Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| Eighty Two |*|

After Aquila and Cedric had walked in on the DA meeting at the Hog's Head, Lighting Scar changed the location of the meeting to the so called "Room of Requirement." Apparently, to find it, you had to walk in circles and look like an idiot until the door opened.

On their way to the first meeting in the Room of Requirement, Aquila and Cedric were both skeptical that it had been a prank. "What if this doesn't exist, and we're wasting our time?" Aquila asked Cedric. "What if Smartypants and Chess Boy decided to make us look foolish?"

"It is a possibility," he said. "But if they do do that, I'll march down to Umbridge's office and tell her about the DA."

"Why on earth would you do that?" she asked him. "You do know what would happen if you did."

"I wouldn't be opposed to having the word 'snitch,' written on my face," Cedric told her. "I'm a Seeker after all."

"I will never understand your love of quidditch," Aquila muttered, grabbing Cedric's hand and intertwining it with her own. They swung their hands back and forth as they walked, both of them thinking the same thing; "What if the meeting was a scam?"

It was true that Cedric wasn't the biggest optimist. He was a glass half empty kind of guy, but being around Aquila all of the time was starting to change his perception. She was normally very optimistic, but when it came to Harry Potter and his friends, she had her doubts.

Cedric had been noticing that lately, their roles had been reversing, and he was the more optimistic one. It was weird to think about because Aquila's bubbly personality wasn't changing; her attitude was. She still smiled and danced around in the hallways, flaunting her green hair, but now after all of the problems with Ethan, she was starting to see everything in a more negative light.

Maybe if Ethan still hung around the girl, she wouldn't have such speculations about the DA being a trap... or maybe it would've been worse. Ethan was in a horrible slump after his parents' divorce, and he was isolating himself from everyone. It was unfair of Cedric to blame the split between his girlfriend and his best friend on Aquila; Ethan did that to himself.

Cedric hadn't been seeing much of Ethan lately; the other Hufflepuff didn't speak to Cedric unless Aquila wasn't around, and he had witnessed him talking with Cassiopeia a few times. After what happened to Aquila with the Star Girl rumors, Cedric didn't want Ethan around the Ravenclaw girl, but he couldn't stop the boy from doing what he pleased.

Aquila found herself in Cedric's company a lot more that year. Every morning at breakfast, she would join him at the Hufflepuff table, despite the glares Ethan would give her. She walked with Cedric in the corridors whenever she could, and she sometimes would sneak up to the Owlery with him at night to stargaze.

The stars kept telling Aquila to make up with "the one she calls Test Dummy," but the Slytherin refused each time, and Cedric thought her refusals were for the best. However, he noticed that every time the stars brought up Ethan, she would try to change the subject immediately. She had a look in her eyes that was distinctive to the topic of Ethan, and Cedric knew it was a sad one.

|*|*|*|

The couple walked until the found the wall where the door was supposed to be. All of the worry Aquila had about it being a trap vanished when she saw Neville Longbottom walking back and forth. "We're in the right place," she whispered to Cedric. "I say we wait until he opens it and follow him in."

Neville had succeeded in opening the door, and Aquila and Cedric bolted over to it before it closed. They were able to quickly squeeze in and saw the rest of the students gathered in a circle, waiting for instructions.

Aquila and Cedric walked over to where Fred and George were and stood beside them. Aquila needed a familiar set of faces, and the Weasley twins were just right. "Hey, Fred. Hey, George," she said, tapping both of them on the back. She squeezed in between the two, leaving Cedric left out.

George turned around to face the Hufflepuff and said, "I just stole your girl, Diggory."

Fred instantly turned to Cedric and argued with his twin. "No, I stole his girl."

As the twins continued the fight, Aquila scooted back over to Cedric, who chuckled. The Hufflepuff cleared his throat, and the twins silenced and stared at him.

"Sorry, boys," Cedric said. "But I stole your girl-wait, my girl. I stole your girl. No, I meant my. Aquila's my girl, not yours."

"Wait," George said. "Whose girl is she?"

"I think he said she was our girl," Fred interpreted.

"He might've said otherwise," the other twin pondered. "But I do think he said she was our girl first..."

"Boys, relax," Aquila said. "I'll settle this once and for all."

"Thank Merlin," Cedric muttered.

"The truth is," she said. "I am nobody's girl. I am a woman, and I demand to be referred to as such."

"But you can't be nobody's woman!" Fred exclaimed.

"Choose one of us!" George said.

"I think you already know my choice," Aquila told them, putting her arm around Cedric.

"Curse you, Diggory," Fred joked.

"I choose the stars!" Aquila exclaimed dramatically.

|*|*|*|

"So the first spell is simple, yet effective," Harry Potter told the students. "It's the disarming charm. Everyone, find a partner and practice it."

"I don't see how this spell will help me on the field of battle," Aquila said, turning to Cedric.

"I think Harry knows what he's talking about," Cedric told her. "He did fight off You-Know-Who."

"How, by disarming him?" the Slytherin asked. "That's doesn't sound plausible. 'Oh, hi,'" Aquila mocked Harry's voice, "'I'm the Boy Who Lived; I defeated the Dark Lord by disarming him!'"

"Aquila, be nice," Cedric warned. "There are children present."

Aquila sighed, "Cedric, this whole Dumbledore's Army thing feels wrong. I don't think we should be a part of this. If my family ever found out about this-"

"If your family found out about you attempting to become an illegal Animagus, what would they say?" he asked her. "Honestly, Quil, your family would freak out if they found out about half of the stuff you do."

"True," the green-haired girl agreed. "This just feels off."

"It's the smart thing to do," Cedric told her. "We don't learn spells in Umbridge's class. This is the only way we'll pass out N.E.W.T.'s."

"You're right. I just hope this doesn't end up being a crap decision. Merlin knows I've made plenty of those already."