Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| Forty One |*|

As Aquila walked arm in arm with Cedric through the pathway of students, she was not amused to see Cassie with Carlos. Just as she was beginning to trust him, he shows up to the ball all buddy-buddy with Cassiopeia!

She made sure to shoot the couple a one-fingered gesture. Cedric wasn't amused. "Aquila," he scolded, "a professor could've seen that!"

"Then I guess it would be directed to them too," Aquila said through the smile plastered on her face.

"Aquila, I know you're upset-"

"I'm way past upset, Ceddy," she said, smiling at Ethan and Gwenivere in the crowd. "And I'm so much more than furious, too. I'm... well, I'm pissed, Cedric."

"Can you not swear now, Quil?" Cedric asked as they took their place on the dance floor.

"No," she said. "I can't believe him; coming here with that bitch."

"Quil."

"I mean, witch."

Cedric put his hand on her waist, and she put hers on his shoulder. "Merlin, you should've been there for dance lessons with Severus Snape," Aquila said. "As much as I hate Abby, that poor girl had to dance with him..."

"Sounds entertaining," Cedric mused as the music began playing. He lead Aquila in a very choreographed dance (it had to be perfect for Ethan. "I refuse to let my two best friends show up at the ball and trip over their heels!" at which point Aquila snorted at the image of Cedric in high heels).

"It was," Aquila said. "Until I let out a rather loud snicker-it wasn't just me though! Alexis laughed too, but Snape caught me..." Aquila cringed at the memory. "He... he-oh Merlin, it's awful."

"What happened?" Cedric asked, lifting her into the air. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Well..." Aquila said once her feet were back on the ground. "I told Ethan. He thought it was just bloody hilarious..."

"You told Ethan first?" Cedric asked. "I'm hurt. I'm hurt in my heart."

"I'm sure you'll find a way to get over it," Aquila said with a smirk, glad Cedric wasn't asking any further about her dance with the professor.

"Was that a joke, Lady Aquila?" Cedric asked, smiling.

"I do believe it was, Sir Cedric," Aquila said after a dizzying spin. "Ugh, when is this dance over? I just want to sit down, have some punch, and then throw a punch."

"Aquila!" Cedric yelled. The music was too loud for anyone else to hear, but Aquila winced. "There will be no punching of any kind tonight!"

"How about smacking?" Aquila asked.

"No."

"Slapping?"

"No."

"Pushing?"

"No."

"Shoving, kicking, throwing?"

"No, no, and no."

"You're no fun," Aquila whined as the song was finishing up.

"Ready for the final leap?" Cedric asked.

"I don't have much of a choice, Ceddy Bear," she said. "So, yeah."

The music reached its ending, and Cedric lifted Aquila into the air. He spun her around, and she landed back on the floor with just enough time to do what Ethan called the "AQUILA YOU CAN'T DO THAT! IT ISN'T TRADITIONAL!"

She posed, putting a hand on her hip, the other hand in the air, and she fell back into Cedric's arms.

Cedric laughed, "Ethan said-"

"Shh! Let me have my totally untraditional moment," Aquila commanded. Once the clapping died down, she stood back up and smiled.

"Ethan is going to be mad," Cedric said.

"I don't care!" Aquila said. "Ethan can suck it!"

"Want some punch?" Cedric asked.

"I thought I wasn't allowed to punch," Aquila said sarcastically.

"Not that type of punch, silly," Cedric said. "I'll be right back with our punch."

Once Cedric had disappeared, Aquila's expression changed from love-crazed schoolgirl to serial killer. "And I'm off to do some punching of my own."

|*|*|*|

"Aquila, you idiot! Do you know what you've done?"

Aquila was fully aware of everything she did. She had went to find Carlos, but ended up running into Cho Chang. Not wanting to make her night any worse, she decided it would be best to just walk away from Cho, but one look at the green haired girl's face, and Cho immediately thought she came to fight.

Aquila knew whatever she said to Cho would backfire on her, but she couldn't stop herself from calling the Ravenclaw girl an "oafish ogre".

Just as Aquila was about to remove herself from that situation, Calvin Blake walked over to Cho, who was apparently his date. That just pissed the girl off even more. She said something along the lines of, "All of you Blakes are assholes trying to ruin my night!" then she stomped off.

She decided the best option she had was to get out of the castle, so she went for the doors. However, on her way out, she ran into Cassie.

Cassie had said only one word before Aquila punched her.

The green haired girl shoved past the evil Ravenclaw and ran outside. She stood in the crisp evening air with her arms folded across her chest and her face as red as a tomato. She began loudly cursing Cho, Cassie, and the Blakes.

Cedric arrived on the scene a few minutes later, scolding her for being reckless. She wasn't listening to a word he said. She interrupted him halfway through his fifth "I said no punching," speech.

"Shut up! Shut up; I can't take this anymore! I came out here to have a good time! I stuck through those long, stupid dance lessons with Ethan, I put a dress on, and I even suffered through a dance with Professor Shitface of the Dungeons! Abby Greenwall ruined my good mood by telling me my brother is a Death Eater. Then, I get to this ball and Carlos Blake is there with my worst enemy! And Ching Chong is with his brother! I didn't mean for any of this shit to happen; you can't blame me for this!"

"I'm not blaming you!" Cedric shouted.

"Then what are you doing?" Aquila yelled. "You've been so caught up with the tournament these past few days! I wandered around the entire castle with Victor Krum and didn't even see you once!"

"I haven't been avoiding you!" he yelled. "You've been avoiding me! You waited until the last minute to ask me to the ball-"

"You knew I'd ask you!"

"I was starting to doubt it!"

"So that's it? You don't have faith in me? You think I'll just run around punching people at the ball just for giggles?"

"You have done it before-"

"You know damn well I have good reasons for my actions!"

"Then why are you yelling?"

"Why are you yelling?"

"I don't know!"

"I don't know either!"

Cedric stopped yelling and took a breath. "I might not know why we're yelling," he said. "But I do know something."

"Do tell," Aquila said.

Cedric didn't speak. Aquila was beginning to doubt if he was going to do anything when he pulled her in for a kiss. A soft, sweet kiss that sent a tingle up her spine.

When it was over, Cedric smiled, "I know that I've been wanting to do that for a while."

|*| AHHHHHHHH |*|