a rose by any other name

chapter ten ❃ the golden dress

December: 2 Months.

Of course, I hadn't forgotten about Cedric. Not completely anyway. I'd spent the last month with Draco and Pansy mostly, becoming almost a permanent 3rd wheel for them. I knew they were both sick of me, but Draco understood so he didn't say anything. Obviously, I left them alone when they asked but I'd spent all of my time either with them, or alone in the Slytherin common room. I hadn't even gone near the library or the kitchens unless I absolutely had to. Which didn't happen often. When I did see Cedric, I would stop myself from staring, I avoided his gaze, and I avoided him like I would have before. Although, yes, I could do all of this and pretend I didn't know him. But that didn't stop me thinking about him. I just couldn't stop thinking about that bloody Hufflepuff and it was driving me insane.

The Yule Ball was on Monday, and Dumbledore had let us go to Hogsmeade for the weekend to buy our attire. Me, Pansy and Daphne had been looking at dresses for hours. Daphne and Pansy had chosen their dresses and I was stuck between two. They were exactly the same style; a spaghetti strap dress with a slit that went from my mid-thigh to the floor. It hugged my figure beautifully, but I couldn't decide whether I wanted a deep green one, or a golden one. The deep green one was the obvious choice in Pansy and Daphne's eyes because I 'wouldn't want people to think I liked yellow' and I'm 'not a Hufflepuff'. These were both strong arguments but the golden one showed of my olive skin tone and it looked gorgeous. I used this as my excuse when I bought it. I bought black strappy shoes to match and a small black clutch bag. We left the store all excited about our new purchases and for tomorrow night. As it was Sunday, we had no lessons, and no other commitments, so me, Pansy and Daphne spent the rest of the day painting each other's nails and deciding what hair we should wear tomorrow. After dinner, Pansy spent the night in Draco's room again, so without anyone to talk to, I just went to sleep.

At breakfast the next morning, everybody was buzzing. Girls were squealing and most of the boys looked nervous and, based off seeing them at the dance lessons we had been having, they had good reason to be nervous. The day seemed to drag more than usual but eventually the time came where Daphne was knocking on me and Pansy's dorm telling us we should start getting ready early. Of course, me and Pansy agreed and us 3 girls spent the rest of the evening perfecting our looks until we were all happy, we all looked gorgeous. Draco came to pick up Pansy first, then Blaise to pick up Daphne, I was getting nervous Viktor wouldn't show when finally, there was a knock on the door. There stood Viktor Krum and he looked amazing, he took my hand and kissed the top of it before leading me out of the Slytherin common room. We walked to the hall and as we reached the top of the stairs, I could see hundreds of students waiting below; outside the hall doors. I looked around at the sea of fancy looking people until my eyes landed on one. I had to just see what he looked like, just one look. I found him, close to the bottom of the stairs stood with Cho, Fleur and Fleur's date. He looked, Handsome? Attractive? Good-Looking? I couldn't find the words. He stood out from everybody else and I couldn't help myself from staring. He turned his attention from Cho, who had started talking to Fleur and he looked around the room. His eyes stopped on me, now walking down the stairs with Viktor. He noticeably looked me up and down and gulped, I smiled slightly to myself and looked down blushing, that was the reaction I had secretly been hoping for.

Cedric Diggory's POV:

I was stood with Cho when I saw her. Well actually I saw Viktor first and the memories of when he had asked her to The Yule Ball flooded back to me. She'd looked at me before she said yes. I couldn't tell if she was trying to get my attention, or if she just wanted to see how I reacted. I had wanted to ask her, of course I had. But I knew she would say no; she wouldn't be seen with me. Not in front of the whole of Hogwarts. So, I hadn't asked her, I was too scared. But when I'd heard her say 'Yes! I'd love to.' To Viktor I felt pathetic, and I instantly regretted not even asking her. I also felt pathetic for even thinking she would have wanted to go with me. So, like a coward I ran, I ran straight to Cho and asked her instead. I was utterly pathetic. Now I saw her, in that dress, and in those seconds of her walking down those stairs, she was all I could see. She'd wore gold for Merlin's sake, her being in Hufflepuff was something I'd dreamed of and I knew this image would only make those dreams more vivid. It hugged her curves in all the right ways, it showed off her olive coloured skin in a classy way, and her hair was tied back showing off her collar bones. I took all of her in, allowing myself to momentarily imagine what it would have been like for me to walk down those steps with her but then I had to look away. Was that blush I'd seen on her cheeks? I'd done this a lot recently, since our kiss. I'd allowed myself to look at her briefly and momentarily imagine what it would be like to be with her and then forced myself to look away. I knew she'd never want me like I wanted her, and I knew she'd never even think about me in the way's I thought about her. I had to keep reminding myself that. But that bloody dress. I couldn't stop myself from thinking about her in that bloody dress. I just couldn't stop myself from thinking about Parisa.

End of Cedric Diggory's POV.

authors note: hello again! I hadn't actually planned on doing Ced's POV but I felt like it was necessary here. I hope you're all enjoying the story so far and Thank you all so much for reading! Please VOTE to let me know you're enjoying reading this! I'm having so much fun writing It haha.