Chapter 7: Potential Lady Diggory

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"Priscila, it's been a long time. You look just as you always did," Barbara said, displaying a rare genuine smile.

"Yes, I haven't seen you in ages, Barbara," Mrs. Johnson smiled, making a symbolic curtsey.

"Cedric, come here," Barbara beckoned her son as she saw him approach.

"This is Priscila Johnson, one of my trusted companions and a great friend back in the day. She's just the same now," she added.

"Oh, come on, Barbara, don't lie to the boy. The truth is, your mother and I were rivals for seven years, and we hated each other in the early years. But then we became friends"

"Rivals?" Cedric asked, intrigued automatically.

"That's right, we were both Chasers on our respective house Quidditch teams," Priscila explained, while looking amused at Barbara, who clearly disapproved of this conversation.

"I heard you're a bookworm, is that true?" suddenly asked a high-pitched, girlish voice.

The owner of the voice was none other than the second guest at Diggory Manor, who was also considered a potential Lady Diggory by Barbara.

"Angelina! Is this the etiquette I've taught you all this time?" Mrs. Johnson quickly reprimanded her daughter. Priscila couldn't allow her to offend her friend's son and the future heir of the Diggorys.

"Apologize immediately to young Cedric," she added, staring sternly at her daughter.

"Humph," Angelina grumbled and chose to remain silent, glancing to the side to convey to her mother and the others that she clearly had no intention of apologizing for anything.

"You don't need to get upset, Priscila. Cedric isn't offended by something like that, are you?" Barbara said lightly as she looked at her son.

"My mother is right, Mrs. Johnson. It's not a problem," Cedric calmly replied, although he wasn't happy about it inside. However, Qui-Gon had taught him to be tolerant and not to engage in fights. As much as he disliked the idea of doing this, he obeyed his master, especially because not doing so would mean spending many hours meditating. And his master was always watching him, so there was no way to escape.

"Very well, Cedric, take Angelina to tour the mansion. Priscila and I have some things to discuss."

"All right, Mother," Cedric nodded slightly without showing any problems or complaints about it.

"Daughter, go with Cedric and behave."

"No, I don't want to follow a boring bookworm!" Angelina grumbled again and muttered to herself in complaint.

"Angelina!" Mrs. Priscila reprimanded her daughter with a much more severe tone of voice, causing the girl to lower her head in frustration.

Cedric was doing his best to control his temper and irritation. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that he knew that getting annoyed with the girl would only bring him more trouble than simply ignoring her, he would have liked to say a few things to her. Still, he knew how to handle the situation, even if he couldn't directly respond to the insults. He could have a subtle revenge without anyone knowing.

It was then that Cedric seized the situation in his favor.

"Miss Johnson, please," he said, inclining himself slightly, performing a gentleman's courtesy, a skill his mother had taught him in his childhood. While doing this, he directed a subtle smile at Angelina, a smile that only she and he could understand. This smile, while appearing kind and respectful to others, actually contained a touch of mockery that only Angelina could perceive in front of him.

"Our mothers still have something to discuss. It's better if we don't bother them, don't you agree?" he added, looking at her with amusement in his eyes and inviting her, with his supposed gentlemanly manners, to accompany him on a tour of the mansion.

Angelina saw his clear mockery and wanted to complain, but clearly no one else shared her opinion. To Barbara and Priscila, it seemed that Cedric was acting perfectly polite and courteous, but Angelina knew he had taken the opportunity to tease her.

"As expected of your son, Priscila, his etiquette is impeccable. It's clear that he's studied a lot, and I have no doubt the boy will go far. Congratulations, old friend. If only Angelina were the same... her father has spoiled her too much from an early age," Mrs. Johnson commented with a hint of envy and frustration in her voice.

Angelina couldn't believe her mother believed his polite behavior; it was obviously a blatant act.

"Well, she's still young, it's understandable. Children's words are often impulsive without much thought. Cedric knows that, so don't worry. I trust they'll get along soon," Barbara said, of course, by saying that, she was clarifying that her son was an exception because despite being the same age, he measured his words and understood things better.

While Cedric continued to smile subtly at Angelina, who was getting increasingly angry.

"Son, entertain Angelina as our guest. Priscila and I will go to my office first, and we'll find you both when we're done," Barbara added, looking at her son, who simply nodded before calmly leaving the guest room with a reluctant and grumbling Angelina.

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The subsequent scene between Cedric and Angelina was filled with uncomfortable silence for a while as they walked through Diggory Manor.

Angelina was still clearly upset about the previous situation.

But the silence was finally broken by Cedric, who decided to start a conversation.

"Look, even if you don't like me, I think walking in silence should be more boring than just being with me. And if you tell me what you like, maybe you can find something interesting in this mansion."

Angelina looked at Cedric and processed his words for a moment until she seemed to have concluded that what he said made sense, or maybe she was just too bored and preferred to accept his proposal rather than continue walking in silence.

She reluctantly nodded without saying anything.

"Hmm... then how about I show you the game room?" Cedric asked. After all, his father, Amos Diggory, had felt so bad about missing his 4th birthday that he had built a huge game room. Although Cedric used it very little, the only thing really interesting to him there was the flying broom, with which he spent some of his free time, although his mother didn't allow him to fly outside of the room, so it wasn't that much fun either.

"Fine, for now, I'll let you be my guide," she replied, feigning disinterest, but there was a clear trace of anticipation and excitement beneath her helpless expression, which only made Cedric inwardly chuckle.

"Of course, as the lady commands," he replied playfully, amused by her behavior.

And so, the two of them walked slowly through the corridors illuminated by lamps emitting soft light, illuminating the dark brown walls along with paintings and portraits of people from long ago, as well as some Diggory ancestors.

Due to the internal structure of Diggory Manor being quite extensive and complex, there are many different corridors and staircases that can easily confuse someone unfamiliar with the mansion.

"Remember to follow me, or you could get lost."

"You've said that three times already... Weren't you going to take me to the game room? Where is it?" Angelina said impatiently, having already walked quite a distance.

But Cedric completely ignored her and continued to walk leisurely, almost mocking her.

Not wanting to wait any longer, she walked ahead of Cedric and started walking faster, not following or listening to him.

'By the Force, I'd rather meditate than put up with this girl...' Ced thought with a headache.

Following Angelina, who no longer heard him, he reached a rather dark and eerie part of the mansion.

"This room looks very interesting..." Angelina commented suddenly, making Cedric look at the room she mentioned.

She was standing in front of a partially open gray stone door with some strange symbols carved in black and dark gray, which for some reason gave off a gloomy and creepy feeling.

"This room..." Cedric murmured and immediately remembered which room this was; after all, his mother had repeatedly forbidden him to enter it.

"Angelina, don't go in!" Ced rushed to say, but it was too late as the curious girl opened the door and entered on her own.

Seeing her enter, Cedric cursed all of Morgana's descendants.

To make matters worse, the stone door that was partially open was now closing behind her, and since the girl was staring inside the room in astonishment, she didn't realize what was happening, not to mention that she completely ignored Cedric.

Cedric shook his head in frustration and sighed resignedly. Then he rushed to the door before it closed completely. Yes, he had to hurry to enter the room to prevent Angelina from getting into more trouble.

Once he entered, the stone door closed tightly, leaving them both in darkness since the light from the hallway that had previously dimly lit the interior of the room was now gone.

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Chapter 8: Strange Room

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Angelina, who had been curiously and carefully observing the strange room without paying attention to Cedric, couldn't help but be a little scared when the light suddenly disappeared.

Fortunately, a dim light came on, illuminating the room. However, it only made everything even gloomier than before, as around them, they could only see various magical materials, parts of magical creatures, different types of blood, broken wands, many strange books of all kinds, and other rather eerie things for a 7-year-old.

"Damn, when did my mother become so careless in leaving her private laboratory open?" he internally complained, remembering perfectly well that his mother had explained that this was the laboratory where she studied all sorts of magic, a place clearly unsuitable for children.

Anyway, Cedric shook his head and decided that now was not the time to worry or think about the punishment his mother would give him for entering here...

No, the important thing for him now was how to get out of here and keep her from finding out.

He looked at Angelina to see how she was doing, and although he couldn't see her expression in the darkness, he did notice with the faint light available that her body was trembling slightly, indicating that she was clearly frightened by the current situation.

"You...bo-bookworm..., how is it that there isn't even a single lamp that illuminates properly?" she murmured, trying her best to sound calm and not scared.

"My parents say the Diggory family is a great and ancient noble family, but look at the terrible condition of this room. Can't they afford a single well-lit lamp?" she added, complaining despite her fear.

Cedric almost chuckled a bit at how her aggressive and venomous behavior didn't change even in a situation like this.

And he could respect that about her, he liked people who, even when afraid, didn't back down easily.

Still, she had gotten him into this mess, so he would take advantage of the situation a bit.

Determined to tease her for a while, Cedric didn't respond and remained silent in the darkness while using that time to examine his mother's laboratory for a moment.

Although there were many things, what caught his attention the most were some books on subjects he knew nothing about.

'Probably the master would be delighted with all this,' he thought, shivering at the thought of Qui-Gon making him read all of this.

'Yes, definitely, no thanks,' Cedric quickly refused. He had already had enough of having to meditate and read for a few hours every day.

"Hey, say something! Bookworm?! I'm talking to you," said Angelina, who was getting desperate to see Cedric so calm in this situation. To make matters worse, he was now the one not responding to her, which made her feel very offended. But her fear was greater than her anger, so despite her annoyance, she stayed by his side the whole time.

After a while in the room, Cedric found a book that could potentially be more interesting reading than most of what he usually had to read.

And it was only after that that he decided to finally leave the room with Angelina...

Ced found it amusing how her attitude toward him had changed dramatically. She was no longer acting cold and aggressive; instead, she started trying to start a conversation constantly. Probably because she was scared, she didn't want to leave his side at any moment; her reluctant attitude had almost completely ceased.

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It was a few minutes later that they both managed to get out thanks to Cedric...

And to his surprise, Angelina was so happy and relieved to finally be able to leave that dark and eerie room that without even thinking, she hugged him automatically and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, as her mother, Priscila, used to do with her father in front of her.

Naturally, after doing this, she felt very embarrassed and moved away from him again.

Cedric didn't really think much of it and simply took the girl to the game room they were supposed to go to earlier.

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Once there, the two of them didn't have time to do anything because Barbara and Priscila finally appeared at the scene, as it seemed they had finished discussing their matters.

With those matters settled, Mrs. Johnson and her daughter, who was quite embarrassed for some reason, much to her mother's surprise, left the mansion via the Floo Network.

Cedric didn't waste any more time either and bid farewell to his mother, using the excuse that he was going to study in his room... which was partly true, but what Barbara didn't know was that he would also go to talk and train with his master Qui-Gon Jinn as he did every day and take the opportunity to read the book he had taken from Mrs. Diggory's laboratory.

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-Johnson Manor, Meadow District, Midlands, England

-December 2, 1984

Returning to her room at Johnson Manor, Angelina couldn't help but think about what had happened today at Diggory Manor with that boring and silly bookworm...

"They lied to me; obviously, he's not a dull and boring bookworm. But he also didn't deny it and deliberately annoyed me!" Angelina complained on her bed while venting her frustration on her small plush dragon, seemingly treating the toy like an enemy.

Angelina, like several other children from pure-blood magical families like hers, had attended a magical tutor to learn the basics of the magical community. It was there that she heard rumors about the supposed Diggory prodigy who was said to spend all his time locked in his room reading books, which was why he didn't need any tutoring with other children.

"Sure, he deliberately led me to that dark place to scare me! Yes, he must have faked the whole thing to look good. Ugh..." Angelina squeezed her plush dragon's tail tightly and muttered to herself as she struck the toy against the pillow.

"Hmph, you can't fool me that easily!" she told herself again as she began plotting revenge against him, eyeing her stuffed dragon as if it were her partner in crime for the next time.

And just thinking about the scene after her successful revenge, Angelina couldn't help but laugh... but then, remembering the hug and the kiss he gave her at that moment, her cheeks suddenly flushed.

In a short period of time, Angelina's thoughts had shifted from anger to embarrassment repeatedly.

While she was still in a bad mood and embarrassed, someone suddenly knocked on her bedroom door.

"Angelina, dear, it's late. Stop playing and go to sleep, or you'll be very tired tomorrow," said a female voice.

"Alright, Mum," Angelina replied quickly, tugging on her plush dragon's tail one last time before finally lying down and falling asleep.

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-Diggory Manor, December 7, 1984

"What a disappointment..." Cedric sighed as he closed the book he had taken from his mother's laboratory a few days ago. He had thought he might learn something new and interesting from this book, but unfortunately, it turned out to be just a book of magic with some evil curses and ancient legends of dark magic.

For him, it was truly a letdown, but at least he got to understand more about the dark arts that were often talked about as if they were the work of the devil.

"Although it's true that many spells have been used for evil, the dark arts, or also known as dark magic by some, isn't really as the Ministry and other wizards describe it..." commented Qui-Gon Jinn suddenly in his translucent form. "Remember that to achieve balance, one must understand that there is no light without darkness."

"The true purpose of a spell depends on the wizard who uses it, from the simplest to the most complex. It's the same with the Force, my young padawan," he added with a subtle smile. "The potential of the Light and Dark Sides resides in the user, not in the Force itself."

"Yes, I'm sure a great dark wizard can use the most basic and simple spell to kill or torture someone," Cedric agreed with his master.

"That's right; it's like the light and dark sides of the Force, which are actually just the Force itself, inherently good but twisted by those who use it. Either of the two Forces can be used as long as the intention is not malicious and a balance is maintained between both," explained Qui-Gon.

"But it's also true that, just like in the dark side of the Force, in magic, there are other uses that are often considered evil due to the cost they entail. One must consider the cost along with the consequences, and that's another, more complex matter..."

Well…

The Ministry of Magic and the leaders of the various magical communities in the magical world usually consider dark and forbidden magic to be any magic that is too powerful in order to maintain the stability of the magical community.