a rose by any other name

chapter twenty-five ❃ in trouble

"Ris! Ris! wake up!" Draco shook me gently and I groggily opened my eyes. I was no longer in the astronomy tower, I looked up and saw a sea of green and silver curtains and slowly sat up to realise I was back in my dorm. I had no idea how I got here, and I had no idea what time it was, all I knew is that I felt terrible. "W-What happened?" I asked Draco as he helped me sit all the way up. "I found you in The Astronomy Tower, you were a mess Parisa what happened?" Slowly, all the events of last night flooded back to me and a tear rolled down my cheek, all I could do was whisper "Cedric." Draco's brow furrowed, "What happened with Cedric? You didn't speak to him, did you?" Oh god, oh my god he knew, oh we were so fucked. I panicked and looked at Draco "He knows Draco, oh my god I'm so sorry I told him." Draco stood up, "Ris please tell me you're joking" I shook my head. "Oh, shit Ris, well the whole school isn't banging down your door so he couldn't have told anyone... yet. Parisa how could you be so stupid?" I sat on the edge of my bed, "Hey, don't start, at least he wasn't shouting it like Pansy did." I immediately felt guilty for saying it, it was a low blow. "But at least I was smart enough to make her forget." I sighed, "Draco I couldn't, I thought about it but, you should have seen how he was looking at me." I started crying now and Draco came and sat next to me on the bed. "Please don't do anything Draco, please promise me." Draco sighed now too "Fine I won't, you know I should, but I know that it would hurt you." I was relieved, "But. If he says anything, you know I'm going to have to un take... care of him." I winced and shook my head, "Parisa you know I won't have a choice, you won't be able to do it and The Dark Lord cannot find out, I'm sure he would do worse to him anyway, letting me do it would be the best option... for Di-Cedric" I just nodded, I didn't know what to say, I knew he was right but how could I agree to this. "That's the least of our problems right now anyway, you missed a meeting with The Dark Lord." I remembered back to the burning on my arm, I had been too upset to even move let alone face Voldemort so I'd ignored it, how could I have been so stupid? I gulped and looked at Draco. "He's not happy Parisa, he's called another meeting tonight, for just us and I think Snape will be there too." I was scared to say the least and I'm sure my face showed it, Draco put his hand on my back and told me the meeting was in 2 hours, in the room of requirement. It was the afternoon by now, so I went and got some lunch, I was positively starving. However, when I walked into the great hall and saw him, I instantly regretted my decision. He looked tired, but he was smiling with his friends, I was looking at him when his eyes locked on mine, I smiled but instead of even holding my gaze he immediately looked away and ignored me. I felt sick and just went to sit down at the table and ate a few sandwiches, I wasn't even hungry now and just decided I needed to leave. I stood up slowly and moped out of the hall, I looked back at Cedric quickly before i turned the corner, but he was still talking to his friends, ignoring me.

I decided I would go to the library, I needed to clear my head and I had a lot of school work to catch up on. Luckily, it was empty when I got there, I still had an hour and a half until the meeting with Voldemort. I was dreading it so much, I knew he would be disappointed, and I didn't know how to explain why I'd missed his meeting. I distracted myself with looking into the Harmonia Nectere Passus incantation again, we really needed to start this vanishing cabinet business, as much as I didn't want to be a Death Eater the truth was that I am. I can't escape it and if Cedric hates me I might as well just put my all into it, I'd already lost all happiness. I had finally found something that would help when i realised what time it was, I stuffed the book into my robes and hurried off to find the room of requirement. It didn't take long, and I was on the fourth floor when I saw the door appear at the end of the hallway, I ran to it and had a quick look around before sneaking in and closing the door behind me. I turned around and got scared again, I wasn't late but everybody was already here, I took my seat next to Draco and didn't say anything, 

"Ah Parisa, I'm so glad you've decided to finally grace us with your presence, I seemed to have missed it recently." Voldemort said as I sat down, I winced slightly embarrassed and looked up at him, "I'm sorry my Lord I was-" Voldemort cut me off by holding up his hand, "Now, now I don't want excuses, we all make mistakes Parisa you are excused... this one time, if it happens again there will be consequences." I released a breath I hadn't realised I was holding, "Thank you my Lord I will not fail you again." I said not looking directly at him, it felt wrong, calling him my lord but I wouldn't dare call him by his name. Voldemort said a few final words to Snape about keeping us both on track and dismissed us, he had also said that we needed to start fixing the cabinet soon. Draco and I both knew this was true, we had been putting it off and putting our old lives forward, I didn't want to do it, I wanted to go after Cedric but as always, I had no choice, and neither did Draco. We all left the room of requirement and somehow Voldemort left the castle too, this was very odd. I knew for a fact that the cabinet wasn't usable, and Dumbledore had set a charm upon the school meaning no one could apparate into the castle, how did he get in? And if he could already get in, why did he need the cabinet fixed? It was just me and Draco now and we were walking back to the common room, there were no lessons today as it was 'Nearly Headless Nick' day, I don't know really it was just some Gryffindor holiday. Pansy was in Hogsmeade with Daphne, and Blaise had quidditch practice along with Draco in an hour so I would be left by myself again. I told Draco I would do some more reading on the incarnation we were going to use, and we parted ways. I headed to the library and went to the far corner next to the restricted section, maybe there would be more about it in there.

It had been some time and I was nose deep in a book about rare magical creatures – I wasn't quite sure how I had got to this book as it had nothing to do with what I was supposed to be reading but here I was – However, I was interrupted by a quite murmur and a giggle, me being nosy, I shifted my seat slightly so I could see around the book shelf, there in another corner of the library was Cedric and Cho bloody Chang. My heart fell to my feet and tears stung my eyes, I knew they probably couldn't see me, so I just let them fall, it had been all of 12 hours maybe, and here he was tucked up in a corner with another girl already. I wanted to be sick but somehow, I wasn't angry, he deserved better and unfortunately Cho was better for him. I noticed however, that Cedric didn't look very comfortable. Cedric was sat in a chair next to Cho, but she was leaning on him and they were talking, I listened in on their conversation;

"Cedric I really like you; do you like me?" I heard Cho ask Cedric and he shuffled in his seat, "Of course I like you Cho, you're a really great friend." He replied and Cho looked slightly disheartened. I knew this conversation wasn't for me to hear, but I just couldn't stop listening. "It's Parisa isn't it? You like her." Cedric's head snapped to look at her and something I couldn't make out flashed momentarily in his eyes. "Oh Cedric," Cho sighed, "Don't act so clueless, I see the way you look at her." I panicked, what would he say about me? Cedric paused for a moment furrowing his brow before looking away from Cho and at the table. "Trust me. There is nothing going on between me and Parisa." He gulped when he said my name and now, I felt even more panicked, I watched him as he went to speak again but instead he stood up, "Sorry Cho I uh I need to go and talk to somebody." He looked at her apologetically before walking away and out of the library. I turned away from where they were sat and considered going after him, I was curious, who did he need to speak to all of a sudden? Maybe there was somebody else it just wasn't Cho. No Cedric was too kind for that, I knew that, he wasn't a fuckboy he just didn't have it in him, no matter how bad someone hurt him, he would never hurt them back. I sighed and went back to my book trying to push their conversation out of my head. 

It soon was time for dinner but when I entered the great hall and scanned for Cedric, he wasn't anywhere on the Hufflepuff table, curiouser and curiouser, he never skipped meals. Soon Pansy and Daphne arrived, telling me all about their trip and how they're sorry I hadn't been able to go but they couldn't find me when they left. Then Blaise and Draco arrived talking excitedly about their next game and how practice had gone so well. We all ate dinner together, speaking between mouthfuls, until we were all stuffed. We decided that we should all go back to the common room together as we didn't really hang out with just us anymore. After hours of us all talking and sharing new stories we all had, well me and Draco didn't say much but nobody seemed to notice, I had started to get tired so excused myself and headed up to Pansy and I's dorm before she and Draco could claim it for the night, which by the way Pansy was all over Draco, I knew was a good possibility. Honestly, I didn't know how them two did it, all over each other all the time. I quickly got ready for bed, before jumping in the cool silk sheets and soon sleep claimed me, even though I had slept for quite a while I still felt exhausted. I was still curious about where Cedric had been all evening, but I decided it wasn't best to dwell on it, I had a task to focus on.

authors note: Hello again!!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! (When the Harry Potter Studios open back up in London IM GOING! That was one of my Christmas Presents hehe I am very excited.) I apologise for not posting since the 22nd but I plan to write a lot of chapters tomorrow. My goal is to finish this story by the time I go back to College, (January 4th) but I'm not sure if that will actually happen, I will try my best! Thank you so much for reading!!