Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| Sixty Eight |*|

|*| how do people not get my Hufflepuff jokes?? They're honestly not that hard to find... |*|

Aquila spent the rest of the summer with her brother. They didn't speak about the Dark Lord or any business pertaining to him or his cause, and the two siblings had a pleasant summer, much unlike the ones they had while staying with their parents.

Nash still had work throughout the summer, and he'd come home nearly every night with another rant about his boss, Dolores Umbridge. He most commonly spoke about her need for power. "She always trying to drill it into our heads that she's the boss," Nash explained. "We already know that she's our boss; it's quite redundant and annoying to keep on restating it."

"She sounds awful," Aquila said. "I hope I never meet her."

"I wish I hadn't," Nash admitted. "But once you do, you can't forget her. She looks much like a toad and wears far too much pink. Her voice is just shrill and makes me grimace. I heard she's getting a promotion. You know who I heard it from? Yeah, that's right, her. She won't stop telling us lowly workers that she's higher up than we are. Merlin..."

"Let's not talk about her anymore," Aquila suggested, changing the topic. She hated seeing Nash stressed out, and nothing stressed him out as much his boss. "The Quidditch World Cup is coming up soon."

"Yeah?" he asked. "Where are they giving it this year?"

"I think it's in America or Australia. Something that starts with an A."

"I've never really been a fan of Quidditch," Nash said.

"Cedric's the biggest Quidditch fan in the world. He's gonna be a Seeker on a major league team one day. I hope it's the Wimbourne Wasps. They're my favorite team next to the Appleby Arrowheads."

"Have you written to him in a while?" Nash asked.

"Yeah, why?" Aquila asked.

"Just wondering," he said. "Are you ever gonna invite him over?"

"You'd allow that?" she asked, smiling. The reason she never asked was because she assumed her brother would tell her no.

"Of course!" Nash exclaimed. "You actually think I'd say no?"

"When's a good time?"

"Anytime! Except Tuesday... I've got a meeting here with, um, a fellow comrade..."

"Noted," Aquila said. "So, tomorrow!"

|*|*|*|

"This family will have no flaws!"

"You've brought great shame on this family, and it's all because of that Hufflepuff boy!"

Even in dreams, Aquila couldn't escape her family. Ever since the summer began, her nightmares were filled with all of the things that were said that day at the Whitman Manor. Her nightmare was just a twisted spin on what had actually happened. Most often, the nightmares revolved around Nash.

"You've got a duty to this family..."

In the dreams she'd hear his voice, and each time she'd respond differently. Her most terrifying dreams were the ones when she agreed to join the Death Eaters.

"I'll join you," her dream self would say. "I'll join you and pledge my allegiance for ever and ever and ever and ever..."

On a good night, that was when she'd wake up. Those were the nights when she got lucky. On other nights, the dream would continue. A cloaked, skeletal man would arrive (for some reason in her dreams the man was always nose-less), Lord Voldemort himself. He'd brand her with the Dark Mark, his mark, and she would join them.

Sometimes the dreams would continue on even further. She would see herself murdering innocent muggle-borns and Muggles alike. Sometimes, she'd wake up in a cold sweat, and other times, Nash would shake her awake.

"Aquila, its only a dream!" he shout. "You're alright. You're okay here."

"But, the nightmares-"

"They're simply that," Nash told her, "nightmares. They aren't real."

|*|*|*|

Cedric arrived at Nash's house on a rather gloomy day. It was a shame because the boy had recently been given a new broom in celebration of being chosen for the Tournament, and he wanted to show off to his girlfriend. He also knew she wasn't exactly the best at flying and wanted to help her out a bit.

Aquila, on the other hand, was overjoyed that it was raining. She knew Cedric would rest at nothing to get her on a broom, and that was one ride she didn't want. Ever since her first year when Carlos almost pushed her off of a broom, she chose to steer clear of them at all costs.

Cedric and Aquila sat on the grey couch in Nash's living room. Nash was at work until the evening, so Aquila and Cedric had the house to themselves. That meant they could do all sorts of rebellious and dangerous things without supervision like eating all of the sweets and yelling strange phrases out of the windows as dares.

"Oh!" Aquila exclaimed. "I dare you to grab three random things from the fridge and put them on a sandwich!"

"That's disgusting, Quil," Cedric gagged. "What strange foods do you even have in there?"

"Lots," she said. "Lots and lots of strange foods. Now cover your eyes and grab something!"

"Can't we play a different game?" he pleaded.

The look on his girlfriend's face told him otherwise, and he reluctantly created the mystery sandwich.

|*| why would you agree to that gawd... |*|