A/N: Here's a glimpse of Amos Diggory as a parent throughout Cedric's life. Enjoy!
If You Dare Challenge - #118 (Silence)
Build A Zoo Challenge - Chimpanzees (Cedric Diggory)
Conversation Starter Prompt Challenge - #20 (Write about a parent being proud of their child.)
Are You Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge - #105 (Cedric Diggory)
Disclaimer: It all belongs to JK Rowling, like always.
Cedric let out a wail, an earsplitting screech that reminded them of how powerful their son's lungs were.
"That's my boy," he said. "Merlin, Anna, we've got a son." He was crying now. "Anna, we've got a son. We've got a son."
"I know," she whispered, utterly exhausted. Sweat was still coating her skin, causing her hair to stick to her forehead. "I know, Amos. I know."
"A healthy son."
"I know."
They fit themselves both into the hospital bed, nuzzling and cooing to their newborn infant. They had thought themselves unable to conceive a child; Amos had watched her wife go through the worst of losses through this section of their marriage as she tried (oh, she tried so hard) to have a baby. Now, they finally had what they had begged Merlin for.
"He's so beautiful," he said.
"I know," she answered, unable to find words to describe the situation. "I know."
Baby Cedric was giggling so hard that he fell over as his mother and father praised him. "That's my boy," said Amos. Cedric had just taken his first steps, and Anna had him in her arms now, tickling him and laughing alongside her son. "That's my boy!"
Cedric's face was scrunched up in an ecstatic grin. He spouted out unintelligible words, babbling to the two of them, but they didn't care. Anna was still so happy, so happy...
"Come on!" he exclaimed, grabbing his boy and setting him on his feet on the wooden floor. "Try again! This time we can get it on camera!"
"Daddy," Cedric whimpered. "Daddy, I'm scared."
"Don't be," Amos told his son. "There's nothing to be scared of. Look." It was Cedric's first day of kindergarden, and the small boy was nearly shaking in his trousers. "No monsters in there, yeah? No vampires? No werewolves?"
"Yeah, but—"
"Then there's nothing to be scared of."
"But what if—" He looked up to his father. "But what if they don't like me?"
Amos smiled and scooped Cedric up. "You're a brave boy, Cedric. A very brave, kind boy. Don't you forget it."
Cedric nodded as Amos pressed a cap onto his head. "Okay, Daddy."
"Now, you go in there, yeah? You smile and be good, and everyone will like you."
"Promise?"
"Promise?" He set Cedric back down again, and the boy, confident now, hugged his father's leg before running into the classroom, his tiny backpack bobbing up and down on his back. "That's my boy."
"Dad," Cedric complained. "Mum! Go away! You're embarassing me!"
"We're your parents," Anna said, kissing his forehead. "That's what we're here on this Earth to do."
Amos laughed, and he ruffled his hair. "You ready to get on that train?"
Cedric grinned, his humiliation forgotten. "I've been ready for the past week, Dad."
Someone on the train waved and called Cedric's name, and his boy turned. It was of no surprise to Amos that Cedric had already made a friend; he made friends faster than any child he knew. The train whistled. "Time to go," said Anna, near tears. "You've got everything?"
"We've only checked a million times," Amos reminded her, smiling gently. "He'll be fine." He knew it, too. Cedric was loyal and brave and determined; there was nothing that could stop him. He didn't know why he had been granted such a perfect son, but he relished in it. Cedric hugged his father tightly and kissed his mother goodbye. As he got on that train to Hogwarts, Amos waved. "That's my boy," he said, as his son smiled and shook hands with a dark-haired girl. "That's my boy."
When the Triwizard Cup came back, slinging figures onto the grass before them, the first thing Amos noticed was Cedric's silence. Cedric was not a particularly quiet boy; he never had been. He parted the crowd with his arms, cheering alongside students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang and Hogwarts... He spotted Cedric's yellow and black shirt beside the cup, and he applauded furiously, his heart overflowing with pride. He had known Cedric could do it. His son could do anything. His son was the champion of the world. He beamed, shouting, "That's my—"
Someone screamed, a bloodcurdling sound that stopped the band from playing, the students from talking, the teachers from cheering... Someone was crying, their sobs so loud and obvious that Amos became confused. He heard his son's name like a strange echo, and then he was stumbling forward, shoving past a redhead and a teacher until he found—
That was a boy. That was his boy.
He tripped and staggered and ran to the unnaturally pale body, afraid to touch him and afraid to stay away from him.
"That's my boy!" he howled. "That's my son!"
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review, favorite, or follow!