🖇·˚ ༘ ┊͙[ chapter thirteen ] ! ˊˎ

╰─▸ lies, progress and unwanted attraction

THERE WAS NO FURTHER EVIDENCE OF MY UNCLE being in the castle, and the whole "sleeping in the great hall" shenanigans blew over quite fast. The talk of Sirius Black himself, however, did not.

As the three of us approached the potions classroom, Spencer thought it adequate to ask exactly what I didn't want her to. "Hey y/n, we never saw you in the great hall that night after you and Will spoke to Dumbledore. Where did you go?"

Ava spoke up, adding to the conversation, "Yeah, where were you? When we woke up, you weren't with us."

I searched for the best thing to say, that would result in no further questions and no further suspicions. "Oh yeah, well I came in late, so there was no room near you." I shrugged.

"So," Spencer ushered me encouragingly, hinting that I should continue my explanation, and actually answer their question. When I didn't, she tried again, "Where did you sleep?"

"Oh, I uh," I scratched the back of my neck, subtly. "I slept the other side of the Slytherin corner. There was space next to a few second years." I said, with no more stuttering.

Apparently satisfied with my answer, with no more questions with a desperate desire to be answered, we arrived in the dungeons and made our way to our separate seats.

Cedric Diggory was perched on the stool beside mine. "Hey," I said, with a feeble smile.

The Hufflepuff glanced up from the table, at the movement beside him, and smiled back at me. "Hey."

I sat beside him, staring at the blank chalkboard, that was covered in dusty white clouds. "How are you?" I asked.

He chuckled slightly, "I'm fine, why?" he asked, I assume curious as to why I had taken a sudden interest in his well-being.

"Well, what do you mean why?" I furrowed my eyebrows, as I drew my eyes away from the front to look at him. "I'm asking you how you are, that's not weird, that's normal."

Cedric's smirk tugged at his mouth, but he still spoke with narrowed eyes, "You've literally never asked me how I am before."

"Alright fine, bloody hell, I won't do it again then." I snapped.

His smirk was a lot more evident now, even as he looked down at his work, "That's more like it."

Once his chuckle had silenced, and the semi-awkward lull had returned, along with any traces of my smile now extinguished, I turned to face him a little more, "Look, I wanted to apologize for the other day. You know, when I ... " I trailed off, using my hand to gesture something that is moving forward in a weak manner.

Cedric stretched out his neck, almost as if he was close to finishing my sentence for me, "Snapped at me in front of a load of people with no proper motive behind it, resulting in my embarrassment?" he said, with a raised brow and a tilted head. I nodded sheepishly. "Okay, go on then." he motioned with his hand.

I narrowed my eyes, "What do you mean?"

Cedric paused, "You were going to apologize," his voice decreased in volume.

I sat up straighter, "I just did."

The boy chuckled softly, "No, you just said you were going to."

I stared for a second, my mouth hung open just a little, "Ohh ... right." I pointed hesitantly. "Well, Ced- Diggory.'' I corrected myself, "I am very ... s-sor," I stumbled on my words, as he continued to encourage me with a smirk.

"I'm s-s.." I stammered once again. "I'm sorry," I said, followed by a single nod, glad that it was finally out of my system and off of my conscience.

As I turned to face the front, Cedric inched closer, leaning to my ear, "Sorry, I didn't get that. Could you say it again?" he asked, in a playful way, still grinning widely.

I gritted my teeth, and a moment of silence fell again. Just as he went to open his mouth, to usher me into apologizing for a second time, I turned to face him. "I'm sorry! Okay? Is that good enough?" my voice was raised slightly, and now I had rotated to look at him, our faces were but inches apart.

Cedric narrowed his eyes, and his smirk grew ever so slightly, "Sorry for what exactly?"

A semi-audible groan slipped past my lips, "For lashing out on you, in front of a lot of people?" I said, in a tone that came across as more of a question than a statement.

"For no reason." he inserted.

My eyebrows furrowed together, "Hey, Diggory, I had plenty of reasons." I stretched out my shoulders and returned back to facing the front of the classroom.

"But no proof," he added.

I scoffed subtly, "Oh come on. I didn't need proof. Are you insinuating that there was another reason behind you chasing after me?

Cedric turned back to the front, his head angled in my direction; a smile playing on his lips, "I did it because I wanted to see if you were okay."

There was a tense moment that had relaxed between the two of us. Our eyes had found their way into a lock, and our torsos were inclined to face the other.

I sucked in some air, trying my best to not let my awkward side break me. "Bullocks." I drew my eyes away from his and turned back to face the front.

Cedric did the same, and chuckled softly, "And why would that be such an abnormal thing to be labeled as "bullocks"?"

"There's no need to ask if I'm okay because chances are, I'm fine." I said confidently, despite the version of "me" that we're talking about, wasn't doing her best at the time. "And in the rare case that I'm not doing so great, I wouldn't class that as any of your business."

Cedric shook his head, with a light-hearted smile, "You need to drop this I-don't-feel-any-emotions act, y/n. You're a human too."

I inhaled again, still remaining away from him, "It's not an "act", Cedric. You of all people know full well that I'm not the nicest of people, so I'm not sure as to why you are questioning it."

Cedric chuckled again, inching just that little bit closer, "Whatever you say."

There was another pause between the two of us, as Professor Snape began to talk once more.

Until he broke it, and leaned right back over to my ear again, "Let's back-track a moment, and, correct me if I'm wrong, but did you just said my first name?" he faked a gasp, I assume, for some kind of dramatic effect.

I scoffed, turning my head towards him, so now our faces were level. "Oh, relax Diggory. You did it first. Let's not go jumping to conclusions."

Cedric shook his head, accompanied by a subtle laugh, "Well now, that's still progress, isn't it love?" he said and I could feel his breath on my face, due to the overly close proximity.

Breaking the tension between us, that was even obvious to the rest of the room, Professor Snape ushered the class over to a brewing station, of which he stood behind a freshly created potion, in a cauldron that's steam was overflowing, over the rim.

"Can anyone explain to the class, what the Amortentia potion is, and its purpose?" Snape droned, followed by a light sigh, suggesting that here was the last place that he wanted to be.

I raised my hand since no one else decided to and the Professor nodded in my direction.

"Amortentia is the strongest known love potion in existence. It has a different aroma for everyone who smells it, reminding each person of the things that they find most attractive, even if the person doesn't acknowledge or is unaware of their fondness for the object." I explained.

"Very good Miss y/l/n. 5 points to Slytherin." Snape paused, taking a moment, to inhale again. "Could you possibly give us an example, Miss y/l/n?" he asked, motioning to the cauldron just a few feet away.

My mouth went from a weak smile, to slightly ajar. I felt my entire body tense up a little, my arms rigid at my side.

I nodded hesitantly, "Um ... sure." I muttered.

I reluctantly approached the potion, legs still feeling like they were stuck in glue. I was immediately hit by a warm gust of smoke fleeing from the potion.

The smell was quite recognizable and quite an instant realization.

It was the bringing myself to say it aloud that was the real problem.

I dubiously opened my mouth again, "Um I smell ... "

It was only now that the deadly silence that the entire class had created was clear to me.

It was also only now that I realized how hard it is to think on my feet, " ... mint and broom-wax." I spurted out, with slight concern.

Had people believed that, and had I made my speech as natural as possible, then I have the broom resting up against the wall in the corner of the room, and the mint leaves, in a jar on a shelf to thank.

Despite, my, what I like to think, very believable lie, there was of course a truth, behind my façade.

The potion resting on the table before me had exerted a few too familiar scents: freshly cut timber, sweet almonds, and soothing vanilla.

Cedric Diggory. To a tee.

The Professor hummed a few thanks, and continued his explanation on the said potion, to the remainder of the class. I, however, zoned out pretty quickly.

That was until I was jabbed in the side, to see Ava waving for my attention.

"Warrington?" I watched her mouth, with an over-exaggerated smirk, and encouraging eyes, looking like she was glad to see that she finally had the opportunity to "talk boys" with me. But that wasn't at all the case.

My eyebrows furrowed. That didn't change the fact that I didn't know what Cassius Warrington had to do with any of it.

"What?" I mouthed back.

Ava had no intentions of answering my mouthed questions, so she shrugged playfully, clearly pretending to have not noticed.

I turned back to face the front, now with my eyes angled to the ground.

Come to think of it, Cassius Warrington always did have a minty scent to him. Even if it was more of a mint-chocolate-chip type.

     He is also star Quidditch player for the Slytherin team. He was one to always be around brooms and broom-wax and all that jazz.

Turns out I might have just put myself in a worse position than I would have been in had I just told the truth. Because I certainly did not find total prick, up-his-own-arse Cassius Warrington attractive.

Cedric's POV

"Mint and broom-wax." I heard her mutter.

The last time I checked, I wasn't one to smell of mint. Broom-wax maybe, but mint wasn't something I felt as though I looked like I would smell like.

It's hardly like I'm disappointed because I would have thought that y/n was going to smell me because honestly, I'm not surprised that she didn't.

I don't quite know what it was about her that makes her so intriguing to me. Maybe it is the fact there was no way in hell she would ever find me attractive and that she is probably the only girl in the school that didn't. And maybe it's because she actually has a personality, and isn't one to agree with everything I say or do things to win my approval.

I subtly edged forward, in hopes to catch a quick smell of the wafting potion, as it lingers in the air.

As the breeze hit me, it was almost instant that I knew what it was.

And maybe that was because I had been sat next to someone, not even minutes before, who smelt the exact same as to what I was currently smelling from the wandering potion.

Well, that's a comforting kick in the stomach.

' ੈ˚ ❃ connie speaks!

i believe in maeve supremacy.

PLEASE EDITING ME IS DYING AT HOW EMBARASSING THIS WAS FOR ME TO EDIT AND IM CURRENTLY ON MY OWN, IN MY ROOM WITH NO ONE WATCHING.

it's hard to believe people actually read this at one point.

in conclusion - ONE HUNDRED PERCENT THE HARDEST TO EDIT.

anyways, love you all. stay safe <3