Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| Sixty Four |*|

"Did you two enjoy breakfast?" Ethan asked Cedric and Aquila. He had met them both in the hospital for lunch. Aquila stayed with Cedric all day, and she refused to go anywhere without him.

"I have to admit," Aquila said, "at first, I was a little skeptical of those floor waffles, but after eating about a half dozen of them, they're really starting to grow on me."

"You actually ate those?" Ethan asked.

"You didn't really think she'd let those go to waste, did you?" Cedric asked. There was a bit of amusement in his voice.

"Quil," Ethan said, "that's gross. I stepped on those waffles; I stepped on those with my foot."

"Yes," Aquila said. "And I ate them with my mouth. What's your point?"

"You ate my foot germs!" Ethan yelled.

"And it tasted like waffles," she told him. "I could go for another."

"Quil, that is gross," Cedric said.

"Not if you add syrup!" she exclaimed.

"Enough of this," Ethan said. "Quil, you missed a surprise exam in potions."

"What?" Aquila asked. "It's the last day! He can't give us an exam on the last day!"

"Well, he did," Ethan said. "And it was hard."

"I hate Snape," Aquila said causally. "But on a happier note, I had a better day than you."

"Don't remind me," Ethan said. "You get to sit here and snuggle up with your boyfriend, and I have to go to class and learn. Life is so unfair."

"Yeah, but you get to go to the feast," Cedric said. "I've been lying here all day."

"Must suck to be lazy," Ethan said with a scowl.

"At least I'm alive," Cedric said.

"I suppose that's a good thing to be," Ethan said. "It's definitely better than being dead."

"I agree," Aquila said. "I can't imagine this world without me."

Cedric and Ethan burst out laughing, and pretty soon, all three friends were laughing so hard they were crying.

"Guys!" Aquila managed to laugh out. "It-ha-wasn't even-ha heh-that funny-heh haa!"

"Literally everything you say is funny," Ethan said. "You act all tough, but the things you say are just so random."

"Random does not equal funny," Aquila said. "I had a dream one time that this guy sang a song about it. He had a huge forehead... I think in the dream his name was like Jack or John or something... he was hilarious! I laughed so hard I woke up! Ha!"

Aquila couldn't contain her laughter yet again, and she rolled on top of Ethan's lap.

"Nope," Ethan said, and he rolled her off of his lap. She fell onto the floor and continued laughing.

"Ethan-ha ha ha-you little-her he ha-you little piece of-he ha heh-hippogriff shat-ha heh a ha ha! Merlin that dream was so-ha ha-funny!"

"What are we gonna do with her?" Cedric asked Ethan.

"Let her go," Ethan said. "She'll stop laughing eventually."

"He said-ha ha heh-oh, bloody hell, he said-ha-me me-ha ha-big boy-ha!"

"I've never been more confused," Ethan said.

"I choose to ignore her when she's like this," Cedric admitted.

"I'm good-ha-I'm good now," Aquila said, wiping the tears out of her eyes. "I'm good."

"Please don't ever do that again," Ethan begged.

"No promises, Eth," she replied. "And shouldn't you be getting to class?"

"It's the last day of classes," Ethan said, "so we aren't learning anything. But did you guys hear about Moody?"

"No," Cedric said. "What happened?"

"Turns out, Professor Moody, wasn't Professor Moody," Ethan said. "He was really another man under the polyjuice potion, a Death Eater named Barty Crouch, Jr."

"Crouch?" Aquila asked. "He did all that? Holy centaurs..."

"What's wrong?" Ethan asked.

"I know that man," she told him. "He been over my house a few times to talk to my parents about business things. This explains so much."

"Yeah, well that's not even the worst part," Ethan continued.

"It gets worse than a death eater pretending to be a professor?" Cedric asked.

"Yes," Ethan said. "It always does around here. Anyway, Crouch had the real Moody stuffed in a box all year. That's gotta suck."

"I can't even imagine being stuffed into a box," Aquila said. "Poor man."

"I heard that Harry ended up in a graveyard," Ethan said. "You-Know-Who was there, and Harry Potter was supposed to die."

"Darn," she said. "What went wrong?"

"Harry lived," Ethan said. "That's what."

"This is the one time I wish You-Know-Who succeeded," Aquila admitted. "Getting rid of Potter would solve most of my problems."

|*|*|*|

"Aquila, just go to the feast," Cedric told her.

"But you can't go," Aquila said. "I don't want to go without you."

"We wouldn't even sit next to each other anyway," Cedric informed her.

"So what?" Aquila asked. "You know I'd just go sit with you. I'm not gonna leave you here alone!"

"Yes, you are," he told her. "You can't miss the feast because I don't have fingers. Just go, Quil."

"Fine," Aquila pouted, "but I'm only going because you told me to."

|*|*|*|

"Ceddy Bear! I brought dinner!"

Aquila never went to the end of the year feast. Instead, she found Ethan, grabbed some food, and went right back to the Hospital Wing to be with Cedric.

"Quil," Cedric exclaimed, "I told you to go to the feast!"

"And I didn't listen," Aquila told him. "I can't imagine feasting without you, so we brought the feast to you!"

"Ethan, why'd you let her drag you into this?" Cedric asked his friend.

"It was my idea," Ethan informed him. "She was actually going to stay there, but I convinced her you were being stupid. So, here we are. No need to thank me Ced."

"You shouldn't be here-"

"Stop fighting this, Ced," Aquila said, sitting down next to him on the bed. "You're spending the last night at Hogwarts with the two greatest people on the planet. Shut up and enjoy it."

Cedric smiled, "Fine, Quil, but only because you told me to."

Aquila cheered, "That's the spirit! Now dig in! There's plenty of food to go around!"

|*| I hope she brought chicken |*|