Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| Fifty Eight |*|

|*| the tension builds... |*|

Look to the stars. Aquila had always done that; she looked to the stars for everything. Before her time at Hogwarts, she looked to the stars as a friend. During her first year, she looked to them as a guide. Every year from then on, she looked to the stars as a guide.

Aquila never had all of the answers. As much as she wanted to say she knew everything, she couldn't. Nobody knew everything; there wasn't a soul who had the capability of knowing everything.

But the stars did know everything. She felt that each star was a piece of the universe she didn't understand, and all of the pieces came together to form a bigger piece. She understood the bigger piece, but there were so many other pieces she had yet to find.

The stars knew everything. In centaur lore, the stars were an all knowing god-like thing. The stars could see the future because they were the future. The stars were the future, and they were all knowing. If one could understand the stars, one could know everything.

That's why Aquila always looked to the stars as a guide. They knew everything there ever was to know.

And as Aquila shared her last few moments with Cedric, she told him softly to look to the stars if he needed to. If he needed a guide. She knew they would help him, but she also planned on keeping a smiling face in the sky all night for her own amusement.

"You'll do great, Responsible Mom," Aquila assured him again. "I'll be waiting for you at the finish line, and-win or lose-I'll still wrap my arms around you in a tight hug."

"Thanks, Boa Constrictor," Cedric said with a laugh. "It's been a while since we've used those names."

"Let's be sure to use them more often from now on then, Seeker Boy," she said.

"That sounds great," Cedric told her.

"You're gonna be fine, Cedric," she stated. "It'll all be over in the blink of an eye. There's nothing to be worried about."

"I could die-"

"You weren't worried about that during the first or second task," Aquila pointed out. "Why worry now? There's no point. I suggest you take that bad energy and turn it into fun energy."

"Fun energy?" he asked.

"Yeah! Just... just skip the nerves and worrying and... and dance!" Aquila suggested.

"Dance?" Cedric asked. "Are you kidding?"

"Not at all!" she exclaimed. "All you gotta do is dance!"

"That's stupid, Quil. I'm not gonna dance through the task-"

"All you gotta do is dance! You take your foot-your little foot-and with that foot, you just start to shake."

Aquila began tapping her foot on the ground and dancing around Cedric, waving her arms in all directions. "How bout a twirl?" she asked, grabbing Cedric's hand and spinning him around.

"You're like a girl!" she laughed, continuing to drag him with her in a dance. Eventually he gave in and began dancing with her.

"Mr. Diggory."

The two students stopped dancing to find Professor Moody standing nearby. "Mr. Diggory," he repeated. "You're needed for the task."

"Good luck," Aquila said, pulling him into a hug.

"I don't need luck," Cedric informed her. "I'm Cedric Diggory."

Aquila laughed, "I love you, Cedric Please-Tell-Me-Your-Middle-Name Diggory."

"I love you too, Aquila I'm-Not-Telling-You-My-Middle-Name Whitman," he said. "I'll see you later."

"See you later," Aquila said, waving to Cedric as Professor Moody took him to away.

And then Aquila happily danced to where the crowd was gathered to watch the task with a smile on her face. She was completely oblivious as to what horrors the night would hold.

|*|*|*|

Aquila sat next to Ethan in the stands. The excitement was buzzing around the crowd of students and professors as the Triwizard Champion would be pronounced that night. The Hogwarts Marching Band played the Hogwarts March as the students flocked to get a seat with their friends.

Unfortunately, Cedric was the only sane friend Aquila had, and Ethan had picked the worst seats in the world. He sat down right next to his annoying genius brother, Jonas, and the spunky Gryffindor third year, Richard. Not wanting to be bored to death that night, Aquila sat next to Richard and Ethan, leaving Jonas to his book.

"Why are we sitting here?" Aquila asked as quietly and discreetly as she could to Ethan. "We could be sitting with the Weasleys."

"I wanted to sit here," Ethan said with a shrug. "I don't really get to see my little brother a lot, so I thought this would be a great time."

Aquila rolled her eyes. "All he does is read! And, why's Dick here?"

"Dick-Richard," Ethan said, correcting himself, "is here because... well, I don't really know why he's here..."

"He's way too in to the music," Aquila pointed out, looking at Richard. The Gryffindor boy was swaying back and fourth to the beat of the band and waving to somebody playing a large instrument.

"It's catchy," Ethan suggested, beginning to sway along as well.

"I'm going to sit with Fred and George," Aquila said, standing up.

Ethan was quick to grab her green robes and pull her back down. "No, you're going to sit here with me!"

"Yeah, Quil!" Richard joined in, grabbing the other side of her robes. "Sit back down!"

Aquila sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, "Fine. But only because I'm too lazy to walk all the way over there."

"That's what my friend Hannah always says," Richard said for no reason whatsoever.

"Why aren't you sitting with her?" Aquila said.

"She's in the band," he explained, pointing to a light-skinned girl playing an instrument that appeared to be a hybrid of a tuba and a flute. "She plays the tute."

"The toot?" Aquila asked.

"Yeah," Richard said. "I helped her name it."

Suddenly, the band stopped playing and Dumbledore introduced the task. The Champions would be entering the maze to retrieve the Triwizard Cup and win the tournament.

"Look to the stars," Aquila mouthed to Cedric, who was looking at her. He smiled and nodded, pointing up to the sky.

"At the sound of the cannon-"

BOOM!

Aquila cheered as Cedric entered the maze, and her heart beat in anticipation for when he came out of the maze victorious.

|*| Idk if I should write a full story on Richard and Hannah or not help |*|