Sunflower | Cedric Diggory

Five

5              Truth

1990 October

Drowning in her own thoughts, the girl with a thunderstorm behind her eyes wandered the halls late at night. She knew if a perfect would find her a punishment would probably be the outcome, nonetheless she still took her time. Elena dragged her feet over to the the kitchens, she did what she had to do, then entered the secret passageway.

The common room was deserted, not a single soul in sight as she stepped into the bright colours, before she headed towards the girl dormitories, she waved to one of the plants which waved back. Mage, who always sat up late, had her head covered by a thick book, something odd to see even in general. Whatever Mage was doing, she didn't spare Elena a single glance, but she was well aware of her roommate entering. Valerie kipped underneath her coverlet and Lucy sat with homework on her bedcovers.

"Mage?" Elena whispered, closing in on Mage's bed, trying not to wake up Valerie. Valerie had her bed next to Lucy, the furthest away from Mage, which made it safe to whisper. Elena tipped on her toes, trying to get a glance of Mage and she met drowsy tearful blue pools. "What?" She huffed, closing the book with her hands and stuffed it quickly under her pillow.

Lucy sneaked upon them, her large hazelnut coloured eyes cautiously watching them. "Has something happened?" Her shrilly voice matched the hushed tone, crawling up on Mage's bedcover. "Nothing." Lucy and Elena were unconvinced and didn't budge. "You can tell us, we won't judge you." Elena slowly sat at the edge of the bed. "You could even eat grass and I wouldn't mind." Lucy said jokingly, much to Elena and Mage's amusement, but grew velvet red when the other girls didn't laugh. Elena let a little giggle escape and Mage did too.

The three girls hushed giggles might have woken Valerie up, but she quickly wandered to the dimension of dreams again. "My parents are.." Nobody knew much about Mage's parents, only their names. Elena had seen them bid goodbyes to Mage before she stepped into the Hogwarts express, a scrawny woman and wispy man. She knew however, about Mage's four older siblings, all of them already graduated Hogwarts the years before.

  Mage shrunk on the bed, her eyes tearing up again, not daring to say anything. "It alright, you don't need to tell us - we understand." Lucy soothingly reassured, her fingers going through Mage's frizzy black storm of hair. "They hate me." Her breath hitched, the signal that released reluctant tears. "We love you no matter what." Lucy whispered, her cheeks blossomed with pink and she rested her head softly on Mage's shoulder.

  Elena held Mage's hand as she drew circles with her fingertips on Mage's pale skin. "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb." She whispered as quiet as possible, afraid to wake the sleeping beauty, and met four confusing eyes lingering on her.
"Our relationship built by our choices, are stronger than those built by blood." Elena explained before the trio hugged.

"I love your brain." Mage hummed, still hot tears spilling over since her family meant the world to her.

The following day, on her way to the greenhouses, the others stayed behind to get their scarfs. The muddy grounds and colourful leaves were signs of autumn swallowing Hogwarts whole. "Elena!" She turned on her heel to find a jogging Cedric catching up to her.
"Cedric? She breathlessly said when the merciless winds played with her hair and covered her face.

They started walking, side by side, avoiding each other's glances."How are you?" Politely as usual, Cedric was the first to ask. "I'm alright."     She smiled weakly and freed her face from the demon hair. "What about you?" He saw it on her face, how pained she really was but decided not to push further. "I'm splendid." Cedric didn't lie, everything felt great whenever she was at his side."Are you going to the hufflepuff and Ravenclaw match?" He could feel the blazing hot gaze of Luke on his neck, probably laughing his head off at the sight; Cedirc stumbling awkwardly, nearly wading through the mud.

The whole quidditch sport wasn't an interest of Elena, she hadn't even watched a single match. Valerie was a fan, her mouth rambled about it for ages and it never really ended. "I haven't really understood Quidditch, Diggory." The indefinite times Valerie had explained it in detail never helped. Diggory seemed astonished, the cute little frown on his flawless face sparked a muffled giggle from Elena.

It was a rare occurrence when someone in Hogwarts had not even witnessed a game."You should come, it will be fun I promise." He held onto his scarf as a rough wind surprised them, nearly knocking Elena down on the muddy ground. The Herbology class was about to begin but Elena was not in a hurry, seemingly forgotten wherever she and Diggory were heading. She turned on her heel, faced the pretty boy and surprised even herself. "Maybe I will." Then the pair entered the class together, many lingering eyes couldn't get enough of the sight.

Diggory leaped out of the Herbology, in need of both fresh air and a intriguing conversation; but she was nowhere to be seen."I'm ready to know the truth, Sir, that's why I am here." She spoke sincerely to the long bearded headmaster, watching his eyes twinkle by bewilderment.