The Rumors Are Terrible and Cruel
You were worried. You walked as calmly as you could back to your room to change. You kept a neutral expression on your face. It wasn’t until you looked in the mirror while putting on your robes did it leave you. Your expression turned sour and scared when you saw that the robes didn’t cover the lingering bruises around your neck.
You didn’t want to think about what had happened. You didn’t want to remember that it happened. You didn’t even want to remember that you ever heard the name Cedric. You just sighed and left your room. As you walked into your first class of the day you could feel the stares boring into you and you could hear the whispers.
You thanked the heavens that your first class was potions. You smiled when you saw Mattheo sitting tucked in the corner of the room. He looked up and smiled back. You walked over to him and slipped into your normal seat beside him.
You moved closer to him. You tried to convince yourself that everything would be fine if you were tucked in this corner with your best friend. He was your best friend now. Professor Snape noticed the two of you sitting too close in the corner. You felt the moment he noticed the bruises. He didn’t tell you to move apart. He just explained the day's potion and told everyone to partner up.
You turned towards Mattheo and flipped to the recipe page in our textbook. As you gathered the ingredients and tucked yourself back in the corner Mattheo asked, “How are you doing?”
“You don’t have to worry about me,” You quickly answered.
He gave you a look that you knew meant he wasn’t going to accept that.
“I would be better if I couldn’t tell people are watching and talking about me.” You said, “And don’t treat me like I’m fragile. It makes it worse.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.” He replied, “I’m going to treat you the same and just check up on you. I just want you to know you can talk to me any time.”
“Even if it’s midnight and I pass out the moment I get in your room?” You asked jokingly.
“Especially then.” He joked back. The two of you went back to making the potion. You kept looking around nervously.
“Do you know what their saying?” You asked.
“Are you sure you want to know? People can be kind of nasty.” He replied.
“Yes. I want to be prepared.” You said. You didn’t really want to know but you were getting sick with worry about what they were saying.
“Cedric got let out of Dumbledore’s office. He has been expelled. He’s off campus now but before he left, he got to some of his friends and said that you were…” He hesitated.
“I’ve heard worse before. Just tell me.” You said.
“He said he was only with you because you were a slut and that he was just using you for your body and he said you were going to blackmail him about the cheating.” Mattheo finished.
“We didn’t even have sex.” You replied sadly. This all made you want to puke. “Do people believe him?”
“Some. Cho Chang said that he used to hit her too, so most people believe you. I should warn you though some don’t.” He replied.
“I feel bad for her.” was your only reply. You stopped talking for a while after that.
***
You stayed stuck to Mattheo’s side for the rest of the morning. He didn’t seem to mind. His presence was comforting.
Lunch went badly. You sat with your friend group. They seemed to believe you, but Pansy and Draco were both acting especially bitchy. After you sat down, a few members of the Hufflepuff quidditch team passed by. As they walked one sneered at you and loudly said, “Whore.”
You stiffened but didn’t react. You felt Mattheo’s death stare. You whispered, “Ignore them.”
As lunch ended you reminded yourself you only had three classes left of the day. First was herbology, which went fairly smoothly. Mattheo was in that class, and he noticed that towards the end of the class you started getting nervous. You were internally freaking out.
Your next class was brooms. You knew Cedric wouldn’t be there, but you still felt anxious. You felt the beginning of a panic attack. Mattheo asked if you were okay. You shook your head no.
“We could skip?” He suggested. You thought about it. You knew you’d have to face the music eventually, but could you do it today?
“No. I’ll go.” You finally replied, “Walk me there?”
He nodded and both of you walked towards the field. You knew he had to get to class.
“Go. I’ll be fine.” You said weakly.
“If you're not, come get me.” He replied. “Go that?”
You nodded. You said bye and walked onto the field. Mattheo walked to his class.
The whispers started almost immediately. You just tried to ignore them. The lesson started. You were scared but Cedric wasn’t there. You were scared to even get on the broom, but you did. The lesson felt like it took a thousand years. The entire time you felt awful.
You could feel tears on your cheeks at one point, but you were in the air so no one else saw. As soon as class was dismissed you got out of there. When you walked off the field Mattheo was right around the corner. He looked at you intently. You knew he could tell it was bad. Your emotions were written across your face.
“What happened?” He asked immediately.
“Nothing really. It’s just- I- I can’t even think about him and that class makes me think of him and the rumors- God the rumors… People think I’m easy and that I tried to use him and I…” You rambled.
“Hey, hey it will be okay. You’ll be alright. Let’s get out of here. Come on the day is over. Let’s go somewhere.” He said, trying to be comforting.
“I can’t go into school right now.” You said weakly.
“Then we'll go somewhere else.” He said, wrapping you in his arms.
You felt better in his arms. You felt safe. You never wanted to lose that feeling.