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-ˋˏ cedric diggory ˎˊ-

⌜humming a frog choir song that is still stuck in your head; an easy smile that doesn’t quite meet your eyes anymore; the drip of guilt down your throat and the constant wonder if maybe, just maybe, there was something you could have done differently; a soft pillow under your head even as thoughts rush about your overthinking mind; quidditch as therapy, longing for the burn of a cigarette in your lungs; the reassuring squeeze of a hand, the pressure of friendship; hope for a better future, though your once quiet optimism is waning⌟

THE BASICS;

full name : cedric amos diggory

nickname(s): ced, diggory

age & year: 25, seventh year

birthday: september 7th

house: hufflepuff 

sexuality: bisexual (not necessarily closeted, but has only dated women so the subject hasn’t really come up beyond his group of friends)

blood status: pureblood

wand: ash wood with unicorn hair core, 12 ¼ inches, pleasantly springy

patronus: capybara

zodiac sign: virgo

place of birth : ottery st. catchpole, devon, england

APPEARANCE;

faceclaim : nicholas galitzine

height & build : 6’2”, tall and broad shouldered, bad-postured

eye color : hazel

hair color : light brown & wavy

other: tiny scar on his little finger on his left hand (left by a foul-tempered garden gnome); long burn scar down the right side of his abdomen (left by an even fouler-tempered blast-ended skrewt); arms tops of shoulders dotted with light freckles (courtesy of hours upon hours practicing quidditch)

PERSONALITY;

positive traits : self-effacing, generous, helpful, sensible

cedric has never been one for glory or fame; the only reason he entered his name into the triwizard tournament was at the insistence of his father and badgering of his friends. he is humble nearly to a fault, never wanting to take credit for his achievements and quick to hand out house points to students in other houses. despite nearly always having people around him, cedric isn’t one to stand out, never wanting to be the loudest in the room; he’s a quiet observer and knows a lot about people because he listens rather than talks. many have taken this quietness as almost a sign of arrogance, and a lack of questions a sign of disinterest.

negative traits : dubious, withdrawn, self-sacrificing, perfectionist

the lack of want for any form of recognition is due to the fact that cedric feels he has great pressure to be perfect. his parents have great expectations of him, and, though he is a rather gifted student, there is still a fear that he won’t measure up. constantly immersed in studies,  ced tends to get particularly irritable when a big exam is coming up. 

prior to the events of the third task, cedric was always around for a quick word or helpful advice. you needed something? ask cedric. but the events surrounding harry potter’s death, the rumor mill running rampant, as well as watching alastor moody’s eye pop out of barty crouch’s skull, the shaking of the real alastor moody locked within a trunk, cedric isn’t seen around much anymore. usually tucked inside the hufflepuff common room, walking the grounds at night under pretense of head boy duties or under the warm glow of the greenhouses, he’s put his focus on his studies–or, really, anything to keep his mind off that fateful night in june. 

likes: warm september days; spending afternoons in the greenhouse with professor sprout (he has no great love for herbology, but mainly he studies and tries not to get in the way of the venomous tentacula); playing gobstones, charms and transfiguration classes; a warm cup of earl grey tea; writing letters to students so they have something to open for owl post; lazy afternoons on the back of a broomstick

dislikes: confined spaces, care of magical creatures (this one is new, he used to rather enjoy it, but now he can’t even look at hagrid without being reminded of the maze’s monsters); too many questions; large crowds; nighttime

FAMILIAL TIES;

NUCLEAR FAMILY

amos diggory: father

catherine diggory: mother

while the diggorys are a long-standing pureblood family, they never got caught up in the antics and politics of magical society. or, at least, catherine didn’t. amos, on the other hand, had always been an ambitious lad, always trying to work his way up the ranks in the ministry. cedric’s father had a certain air of superiority to him, not that he was ever unkind to cedric, but he would kick the gnomes in their garden and always had something to say about the state of ministry officials’ houses (and the poor jobs their house-elves were doing). he worked for the department of regulation and control of magical creatures and always had some story to tell; as a child, cedric found these stories fascinating, but as he grew, he realized how much amos hated where he was positioned. as cedric grew, his father’s insecurities were taken out on him: he always said that cedric was going to become the next minister for magic: (“my boy, my son, top of the class! ‘Atta boy, ced!”) he’d boast about cedric’s tiniest of accomplishments. cedric loved his father dearly, but he couldn’t help but feel that the weight of amos’ hopes and dreams were all pinned directly on his shoulders. 

Catherine was kind, but quiet, and her husband tended to talk over her a great deal of the time. before cedric went to hogwarts, she stayed home with him, reading to him, watching him sail around on his child-size broomstick, looking after him and his cousins, and caring for the many magical plants in their garden. after he left for school, she began working at dogweed and deathcap in diagon alley, tending to the plants. though cedric has no passion for herbological studies, he finds home in the greenhouses and thinks of his mother. 

EXTENDED FAMILY

barnaby thistlewood (distant) uncle – deceased

abigail thistlewood: (distant) aunt

grace thistlewood: (distant) cousin

thom thistlewood: (distant) cousin

the thistlewoods are the closest things to siblings that cedric had. thom was two years above ced, and was idolized by his little cousin. grace was in the same year and always wanted to help catherine water the plants. though genealogically distantly related, the trio were anything but. summers, especially after uncle barny died in a potioneering accident, were usually spent at the diggory house, practicing quidditch, putting on skits, and causing a bit of mischief. 

PETS & MORE

galileo: bought for cedric’s 11th birthday, galileo the eastern screech owl has been his constant companion. he’s a bit temperamental, but nearly always seeks out his owner to nibble on bits of pumpkin pasties. 

babbity rabbity: the thistlewood’s ancient irish setter; bow-legged and bug-eyed, babs became a fixture in the diggory household during the summer holidays when the thistlewoods would come and stay for weeks at a time

gnomes: inhabiting their well-tended garden, cedric grew up with the gnomes and would build them little houses out of sticks. many became his friends (except brocc, who found it funny to latch onto his fingers) and would help catherine tend the garden and even allow her to place miniscule hats on their heads

BACKGROUND;

HOGWARTS

hogwarts, as for many students who walk its hallowed halls, quickly became a second home to young cedric. he was sorted into hufflepuff in an instant, and found that the cozy common room and the house-elves next-door provided the same comforts and familiarity as home. cedric instantly found himself liked and surrounded by people all the time, which he wasn’t used to, as an only child, but he didn’t mind in the slightest. 

he excelled in classes–potions made him nervous and herbology (sorry professor sprout) bored him–but transfiguration and charms were where his talents lay. flitwick doted on him and he found he could even coax a smile or two out of mcgonagall. though he didn’t adore her classes, there was no question that his favorite teacher was professor sprout. she was strict in classes, but outside she was a big softie, and would invite cedric to tea on occasion on free afternoons. the greenhouses were not densely populated, so he often took his studies there (professor sprout didn’t mind if he practiced charms on empty pots either). quidditch also took up a good deal of his time; he didn’t quite have the build of a seeker, but he was a fast and experienced flier. 

cedric became a prefect then head boy, but the only thing weighing on his mind was what to do after graduation. he had aced his owls and had a pick of the lot. his father was already trying to line up internships for him at the ministry–”minister of magic, my boy”--but there was something to be said for being a mediwizard, helping people, that cedric found appealing.

THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT

it hadn’t been his idea at all, it had been marshall colby’s–”just imagine it, three bloody brilliant tasks! hey, you’re the best in the whole year, ced, you’re putin’ your name in, aren’t ya?”-- and the owl from his father came the day after it was announced–”you’ll be a shoo-in for any job you want next year, ced! i’d be so proud! my boy! triwizard champion!”-- so it wasn’t really an option to not submit his name. after all, so many sixth and seventh years had, the odds of him being picked were slim. on the afternoon of october 31st, cedric printed his name neatly on a piece of parchment, stepped over the age line, and dropped it into the flickering blue flames. it was that simple. 

less simple, perhaps, when his name, along with viktor krum’s and fleur delacour’s came out of the goblet. less simple when harry potter’s shortly followed. it was pure pandemonium afterward, a whir of yelling and accusations of cheating, but cedric, looking at the young gryffindor’s terrified and confused face told him that, even if he had found some way to cross the age-line, that this was more than he had bargained for. 

the hufflepuff common room was a madhouse that night, no one letting cedric out of their sights. they’d gotten food from the kitchens and the party lasted into the early hours of the morning–some bashed harry potter, but cedric was too overwhelmed, felt everything was too surreal, to correct them. 

then came the first task. with a tip-off from harry potter of all people–he’d asked people to stop wearing the ‘potter stinks’ badges, but he figured that harry wasn’t his biggest fan at the moment–he found out that he’d have to face a dragon! a bloody dragon! he took to the greenhouse to pour over books, figuring out the best way to deal with this daunting first task (professor sprout said she wouldn’t help him as she didn’t condone cheating, but she did purposefully knock his transfiguration book off the work bench and coughed pointedly until he got the hint). it all had gone to plan, his transfiguration had worked (sorry babs), but it was just a pity the dragon didn’t like the taste of labrador. 

the second task drug out, but the prefects’ bathroom and the golden egg were the perfect companions. and, as it seemed harry potter did not vehemently despise him, and he’d warned him about the first task, he’d decided to give him a leg up, as well. the bubble-head charm worked like, well, a charm, earning him maximum points and putting him in the lead tied with harry for first. 

the third task was the most daunting of all, with nearly sixteen-foot tall hedges and the looming dread of ‘being prepared’. so he worked, day in and day out, brushing up on defensive skills and jinxes and hexes and charms. he hardly ate, barely slept, and the paranoia set in. then his parents came, the day of the task, all smiles, catherine beaming and amos crying with pride. 

then all hell broke loose. blast-ended skrewts, acromantulas, a psychotic durmstrang champion and the most agonizing pain he’d ever felt, and then, there it was. It was just he and harry staring at the shining cup. they stared at it, they stared at each other. they stared at it again. “together?” the boy who lived had asked, as his fingers closed around the handle of the cup a moment before cedric’s did. and then he was grasping at thin air. and harry was gone. 

will discuss the whole barty crouch shenanigans later, but this is getting lengthy at the moment.

THE AFTERMATH

guilt ate away at him the entire summer. he was supposed to intern at the ministry, they’d been so impressed with the idea of him as hogwarts champion. he’d even technically won the prize money, but the galleons sat and stared at him all summer, he wouldn’t take that bloodmoney. cedric hardly saw his father that summer, and his mother would check on him every few hours to make sure he was still breathing.

once the school year started back up in september, the whispers began. voldemort, he-who-must-not-be-named, you-know-who. others said it was barty crouch, but cedric knew that wasn’t the case. it couldn’t have been. the ministry overlooked it, every questioning letter he wrote to his father was simply answered with “nothing to worry about, focus on your studies”, and so the question remained: if the ministry wasn’t going to do something about it, who was?

CONNECTIONS;

FRIENDS

canonically, my man is mr. popularity! he needs his loud, boisterous group of friends. some would obviously be closer to him than others, but he just wants people to like him. 

BEST FRIEND/CONFIDANT

cedric’s ride or die, the one person he tells everything to; the only one who he voices his concerns to and has told all the gory details of what happened in june. 

CURRENT OR EX-PARTNER

not too picky with how this one turns out, but cedric has obviously been greatly affected by the final task and has withdrawn from people due to this; this person would be one of them. he feels so guilty and is struggling to cope with that, so this could be what is/did drive a wedge between them

QUIDDITCH RIVAL

honestly i just think it would be really hilarious if this was a one-sided i-hate-that-cedric-is-so-great relationship, especially when it comes to quidditch. ced thinks it’s all a bit of fun and he loves quidditch so having someone who is good is fun for him, but if they legitimately don’t like him, i would love it.

HERBOLOGY BUDDY

ced isn’t great at herbology, but he’s always been found in the greenhouses. maybe tutor/study buddy?

if anyone else has any ideas, i’m not set on any one thing for these, just throw some plots my way!

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