Storms Ahead

|Chapter twelve: Failure|

"I have failed"

"What do you mean?" I asked Cedric after lifting my head from my book as I turned my head to him and watched as he pulled the chair out from beside me and sat down in it

"You've got a detention"

"Yes I know, thank you for the reminder"

"Therefore I have failed"

"...I'm still confused. You didn't fail, that was my doing"

"But... it's still my fault-"

"Cedric, I swear to Merlin if you claim that it's your fault I got a detention one more time I'm actually going to shove this book that far up your backside that you're going to have to give birth to it" I said to him with a pointed look as we fell quiet and he looked down at the table confused as he turned back to me as we tried not to laugh

"That's not physically possible for me-"

"I know-"

"There's so much wrong with that!" He said quietly as I tried to stifle my laughter as he sat there with a grin as he kept his laughter down and I turned to him

"I am so sorry"

"Let's move far away from this conversation- how come you're here by yourself?"

"Because I don't have friends that want to study with me"

"I don't believe tha-"

"I don't have friends and I don't want any"

"Bold words coming from someone who's within my hugging range"

"Cedric, no"

"Cedric, yes"

"Cedric-" I said to him with raised eyebrows but cut myself off as he pulled me towards him and wrapped me in a hug as a smile crossed my face and I hugged him back

"You smell like oranges"

"Yes and you smell like porridge and pomegranates" he told me as we both laughed quietly again as I rested my head against him

"And you do have friends so don't give me that-"

"I know I do I just wanted to be a pain" I told him laughing before sitting back as I closed my book over and corked my bottle of ink

"I completely forgot to ask but what's wrong with your trunk?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well I saw it get unloaded and I also seen that there were five initials on it"

"There is?"

"Yeah, there is- A. B. F. S. B" he told me as I fell quiet, pulling a face as I tried not to laugh

"I thought it was only Amelia Fern Black"

"That's what I thought too... odd. Anyway, I forgot to tell you but I seen the thestrals and they are gorgeous" I told him quietly as I remembered the way they stood in front of the carriages, completely invisible to the majority as he gave me a sad smile

"You still blame yourself don't you?"

"Of course I do. It was my fault, I shouldn't have of-"

"It wasn't your fault Amelia, you didn't know what was going to happen that day. Neither of you did. If he was here he wouldn't blame you" he said quietly as he wrapped his arm around me and brought me into a hug

"Yeah. If"

"You've still got his chain haven't you?"

"Yeah, I packed it in my trunk"

"Well then he's still with you isn't he? Everywhere you are he's still there, he doesn't blame you"

"It was stil-"

"Please stop saying that you are the reason to blame Amelia. You're really not- are you going silent again this year?"

"Every year. February first and second"

"What are you going to tell the teachers?"

"Nothing, I won't be talking. I'll get Pansy, Blaise or Daphne to say I've lost my voice or something"

"Do you think that'll work?" He asked as I looked at the slightly amused smile as I nodded

"The teachers like me"

"That was smug"

"Of course it was" I said with a light laugh before sitting back and grabbing my things as we stood up

*Published ~ 23/07/20*