yellow ribbon | a harry potter fanfiction

the last flower standing

Wendy preferred to not say anything, not yet.

"During the Summer I had a lot of time to think about the things you must have gone through for me. I can only imagine it... I realised that I —I never was able to thank you properly for that."

"Cedric, if you—"

"No," he interrupted her, "Let me, please."

Wendy looked at him, she still couldn't read him and she wasn't sure where he was going at, but he let him with a nod.

"With that said," he truly looked at her, "Thank you."

Wendy couldn't keep her smile in. She should have been the one to thank him for listening to her crazy words the year before. For fighting --For living.

"There is really no need," she says.

He could only smile, expected of her and that only broke his heart even more for what came next. He looked up and couldn't help but notice how the universe seemed to be trying to balance itself, as the sun shone the brightest that day in weeks. It lit up the brown in her eyes and the pink of her cheeks.

"There is really no way of going around this," He could fight of dragons and all the unknown mysteries of the lagoon of Hogwarts, but he couldn't even look at the girl's eyes. "I really don't know if we should pursue... this."

Wendy didn't know what to expect, but somewhere inside her felt like that it was inevitable. She wanted to keep quiet for the moment, giving herself time to process and, admittedly, hoping that he still had something else to say.

"I really do like you, Wendy," he continued granting the girl's silent wish, "I understand the situation you find yourself in and that you never meant to do me any harm. But how many secrets have you been keeping from me?"

Wendy couldn't answer. She didn't know it either. During their time spent together, he always asked her so many things about herself. She always did her best to answer as honestly as possible, but she never could tell him the whole truth. 

"And I finally understand it now," he smiled bitterly, "I used to ponder why you'd never tell me anything about your past, but I get it now, and the sad part is-- I can't even hold it against you. Someone's life out there, depends on the things you do and things you say."

Wendy wasn't sure if he was crying. She was too weak to look at him in the eyes, so she just stayed where she was, facing the beautiful view side by side with him. She could almost see Hagrid's hut from where she was, the faint smoke coming out of his small chimney.

Oh, what she would give to snug in one of his big chairs with some hot chocolate at that moment.

"I want to be able to talk with you. I want to know you. But I can't seem to have that, unless I want someone to get hurt," he took a deep breath in. He wasn't sure how to conclude his little speech. He was hoping for something to happen and stop him right there and then. A sign from the universe to tell him that what he was about to do was wrong. He begged in his heart for it. But he waited, and nothing came, "I'm sorry, Wendy."

"No," she finally answered and, with the kindest smile she could pull off, she stood up, "I understand. Thank you for doing what I couldn't, Cedric."