An American at Hogwarts

Chapter Fifty

"Cedric!" I caught him just before he got to the locker rooms.

He turned, looking dejected and completely deflated.

"I... I'm so sorry. I know that doesn't help at all, but..."

Cedric sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. "It does help, Alexa. I just need some time to get over failing when we got so close."

He pushed through to the locker room before I could say anything else. I don't know what I would've said if he hadn't. What could I say to that? It wasn't a failure? There's always next year?

I debated saying 'screw it' and going into the locker room to give him a hug until he felt better, but in the end I decided he might like a little space. Especially since Gryffindor was benefiting from his team's loss.

Instead, I went back to the middle of the field and waited for something interesting to happen. When nothing did, I relocated to the stands so at least I could sit while I waited for this mystery storm to show up.

An hour later and still, nothing happened. I pulled out my laptop to start getting some other work done while I waited. In the back of my mind, I worried that this might expose me to getting caught seriously off guard, but I decided I didn't care. I trusted Ana to keep me aware of anything important going on, and honestly, I didn't have the time to be completely idle while I was staking out the Quidditch pitch.

I quickly lost track of time, getting so caught up in my muggle work and everything else I had to do that I basically checked out of reality. When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I jumped so high I probably could've dunked a basketball.

All my stuff went flying, and I whirled around to see who had the nerve to scare me like that. My face softened when I saw Cedric, already looking extremely apologetic.

"Sorry Alexa! I didn't mean to scare you..." he said, staring at the ground and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I needed a quick shot of adrenaline to wake me up anyway." Cedric laughed a little at that, then continued as I collected everything I'd launched out of my lap (fortunately it was only a few things).

"I didn't expect you to still be here."

"Yeah, well, I'm still trying to get answers about that... thing we saw last time there was a Quidditch match. I was hoping it would show up again today, but so far I'm getting nothing."

Cedric shook his head as he sat down next to me.

"I can't believe you were hoping to see that thing again." He seemed grim at first, but then he cracked a smile. "Gryffindor behavior if I've ever heard it."

I snorted. "Yeah yeah, whatever. So... how are you doing?"

"I'm alright. Nothing I can do about it anyway, right? At least I still have next year."

"And that is Hufflepuff behavior if I've ever heard it. Come on Cedric, it's only been a few hours. It's okay if you're not totally fine with losing yet. It's okay to be mad and disappointed sometimes."

Cedric let out a long, heavy sigh. His posture slumped, and he literally deflated in front of my eyes.

"I really wanted to win this, Alexa. Hufflepuff victories can be few and far between sometimes. It feels like I let my team down."

Cedric hung his head, staring holes into the floor of the bleachers. I reached out and rested my hand on his arm, whatever nerves came before be damned. Cedric needed somebody to make him feel better right now, and I was going to help if I could.

"You absolutely did not let your team down." I spoke firmly, trying to make him believe every word. "A team is way more than just one person, and just like you can't win with only one person, you can't lose with only one person. It's a team effort either way.

"As for the Hufflepuff victory thing, I get it. It sucks when your team goes on a losing streak. But just like you said, you can absolutely break it next year. Or hell, maybe with House Points this year. Either way, you got this. And anybody that pays even a little attention to how kind and friendly the members of Hufflepuff like you are will know that you're the real winners. And, in the mean time, if you need to scream and yell or cry or go on a run so long you can't think about anything other than the pain in your lungs to deal with this, then I'm here for you. Even for the run."

Cedric smiled a little and looked up at me.

"Thank you, Alexa. That means a lot. And I promise not to do the running thing unless absolutely necessary."

"I would appreciate that."

We laughed together for a second, and then I sighed.

"I think it's probably time for me to throw in the towel on that crazy storm thing showing up. It's been hours since the match ended, and I've still got nothing."

"As much as I wish I could say it was probably just a fluke or something, I've been at this school too long to ever believe that. Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll see it again."

I scoffed. "Great. Can't wait. Also, screw this school. Dementors and security trolls and murderers on the loose? Absolute bullshit."

Cedric laughed. "Oh Alexa, you don't know the half of it. Come on, I'll tell you about the last two years you missed while we walk up to the castle."

Cedric and I took our time strolling back from the Quidditch pitch, and he filled me in on some truly bizzare stories while we walked. If anyone but Cedric had told me about a basilisk terrorizing the castle and an evil wizard possessing one of the teachers, I never would've believed them.

I wondered if stuff like this happened at all the wizarding schools, or if Hogwarts was just special?

"Honestly, stuff like this didn't really happen before Harry came," said Cedric as we came into the Entrance Hall. "And it's nothing against Harry! He just seems to be a bit of a bad luck magnet."

I snorted. "Well that sounds familiar." My entire family was made up of bad luck magnets who couldn't take a vacation without some new villain showing up to destroy the city.

"Alexa, I'll admit, I don't know very much about your life outside of Hogwarts. But it sounds absolutely insane," Cedric declared as we cleared the doors for the Great Hall.

"Oh boy, you can't even imagine. I'll tell you all about it the next time I have eight hours to spare!" I called as Ced and I split to our own tables.

"Tell him about what?" asked Lee as I sat down.

"My life outside of Hogwarts. Hey, maybe we can make a thing out of it. A little bonding experience for all of us where I tell you all my crazy stories and you try to guess which ones are real and which ones aren't."

"You're on," chorused the twins, looking more than up to the challenge.

"Great, we'll plan it for as soon as I solve this stupid storm mystery. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have about a million pages of reading to do."

With that, I had Ana pull up all the library books and I started going through them as I ate. There had to be something somewhere that could give me at least the slightest clue towards solving my mystery, and I wasn't going to stop until I found it.