章節 15: Chapter 13: Thoughts...
- Manor Diggory, Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon, Inglaterra
- 15 de Diciembre de 1988
-Pov Cedric
Amos and Barbara Diggory accepted me with love, care, and joy, although they never knew the truth about my dual identity.
Yes... they never discovered that I, their beloved son, on the very day that the Dark Lord who terrorized Britain was defeated by the Boy Who Lived, became two people in one.
Despite suddenly becoming much more independent, spending a lot of time alone in my room reading, meditating, and engaging in other practices/trainings every day with my master, my parents only attributed my behavioral changes to the lack of attention I received on my fourth birthday from them, as well as the days that followed...
Which made some sense, as literally from that day forward, I began to act differently and much more mature for my young age.
My mother, Barbara, in particular, noticed the changes in my behavior. I stopped seeking her attention and became more independent, spending long hours in my room, meditating and studying, as I mentioned before.
On the other hand, my father, Amos, bragged about me at his job at the Ministry of Magic, praising my intelligence and even giving me the title of a child genius.
Yes, he was extremely proud of me, something that made me happy but was a bit embarrassing because he exaggerated a bit too much... to the point of boasting about me to all his colleagues at the Ministry of Magic, bragging about his son's wonderful performance at such a young age and how great his future would be.
Fortunately, when guests came to the mansion, my mother knew how to control her husband, or I might have had to deal with more than one very awkward situation.
Naturally, my mother considered my early maturity as a blessing, but she was much more reserved.
Still, both of them thought of me as a child prodigy and were proud of my early development.
For me, this was a good thing.
Although not everything was perfect, after all, I barely interacted with other children until the age of 7.
This gave me a first impression in the magical community as someone too introverted and solitary, who preferred books to friends.
I guess it was my fault because the only reason I used to leave Diggory Manor was to practice some things Qui-Gon Jinn wanted me to do outdoors.
By the way, at first, I thought my parents would ask a lot of questions about it, so I had already thought of several things to explain or, rather, to excuse myself, but apparently, they saw my training as some odd outdoor exercises they assumed were just a kind of game...
Yes, I admit that was a blow to my pride, and the amused smile my master gave me didn't make things any easier for me at that time.
My father even thought I needed friends to play with; yes, he began to worry that I had no friends and spent most of my time studying or playing these supposed strange games alone.
So he took it upon himself to "fix" this and introduced me to the twin sons of Arthur Weasley, his coworker and one of our family's neighbors in the small village of Ottery St. Catchpole.
My mother, on the other hand, didn't really concern herself with my situation like Amos did. She saw it as a great blessing for me and fully supported my self-study. She also disagreed with my father about starting to hang out with the Weasleys, but my father could be quite convincing when he set his mind to it.
On another note, my hair color changed from black to a light brown.
However, even though my black hair gradually turned into a lighter brown over time, no one suspected anything strange, and it didn't attract much attention since my mother and her family had blonde hair.
So everyone simply attributed these changes to my natural growth.
Although my hair became more and more similar to what I had before as Anakin, so I began to have my own suspicions and speculations.
At the age of 9, I had the opportunity to meet Quidditch stars thanks to my father's connections. Quidditch became my passion, and my talent for flying on a broomstick impressed everyone.
They all concluded that I had a very promising future as a Quidditch player.
I learned the rules, strategies, and history of the game the same way I did with everything else: with dedication and passion.
However, my Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, constantly reminded me that my true path was the Force.
Despite my love for Quidditch and my skill on a broom, he always emphasized that my greatest potential lay in lightsaber combat and mastery of the Force.
Although I began to suspect that he was only saying that to subject me to more rigorous training and make me spend less time on my broomstick due to exhaustion, it was a big mistake because flying was the best way for me to relax and even somehow replenish my energy.
This only led Qui-Gon to give me more and more training day by day.
But I didn't complain, at least not too much. I wasn't afraid of hard work; back on Tatooine as Anakin, I always had to give my best to help my mother as much as possible, as far back as I could remember.
Thanks to that, my apprenticeship as Cedric advanced by leaps and bounds, and I developed a wide range of skills in lightsaber combat and the use of the Force, along with extensive knowledge of the magical world.
Although, if I'm completely honest, I still enjoyed Quidditch more than anything else. It's hard to describe or explain, but maybe it's because I felt complete when flying on a broom, as if my entire being enjoyed it... something like if both my identities had an equal affinity for this sport.
Fortunately, with Qui-Gon Jinn's help, I learned to balance my time and energy between my passion for flying and my learning/training.
Meanwhile, my academic performance in Muggle studies was extraordinary. I became something like a academic prodigy.
I met all the requirements to advance several grades in a short period of time, which was seen as an extraordinary achievement. In fact, I could have graduated already because my academic level was far above everyone else's.
However, due to the many grades I had already skipped in a short period of time, the Muggle educational authorities didn't allow me to skip my final year. To make matters worse, they expected me to attend one of their Muggle schools in person in September of the next year...
Of course, their request was understandable considering they had no idea that the Diggory family was, in fact, an important magical family that was part of a secret magical community.
To them, my family and I were just a very old and wealthy family who thought they could bypass all the laws and rules just because they had a lot of money...
And they weren't entirely wrong because, after all, wizards did believe they could bypass all Muggle laws and rules, but not because of money, but simply because they were wizards.
Anyway, the decision of the Muggle educational authorities was disappointing, as I had already planned to enter a magical school in September of the next year, so I wouldn't continue my Muggle studies.
Furthermore, in the magical community, Muggle studies were of no importance, they were completely irrelevant, and I already knew everything I needed to know and much more.
So, like my mother, I didn't see the need to continue with the educational customs of the Muggle world, something that disappointed Mr. Cooper, who recognized and supported my potential from an early age.
But there was nothing he could do, first of all, I had no intention of going to a Muggle school, secondly, I didn't think my mother would accept the idea either, even if Mr. Cooper somehow managed to get them to accept my enrollment now instead of the upcoming school year, I doubted that my mother would want the heir of the Diggorys to attend a Muggle school, and the classes with Mr. Cooper alone were difficult for her to accept.
And if I didn't go, I wouldn't be able to formally obtain a certificate that I completed my last year to graduate from Muggle high school.
"You should hurry up, my young padawan, or your mother might change her mind," Qui-Gon Jinn's ghostly form smiled as he looked at me with amusement from a corner of the room.
"I know, I was just..."
"Distracted in your thoughts?" Qui-Gon smiled even more, and I furrowed my brow at how easy it was for him to always know what was going on with me.
"Something like that…"
"You know that you are already capable of using your mind in a way that allows you to organize all your thoughts. I still don't understand why you keep getting so distracted..."
I rolled my eyes at his words, it was a common occurrence for him to say these things to me.
"Oh, I don't know, Master, maybe because I prefer to avoid the Jedi custom of rating and storing my emotions and memories as if they were just books in a library"
"I told you before, and I repeat it now, Cedric, I'm not going to force you to follow that custom, but remember that to keep your mind safe and peaceful, that method is the most effective. In fact, thanks to it..."
"Yes, yes, it was thanks to that that I managed to keep control of my mind when my two souls merged… But now I've assimilated my situation, and I don't feel the need to restrict my emotions anymore."
"It's about maintaining mental peace..."
"Whatever... I don't need it; I'm perfectly fine. Now, as you said, Master, I have to hurry, or my mother might prevent me from going," I said, quickly preparing everything I needed and ignoring my master's sigh.
Yes, I already knew he didn't agree with me not following several of his Jedi customs, but I simply believed they were unnecessary and only held me back.
I didn't like it.
Fortunately, Qui-Gon didn't force me, or he could be extremely annoying.
I liked my freedom of thought.
It wasn't to offend my master, but I would never want to behave like him, always calm, serene, and extremely boring.
Anyway, after packing everything in my trunk, I left my room, quickly said goodbye to my mother before she had a chance to change her mind about letting me go, and headed to the fireplace.
I grabbed some Floo powder, threw it into the fire, and said, "The Burrow," disappearing into the green flames.
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