15

                                    

                                          

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
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Saturday seemed to sneak up quickly on Ellie. Winter break was flying by, but that was something Ellie didn't mind. With a lot of her friends having gone home for the holidays, she found herself spending a lot more time with Cedric. That was something she'd never thought she'd say.
He had decided to stay at Hogwarts and do some investigating about the Golden Egg to figure out what he was supposed to do with it, and seeing as his friends also went home, Ellie was someone for him to talk to. The two ended up working together to figure the egg out as best as they could.
Ellie was hurrying around in her dorm room, trying to get ready before Cedric could knock on the door. She had gotten distracted by a book she was reading and had completely lost track of time. Even on a good day, Ellie's time management was never the best.
She quickly threw a red scarf around her neck and sprayed some perfume onto her wrists and her neck when a knock sounded at the door. She jumped and fumbled to catch the perfume bottle that she had almost dropped.
"Come in!" she called out to Cedric. He opened the door and looked around the room, which looked like a tornado had passed through it. "Oh."
He snickered a little and she frowned as she fixed her scarf.
"Oh, don't even," she scoffed, grabbing a hat. "I've seen your room in much worse condition."
Cedric glanced over at the cat sitting on her bed. "Yeah, you have, all thanks to that little menace right there," he replied, pointing at Vera.
Ellie rolled her eyes. "You leave her alone. I'll bet you did something wrong and that's why she messed up your room," she said, grabbing Cedric's hand and ushering him out of the room. "Plus, you were being so over dramatic about that. She dropped a few papers off of your desk and that was it."
Cedric tilted his head as Ellie shut the door. "We seem to remember two very different rooms."
"Are we going to go or not?" she sighed, already on her way down the stairs.
"You're going to trip if you go any faster," he said loudly as she rushed out of the common room. Ellie turned around and stuck her tongue out at him, and despite trying his hardest, Cedric struggled to bite back a smile. That was the Ellie he knew.
The thick snow crunched underfoot as Cedric caught up to Ellie. The walk to Hogsmeade was not super long but they were outside long enough for their noses and cheeks to have gone cherry red in the cold. As soon as they reached the boutique--a small, cozy building by the name of Martha's Boutique--they ran inside as fast as possible. Snow dusted the shoulders of their jackets and a lady hurried up to them.
"Take your jackets off, quickly!" she commanded, gesturing for them to do it. "I'll dry and warm them for you in the back closet, but they need to be there. Can't have the snow melting and dripping onto the dresses!"
The woman was an older lady with graying hair tied up into a neat, tidy bun and square glasses that made her eyes look bigger than they were. When they took off their jackets, the lady used a spell to send them to a closet in the back. "Ah, there we are." She smiled brightly at Ellie and Cedric. "My, you two are quite a cute couple! My name is Martha. How can I help you today?"
"Oh, we're not-" Cedric tried to say before Ellie cut him off. She grabbed his arm and tapped his palm as she slipped her other hand into his. He looked down and saw her pointing at a small sign by the registers. COUPLES GET 20% OFF ON ALL DRESSWARE. 
"Thank you, Martha," she replied happily. "We're here for the Yule Ball. It's coming up at Hogwarts and I've heard from everyone that Martha's Boutique is the place to go for a dress."
"Well, it would appear everyone is right!" Martha exclaimed. "And I expect this young man is helping to pay?"
"He's treating me this morning," Ellie responded as she let go of Cedric's arm. He twined his arm around her waist, Ellie seeing clearly that he wanted to sell the appearance of being a couple.
Martha sighed dreamily. "Well, that's just lovely. Come! Come! I have the perfect dresses I could show you. And for you, sir, we have ties and dress robes that match this beautiful girl's beautiful dress," she told Cedric as she reached for Ellie's wrist to lead her to the dress racks.
They moved through the different racks filled with dresses of every color, size, and texture and Ellie couldn't help but gape at some of the garments. They were all so beautiful, but the ones that truly caught her eye were the handpicked ones on the rack by the mirrors and the platform.
"It seems my taste is to your liking," Martha observed, gesturing to the rack of clothes. "We can try on as many of them as you wish."
Ellie looked at Cedric hesitantly, but he just smiled at her and said, "Go ahead. We'll do something fun afterwards." Without another thought, Ellie smiled and let Martha lead her to the dressing rooms as she dragged the dress rack behind her. Cedric followed and sat down by the register while Ellie went to try on dresses.
She tried on multiple different ones, including one that hugged her figure nicely but wasn't a color she was a big fan of. Another one was an A-line dress, but the material of the dress was insanely uncomfortable. Eventually, she found a dress she really liked. Martha stuck it in a dress bag and handed it to Ellie, walking her to the front.
"How will you be paying?" Martha asked sweetly.
Cedric smiled at her and handed her a sack of Galleons that would be more than enough for the dress.
"Thank you so much," the woman said. "Come again soon!"
The two left the shop and Ellie used a spell to send the dress back to Hogwarts--a reverse accio spell, if you will--and they started walking off. "What did you get?" he asked.
Ellie grinned. "You'll just have to wait and find out, won't you?"
Cedric sighed but failed to hide his smile. "I guess I will." He glanced down the street at the Three Broomsticks, the bright sign glowing with the word OPEN. "Wanna go get something to drink?"
Nodding vigorously, Ellie grabbed Cedric's hand and pulled him toward the Three Broomsticks. He almost tripped over his own feet as they ran. "Ellie, slow down!"
It was safe to say, Ellie did not slow down.
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AUTHOR'S CORNER
Omg am I finally no longer crippled? 
No. I'm still crippled. 
But I thought I'd publish this cutie little chapter I wrote while my wrist was in it's prime broken stage just to keep the updates going. I know it's been a while, but I'm really close to getting the cast off. Like literally a week or two from now, which will come so fast.
That means I will be working on another chapter for you guys! Yay! I can write now!
But here's another thing that will be slowing my updates down a lot. So finals for school is coming up and it's probably going to kick my ass a lot, which means updates will probably be scarce. I do obviously plan to continue with this story (Ellie and Cedric have all my love) and unless I decide otherwise, you guys will be seeing a lot of me this summer.
Anyways, thank you so much for reading! Love you all to the moon and to Saturn!