1 | Sunlight ➙ Cedric Diggory

Chapter Twenty One

Today was the first time in weeks that Matthew felt like he could finally relax. His end of year finals were lingering in the back of his mind, but the chaos that Hermione and her friends had stirred up had seemed to flutter to a halt. Matthew hadn't heard much about Professor Snape or the Philosopher's Stone in a few days but part of him was still worried that the silence from the three Gryffindors meant they were hatching a plan of some sort. As long as that plan didn't involve him, he didn't care.

Spring had settled across the grounds of Hogwarts and it appeared that students were taking full advantage of the nice weather as friend groups sat in small circles with textbooks sprawled everywhere and pages held down by rocks and sticks that lingered in the bright green grass. The warm sun cascaded it's rays down onto Matthew and Cedric as they laid in the tall grass together, both on their backs with their chins pointed towards the cloudless sky. Matthew had one leg bent with his hands behind his head as he allowed his dark robes and pale, freckled skin to absorb every last drop of sunlight.

"Have you started studying for your exams at all yet?" Cedric asked as he turned his head to face the boy next to him with his grey eyes squinting against the sun.

"A bit, yeah. Hermione's been bugging me about them." Matthew replied as he tilted his head to the side. He used one hand to shield the sun but it didn't seem to help.

"Me too, actually. I passed her in the corridor yesterday and she asked how the note taking was going." Cedric chuckled lightly as his eyes grew tired from squinting and sat up in the grass.

"I'm worried that Harry and Ron might be a bad influence on her but at the same time, they're helping to keep her nose out of books all day." Matthew copied the boy's actions and sat up, crossing his legs as he began playing with the long grass.

"She might be a good influence on them." Cedric pointed out. Matthew shrugged in a agreement as he looked out at the Hogwarts grounds. The castle stood proudly against the blue sky, being so large that only one stone wall was visible. The blonde boy figured now would've been a good time to get some studying done based on what all the other students nearby were doing but he always wasn't in the mood to be face first in his textbooks right now.

A group of students came walking over with smug expressions on their faces as they stared down Matthew and Cedric. They all had green and silver ties wrapped loosely around their necks and the one leading the pack just happened to be Orion Malfoy. He was in the same year as Matthew and a year older than his brother, Draco.

"I heard you two had detention with my brother recently. Father wasn't too happy to learn you got his precious Draco in trouble." Orion spoke with the corner of his lips turned up in a sneer, glancing between Matthew and Cedric.

"The only person that got Draco was in trouble was himself." Cedric replied as he frowned slightly, standing up to be on the same level as Orion. The Hufflepuff boy was slightly taller than the Slytherin in front of him as they glared each other down. Matthew's heart rate increased with intimidation as he remained on the ground, looking up at both boys.

"We didn't do anything, he followed us." Matthew added in an attempt to try and help Cedric.

"I didn't ask you, Granger." Orion spat out Matthew's name as if it was poison, his grey eyes turning to slits as he glared down at the blonde boy. Matthew swallowed thickly as his skin began to crawl under Orion's stare. If looks could kill, he'd be dead on the grass.

"Woah, okay. Just relax, Malfoy. It was one detention now your brother is off the hook." Cedric held one hand up in an attempt to get Orion to step back. He shifted his glare away from Matthew as his face softened, his eyebrows just pulled downwards as he looked at Cedric.