5th September, 1992
Not even back a week, and Violet was exhausted. The worst part of it, it wasn't even the school work that had her tried, just the drama.
By the following afternoon, she'd finally gotten her thoughts in order enough to understand how she was feeling.
She was upset over the entire Eddie situation. She might not have had any feelings towards the boy, but that didn't stop the hurt and doubt that had lodged in her mind about his behavior towards her. She'd thought he was nice enough, that they could've even been friends, but then he called her "easy". In a single day, he went from asking her out to verbally assaulting her. Sure, she didn't lose anything by losing him, but that doubt would never truly leave her. If it was so easy for him to turn on her like that, would it happen again? This time with someone she did care about?
Then there was the Cedric part of the situation. She wasn't upset with him by any means. Confused a bit, sure. She hadn't expected him to swoop in and pretend to be dating her just to get the other boy to leave her alone. In fact, she wasn't even sure why he'd done it, except for possibly being jealous. It took her longer to pinpoint that little piece of information, and she'd really only realized it was probably jealousy when Hannah pointed it out.
She was thankful that Cedric was there to help, but she couldn't help wondering if he'd only done it for his own selfish reasons. It had become obvious to anyone that paid him any ounce of attention when he and Violet were around each other that he fancied her. He never outright said it, and never tried to talk with Violet about it, but they both knew it was there. So, did Cedric help her because she needed it, or so that he could be her "knight in shining armour" so to speak?
Violet felt guilty doubting Cedric. They were good friends, despite his behavior on the train, and she didn't want to lose that. She knew what kind of boy he was; he was loyal to a fault, kind, smart, and funny. He'd do anything for his friends. There was no way Cedric would act for a selfish reason, at least not entirely. He was good, and no amount of doubt or mental questioning would convince Violet that he was anything but. In the end, it didn't matter to her if he had been jealous or not, because he was there for her when she needed him, and that's what mattered.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Violet was early getting back to the common room after lunch. Most other students were still in the Great Hall, eating and hanging out with their friends, but she didn't feel like being around company right now. Plus, she'd spent the entire time she was there looking for Cedric, who never showed. She'd decided to head back to the common room to see if he was just running late.
Luckily, she didn't have to look far, as Cedric was coming out of the boys dorms as she entered the common room. He wasn't as put together as he normally was, his hair a mess and clothes askew. She hesitated a moment before approaching him, as he looked preoccupied.
"Hey, Ced." She walked towards him, her hands clutched together in front of her, "Alright? You're looking a little..." The words died off when he looked at her, his eyes a glassy red and unfocused.
"Oh, hey, Violet." His speech was slightly slurred, but he managed a smile, "Alright, yeah. You? Haven't seen you since last night. Thought you were mad at me again."
"I wasn't mad at you, Ced." She was starting to understand what was happening when a sudden scent hit her, "Godric, Ced, have you been smoking?!"
He blinked a few times, trying to focus on her again, "Nooo... What were you saying?"
Violet had no problem with him smoking, not really. Plenty of people did it. So she wasn't sure why she was suddenly so upset.
"You know what? Never mind. See you later."
She turned on her heal and marched up the stairs, into the girls dorms. He called after her once, but it sounded half-hearted. If he wanted to distract himself with a bit of weed, who was she to stop him? He was a fourth-year, almost fifteen, so he was plenty capable of caring for himself.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Once lunch was over and her friends came back to their dorm, she tried to forgot her run-in with Cedric. She wasn't going to tell anyone that he'd been smoking, she didn't want to risk getting him in trouble. But her friends could tell something was bothering her.
"Okay, what is it?" Hannah asked, sitting at the foot of Violet's bed, Aimee on the opposite side, "You're... mopey today."
"I'm not mopey!" She tried to argue, but Aimee agreed with Hannah, "Fine. I tried to talk to Cedric after lunch, but he... blew me off."
"Again?!" Aimee gasped in outrage, "What is wrong with him? First on the train, now after last night? It's like he can't decide whether he fancies you or hates you."
Hannah reached across the bed to smack Aimee's arm, "What's wrong with you? He doesn't hate her, he fancies her. He just doesn't know what to do about it, since she doesn't like him."
"No, you're right," Aimee relented, "Still, he doesn't have to be rude."
"I think he's just got something going on." Violet tried to defend Cedric. She could tell her friends the truth, yes, but she felt like it wasn't her secret to share, "I'm sure it'll be fine. It's been a stressful week."
"Sure..." Hannah replied hesitantly, Aimee humming in agreement.
Violet tried to distract her friends, "Want to go for a walk by the lake? It's quite nice out today."
Surprisingly, it worked easy enough. All three girls got up and gathered their belongings, a few blankets to spread out and books to read.
It was a rather nice day out. The summer heat was still holding on, but the breeze and occasional clouds eased the heat to a tolerable temperature. The trio of girls weren't the only ones outside, as it appeared most of the students had moved outside for the afternoon.
It took a while to find a clear spot to settle, but once the girls had, they all began reading their own books and relaxed. Even Violet was able to relax for a while, forgetting all her troubles.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Later in the evening, when a chill had settled in and the sun started to set, the girls finally made their way back inside for dinner. Violet agreed to run their belongings down to their dorm while the other two went ahead to the Great Hall.
It took less than five minutes to drop everything off and exit the common room. She was starting up the basement stairs towards the hall when Cedric came rushing down the stairs, right towards her.
"Violet!" He called, speeding up when he saw her, nearly falling when he missed a step down, "Violet, I've been looking for you!"
He stopped right beside her, stepping down to be one step below so they were eye to eye.
"What is it, Ced? I was just on my way to dinner." She kept her voice gentle, looking over him to determine what state he was in. His clothes were fixed proper, and his eyes no longer held that glassy look, so he must be more in his right mind.
"Look, I'm sorry about early. I wasn't expecting anyone to be back so soon. I didn't mean to brush you off or anything, I was just..." He hesitated, reaching up to rub the back of his neck.
Violet sighed, "It's okay, Ced."
"It is?" He looked at her, puzzled, "No, you wanted to talk. What about?"
"I was going to apologize for ignoring you last night, and this morning. I had a lot on my mind and couldn't really focus on much of anything. I didn't want you thinking I was mad at you or..."
"Right, because I said- I'm sorry, truly." He was rushing over his words now, staring at her pleadingly, "I was rude, I shouldn't have been. I was just so confused after last night, and this morning, and I needed to blow off some steam."
"Ced, really, it's okay. I'm not going to tell anyone, if that's what you're worried about. It's none of my business." Violet was trying to play it cool, to shrug her shoulders and pretend that his behavior hadn't upset her earlier.
"What? No, I wasn't worried about that, but thank you. So, we're okay?"
Violet let the silence hang in the air a moment, and Cedric shifted foot to foot as he waited. He was nervous, she realized. The realization made her laugh softly, "Of course we are. Now, can we go to dinner? I'm hungry!"
"Okay, good. Yes, let's go." Cedric stepped up beside her, hesitating before looping his arm with hers as they walked up the stairs. Violet tried not to think about it, but she was struggling to focus on anything but the warmth spreading from the spot where their arms met.
At the Great Hall, they sat together at the table, joining the conversation between Hannah and Anthony Rickett, a fourth-year.
Dinner flew by, as Violet laughed and joked around with all her friends at the table. Throughout the evening, though, even back in the common room, where the group set up a game of exploding snap, Violet found herself gravitating towards Cedric. If she wasn't sitting next to him, then she was frequently looking at him. And he was doing the same for her, always keeping an eye on her as they moved about conversations. At one point, when Anthony jokingly tried to wrap Violet up in a hug, Cedric intervened with an elbow to the boys ribs.
Violet knew she shouldn't encourage his behavior, that it wasn't healthy for him to be jealous over her, but she couldn't seem to help it. After Eddie, she liked having someone want to be around her, and she liked that she knew it wasn't pretend, that he genuinely enjoyed her company.
Or rather, as she would soon realize, despite previous beliefs and arguments, she actually enjoyed just Cedrics attention.
━━━━━━⊱༻ ༺⊰━━━━━━
The following few weeks were relatively quiet. Violet and Cedric were good friends again, their friendship growing as they began to spend more time together, when given the chance. They had very different schedules, especially with him taking extra subjects, such as Care of Magical Creatures. He often told Violet stories from that class, as she found it a rather interesting study. She couldn't wait to start taking it next year.
The rest of September, and nearly the entirety of October were quiet. Violet hadn't heard or seen Eddie Carmichael again, nor had the Slytherins gone after her. She'd spent the following two weeks after that night looking over her shoulder, waiting for the Slytherins to do something, but nothing ever happened. She wouldn't entertain the idea that perhaps Draco Malfoy had simply let the incident go ignored, as she didn't think he was capable of such a kindness. But after weeks of silence, she finally stopped looking over her shoulder.
In fact, neither she nor her close friends Hannah or Aimee had been bothered by the Slytherins recently. Cedric wasn't so lucky, but Violet couldn't figure it out. The Slytherins weren't being nice to her, they still threw insults at her and her friends, but none of them tried to jinx, hex, or prank them.
She decided that she would appreciate it while it lasted. She knew that one day they'd go after her and her friends again, as it was in Slytherins nature to attack everyone they perceived as less than, but until that day, she'd go on ignoring their existence.
She tried to write home every week, and her parents always responded right away. She filled them in on her classes, almost all of which were going well, aside from Defense Against the Dark Arts, but that was at no fault of her own. She was passing the class, but she hated every moment she spent in the presence of Professor Lockhart.
She told her parents about her friends, and anything else she found to be exciting that week. Her parents always wrote back with how proud they were of her, that they missed her and were glad she was enjoying Hogwarts. And they'd tell her about some of the happenings back home, such as what their neighbors were up to (Mr. Lyle got a new puppy, and it was constantly barking; she couldn't wait to meet it).
As the end of October neared, students around the castle began to feel on edge. No one could really discern a reason why, but even the professors began to feel it. It was as if something were coming, something big, but no one knew what it was or when it would happen. That is, until halloween.