A Dozen Fallen Roses // Cedric Diggory

chapter twenty-three. the assembly.

I hover my hand over the door for a moment, hesitant to knock. Taking a deep breath I rap my knuckles on the door three times.

"Shit that's Ava!" I hear Cedric's muffle voice exclaim.

"Oh, I guess I'll be going, then," Cho's voice coos and my heart sinks. I can't stand the thought of them being together, much less actually seeing and hearing it.

The door swings open and I awkwardly step out of the way as Cho shuffles out of the room. She gives me a slight smile, turns to Cedric, then leaves. Cedric watches her travel down the hall, but doesn't smile as she does. I take this as a decent sign. I mean, don't get me wrong, I want him to be happy, but it looks like this won't last.

"Hey, come on in," he ushers me in and I cross and stand in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do. Closing the door behind him, Cedric sits on the floor, leaning against the foot of his bed. His long brown hair is tousled a bit, clearly not brushed through. He's wearing his uniform black slacks and white button down with an untied yellow tie around his neck. Unbuttoning his cuffs, he rolls up his sleeves to his elbows and points to the desk behind me.

"There's some parchment on the desk there and a few quills if you want to grab them," he suggests.

"Oh, um, yeah," I snap out of my admiration of him and grab the parchment and quills. Starting to sit down across from him, I fumble with the materials, dropping it all on the floor and spilling the ink well.

"Oh, here let me help you,"

"Shit, I'm so sorry!" we say simultaneously, both reaching for the towel on the ground a few feet away. Our hands brush and we stop, making eye contact, then looking away in embarrassment.

"I got it," he offers, wiping up the ink spill.

"I'm sorry, Cedric," I apologize.

"Ava, it's really not a big deal," he laughs. He's actually laughing at me. His laughter becomes contagious and I start to giggle. I haven't been able to do this with him in forever. It feels nice, normal. He quickly composes himself and his stoic expression returns.

"So, we have to outline the Unforgivable Curses," I return to the topic at hand, trying to distract myself. He nods, and without a word, he starts on a piece of parchment writing 'The Imperius Curse'. I take this as a suggestion to start, so I title my paper 'The Cruciatus Curse'.

We work in silence for over half an hour. Every so often, I can't help myself but glance up at him. His focus remains on his work, but my mind rushes with all of the things I could do. I could burst out and tell him how I feel. I could grab his soft, pale face and kiss him out of the blue. I decide not to do anything, but rather keep with my work. He finishes his parchment, reaching for the third.

"Do you wanna do the Killing Curse?" I ask, only to break the silence.

"We can do it together, we gotta get to that assembly anyways," he replies.

"Sure, yeah," I smile slightly, writing down the title on the parchment.

"Well, I guess the purpose is to, you know, kill someone," he states the obvious. His little chuckle sends thoughts rushing through my head and my heart and I can't keep my composure.

"How's Cho?" I ask, immediately cringing. He looks up at me, a bit confused.

"Um, she's alright, yeah," he hesitates.

"Cool, cool," I grasp for something to say. Something that could let me take back the past 15 seconds.

"And Malfoy?" he awkwardly asks and my whole body seizes up.