The empty alley, devoid of street lights, is much darker than the two streets it connects. The sound of our footsteps is smothered by the wall of a garage on one side and a high fence on the other.

"You aren't this proud at night," says Dudley, in a mocking tone.

"But at night, we're already there, Dudlydoo. That's what it's called when it's dark."

A muscle trembles on Dudley's jaw. I feel an intense satisfaction to provoke in him such fury. As if I was transferring my own sense of frustration directly to my cousin, the only outlet I have.

"I mean, when you're in bed!" replies Dudley.

He stops walking. I stop too, and watch my cousin. Even though I can't see much in this darkness, it seems to me that Dudley's thick face has taken on a strangely triumphant expression.

"What are you talking about? I'm not proud when I'm in bed. What do you think I'm afraid of? The pillows ?"

"I heard you last night," he replies, with a gasping voice. "You were talking in your sleep. And you were crying."

I can feel my stomach tying up. The night before, I saw the cemetery again, in my nightmares. What did this idiot hear?

Dudley bursts into a raucous laugh at my expression. Then, he starts to moan in a small high-pitched voice:

" 'Don't kill Cedric! Don't kill Cedric!' Who's Cedric? Your boyfriend?"

" I..."

A ball in my throat. A stone in my stomach. I swallow my saliva sideways, while escaping his gaze.

"You're lying."

And I'm not wrong. Cedric never was my boyfriend.
And he probably never would have been.

☔︎

I'll always remember that night.

The day before the last event, I walked the halls, looking for distraction. Since the beginning of June, an atmosphere of tension and excitement reigned over the entire castle. Everyone was looking forward to the third task. This, plus the principal's hypothesis about Voldemort's possible return, made me nervous. But it was nothing compared to the stress of the two previous tasks. At least, whatever the outcome, the tournament would be over, which would be a great relief.

At the corner of a corridor, I suddenly froze. There, someone whom I immediately recognized was sitting on the edge of the window. I didn't have time to step back until he turned to me. Always with a smile.

"Good evening, Harry."

His two sparkling brown irises looked at me. I always smiled when I saluted him.

"Good evening, Cedric."

I took a few steps to join him, to climb up to the edge. We used to meet, some evening, somewhere in the castle. If I found him, I would sit beside him. And we would talk. But, unlike Hermione and Ron, my two best friends, topics like classes and Voldemort were almost never addressed. I felt light in those moments. As if all my fears no longer existed, for a time.

Cedric Diggory was a seventeen-year-old boy with an advantageous figure. He was captain and catcher of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team in Hogwarts. He embodied many qualities that attach to his home. He embodied many others.

Loyal, generous, he was always there for the others. Especially for me. In those moments when I felt abandoned by the rest of the world. Especially that night.

"How are you feeling?"

Turning my eyes away from the night landscape, I looked at his eyes for a moment. Cedric always had dimples in the corner of his eyes when he smiled. I wrapped my arms around my knees and stare at the outside again.

"Nervous."

"For the last task?"

"Yes."

We watched an owl pass by the window.

"Eh."

I looked at him again. His hand was fondly rubbing my shoulder.
And his smile never left him.

"You're going to make it. You're Harry Potter. Everything's working for you, right?"

I don't know why I put my hand on his, always on my shoulder.

"We'll get there."

His smile was contagious. However, I accompanied him with a sigh. I rested my hands on the edge of the window.

"I would have given anything to have had another name, believe me."

"It mustn't be easy, to be known for a tragedy."

Cedric was understanding. I was nodding.

"I can confirm that."

Cedric stirred slightly after my words. He now had one leg on the outside, the other bent on the edge.

"That's too bad."

"What do you mean by that?"

Intrigued, I was again turned to him.

"People don't get to know you. They have a made-up image of what you seem to be, and they don't look any further."

A silence reinforced his words. I shuddered at the passage of a light breeze. The branches of the trees danced to the rhythm of the wind. And this moment seemed to me to be unique in the world. Yet, on the outside, it has nothing extraordinary. However, when Cedric spoke to me, I felt like the luckiest boy in the world. And I still feel it. A sincere smile stretched my lips for the umpteenth time that night.

"That's it. That's exactly it, Cedric."

A new silence. We heard strange grunts towards the woods.

"And you think like them? That everything work for me?"

Cedric seemed shy for a second.

"No."

I looked at him, interested. He wore a corner smile that made me blush.

"Remember when we beat you at the Quidditch last year? You fell off your broom. I've never seen anyone lose so miserably."

Despite their meaning, his words were nothing bad. He put an ironic tone in them that made me drop a slight chuckle.

"That's not wrong. I wanted to bury myself underground at that moment."

"Understandable."

I looked at him before giving him a nice blow in the shoulder, which made him laugh. I really liked Cedric's laugh.

"What are you going to do?"

The Hufflepuff looked at me again, following my question.

"Of what?"

"The Money. If you won the tournament. How would you spend it?"

He thought for a moment. And with a sure look of himself, he lifted his nose towards the midnight sun.

"I would share it with my family. My friends, the school... Then I would leave."

"You would leave?"

He clubbed lightly, as if my question seemed silly.

"Yes. I've always wanted to travel. To go and discover new horizons, and to help those in need."

I watched him, impressed. Deep down, I knew he was going to answer me something like that. Cedric always had a humanitarian side, a big heart.
I think that's what I liked about him.

"What about you?"

His question took me out of my thoughts. I thought for a moment. I had no idea. Until the next second.

"I will go around the world. With you, if you want to."

I smiled at him. He seemed disturbed for a moment. Before rejoicing in a frank expression.

"Really? Would you be able to?"

"Sure."

I nodded. And said in a quiet voice:

"Everything works for me, doesn't it?"

Cedric was delighted. I felt a chill on my skin. But it was not unpleasant. On the contrary.
When I was with Cedric,
Everything worked for me.

☔︎

That was the end of that sweet evening.

But so began my last moments with the one I loved.

It's silly, I could have told him.

A night like any other, at random, in the tone of conversation.

I could have changed things.

Prevent Cedric from grabbing the trophy from the maze.

I would have fought alone, Voldemort.

Nothing would have happened to Cedric then.

I wish I could
be able to help him.

Now Cho is facing me.

You know, the girl who loves you.

But if she truly loves you,

Why is she kissing me?

The tears beading at the edge of the eyelashes,

Mourning her boyfriend through the heart?

"I appreciate you a lot, Harry, you know."

I can't think straight.

Mistletoe over our heads.

Some kind of tingling paralyzes me.

I see you, over and over again, with your face frozen in stupor, lying lifeless on the ground.

At least Cho and I share the same vision the moment our lips unite, tirelessly.

Your smell of vanilla,

Your redness at the extremity of your nose,

Your joie de vivre capable of making the dead smile.

Yet you didn't die smiling.

Death took you and your constant enthusiasm.

And, knowing that I could never drink it again,

In turn, I let the salt water slide down my cheeks.

In the light of the torches of the Hall on Demand,

In the December wind striking against the window tiles.

An innocent kiss, a teenage kiss,

With the girl you loved.

☔︎