【 'cause i'm just a girl, oh, little old me
well don't let me out of your sight. 】

— Florence + The Machine, Just A Girl

『𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓: 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐘 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍』

September 11, 1993

Dearest Fucker,

So, what? I could have this fucking useless journal and not even a sodding book to read? This must be a terrible joke. Ronald Fucking Weasley should be in here not me. I know it was his filthy rat that hurt Kairus. He was a man! And then a rat again. BUT OF COURSE, NO ONE WOULD BELIEVE THE RAMBLINGS OF THIS MAD WITCH. Sweet fucking Salazar, I should have just thrown myself over the railings of the stairs. The Hospital Wing would be a better residence. That is, if I survived the fall. I don't mind if I don't. It's a top preference, actually.

Professor, I know you can read this. Can you at least tell me anything about Kairus's recovery? Surely, you won't let me down on that one despite you doing so very consistently.

And no, still no changes. Still fucked up in the head, apparently. That's not going away anytime soon.

Solaria Avril Dragonne

Last night was a nightmare. Not only because she didn't get the chance to hurt Weasley like she wanted, but because she could barely sleep. It was only about 3 in the morning that Legacy decided to slip the eldest Dragonne one of her twin brother's Dreamless Sleep Potions. Legend downs them like water and the side effects of taking it regularly was not pretty. But her brother could not live without it.

Solar was more than thankful to her cousin for giving her the potion. It certainly did the job, she pushed through the night without a thought bugging her head. But to be quite frank? Solar missed the recurring nightmare. It's what keeps her head in reality. It reminds her that not even sleep could be romanticised.

When she woke up her back was aching from the old and stiff mattress that served as the only bed in her cold, depressing cell with the flimsy thin fabric that was a pathetic excuse for a blanket covering her slumbering, shivering body. Yes, they've put her in an actual cell like she's some kind of mountain troll. But they wouldn't be so careless enough as to put her in a cell near the troll, would they? Especially without her wand to protect herself. Though surely, what happened two years ago wouldn't happen again.

.・゜゜・

"Have you seen Solar?" Asked the distracted caramel-haired wizard. It was once again a Saturday, much to Cedric's relief because he was not able to sleep until an hour past midnight, a certain Slytherin with buttery blonde waves occupying the best parts of his brain keeping him up for hours.

Cedric, along with the rest of the Hufflepuff House and rest of the students from other houses, were having breakfast in the Grand Hall. Though, while the eldest Dragonne has dominated his mind, his eyesight, not so much since he stepped out of the Hufflepuff dorm.

The younger brunette wizard reluctantly looked at his best friend, his wrist stopping from flicking his fork across the food in his plate.

"No." He answered, suspiciously short. Though his efforts to conceal the news were shattered the moment another Hufflepuff who overheard them invited himself to their conversation.

"You haven't heard?" The wizard said, causing Sander to whirl his gaze toward the boy, his eyes widening as if sending him a non-verbal signal to shut the fuck up.

Cedric stopped eating and lowered his fork on the plate, not wavering his eyes from the younger student that had taken it upon himself to squeeze himself into their conversation. Not that Cedric minded, as long as he got answers from him. "Heard what?"

The student flickered his gaze toward Sander when he noticed the brunette widening his eyes further at him now partnered with a warning show of gritted teeth and a firm grip of his own fork, as if threatening to stab the poor kid if he so much as said another word about the topic. Cedric seemed to catch on quickly as soon as he saw the way blood drained from the student's face when he looked at his best friend sitting to his left.

When he turned his head to glance at Sander, Cedric caught the brunette before he could regain his unnatural apathetic expression.

"Sander." Cedric called with a knowing, warning tone in his voice.

"Yes, mate?" Sander faked an innocent tone with him to go with the faux clueless smile he had immediately stretched on his lips. That wasn't going to work on him.

"Where is Solar?" Cedric asked, giving Sander a chance to come clean.

Sander opened his mouth, though no words came out for a good couple of seconds, trying to find the right words. Then settled with "I don't know."

"Sander." Cedric warned.

"I don't want to tell you." The younger Hufflepuff answered too fast.

The caramel-haired wizard shifted his body in his seat to turn more toward the unusually secretive Sander and sighed deeply to lengthen his Hufflepuff patience and prevent himself from smacking the back of his best friend's head.

"If you don't tell me right now, I am going to march into the Slytherin table and tell Pansy Parkinson that you have—" Cedric blackmailed and before he could even finish his threat, Sander gave up.

"Alright, alright! Stop!" Sander exclaimed. He closed his eyes and turned away from Cedric, running his fingers through his hair before propping his elbows on the wooden table, only giving his best friend barely a side glance as he answered his question. "She's locked up in the Dungeons."

The way Cedric's eyes widened into saucers caused Sander to slide away from him with his fork still in hand.

"What?" Cedric blinked once, to contain his self-control. "How did this happen? When did this happen?"

Only Solaria Avril Dragonne can bring out this side of him. He was never the one to be so outraged that he had to really strengthen his self control. With slightly trembling hands, Sander explained the situation with uncontrollable gestures as a way to lighten up the mood. Which failed miserably.

"A-Apparently, after the professors escorted us back to our dorms, Solar kind of...sort of...went all psycho on the Gryffindors." Sander said. Just when he thought Cedric's face could not appear even more shocked, it did. "Yeah. Something about a Weasley boy and his rat. Dumbledore had her locked up in a cell since last night."

"Honestly, it's been a long time coming." Once again, the unwanted Hufflpuff hijacked their conversation and stirred it into a direction that even Sander didn't appreciate. "Everyone's been betting to see who's the first Dragonne in this batch to snap. You know, like every Dragonne that came before them? I just thought it would be Legend that'll go mad first. He's obviously the most unstable one."

Cedric looked at the boy with a soul-sinking glare. Sander also turned his attention to the young Hufflepuff and shot him an irritated scowl. "If you don't shut up, I'm going to snap at you."

Before Sander or the intrusive Hufflpuff could get another word out, Cedric jumped from his seat, immediately on his feet and walking toward the large double doors of the Great Hall, ignoring the calls of his name by different voices.

He half expected his feet to bring him down a flight of stairs toward the Dungeons where they were keeping the eldest Dragonne. But as every heavy and anxious step he took, he finds himself closer and closer to the doors of the Headmaster's office. Barging in unannounced, Professor McGonagall, who was standing in front of the desk where Professor Dumbledore was, whipped around with a strict expression tracing the lines of her face.

"Mr. Diggory, have you no manners?!" McGonagall exclaimed. It seemed as though the two professors were conversing about such a sensitive and important matter that it made the female teacher jumpy and uneasy about the sudden interference of the Hufflepuff.

"It's all right, Minerva." Said the headmaster. "We'll continue this discussion later."

Professor McGonagall cast a disapproving glance at the caramel-haired wizard before finally walking past him and out of the office, closing the door after her departure.

"Mr. Diggory, I can't say I'm surprised as I've been waiting for you." Dumbledore stated, walking around his desk and stopping just before the small steps, while Cedric remained in his position five feet from the door.

He ignored the professor's comment and shoved down his curiosity as to how he knew that he was going to come see him.

"I would like to know when Solar would be released from the Dungeons." Cedric asked, the words arguably polite, the tone...questionable.

"Until I say so." Dumbledore answered shortly.

The Hufflepuff furrowed his eyebrows, questioning his Headmaster further. "So, you're saying that you'll be keeping her there? That's quite an extreme punishment, don't you think?"

Albus shrugged his shoulders. "Seems so, if you only know half the story."

Cedric took a few steps forward, borrowing some of the Gryffindors' bragged courage while maintaining eye contact with the professor.

"I know the story." He claimed. "Solar was hurt about seeing her dragon like that and she acted as a way to avenge."

"Like I said, half the story." Dumbledore repeated.

His eyebrows slightly pushed to meet in the middle, his contemplating bluish grey eyes narrowing at the old wizard. "Do you mean there's more to it?"

With hands clasped in front of him, Albus stepped down the small stairs inside his office and made his way toward the Hufflepuff boy, his steps trailing off to a halt just just seven feet away from him.

"No one in their right mind would attack a dragon, no matter their age, unless they have an ulterior motive." Dumbledore pointed out, trusting Cedric to figure out the rest. And he knew to put his trust on Cedric as he deciphered his statement instantaneously.

"Whoever attacked Kairus is going after Solar?" Cedric voiced out, mildly flinching at the thought of Solar being injured instead of Kairus. He remembered asking Solar of her least favourite colour, red. Imagining Solar with her buttery blonde waves damp in sticky red...it was horrific. It's starting to become his least favourite as well.

"I have reason to believe that whoever attacked Kairus broke into her room to leave something behind. Most definitely something...unpleasant for her health." Dumbledore explained. "And until that something is identified and confiscated, she cannot return to her room."

Cedric, for the first time since he had entered the office, looked away from the headmaster as he dwelled into his thoughts. Solar's life was in danger. Whoever was after her had managed to hurt her dragon into an almost critical state. This was no prank. It was a calculated murder plan.

Albus watched as the young man dove into his sea of emotional, pubescent thoughts, worry and fear etched onto his face like a second skin. And it fascinated him because he hadn't seen him worry that much about himself. Or his friends. Only for this one particular girl.

"You're a smart and kind boy, Mr. Diggory. And it appears that you're quite a good influence on Ms. Dragonne." Albus mentioned, opening up a new topic. But it didn't go exactly to the direction that he had planned when Cedric snapped his gaze back at the old wizard and the worry that was plastered across his face was replaced with a mix of surprise and scepticism.

"You've been watching us." Cedric said.

"I've been watching all of them." Dumbledore corrected.

"Why?" The fifth-year wizard asked. This was the first question that Dumbledore seemed to have felt hesitant to answer, which led Cedric to believe that what he just asked was now a lot bigger than their conversation earlier. And Cedric could not think of a more fitting answer as soon as he realised it. "The Dragonne Secret. The one they were spelled to not utter a single thing about. You know, don't you?"

The old wizard didn't say anything. Instead, he nodded once, slowly, and with firm, unyielding eye contact with the Hufflepuff. His thoughts then changed directions and toward the knowledge he had acquired when Solar told him to read the book about their bloodline for the project. A particular section in the book caught his attention and surely, the metaphorical dots started to connect.

"I've read it in their book, about the time Viloria Dragonne told You-Know-Who about their secret before the Secret Charm was implemented on their bloodline, and how they were nearly destroyed because of it." The Hufflepuff wizard rambled. He couldn't believe he even retained this much knowledge about it. "She told you, didn't she?"

Albus took a deep breath. He was impressed with the level of knowledge Cedric had. As well as his ability to remain calm after learning the overwhelming information that was revealed in the last ten minutes. Then the mention of her name knocked his thoughts off course. He remembered the young woman facing the end of her unforgiving life, the young woman he so desperately tried to protect from so many things—from her family, from her family's enemies, from her own mind—only to be betrayed by her own heart.

"Viloria Dragonne went through all the stages they are going through right now." Dumbledore told him, the air around suddenly shifting heavier. "I will not fail them like I failed her."

Cedric recalled the death of Viloria Zhaelien Dragonne in the book, though vague with the author seemingly refusing to go into detail about how the young woman died. Only that You-Know-Who did it. But based on the expression on the old wizard's face, Cedric figured that he knew.

"Mr. Diggory, I've told you what you needed to know in confidence. I trust you not to utter a single word to anyone except Ms. Dragonne about what you've learned here today." Albus pointed out, finally a closure to the rather massive enlightenment of a conversation that the two of them undoubtedly had.

Cedric simply, but surely nodded, still hung over from the hefty amount of realisation cramped in mere fifteen minutes. With a mildly dazed mind and sluggish movements, the Hufflepuff wizard turned around to make his way toward the door and out of the office when Albus once again spoke.

"Are you not going to ask me what the secret is? Unlike them, I'm hardly spelled." Albus wondered, narrowing his eyes at the young wizard.

He did not even have to think about his answer. "I haven't earned the right to know it yet."

Dumbledore smiled.

"I'm glad I was right about you, Mr. Diggory."

.・゜゜・

is anybody still reading this?