𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 | 𝐃.𝐌

Chapter Seven

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HER HEART BATTERED ferociously in her chest as she walked into the Great Hall for breakfast that morning. The idea of having to walk in there and having to face Cedric or Malfoy, absolutely and utterly terrified her. So, with a stare glued to the floor and sagged shoulders, she strode straight towards her seat at the Gryffindor table.

To her great surprise, nobody was whispering or staring at her. She inhaled sharply and released her breath as slowly as possible as she gazed around the table. Nobody seemed to notice or care about what had happened last night. She nervously helped herself to a hot chocolate.

Fixing the steaming mug in her hands, she couldn't help but wonder; The kiss she'd shared with Malfoy had clearly been a mistake, but there was something hypnotic about how his lips had latched onto hers last night. A shiver crawled its way up her spine and almost immediately, her mind tumbled towards Cedric. He'd called her his girlfriend. He'd lied—

"Are you ready for Potions?" Her trance broke and she gaped at Harry who was glaring at her rather suspiciously. For the first time that morning, she quickly glanced around. She caught Cedric's vacant grey eyes staring at her and her heart sank. Awkwardly, she flashed him a thin smile. He didn't return it and a violent sense of dread seized her stomach.

"Give me one second, Harry," she said getting up. Her legs were shaking like she might fall through them any second now. When she got to the Hufflepuff table a few students gave her nasty glances but she tried to ignore them. Cedric was still seated, not looking at her.

"Cedric," she croaked out, hesitating as she tried to select her words. "I want to make it up to you, but we need to talk first."

Cedric barely acknowledged her, only darted a glance her way when she took a seat opposite him.

"I'm so very sorry about last night. Let me make it up to you—

"I'm not sure your boyfriend would be pleased with that." He blurted, his eyes fixated on something behind her.

Eden flinched, turned her head around, and found a pair of serpentine eyes watching her. He was standing in the middle of the Great Hall, the corners of his mouth drawn downwards. She shot up from the bench, parted her lips but by the time any words in her mouth had formed, he'd barged away.

"Make up your mind, Gray." Cedric hissed bitterly. "I don't know what's gotten into you—

"You're being ridiculous, Ced." she huffed. He didn't have the right to be angry with her— He didn't know what had happened between her and Malfoy, she thought shrewdly. All he'd done was tell everyone that she was his while she most certainly wasn't.

"I sure am. It was rather ridiculous to think that you were the one for me."

"Cedric, I—

He took a step away from her, "Just leave it, Gray." He pivoted on his heel and before his words had a chance to sink in, he'd disappeared out of the Great Hall.

Eden returned to Harry who had watched the conversation between her and Cedric unfold from a fair distance behind. She felt her cheeks growing hotter by the second and was grateful for the fact that Harry didn't say a word about it all the way towards the dungeons.

She could feel Malfoy's eyes burning into the back of her head as she walked into the classroom. It was unsettling, to say the least. As Snape started his lesson, she couldn't help but let her mind wander. There was something about that feeling she got whenever Malfoy was around... It stirred her... had felt so real, yet so unlike her.