tell me you love me (cedric and draco)

twelve

I look at our memories every single day now.

"Cedric," I say, standing up and grabbing the backpack I brought with me, cursing myself.

"Cedric?" Draco asks, also standing up but slower. I ignore him and walk across the room to the door. As I'm about to pull on the handle, he grabs my arm. "Let go of me."

"Lauren, what the hell is going on? We just kissed-"

I turn around and put my face in his. "We did not kiss. You kissed me."

"I didn't hear any complaints," he scoffs, moving his hand down to mine.

I snort. "God, you are unbelievable." I pull my arm from his hand and move towards the door again.

"All that stuff you just said before. What was that? What the hell was that Lauren?"

I don't turn around when I say, "that was just a bunch of what ifs."

I stop at the doors of the Hufflepuff common room, rehearsing what I'm going to say to Cedric. I had been thinking of how to tell him on the walk here, and now that I'm actually here, I still have no idea what I should say to him. I knock on one of the barrels hoping someone will hear me from inside. I wait for a few moments, finally deciding that I should just leave, when one of the lids open and I see Megan Jones, a girl in my year.

"Hi. I'm-"

"You're Lauren Miller," she says. Her tone isn't snobby, but it's kind of like a why-the-hell-are-you-here-this-late-at-night kind of thing.

"Erm- yes," I say, somewhat uncertain. "Is uh.. is Cedric Diggory in there by chance?"

"So that's why you're here," she says aloud, like the puzzle pieces in her mind were finally coming together. "He is, I think. Would you like me to tell him that you're here for him?"

I sigh gratefully. "Yes, please. And could you tell him it's urgent?"

She nods and disappears back into the room. I step away from the door and start to pace, nervous about how Cedric is going to react.

"Are you okay?"

Cedric walks out of the door and to me, taking my arms into his. "Are you okay?" he repeats.

"I'm okay," I tell him while guiding him over to bench.

He sighs, then turns to me and smiles. "Good. I went looking for you after lunch, but I haven't seen you-"

"Cedric-"

"-since breakfast, and I didn't want to go barging into the Gryffindor-"

"Cedric-"

"-common room, but I did want to see you because it's your birthday and every thing-"

"Cedric," I say, grabbing his face in my hands.

"Yes, lovely?" he asks, oh so innocently. He looks at me like I'm the Sun. How am I supposed to tell him that his Sun moved into a different solar system?
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asks, feeling my forehead. I swat his hand away while he laughs. "But really," he says, becoming serious again. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm okay, really, but something happened tonight," I say slowly. The smile slowly slips off of his face and he clears his throat.

"Could you define 'something'?"

"I was in the astronomy tower, completely sober," I add, remembering last time, "and I was just stargazing with a telescope. Then Malfoy came in-"

"Did he hurt you?" Cedric asks, looking at me with intent eyes, brows pulled together.

"No, I'm perfectly fine, okay? But we started talking about random stuff, nothing too serious or interesting. Then he um," I cough and close my eyes. "He kissed me."

I hear Cedric take a deep breath and stand up. "Do I need to go and hurt him?"

What? I open my eyes and stand up after him. "You're not mad?"

"At you? No. Him? I guess you could call it mad."

His jaw was locked and his eyes wouldn't look at me. "We're not dating, Lauren, though I wish you would let me ask you out so we could be official."

I smile and grab his hands, swinging them between us. "Remember our little deal?" I tease.

He rolls his eyes and finally looks at me, pulling me closer to him as he does so. "I thought you would've forgotten about that by now," he whines.

"You wish," I whisper, stopping from his face only inches away.

"You know, I was thinking we could make some new memories for you to add to that really cool necklace of yours," he murmurs.

"Ah, yes, this super cool necklace," I admire, grateful to not talk about Draco anymore. "Have any ideas as to what kind of memories we could make?" I ask, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth and looking up at him.

"I have a few mind," he whispers.

He leans down and kisses me, lacing one of his hands gently behind my head while the other rests on my cheek. I wrap both of my hands around his neck, intertwining my fingers together, pulling him closer and closer.

I pull back after maybe a minute and lean my forehead against his. "We should go somewhere more private," I whisper. He pulls all the way back from me and grabs my hand.

"Read my mind," he says smiling.

"But where should we go?"

"Want a really good memory?" he asks, smiling even wider. I bite my lip, unsure of what he's thinking. I finally roll my eyes.

"Sure, to hell with it."

He smiles at my muggle saying and takes my hand, leading my back to the barrel. I stop walking, confused. "We're going to your common room?"

"We're going to my dorm," he whispers.

"Cedric-"

"Relax, gorgeous. I have a dorm to myself and nobody will even notice you. Think of it like... a sleepover."

"A sleepover?"

"A really fun and exciting sleepover," Cedric mumbles, kissing my neck lightly. I pull away from him and eye him. "What?" he asks, throwing his hands up. "Only sleeping."

"Only sleeping?"

"And maybe a little kissing. But just a little," he says, smiling.

"Okay, Mr. Diggory. But purely for the memories," I say, grabbing his hand.

"Purely for the memories," he repeats, smiling.

In his room (wow it feels weird to say that) I take off my robes and grab the journal Harry gave me earlier. I scribble a note saying for him to tell Hermione I wouldn't be coming to the dorm tonight and that I'm safe.

I lie down on Cedric's bed, waiting for him. I look around his room noticing how different they are between the different houses.

Cedric turns off the light and lies down next to me, wrapping his arms around me.

The ceiling of Cedric's dorm was glass. I watched the stars and pointed a few constellations out to him. "I knew you'd like this part of my dorm," he says in my ear.

"Memories," I whisper back. "Amazing memories with you."