Dear Diggory

chapter 31

A few days later I was studying in the great hall with Cedric again.

Since the first time his group had sat with us, it had begun to become a regular thing. I knew that Evelyn was ecstatic she got to spend extra time with Max and I was happy to have Cedric around.

We had all begun to form a new group, it was genuinely nice to have the extra company. The others were currently in lessons and I was grateful Cedric had the exact same schedule as me, which left him free.

It was a lazy afternoon, the hall itself was fairly quiet and the sound of pens running across paper was soothing to my studying sensibilities.

Cedric was sat opposite me and occasionally I glanced at him. He was particularly absorbed in his apparition revision and I couldn't help but find the concentrated expression he held endearing.

Evelyn had been right about hum being incredibly smart. If either of us were ever stuck we helped one another, but for the most part he seemed to breeze through the work and I was impressed.

I chewed on the end of my pen thoughtfully as I stared down at my notepad. Each moment I spent with Cedric made me like him even more and I was beginning to wonder if he had any flaws at all.

He was always kind to me and friendly, he seemed incredibly loyal to Max and he was intelligent. Of course he was very attractive too which didn't hurt, although I was glad for his sake that most of the girls had seemed to give up on trying to win his affection. It was pointless anyway, he had eyes for no one.

"What are you thinking about?" His voice cut into my thoughts abruptly.

I looked up to meet his gaze. "Oh nothing really, just about this" I lied, pointing down to our Geographical Orientation journal. I had been making good progress on the paintings and I had added some maps too, they would go well with the compass coordinates.

He turned the book his way slightly and admired the painting of the room of requirement.

"It's beautiful, you're really talented. How did you learn to paint?"

I blushed slightly at his compliments, they always seemed to mean more to me than when other people gave them.

"My mother was always good at painting, I got it from her and we used to paint together a lot when I was young."

He nodded at this and pushed the book back towards me gently.

For a moment, my mind recalled Draco's revelation regarding Cedric's curiosity about my interests, and I debated asking him how exactly he'd known about my ability to paint in the first place. But he spoke again before I got a chance.

"Maybe you should paint me sometime" he smiled and I was about to reply until my eyes flickered to the benches behind him.

Two rows away, sitting on the Slytherin table, was a girl named Agatha. She was sat with two of her friends, Kacey and Ophelia, all of whom were in our year.

Their group were infamously mean amongst the school, they bullied a lot of the students and rarely ever were found out. In fourth year they'd even floated one of the younger children above the castle for three hours, before McGonagall got the poor boy down. Currently, they were focused on their studying like everyone else, but it wasn't this that caught my attention.

Agatha's brown hair was styled in a long braid that she'd placed across her shoulder, the end of it rested on her chest. At the end of the braid was a distinct blue ribbon that had been used to tie it securely and I recognised the familiar flecks of silver at the end of the ribbon. I squinted in concentration and sure enough the letters J J were visible. My mother's ribbon.

I stood up abruptly, climbing out of the bench with robotic autonomy. I could faintly hear Cedric asking me what was wrong but his voice was muffled in comparison to my glaring thoughts.

I paced along the aisle and across, walking quickly towards where Agatha sat. None of her group looked up when I came to stand near them so I cleared my throat loudly to draw their attention.

She turned her head to look at me.

"What do you want Malveaux? We don't tolerate muggle-lovers here." She sneered, venom laced into her words like a snake around a tree branch.

I chose to ignore her comment, "that ribbon in your hair, it was my mother's. I lost it and I'd like it back please."

I watched her face as the words registered in her mind. I waited for the realisation to flicker, for her to remove the ribbon and hand it back to me apologetically like any normal person would, but she didn't.

I felt my heart sink as I realised that she had known this all along. She'd known it was my ribbon, and wherever she'd found it, she had purposefully chosen to keep it for herself, likely out of pure hate for me.

"Finders keepers losers weepers," she smirked and her friends laughed as if she'd said the funniest joke ever.

This was just another game to them, but for me it was deeply personal. I thought about tearing it out of her hair but I knew I was outnumbered, plus my father would have never approved of that kind of violence. I could practically hear the embarrassing howler that would be delivered if he heard I was fighting like an alleycat.

I stood there desperately trying to think of what to say. They turned back towards their work as if I didn't exist any longer and my hands began to shake. I felt the tears form in my eyes and blinked harshly, not wanting to give her the satisfaction.

"Give her the ribbon. Now." Cedric was suddenly stood beside me, his voice rang out strong and clear. I saw students turn to stare at us from the corner of my eye as the scene developed, but I chose to ignore them.

"Not a chance. I can't believe Malveaux needs her boyfriend to protect her, are you really that weak?" Her words cut me like a knife and I went to turn away in defeat but Cedric surged forward.

He pulled out his wand and pressed it into her neck before any of us could react. It was pushed against her skin with such pressure that I was surprised it didn't pierce through.

I gasped as I processed what he was doing and heard it echoed by the other students. We were entirely forbidden from threatening each other with magic, it was the most absolute rule.

"Shut the fuck up." He growled into her ear, "give us the ribbon or I'll make you wish that you were never born."

I was shocked to see this side of him. Over the last few months Cedric had never appeared to be angry. He always seemed calm and happy, but now it was like a different person.

Agatha's face was infuriated, but she seemed to weigh her options before reluctantly untying the ribbon from her plait and handing it to him.

He slowly withdrew his wand from her neck, but it was already too late.

A deep voice boomed across the hall.
"Cedric Diggory, detention. Now!"