the girl with all of the choices

t w e n t y - f i v e

4548 words

september first- year five

I hated the summer holiday. Fawn came over almost every day, and Draco fulfilled his promise to write. He sent me polaroids of him doing stupid things with every letter, and I did the same. George wrote to me every week. He even sent me a scarf that his mum had made for me. It was cosy but extremely unnecessary in the summer heat.

I thought of Cedric every day. Unlike my original plans, once I first got home I couldn't bring myself to open his letters. It took a few weeks for me to be able to open them. Fawn was with me when I did.

In the first letter, he wrote about how proud of me he was. He wrote about how he knew I would do great things one day, and how upset he would be if he couldn't be there for it. It was his best memories of us and the best parts of our friendship in writing.

The second letter was different. He had obviously written it after he found out about Draco, but after we had become best friends again. He wrote about how he could tell that I really liked him, and how much he really liked me. He wrote of things that he noticed that I had no idea ever even happened. Part of me had felt guilty after he died, that I didn't tell him about Draco when I still could. Now he was dead, and I had spent a month not talking to him because of that stupid mistake. We could have had so much more time, so many more memories. Instead, I was a blithering idiot.

Draco had never explained what his letter from Cedric contained. I felt like I had an idea, but at the same time, Cedric was always full of surprises, so I could never be sure. I wasn't even sure if Draco had read it. I hoped he had.

The thing was, I was seeing him today. We were going back to school. Without Cedric, but we were going back. We would make him proud. I would get to see my friends, my boyfriend, the people I missed so dearly.

I quickly said goodbye to my parents before running through the wall between Platform 9 and 10. As I crossed through, I felt an energy course through my veins. I smelled the remnants of butterbeer and pumpkin pasties and knew I was on my way home.

I dropped my trunk off with everyone else's before making my way through the crowd. I hoped I would find Fawn, Matt, or Ainsley before I had to board the train. Luckily, I didn't have to look too far. I ran into Matt before I could think any more.

"Woah watch where-" he started before turning to look at me. "Addie!"

"Matt!" I exclaimed, pulling him into a big hug. "How was your-"

My question was interrupted by Ainsley's familiar voice. "Addie!" She pulled Matt off of me and wrapped her arms around me.

"Hey, Ains!" I said excitedly, reciprocating her gesture. "How was your holiday?"

"It was great!" she said, pulling away from our embrace. "I spent most of my time at Fred's."

"Ainsley!" I teased, playfully shoving her arm.

"Yes, yes," said Fawn dryly. "The lovebirds spent time together, snogged a lot, we get it. We have to get on the train before we miss it."

"Nice to see you too, Fawn," I said, mimicking her tone.

"I saw you yesterday?" she said, chuckling slightly.