Alex Weasley: Book 3

15

When Cedric headed out to the great hall for breakfast the next day, there was a rather large birthday balloon following him. Alex snorted into her cereal. She wasn't the only one to laugh, but she was the only one Cedric glared at.
"Happy birthday." She said, attempting to hide her smile.

"You suck." He told her.

"Who, me?" She replied innocently.

"Not many others promised to embarrass me on my birthday with a big display."

"That was the plan while I was at Mahoutokoro." Alex said. "Because I didn't think I'd get to see you. But I'm at Hogwarts now, so there isn't a reason for me to make a big deal out of it."

"I remember what you did to the twins. I remember what you're capable of. Please get rid of it? I can't go to class with a giant balloon following me."

"Sorry. It wasn't me." She said innocently. "I'd take credit if it were." Cedric studied her for a few moments, before nodding. He sat down to eat, and Alex bit her lip. She'd definitely succeeded in humiliating him, so there was no reason to keep it up. She should terminate the spell. After breakfast, she decided. That way he wouldn't have to go to class with the balloon but she'd definitely have annoyed him enough by then.

Alex sat with Cedric in their arithmancy class. They listened to Professor Vector explain the difference of golden curses and bronze curses and how to tell them apart. He nudged her and she jumped up from her parchment.
"Do you really need to copy down every word she says?" He whispered.

"Focus, birthday boy. We can talk after." She said turning back to her page.

"I'm just saying. You have a super memory. Why do you need the extra extensive notes?"

"I like having a physical copy to look back on." She answered. Cedric had no reply and turned back to face the front. Alex nudged him back and he glanced at her. "Flying after class?" He nodded.

"Yeah."

Alex and Cedric flew pretty close to the ground, the former too afraid of catching the attention of the dementors. They didn't race at first, just practiced manoeuvres and loops across the field.
"Why do you love quidditch so much?" Alex asked, as they laid down on the grass, both out of breath.

"It's like this, you love flying, right?" Alex nodded. "Well, I love it too. When I'm flying with the wind I can hardly feel my broom and it's like I'm part of the air. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it's how I feel. And when I'm flying against the wind, I feel it push back on my face and it's energising and cool. And when I'm chasing that snitch, I can ignore everyone else on the pitch, for the most part. I can trust my teammates to have my back. I can trust Maxine and Geoff to keep the bludgers away from me, and out there on the field, we work together. We all have our parts to play. I know they trust me to catch the snitch. It's a really good feeling."

"Oh. I never thought of it like that."

"I think that's why you don't like it very much. Because you'd have to give up a bit of control, and trust the people around you."

"It's your birthday, so I'm going to forget you said that."

"Sorry." He seemed to realise what he said. They didn't talk and just stared at the sky above.

"You're not wrong." She gave in. "Especially after..." she trailed off. "But even before, it just never made sense that you would have to trust someone else to make sure giant, heavy, flying balls don't knock you out of the sky. Now, it especially doesn't make sense. My parents lied to me, and I lie to my siblings every time I talk to them. How can anyone trust anyone when everyone lies?"

"I'll never lie to you." He vowed. "I promise."

"I've lied to you a lot."

"Like this morning." He tried to lighten the atmosphere. "About the balloon."

"Like this morning." She agreed.

Cedric laughed. "I don't think that counts, because I knew it was a lie."

"How?"

"I said I couldn't have the balloon with me and right before I entered the classroom, it disappeared."

"Guess I gotta work on my subtlety. But, you did believe it at first, so it counts."

"Okay, we'll count it as a half lie."

She laughed. "It doesn't work like that."

"No?" He asked, innocently.

"Aren't you mad?" She asked. "That I lied to your face."

"It was a half lie, and no. You did warn me last year you'd embarrass me. Honestly, I'm a little flattered you put so much effort into my birthday." She reached out and hit him gently.

"It didn't take much effort."

"I think it did."

"It was a small spell I discovered and I thought you were the best test dummy." He sat up.

"You accidentally stumbled on a spell that would make a birthday balloon trail after your target."

"Well, it didn't have to be a birthday balloon. I just thought that would be a nice touch." Cedric scoffed. "But seriously. Why aren't you angry? I'd be angry."

"I've never seen you angry."

She looked at him, unimpressed. "You're not answering the question."

"Maybe I just wanna stay on your good side for when you make your move to control the entire Wizarding world." He grinned at her.

"You don't even believe that." He shrugged and stood up holding out his hand. She grabbed it and let him pull her up.

"Let's race."

"Alright. Three laps around the quidditch pitch?"

"What do I get if I win?"

"Really?" She asked unimpressed.

"Yeah. Let's make it interesting and add a bet to it."

"I always win."

"Then you should want to do this."

"Fine. You first. I don't know what I want from you."

"Hogsmeade date." He said.

"What?"

"If I win, you go out with me. Hogsmeade weekend on Halloween?" She grinned.

"That's almost two months away." She said.

"They don't let us out earlier, and I'm pretty sure you know more about Hogwarts than I do. I want to surprise you."

"Okay."

"And if you win?" He asked.

"I don't know. What if I decide after the game?"

"Deal." He held out his hand and she shook it.

"Deal."

A/N- I'm excited for the next chapter? Is Cedric going to win? Is Alex going to win? What will Alex choose if she wins? Bad move though, Cedric, psychoanalysing your crush 🤦🏿‍♀️