𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐘 || 𝐜.𝐝.

𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

Christmas morning.

I woke up with an excited and fresh feeling. It was Christmas morning, something I had been looking forward to all week. I stumbled out of bed excitedly (and hit my head), quickly got up and carefully ran downstairs, still half-asleep but too longing for presents to stop and take a moment to breathe.

I saw the large common room still empty, except for Cedric and Hannah sitting together, and surprisingly, Cedric seemingly asking her something important, neither of them opening the presents which they'd already gotten from under the tree.

They also didn't notice me as I carefully tiptoed towards the tree and bent down. Scanning through cards, parcels, gift boxes, and envelopes, I rummaged through all these gifts to look for my own, organizing the ones with my name on the tags in a little pile just a few inches away from me on the floor.

Once I'd finished, I was about to grab all my presents and head up, but Cedric saw me out of the corner of his eye and hurried over, leaving Hannah alone on the beige-yellow couch.

"Hey. Here's your present from me. Happy Christmas." he muttered and pressed a small, white box into my hand before giving me a small, awkward smile and leaving to go back to his spot beside Hannah.

I paused for a moment, wrapped my fingers around the box, fighting the urge to go over him and say a quick thanks, but rushed back upstairs to my dorm without a word.

My gifts were normal gifts family and friends would give, except the Weasley twins' gifts. They'd given me what looked like a keychain of a piece of toilet seat fashioned into one half of a broken heart, saying "We've given one to your boyfriend Diggory too." I flushed red, chuckled and tucked it away with an eyeroll.

My mum sent me a postcard from Romania, with a little dragon bracelet, my dad got me a few galleons, and friends sent me gifts of books, new accessories, and candy (though none of their sweets could match that of the ones I got from my Admirer), and by noon, I'd opened them all except for one.

Cedric's gift.

Inhaling deeply, I took the lid of the pristine white box off, and opened it with a gasp at its contents.

It was a golden necklace that twinkled under light like diamonds, with a heart shaped locket that seemed to have the pattern of some animal on it. It was carved so intricately, each line visible to the naked eye, and altogether, the necklace was the most beautiful gift I'd received.

Maybe that was just because it was Cedric, but I didn't bother to think about that.

The locket wouldn't open straight away, and I had no clue how to open it, so I grabbed around for my wand and pointed it at the golden object, whispering Alohomora. I heard a clicking noise, and I easily swung the locket open to see a dried rose petal on one half and a carving reading "Remember me." in sharp letters.

I closed the locket again to try something.

I placed it near my lips and whispered "Remember me" as if it was a passcode, and to my satisfaction, the locket clicked open again.

This was breathtaking, Cedric had really gone all out with my gift.

I swung my hair over my right shoulder to move it out of my way as I clasped the golden necklace around my neck. It was just the right length, dangling above the collar of my nightwear, but not so short as it could be worn as a choker.

I put on my loungewear, a sweater with a skirt and a black winter coat and my House scarf over it, hiding the necklace somewhat but leaving some of the gold glinting out from behind my scarf.