Dear Diggory

chapter 28

We walked down from our dorm room towards the entrance to the castle.

Evelyn had arranged for us to meet up with the Hufflepuff boys before going to the fireworks and she seemed particularly eager to see Max.

I didn't question her giddy behaviour as we caught site of them and made our way over. Everyone greeted each other with the usual enthusiasm but my attention was mainly on Cedric. He seemed happy to be in my presence and came to walk beside me as our group made its way down to the lake.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in ages." He said and I was grateful that the others were too busy chatting to hear his comment. The girls would have only read into it unnecessarily.

I laughed, "that's not true, we saw each other yesterday."

He smiled down at me as if this amused him greatly.

"I suppose so but it's still not as often as I would like."

His words made my heart do a flip but I tried to ignore the silly sensation.
This was Cedric after all.
My friend Cedric.

Finally, we made it to the lake and I took in the sight of the celebration. Most of the school were stood around and everyone seemed excited, probably relieved at the prospect of having something to do that didn't revolve around work. I could see some of the staff around the bonfire too, gathered in the middle.

My attention drifted towards the food trucks and games, they were farthest from where we stood and had countless students waiting in line for service.

Dakota turned around, detaching herself from the group and coming up to me, pulling my arm gently.

"I think they're serving those caramel fudge hot chocolates that they did last year, let's go get some." She pointed across the space towards the food truck with the shortest line in front of it.

I nodded and she pulled me away from Cedric until we were in the queue. Maisie and Luna joined us whilst we waited, apparently we weren't the only ones who had a certain weakness for the sweet beverage.

I peeked back at the group as we waited, observing the rest of our friends. I could see them standing pretty close to the bonfire. Evelyn and Max were chatting away and I noticed her touch his arm as she laughed.

"Evelyn likes Max right?" I directed my question to Maisie, I knew she was most likely to have paid attention to that kind of thing.

"It seems so, they're pretty cute you know. I wouldn't have guessed he was her type though." She followed my gaze and smiled to herself.

"Yeah me neither," I stared at them for a little while longer. She was right, they seemed sweet together. I thought Max's boyish arrogance would've repelled Evelyn, but perhaps opposites really did attract.

I turned back to face forward as the line surged and we made it to the front. We each took one of the hot chocolates and I inhaled it's rich scent. I licked the cream on top and relished how sweet it was. It tasted even better than last year.

We returned to the rest of the group, joining in with their attempts to stay warm by the fire. I ended up next to Cedric, subtly trying to steal occasional glances at him as he chatted with Luna.

I admired how the orange glow from the fire lit up his face. It made him look softer somehow, younger. I quickly averted my eyes before he caught me looking.

I noticed Hermione, Ron and Harry approach our group then, she came to stand on my other side as the boys greeted one another.

"Hey! That looks so good." She smiled at me, eyeing my hot chocolate hungrily.