Switching Sides | Cedric Diggory vs. Fred Weasley

Chapter 9: Self Control

Cedric watched the entrance to the common room as people filed in and out. After not ten minutes, Fred entered and instantly ran up to his dorm. From what Cedric could see, he had been crying. He felt his stomach twist when Millie didn't return soon after. He stood up, only to find he was much higher than he had felt sitting down, but he still had enough control to make his way out of the common room.

"Did you see which way Millie went?" he asked the fifth year who was standing guard.

"Who?" the Fat Lady asked.

"Fred's girlfriend, the blonde with the nice rack," the boy whispered back to her, earning a defiant shove from Cedric. "Sorry. Yeah, she went right up those stairs a little while ago. Don't know where she went after that, though,"

"Thanks," Cedric said, a slight stinging in his heart from the use of the term 'Fred's girlfriend'.

Due to the silencing spell the Ravenclaws had suggested, the hallways were completely silent as Cedric walked down the corridor, his wand lit as he looked for the girl. He had almost turned a corner when he heard a muffled sob from farther down the hallway. His walk turned into a jog as he ran towards the cries which grew in volume with every step. It wasn't long before he saw her sat against a wall, her head in her hands. There was a window nearby, causing the moonlight to illuminate the hall enough for Cedric to see her without his wand.

He placed his back on the wall and slid down so he was right next to her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer as she leaned on him, her tears slowly soaking his shirt. He could feel her body shaking against his. Knowing how much pain Millie was in made Cedric feel sick to his stomach. He wished he could help, but he didn't even know what was wrong, and he knew she wouldn't be ready to talk about it right then. All he could do then and there was hold her while she cried.

It wasn't long before her tears began to subside, leaving her with a deep feeling of emptiness as she sat in Cedric's arms. The feeling of his body against hers calmed her down a lot, but she also knew he was the reason Fred ended things with her. She was torn between the guilt of what she did to Fred and her desire to be with Cedric. Eventually one would begin to outlay the other, but she was too sad to clearly evaluate the severity of the issue, so she just let herself be there with Cedric, indulging in the feeling of his arms wrapped around her.

"Cedric?" Millie started, breaking the silence for the first time in a while.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He responded by kissing the top of her head softly while he pulled her in closer.

"Need a cigarette?" he asked knowingly as he pulled a pack out from the back pocket of his jeans.

"You know how to treat a girl," she stated with a smile, grabbing the pack and standing up, reaching her hand out for Cedric to grab. "Come on. Let's go to the courtyard,"

Cedric smirked as he grabbed her hand and followed in pursuit as they made their way through the corridors. The more time Millie spent with Cedric, the less she thought about Fred. As they made their way outside, sitting down on a bench in the courtyard, Millie was reminded of the night she agreed to be Cedric's fake girlfriend. It hadn't been three months into her sixth year and her life had already been flipped upside down.

Cedric lit the girl's cigarette before wrapping an arm around her and speaking again.

"If you don't want to talk about it yet, I get it," he started. "But what happened with Fred?"

"Well," Millie sighed. "He kind of...ended things," Cedric hated how happy he was when she said those words. He knew how upset she was and how much losing something like that could hurt, but he was totally ecstatic. He tried his best to hide the smile that was forming, but it was near impossible. She giggled at his face. "No need to look so sad,"