CHAPTER XX:
all kinds of platonics

( January 1995 )

THE TWO WEEK HOLIDAY BREAK WAS REGRETTABLY COMING TO AN END. Cedric and Ginger had spent it together, of course, sledding in the snow every day, going to the small shops just a short walk from the house, scaring Alexander with their scrying mirrors in the middle of the night, and lovingly terrorizing each other while Amos attempted to keep them from destroying any valuables.

Ginger once again awoke in her soft bed. The thousands of blankets she used were either sprawled out across her or on the floor, pillows had fallen off the bed, and her hair was messy.

      The sun had begun to shine through her window creating a gentle glow across the many trinkets she held in her room. Slithering out of bed, she stood and stretched her limbs, cracking in multiple areas. Feeling a sudden chill run through her, she took herself to her open trunk in front of her bed to lean down and groggily take out the closest sweater to the top. The red and yellow sweater was a giant contrast to her blue and silver tones in her room and usual attire, but she was too lazy to change as she had already slipped the slightly oversized sweater over her frame.

Leaving her room and beginning to tie her hair up in a ponytail on top of her head, Ginger passed by Cedric who had also just been waking up. His eyes immediately went to the scarlet sweater with the G initial on it and confusion ultimately washed over him as he watched her descend down the stairs.

They both came into the kitchen which had been in front of the couch Ginger tackled the ground from. Cedric leaned his forearms on one of the chairs in the dining room watching Amos not take any notice to Ginger's bright sweater beside him while he was making breakfast. Figuring he had nothing better to do, Cedric began his usual antics with Ginger.

"Say, Gin," Her head turned in his direction and her eyes immediately saw where his gaze was. Her eyes squinted at him as he continued, "whose sweater might that be? I don't recall you having a bright red sweater before the school year."

      Her eyes glared at him, "mind your business, Cedric," she hushed her tone through gritted teeth. Ginger hadn't known why she felt so odd about wearing the sweater, she and George were good friends and that was all, so why was it that she was becoming so defensive over a silly sweater he had given her?

      "Would that be Weasley's sweater?" he teased her more.

      Amos then put his eyes on the sweater and Ginger mentally cursed to herself. "Weasley, eh?" Ginger sat at the table and nodded. "If I remember correctly, Arthur mentioned he had two boys in your year, yes?" Amos questioned the two teens while Cedric claimed his spot beside Ginger.

"George and Fred, the twins." Ginger answered kicking Cedric beneath the table.

The man turned around to bring their plates down in front of them while he continued, "I'm going to assume that G is for George." She nodded again. "Well I didn't know you two were dating," he smiled at the girl who coughed on her food.

"No, we aren't dating, Amos. We're only friends. He only gave me his sweater because Cedric doesn't know how to bring his own towel so I was left with only my robe." Cedric only shrugged at her jab at him continuing to eat. "But enough about me and George let's just eat." She concluded as the two Diggory men shared an odd look.

NIGHT HAD FALLEN OVER THE DIGGORY RESIDENCE JUST AS IT ALWAYS DID. Amos had set himself to be ready to take Ginger and Cedric to Kings Cross while said teens were sitting in the living room having one last sleepover on the couch by tradition. Getting over the small incident the two had earlier that day, they were enjoying each other's company talking about nonsense at the late hour.

      "Cedric?" he hummed in response.

      "We're going to be friends till we're old and creaky right?" she sat staring into the burning fire while he turned his head to her at the sudden change of tone.

      "Of course we are, we'll either be living together or be next-door neighbors." She then faced him crisscrossed like he was. "You'll shout from your kitchen window if I have any spare sugar and I'll say yes, and then I'll bring it over and end up staying for hours."

      She grinned at the hope of the thought becoming a reality. "You know Alex says we act like an old married couple sometimes?"

"A platonic couple of course." She nodded at his words with a giggle.

"I'd never marry you with reason of having feelings for you." She cringed with her smile showing through.

"Gross, why would you even put that out into the universe?" he laughed. "We should have rings," he suddenly added. Gingers grin grew more as she inched closer to him. "Wasn't there a spell you used for making metal?"

"Yeah, let me get my wand." she ran upstairs and came back just as fast.

She conjured two silver rings into her hand, one with small butterflies engraved, his favorite insect, and another with moons engraved into it.

"Cedric Leonardo Diggory," he groaned at the use of his middle name. "Will you take this butterfly ring and be my lawfully wedded best friend for all time?" he laughed and nodded as she took a breath of air and put the ring on his right ring finger.

  "Ginger Primrose Lunette," she gasped at her middle name and groaned, "will you do me the honor of being my lawfully wedded best friend for all time?" she nodded with a laugh as he slid the ring perfectly onto her right ring finger.

"Till death do we part, I now pronounce us platonically married, you may now handshake the friend." The friends concluded as they did their childhood handshake and laughed.

Falling on her back, Ginger spoke, "we're probably the most childish and odd pair of friends aren't we?"

Cedric copied her actions a flopped backwards, "definitely. Platonic marriage? Others probably think we're completely mad."

"Maybe that's why we're so good then, others think we're odd so we group together to double it."

He laughed for what felt like the millionth time that night as he began to whisk away into unconsciousness, "yeah, maybe, Gin."

NOTE. ginger and cedric make my brain happy
but anyways, they have an odd kind of friendship ik with acting like they live to spite each other one minute then acting like they cant live without each other. in my mind they're definitely the kind of friends that did those cringe marriages when they were in elementary soo
theyre my fav non blood related siblings tho so idc 🚶🏽‍♀️

AND DONT BE CONFUSED ABOUT THE DATE !! they just went through the new year is all just like we do so there wasnt an unnecessary time skip or anything ! just new years