerned or what," Cedric said.

"You should be calling me later," Richard said. "Send me an owl; I'll be waiting." Then, the first year winked at Cedric and confidently walked away.

"I'm impressed," Cedric said.

"Me too," Aquila said. "He's eleven and he's confident enough to be himself. It's amazing that he's so accepting of himself at this age. He's got a bright future."

"No, it's not that," Cedric said. "I'm impressed that he realized I'm so good looking. I wasn't going to say anything, but he's not so bad on the eyes..."

Aquila chuckled, "Wow, Richard is so cool, considering his demeaning nickname. Wait! Wait, oh my Merlin! Do you know what this means?"

"I have a feeling I'm going to find out," Cedric said.

"Dick likes dicks!" Aquila told him as though she had uncovered the secret of the universe.

"How fitting," Cedric said. "I just don't think you should say that to him."

"I wasn't planning on it, Mom. Slytherins are known for their cunning, which is a fancy word for thinking skills, which means that we're smart, which means-"

"I get it, Quil!" Cedric stopped her.

"But really. I think it's ironic that Dick likes dicks."

"How many times are you going to repeat that?"

"Depends... Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"Very."

"Well, in that case, Di-"

"Night, Quil!" Cedric said, running down the corridor.

"No!" Aquila yelled. "Cedric, get you're Hufflepuff arse back here! I'm not done talking about Dick!"

|*| ok Quil, end the swearing he gets it |*|