Twin Power *Cedric Diggory Love Story* (EDITING)

Expelled?

Cassia's POV

Living at 4 Privet Drive during the summer holiday was awful, to say the least. The Dursleys kept Harry and I shut upstairs almost 24/7. Every morning, we would be woken up at 5 AM so we could pay the owl that delivered the Daily Prophet, but was there any point in continuing to take it? Harry merely glanced at the front page before throwing it aside these days. Usually, I would just rip the paper up, letting the shreds drop into the wastebasket I had placed right near my bed for that very purpose. When the idiots who ran the paper finally realized that Voldemort was back, it would be headline news, and that was the only kind Harry and I ever cared about now.

If we were lucky, there would also be owls carrying letters from our best friends Ron and Hermione, or even Cedric, though any expectations we'd had that their letters would bring us news had long since been dashed.

We can't say much about you-know-what, obviously...We've been told not to say anything important in case our letters go astray...We're quite busy but I can't give you details here...There's a fair amount going on, we'll tell you everything when we see you guys...

But the question was, when were they going to see us? Nobody seemed too bothered with a precise date. Hermione had scribbled "I expect we'll see you soon" inside our birthday card, but how soon was soon? As far as we could tell from the vague hints in their letters, Hermione, Ron, and Cedric were in the same place, presumably at the Burrow. The thought of them having fun while we were basically prisoners in our aunt and uncle's house...I fought to keep my elemental powers under control so I didn't accidentally burn Harry in a fit of rage.

Worst of all, Cedric blew me off. And not just once. He and I made plans to get together on alternate Fridays, and of course, on July 31st, but I would receive an owl from Cedric the day before our get-together, saying something suddenly came up and he had to cancel. I didn't think much of it the first time, but when it happened again and again, I started to get angry. What the hell is going on with him?

Both of us were quite angry at them, so we'd thrown away the Every Flavor Beans and the four boxes of Honeydukes chocolate they had sent us for our birthday...though we regretted that later, after the wilted salad Aunt Petunia had provided for dinner that night.

And what were they busy with? Why weren't we, Harry and Cassia, busy? Hadn't we proved ourselves capable of handling much more than them? Had they forgotten what we had done? Hadn't it been us who entered that graveyard and nearly been killed, and saved Cedric's life?

Sirius, at least, seemed to understand how we were feeling. Admittedly, his letters were just as devoid of proper news as Ron, Hermione, and Ceddy's, but at least they contained words of caution and consolation instead of tantalizing hints; I know this must be frustrating for you...Believe me, Cassia, I'm going to have a talk with Cedric...He should never have stood you up like that without a better reason than 'Something came up'...Keep your noses clean and everything will be ok...Be careful and don't do anything rash...

As a last resort, we tried to listen to the Muggle news in secret, knowing that our aunt and uncle would blow a fuse if we asked to just sit with them and watch it. Sadly, we wound up getting caught every time we tried. Even last night, when we'd been hiding in Aunt Petunia's flower bed outside. Uncle Vernon had thought we were performing underage magic, because he'd heard the cracking sound that only occurred when someone was Apparating or Disapparating, and -- of course -- he refused to believe we were innocent. Besides, there was never anything worth hearing.