19. I'M SORRY ROMY

                                    

                                          
𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕾𝖜𝖊𝖊𝖙 𝕬𝖓𝖉 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕲𝡣𝖑𝖉𝖊𝖓
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February 14th, 1995
When Juliet Potter gave birth to her daughter, she heard all sorts of things ranging from "oh what a beautiful baby!" to "mate I hope she doesn't inherit the mother's fierce personality."
Funny enough, both statements were true, Andromeda was infinitely pretty, and she was the complete opposite of her mother in terms of behaviour. The Hufflepuff was known to be quiet, joyous and graceful. Her mother on the other hand was daring, loud, blunt and sassy.
Hence the surprise when she saw her daughter hit Cedric Diggory with the roses he had given her, a new one every hour. Romy had tried to be patient, but he had apparently decided to offer her a rose for every year he made her angry, and she lost her patience when she got the fifth- and last one.
"What do you think you're doing?" The blonde raised her voice at him.
Now Juliet was definitely eavesdropping the conversation. Not her fault they decided to argue right outside the Great Hall after dinner. And Juliet had to leave to be with her husband for their wedding anniversary, but he could wait another five minutes.
"I'm trying to apologize." He said, his arms raised in surrender as he eyed the flowers in her grip.
He was glad he made sure to cut off the thorns because he was scared she'd accidentally get hurt. Otherwise he'd have cuts everywhere on his face.
"Apologize !? APOLOGIZE ? You think that makes up for it all, you twat? Do you even know what you're apologizing for?"
Needless to say, both Juliet, who was hiding out of sight, and Cedric, who stood before her, were completely shocked.
"I- I just..." He stumbled over his words. He never would've expected her to react so badly, he thought that the worst thing she would do is walk away with a glare.
Andromeda couldn't understand her own anger, in all those years, Cedric only ever added to her annoyance, but his sudden apology just made her resentful.
Her mother could see the anger rising in her daughter, the same way it always did with her. Her chest was heaving and her hands trembling. So she decided she's had enough of what she saw and walked towards the teenagers.
"You. With me." She whispered to her daughter, her hands on the blonde's shoulders, leading her away, and out of Hogwarts doors.
Juliet did spot her husband waiting for her with a broom by the iron gates, but she signalled for him to wait.
"Tell me what's going on." She demanded from her daughter whose anger had turned into shame as she was looking down at her shoes.
"I'm sorry, I- I don't know what took over me." Romy looked down at her feet.
Juliet never scolded her, because she never had a reason to, now that she was using the strict tone with her daughter, she could tell the girl didn't know how to react.
"Listen to me, young lady, I don't know what is going on between the two of you, because of how secretive you have decided to be about your dispute, and at this point, I don't even care. But I didn't raise you to be rude and disrespectful, especially not to one of our family friends, so you will go back in and apologize." The brunette woman instructed.
"Me!? But he-" Romy tried to protest.
"No." Juliet stopped her. "I'm sure you have a valid reason to be angry with him, same reason he should apologize to you, but you do not get to insult him as you wish."
Andromeda frowned, her lips pouting at the injustice. "I won't do it. I won't forgive him."
The mother stared down at her daughter and sighed. "You don't need to forgive him. Forgiveness is not easily given, and it's something he must earn. You can go back in there, apologize for lashing out, and refuse his apology."
"You don't even know the whole story! I don't want to apologize to him."
"I don't know the whole story because you've refused to tell me the whole story." Juliet pointed out, her eyebrows furrowed. "So you don't get to use that as an excuse. Regardless of what he's done, do you think it's right for you to take your anger out on someone like you just did?"
The blonde Hufflepuff was very upset but she knew her mother was right. Romy was never one to hurt anyone, and she shouldn't excuse it because it wasn't right.
"Fine. I'll apologize."
"Good-" Romy stormed in before Juliet could finish. The Head of Slytherin House sighed, shaking her head before walking to her husband.
Cedric, who had just been standing at the same spot this whole time, still looked overly confused when Andromeda angrily walked back to him. He braced himself, ready to be hit again, but she simply faced him, the roses in hand, taking a deep breath before she spoke.
"I'm sorry for taking my anger out on you." She sighed.
The Hufflepuff boy blinked in disbelief. "Uh. Yeah, no, it's fine."
"And I don't accept your apology." The blonde continued before she turned and walked away from him.
Cedric snapped out of his trance, calling after her. "Wait, what?"
She stopped and turned to face him again. "I don't forgive you. You were my best friend, and you betrayed my trust, you can't buy it back with five roses and a simple 'I'm sorry'."
As she was explaining herself, Romy understood the root of her own anger better, and that alone managed to give her some solace.
The boy stared at her with a semblant of a sad expression on his face. "I understand. But I'm willing to do anything for us to be... normal again."
"Our normal is bickering at this point." She rolled her eyes.
"It used to be different." He recalled.
Andromeda didn't answer, she was starting to feel uncomfortable.
"I'm so sorry, Andromeda. I know sorry isn't enough, it's never going to be enough. I was a stupid kid, and I continued to be stupid for five years. I sold your trust to feed my ego, and I blamed you for a fallout that I caused. It wasn't fair, and it wasn't right." Cedric spoke, his words ending with a sigh.
His childhood friend could tell there was so much sincerity in his tone, and she appreciated the effort, but her hurt heart still didn't think it was enough.
"And I'm sorry for ruining things between you and Wood." He added, a sheepish grimace on his face.
"It's fine. It doesn't matter anymore." She shook her head.
"Yes it does. You like him." He frowned.
Romy shrugged. "I did, but if the person I like is so ready to turn their back to me just because someone else meddled, then they're not right for me." She continued when he just stood there speechless. "So, it's not entirely your fault. But this apology, I'll accept. And I appreciate you trying to fix it afterwards."
"Yeah... No problem." He nodded, as she gave him a small smile and walked away.
Cedric couldn't put more words than that together afterwards because of how hard is heart was pounding. Her words kept repeating in his mind, and he felt himself being way too overjoyed by it.
I did. She didn't like him anymore.
It took him a minute to realize his own thoughts, and frown at himself. What's there to be happy about?

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cedric will fall first and harder because I like man simps