Golden- Cedric Diggory

Chapter One- The Train

I stood on the platform, anxiously bouncing on my toes. My father placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, and softly smiled down at me as I whipped my head up to look at him.

    "Look at you, all grown up," He said quietly, his voice close to breaking, "Your mother would be so proud of you right now."

    I looked back down at my feet, and willed my eyes not to fill up with tears. Today was obviously quite emotional for me already, having to leave my father and go to school for so long, and I was also anxious because my best friend wasn't on time; yet my father still brought up my mom.

    "Hey," He knelt down to meet my eyes, "I'm not trying to make you sad, you know that right? I just miss your mum."

    I nodded a couple of times, still refusing to meet his insistent gaze. I know that if I looked into his eyes, the tears would fall and wouldn't stop for hours. Instead, I busied myself by staring around the platform, searching for the one person who could make me smile right now. My father began loading my bags onto the train, I tried to help but he shooed me away. To entertain myself, I studied a rather curious looking family. All with flaming red hair that I could spot a kilometre away, and all looking rather rushed. There were four that had trollies like mine. One boy who looked quite a bit older, another who only looked slightly older, but carried himself with an air of utmost importance, and two boys who looked strikingly similar; both of which had seemingly forgotten their trollies and were focusing on aggressively ruffling each others hair. Their rather harried-looking mother pulled them apart and gave them both a tap on the head. She went back to the youngest son and little daughter, while lecturing the two boys.

    "Right then! All loaded up." My father announced suddenly.

    I tore my eyes away from the small scene the family had caused to look up at my father. I gave him a small, hesitant smile. He placed his hand back onto my shoulder.

    "I promise you, everything will be alright. No matter what happens, you always ha-" He was abruptly cut off by someone shouting my name.

    "Eva! Eva!" A boy called, abandoning his trolley to wave his arms at me and jump up and down.

    A wide grin spread across my face.

    "Ah, Cedric and Amos have finally arrived," My father stood up.

    Cedric jogged over and gave me a quick hug.

    "Ready to finally start our first year?" He asked excitedly.

    I was surprised he didn't explode from the amount of pure energy he must've had inside him. He was shuffling his feet in an odd matter, and was fiddling with the robes he had already put on. I flashed him a tentative grin.

    "I think so!" I said, trying to match his enthusiasm.

    Amos and my father loaded Cedric's luggage into the train laughing about something.

    "Sorry, the wife couldn't make it today. Couldn't get off work, unfortunately." Amos sighed, "Her boss is a stickler for the rules. She would've wanted to see you off Eva."

    He patted my shoulder, almost condescendingly but he pulled away quickly. The train issued a loud two-minute warning whistle.

    "Off we go!" Cedric made for the train, but got pulled back by his father for one last hug.

    I bit my lip as my father hugged me tightly. He pulled away and stared at me, concern painted all over his face.

    "I'll be fine, dad!" I insisted, giving him a light laugh to ease his nerves.