Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| Twenty Eight |*|

"Aquila, what's gotten into you?" Cedric asked. "You've been nothing but rude all week!"

"I wouldn't call it rude," Aquila said. "Just... mildly hostile."

For the duration of that week, Aquila had been nothing but nasty toward Cho Chang. Cedric didn't have the slightest clue what was going on with her; the green haired girl just seemed to randomly hate Cho. However, something told him there was more to it than just a slight hatred. Aquila had reasons for hating whom she hated (Harry Potter, for example), and a small misunderstanding like with Ethan was definitely not the case with Cho.

Cedric tried desperately to find out what was going on. He asked Cho if she'd said anything to Aquila, but Cho hadn't ever spoken to her before. The entire situation began once Cedric had started hanging around Cho, so maybe the blame was on him.

"What did Cho do to you?" he asked Aquila.

"A lot of things!" Aquila yelled. She put her hands on her hips, and her eyes seemed to narrow slightly.

"Name one," Cedric challenged.

Aquila couldn't flat out tell Cedric she liked him and that was the problem. She couldn't just say she was jealous of Cho Chang.

"Well, she-remember when she... this one time she said-yesterday in the corridors... she, um, she told me that... she told me that-okay she didn't do anything to me specifically!"

"Merlin, Quil, then what's the sudden problem?"

"What problem?" Aquila asked. "There is no problem."

"You knock her books out of her hands, trip her in the corridors, launch food at her during dinner. Aquila, something must be up."

"Why is she suddenly your best friend?" Aquila asked. "All you do is talk to Cho Chang! And whenever we speak, you scold me for getting upset that you're ignoring me. This might surprise you, but I haven't got many other friends."

"Look, Quil, Cho offered me to help her with the first task-"

"Dragons," Aquila said.

"What?" Cedric asked.

"I was walking in to the library with Jennifer when she had one of her weird vision spasms, and she said the first task was dragons," Aquila told him. "Don't tell her I told you; I promised to keep it hush."

"Does Harry know?" Cedric asked.

"I don't give a damn if Potter knows!" Aquila shouted. "I bet he does, considering he always knows everything."

"No he doesn't."

"He found the Chamber of Secrets two years ago," she reminded Cedric. "I'm sure he's got someone on the inside, feeding him data."

"Okay, topic change," Cedric said. "How am I supposed to fight a dragon?"

"Why don't you just ask Cho?" Aquila asked.

"Because I want to ask you," Cedric said. "You know my strengths a lot better than she does."

Aquila brightened. Hearing Cedric say that made her doubt and jealousy melt away. "I thought about it, and I'm not sure of the terrain, but maybe transfigure something into a dog to distract it."

"Like a rock?" Cedric asked.

"Yeah, something like that. Back to the topic of Cho Chang."

Cedric sighed, "Seriously?"

"Yes! I need to know who you're hanging with!"

"She's amazing," Cedric said. "Witty and funny and pretty-"

"Oh, I get it," Aquila said. "And she's in Ravenclaw. She perfect for you. You know why? Because she's Cho bloody Chang: everything I'm not!"

Aquila stomped down the corridor and away from Cedric before the boy even had a response to that. The jealousy was back as quickly as it left.

He called her amazing. And witty. And funny.

And pretty.

Wasn't Aquila pretty? Wasn't she prettier than Cho Chang?

Stupid, Aquila thought. How could he like me over amazing, funny, witty, (barf) pretty (did you mean petty?) Ching Chong? Bloody Ching Chong and her perfect Ravenclawy prettiness!

If Aquila hated Cho before, she definitely hated her now. She cursed Cho's name (well, she said Ching Chong) as she stormed back to the Slytherin common room. She ran into Jennifer on the way.

"What's wrong, Quil?" Jennifer asked.

Never had Jennifer ever seen Aquila cry. In fact, even through the Star Girl insults and being shunned for talking to Cedric, she never shed a tear. But this-this Cedric drama-was all new to her. She'd dealt with rejection her whole life, but with Cedric it was different.

With Cedric, it hurt.

Jennifer Trelawney was the first person to ever witness Aquila cry.

"What do you do," Aquila asked through her tears, "when you like someone, but he calls another girl amazing and pretty right to your face?"

"I don't know..." Jennifer said. Aquila's sadness was getting to her. "But I'll tell you what not to do. Don't sit around here moping about! Aquila, you are amazing and pretty-way prettier than Cho Chang-and it doesn't matter what he said now. You know why? Because I know that one day, the two of you will be exactly where you're supposed to be."

"How do you know that?" Aquila asked, wiping her tears on her sleeve.

"Because I had a vision," she said. "And in that vision, you were happy. You were with Cedric, and you were happy."

|*| omg Jen had a vision about quil's love life what |*|