An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I planned on going straight to sleep when I got back to my dorm, but instead I found Angelina and Alicia sitting on my bed, both of them wide awake and clearly waiting for me. I just stood in the doorway, blinking at them like an idiot and trying to figure out what to say.

"Well? What happened? Did he ask you out?" Angelina demanded. She spoke just quietly enough to not wake our two other roommates, but I got the feeling that would change soon if she didn't get the whole story immediately.

I smiled and walked over to join them on the bed. As much as I wanted sleep, these two deserved to know what happened, especially when they'd put everything together like that.

I tried to keep it short, but Angelina and Alicia kept asking for details. It was almost a full hour before we finally went to bed, and I passed out with a smile on my face from a truly amazing birthday.

I woke up the next morning and went for a run without Cedric, which honestly wasn't too bad. The morning air was fresh and the lake was peaceful, birds just starting to chirp as they woke up with the sun. Even better, Cedric was waiting for me when I came inside, a big smile on his face.

"I felt bad abandoning you for your run," he said. "So I thought I'd come and escort you to breakfast."

"Why thank you." I grinned at him and took his arm, and we laughed as we walked into breakfast together. It was cheesy as hell, but I couldn't bring myself to care, even when whispers erupted as we cleared the doors to the Great Hall. Cedric was just too sweet and we'd been inching towards this for too long.

We parted ways like always as we headed to our separate tables, and all of my friends were practically jumping up and down in their seats as I came closer.

"It worked!" Fred yelled victoriously, pumping his fist and then giving George a big high-five.

"So? When are you two going on your first date?" asked Angelina, leaning forward excitedly.

"Well, we're gonna hang out later today so we can spend some time together, but it doesn't really feel like a date if we're just in a classroom or by the lake or something. The first Hogsmeade weekend is in a couple weeks, so we're gonna go somewhere there as our first official date."

"Ooo! Go to Madam Puddifoot's tea shop! It's adorable!" Alicia chimed in. Everyone else around the table nodded their agreement, then proceeded to give me their own tips for places to go in Hogsmeade. I just smiled and listened through breakfast. It was nice that they were all so happy for me. I really couldn't have asked for a better group of friends.

The weeks leading up to our first Hogsmeade weekend seemed to fly by with everything going on. Cedric and I spent as much time as possible together, walking to class, watching some muggle movies, or even just sitting in the library doing homework, silent but together. My friends were almost as giddy as we were, and I spent plenty of nights in the dorm telling Angelina and Alicia everything, even when there really wasn't much to tell.

Somehow, I managed to keep up my training schedule with only minor rearrangements. I got a letter halfway through the week after my birthday from Professor Lupin saying he'd be more than happy to help Jackson and I break the Imperius curse, and we made arrangements to meet him in the Shrieking Shack in the afternoon, since pretty much nobody would bother us there.

My family and I kept exchanging Howlers like normal, although none of them knew about Cedric yet. I wasn't trying to keep it a secret, but I also wanted to tell them more personally than in a screaming letter. And okay, maybe I was avoiding my dad's reaction a little bit. I knew he'd like Cedric in the end, but he was also definitely going to put him through an Avengers-level interrogation. We hadn't even had our first official date yet, so I felt justified in waiting a little longer to tell them.