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Cedric smiled when he woke, the amber sunlight of the dawn just beginning to inch through the curtains in his room. Lori had spent the night, his yellow Seeker shirt hugging close to her sleeping body beside him.
He rolled onto his side, touching his finger to her nose, "Time to wake up, love." Lori mumbled incoherently, still deep in her sleep, "It's Christmas." he tried again, "Come on, Lori, you love Christmas."
Her eyes slowly opened beside him, turning to smile at him, her finger tracing his jaw, "Okay, so I do love Christmas."
Cedric suddenly leapt from the bed, picking Lori up and throwing her over his shoulder. She squealed as he whirled her around slightly, her hands clutching at his shirt.
"Put me down!" she laughed, "Ced, I swear to Merlin, put me down!"
With a pout, he set her on the ground, "You're adorable when you're mad."
She smirked, standing on her toes to kiss him on the nose, "Better get me mad then."
The pair of them laughed, walking into the bathroom to brush their teeth, Lori raking a comb through her hair in front of the mirror, wincing as it caught in some tangles.
"Let me, love," he smiled, taking the brush and gently teasing the knots out, before smiling as he wove her ginger hair into two plaits.
She turned to him incredulously when he secured the second, "You can braid?"
He laughed, putting his head on top of hers and letting his arms hang loose over her front, "Ellie's been making me do hers since third year."
Lori chuckled, "You really love her, don't you."
"I love her," he smirked, "can't say I've ever shared a bed with her."
She lightly elbowed him behind her, before they headed down to breakfast. Most of them were already at the table when they arrived. Fred and George smirked between themselves, sliding over to Lori and Cedric.
"I'm guessing you had some fun on Christmas Eve?" George said.
"From our room, we could hear the bed frame squeaking all night long." Fred snickered.
Lori and Cedric laughed, neither having the heart to tell the twins that they had been having a pillow fight in his room, Lori jumping on the bed to take extra shots at him.
A small Father Christmas on a broomstick flew around the kitchen, laughing and nearly colliding with Mrs Weasley as she set her husband at the table, "Here we go. Daddy's back."
They all clapped, Arthur with a large, purple bruise forming under his left eye, but high in spirits and donning a purple paper hat.
"Sit down, everybody, sit down!" Molly cheered, bustling over to the Christmas tree, "That's it. Now, presents!"
Each of them had a wrapped gift placed in front of them, even Cedric, who looked at it in confusion, "What is it?"
Lori gaped at her mother, the twins cackling in delight as all the presents were opened and Cedric pulled a yellow knitted jumper out of the paper, the letter 'C' on the front in black.
Fred snorted, "Mum made Diggory a Weasley jumper!"
Cedric was already pulling it over his head, wrapping an arm around Lori's waist and turning to his girlfriend's mother, "Thank you, Mrs Weasley, it's brilliant."
Mrs Weasley waved the compliment aside, "Just call me Molly."
Ginny and Lori shared a look across the table as they started to hand out plates and glasses to all the guests, Mrs Weasley greeting Harry with a present.
Arthur raised his glass, "A Christmas toast to Mr Harry Potter. Without whom, I would not be here. Harry."
"Harry." they all raised their glasses in unison, all drinking mulled wine from their clear goblets.
*
Snowballs smashed into Lori's face, her lips curling into a smirk as she saw Cedric's face, already rolling his next weapon together from the grounds in the garden of Grimmauld Place.
"You're so gonna regret that!" she laughed, hurling a ball of snow at him and hitting him in the jaw.
Cedric groaned, "I forgot you were a Chaser."
Fred and George suddenly joined the skirmish, bewitching snowballs to fly at their sister, Cedric hurling them at his girlfriend.
"You're meant to be on my side, Ced!"
George cackled, "No, he's not!"
Unbeknownst to them, Lupin had been teaching her to apparate, the three of them looking between each other in confusion when she disappeared behind a box too small to cover her.
"Where did she go?" Fred asked, before screaming as Lori shoved a snowball down his and George's backs, "You little Grindylow!"
Cedric laughed, before being cut off by a snowball being shoved in his face. The four of them retired into the warmth not long later, Cedric and Lori sitting next to the fire in his room.
"We had our first dance a year ago." Lori mused, looking up at him and leaning into him, "I'll never forget that."
"I'll never forget the way my jaw dropped when I saw you in that dress for the first time." he smiled, pressing a kiss to the side of her head.
"I'll never forget the way Viktor enchanted mistletoe to bloom above us."
Cedric laughed, "I think I might have missed when I kissed you."
Smirking, Lori climbed into his lap, "Then how about you try again?"
He didn't need any excuse to gently bring her towards him, their lips moving in unison as her fingers trailed to his hair and the back of his neck. Their tongues battled for dominance, the Hufflepuff ultimately winning, as they melted into each other's touch.
He smiled and pulled away, "I think I was right on target."
Their foreheads rested against each other's, her fingers gently caressing his brown locks before she smiled, slightly gnawing at her lip, "I've got something to tell you."
"What is it?" he smiled.
Lori took a deep breath, "I think I'm in love with you."
Cedric's eyes seemed to glimmer as hs gently pulled her off his lap, carefully pulling her to his feet and turning on the stereo, the song that they slow danced to at the Yule Ball slowly serenading them as they fell into each other's arms.
He smiled down at her, "I think I'm in love with you too."
