Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| Fifty Nine |*|

"Does he always do this when he reads?" Aquila asked Ethan. She was staring oddly at Jonas, who seemed to be in another world. His finger was in his mouth, and he would tap his foot on the ground every time something happened that he didn't like, and then he would grunt as if noises would change the fate of the characters.

It made Aquila laugh because even she knew that you can't change the fate of fictional characters. You just can't.

"Sadly," Ethan informed her, "this isn't the extent of what he does. Sometimes, he slams his head into the pages. That's how you know someone's died. And when a character lays down a sick burn or something, he sets the book in his lap and just smiles at the air for a while."

"Does he ever stop reading?" Aquila asked. "I'm concerned for his mental health."

"He can still hear you," Ethan pointed out.

"I don't think he can," she said. "Hey, Jonas! You smell!"

Jonas didn't even look up from his book and continued reading peacefully as if she hadn't spoken.

"He's boring," Aquila decided. "I'd rather sit with Moaning Myrtle."

"I thought you liked Myrtle," Ethan recalled.

"We haven't spoken recently. Now, I prefer talking to a different ghost, Sir Nicholas."

"You backstabber," Ethan gasped.

"It's not like she cares," Aquila said. "I mean, we haven't really talked since my third year or something when I made the polyjuice potion."

"That still really impresses me," Ethan stated.

"What's a polyjuice potion?" Richard, who hadn't spoken for quite some time, asked.

"It makes you turn into someone else for an hour," Aquila told him.

"Cool!" Richard exclaimed. "That's wicked!"

"I know, right?" Aquila asked, turning away from Ethan and talking to Richard. "I turned into this girl, Alexis Greenwall, and destroyed her relationship. I was thinking about doing the same to Cho Chang..."

|*|*|*|

Richard had to use the loo, so Aquila had some time to stare at the maze and be extremely bored. She couldn't even see the entire maze, and she wondered how big it was. She also wondered where Cedric was and if he had ran into any trouble.

Just as she was thinking about potential dangers, a jet of red light shot into the sky. Aquila's eyes widened and her heart raced. She grabbed on to Ethan's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"What if it's him?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

"He's okay," Ethan tried to reassure her, but his voice was shaky and only scared Aquila more.

She stared into the sky and wrote him a message:

You'd better be okay, Responsible Mom, or this Boa Constrictor is gonna scream.

She wasn't expecting anything to happen, but the stars moved into a response. Aquila's heart leapt when she saw what was happening.

The one you call "Responsible Mom" is indeed okay.

The stars had eased her conscience, and she was able to relax. As if to confirm what the sky had told her, Fleur Delacour had been pulled out of the maze, her hair ruffed up and her clothes torn. Seeing the French girl looking like such a mess frightened Aquila. She wondered exactly what was in that maze, and she began worrying again.

What could be in there? she wondered. Lions? Tigers? Bears? Oh my!

She feared that there would be creatures far more devastating than a little bear, although bears were quite terrifying.

For the first time that night, she wondered what would happen if Cedric didn't come out of the maze a winner. What if he didn't come out at all?

She tried to push the thought away, but she just couldn't do it. She realized that there was a chance-a high chance-that Cedric wouldn't be eating in the Great Hall with her the next day. There was a chance that Amos Diggory wouldn't have eternal bragging rights for having the world's best son. There was a chance Cedric would die.

"No," Aquila whispered to herself. "No, he's not going to die. He'll be here tomorrow with me, and we'll eat pancakes and talk about baby lizards together. Yeah, baby lizards."

"Baby lizards?" Jonas questioned, looking over to her. "Why?"

"Why not?" Aquila asked. "Got something against little lizards?"

"Not personally," Jonas told her. "But, I did hear you talking to yourself, and I'm sorry to let you know that the stakes are very high in this tournament. There's a seven out of ten chance that someone's going to die, and that someone very well could be Cedric Diggory. Don't get your hopes up."

For some reason, Jonas Drake infuriated Aquila. She didn't like his arrogant know-it-all tone of voice, and she certainly didn't like his pessimism.

"Don't get your hopes up?" Aquila asked. "What the hell does that mean, kid? I get that you think you're some sort of genius, but, kid, you're just that: a kid! You don't know shit! I'm not going to sit here and listen to your pessimism because I've had about enough of that!

"How would you feel if your best friend/lover was inside that maze? Would you want some random kid telling you that there's a seven out of ten shot he's gonna live? Hell no, you won't, so don't think for a damn second that I do. You can take that book and shove it up your know-it-all ass, kid. Aquila out!"

And with a dramatic flip of her bright green hair, Aquila stood up and walked over to sit with Amos Diggory.

|*|*|*|

"He is a very talented flyer," Aquila mused as Amos was going on and on about how talented Cedric was on a broom.

"That time he beat Gryffindor," Amos recalled. "Harry Potter fell off of his broom, but Ced was able to stay on. You agree that he's the better flyer, don't you?"

"Of course," Aquila said. "Ced's the best flyer in the school. I just wish quidditch wasn't put off this year; he would've been a great caption."

"Next year," Amos assured her. "Next year he'll be the quidditch caption."

"He'll lead Hufflepuff to victory for sure," Aquila promised.

Suddenly, there was a crack and every head in the crowd turned their heads toward the center where Dumbledore stood. There were two students, one laying limp on the ground, and the other laying over top of the first, shaking the body.

"Merlin's sweaty balls," Aquila cried out. "Cedric!"

|*| whoops |*|