Cedric Diggory's life was perfect. As least that's what his father thought when the Hogwarts Owl brought him a letter with both the prefect and Quidditch team captain badges. He didn't consider him unique or smart or intelligent. Sometimes, when he looked at himself in the mirror, he felt a little awkward of how he looked. He didn't know why some many girls who didn't know him at all would keep staring at him. Of course he knew him look not bad, but why did that have anything to do with them? He just didn't like someone who didn't know him thinking him extraordinary.
When the semester started, he felt overwhelmed of his friends' teasing about his badges and the girls' giggling every time he showed up. He tried so hard ignoring them and doing his duty, but he really looked forward a place to escape all the things happened around him.
He wondered how Harry Potter could tolerate the attentions all the time. Of course, as little as he was, he couldn't compare with Harry who had been his bedtime story hero, but somehow he understood why the kid always tried to hide behind his sister, Rosalind Potter.
Cedric had no clues what's going on in that girl's mind. According to his housemates, she was obnoxious and mean most of the time. Once, Ernie bragged about speaking with Potter about his scar (who knew if it were real or not.), Rosalind happened to pass by. She narrowed her eyes into splits, approached him and punched him right on the nose. The boy screamed and fell on the floor.
"If you talk about my brother's scar in that manner again, it wouldn't be your nose to be broken." She hissed and walked away, ignoring every one's stunned looks.
Even though Cedric was the first one to help Ernie gather himself, he felt it amusing. His mother was very disciplined, so Cedric was taught to be modest and caring. He didn't know her at all, but he started to like her for her protectiveness of her brother.
Rosalind was a mystery to Cedric and he was eager to find more, even though she didn't quite know him.
She often wandered around with her brother, the youngest son in the Weasley and the Muggleborn Granger. They were so close that sometimes he was envious of their friendship. They talked and communicated in a way that Cedric would never have done with his friends. He liked them of course, but their admiring looks made him uneasy most of times. They always considered him good at everything that he didn't dare to tell them he sucked at Potion.
The first year passed and he found the little girl was sitting on the corridors alone. Her friends were nowhere to be seen. He reached her and asked politely, "Are you in troubles? Is there anything I can help you?"
She looked up first irritably but her face lit up when she heard his speech. She grabbed his arm and said, "Could you possibly know where Professor Dumbledore's office?"
He frowned, not sure whether to tell her or not, but when he saw the tears on her face, he smiled a little and nodded.
"Then take me there!" she commanded.
"Don't you need to know my name?" he looked at her in curiosity.
"Do I look like I have the time to do so?" she rolled her eyes, "Fine, senior, what's your name?"
"Cedric Diggory." He shrugged, leading her forward. "I am a Hufflepuff."
"I am sure it's obvious." She pointed to his ties. "Whatever, I need to see Professor as soon as possible. Thank you, Ced."
Cedric raised his eyebrows. Not a girl in Hogwarts ever called him Ced. He waved the thought out of his head.
When he saw the griffins, he knew it's their destination. She tried to ask him politely to leave but failed. He didn't insist to stay anyway. He barely knew her but he could understand why his friends and housemates disliked her.
Obviously, it's hard to like her at all. She was rude and mean all the time.
However, on the contrary to them, Cedric found it appealing. His obsession of observing her grew.
After a few months, he found the little girl hated flying. She was knocked down from the broom twice and refused to ride it again. Her brother was not pleased but didn't force her into anything. Harry seemed to spoil his twin sister. Mostly, he would agree to whatever she asked. Once, Cedric saw Rosalind kicked him in the ass and the only thing Harry did was laugh.
Then the second time of their conversation was her crying in the corner for Hermione Granger. She crouched down, trying to cover her face in thighs. Most of people were in the Great Hall, and if he didn't happen to shuffle his eyes in that direction, he couldn't have seen her. The shadow of pillars covered her up.
He moved slowly to her and spoke quietly, "Are you okay?"
She titled her head quickly in stun. The tears were apparent in her eyes and cheeks.
"I am Cedric Diggory in Hufflepuff. Do you remember me?"
"Of course I remember you! You are the weirdo who always looks at me." she scoffed.
He flushed a little but insisted on speaking to her, "How can I help you?"
Rosalind shook her head.
He swallowed hard, trying to find something to say. He didn't have sisters and the girls in his house were mostly teary for their homework rather than a brother who loved to do suicidal things. He still remembered Potter breaking into the third floor and saving the philosopher's stone.
"Do you think Harry's the one who petrified others?", she said quietly.
Cedric hesitated but still sat by her side. She didn't shuffle but kept staring at him. The dazzling green eyes were full of tears.
"Do you?"
"Never!", she cried, "I know my brother. He never did it."
He looked at her, "Then why are you asking me?"
"I don't know." She hissed, wiping her tears with sleeves.
He handed her his handkerchief. She took it but looked at him suspiciously.
"It's okay. I have tons."
After a while, she gave up and started to use it to clean her face.
They sat there silently. All he could hear was her quiet weeping sound. He knew why she asked him. She was afraid but didn't want her brother to notice it. When she saw him, it's the last straw. She needed someone to talk and he was the only one in sight.
"…I know he would never hurt Muggleborns." She said sadly, "Our mother is a Muggleborn."
Is. Present tense.
She saw his face and chuckled, "It's silly right? Talking about a dead woman as if she were alive." She swallowed hard and kept talking, "I didn't know her at all. Everything about her comes from other people. It's…It's the only way I want to mourn her."
Everyone in Magic world knew how their parents passed away. Cedric's parents loved to talk about it. For them, it's the dawn of a new day. They could raise their child in a peaceful place. They didn't need to worry about their son getting killed in a stormy night.
Yet, in the meantime, Harry Potter and his twin sister lost their parents.
"I am sorry…"
"It's not your fault." Rosilie tucked her hair behind her ear.
Then it's silence again. Cedric hated his inability of saying something funny to lighten her foul mood.
"Why are you telling me this?", he asked.
She laughed humorlessly, "You don't hate us like others."
How could she know?
"At the dueling club, when I saw you, you didn't avoid my eyes like other people, and when this time I saw you walking to me, your face told me that you are trustworthy." She studied his face, smiling softly. "You are like my brother. Always reveal your feeling on the face."
That's the first time he heard this statement. Most of people in his house thought him quiet and somehow private. Even his father couldn't read his face.
Only his mother and the little girl sitting by him made it.
He beamed, feeling his heart content.
The third time was her hugging Granger when she came into the Great Hall after she was cured from the petrification. Cedric couldn't hear what the puffy girl told her but he saw what's on Rosalind's face, nothing but happiness. As she met his eyes, he raised the goblet to her. The younger girl grinned and nodded to him in gratitude.
"Cedric, why are you looking at Potter?" His friend Thomas asked a bacon daggling from the corner of the lips. Cedric was surprised when the little girl's face turned fierce when Thomas looked at her. "Oh, she is as mean as everyone says."
"You might get on her nerve." He teased.
"I'd done nothing of it." Thomas raised his hands into the air. "I am two years superior. She should hold more respect to the older students."
Cedric laughed. According to his understanding, that girl even glared at Snape with her brilliant green eyes.
From then on, he found himself often dreamed of long jet-black hair with that pair of eyes. It wasn't dirty at all. They were staring at him, glittering gently. The hair flew with the breeze behind his back while he was riding his broom and tried to get a glimpse of where the flower scent came from.
