1996 - ginny weasley

chapter 15

Early the next morning, I was woken by Pansy hastily shoving me. 

"Wake up, there's a fight going on with Potter and Malfoy."  I got up quickly, eager to see the fight.

Pansy guided me through the halls, both of us in our pajamas.  We came upon Harry and Draco, hurling insults at each other in the hallway. 

"You don't go near her, you hear me? I saw you trying to get in the common room, I'm not bloody stupid," Draco spat.

"I will do whatever it takes to get back Ginny, whether a pointy-faced prick with daddy issues is going to get in the way or not."

At this, Draco lost it and began throwing punches at Harry's face. Slytherins cheered Draco on, and not a single person tried to help Harry, even the Gryffindors. Nobody noticed Professor Snape was watching along until his chilling voices rung out in the halls above the cheers.

"Foolish behavior in the corridors is not tolerated. 5 points from Slytherin and Gryffindor, go back to your common rooms and try not to kill each other. Now," he hissed.

The crowd quickly scattered in different directions as Snape left, not bothering to help Harry and Draco clean themselves up. 

As I walked down the corridor I reflected on Harry's words. 

I will do whatever it takes to get back Ginny.

I put the pieces together and realized Draco had caught Harry sneaking into Slytherin dorms trying to find me. I was now worried to sleep in either the Slytherin or Gryffindor dorms tonight. 

I turned up the spiral staircase to my room, which was surprisingly empty. I wondered where everyone else was. As I began folding my clothes, I noticed a small envelope on my nightstand. I picked it up and realized it was addressed to me. This wasn't Ginny's loopy neat handwriting. It was more ancient-looking, with close together cursive letters. I didn't recognize it. I made sure nobody was around and carefully opened the message.

vb,

meet me in the library towards the back windows. I will wait all day if I have to

- cd

My heart fluttered, as I hid the letter and made my way to the library. I walked past countless books stacked on the shelves of Hogwarts. I spotted Cedric at the back windows, just like he had written. 

"Hello Ced," I said.

"You probably are wondering why I wrote to you. I must confess something. Promise me you won't let it ruin our friendship." 

"I promise," I answered nervously.

"I sort of fancy you Violetta. I know you are with Ginny, but I can't help but notice how you looked at me that day at the train or the night at the ball. Look into my eyes and tell me you don't feel the same way, at least a little bit."

I opened my mouth to answer but no words came out.  How could I reply to that?

I looked into his eyes.  "You're right. I do feel the same way. But I'm with Ginny-"

"Don't worry about her. I'm not a homewrecker, but if it means I can sneak around the castle with you I will take that risk," he said quietly.

I felt terrible, agreeing to sneak around with him behind Ginny's back. But had I been happy with her lately? All the drama with Harry and her avoiding me for so long made me open my eyes to reality.

"Fine, but this stays a secret. No exceptions. And if I choose to stop doing this, it's because I love Ginny it's not your fault," I said sternly.

"Of course, nobody has to know except us."  He leaned down and began to kiss me. I didn't know why I kept kissing him back. He broke away but kept his face barely an inch from mine.

"Meet me at the Hogs Head next week," he whispered and then turned around to leave. 

I stood against the window of the library. What had just happened? I moved down a few aisles in case someone I knew came in. Just as I suspected, Hermione rounded the corner, and I quickly pretended to look at the books on the shelves.

"Hi Violetta, funny seeing you here!" she said.  I smiled in response.

"I was just reading about the hair of the veela when I begin to hear snogging behind the bookshelves. I assume it was Cedric and some other girl, I saw him leave right after. Did you see anyone? I do hope to find them and ask them to kindly make out somewhere else," she ranted.

I tried to control myself from turning red in embarrassment. Once she stopped talking, I walked quickly to lunch. I sat down next to Ginny. 

"There you are, I've been searching for you all morning," Ginny said, kissing my cheek.

"Sorry, I was in the library talking to Hermione after the fight broke out." I felt like the worst girlfriend in the world for cheating on her, but there was something about the way Cedric made me feel like I was floating through the sky whenever I was with him. If that's how he made me feel, why was it so wrong to be with him?

"You okay? You seem off." 

"Yeah, I'm good, just thinking about the fight. Hopefully, Malfoy frightened Harry enough to leave us alone tonight."  I gave a weak smile. Hermione and Luna came to sit down.

"My goodness Violetta, your head is swimming with nargles," Luna said.

"I knew it. Something is wrong. What happened?" Ginny said as Hermione looked on in confusion.

"I'm telling you nothing happened I'm just tired." I picked at my food with one of the golden forks that had appeared as the clock struck noon. 

Everyone else seemed to forget about it, but Hermione stared at me the whole time she ate. It was like all the tiny machines in her brain were furiously working to find the root of the problem. Like she was doing a puzzle and she only had a few pieces left.

Finally, the period was over and I dashed out of the great hall to get out of Hermione's locked sight. I walked to the first floor girls bathroom and went into an empty stall. Just one kiss, and I was already regretting even opening the note Cedric left. I tried to keep my breath steady, but found it hard to. 

Footsteps approached my stall.  

"Come out Violetta. We need to talk."