DUSK; Cedric Diggory

Chapter 39

When they reached the edge of the woods, there was still a large crowd of frightened witches and wizards, and bombarded Mr. Weasley with questions when they appeared. Mr. Weasley waved off all the speculating questions and muttered an answer briskly, leading them back to their tent.

"Dad, what's going on?" Charlie's head pocked out of one of the tents. "Fred, George, Ginny got back okay—Diggory's here too, he's been worried sick about Ophelia, but the others—"

"I've got them here," Mr. Weasley replied, and they all followed him into the tent. Bill was sitting at the kitchen table, and it looked like he was bleeding through his arm. 

"Did you get them, Dad?" Bill asked, looking up. "The person who conjured the Mark?"

"No," Mr. Weasley said. Ophelia looked around, and there was no sight of Cedric in the living room or kitchen.

Seeing Ophelia's confused glances, Bill spoke up, pointing to the room on the left of the kitchen. "He's in there," he said with a smile.

Ophelia thanked Bill, and asked if he was okay before darting into the bedroom. There was Cedric, his back to her and sitting with his hair in his hands on the edge of the bed.

"You know," Ophelia started softly, making Cedric jump up abruptly and turn around. "You're bound to get a back problem, sitting like that all the time."

Relief was clear on Cedric's face, letting out a sigh as he made it around the bed to her at the door. Ophelia let out a soft gasp when he wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his nose into the crook of her neck, his breaths coming out in sharp bursts as he pulled her down to sit on the bed.

"Are you hurt?" Cedric asked when he pulled away for a short moment, racking her body for any injuries. His eyes drifted up to her face, tracing over a small scratch on the side of her cheek.

"Just that scratch," Ophelia waved it off. "What about you?"

"I found the twins after you disappeared." he said, his voice muffled by her hair. "We hurried here right after." Ophelia thought that he very much resembled a lost puppy.

"Fee?"

"Mmm?" she hummed, her hands reaching out to play with his hair.

"Uh..." he said quietly, barely a whisper. 

"I can't hear you, Ced," Ophelia chuckled.

"I think..." he said in a slightly louder voice, his breathing now uneven. "I think I—"

"There you two are!" the door burst open, revealing none other than Mr. Diggory himself. "Come on, you two. It's getting really late—Ced, your mother would be worried sick after hearing what happened, and I'm sure your parents would be too, Ophelia." he said, motioning for the two teenagers to get up. "We better get going back to our tent to get a few more hours of sleep, then we'll portkey out first thing in the morning."

Ophelia and Cedric both stood up unwillingly and followed him out the door. They were both exhausted after the long day, and wanted to get to bed as soon as they could.

"Thanks for taking care of them, Arthur!" Mr. Diggory said, waving goodbye to Mr. Weasley.

"See you next week?" the twins chorused.

"Save me a seat." Ophelia replied, pulling the twins in for a half-assed hug. "Have fun with the Weasley's, Harry." she said before leaving the tent.

Since they were so tired, the three of them walked back with a simple Lumos charm lighting the way back to their campsite. Before heading back to her own room, Ophelia gave Cedric a soft goodnight kiss.