Love is Always the Solution

~~~ Chapter 1 ~~~

Half asleep, I sat at the breakfast table, absentmindedly twiddling my spoon in my cereal.

"Cho Alyssa, eat properly, young lady. You're not a child anymore," my mother informed me strictly. Both my mother and father always reminded me that I was responsible for upholding the family name and eating like a toddler when I was so close to my womanhood wasn't going to help.

"Mother, I don't see the point of getting up this early," I told her with a slight yawn, "We're only about fifteen minutes from King's Cross, after all."

"I know, honey, but remember last September when we were in the taxi and you forgot one of your spell books? We had to go all the way back to the house to get it. We were lucky the train hadn't drove off by the time we arrived!"

"Yes, Mother," I said dully and rolled my eyes when she wasn't looking.

After I had dressed in my T-shirt and my skirt, which reached slightly above my knees, I put my jacket on and both of us walked out the door. My father was already at work--a dragon breeder. He always encouraged me to become a dragon breeder like him after I graduated Hogwarts, but since I wasn't a big fan of dragons, I instead wanted to be a researcher of endangered or rare magical creatures. I loved a good deal of magical creatures, but my most favorite was the unicorn.

I sat in the Muggle taxicab, looking out the window with my elbow leaning on the windowpane, my chin in the palm of hand. My small grayish tawny owl hooted every now and then and I could tell that the Muggle cab driver wasn't too happy about all of this.

Thoughts were racing in my mind, just like they had during all of summer break. Cedric. He was all I could think about. Cedric. Cedric. Cedric Diggory.

Yes.

I remember when he first had asked me to the Yule Ball, kind of shyly. Well, I didn't see him as anything but any ordinary guy at first, but I accepted anyway. Okay, so I was going to the Yule Ball with Cedric Diggory. No big deal.

But all of that soon changed.

While Cedric and I danced to the third song played by the Weird Sisters--my arms wrapped around his neck and his arm around my waist--I looked into his gray eyes and all of a sudden, thoughts flooded through my brain. My heart beat faster in my chest. I didn't realize, until then, how handsome he looked. How gentle his gaze was at me. How wonderful his smile was. That's when I knew, for sure, that I had fallen in love with the older boy. I couldn't help smiling at him--a different smile I had never smiled before. It was the smile of true love. He did the same to me and for the rest of the song, we danced and gazed into each other's eyes longingly.

Right after the Ball, everything changed between us. We became romantically involved with each other and soon, we were walking down halls, hand in hand, only fixed on each other's thoughts. No one else's mattered anymore when we were together.

But, then the most devastating event occurred that made the world feel as if it had fallen down on me. It had happened during the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament that had taken place last year. Everything seemed normal at first. Cedric and Harry Potter, both of whom were tied in first place, entered the maze first, followed by a part-veela girl named Fleur Delacour and a famous Quidditch player named Viktor Krum.

But, things didn't turn out at all like everyone had planned. We all started getting worried when none of them had reached the end of the maze after about an hour-and-a-half had passed. Then we saw it.

Harry Potter had turned up out of nowhere lying face-first on the grass, clutching Cedric's arm. I remembered rubbing my eyes for a few seconds, not believing of what I had seen, but I knew I wasn't hallucinating when everyone else ran to the scene, me along with them.

As I got a closer look, my mouth fell open and I stood rooted to the spot. Harry was moving, but Cedric was motionless. I couldn't think. I couldn't speak. I felt a sudden helplessness pass over me. But, then I heard the whispers...the whispers that Cedric Diggory was dead.

I didn't want to believe it. I wanted all of this to just be a nightmare I would wake up from anytime soon, able to talk and laugh with him like we always did--to hold his hand.

But, when I finally knew that no one was kidding when they said that Cedric was dead--when I looked into his wide, lifeless gray eyes, I became hysterical.

Why Cedric? I always wondered through tears. Why him?

As I thought and thought, I tried to keep the tears from rolling out of my eyes.

My mother saw my expression as I still watched scenes flash pass from the taxi window and she put a gentle hand on my shoulder.

She must've knew what I was thinking about because she said, "Don't worry, sweetheart, you're going to have a great year."

I knew she was trying to make me feel better, so I forced myself to smile back at her.

Finally, we had reached King's Cross.