This is probably going to be very OOC, but I have to post it. I love Cedrica so much. ---- “Cedrica Onee-san, I… I love you. Please go out with me.” Cedrica stopped beneath the archway. They had been walking across the courtyard together, taking their time because the evening was pleasant and neither had suggested going inside. She had been telling him something about practice. Now she couldn’t remember what. “Huh?” Harry stood a few paces behind her, his hands clenched at his sides. The last of the sunlight caught the rims of his glasses, hiding his eyes, but somehow Cedrica felt as though she could look through them. He looked terribly serious. She smiled at him out of habit, waiting for the rest. There didn’t seem to be any more. And his face was getting redder and redder the longer they waited. Cedrica thought to herself, Surely he doesn’t mean… “Harry, wait. Aren’t you and Ginny…?” “We broke up.” Her smile faltered, and Cedrica responded only out of habit to avoid the awkward silence that was beginning to fall over their conversation. “Oh. I didn’t know.” “I only want you, Cedrica Onee-san… I can’t think of anyone else.” For once, Cedrica could think of absolutely nothing to say. Cedrica wished for a loud noise to break the silence. Then came the sound of a group of students in the distance. She glanced toward them, hoping they would come in this direction to save her from this moment, but it was all for naught because they were already moving away, as if they knew something was going on between Harry and her. Then she looked back at Harry, who was still waiting in precisely the same spot. She had the unreasonable wish that he would move, or say something else, or give her a moment to arrange her face. He’s serious... Oh, this is going to be difficult. The thought came to her so naturally. Maybe it was because she also felt something for Harry, she wondered. Could it be that she had been mistaken about herself? She had always been fond of him. She looked for him at meals, asked after him when he seemed tired, and saved him a place whenever he joined her. She thought he was such a poor kid, and she was trying her best to give him a place where he knew he belonged, almost a second family after the Weasleys. Until a few moments ago, she could have done any of those things without wondering what he thought they meant. “Harry,” she said gently, but she could hear a tremble in her voice from the awkwardness and how unexpected it all was. Harry jolted a little but tried to pretend he was only straightening his back. That made it worse. “You know I’m very fond of you, Harry.” “Yes?” There was so much hope in that one word that she hesitated. She had been about to say like a little brother. Looking at him now, she could almost see how he would remember it afterwards. She brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she tried to say something, as she always did, like a big sister to him. But for some reason, the sentence didn’t come out right, and she stuttered. “How… how long have you been thinking about this?” “A while.” “How long is a while?” Harry looked down at the paving stones. “I kept trying to tell you.” Cedrica remembered the walks he had offered to take with her, the times he had lingered after everyone else had left. She had teased him once about having something on his mind. When he’d gone red, she had assumed it concerned Ginny, so she had always figured it could wait until later. She wished she could have known, but she quickly brushed that idea away because there was no point retracing the past. “Oh,” she said softly. “Would you rather I hadn’t?” There was confusion in Harry’s voice; Cedrica could tell. She stepped toward him before she had worked out an answer. “No. I’m glad you told me.” His face brightened, and she hurried on. “Only, you’ve had rather more time to think about it than I have.” “Right. Sorry.” “Don’t apologise.” Cedrica knew she had been put in a tough spot, but she knew she still had to talk to Harry like a big sister. She wondered, though, whether those big-sister actions and words might have actually led to what was happening now. But she pushed those thoughts away as quickly as possible. Her hand had already risen to smooth his untidy hair. She caught herself and lowered it, but Harry noticed. His eyes followed the movement, and for the first time that evening, she felt shy around him. “Could we walk a little more?” she asked. Harry nodded and came to her side. They turned back into the courtyard, away from the open doors. Cedrica clasped her hands behind her back. She was suddenly very conscious of the space between them, and of how easily she would have taken his arm ten minutes earlier. Her face was all red, and she was a bit afraid of what Harry would say next. All her thoughts were now jumbled up.