Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing except Chloe and anything else you don't recognize.
Okay, here is chapter 16. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 16:
Christmas Day
After a few minutes of dancing and staring into each other's eyes-I got lost in his eyes again-I rested my head against his chest and he held me closer. This moment was so perfect. I closed my eyes and breathed in his sweet scent. Ah, yes, perfect. Maybe my earlier assumption of us not being meant to be was wrong, completely wrong. I looked back up at him to find him staring back down at me. We stared into each other's eyes, those misty swirls enchanting me. We stared to lean towards each other, closer and closer. Yes, this was it! This was the perfect! We continued to lean towards each other and our lips met and then, it was just us. There was no band, no fellow students, no Cho, no Filip, just us. His hands ran up and down my back. I knotted my fingers in his hair.
"I love you," he said, against my lips. Yes! Yes! That was what I needed to hear! That his feelings for me were mutual! Nothing could ruin this moment, absolutely nothing.
"Chloe," that wasn't Cedric that was a girl. I just ignored it. Like I said before, nothing could ruin this moment
"Chloe," I ignored it again.
"Chloe," I could feel Cedric slipping away. No, he can't go, he must stay! We must make this moment last forever!
"Chloe," my eyes shot open to see a fellow Hufflepuff girl standing over me. Her name was Emma Jenkins. And then I realized my kissing Cedric was just a dream. I sighed disappointedly. Why couldn't it be real? "What's wrong?" Emma asked.
"Nothing," I said.
"Well, we're all waiting for you to open presents!" She exclaimed excitedly. Oh yeah, it's Christmas today! I have a feeling that Cedric made everyone wait.
"Okay, I'll be down in a second." I replied. Emma smiled at me as she bounded down the stairs. I groaned as soon as she was gone. Not because I had to wake up-I'm kind of glad she did wake me-but because that dream was just a dream. It was so real. Why did it have to be a dream? Why?! I huffed as I threw the covers off. I grabbed my house coat and put it on, slipping my slippers on in the process. I wasn't about to go down there wearing a tank top and pajama pants. I walked out of the girls' dorm and headed down to the common room. Sure enough, everyone was there waiting for me.
"Ah, Sleeping Beauty has awoken!" Someone called from the crowd. It was Zacharias Smith. That kid was a bit annoying, really. I just smiled.
"Hey, I had a late night last night," it's true, I stayed up for hours trying out of fear of having that cursed dream.
"We all did but you don't see us still in bed." I rolled my eyes at him. He wouldn't understand. He's probably never been in love before. I spotted Cedric by the fire and took a seat beside him.
"Morning," I said.
"Hey," he replied. "Sorry we got you up. I tried to get them to let you sleep."
"It's okay," I'm glad I was woken up before the disappointment became too great. "It's Christmas, your supposed to wake up early," he chuckled and I smiled at him. Everything about him was perfect, his hair, his face, his build, his eyes, his personality, the list was endless. Our eyes met and we sat staring at each other. We started to slowly lean towards each other. Yes, this was it yes! Filip wasn't here, therefore nothing could ruin this moment.
"Time to open presents!" Or maybe there was. Cedric and I pulled away immediately as Anthony and Zacharias started handing out presents. "Chloe, this one's for you," Anthony threw a square package at me. I caught it. It was from my one of my Muggle cousins, Sara. Presents from my mother's side of the family went through my parents to me because they don't know I'm a witch. I ripped the wrapping paper off and saw that Sara had sent me makeup that I was probably never going to use. Typical Sara, she is such a girly girl. The rest of my presents included some Muggle candy which I favored, some new clothes and a new wizard's chess set from my parents, a squishy pillow, a new toque, scarf and pair of mittens hand knitted from my mother's mother, some wizard candy, an embarrassing photo album of me when I was a little girl-my dad's dad is a little kooky-and some money from my dad's mom. It was a great Christmas so far, but there was still one more present under the tree.
"Chloe, this last one's for you," Zacharias said, picking up the rectangle package.
"Huh, I wonder who it's from," I said, reaching over and taking it. I noticed Cedric smiling, like he knew something I didn't. I looked over at him and he put on his best innocent face. I rolled my eyes at him as I looked down to see who this package was from. My eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. He didn't!
"Cedric!" I exclaimed.
"What?" He laughed.
"You weren't supposed to get me anything!"
"Why not?"
"Because I didn't get you anything and now I feel all guilty!" It's true. I didn't even think about getting him anything! I was almost afraid to open it and find out it was something expensive.
"Don't worry about it." He said. "Just think of it as a thank you for helping me with this Tournament,"
"Tournament's not over yet, buddy." I leaned in so I could whisper in his ear. "We still have to figure out that clue," he rolled his eyes.
"Just open it," I sighed and ripped the wrapping paper off. Under the wrapping paper was a long rectangle, velvet box. Oh no, it was expensive! I shot a wary look at Cedric who was smiling. I slowly lifted the lid and saw a beautiful gold necklace with a heart pendant. Yup, expensive, but still sweet.
"Oh Cedric," I breathed. "You really shouldn't have,"
"I wanted to," he said, shrugging as if it were nothing. I smiled at him before pulling him into a hug.
"Thanks," I said.
"You're welcome," he said, squeezing me. We pulled apart, smiling at each other, barely aware of everyone else in the room watching us.
"Alright," Zacharias spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "Let's clean up and then go get some breakfast." Everyone agreed and started cleaning up the wrapping paper and bringing their presents upstairs and getting dressed in their new clothes. Since it was Christmas, we didn't have to wear our robes, which was awesome. The whole house headed down to the great hall together. It was awesome. It was what Christmas was all about. It was so much fun. I still felt guilty about not getting Cedric anything and he got me this beautiful necklace. As much as I tried not to think about it, it kept haunting me.
"Cedric, I still feel guilty." I said as we took our seats at our house table.
"Well, stop. Your making me feel guilty by making you feel guilty." I couldn't help but laugh at that, making him laugh to. Breakfast was delicious. There was fresh fruit, pancakes, bacon, sausages, pumpkin juice and a bunch of other delicious food. And best of all, no porridge. After breakfast, we bundled up and went outside to play in the snow. Practically the whole school was outside enjoying themselves. Cedric and I decided to build a snowman. Well, more like I forced him to build a snowman with me.
"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," he said, as we rolled the bottom of our snowman along the snow covered ground.
"It's not so bad," I replied. "Do you think this is a good size for the bottom?" I asked as we stopped rolling the giant snowball and stood up straight.
"Yeah, I think that's good." Cedric replied.
"Okay, let's start his middle," I said, bending down and making another snowball and rolling it on the ground. Cedric laughed. "What?" I asked, still rolling the snowball.
"I've just never seen you like this, acting all kiddy,"
"Yeah, well I always went home for Christmas," I replied. We finished the snowman, well not really actually. He was still missing something, like a face maybe?
"He still needs something," Cedric said as we looked at it.
"No, really?" I asked, sarcastically. He chuckled and shoved me. I laughed.
"C'mon, let's go get Frosty a face." I said, as I started looking for something to use for his face. I had to dig through the snow to find something but I finally found a few rocks. When I met Cedric back at the snow man, he was only holding about three sticks, all the same size. I couldn't help but laugh.
"What?"
"Nothing, let's just finish this snowman." We finished with the final touches and stood back to admire our work. His arms and nose were the same length. It was a little disturbing actually.
"He's got really small arms," I said.
"Either that or he's got an unusually big nose," Cedric replied. We both laughed. I looked at our snowman. He was still missing something-
SPLAT!
Something wet and cold hit the side of my face. I gasped and looked over to Cedric who was whistling away as if nothing happened.
"Oh no you didn't," I said, glaring. I scooped up some snow and chucked it at him. Bull's eye! Cedric turned and glared at him. I laughed. He bent and scooped up some snow. I wasted no time in going and finding the nearest shelter, but even that didn't help. It turned into a full out battle as more and more people joined. It was a blast! We were all soaked when we went inside for lunch. But we were laughing.
The great hall was buzzing with excited conversation during lunch. This was shaping up to be a great Christmas so far. After lunch, Cedric and I decided to stay inside. We were laying down in front of the fire in the Hufflepuff common room playing wizard's chess with the new set I got. I pulled out my Muggle candy and Cedric became hooked.
"Okay, that's enough," I said pulling the candy away. He had eaten most of it already! "That's the last time I give you Muggle candy," he could only laugh. And then he decided to kill my pawn! "Hey! You killed my pawn!" I exclaimed.
"Well, it was there in a very vulnerable position." He said, grabbing the remains of my pawn. I glared at him.
"You are so dead." I hissed. I noticed that his queen was in a very vulnerable position, as he put it. So I sent my knight to attack his queen. "Check mate! I win!" He groaned. I laughed at him. We cleaned up the chess game and I put it back with my stuff, along with the candy. I don't trust him alone with it. "Y'know, I think we should try and figure that clue out." I said when I came back down to the common room. He groaned.
"C'mon Chloe, it's Christmas! Let's just have fun,"
"Fine, but tomorrow we try and figure out the clue, kay?"
"Alright," we spent the rest of the day talking mostly and then came the Christmas feast. It was absolutely magnificent. There was delicious food everywhere and the great hall looked spectacular! It was the best Christmas of my life.
"This has been the Christmas in all seventeen years of been on this world," I said to Cedric as I started dishing out pudding. The pudding was the best part, honestly. Cedric could only laugh. I stuck my tongue out at him. The day eventually came to a close and we all headed off to bed.
"G'night Cedric," I said, as we split off to the girls' and boys' dorms. "Merry Christmas," yes, technically it was over but it wasn't midnight yet so technically it wasn't over.
"Merry Christmas," Cedric replied. I smiled at him before entering the girls' dorm. If I knew what would be awaiting me that night, I would've tried to stay up as long as possible.
We started to slowly lean towards each other. Yes, this was it yes! Filip wasn't here, therefore nothing could ruin this moment. Our lips met and there was a spark, no more then a spark, a whole firework show, I swear. Everyone in the common room ooed and awed. We just continued kissing. His arms wound around me and pulled me closer to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck. When we finally broke apart, he buried his face in my hair.
"I love you," he whispered.
I woke with a start and groaned. These two dreams-the one I just had and the Yule Ball dream-were just going to take turns weren't they?
Okay, I might rewrite this one cause I think it could be better. And I added another banner for this story that I made on Microsoft paint so take a look at that and R&R!