Something Magical

Chapter 7

The Aftermath

After her date with Cedric, Millie was conflicted because she did like Cedric. He was kind, funny, attractive, and, to be honest, he was also a brilliant kisser. He was constantly seeking her out after their date to study with her, weigh the consequences of entering the tournament, and to occasionally snog in an empty broom closet or classroom. Yes, Millie was honestly starting to fall for Cedric, but every time she was with him, Fred somehow worked his way into her head. This was especially troubling since Fred had been giving her the cold shoulder ever since her date with Cedric.

As the weekend approached, so did the arrival of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang schools since it was now October. Everyone else was excited and buzzing around, discussing whether the boys from the other school would be cute or not and whether the girls from there would give them the time of day, but Millie had bigger problems on her hand which is why she was currently hiding in an empty corridor trying to distract herself with a book. Undoubtedly, the twins were planning some prank or writing another letter to Bagman after he blackmailed them (Millie had been involved in the writing of the letters but since Fred's cold shoulder, she'd fallen out of the loop), Harry and Ron were probably trying to finish their homework last minute so they wouldn't have to do it all weekend, and Cedric was probably discussing joining the tournament with his friends as always.

That morning Cedric had asked Millie to eat breakfast with him and his friends at the Hufflepuff table and, since Fred is ignoring her George does too, she decided to go for it. She regretted it when all Cedric, Blaze Crook, and Jessie Bitterwood- Cedric's two best friends- only discussed his entering the tournament and who his possible competition from Hogwarts would be. Jessie had turned to Millie at one point and asked, "Millie, do you know which Gryffindors are planning on entering?"

Millie had paused with her spoon halfway to her mouth, glanced at Cedric who obviously wanted to know as well, sighed and put the spoon down before answering, "I'm not sure actually, I know Angelina is seventeen and had mentioned it but I am not that close with many seventh years."

"Angelina would be competition, Ced, but she's only a sixth year so you probably are more qualified." Blaze made his observation, treading carefully but not enough because, while Angelina wasn't Millie's favorite person since she was constantly trying to take Millie's place with the twins, she was still in Millie's house and she didn't like her being spoken of even slightly negative.

"Angelina is one of the best chasers that Hogwarts has had and she mastered the knee-reversal hex before anyone else in her year. She would be a brilliant contestant for Hogwarts." Millie retorted to Blaze, not looking at Cedric because she was a little embarrassed about her tirade but would always stick by her friends. She didn't look at Cedric still as she stood up and said goodbye to them, walking away but hearing Cedric say something to his friends before hearing him behind her.

"Amelia! Amelia, wait." Cedric stopped her in the entrance hall, grabbing her arm to get her to face him. She faced him, sighing in annoyance, but looked at him expectantly. "Look, Blaze didn't mean anything about Angelina. She is a brilliant witch, we all know that, and he was just trying to... I don't know, give me more confidence about entering. It's daunting, ya know, trying to compare yourself to everyone in the school and hoping you can beat them out in some way. So, he didn't mean it rudely."

After Cedric ended his explanation, Millie did feel bad because she knew she had overreacted but she just needed some space to figure things out. She didn't know what to think about Cedric and whether she actually wanted to be with him.

And so, Millie began her quest of trying to get lost in the fictional world created by a muggle author but she just couldn't focus on it. She kept thinking about all the times she'd tried to talk to Fred since the weekend but he would just make an excuse to leave or pretend he hadn't heard her and walked away. Sure, maybe she should have told Fred about the date, but what would it have mattered? Millie was with Fred all summer and he never gave her any hints about his feelings or made any moves so how was she supposed to react when someone actually was up front about their feelings towards her?