A/N-Fair12, I wish I could have replied to you! College has really been killing me and it's hard for me to sit down and write. The only time I really have is when I'm supposed to be asleep haha. But, I totally know what you mean! I hate when I get hooked on a story and I realize how long it's been since it's been updated. I'm gonna try to do a lot better from now on! Also, expect longer, darker chapters!
I probably have a really different writing style now, just because I'm not 14 anymore (as I was when I started), I'm actually going on 20 haha plus I was feeling like the story was taking too long to get going, really. I just wanted to give y'all a fair warning!
Seven could tell that Cedric wasn't too surprised when they ended up in "their" room. She locked the door behind them, causing it to disappear into the wall, before walking over to the antique record player on the coffee table and turning on the music.
A slow paced instrumental began playing and she glided back to her boyfriend, kissing him on the cheek.
"May I have this dance?" she whispered into his ear. He smiled down at her, took her hand and rested his other hand on her waist.
"Of course, Love."
He pulled her close as they started to sway with the music. Seven lay her head against his chest, taking in the smell of his cologne while she wrapped her arms around him, feeling him press a kiss on the top of her head.
She sighed contently. She had never felt like this before. Like someone actually cared for her, not her name. Like she actually deserved attention. Good attention. She felt safe in Cedric's arms, she could stay this way forever if he let her, and deep down, she believed he would.
Seven knew Sirius cared about her, loved her even, but Cedric was different. Cedric wasn't her Godfather; he cared for her in a sensual, romantic way. Or at least, she hoped he did.
She felt so normal with him, causing her to not think about the Dark Lord whom tries to kill her at every turn. She forgets about her home life, about what happens over holidays… All that matters is Cedric. Her dreams are of him, of being happy with no worries. Letting the adults take care of the impending war, instead of Seven being thrust into it, being expected to know exactly how to keep an evil mastermind at bay. No, with Cedric, she doesn't worry.
Was it love? She doesn't know what love is like; however, she does know hatred. These feelings were completely different from what she's experienced in the past with the Dursley's, Snape, Voldemort…
Maybe it was love.
The music changed to a faster song and Seven pulled away from her boyfriend to look up at him. He smiled down at her, pushing some stray hair behind her ear as he looked into her eyes. Probably trying to figure out what she was thinking.
"You look beautiful, Sev." He complemented quietly, chuckling a bit as he saw her face redden.
She grinned up at him and stood on her tiptoes, despite her high-heeled sandals, and kissed him softly, but passionately. Cedric kept his hand gently resting on her cheek, softly stroking her smooth skin with his thumb while he used his other arm to pull them close again.
When Seven felt the kiss getting a bit intense, she pulled away, taking in Cedric's small look of disappointment.
"Just so you know," She said, turning to kick off her shoes and watched his confused look out the corner of her eye. "I'm not planning on having sex tonight."
Cedric looked at bit shocked by her bluntness, but grinned at her all the same.
"That's fine, Love." He kicked off his own shoes and walking over to the comfortable couch situated in front of the coffee table where two large mugs of butter beer appeared.
Seven followed and sat on his lap, handing him one of the mugs while she sipped the other. He rested an arm around her hips and kissed her nose.
"I'm perfectly happy with this," He slouched against the back of the couch. "Being around you doing anything is perfect."
Seven sensed the sincerity in his voice and smiled to her self, leaning against the armrest behind her to make herself more comfortable.
"You're too good to me." She said, sipping on her slightly alcoholic drink happily.
"You deserve only the best!" He proclaimed with a giant smile. Only half of Seven believed him.
Suddenly, Seven realized how much she was drinking and quickly set her half empty mug on the table. Cedric gave her a curious look.
"What's up?" He asked, noticing her eyes widening a bit.
"Too much butter beer." She replied without thinking of it. "I already had those drinks at the Ball, plus dinner. It's just too much!"
"Too much of what?" Cedric straightened up a bit as he looked at her for the answer.
"Calories." Seven seemed to just realize what she was saying and closed her eyes tightly, sighing at what she did. This was going to be a hard conversation.
"Since when do you need to worry about calories? You're thin as a rail!" He said jokingly, but stopping suddenly as if he realized something. "Seven…"
Seven stood from Cedric's lap, biting her silver, perfectly polished nails with her back to him. She never meant for him to know. For anyone to know! She felt so ashamed of herself right now, knowing this would hurt Cedric.
"Seven," He set his mug down and stood behind her, turning her to face him. "You don't… starve yourself, do you?"
Her face probably showed her anxiety about him finding out.
He pulled her into a tight embrace, trying to figure out what to say, but all he could come up with was- "why?"
She froze. She had never told anyone about her childhood. She was always vague whenever someone asked, but she knew she would have to give details. She drew a deep breath, causing Cedric to relax his hold on her, and she collapsed onto the couch, looking up at him with watery eyes. He sat down next to her, never looking away.
"I don't want to be fat." She said slowly. Funny how she could summarize it all into those six little words.
Cedric let out a small sigh. "Seven, You're beautiful no matter what weight you are." She gave him a smile for his efforts.
"Thanks…" She paused, wondering if she should continue. "It's not really about that though…"
Cedric grabbed her hands, looking at her worriedly.
She took another deep breath.
"He told me he likes girls with meat on their bones… That his boney wife didn't do it for him." She shuddered. "He started trying to fatten me up, make me attractive." She looked into Cedric's eyes, turning almost hysterical with tears running down her face.
"I don't want him to be attracted to me! He's not supposed to be like that! I can't let myself gain weight! I don't want him to touch me ever again!" She pulled away from Cedric and curled up into a ball, her dress skirt wrinkling in her fists as she buried her face into the couch back and finally let her emotions out.
Cedric sat there stunned, wondering who the hell had touched Seven and why he was still a threat. He scooted close to Seven and pulled her into his arms, letting her sob into his chest, rather than the emotionless couch.
She cried, cried like she never had before. She knew she shouldn't have been holding all this in, but it couldn't be helped. People would look at her differently. How could she save the entire Wizarding World if she can't even protect herself?
"Who was it?" She looked up at the question. Could she really tell him? She could see how he was looking at her, like she was the most important thing in the world to him. Like he'd murder anyone who so much as looked at her wrong. Could she really tell him and trust him to not do something stupid?
"You have to promise me something first." She sniffled, waiting for his reply. He nodded. "You won't do anything about it. You won't go trying to find him and cause trouble."
He looked reluctant, but agreed. She looked down at her hands, which were about to tear a hole in her dress and said "my uncle…"
It was Cedric's turn to stiffen. "You're staying with me every holiday from now on." He told her, leaving no room for argument. Not that she was going to.
They stayed cuddled on the couch until they started dozing off, then Cedric carried her to the bed and tucked her in before climbing in the other side, meeting her in the middle, not letting her go.
"Kill the spare!" A jet of green light was shooting towards Cedric.
"Cedric!" Seven softly cried as she awoke in her bed in Surrey. She took a deep breath before relaxing back into her lumpy mattress and barely-there pillow. Damn nightmares…
She glanced at her clock, and seeing that it was almost six in the morning, decided to get up for the day.
She changed into a pair of sweat pants and sports bra, pulled on her trainers, and headed out for her morning run around the neighborhood.
After a quick shower when she returned, she was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the Dursley's.
The smell of bacon seemed to have woken Dudley first, as he was the only one sitting at the table at the moment.
"Good morning, Dudley." Seven greeted with a small smile as she put a plate filled with bacon, toast, and fruit and a mug of coffee in front of her cousin.
"Morning," He yawned as he scooped some artificial sweetener into his drink.
Her Aunt and Uncle sat down not a minute later, demanding their breakfast.
"Took you long enough." Her Uncle sniped at her when she placed his favorite artery-clogging fry-up before him on the table.
Petunia just ignored her niece in favor of eating her meal of porridge with bacon and fruit.
Seven cleaned her mess while her family ate, expecting her regular list of chores as soon as they finished.
She wasn't disappointed.
Vernon belched as he wiped his chin. "We're going out." He stated matter-of-factly and he handed her the chore list for the day. Seven silently mused on when her Aunt and Uncle sit down and write it, considering it was basically a six-inch essay.
"Yes sir." She replied. She knew the routine. Get everything on the list done by the time the family returned, or else.
The Dursley's headed out the door, leaving their dishes on the table for Seven to clean up. Dudley gave her a small wave when his parents weren't looking and she smiled in kind.
She heard the front door slam and lock while she read her list.
"Yay, weeding. My favorite…" She turned on the dishwasher and headed out the back door to the garden shed.
A/N Sorry I suck at updating. Hopefully now that I'm on summer vacation til September, I'll have a lot of chapters for y'all! Also, I apologize that this chapter isn't as long as I had promised.
It's hard to get into medical school, man.
