Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| One Hundred Two |*|

So many things had happened, and Aquila kept it all to herself. She left everyone in the dark-Alexis, Carlos, even Cedric-and continued about with her day as if she hadn't witnessed Sirius Black die. At the time of his death, the shock didn't set in, but once she returned to the Slytherin common room, the gravity of the situation hit her like a falling star. She found herself sitting on the couch by the window in the lake, staring into the murky black water.

Her thoughts were empty even when the giant squid passed. She didn't even move a muscle when Alexis sat down next to her. The blonde girl was speaking to her, but she didn't comprehend the words.

He had just... vanished. Sirius was just there one moment, fighting and laughing, and then... gone. She played the events over in her head about a thousand times, but it didn't make any sense. He was so strong, so brave, and so... so noble.

She didn't know why this was tearing her up inside; she didn't even know him. Her thoughts wandered back to her past when she was about seven years old. She and Nash were playing outside on the swing set, and all of the sudden, they saw a flash of green light and heard a loud crash.

The siblings rushed towards the commotion, Nash out of curiosity and Aquila out of astonishment. They stopped running once they found what they were looking for; their mother was standing over a limp body... a dead man.

"Mother..." Nash started, but he was cut off by a wave of Vega's hand.

"This is nothing for the two of you to concern yourselves with," the woman told them. "Go inside."

Nash did was he was told, but Aquila walked closer to the man on the ground. "Is he sleeping?" Aquila asked.

Vega nodded. "Yes, dear, he's sleeping. Now go inside with your brother."

"Why is he sleeping on the ground?" the child asked. "Does he have a bed?"

"Get inside, Aquila," Vega told her. "Now." The woman's voice was dark, and it sent a shiver down the child's spine. Aquila went inside the house without any further questions to her mother.

All night, she'd thought about what happened, and she decided to ask Nash. "Why was that man sleeping outside?" she asked.

Nash bit his lip nervously. She knew he had the answer, and she trusted his words. "He must've been really tired," Nash answered. "I don't think he'll wake up for a while... a long while."

She knew now he was lying; that man was dead, killed by her own mother. She didn't know why this was coming back to her now, but she couldn't shake the memory away.

She felt someone grab her shoulder gently, and she faintly heard her name being called. "Quil, I'm here," Alexis told her. "Whatever's bothering you, you can't tell me."

The green haired girl looked over at her friend. "I didn't even know him," she whispered. "I never had the chance to know him."

Alexis didn't ask whom, all she did was offer Aquila some comfort. "It's okay to cry, Quil," she told her.

"I can't, Lexi," Aquila said. "I didn't know him, so it's not worth crying over. I'm just... shocked."

"Tell me what happened," Alexis offered. "Get it off your chest."

Aquila looked her friend in the eyes. "I watched a man die today."

She didn't try to lighten the situation; instead, Alexis wrapped her arm around Aquila and didn't say anything. The green haired girl let her head rest of her friend's shoulder. They stared out at the lake for what felt like forever.

|*|*|*|

"Hey, Quil!" Cedric called to her the next morning in the Great Hall. Judging by the severity in his tone, something was not good. She excused herself from the Slytherin table and walked over to her boyfriend. "Quil, what did you do yesterday?"

"Flew around with Lightning Scar and company," she told him. "Why?" She had just noticed the expression on his face. "Ced, what's wrong?"

"Harry Potter and company were spotted at the Ministry of Magic yesterday, along with the Death Eaters, You-Know-Who himself, Dumbledore, a few members of the Order, and-get this-an 'unusually aggressive eagle'. Aquila, what were you thinking?!"

"An unusually aggressive eagle?" she asked.

"Yes, that's a direct quote from the Daily Prophet article written by the one and only Rita Skeeter," Cedric informed her. "Which, by the way, is where I got all of this information. How could you not have told me? I was worried about you!"

"I wanted to tell you, I was just... I was tired," she lied, not wanting to mention Sirius. The less she talked about his death, the less she had to remember it in her mind.

"You were tired," he repeated, knowing how stupid it sounded. "Aquila, I love you, and I know better than anyone when you're lying. Why didn't you tell me about all this?"

"Nash was there," she said finally. While it wasn't the main reason she didn't go see Cedric first, it was also a big part of why she didn't. "He just reminded me of my post-Hogwarts obligations, and I just... I needed some time to just think everything over."

"What's there to think over?" he asked. "You're an adult, Quil. You make your own decisions. You're not obligated to do anything you don't think is right, and we will find a way to make sure you're happy."

I wish it was really that simple, she thought, but she answered him with a nod. "I hear you, Ced... I just... even the thought of it is too much."

Cedric smiled. "Then let's do something to get your mind off it."

She grabbed his hand in agreement. "What did you have in mind?" she asked.

"I don't know... how about we hang out by the lake and look at the clouds?" he suggested. "And we'll talk about everything we would do in a perfect world. We'll skip classes and dance around the lake like we did at the Yule Ball, and we'll make a list of everyone who wronged us and get revenge on them in increasingly ridiculous ways. And to end all of it, we'll catch fireflies after hours, and by the light of our wands, we'll swim in the lake and probably be attacked by hostile mermaids. What do you say, Lady Aquila?"

She smiled at him. "I could only say yes, Sir Cedric."