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ONE; RESTLESS ENDEAVORS
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     CAMILLE COULD NOT fall asleep. She was dressed in a pair of green pajamas Draco had bought her last year for her birthday. She kept thinking about the events of the welcome banquet, including the new professor the Ministry of Magic had sent over. She knew this was only a precaution because of what happened to Cedric, and she felt even more annoyed when Cho cornered her afterwards and asked her how she was coping.

Maybe she should've taken up her father's offer and stayed home this year — she could have planned her revenge in the comfort of her own home.

Another hour passed before Camille decided to take a trip up to the Owlery so she could write her parents a letter about her day. She knew the house was probably filled with the sounds of her mother's cries, considering the woman had not stopped since Cedric's body arrived on the field with Harry Potter on the night of the last Triwizard Tournament task.

On the way there, she heard a voice call out to her.

"Excuse me! It's past curfew, five points from Slytherin."

"I'm not in Slytherin," Camille responded, turning on her heel to face Hermione Granger.

The Gryffindor's face flushed red when she realized her mistake. Camille noted that she was now reluctant to dock house points after the discovery of who it actually was. Camille guessed it was because Hermione felt upset over what happened with Cedric.

"Draco gave me these pajamas, though, and you're free to take points from him if you want to."

Hermione never understood why Camille was dating Malfoy, especially since she was supposed to be smart enough to understand the right guys from the wrong guys. However, she had to give credit where credit is due, and Malfoy never failed Camille when she was in the process of grieving over her brother.

"What? Feel too guilty to take points from Ravenclaw now, Hermione?"

"I-" she began, unsure of how to respond. Luckily, Ron came over to see what the commotion was about. Unluckily, he was also awkward and did not know what to say to Cedric Diggory's younger sister. The Diggory family lived close to the Weasley's and their fathers worked together, but Ron never had much connection with the Diggory siblings.

"Oh, hi, Camille. Um, nice pajamas you got there."

"Thank you. If you two have a qualm about me being out past curfew, you could gladly tell the prefects of my house. They'll dock off the points if you're too scared to," she challenged, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not that, Camille," Hermione began. "We just don't want to bring you any more trouble than you've already had to deal with all summer."

She shot them a fake smile. "I'll have you both know that I'm fine now. Draco no longer needs to comfort me because I've lost all control of my emotions in the hallway. Cedric's passed, and I've accepted it. That's a part of life."

Ron gulped and nodded, taking ahold of Hermione's forearm. "Well, we'll leave you to it then."

He dragged the both of them away and let out a deep breath.

"Thank Merlin I got us out of that one. Do you know what Malfoy would do if he found out we made his girlfriend upset?" Ron asked.

"I feel bad, Ron," Hermione sighed. "That girl's been in constant mourning. Cedric was her hero, and she didn't even get to say goodbye to him."

The Diggory siblings weren't often around each other during their time at Hogwarts, but everyone knew that if Cedric had an issue with his homework, he would run straight to his sister. If Camille had a problem with boys, Cedric was the first to punch the living daylights out of him. He was particularly angered when his sister began dating Draco.

They weren't close in some aspects, but they were always supporting and keeping an eye out for one another.

"We should have Harry speak to her. He knew Cedric well."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Hermione, you've forgotten that Harry was the last one to see Cedric alive. I'm sure some part of Camille blames him for that."

Hermione sighed. It was true — Camille had given Harry the cold shoulder since he arrived back with Cedric. She briefly thanked him for returning her brother back, but she wasn't going to forget the fact that Harry could have been the one to save him.

"Well, I just hope she holds up. Merlin knows Draco isn't going to help her."

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"Hi, Camille."

Camille clenched her fists when she heard the sound of Cho's voice. Her lips pursed as she glanced up from her textbook to glare at the girl. She should've known that reading in the common room was a bad idea.

"Yes, Cho?"

"Um, I think Draco's waiting for you outside to walk to the Great Hall," she informed, squirming underneath Camille's heavy stare. "Also, I wanted to talk to you about Cedric."

Camille knew the punch was coming, so she quickly stood up and gathered her belongings. "Sorry, Cho, I really have to get going. Draco is rather impatient so-"

"Camille," Cho whispered before Camille could escape her presence. "I loved him too, you know."

Camille's back stiffened. She knew how much Cedric liked the girl — he conversed about her often and spoke to his sister about how much he enjoyed their time at the Yule Ball. However, she was offended by the manner in which Cho said these words, as if she was implying that Camille had forgotten such important attributes about her brother.

She would never forget, and she would never forgive either.

"And you believe that just because he took you to one dance that our grievances lie on the same level?" Camille raised an eyebrow, taking a step closer to the girl.

"No, of course not, but-"

"Then leave me alone, Cho. I prefer to go the whole year without you breathing down my neck about my brother's corpse. I knew him and loved him better than anyone, so don't think for a second that I didn't care. Thank you for loving him, Cho, and granting him happiness last year. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I need to go have breakfast with my boyfriend."

Camille walked past her and exited the common room, where Draco was waiting patiently for her. He noticed the anger looming over her face.

"Hey," he spoke softly. "You alright?"

"Just fine," she mumbled. "Let's go eat."

Draco dropped the subject and the two made their way to the Great Hall, taking their seats at the Slytherin table.

"Hi, Cami," Daphne Greengrass greeted, waving at her. "Did you see that awful Professor Umbridge from the Ministry? She looks like a toad!"

Camille grinned. Daphne was a very sweet friend to her, and was one of the only people who treated her normally after Cedric's death.

"She does look rather dreadful," Camille agreed.

"I wish we had Defense together this year," Draco spoke, gazing at her. "Now, I have to deal with Potter alone."

"We all have to deal with Potter," Blaise Zabini argued.

"What a menace," Theodore Nott growled.

Camille kept quiet. She didn't think Harry was awful, but she wondered if Cedric would still be alive if the boy had been more careful during her brother's last moments in the Triwizard Tournament.

Camille took back her kind words about Harry when Draco had told her about the stunt he pulled during Umbridge's Defense class. She approached him after he left McGonagall's office, Ron and Hermione already flanking his side.

"How dare you," she began. Her eyes were clouded with fury and her body was shaking, as if she was ready to explode.

"Camille," Harry said, shocked by her presence.

"How dare you speak of my brother like you knew him-"

"Camille, Harry did know Cedric-" Hermione interjected.

"No!" Camille shouted, making them jump back in surprise at the intensity of her voice. Harry saw Malfoy approach, eyes narrowing at the sight before him. His lips curled into a smile once he realized his girlfriend was telling Potter off. "You didn't know him. You saw glimpses of him when he was kind to you during the tournament, and that's it. You may have been the last person to see him alive, but you sure as hell didn't save him."

"Camille!" Hermione cried out in shock.

Harry just stood there, accepting line after line that Camille continued to throw at him. The Ravenclaw was completely right — he shouldn't have spoken about Cedric in class, especially since he knew news would travel back around to her through Malfoy.

"Leave my brother's name out of your mouth. I would enjoy not spending the whole year hearing about the topic of my brother's death, so I ask that you stop bringing him up. Don't act like you knew him," Camille shook her head. "Nobody knew him except for my family, his Hufflepuff friends, and that damned Cho Chang."

She left Harry after that remark, grabbing Draco's wrist and pulling them away from the scene. A bunch of students gathered around to observe the incident, but quickly scurried away once Camille left.

"That girl's really gone off her rocker," Ron said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"She's right," Harry responded. "Cedric's a sensitive subject to her and I brought him up so casually during Umbridge's class."

"You were defending him, Harry," Hermione reminded him, assuring him that he wasn't at fault for what Camille said.

"Yeah, but in Camille's eyes, I'll always be that guy who couldn't save her brother. You can't blame her for seeing me that way."

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Camille had Defense straight after her outburst with Harry. Everyone was afraid of her, and the seat next to her was left empty. She was prepared for whatever Umbridge was going to throw at her, already being prepped by Draco for what was to come.

Draco, however, did not prepare her for the anger she would feel.

She raised her hand promptly after Umbridge had finished speaking.

"Yes, Miss-"

"Diggory," she finished proudly. Umbridge was slightly rattled by the surname. "Help me understand this correctly — this is a Defense of the Dark Arts class, but we're not planning on using any magic in here?"

"Well, I wouldn't imagine why children such as yourselves would have any reason to perform magic," Umbridge reasoned.

Camille felt her temper flare. She could suddenly see why Harry had spoken before thinking, and had mentioned her brother due to his anger. She imagined Cedric trying to defend himself, and thought that maybe if he had had better guidance, he would still be standing by her side.

Camille narrowed her eyes. "So you won't be preparing us if we encounter dark magic?"

Umbridge walked over to her desk and leaned down, whispering softly. "Dear, if you feel uncomfortable and threatened because of what happened with-"

"This is not about him!" Camille exclaimed, standing up. "Don't you dare believe you have a right to speak about him just because you work for the Ministry. I simply think that I should be learning proper Defense from a real Defense teacher."

Umbridge straightened her posture and stared at Camille straight in the eye. "Well, if that's what you believe, Miss Diggory, then we can get to know each other better in detention. Afterwards, you can decide whether I'm suited for the job or not."

Camille didn't falter. "Fine. I'll see you there."

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Camille was the subject of discussion at dinner, along with Harry. The Slytherins took a liking to her hot-tempered nature, especially since it was directed at Harry. Draco exclaimed in glee once she took a seat next to him.

Camille wasn't fond of the fact that she spent more time at the Slytherin table than the Ravenclaw table, but she didn't have another choice — Draco refused to sit somewhere else.

"Look at you! Going off on Potter like that, I knew there was a reason we're dating!" He exclaimed.

"So you're saying we're not dating for any other reason?" Camille inquired, testing him.

Blaise snickered at his friend's predicament. Draco widened his eyes and threw his hands up. "No, no, no! Of course we're dating for other reasons. But you keeping Potter in check only made me like you more, Cami."

"Don't listen to this bullshit that this guy keeps feeding you, Cami," Daphne rolled her eyes. "Nevertheless, we're all proud of you for showing Potter who he really is. It was so annoying to hear all those measly Gryffindors in class today."

"Granger's hand kept going up like she was shooting lasers out of it," Theodore joked.

Pansy Parkinson stuck her nose in the air, eyeing the way Draco's arm was casually draped around Camille's shoulder.

"They need to learn their place," she sniffed. "Good thing Umbridge gave Potter detention. It should be a warning to all of them."

Blaise nodded. "I'm glad she actually provided discipline. All those other teachers are up Potter's ass every second of the day."

Camille's eyes drifted to the Gryffindor table, where Harry looked extremely uncomfortable by the sight of people talking about him. Hermione slammed her utensils down before the trio made their way out of the Great Hall with everyone staring after them.

"Nuisances, they are," Draco spat. "I'm glad you're a Ravenclaw, Cami, and not one of those idiotic Gryffindors."

"Ugh, can we stop talking about them already?" Daphne moaned. "It's giving me a headache. I get sick when I even look at the color red."

"You must vomit whenever you see a Weasley then," Theodore said, causing laughter to erupt throughout the table.

Camille suddenly felt uncomfortable, and she didn't know why. She had gotten used to this kind of talk when she began dating Draco, but now she imagined Cedric hearing all of this and his look of disapproval.

"You alright?" Draco asked, observing her changing expression. "Please don't tell me you're going soft for those Weasleys."

"Can we talk about something else?" Camille pleaded. "Anything else?"

Pansy quickly delved into the fact that she was looking at getting Exceeds Expectations on most of her O.W.L. examinations this year. Camille's sudden behavior did not go unnoticed by her Slytherin boyfriend.

Later that night, as he was walking her back to the Ravenclaw common room, he brought the topic back up again.

"What happened at dinner? Why did you get so offended?"

She frowned and shrugged. "I just didn't like the way you were talking about all those Gryffindors."

His face twisted into an expression of displeasure. "And since when do you care about the Gryffindors? Potter is my sworn enemy, you know that."

She rolled her eyes. "I know exactly how you feel about Harry, Draco. I just don't think my brother would've liked to hear all of that negativity. He was a ball of light, and I should be trying harder to make him proud. Making fun of the Weasley family wasn't exactly what I had in mind as subjects for dinner discussion."

Draco stopped in his tracks before they reached the eagle-shaped knocker, which would give her a riddle to open the door.

She turned to face him and saw the worry in his face. "You haven't talked about Cedric since the memorial," he said. "I just want to know if you're doing alright. It's my job as a boyfriend, you know."

She laughed and gave him a light kiss. "Your job as a boyfriend is to look handsome and remember anniversaries. You don't need to worry about me."

"But I do anyways, so humor me."

She gave him a look before realizing he wouldn't give up. She sighed. "I can't bring my brother back, and I realized that a few weeks after his death. Though no matter what, I will seek revenge for him. Voldemort will pay for killing my brother."

Draco visibly flinched and took a step back from her. "Wait a minute, you believe all those stories Potter's been telling about your brother? It was an accident, Cami. Nothing more or less."

Her jaw clenched. "My brother did not die for nothing. Draco, I understand that you know Voldemort's back-"

"Don't speak his name!" He exclaimed.

"Why?" She hissed, throwing her arms up in the air out of pure frustration. "I'm not afraid of him! He's back, Draco, and he killed my brother without hesitation. He took away my sibling while Harry Potter got to watch him rot away. He will die, Draco, one way or another. I don't care if Harry does it or not, but I want him to remember just how much he took away from me before he dies."

Draco shook his head. "You don't understand what kind of danger you're putting yourself in, Cami. Simply saying his name puts a target on your back."

"Then let it sit there," she challenged, her eyes glazing over. "Let him come to me so I can show him my heartbreak. My family is in shambles because of him and I thought that you, my boyfriend, would be in agreement with me!"

"You know you can't ask that of me," his voice dropped two octaves, as if he was afraid of someone listening in on their conversation. Other Ravenclaw students had passed by without a word, none of them paying any attention to the couple's dispute.

"Why? Because you're too afraid to stand up to your father?" She scoffed, pushing him away from her figure.

She remembered the conversation she had with Cedric the moment she told him she was dating Draco.

"Camille, you cannot be serious. Draco Malfoy? You know what he'll become," Cedric hissed lowly.

The siblings were lurking in the hallway after dinner, where Cedric caught his sister sitting at the Slytherin table, Draco's hand laced through hers.

"You don't know if he'll agree to that yet," Camille shot back. "He's still young, Ced. He still has a choice."

"People like him don't have a choice, Cami. You've seen his father — you've seen that he rules with an iron fist, and he expects Malfoy to do the exact same. He will follow You-Know-Who, and I won't allow you to be around that kind of toxic relationship," he said, staring at his sister.

She scoffed. "Oh, and you're suddenly deciding my relationships for me? I know who he is, Cedric, and you can't stop me from dating him."

The older stood up straight, arms crossed over his chest. "You're right. I can't tell you who to date. Go ahead and be with him, Cami, but I'll have you know that if the time comes and he makes the wrong decision, I'm saving you from him, whether you like it or not."

Camille can suddenly see what her brother was warning her about. Even as she was expressing her feelings for her brother, who Harry confessed was killed under Voldemort's command, Draco wouldn't switch sides. He would forever be tied to his father's expectation of him.

"Cami, some things are just supposed to be a certain way. As purebloods-"

"Don't even start, Draco!" She gasped. She had heard of his biased nature towards purebloods before they began dating, but she never experienced his remarks when they were together. "How dare you even approach me with that topic! Are you seriously standing in front of me right now, telling me that my brother died for nothing? That he was just another murder to briefly jot down in some history book?"

"That's not what I'm saying," he argued. "Don't twist my words around. I just don't believe Potter saw the Dark Lord that night or that he killed your brother."

She shook her head. "I can't believe you right now."

"Potter's planting imaginary stuff in your head, Cami! Cedric died a respectable death-"

"Respectable?" She screeched. "I saw him before the third task, and even though my father was crazy for any sort of attention, Cedric still told me he would win for me. He would bring home that money and the prize to get me whatever I wanted. I watched him go in, and I watched him come out in the arms of Harry Potter, dead. He died because Voldemort thought he wasn't of any use! He thought Cedric was just a nuisance that Harry brought along. Cedric was going to bring my family glory and make my father happy, but instead, he's now remembered as that spare boy who died when Harry met Voldemort. He was my hero, and he's gone. He's never going to tell me he loves me again, or that you're a selfish prick and I deserve better. He's never going to be at my wedding or meet my children. That's because of Voldemort, Draco, and I have no doubt in my mind about it."

"Camille-"

She shrugged away from him, wiping away tears she didn't realize had fallen.

"Cedric was right. This relationship is doomed because you're a coward who can't even tell his own father-"

"You do not understand the kind of pressure I'm under," he snarled, stepping forward. "I have to live up to my family's name while yours is just buried underneath your father's useless job at the Ministry-"

Camille slapped him across the face.

"Never speak to me again. Whatever this was — you just destroyed it. Congratulations."

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When she retreated to her bedroom, Camille received a letter from her father.

Cami,

Your mother and I are thrilled that you've decided to stay despite all of the rumors I'm sure are circulating around the school. I'm confident that you will be excellent in your studies this year and prove to us that you are the beautiful Ravenclaw we know and love.

Write to us with more good news, we would love to hear all about it.

-Dad

P.S. Cedric is proud of you, never forget that.

Camille held the letter to her chest and succumbed to her tears, crying into the early hours of the morning.

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cami is just an innocent child who misses her brother, protect her at all costs