𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕤. cedric diggory

3

I remembered our first year as clearly as the morning sky. It was vibrant like the sun, so fresh, so new, like dew on the ground every morning. Every day was better than the last, every lesson wicked and kind and so amazing with you there by my side.

Even though it was your first year, you fit in like you belonged there all your life. No more did I see the shy kid from Diagon Alley, but the more sure of himself adolescent, growing into his own skin, fitting into his role at a school he would likely call home sooner or later. Everyone was drawn to you like a moth to a flame and I couldn't help but agree. You were flawless in every way, your grins exuberant and childish, fiery and competitive.

When we went to our first Quidditch match, you saw the Hufflepuff team score, turned to me and said, with the determination of a man at war, "I'm going to be on that team next term, Cedric. You just wait!"

And somehow, I knew you would be.

Because, really, how could you not? You were the perfect candidate for the Keeper. So perfect, so sturdy, a knight on the front line that defends the castle with everything in him. A solid rock, unmoving in the wake of destruction.

I remembered thinking about my own anxieties for trying out for the team, about how I wouldn't fit in with my too big limbs and awkward movements when I hesitantly tried out, and I remembered your own confidence, the way you still believed it, even as the year bled on, turned into summer, where you told me to prepare myself for the upcoming year - basically demanded that I practice my arse off because I was going to make a superb Seeker, you got this, Ced!

(I remembered how much I loved hearing you call me that. How much it warmed me to my bones, chilled me to my core simultaneously.)

When I thought of your grin, so wide and bright that I was afraid your cheeks might crack, the fear washed away, ebbing out like a wave on the shore. It was as though it was never there to begin with and I knew that with you by my side, nothing could ever go wrong.