An owl swept through the kitchen, dropping a letter in front of me. I recognised the seal immediately.
“Is that...” Mum trailed off.
I opened the letter, and
“YES! I'm going to Hogwarts!” I began dancing through the kitchen, overjoyed. Cedric chuckled and hugged me.
“I do kind of wish you were going to Durmstrang, but I know this is what you want, so...”
“Yup!” I jumped in the air and punched the space above my head triumphantly – my signature move, Ginny called it.
Speaking of Ginny –
“Oh, yeah, Mum, can I go stay at the Burrow on Friday?”
“But your birthday's on Saturday!” Cedric protested.
“Yeah, well, it's not like we do much to celebrate it anyway,” I shrugged. “Please, mum?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever you want.”
We both knew that it was safer for me to be there than here.
“Thanks! I'll go write Ginny.”
Before I could go upstairs, I heard the front door open.
Dad was home.
“Did I miss anything?” He said cheerfully, entering the kitchen.
“Clara got her Hogwarts letter, didn't you, Clar?” Cedric said excitedly, nudging me. I could only nod and smile.
“Oh! Well, that's good,” Was all he said.
I hurried upstairs and into the bathroom to brush my teeth. While doing so, I studied myself in the mirror. I was eleven in three days, although according to Ginny and Fred I looked closer to twelve. I had light blonde hair and emerald eyes, although sometimes, when I was feeling particularly sad, angry or emotional, it was like the ends of my hair changed colour, just a bit. Only for a few seconds, though, and then my hair returned to blonde.
I kept on wondering whether the reason Ginny invited me over on Friday was because it was the day before my birthday, or because it was the birthday of Harry Potter on that day.
Yup, the first of August was my birthday, one day after the 31st of July.
After writing my reply to Ginny, I sat on my bed and stared out of the window. Soon enough, Ric came in.
“Alright?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled.
He came and sat next to me.
“What's up?” He asked. “Come on, Clar, tell me,” He said gently, nudging my shoulder.
I had a bruise there. I tried to stop myself from wincing, but Cedric still saw my discomfort.
“What's wrong?”
“Oh I just – I just knocked my shoulder on the side of the door yesterday. It's fine,” I reassured him, before he could worry.
“Right, okay."
“Um, I've kinda got to pack for Friday...”
“Right, I'll... Leave you to it.”
He got up to leave, walked out, and then walked back in again.
“Clara?”
“What now, Cedric?”
“It's just – ever since I went to Durmstrang, you've been really... Quiet. Did something happen?”
I kept quiet.
“Clara, you can tell me.”
I still didn't reply.
“Clara, please! For Merlin's sake!” He shouted, running his hands through his hair.
I flinched. He saw, and his face softened.
“Clara? Clara, I'm sorry, it's just... I wish you would tell me what's wrong.”
I turned away so he couldn't see the tears running down my cheek.
“Clara?” He turned my face around so I was looking at him.
“Oh, Clara. Come here.”
I buried my face in his shoulder, sobbing.
I knew I couldn't tell him. He wouldn't believe me, for a start, and Dad would kill me.
That's not an exaggeration.
Dedicated to my 4 besties:
ElizabethGrove
TheMinecraftian2456
MINECRAFTIAN4LIFE
SparkleyPanda
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Clara Diggory, Girl of Secrets - a HP fanfic
Fanfiction"She'd promised she'd never leave me." Clara Diggory, Cedric Diggory's sister, Ginny Weasley's best friend. It's her first year at Hogwarts, but not everything will go to plan, of course. After being rejected by her family, the one exception being h...
