Sunlight (Cedric Diggory x reader)

Sunlight

Cedric Diggory was The Golden BoyTM of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. No one in the school could tell you they didn't know his name, he was like sunlight, attracting people to him like a flame attracts moths.

Not even in his own house could he rest from the pressure of being the living image of perfection. His father didn't stop reminding him any second of the day how proud he was of "his boy".

It was nice to know he was so loved by so many, that he was making his family proud.

It was hard to feel proud all the time though. Especially hard to keep up with everyone's expectations, not being able to fail even a little bit for fear of utterly disappointing everyone around him.

He wasn't one to duel on negative feelings though, choosing instead to push through them and forget they even existed in his mind. But they were there, right in the back of his mind and ready to make an appearance when he least expected them and punching all the air out of his lungs.

He was in the library of the school in that moment, scratching a poorly written line for the 5th time trying to write an essay on negative effects of transfiguring the Fae, when that familiar feeling set in the back of his mind. You're never going to be as good as they think you are. He huffed in exasperation, grabbing the piece of parchment in front of him and crumpling it in frustration. Ruffling his hair and sighing, he looked out at the window, swallowing down the knot that was forming in his throat.

It had not been the greatest week to start off with, they had lost a Quidditch match against Slytherin when he hadn't gotten to the Snitch fast enough. He had been beating himself up for that for days now even though all his teammates had told him it hadn't been his fault, he had done everything he could. The sneering faces the Slytherins gave him every time they passed by him in the halls didn't help much either.

To add to that, he had procrastinated on writing this essay for days and now he had a due date tomorrow and he couldn't even get through one line. Needless to say, he was frustrated with himself and his thoughts were a bit harder to control than usual.

You're going to let them all down.

They're finally going to see how worthless you really are.

You're just a complete idiot.

What a worthless piece of shit.

"Hey, are you ok?" a soft voice pierced through his thoughts, startling him back into the moment and place he was. He looked away from the window and to the person now standing in front of him across the table.

A Gryffindor girl from his year, he knew her from a couple of classes they had together but for some reason he couldn't put a name to her face. She was smiling softly at him now and all he could think suddenly was how could he not have paid more attention to her before?. "Hello? Are you ok? Do you need me to call Madame Pomfrey?"

He shook himself then, realizing he was staring at her. "Yeah no, I'm ok, sorry"

"Oh, ok, you just looked a bit off so I thought I'd check" she said, looking at the table full of crumpled up pieces of parchment and his hands stained with ink.

"Just having some trouble finishing the essay for Transfiguration", he said, looking down at the mess he had made, "or starting, more like it"

She chuckled and he swore he could feel his heart skip a beat at the sound, he looked up at her with a small smile.

"Well, I could help you if you want, I just finished mine" she offered, "I was actually just about to put the books I used for research back, but I think you're going to need them"