ALOHOMORA | CEDRIC DIGGORY

9〝nine〞

ELLIS FOUND THE NEXT FEW days agonizing. Upon reflection, she felt rather guilty about her behavior in the changing room. Especially when she stalked off, speechless and leaving an introduction hanging—it could only have been rude. And Ellis couldn't say she was brought up that way. To complicate things, this Cedric Diggory person kept popping into her head, or worse: real life.

At first, it was the Great Hall. She might be having her meal and minding her own business, quite normally and quite alone, when, out of nowhere, she felt as though she was being watched, in which she would look up to find him gazing at her with a smile. Sometimes, she could be plating herself more crispy bacon or a second helping of mango pudding when she would get a glance of him either laughing or smiling. When it was less crowded and the Baron came along to have a little chat, she would accidentally catch his eye through the transparent ghost, to which he would most certainly smile before returning his attention to his group of friends. She resorted to sitting back-facing the Hufflepuff table.

Next, it was the corridors. It was remarkable how many classes they seemed to have back-to-back that she never knew. She spotted him once while waiting to enter Defence Against the Dark Arts, and again at Charms the following day; he was queuing outside the dungeons when she exited Potions, and she saw him again after lunch in the courtyard as she headed towards Herbology. He didn't always see her but whenever he did, a smile always came with it. She began to have the impression that he would appear wherever she cared to look and decided it would be best going back to wondering at the floor as she roamed the castle grounds. At least he wouldn't be in any of the stones.

Then it was the library, which happened to be Ellis' second favorite place in the castle after the Astronomy Tower. Being quiet and free of gossipers who were promptly driven out whenever their opinions became too audible for Madam Pince the librarian (which was always sooner rather than later), it proved to be an excellently-conducive environment for studying. In the past she would frequent it on a daily basis to read and do her homework; now she spent only her Quidditch-free evenings in there.

There was a small table near the Restricted Section that she took to fancy: It was set in a corner and by a window that overlooked the Black Lake. It sat only two, which by placing her bag into the spare chair she could have all to herself quite easily without Madam Pince accusing her of hogging (like she did every so often with many other students). Usually Ellis sat adjacent to the window, something she grew accustomed to when she came during the day. She preferred it when the light spilled sideways onto her parchment, and this way the sun didn't get in her eyes.

It was still fine when she came in on Sunday to work on Herbology—she only had to deal with the one in her head. On Monday, however, to her horror, she came across Cedric Diggory, in the flesh, sitting with a few others at a long row of tables nearby. He didn't seem to see her, and she wasn't about to risk it. She passed quickly and dropped into her favorite seat. She didn't look back (and never found out whether or not he did see her) but couldn't concentrate on filling out her Ursa Major star chart, which she knew by heart. Ellis never used to notice who sat around her; presumably, it would have been no one. There was an avalanche of questions in her head: Had he always been sitting there? If he had, how come she'd only noticed now? If he hadn't, why was he suddenly sitting there?

The next day, she was relieved to find that he wasn't amongst those at the long table and managed to finish up a worksheet Professor Lockhart assigned for Defence Against the Dark Arts and her History of Magic paper in no time. Pleased with herself, she went looking for something to read—only to walk headlong into him as she entered one of the aisles. Both muttered sorry at the same time, his voice alarming her. She looked up; he smiled; she glared; it didn't work; she swept into the aisle. Her heart throbbing wildly, Ellis picked out a book at random and sat back down (he was nowhere to be seen). She opened it but read nothing—her mind was too busy trying to obliterate all thoughts of a citrus-scented Cedric Diggory that were flooding in as if through a broken dam.

Thursday (there was Quidditch practice on Wednesday, during which she experimented curtailing her dodges and didn't quite know how to feel when it, contrary to her expectations, turned out to enhance her performance) she decided to sit facing the window for a change. Although mainly because it allowed for a particular long table to fall right into her blind spot—exactly where she wanted it to be. It was dark out by the time she made it there after a rushed dinner, so the light situation raised no concern. No sooner was she halfway through her Potions essay than was her choice demonstrated to be chiefly unwise: she had, in pausing to deliberate how best to phrase her next sentence, peered up: in the window was the frosty reflection of one Cedric Diggory. Ellis thought she might have hallucinated.

Whipping her head around so fast, she was sure it would have startled everyone within eyeshot simply by how much her long buttery locks flailed about—but there was hardly anyone else. It was just another person at the far head of the long table, brown bushy hair sticking out from behind a large book, and, in front of the Transfiguration and Physics section, him: quite real, and even more immersed in a lengthy roll of parchment upon which he was now scribbling furiously. Ellis swung her head back lest he looked up. Her brain no longer able to think about asphodel or wormwood, she packed up and hurried off to the Slytherin common room.

She felt stupid even walking to the library at the end of Friday, but seeing as her Potions homework remained untouched since the night before couldn't help herself. All was well in the initial hour or so: she located Book of Potions to aid her discussion and completed the conclusion without a hitch. She closed her eyes and slumped back in her chair, relaxed for the first time in days, thinking she was finally in the clear, almost tasting the weekend, when it all crashed around her.

"Do you mind if I sit?" asked Cedric Diggory.

With a jolt of panic, Ellis shot her eyes open. She gaped at him. He was alone, and—obviously—smiling. Behind him the library was practically empty. A plethora of options at his convenience and he wanted the one whence only minutes before she had retrieved her bag to replace her completed Potions essay? Surely he was taunting her for sport now.

"By all means," replied Ellis politely, her voice less steady than she would have liked though. She shouldered her knapsack from the table and swallowed surreptitiously. "I'm done anyway."

As casually as she could, her heart galloping its way almost out of her chest no less, Ellis made for the door.