Just Like You

Just Like You

"The choice between right and wrong is supposed to be easy. The line between good and evil should be clear. I should always do what is right instead of what is wrong, but I must be honest with you, new Hufflepuffs. I do not.

"One year ago, seven first years had the privilege of being initiated into Hufflepuff House by the prefect Cedric Diggory. He showed them a tower that Helga Hufflepuff built over a thousand years ago with the inscription, "For Life you Work | For Friends You Do | For Loyalty you Stay | For Hufflepuffs know True," on the wall. Thousands of others have inscribed their names next to her signature scrawled across the stones, and Cedric watched as the first years carved theirs into it. Each year, one must carve it deeper into the stone, to affix it forever, and at the last night of the seventh year, one must cast an ancient incantation to preserve the name forever. Cedric was to do that in a year--but now he will never do so, and his name will lie unprotected as generations of names pass him by.

"I was one of Cedric's closest friends. We grew up together, on our broomsticks, playing the type of Quidditch that only eight year olds can. We received our Hogwarts letters on the same day, and boarded the Hogwarts Express together a few months later. We told each other secrets, and we confessed our high ambitions. On a few walks across the grounds, we even confessed our silly crushes. Sometimes, we would sit by the lake, and he would tell me of his hopes and dreams. Sometimes, he would hug me as I cried out all of my fears.

"We were best friends--as close as one person can ever be to another. So last year, when he told me that he wanted to put his name in for the Triwizard Tournament, I gave him my support. We walked to the Goblet together, and I watched from the hall as he dropped his name into the bright flames. We held hands on the way back as I helped lay to rest all of his doubts.

"I cheered for him when he was announced as the Hogwarts finalist, and frowned when Harry Potter was also chosen. I did not believe the Gryffindor's story--I thought he sought fame. I was so very wrong.

"I watched Cedric score high marks on the first task, and helped him muster the courage to ask Cho Chang to the Yule Ball. I saw him flush as he greeted her, and waltz with her during the opening dance. That night, he told me he loved her. That night, I congratulated him with all of my heart.

"I held my breath as he disappeared into the lake for hours during the second, and I cried with joy as he emerged with Cho in his arms. I was upset that I was not the thing that he would miss the most, but I held my tongue. I knew Cedric had loved her for years, and I knew that I was only his friend. So I smiled when he came back to the common room, my mouth aching with the effort. I cried when Cedric saw right through me and told me that he could never miss me if I was gone, because he knew I'd never go. We cried together that night, swearing that we would never leave each other, no matter what happened. I swore, and I never broke that vow. He swore, and he did.

"But I didn't know that back then. So before the third task and after many nights of practice on useful spells, charms and even a few hexes, I hugged him and gave him a small kiss to remind him that I would never leave him. I told him that I loved him as a brother, and I told him that I would always be there for him.

"And I told him that he would get to the Cup first. The Cup in the middle of the maze was the ultimate goal, and the last words he ever heard from me were that he would get to the Cup first. The last words I ever said to him were that it didn't matter. But what he heard was the thing that caused him to die.

"It was my fault that he died that day--never to seal his name, and never to graduate from Hogwarts. I heard later that Harry Potter tried to give him the Cup, but that Cedric refused. The sweet and fair boy refused to take the Cup because he believed that Harry deserved it. They decided to take the Cup together in the end.

"Cedric did not die. Cedric was murdered by You-Know-Who--just another casualty in the war against evil, I was told. He was killed because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I told him to be in that wrong place. He was there because I believed in him.

"When Cedric emerged from the maze on a stretcher, I knew something was wrong. Dumbledore's face was cast down, and when his family rushed over, his mother began to scream. I followed his parents, and cried along with the Diggorys that day. His parents cried because they had lost their son. I cried because I had lost my brother.

"Hufflepuffs, Cedric was a good, kind boy who died because he was right. He was right in not taking that Cup alone, and he was right in agreeing to take it with Harry. It was not easy, but it was right. Dumbledore told his parents and me that Cedric's shadow had appeared to Harry in the midst of his duel with the Dark Lord, and that it told Harry that Cedric did not blame him. That was just like Cedric--always making sure that no one was hurt by something he did. Cedric had one request for Potter: to bring his corpse back to his parents. He didn't want his parents to be deprived of anything, even their son's body.

"There were many things I could have, and should have done before going home that year, but I did not do them. Instead, I cried for Cedric like he never would have wanted me to, and mourned for him like he would have hated.

"On the train home, I realized that crying was not the answer. I remembered Cedric telling me that when his cousin, an Auror, died, he did not cry, but tried to live his life for him. So I thought of Cedric, and I knew that I had to become who he could not, now. I left the compartment my friends had so thoughtfully left for me, and joined them down the hall where we sat in a circle and remembered Cedric, telling each other stories about him, and laughing at his old jokes.

"Today I remember Cedric, and I think of how embarrassed he would be if he were here, as he was never one who loved exuberant praise. But I also know that he would be proud that I can stand here and tell you who he was. I know he would be proud that I could tell you who I am, and to try to lead you on the path to greatness, wherever that might take you.

"First years--the line between good and evil should be clear. We should know what is right and what is wrong at a glance without any forethought, like Cedric. Choices should be easy.

"Hufflepuffs, for me, it is not.

"Now that I have told you what I must, I also feel compelled to share one thing with you before you leave--before you become a part of this terrible war.

"Cedric Diggory was an ordinary boy who died because he was ordinary. There are a lot of ordinary boys out there just like him. Remember him when you make a choice--remember that he was just like you."