the only exception | ron weasley

xv. missing

"Here we are!" Ron chirped, giving her a small grin, to which she returned to the best of her abilities.

"Thank you," she said softly, gathering enough courage within her to press a soft kiss to his cheek. He turned just as red as her as they both processed her action. She turned and opened the common room doors, just about to shut them when she hesitated.

"I..." she began, drawing his attention once more. "I really did mean what I said."

"What?" he asked quietly, in a daze.

"You look lovely. Truly." With that, she hurriedly shut the door and pressed her back against the wood as she took a big gulp of air.

How...unlike her.

***

"Oh, Lorrie!" Cedric called as Lorraine wandered the halls of Hogwarts. Despite having been there for months now, she still found herself in new corridors and rooms all the time. Half the time she would get lost but she would rather die than admit that, so she just chose to willingly let herself get lost so that she at least felt like she wasn't completely incompetent.

Damn, she was great at denial.

"Hey, Cedric!" Lorraine chirped excitedly. Almost too much for her taste. She finally had someone to lead her out of whatever maze she was in.

"How are you?" he asked, bounding over to her with his signature grin. "I haven't hung out with you in so long, but I can assure you that I have not forgotten you."

"How reassuring," she quipped, linking arms with him as he led her to Merlin knows where. She'd let anyone whisk her away at that point. "I'm quite well. How are you? And Cho, of course."

The boy blushed but made no move to acknowledge it. "We're both great! I figured the egg out a while ago and Moody suggested I tell Potter. A bit weird but I almost forgot about him helping me out with the first task."

"I assume Potter is the reason why you came to talk to me?" she questioned with a raised brow.

"That and I also wanted to catch up."

The two continued to chat as he led her around the outside of the school in search of Harry. The pair had actually passed Dumbledore and McGonagall as the two adults were talking about Merlin knows what. Lorraine didn't know what on Earth was wrong with them but as soon as they met eyes, McGonagall whispered and pointed to both her and Cedric. Dumbledore had nodded, supportive of whatever the Hell she said. Cedric, being the tall man he was, had already led her far too far away to even question the two conspirators.

"That was weird," Lorraine said, turning her head to gaze at Dumbledore and McGonagall one last time before brushing it off for the moment.

"Broken any rules recently?" Cedric teased, to which she slapped his arm lightly.

"Have faith, Diggory. I can assure you that I would never dare to tarnish the Hufflepuff name." She only hoped that it wasn't about what was tattooed on her left arm.

"Oh, there he is! Hey, Potter!" Cedric called, jogging over to Harry, who was beside Hermione on the wooden bridge connecting Hogwarts to the outside world. Lorraine chose to walk, which took slower but allowed her to maintain some sort of dignity. She wasn't going to be caught dead running to Harry. Ron, maybe...but not Harry.