Lillian 'Anna' Potter || Goblet of Fire

Chapter Sixteen: Promises

“Anna!”

She turned around only to be greeted by a set of Hufflepuff robes as she was wrapped up in Cedric’s embrace, swallowing up her form in his sculpted arms. They stayed like that for a few blissful seconds, ignoring the other Hogwarts students shuffling in around them, separating only when Anna could no longer breathe.

“Anna - Lillian Anna. After the World Cup - with all the Death Eaters...the Mark…” He trailed off, topaz eyes wandering down to Anna’s arms, where Boudica still remained, mewling angrily at Cedric for squishing her. “You...got a cat?”

Anna laughed nervously, adjusting Boudica’s weight as the cat played with one of Anna’s bouncing fiery curls. “Um, it’s new.” She nodded her head to the hallway they had gone down only a year ago before the Great Feast, now a tradition. “Shortcut?”

- - -

The familiar warmth of the castle was a welcome change from the chill outdoors. Boudica had been handed off to Ginny, who gave Anna a look before taking the black cat along to the Great Hall. Her words still rang in warning, resonating in Anna’s skull: Careful.

What was she supposed to be ‘careful’ about? This was Cedric - the same person Anna had been dating for more than a year now.

“I...I was so worried.” He broke the silence first, his hands clenched into tight fists. Cedric had always been better at this - communicating his feelings rather than bottling them up inside. It was a trait that Anna had always wished she could have, but it just wasn't a possibility for her.

Cedric swallowed. “I couldn’t find you in all the madness, and then after it was all over, you all had already gone back home. My father told me how you and your brother’s friends had been found, but I guess I didn’t really believe him - not until that I saw how you were safe in person.”

Anna frowned as their walking stopped, and she grasped his hand in her own. “Look, Ced. I’m not good with this...feeling stuff. But I’m right here. I wouldn’t just leave without saying goodbye.”

“What if you never get the chance?” He snapped. “Last year, you could’ve actually died. What if that quidditch game hadn’t ended so early, and Harry had never found you?” Cedric’s cheeks were tinged with red as he inhaled sharply. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“Fine. Let’s say for argument’s sake that I did die last year.” She said, trying hard not to flinch on how casually the words came off her tongue. “I think I’d still somehow find a way to say goodbye. There can’t just be...nothing, after we die. The world still goes on. The dead have to live on somehow too.”

Cedric let out a small, hesitant smile, eyebrows raised mockingly. “So you’re saying that if one of us dies, our mission is going to be on how to find a way to say goodbye to each other?” Anna shrugged as she leaned against him. “I don’t know. I mean, what am I saying?" She groaned. "This is just my exhaustion talking - forget what I said.”

“No, no. You have a point.” He said, though Anna knew he was only humoring her. Cedric held out a pinky, looking Anna in the eye, and despite the twitch of his smirk, there was also rare spark of serious determination in his eyes. “I, Cedric Amos Diggory, solemnly swear to bid my Lillian Anna a final farewell, even in the face of death.”

Anna rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. “This is stupid.” She deadpanned, but Cedric only raised his pinky higher, causing her to sigh as she held her own pinky up to his. “I, Lillian Eve Potter, solemnly swear to bid my adorkable Cedric a final farewell, even in the face of a fiery death.”

Their pinkies twisted, sealing an unbreakable promise.