The Roses of Hogwarts | Cedric Diggory [1]

Chapter Twenty-Six: Flowers

 If walking through the tunnel underneath the Shrieking Shack wasn't uncomfortable the first time, it certainly was the second time. With Ron, Remus, and Peter bound together, they had to move awkwardly just to manage. It caused them to move much slower than any of them wanted to. Wanting to get out of that disgusting tunnel as soon as possible, Oriane took front, with Remus right behind her as they set the pace for their awkward shuffle.

Oriane remained remarkably quiet while the others behind her chatted away. Sirius and Harry, despite being at one another's throats just moments before, seemed to be deep in conversation. Hermione whispered something to Ron about his leg while Peter, of course too terrified to speak, stayed silent.

Every time she thought of his name, or imagined his face in her mind, Oriane couldn't help but attempt to fight off a terrible feeling of anger. It was the same, chest squeezing anger she had felt when she had seen that rat (which was, in hindsight, probably Peter himself) in the hallway all those weeks ago. It was as if she was allergic to the man.

Or maybe she just had adverse reactions to rats.

"How are you holding up, Ori?" Remus questioned. His height forced him to duck extremely low. He bent at his waist in almost a comical manner. It was a bend that would no doubt leave him sore the next morning.

"Fine," she said quietly, taking care to not hit her head on a low hanging rock.

"I guess I won't challenge you on that. But tonight certainly couldn't have been easy on you," he continued.

He was prodding, and she knew it. After how she acted back in the shack, he had every right to do so. A large part of her was still extremely embarrassed for saying such a terrible thing, even if that atrocious man deserved the punishment of death. Yet she couldn't deny that she would still prefer for him to be a corpse on the ground rather than being bound to her friends and family.

"I still think it would have been better to kill him," she admitted, causing Peter to squeak. Ignoring him, she continued, "but I think that makes me a bad person for even entertaining that idea."

Remus was quiet for a moment as he hummed. "It's only natural. He is the man responsible for the death of so many innocents. You have every right to feel the way you do," he concluded.

Oriane didn't even bother with an answer. Instead she kept steady, holding her wand out in front of her as she lit the way for everyone else behind her. Of course she had every right to feel that way. She of all people knew that. But it didn't get rid of that terrible feeling in her stomach.

"Cedric Diggory was rather worried about you," Remus spoke up, changing the subject. "Said you had run off with Harry and Hermione after Ron was savagely attacked by a large dog."

Cedric.

How could she forget? She basically had disregarded her safety right in front of him. He was probably worried sick about her. Though, she couldn't say she regretted it. With everything that she had learned that year, she knew she needed to be there to witness it all for herself.

"Yeah..." she said quietly, "I'll have to apologize to him later. I think I've given him enough heart attacks for the year. I imagine he was the one who told you where we were?"

"Indeed. I was just heading into my office when he caught me. Poor boy. Looked as if he had sprinted from the courtyard all the way to my office." Remus paused to chuckle. "With the way he explained everything, I'm surprised he didn't run in after you."

Oriane scoffed. "He would have been stupid if he did."

"You ran after them too, didn't you?" Remus retorted.