Hermione sat at the end of the table sipping a glass of juice. Harry and Ron had just dragged themselves out of bed, Ginny was busy doing her hair and Fred and George were entertaining themselves by hiding the Hogwarts book lists from Mrs. Weasley. It was the summer between third and fourth year and Hermione could hardly wait to go back. She took a bite of her toast and Ron sat down across from her and smiled.



“He has been acting awfully strange all summer,” she thought to herself and continued sipping her juice.



“Hurry and eat everyone! Harry you look half starved, have some toast dear. We’ve got to be off soon!” said Mrs. Weasley while frantically putting on her outer clothes. “Oh! Ginny get away from that mirror!”



Hermione ran to the closet to get her jacket.



“Here you are Hermione,” said Ron as he held the open the coat. He had ran from the kitchen when he saw Hermione heading for the coat racks and was some what out of breath when he held the coat open. The affect however, had been as he desired.



Hermione gave him a strange look. “Gee, thanks Ron,” she smiled and slipped into the coat. She ran to the fireplace without a glance back and Ron’s face turned as red as the hair on his head. They were to be traveling by Floo powder.



“You first Hermione!” Mrs. Weasley sweetly demanded as she guided Hermione into the fireplace. Hermione hesitated but eventually she took a deep breath and grabbed a handful of powder.



“Diagon Alley!”

Instantaneously she felt the ground leave her feet. Her elbow hit the side of the chimney sending a pile of ash and soot into her face and eyes. She screamed loudly and vomited on the rug of one of the living rooms she was whizzing by. She finally fit the floor at Flourish and Blotts. Thankfully her face broke the fall.



She pawed around on the ground until she found a wall. Pulling herself up against it she started rubbing the soot out of her eyes. No matter how much she rubbed her eyes she wasn't able to properly remove it. Ginny appeared in the fireplace a few seconds later. She spotted Hermione and choked back a giggle.



“Hermione, come here!” Ginny laughed.



“Hold on, I need to get this out of my eyes.”



“You can to that over here!” Ginny snorted. Hermione couldn’t see it, but the wall she now had her bottom propped up against wasn’t a wall at all. It was a young man, about 17 years old who went by the name of Cedric Diggory.



Once she could see Hermione turned around and found her chin almost touching his chest. She raised her eyes to see Cedric looking down at her with a humorous look on his face. She was utterly horrified, she took a step back. Then another.



“I-I… I have to wash my face!” she stuttered, the scent of vomit wafted into Cedric's nostrils and he gave her a quizzical look. Looking even more terrified she ran into the ladies restroom. Ginny giggled once again and followed her in where she found Hermione violently scrubbing her face.


“Would you stop laughing?” Hermione asked as she pulled her red face out of the sink.



“Did you think he was a wall or something?”



“You would have thought he was a wall if you had your eyes closed too.”



“Really? Are his abs that hard?” Ginny remarked which sent her into another giggle fit. Hermione wasn’t as amused. She grabbed Ginny’s arm and dragged her out of the bathroom and then out the front door of the store. Cedric turned and watched them leave, smiling about the previous events.



“Why didn’t you tell me someone was there!” Hermione asked angrily. Ginny however was too preoccupied with laughing that she was unable to answer her. “Let's go into the robe shop before you laugh yourself into submission.”

As soon as they entered the shop Ginny’s attention quickly changed. Immediately she went to the back of the shop and picked up an enormous floor length black skirt. She eyed it over and then ran into the change room.



“He seemed to be enjoying it,” Ginny remarked from the dressing area.



“Huh?”


“Cedric-- that is his name right? He’s in Hufflepuff-- I think he was really enjoying where you decided to place your arse.”


“GINEVRA!” Hermione said as she suppressed a giggle. “That’s-- That’s,” she composed herself, “well to be completely frank its disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourself! No civilized person would ever mention such a thing.”


“I’m sure if Harry or Ron had seen it they would have thought the same thing!”



“I don’t think so,” she retorted, “and don’t you dare tell Ron about this Ginny!”


Ginny laughed from behind the curtain, “I wont. Anyway how do I look?” and she stepped out from behind the curtain looking like her bottom half had been swallowed up buy a whale and struck a pose.

The girls met with Mrs. Weasley at Flourish and Blotts. Ginny had to go in first however, to make sure Cedric was no where to be found. Hermione hid outside behind a lamp post hoping that she wouldn't be seen.



“Hey Hermione,” said a nervous voice from behind her as she stepped into the store, “would you like to come to Stationers with me? I need to buy a quill or two.”



Hermione turned around, it was Ron.


“Of course I’ll come. I need some parchment anyway.”


They walked mainly in silence. It was the awkward kind, and was likely unpleasant for any bystander within 3 feet of the couple. In fact, in the 10 seconds it had taken them to leave the store Ron seemed to have developed separation anxiety from Hermione and insisted upon walking as close as possible to her. In spite of the uneasiness felt by all Hermione’s mind began to wander.


“I’ll have to face Cedric eventually…” Hermione mused to herself.


“I’ve started reading a book… Hermione?” he said after she didn’t respond.


“Huh? That’s great Ron, which book?” she said, pretending to be interested.


“I’ve started Hogwarts: A History. I thought once I’ve finished it we’d have loads to talk about.”


“That’s great. Tell me when you’ve finished it.”


“I wonder where he is right now? I hope he doesn’t see me with Ron. Certainly he should have gone home by now…”


“Ginny gave me this book to read--” Ron said. Hermione nodded very mechanically. “It’s awful. It’s about a girl named Anne and a boy named Tom and she’s completely, what’s the word…”


“I can’t stop thinking about this, I’ve got to clear my head. I’m just completely…”


“enamored with him!” Ron said as he recalled what Ginny had told him about the book. Obviously he wasn’t really going to read it, he just needed something to talk to Hermione about.


“WHAT! I’m just embarrassed! Who said anything about enamored, Ronald!?” Hermione said in a huff and stormed off.

“I think I owe you an apology,” Hermione said to Ron as they sat at the breakfast table. The entire Weasley family was buzzing around the house looking for odds and ends before they left for the train station. The days before school were more hectic then usual due to the World Cup Disaster. Mr. Weasley and Percy were being worked to death and it had Mrs. Weasley in a fuss.

“I was caught up in my own thoughts at the time and I didn’t quite understand what you had said,” Hermione stated to Ron very formal.

At first Ron didn’t entirely believe her. But as she continued to explain what had happened in the book store her story began to fit and by the time they had arrived at the station he had forgiven her.

All wrongs righted, Hermione, Ginny, Ron and Harry had entered the platform of 9 and ¾. She crossed the bustling area and waited to board the train.

“Come on Harry, Ron! We’re not going to save you a seat if you don’t hurry!” Hermione lightheartedly hollered to them. As she turned around, she saw them approaching Cedric who was waiting to board the train.

“Ginny! Ginny! Hide me,” she whispered. However it was too to turn back now. In a flight of panic Hermione dove to the ground making a rather loud thud when she landed. She hid her torso behind Ginny’s trunk and hide her legs under Ginny’s large atrocious black skirt.

“HERMIONE! HERMIONE! ARE YOU OKAY?!” Ron shouted, he ran to her and Harry followed.

“Ron Shut up! I’m fine!”

“Hermione?” Harry said slowing his run into a walk, “I don’t want to be rude, but what the hell are you doing under there?”

“I dropped my gum,” she said bluntly.

“You dropped your gum up Ginny’s skirt?”

“Its none of your business where I choose to drop my gum and where I don’t.”

“Hermione?” said a quizzical looking Cedric as he poked his head over the trunk she was so cleverly hiding behind, “Are you alright?” he asked and shot both Ron and Harry a look of disgrace for not helping her up.

Then, he demonstrated what a man should do when a lady falls. He walked in behind the trunk took her hand loosely in his and bent down, took her waist in his other hand and helped her up. Hermione swooned, her eyes glazed over and a drop of drool placed itself on the side of her mouth.

Ginny quickly shut Hermione’s slacking jaw closed.

“She means thank you,” corrected Ginny whose hand was still holding Hermione’s jaw shut.

“Tell her that it was my pleasure.”

“Uh huh,” mumbled a love drunk Hermione.

Cedric smiled at her vacant expression of happiness and got onto the train. Ginny let go of Hermione’s wet chin and wiped her spitty hand on her skirt.

“How lady like of you Hermione,” Ginny said as she boarded.

***

Ronald had a particularly sour expression on his face when Hermione left the carriage to find Cedric and explain her actions.

“Gosh Ron wipe that smile off your face!” Ginny sarcastically mentioned after Hermione left.

“It is rather obvious she likes him,” Harry reminded Ginny.

“Of course and thanks to her scene on the platform the entire school knows by now. But I’m going to run to the restroom and freshen up.”

Ginny had only been in the restroom for 5 minutes when Hermione burst in the door.

“Ginny! You’re here! Thank goodness,” Hermione panted as she frantically locked the door.

“What’s happened? Has he kissed you yet?” Ginny teased.

“NO!” Hermione shouted, “I found his carriage and …” her voice wandered into recollection.

“Hello Hermione,”

“Hi Cedric… I wanted to apologize for what happened in Diagon Alley. I’m sure you remember it. I thought you were, a wall. Not that you are a wall of course, or look like one. No certainly no. It would have to be a pretty good looking wall to match you,” Hermione rambled as she progressively turned redder and redder.

“Its fine, honestly its been the most excitement I’ve had all summer.”

“You must have had an awful summer then… no. I didn’t mean it that way. Oh,” she gasped in frustration, “I’m sorry again.”

Cedric just smiled at her, they held each others gaze for a long time. Almost an eternity. Hermione’s mind was racing, thinking about what to say next but she couldn’t seem to stop staring. Giggling began erupting from the other people in the car and finally she broke their gaze.

“Anyway I just wanted to clear that up, I should go put on my robes. Goodbye!” she quickly spoke and then backed up.

Unknowingly Hermione had conveniently left the carriage door open which not only aloud the everyone in the carriages next to her to hear the entire conversation but, gave Hermione the perfect place to trip over. She backed up and her right foot caught along the track of the foor. She fell painfully on her bottom and Cedric stood up to give her a hand.

“Gosh, I’m always on my back for you!” Hermione casually said as he lifted her up. Hermione instantly looked horrified, she clamped a hand over her mouth and tears welled up in her eyes. Cedric tried desperately not to laugh but the humor in this slip of tongue was unmistakable and he began to chuckle whilst the entire carriage and surrounding carriages were in an uproar. Hermione in her horror, dashed as fast as she could into the restroom where she conveniently found Ginny.

Ginny hobbled, clutching her stomach into a bathroom stall. She couldn’t remember ever laughing so hard. Robes in hand, Hermione moved into the stall next to her and wiped away a few tears. Slowly and with difficulty she dressed herself and once Ginny had stopped her cruel laughter she emerged, obviously shaken but trying to hide it, from the stall.

When Ginny saw the look on Hermione’s devastated face a feeling of remorse and guilt hit her.

“Lets go sit, I’m sure it will all be over. For all we know people might not have heard,” she coaxed.

When the train had come to a stop Hermione only endured a cruel word from Malfoy, whom she quickly cursed. After that a few sniggers from various passers by all of whom were to afraid to open their mouths because they saw that Malfoy no longer had one thanks to her.

He sat at the Hufflepuff table indulging in the beginning of term feast. Every so often he would glance at Hermione and once or twice he noticed her noticing him.

“Who’re you lookin’ at?” whispered Ernie Macmillan from beside Cedric.

“Hermione Granger,” Cedric whispered back and smiled.

Only when Dumbledore began to describe the Triwizard tournament was Cedric’s interest was deflected from Hermione. But Hermione was only partially listening to Dumbledore’s speech as she was busy looking lustfully at Cedric. She wondered what he thought of her, and if she should speak to him. She looked at his hair, and his strong jaw line. She glanced at Ron who was picking his teeth with a fork. With a look of disappointment she turned away and continued staring at Cedric until the feast was over and the entire school filled out with excitement. (and disappointment due the age limit of the tournament) Hermione saw Cedric approaching her from across the hallway, but inconspicuously moved with her fellow Gryffindor’s.

“Hermione! Hermione!” Cedric yelled. But she continued with the crowd and Cedric was left looking like a lunatic.

Days after their last meeting Cedric was still thinking about her and he desperately wanted to apologize. However at the urging of some of his fellow Hufflepuffians decided he would give her time to recover. He made his way down to the library at break to find some reading material. As he headed to the right wing of the library he passed a bushy haired girl who was attempting to reach a very large book from the top shelve of one of the book cases. Cedric rushed over and grabbed the book for her just before it was going to fall on her head.

“Heh… Thanks Cedric,” Hermione nervously thanked him, “I-I umm…” shetried to remember how to speak English and cursed her nerves under her breath. Thankfully Cedric cut in before Hermione had a chance to embarrass herself further.

“I’m sorry for laughing when you fell, I asked everyone to stop talking about it.”

Hermione was silent for a moment. This was the first time she had even spoken to him, she wanted time to absorb this moment. She stalled for a very long time and they stood in silence.

“Um, Its okay and thank you. I don‘t usually act like that.”

“We’re alright then?”

“We’re alright,” she said, he smiled and continued on his way to the Quidditch section. Once he had turned the corner around the book shelve Hermione darted to the end of the row and watched his gluteus maximus wiggle its way down the isle. He, as though sensing the prying eyes on his behind turned his head and the last thing saw was bushy hair darting behind a book shelf.

***

Days had turned into weeks and weeks into months with much interaction between the pair. They communicated mostly in secrecy through owls. Even Ginny didn’t know about their letters to one another. However there wasn’t much to tell. Mostly Cedric asked for spells or if Hermione knew about a specific creature occasionally they discussed current events or their teachers, specifically Moody. He always seemed to creep into their letters. The only thing Hermione kept out of their conversations, was her involvement in S.P.E.W. Although she wasn't one to be embarrassed about what she believed in, she thought it best to keep this part of her life out of their new found friendship.

The one thing they spoke most about was the Tournament. Hermione greatly suspected that he intended on entering and her suspicions were confirmed when Ernie McMillan told the Harry, Ron and herself that he was to be entering. When he said it Hermione couldn’t help but reveal a bit of her respect and some of her lust towards him. This made Ronald angrier then a pig in labor and he refused to speak with her.

It had been four days since the beginning of their argument when Hermione ran into the Great Hall almost late for dinner. Much to her dismay the only seat left was across from Ron. She regrettably sat down and sat in silence and looked towards the front of the hall.

“Your not going look at me now or are you too busy looking at pretty boy Diggory?”

Harry gave Ron a look telling him to stop talking but he wouldn’t and a shouting match ensued shortly afterwards. Accusations flew across the table, as did the spit in Ron’s mouth. The air in the Great Hall was filled with silence and discomfort which was felt by everyone except maybe Harry. He had heard the same insults so many times that it no longer phased him.

Then as suddenly as the argument began, Hermione quieted and lowered the fork she was threatening Ron with. Dumbledore had risen was ready to introduce the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons who had arrived. Hermione had the pleasure of giving Ron an extremely disagreeable look when he found himself very excited and feeling greatly exhilarated by the Beauxbatons girls. Ron scowled back at her and they avoided eye contact throughout the duration of the feast.

Hermione was the first out of the hall, she made her way to the common room and to her dorm as quickly as to avoid Ron.

“Had a fight with Ron?” Ginny said as she caught up with Hermione.

“How did you know?” Hermione sarcastically replied.

“You should have seen the look on Cedric Diggory’s face when he was yelling at you. He looked like he was going to take those big muscular biceps of his--” Ginny teased, “and use them to put Ron in a head lock.”

“Oh shut up,” barked a very red Hermione. They entered the common room and sat by the warm fire. It was a pleasant night and the sky was clear, so clear that Ginny was able to spot a large owl flying from one of the towers straight towards theirs.

“Hermione whose bird is this?” she asked. It landed on the window sill and with a tap tap tap pleaded with them to be let in. Ginny opened the window and stroked the large red-brown owl. Hermione had recognized it immediately and good her letter out of its beak.

“Its from no one important,” Hermione said as she tore the envelope open.

Dear Hermione,

I wanted you to be the first to know (and would have told you after the feast but I didn’t want to go near your red-headed boyfriend. He looked angry.) I’m going to put my name in the cup tomorrow during break, hopefully I get chosen as champion. Do you think I should do it? I think I could do it.

Wish me luck,
Cedric

“It’s from Cedric?” Ginny gasped, “I wish I got love letters in the post!”

Hermione’s first instinct was to tell him he shoulder. She too believed he could participate but it was just too dangerous. However Hermione was a smart witch and knew perfectly well that no matter what her opinion, Cedric was going to enter. So she resolved to encourage his decision and went to get her quill.

“I guess I’ll write him back. I don’t want this bird in here all night,” Hermione calmly said ignoring Ginny’s comment about love letters.

“Cedric,” she wrote onto the parchment. She really didn’t know how to start the letter, she wanted it to sound sincere but not mushy.

“Thanks for telling me first. It’s really an honor. I think you--” she hesitated, “should enter the tournament. You could do it, for goodness sake you ARE a prefect.!

Ronald’s not my boyfriend. Just so you know. I don’t have a boyfriend and if I did it certainly wouldn’t be someone as insensitive, irresponsible and judgmental as Ron.

Hermione”

With that she tied to the letter to the exceptionally large owl and sent it out the window.

Hermione’s day was centered around the Great Hall. She took detours to peek in, hoping to see Cedric putting his name in the Goblet. By the evening however she had no such luck and she arrived with Ginny 20 minutes before dinner. They had just been seated and were discussing Harry when Ginny piped up,

"Hermione! Look over there!” she subtly pointed.

Cedric slipped into the hall with a small slip of parchment. He was acting very inconspicuous, as though he did not want to attract the attention of other people. He looked in Hermione’s direction as she turned her head. She waved.

“Here I go,” he hollered across the hall and held the parchment up. He smiled and to an onlooker they might have seen the hint of complacency in his grey eyes as they danced from Hermione to the Goblet.

“Good luck!” she replied, because it was all she could think to say.

Cedric crossed the age line, and fearlessly approached the Goblet. The parchment was absorbed into the sea of blue fire and as though on cue, the school filled into the hall.

Cedric took his seat at the Hufflepuff table and the ceremony began.

***

Cedric’s life had become hectic over night. Girls followed him for autographs, why in fact Fleur Delacour even seemed to have taken an interest in him. Although many Hufflepuffs were angry. They said that Harry being chosen as champion had taken the spotlight away from their own champion. On the contrary Cedric thought it had only increased his popularity. Although he was a soft spoken young man, he would have been lying through his teeth if he had said he didn’t enjoy the fame.

He awoke from a fantastic dream Sunday morning to discover he couldn’t move and could barely breath. The mahogany canopy over his bed had collapsed on him. It seemed all of his dorm mates were still fast asleep and had not heard the crash. He struggled to free himself and managed to remove his left foot from the rubble, he struggled to kick the side of the bed hoping to wake someone. He was running out of air, he breathed and inhaled mouthfuls of dusk, but he couldn’t cough because of the weight of the board on his chest. As though it would be the last thing he ever did he kicked the bed frantically, with urgency as adrenaline was released into his bloodstream. His heart raced and his pupils dilated but he was focused and calm. He thought of how silly it would be to die trapped under the canopy of a bed and was slipping into unconsciousness when Ben Woodeson heard a quiet banging noise.

The next time Cedric opened his eyes he was in the hospital wing. He felt pleased to see that his kicking efforts had gone to good use and was even more pleased to see some sweets left at the bottom of his bed. To his right there were cards and more sweets from well wishers and to the left there was a single black note. He looked curiously at the note, he had never seen black parchment and nor did he know anyone morbid enough to write on it. He lifted his arm very slowly as it was stiff. Carefully he unfolded it unveiling harsh cursive written in white ink.

Hope you slept well, there’s more where that came from.

Cedric read the note again and laughed. It was by far the most ridiculous piece of literature he had ever read. He crumpled up the paper and picked up his wand that was sitting on the table next to him.

“Reducto!” he commanded and the paper blew into a number of pieces.

“I bet a Gryffindor wrote this, those slimy sod’s.”

He turned onto his right shoulder and spotted a lovely green card with a large thermometer on the front. It was from Cho Chang, a pleasantly good looking girl in Ravenclaw. His cheeks flushed a slight pink and he gave his neck a small rub. It was very beautiful and her artistic talents were obvious.

“Your up! Delightful!” strutted in Madame Pomfrey, “you’ve been asleep now for nearly a day. Its 10:00 because that’s what your going to ask next. I’m going to keep you here over night but you’ll be free to go to class tomorrow morning.”

“Wonderful,” he remarked.

“Open up,” she said as she gave him a small spoonful of a green liquid to swallow. He did so and instantly felt remarkably tired. His body forced him to roll over and he fell asleep instantly. That night he dreamed of the pretty little card and thermometers.

After he had awoken from a productive sleep, Cedric made his way down to the Great Hall. The post arrived as usual and he helped himself to some porridge. He swallowed some down, and had just put another mouthful in when he saw a small little article on the third page of the Daily Prophet. His draw dropped and porridge slopped down his chin and back into the bowl from whence it came.

Ministry Official Nearly Suffocated by Canopy.

Amos Diggory who works in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures woke up, or indeed didn’t wake up at all when his wife came out from her morning bath to find the canopy of their bed on top of her husband.

Cedric stopped reading and cleaned up the runny porridge on his face.

"What are the odds of that?" he thought as tears inched their way to his eyes.

Hermione watched him as he brushed back his hair nervously, he rubbed his cheeks a number of times and took a few deep breaths. Hermione shot him a look of confusion from behind her copy of the daily prophet. He sent back a look that read “Dunno” and got up and left for the owlery, still running his hands through his hair and wiping away stray tears. He was breathing heavily and his face was growing pale.

Must be a nervous habit, Hermione said to herself. She followed him with her eyes until his shaking frame had turned behind the curve of the stairwell and she could no longer see him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one other person doing exactly the same thing she was.

“We should probably head to class,” Harry said to the group as he stood up. It was very out of character for Harry to want to go to class but they had Defense Against the Dark Arts after lunch and he wanted to get the morning classes over with. Their first class with Professor Moody was horrifying but all agreed that it was the most fascinating class they had ever experienced. The group left the hall and walked by a passage to the stairwells when there was a loud clang, followed by a thud, followed by a scream, followed by a loud “SHIT”. Finally followed by silence.

Ron looked at Harry, Hermione looked at Neville, Neville was also looking at Harry and Harry was looking at the leg that could be seen from the inside the passage.

“I don’t think that was Peeves,” he said. Hermione ran to the leg, and was pleased to see it was indeed attached to a human being but was horrified to see who it was attached to.
"CEDRIC!” she screamed and flung herself in swoon over his unconscious body.

“Calm down there Hermione,” said a voice coming down the stairs.

“PROFESSOR MOODY! DID YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED?” Hermione screamed at him.

“NO I DIDN’T I WAS PASSING BY AND HEARD A CLANG, FOLLOWED BY A THUD, FOLLOWED BY A SCREAM, FOLLOWED BY A LOUD CURSE WORD. AND THEN HEARD YOUR SCREAMING VOICE,” he hollared back at her in mockery.

“Oh! Sorry about that Professor but we need to get him to the hospital wing,” she calmly said. Moody made his way down the stairs. She looked down at his face, and saw something in the breast (not that she was looking) pocket of his shirt. She pulled out a small black piece of parchment. She removed it and put it in her robes as Moody was advancing down the stairs

“Potter you grab his feet, Weasley you get the head. Carry him up to the hospital wing. I’ll meet you there,” ordered Moody.

“But Professor it would be easier just to levitate him,” Hermione explained to Mad-Eye.

“You’ll do as I tell yea’. Now go!” he commanded.

So Harry put the unconscious Diggory’s legs over his shoulders and a very angry Ron took his head and they began towards the hospital wing. It was a very slow trek as Cedric was a very tall and built young man and Harry and Ron were not. They were nearly half way to the hospital wing when Hermione who was attempting to lift the middle part of his body stepped back, pulled out her wand and levitated the body directing it to the hospital wing.

“I don’t know what Moody was playing at when he suggested this but it was irresponsible of him!” she declared before she headed off after Cedric’s floating body. In the end, Moody really didn’t meet them there at all and instead went to his office.

Cedric opened his eyes to see Hermione. She was knitting a tiny little hat and was adding a frilly puff ball to the end of it. It was the most hideous thing he had ever seen. Then the fact he was in the hospital wing for the second time within 24 hours hit him. He struggled to remember what happened and it slowly came back to him. A suit of armor fell from the staircase above and hit him square on the back, he fell and hit his head on the marble railing, he remembered hearing a screaming, or was it a cackle? He couldn’t tell over the clang of the armor. Then he remembered distinctly cursing very loudly and then falling down the stairs where he had obviously fallen unconscious.

“I hope your not knitting that for me,” he mumbled to Hermione.

She chuckled and put away her knitting.

“Do you remember what happened?” she asked, and he painfully recounted the story to her.

“That’s strange, I didn’t see any armor when I found you, someone would have had to remove it…” but she dismissed the notion quickly, “oh and this was on you, after you fell,” and she took the note which she had carried like a brick in her pocket all day, waiting to give it back. Cedric looked horrified when he saw it.

Nasty fall. I hope your father’s isn’t as bad as yours, who knows he might even make the Prophet again. Next time your in the owlery, keep a look out for my friend.

“These are…” he started only to be cut off by Hermione.

“THESE? There have been more? Cedric you should go to the Headmaster!”

“Its just some jealous sod who is mad I got selected as champion. I can’t be bothered.”

“You’ve had two near death accidents in 2 days! You can’t just risk your life, you’ve already risked it putting it in the Goblet! Your being thick if you think your going to waltz out of this!” Hermione barked at him.

“I think you’re over reacting! And even if I’m in danger.”

“If? You mean are” she corrected.

“I can’t be a coward!” he finished, looking at her with amazement and comfort at her worrisome face.

Hermione sighed. He and Harry did have a lot in common, but Cedric appeared to be more open about what he thought then Harry was. Hermione turned and looked out into the grey sky that ominously hung over the Hogwarts grounds, as though showing premonition to things coming. To herself she hoped these terrible accidents wouldn’t start happening to Harry.

It was a lovely autumn day.

“One of the last good ones we’ll have,” Hermione had said to Ron and Harry at breakfast hours before. Presently she was in the girls toilet on the second floor. When she was in the area Hermione often popped in to say hello to Myrtle and of course, to do her business. Today however, Myrtle was no where to be found and the bathroom smelt musty. More musty then it usually was. Just as Hermione was flushing the toilet she heard her name being called.

“Hermione! Hermione,” the voice echoed.

Very curious indeed.

She unlocked the stall door slowly and peeked out. She saw a disheveled looking Cedric Diggory pacing the girls bathroom. His hair was in a mess, he continued to run his hands through it only making it look more rugged. He was out of breath as though he’d ran there from Hogsmeade and his face was whiter then Dumbledore’s beard. His tie wasn’t straight and had you seen him from a distance you couldn’t have recognized him. In fact, he looked like the alter ego of Cedric.

“Merlin Cedric! You scared the--”

She was about to say “pants off me!” but thankfully corrected herself before it was too late.

“You just really scared me!”

“Sorry Hermie,” he apologized.

“Did he just call me Hermie?” she said to herself while she walked to the sink to wash her hands. She used plenty of soap as to look proper and then sat down on the basin of the broken sink waiting for Cedric (who was still pacing) to explain himself. He finally slowed and then looked at her.

“Are you going to explain why you’ve just ambushed me in the toilet?” she impatiently asked.

“Oh yeah,” he replied as though he had forgotten the entrance he made only moments ago. He was then silent for longer then Hermione could stand.

“Hmm hmmm,” she cleared her throat, attempting to signal him to begin.

“I need your help,” he explained regrettably.

He told her that he was worried about the notes he was receiving, he explained that he feared for his family and his father. She saw the sadness and worry pass over his face and he described his fathers latest injury which was a mirror image of his own fall down the stairs.

“I don’t have the time to get to the bottom of this and to finish the tournament,” he concluded.

Hermione looked at him, she knew this was a bad idea. In hindsight she saw the entire ordeal blowing up. Harry would be angry, Ron would be more angry. Cedric would be happy but he wasn’t one of her best friends. Looking into his grey eyes she saw her own reflection in front of the sadness plaguing him.

“I’ll help you. But if you expect me to do anything that’s going to get me expelled, your mental,” she said with a smirk. He thanked her graciously and then slowly and with hesitation he dug into his robe pocket.

“So soon?!” Hermione joked. Cedric smirked but his voice soon turned grave when he pulled out another note. Hermione assumed this was the “friend” the other note was describing as it looked identical to its predecessor. He cleared his throat and with difficultly read it aloud to her.

The note generally said that the writer was going to put Cedric through a series of tasks much like the tournament (written in a series of hideous and almost comical rhymes). The first clue was on the bottom of the note and it directed Cedric to a secluded part of the Forbidden Forest, he was to retrieve a very important object from a small cave. It then described a series of hideous and gut-wrenching situations involving Cedric’s father which Hermione wouldn’t let him read to her.

“Lets go down for some lunch,” she abruptly said as they both sat in silence in the bathroom, “We can both think this over and I’m famished! Oh, but I need to do one thing before we go…”

They left the bathroom together. There was a first year girl who was hiding from a young man who was trying to kiss her and she saw them leaving the washroom together but neither of them noticed. Hermione took a left and Cedric followed, then a right, straight down a narrow passage and then finally stopped before a portrait. She turned around to see if it was clear and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw that Cedric had followed her.

“Hermione,” he gave her a confused look, “what are you doing?”

She could already hear footsteps coming up the nearest stairwell.

“Oh, come on!” Hermione said regrettably and grabbed his hand. She ticked the pear, it squirmed and giggled and then turned into a large green door handle.

“Is this the kitchen? I thought you didn’t like breaking rules,” he questioned with a mischievous grin.

“Wipe that smirk right off your face Mr. Diggory!” she scolded whilst the elves brought them some tea and biscuits. Cedric settled down in a chair and waited, he had a sneaking suspicion that something interesting was about to happen.

“ELVES OF HOGWARTS UNITE!” her voice sounded so unexpectedly Cedric actually choked on a biscuit, “YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR RAGGED CLOTHING!”

Cedric was still choking on his biscuit but between his wheezes he was laughing hysterically.

“Cedric?” Hermione turned around for she heard a deathly barking noise from by the fire, “CEDRIC!”

In a panic Hermione did the only spell she could think of. Holding her wand high she screamed, “ACCIO BISCUT” and pointed her wand at Cedric’s throat. She gave a loud wince when his neck bubbled up like a balloon.

Amazingly, the piece of biscuit flew up his esophagus, right out his mouth and the spitty mucus covered biscuit flew directly into Hermione’s’ hand. By this time the house elves had gathered to watch, not because they wanted to unite but because they had never seen dinner theatre before.

Hermione screamed, flung the piece of biscuit across the room and was in absolute hysterics. She wasn’t usually squeamish but she didn’t usually have chewed partially digested food flying at her. Cedric found this uproarious, tears were running down his face and he was very glad he had used the washroom before they left for dinner because he was certain he wouldn’t have been able to hold it through that catastrophe.

He staggered over to Hermione who was feverishly scrubbing her hand, he gave her a little extra soap and tried to control his laughing. The noise of chuckling, wheezing, giggling and flat out hooting made Hermione’s blood boil and before she had even realized what she had done, she had regurgitated a gruesome spit wad in her own hand and rubbed it on Cedric’s neck. Once the action was complete she resumed washing her hands. The look on Cedric’s face was altogether comical, he wasn’t as squeamish as Hermione but was amazed at her spite more then anything.

Hermione dried her hands and with a good deal of grace and dignity began removing tiny little hats (Cedric even thought he saw a tiny pair of knickers) and tiny little socks out of her school bag. She presented each elf with a tiny hat or sock before their feet and hoped one would have the nerve to pick it up. But Hermione’s luck had failed her, and before she could lay the last hat down, her and Cedric both felt tiny little hands on the smalls of their back pushing them out of the kitchen.

“Yuck! Its getting crusty,” Cedric complained.

“What’s crusty?” Hermione asked.

“Hmm… I don’t know? Maybe the mucus you smeared on me!” he remarked.

Hermione laughed as he picked dried saliva off his neck. He smiled back at her and by the time they entered the Great Hall they were both in hysterics. A group of young Ravenclaw girls gossiped about the pair and remarked about the large red mark on Cedric’s neck.

“Oi Cedric!” hollered Ben from the Hufflepuff table indicating a seat beside him. Cedric nodded goodbye to Hermione and sat down next to him. Beside him was Al Cadwallader, and across from them were seated Brandon Harrison and Arnold Summers.

“Who’s she?” Al glanced towards Hermione.

“She’s a friend. Just a friend,” he clarified when he noticed the look on Al’s face. Al was a strong buff bloke in Cedric’s year. He wasn’t bright, he was a cheater, a coward and deceptive but he didn’t have the need for power or status like a Slytherin. His friends often remarked that he really didn’t belong in any of the houses and that’s why they stuck him in Hufflepuff.

“Ced’ mate, would you like to come for a fly with us tonight?” Ben asked. Ben was much like Cedric, he was intelligent, good hearted (and close friends knew him as a bit of a party animal) but unlike Cedric he was an excellent listener and was very sympathetic.

Cedric, who had just remembered a previous engagement Cedric declined the offer, and then leaned over to the Gryffindor bench.

“How about we meet in the library tonight to talk about the note,” Cedric whispered in Hermione’s ear.

She agreed that they would meet in the library at six o'clock. Looking up Hermione saw Ginny giving her a very devious kind of look that read “Tell me all the details” and Ron, well Ron wasn’t looking at Hermione at all and instead was eyeing Cedric with contempt.

“Ron,” Hermione said, “Ron… RON!” she raised her voice slightly and got his attention.

He ripped his eyes off Cedric and gave her an even worse look. Hermione shook it off and began telling him about her S.P.E.W plans, occasionally glancing in Cedric’s direction and once or twice catching his eye.

Hermione made her way down to the library at five fifty, she arrived early on purpose as she needed to return a book and felt like browsing. She couldn’t help checking her watch every few seconds, it was now six o’clock, he was late. However less then five minutes later Cedric waltzed into the library with Cho Chang trailing at his heels.



Cedric was rubbing his neck and running his hands through his hair, he looked like he had been hyperventilating and appeared to be trembling with nervousness. Even with his anxiety they seemed to be very involved in a conversation. A twinge of jealousy at his obvious interest in Cho tingled in Hermione but she suppressed it. Forcing herself to look away from Cho’s blatant flirting, she pretended to be reading. Cedric “dismissed” her (as Hermione would tell Ginny later that night), took off his school books and settled himself across the table from Hermione, his expression quickly turned from joyous and flattered to grave.



“I’m going to go out next Friday into the forest and find whatever they want me to.”



“Cedric that’s mad. How will you get outside the school after hours and how on earth do you plan on finding a mysterious cave in the dark? You’re a prefect and your competing in the tournament and if you want to kiss all that goodbye and get yourself EXPELLED then I’ll have no part!”



Cedric stood up and moved to the atlases. He pretended not to hear the last part of Hermione’s scolding. He pulled out one of the maps and loosely flipped through the pages.



“I thought we could find a map.” he said. Hermione sat at the table eyeing him with contempt but when she realized her scolding was not going to alter his opinion she sighed loudly and reluctantly got up and started helping him.



They had been searching for nearly an hour when Hermione piped up.



“Cedric! Cedric! I think I’ve-- no. No I’m sorry I haven’t found anything. The fact of the matter is that the forest is off limits so they wont keep maps of it in here. Why I doubt anyone has even mapped it…” her voice slowed. Hermione thought back to years passed and recalled a very simple and yet very powerful object that could help Cedric.



“I think I can get what your looking for,” Hermione whispered, “I can get you a map by Saturday, the day before the task,” she promised him.



“Really?” he looked ecstatic, “Hermione! I knew you would be able to help me!” he gasped and took her into a very manly hug. It was the kind of hug shared by Quidditch players or football players in the muggle world. It seemed Cedric had forgotten Hermione was in fact a girl, she was insulted for a moment but when she smelled the sultry peppermint scent of his cologne decided she would let it slide.



--------------------------------------------------



Hermione was in a daze as she made her way back to the common room. She glided down the hallways and even stopped to dance with a knight in one of the portraits, she sang the Fat Lady the password and fell onto the sofa in front of the fire.



“Where have you been!?” Ginny squealed and rushed down from the dormitories.



“Where have you been!?” Ron growled from the corner where he was playing chess.



“Harry,” Hermione thought,



“Map,” Hermione said.



“Harry,” she thought again, trying to piece together why these words were currently important to her.



“I NEED THE MAP FROM HARRY!” she finally blurted out.



“He’s gone to bed,” Ginny said with a strange look, “But tell me, how was it?!”



Hermione began going on and on about Cedric and about Cho, but mostly about Cedric. Ron sat in the corner pretending not to hear but really absorbing every rage inducing phrase. After 15 minutes of listening to the girls gossip he was unable to control his anger any longer and left for bed.



Her swoon had passed by morning and now she sat at the Gryffindor table persuading Harry to lend her the Marauders Map.



“No, I don’t trust him!” Harry said but then quieted when he saw Cedric approaching their table. Harry grunted at Hermione to look in his direction.



“I just wanted to thank you again,” he said with glee, “and apologize for the hug yesterday. I’m surprised you didn’t break a rib!” he joked.



Ron fumed at this statement. He hadn’t stayed up late enough to hear about the hug. Cedric gave Hermione a light pat on the shoulder, took a rasher of bacon off her plate and said goodbye. When he turned his back, Ron chose to strike.



He launched himself off of the table and landed on Cedric. Cedric fell onto the ground, where Ron tackled him once more and began pounding and kneeing him. Cedric threw Ron to the right and got up, he took out his wand and would have cursed the hair off Ron’s neck had Ron not leapt up and grabbed Cedric‘s leg. He punched him in the knee cap and Cedric collapsed in pain. The entire scenario looked like something from WWE.



Ron had jumped up onto the Ravenclaw bench and was about to launch himself onto Cedric (who was still clutching his right knee and wincing in pain). Cedric however, was a fast thinker and just as Ron was in mid air he attacked with the Jelly-legs Jinx and rolled feverishly out of the way. Ron collapsed onto the ground with a very loud thud and a grunt of anger. He attempted to walk to Cedric who was now on his feet and ready to duel. Just as Ron was about to expel a rather nasty Engorgio charm onto Cedric’s perfect nose, Professor McGonagall hustled through a the crowd now surrounding the two boys and disarmed them both.



“Ronald Weasley!” shouted McGonagall grabbing both Ron and Cedric by their ears and dragging them out of the Hall and to her office, “How dare you attack another student! A champion for that matter! And in front of our Durmstrang and Beauxbaton guests! You should be ashamed and mortified by your actions.”



“He attacked me back Professor,” Ron replied under his breath while giving a sideways glance to Cedric who was waiting his turn to be scolded.



“In self defense! One hundred and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor and a another seventy if you say one word more! You’re going to have to apologize to Mr. Diggory and if I were you I would thank him for not bewitching the pants off you!”



“I’m sorry,” Ron said with regret and without any enthusiasm, but then quickly changed his tone when he saw the vein in McGonagall’s forehead protruding.



“I shouldn’t have attacked you--”



“In front of everyone,” he thought.



“And--”



“Sod of Hermione, you’re a waste of her time,”



“Thank you kindly for not cursing me down to my knickers,” Ron said in as respectful a tone he could muster. Cedric grunted in acceptance and Professor McGonagall let him leave for the hospital wing.



He and Hermione didn’t speak all day. More enraged then ever she considered cursing him the second he walked into the common room, she resisted and much to her happiness he waltzed right upstairs to bed. This truly was for the best because she had more important things on her plate.



She and Harry had been working on a summoning charm for the task tomorrow. She had convinced him to give her the Marauders Map if she helped him, he agreed but with few conditions. She tried to focus the imagine of Ron flying through the air onto Cedric’s back plagued her mind.



“Leave it to Ron to ruin such a wonderful gesture,” she thought and a dictionary went flying into her hand at a ferocious speed. Harry gave her a look of astonishment.



“How did you manage that!?” he said, with a tinge of jealousy on his breath,



“Try this…” Hermione said with a mischievous smile.



-----------------------------------



Hermione awoke the next morning with a rock in the pit of her stomach. It was today.

She turned over and over in her mind if Harry’s summoning charm was just right. She hoped nothing terrible would happen to Cedric, and in the back of her mind she hoped they wouldn’t have a dragon on the loose.



The afternoon came sooner then Hermione wanted, and before she knew it she was sitting in a stadium awaiting the “show” to begin. She was shaking limb to limb as the brisk November wind howled under the blue sky. Ron approached her from the right and cautiously sat down.



“Hermione I’m so--”



“I don cahre ‘more! Juzt ‘it ’n ‘ope ‘arry does’t ghet blo’n ooo eeces!” she blurted in the fasted most incoherent piece of verbal diarrhea anyone had ever heard. Thankfully this is how Ron often spoke while eating and he understood perfectly.



“Alright then,” he said and made himself comfortable and “hoped Harry didn’t get blown to pieces,” like Hermione commanded him.



Cedric was up first. Hermione tried to hide her nervousness from Ron. Ron, who pondered if she was worried about Cedric watched her intently.



Cedric saw the Dragon and she blew a stream of fire at him he ducked behind a boulder.



Hermione hid a gasp.



He transfigured a rock into a very convincing dog, which seemed to be successfully distracting the Dragon.



Hermione drowned a cry of relief.



Then, as Cedric poked his head out from the rock, the dragon lost interest in the dog and spread its wings to fly, thankfully the chain around her neck stopped her and Cedric was left to run and hide.



Hermione lost it. She started screaming out towards the ground.



---------------------------------------------



Cedric’s heart was pounding in his chest. He could hear the yells (and boo’s) of the crowd. He huffed and puffed from behind a large piece of brimstone. His mind was racing. Sweat dripped from his brow. He felt cold sweat sticking to his back. He breathed heavily and tried to clear his head. In a torrent of adrenaline he jumped from behind the rock and transfigured another larger dog, this time across from him. The dragon turned his head and started, almost playfully pushing the dog around with one of its talons. Occasionally spitting fire at it. Cedric then crept on his stomach towards the egg. The rocks scarred his skin, but quietly he persisted. Quietly climbing up the small mound he saw the dragon rip one of the dogs limbs off. It howled in pain. Refocusing he saw the egg. Reaching out he grabbed it and held onto it tightly. He now was sweating even more feverishly. He continued on his stomach leading himself towards the finish booth. He had nearly made it out of the dragons nest undetected when his foot slipped and the loud sound of gravel and rock being rubbed against one another was heard by the Dragon. The angry mother quickly torched the dog and set it sights on its next fire cracker, Cedric.



He darted left, and avoided her fiery tongue. He ran forwards and while looking over his shoulder his face was glazed with her flames. He clutched his burn in pain but moved forward with haste. He flung himself into the finish booth clutching the egg for dear life.



“I’m alive” he thought to himself, impressed.



Then as he felt the burning sensation in his cheek remembered he hadn’t gotten by completely unscathed and that the judges would have to take away points for that. Still pleased with his performance, he got up slowly he walked to the medical tent where a frantic Madam Pomfrey began working on him.



-----------------------------------



Hermione ran as fast as her legs would carry her and arrived just as Madam Pomfrey was preparing an oozing lotion to put on his face.



“YOU'RE ALIVE!” she screamed and without thinking hugged him tightly around the neck, “how is your face? It doesn’t look too bad,” she answered her own question. From the medical tent they could look out over the stadium and watch the contestants. Hermione watched as Fleur and Victor both battled their own Dragons and she sat with Cedric as Harry competed.



If Hermione wasn’t the loudest person in the stadium when Cedric competed, she was now. She dug her nails into her face and was shaking like a leaf, she jumped screamed and yelled at the top of her lungs. A number of times Hermione was erratically shaking so much that Cedric walked over and moved her away from the railing in fear that she might fall into the stands below. He watched her nervousness with a hint of jealousy towards Harry, but suppressed his feelings and went to guide Hermione away from the rail again.



Hermione had just sat into a chair Cedric had brought for her when Harry completed the task. Hermione jumped up screaming and wailing. She hugged Cedric again and then fell back into the chair in tears of joy. She insisted on going to see her best friend immediately but both Cedric and Madam Promfrey agreed that she needed to calm down before going. She took deep breaths, composed herself and in little time was aloud to see him. She acted calm while walking out of the tent. But Cedric, who was following her with his eyes, saw her walk turn into a run as she made her way into the room next to his. A hint of resentment towards Harry once again burned in his heart and lingered even as Cho sauntered towards his tent. He knew they would never share the same friendship between Harry and Hermione.

A/N Okay, I promise things are going to start heating up from here on! I've finished up to Chapter 12 so expect a lot of new chapters in the comming weeks! Thanks for reading!

“Hermione I’m not going to let you come with me!” Cedric had exclaimed an hour earlier. “It’s going to be too dangerous. Just give me the map!”

They were now cautiously heading down a path through the forest towards a large black ink spot on the map labeled ‘cave’.

The cold wind creaked through the tree branches, it was freezing! Hermione now wished she had stayed in the castle. She shivered slightly.

“Did you hear that?!” Cedric darted and looked over his shoulder. “Come here,” he said “quickly!“ and he grabbed her. She was pulled in close to his chest and they hid behind a tree.

Waiting. The wind hushed and branches creaked. A dark shape walked on two legs across the path. Moonlight glinted off what appeared to be a shiny coat of scales but the faint light disappeared and so did the apparition.

They waited longer. Hermione still pressed against Cedric’s warm frame. He listened and her eyes scanned the wilderness around them. She was afraid but refused to show it. After what seemed like hours of standing in stillness Cedric slowly let go of her. He bent down so there faces were at the same level and whispered,

“Lets split up.”

Hermione shook her head in disagreement.

“Just for now, to make sure the coast is clear. Stay here,” he commanded. Slowly moved back onto the path and disappeared in the same direction as the creature.

Fear had set in. She couldn’t hide it any longer. Tears flooded her eyes as she stood motionless exactly as Cedric had left her. She looked at her watch, 10:10. He had left five minutes before and she no longer heard his footsteps creaking in the leaves. 10:15, ten minutes gone. Shivers ran through her body as she rubbed her arms for warmth. Hermione felt something in her pocket. She pulled out a piece of parchment. A quiet gasp of disbelief slipped from her lips, she had the map. Now her heart raced and more tears gathered in her eyes.

Frantically, her eyes scanned the page looking for Cedric’s name. She found it, close to her own location. Her heart palpitated as she ran along the path as silently as possible. Quietly, above the sound of her own footsteps she heard the sound of trickling water. Eyeing the map she saw Cedric was very close. Moving aside the branches of a bush she saw him near the waters edge speaking to a repulsive creature. It had huge fangs and scales, walked on two legs but had long arms that dragged on the ground. It resembled a monkey. Hermione had seen this creature before in a textbook.

‘The Kappa is cunning, manipulative, a known wizard killer and enjoys sucking the blood of anyone stupid enough to let it.’ she recalled from her book. Cedric was apparently stupid enough Hermione thought. She watched him casually chatting with the creature as though they were at a dinner party. Every few minutes Cedric would take another step closer towards the waters edge. He looked completely unaware that once he was near enough the creature would pull him under the water and drown him. In visioning the horrific killing in her minds eye, Hermione desperately tried to recall the animals weakness. It came clear to her once she saw what looked like a large dish full of liquid atop its head.

“Deliquesco Liquescere!” she screamed, her voice rang out from behind the plant. The water held in the goblet which gave the animal strength evaporated and the Kappa crumbled into dust.

Cedric, jolted out of his trance turned around and looked at Hermione. She had saved his life, she had shown her loyalty to him and most importantly that she cared. But before he had a chance to thank her she grabbed his hand, and began marching off away from the river bank.

“We’ve nearly made it to the cave,” she said impatiently.

“Hermione wait,” Cedric protested.

“No Cedric, I just want to get out of here. We can talk when we’re back at the castle!” she decided for them both. Cedric stayed quiet, he was happy to have her guidance and appreciated her company.

They had reached a large clearing in the forest when exhaustion overcame them both. In the center of the field Hermione collapsed into the soft mint grass. He looked down at her in worry, but his facial expression softened when she tiresomely rolled onto her back.

“I think we need to rest for a bit,” he whispered and took off his woolen jacket. Gently he laid it over Hermione and himself.

Rolling onto his side he faced Hermione who was star gazing. The moon cast a pleasant glow over her girlish features and for the first time, he felt a twinge of jealousy towards Ron.

“That’s Mars.” she said, suddenly aware of his gaze. She pointed to a very bright star, “It’s Earths sister planet, almost alike in everyway.”

“Tell me about it,” Cedric asked, knowing she was going to tell him about it either way.

“They each have roughly the same surface area of land. Each have ice caps and the atmospheric chemistry is similar. We both have evidence of climate change, and the tilt of the axis is very similar. Both planets experience snow and hurricanes,” she stated robotically. He listened to her voice, smiling.

“She has a beautiful mouth,” were his last thoughts as he drifted off into a rhythmic sleep.

***

The sunlight crept over the horizon and glared in behind Cedric’s closed eyes. He awoke to find himself alone. Quickly he leapt to his feet and scanned his surroundings. Searching near him he saw no tracks of any animal or beast. Listening he heard silence. The same clearing stood before him, with its green grass and the dense wood surrounding it. A rustling directed his attention behind him.

“Cedric!” a faint voice called.

“HERMIONE!” he yelled and ran towards her voice.

“Cedric!” it called again, getting closer.

“Hermione!” Cedric yelled once again, running towards and girl running towards him with her loose curls flowing behind her.

“Come on!” she said with a child-like enthusiasm. She took his hand and guided him through the forest. He stumbled a few times and was amazed by her dexterity. She jumped through trees, dodged branches and didn’t on any of the many roots. Cedric on the other hand was having trouble keeping up and was relieved when she finally stopped and pointed him to the left.

Before them was a huge cavern. Nearly 30 feet high it towered before then, magisterial in its beauty. It was made of sharp crystal that looked as though it could fall and kill them at any second. The hues of purple and blue glistened off the razor edges of each piece. At ground level the structure hollowed out, revealing a small gemstone pedestal and atop it was a tiny golden object.

They both in stood in awe of its magnificence. Oh how they longed to touch its surfaces! How Hermione so wished to touch something so divine, so magical! How Cedric looked upon the creation with only his objective in mind.

He left Hermione’s side and approached the structure. He touched the sharp mouth of the cave and a drop of blood was reflected on its smooth surface. Carefully creeping into the structure and to the pedestal he held up a small golden bracelet. It had four tiny horses and a carriage attached to it. He looked at it quickly but his gaze was averted when he thought he saw a black figure in the trees. He then delicately put the object in his pocket.

“Lets go,” Cedric said with worry shrouding his usually calm voice.

He kept his wand out at all times. Her hand clutched his as he lead them to the edge of the forest. They emerged from the darkness dirtier then they came in but both in one piece. It was 7:00 and the sun was finally shining in the sky.

“Thank you,” Cedric graciously said as they ran to the courtyard.

They each made their way to the common rooms and settled into bed for a real nights sleep. Both hoped that no one had noticed their mysterious disappearance but were too preoccupied with snoozing to give it much thought.

Cho Chang stormed out of the Great Hall on Saturday morning after breakfast with a group of Ravenclaw girls trailing behind her, throwing nasty glares at anyone and everyone who got in their path.

“What’s their problem?” Ginny asked another girl, shooting a sharp glare to Marietta.
“Haven’t you heard about Hermione and Cedric?” a blonde girl said with a scoff and then the group continued outside.

Ginny obviously hadn’t heard but expected she would hear about it at the breakfast table. Upon entering the hall she found a young girl, probably in her first year, telling a group of Gryffindor’s and some nosey Slytherin’s about something she had heard in the girls’ third floor washroom a few days ago.

“…I heard her come in very late last night and collapse into bed. I bet she’s still sleeping now!” said Lavender Brown and the entire group giggled.

“Oh, Ginny!” Parvati Patil waved her over. “She’s Granger’s best friend, she’s got to know all the details!” she told the rest of the group.

Ginny sat down and grabbed a glass of juice.

“So is it true Weasley,” asked a sneering Draco Malfoy from his own table, “is it true that-” he laughed. “Granger really is always on her back for Diggory?”

Ginny choked and she spat out the pumpkin juice that was in her mouth, spraying the Gryffindor table.

“Say that again Malfoy.”

“Have they, you know… done it?” He looked thoroughly amused. “It’s unfortunate really. He’s a pureblood and everything!”

Ginny looked as though she was about to hex the hairs’ off Malfoy’s arse when Lavender cut in.

“Don’t listen to him Ginny. Tell us what’s been going on.”

“Nothing! Nothing has been going on!” she frantically explained. Glancing to Ron and seeing a purple faced boy who looked like he was going to curse the hairs’ off everyone involved in this conversation.

“Honestly Ginny, loyalties mean nothing now. Harriett here.” she indicated towards the first year girl, “heard everything that went on in the washroom. Their late night meetings, and last night! Pansy even saw them in the court yard this morning.”

At this Ginny picked up her things and left, wishing to clarify the information with Hermione before giving any more answers.

***

Cedric had been enjoying a wonderful sleep when he was awoken by Brandon Harrison.

“Ay Ced, wake up!” he said in his thick Irish accent. “Long night?” he added with a wink.
“What the bollocks are you talking about?” Cedric raised his voice, obviously disturbed by the wink.

“The rumors have been flyin’ off the shelves. Everybody knows you’ve shagged Granger.”
“WHAT!” Cedric yelled. “That’s not true at all!”

“Really? That’s too bad mate. Everyone’s positive it is.”

“Obviously,” he said sounding frustrated.

“Wait, Cho doesn’t think it’s true, does she?”

“I saw her storm out of the Great Hall a while ago. I wouldn’t be surprised mate.”

Cedric cursed and jumped out of bed. He pulled off his pajamas and pulled on a pair of jeans and a green sweater. He had just come up the stairs and turned a corner when he saw Hermione.

“Have you heard the news?” he ran up beside her. She gave him a very quizzical look.

“You’ll see,” he said and walked with her. They entered the hall and the room went dead silent, only the sounds of hoarse whispers could be heard. A group of Slytherin boys walked up beside them and in sync, pelvic thrusted into the air and let out a loud grunt. A group of Hufflepuff girls gave Hermione a very disapproving look and Draco mouthed ‘Tart’ at her.

Cedric took a seat at the very end of the Hufflepuff table, and Hermione took a seat at her own table and was shunned by the majority of the student body. She took a last gulp of juice when Seamus Finnigan made a very obscene gesture with his finger and a pastry that made her scream out in frustration.

“What is going on here?” she hollered, looking around the Great Hall. No one wanted to answer as they sat in their seats suppressing girlish giggles.

“Cedric,” Draco piped up. “I’m must say, when I heard it at first I didn’t believe it. But now that I think about it, your family is the type to consort with-” he looked directly at Hermione, “-lesser sorts of wizards.”

“What are you talking about Malfoy? Cedric and I are friends!” Hermione exclaimed.

“Yeah Malfoy,” said a Ravenclaw boy. “What’s a casual shag between friends?”

The entire hall burst into laughter. Hermione flushed a deep scarlet and tears twinkled in her eyes. Cedric, who hadn’t been speaking to anyone the entire time, got up. Many people moved out of the way as he briskly walked down the isle to where Hermione was sitting, grabbed her by the arm and roughly escorted her out of the hall.

“Why did you have to say anything?” he said, his jaw clenching.

He walked them to a deserted classroom where he shut and locked the door.

“I didn’t know!” Hermione protested, still fighting back tears.

Frustration and anger ran livid through his eyes as he paced the classroom, running his hands through his hair.

“This is bloody embarrassing! Do you have any idea what this is going to do to my reputation? What about Cho? She must be even more upset with me!” he yelled.

“I thought yesterday was nice! It was exactly what I would call fun but I considered you a friend and now THIS!”

“It was my fault! I didn’t start the rumors!” Hermione shouted back from behind a veil of tears.

“Then who did?” he screamed.

“I don’t know! I didn’t even know about this mess!” she screamed back, her voice full of spite.

“Okay,” he said, trying to calm both of them. He looked at Hermione who was sitting in a desk at the other side of the room. He walked over, counting to ten in his head, still running his fingers through his hair.

“Lets just calm down,” he said softly and sat down next to her. Tears still trickled down her face so he pulled a tissue from his pocket and dabbed it on her cheek. She ripped it out his hand and wiped the tears herself.

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t your fault.” he confessed. “I’m just so damn frustrated!”

“Well what are you going to do about it?” she asked coolly.

His first response was to avoid each other, as to not create anymore suspicion and two weeks ago that would have been his answer. Today however, something was different. He saw Hermione in a new light.

“We should act like nothing’s happened,” he replied, “because we haven’t got anything to hide.”

She looked intrigued.

“That sounds like a plan. But I think you should go find Cho before we start anything and I need to find Ron and Harry. They need an explanation.”

Once Hermione had regained her composure, and her face was no longer wet and stained the pair set off in opposite directions both with the same goal in mind.

"Why should I listen to you!” screamed an irate Cho Chang. Cedric was entirely surprised with her reaction. He had entirely expected her to be upset, but had also expected a quick make up, followed by a light kiss on the cheek, followed by a late lunch.
How wrong he was.

“Cho, it didn’t happen,” he pleaded.

“But everyone says it did!” she argued.

“Okay fine,” he said bluntly and started to walk away. Cedric had the art of hard to get down to a tee, she tried to stand her ground and was doing well. She was waiting for him to look back, but when he was about to enter the school and still hadn’t given as much of a glance to her, she broke down. Crying and running after Cedric she screamed, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

His goal achieved, he held her close in his arms and soothed her tears. He ran his hands through her long, honeyed hair and grinned at his cunning manipulation. The airy scent of lavender wafted through him and slowly her sobs quieted. Releasing her he asked, “Would you like to go to lunch?”

***

Hermione walked at a very determined pace into the common room. Ron was causally flipping through the Daily Prophet and was startled by her entrance. She promptly met his eyes and with a motion of her hand beckoned him towards her. Ron sneered and sat back down on the couch. A huff of frustration was released by Hermione.

“Ronald! I need to speak with you.”

“Hermione! I don’t want to speak with you.” he mocked nastily.

Another huff left Hermione’s lips and she began marching towards the sofa where he was so comfortably seated. Ron heard her stomping feet and jumped from the couch. He darted behind a lamp and then ran as fast as his legs could take him out of the common room. Hermione hastily followed him through the halls, flailing curses at him left and right.

“Ronald Weasley if you believe everything you hear you’re more dense then I ever took you for!” she hollered as he hid behind a suit of armor.

“So then the rumors aren’t true?” he said nervously.

“NO YOU IDIOT!” Hermione exploded and sent a torrent of curses at Ron, all of which were deflected in opposite directions by the suit of armor.

Once the flashing of spells had ceased he poked his face out from behind the armors breastplate and looked at her.

“Care for lunch?” she asked him in a cheery voice.

“Of course, just try not to blast my head off while I‘m eating my pudding.”

So they walked down to the hall together and although Hermione was thoroughly embarrassed by the obscene gestures that were being ‘thrust’ at her she endured.

“Hullo you two,” greeted Harry from behind the pair. Ginny followed close behind him.

Hermione opened her mouth to explain the rumors that were whizzing around the school but Harry stopped her.

“Ginny’s already told me,” he explained while a third year girl mouthed a very nasty word to Hermione.

“Well then let’s get lunch!” Hermione said cheerfully, ignoring the girl’s foul vocabulary.
Lunch was as foul if not worse then all of the gestures, the comments and the reenactments put together. By the end of it both Hermione and Cedric had wished they had skipped the meal altogether.

“Granger,” said the snide and insufferable voice of Malfoy, “you really should consider yourself lucky, to be touched by a pureblood is quite an honor. Although,” he said looking Cedric in the eye, “respectable wizards would never engaged in such an activity.”

Coincidentally, at this very moment Draco’s robes burst into purple flames. He flew by the seat of his pants out of the hall screaming, “I’ll get you Weasley!”

Ron however hadn’t lifted a finger and he was looking around his table when he saw Cedric putting away his own wand. Ron found a sense of respect for Cedric. After all, anyone who hated Malfoy, was a friend of his.

***

It was Thursday’s Transfiguration class when Professor McGonagall had announced the upcoming date of the Yule Ball. Cedric and Hermione were officially old news as the entire school was now fretting over who was taking whom and more importantly, what they were wearing. Ginny and Hermione had only been out of class for five minutes and they had already joined the majority and were discussing dates.

“It would be such a shame if no one asked me,” Hermione complained.

“Such a shame for you? I think you mean such a shame for me. At least you’re old enough to go! I’ve got to be asked by an older student! And, you’ve got Cedric.”

Hermione giggled.

“It would be wonderful if he asked me!”

In the Great Hall Cedric was casually eating a roast lamb --that he wished was Hippogriff-- sandwich. He bit into its succulent flesh, the lettuce had a satisfying crunch and the marinara sauce had a pleasant tang.

“Nothing like wild game,” he mused to himself.

He closed his eyes and was about to divulge into the sandwich again when he felt someone sit down next to him.

“Ai’ Cedric!” said Brandon, “You’ve heard about the ball I presume?”

“Yep,” Cedric replied in a rushed voice, hastily gulping down the sandwich.

“Who’re you thinkin’ about takin’?”

“I haven’t thought about it.”

“That looks like a mighty tasty sandwich,” Brandon commented eyeing its juicy goodness, “Maybe you should take ‘Ermione?”

The idea toyed with Cedric, and he put down his sandwich.

“Not sure if I will. I haven’t decided, she might not even want to go with me.”

“Ay! Bollocks!” Brandon said lightly and ripped off a hunk of Cedric’s sandwich.

Through his chewing he said, “’course she’ll want to go with you. Any gal would, ya’ are champion after all!”

“I’m still thinking about it,” Cedric repeated, polishing off what was left of his sandwich.

“We’ll tell me when ya’ pick”

“You’ll be the first to know!” the “Champion” hollered over his shoulder while he left the Great Hall. He hadn’t walked far when Draco Malfoy stopped him and pulled him into the center of a large crowd of Slytherins and Durmstrang students.

“So, are you going to ask Granger to the ball?” he asked with a sneer.

“I don’t know Draco, who are you planning on taking, Pansy Parkinson?” he asked, and then answering his own question replied, “of course you are, ‘cause she’s the only girl that’ll have you.”

“You’ll pay for that Diggory!” Malfoy retorted, “Ah! Look! There’s your shag buddy now! Granger, get your ass over here.”

She stood firmly in place, defying his order.

“What do you want Malfoy?”

“I want you to tell us what it was like when--”

“Listen you!” she commanded, “Shut it before I do it for you! I’m fed up with all these lies! Nothing happened and you haven’t any right to say such fowl things to Cedric! He hasn’t tarnished his honor in anyway, as a wizard, man or a pureblood!” and then with a taste for revenge she added, “Really, for a pureblood you a complete idiot and the rest of your kind should be ashamed.”

“You disgusting, foul mouthed Mudblood bitch. I’m going to--” Malfoy started but was cut off by the boisterous, booming Bulgarian voice of Viktor Krum.

“She’s vight too know. You shood be very ashamed of yourself Malvoy. You shood not be so vude. Honor is very important among us and you haff none. What leetle respect you haff is only for yourself.”

She looked graciously at the Seeker. He gave her a toothy grin in reply and stalked off down the hallway. The gang of speechless Slytherins quietly dispersed leaving Hermione and Cedric alone.

“Thank you,” he said, “I need to get to class but I need to talk to you later, can I meet you somewhere?”

“How about in the library after dinner?” she suggested.

“Sounds lovely.”

***

Hermione was particularly perky when she returned to the common room that evening. Sitting by the fire and opening a book, she let out a girlish squeal and suppressed her delight. Ginny was sitting in the opposite corner of the room and walked over to sit on the couch.

“Okay, SPILL!” she whispered giddily, “Someone-- someone’s asked you to the ball haven‘t they?”

Hermione giggled and nodded her head.

“Did you say yes?” Ginny squealed.

Hermione nodded again and then they both burst out screaming like school girls.

“When! How! Who! Tell me who!” Ginny pleaded.

“Well, we were in the library…”

“Who! Tell me who!” Ginny exclaimed, unable to contain her emotion.

“Guess! Guess who it is and I’ll tell you!” Hermione teased and the girls giggled on throughout the night, their conversation not straying far from the lucky young lad who would be escorting Hermione to the ball.

Neville’s heart raced as he ran out of Divination class, hoping to catch Hermione as she exited her Muggle Runes class. The room was located on the other side of the school and he huffed and puffed; his pace faltered but he never stopped for a breath. With much relief he found her only a few paces away from the classroom, giving directions to a Ravenclaw first year.

“Hermione!” he gasped.

“Neville! Are you alright? Has someone cursed you?” she asked, seeming alarmed by his apparent lack of breath.

“No, no I’m fine. But I-” he looked at her and took a deep breath. “I have to ask you a question.”

Mustering his flutter-nerves, he stammered quickly, “Come to the ball with me? Please?” Hermione looked confused at first and then her expression softened.

“I’m sorry Neville, but someone has already asked me.”

“Oh,” he replied. “Umm… that’s okay too. Just wanted to make sure we all had dates.”

“Of course,” she replied, and they continued awkwardly together down the hallway.

They had just passed the girls washroom when Cedric turned the corner. He looked dashing as usual, with the same combed hair, neat robes and slightly flushed cheeks. On his left breast however, was a neatly pinned S.P.E.W badge.

“Morning Hermione,” he said with a very sly grin. Hermione turned a slight shade of pink and replied with a girlish giggle. Neville, looking at the floor and twiddling his thumbs, waited uncomfortably for the encounter to cease. But upon realising that their blatant flirting with each other was in no hurry to end, he grunted a curt goodbye and stalked off down the adjacent hallway.

Unfortunately for Neville, their teasing did end soon after, and as though Hermione hadn’t already had enough excitement, Ginny came roaring down the hall waving a large catalogue.

“Hermione, I’ve just got Madam Malkin’s winter catalogue! You’ve got to find a dress!”

“So soon?” Hermione asked.

“Yes soon! Here, you take this. I’ll run down to the kitchens and steal us some dinner. I’ll meet you in the common room so we can pick out dresses!” Ginny said, thrusting the large and heavy catalogue into Hermione’s arms and then she darted off down the hallway Neville had gone down only minutes before.

Hermione had waited nearly ten minutes and finally Ginny came running into the deserted common room with a bag full of chicken, a flask and two glasses of pumpkin juice and a huge smile on her face.

“I think we’ll be looking for my dress as well! Neville’s just asked me!” she exclaimed as she ran up the stairs to the girls’ dorms where Hermione was waiting.

“Chicken! Thank goodness, I’m starving, and that’s wonderful!” Hermione exclaimed, equally as excited as the red head, and they hurried into the dorm.

“I love this lavender one! That green one as well!” Ginny pointed as they started flicking through. Hermione quickly shoved another morsel of chicken down her already full throat and then incinerated the waste with a flick of her wand.

“Ginny,” she said, glancing at the prices. “How exactly… are you going to afford this?” Hermione asked uncomfortably.

“I worked all summer at my Aunts!” Ginny said in a pleasant tone, still flipping through the book.

The dorm door opened to reveal Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.

“Is that the new catalogue?” Lavender squealed. Hermione and Ginny both squeaked back and all the girls were soon sitting beside one another on the bed, gawking at the hideous dresses and shrieking at the appealing ones.

“Oh! Parvati! Your sister would look so glamorous in this one,” Ginny pointed.

“But I think I would look even more glamorous in it!”

Then standing up, Parvati strutted her stuff around the common room.

“No, no Parvati! It’s like this!” Lavender corrected and then jumped up onto the bed and struck a very sexy pose.

“Ginny! Look at this one,” pointed Hermione.

“How luxurious!” Lavender declared.

It was a silky emerald green, floor-length gown. A light sheen glistened over the bodice and the skirt flowed like a sea of green. Rouched fabric flowed from the right to left and then cinched at the hip.

“It’s perfect!” Ginny decided.

With one dress down and three to go, Lavender pulled out a large bag of sweets and they began prying through the book once again.

“Lavender this would look ravishing on you,” Ginny said pointing to a yellow gown.

“I entirely agree! With my hair pulled back in a… je ne sais quoi!” she flexed her French muscles and tossed back her hair all in a very ditzy demeanor which made Hermione want to vomit.

“What about me?” steamed Parvati, apparently upset by the lack of attention she was getting. “I want something pink.”

Hermione quickly flipped through to the pink dresses, which opened to a very risky party dress. The skirt was frilly and light pink. It was short, about mid-thigh in length. The bodice was strapless and a darker hue of pink. The edges were accentuated with hot pink lace.

“It’s gorgeous! Very daring! Mysterious! It’s perfect,” she sighed while the other three looked wondering to themselves if they were looking at the same dress.

“Now we’ve just got find something for Hermione,” Lavender said taking the book.

“What about this?” she pointed to a black velvet flood-length dress. Ginny shook her head, refusing to let Hermione wear such a hideous thing.

“This?” Lavender asked.

Hermione shook her head. “How’s this?”

“She is not wearing that! Here hand me the book,” Ginny demanded. She beckoned both Lavender and Parvati over. The trio analyzed her hair colour and complexion. They looked at her arms, and the state of her legs. With a final deliberation, Ginny revealed the dress they had chosen.

It was a long, floor-length gown. The cut was structured and the fabric narrowed about the waist and continued along the line of the body until far below her hips, where the substantial skirt flared out. It created the perfect hourglass figure. There was a thick band of detailing around the top of the skirt to add emphasis to the unorthodox proportion of the dress. But even in its unusual style, the gown was worthy of dinner with the Queen. It was colored a pearly blue and made of heavy satin.

“It’s beautiful,” Hermione gazed.

“Well, that’s settled,” Lavender laughed. “Let’s all fill out our order forms together and send them in tomorrow morning!”

So the girls scribbled down their desired dresses, along with the measurements of their school robes and all went to sleep, eager to mail the owls at dawn.

***

“I can’t believe it!” Ron told Harry. “She’s already got a date! Maybe she’s lying... Must be lying… poor girl.”

“You’re just mad because she completely rejected you,” Harry chuckled.

“Sod off!” Ron said and Lavender Brown came screaming down the hall, dragging Parvati Patil down the hall.

“Are you two okay?” Harry called after them.

“We’ve got to get ready for the ball!”

“It’s only barely past noon!”

“EXACTLY! We’re late!”

Although they were late, they were not the last ones in the dorm. About five minutes after they arrived, Hermione stumbled in with a very large, heavy parcel.

“Late delivery,” she explained. Upon opening the parcel all the girls were baffled by the eight, medium sized bottles of Hair Tonic. In a very communal moment - more communal then most would think Lavender and Parvati were capable of - each one of the girls grabbed a bottle of the tonic. They spread the thick potion into their hands, and began applying liberal amounts to Hermione’s bushy hair. After fifteen minutes and the seven of the bottles, her hair had moderately smoothed itself and was now in an elegant twist.

The ladies then changed and began working on their own hair. Hermione zipped Ginny’s dress up and with a flick of her wand and curled her ginger hair. Parvati combed her long straight locks, and Lavender (with much effort) twisted her thick hair into a complicated and fragile up-do. Aje ne sais quoi.

By seven o’clock, they were ready and decided to walk down to the entrance hall and mingle with other students before the ball officially began at eight.

Upon arrival at what one might consider a ‘pre-event party’, Parvati and Lavender disappeared, leaving Hermione and Ginny to sit by themselves on the steps listening to a group of Beauxbaton girls discuss French men. More specifically, how Hogwarts men were “pansies” in comparison. Just as they concluded a discussion on the superiority of French physique over the English physique, teachers began ushering students into the hall in preparation for the first dance.

“Ginny! I’ve left my earrings in the dorm! I’ll be right back!” Hermione frantically said, dashing up and then back down several flights of stairs which meant she was out of breath when she ran into Cedric.

“Hello,” she blushed.

“Hi,” he said and looked her over head to toe.

“Shall we?” he asked and offered his arm. She took it nervously and he escorted her.

“You look beautiful, you always look beautiful,” he whispered in her ear.

“You look rather dashing yourself,” she replied blushing even deeper.

“That dress is amazing. You’ll be every girl’s worst enemy tonight.”

“Well let them be jealous, certainly this kind of attention doesn’t come my way often.”

“You’re too clever for your own good,” he remarked thoughtfully.

“You’re too handsome for your own good,” she teased. He blushed deeply, and then look her hand to lead her down the stairs. Only the champions stood in the entry hall now, and all of them stared at Hermione. She was by far the most elegant girl there. Her dress fit her like a glove, and her elegant bun with a loose curl or two at the sides made her look even better. She would have taken time to be flattered had she not been consumed with thoughts of dancing with Cedric.

Hermione’s heart fluttered and her breath quickened as she carefully she walked down the stairs. The light shimmered off her dress and her hot breath heated her skin.
All eyes were on her. Her face glowed pink and she smiled graciously. Glancing at Cedric’s hand holding hers, she looked into the distance where a dark figure stood. Cedric offered her his arm, but she did not take it and instead floated to her date’s side.

More and more people were beginning to stare. The striking contrast between her angelic beauty and his dark, strong figure drew more attention to themselves. The air around them hung still in awe of their perfection.

Cedric let out a sigh. He turned over his right shoulder and saw Cho. Walking towards her, he took his place beside his date to wait for the procession to start.

The hall doors opened. The music began on cue. Blue light beamed from the hall and a thousand happy faces were glowing.

Dancing with Cho was a burden. He masked his disappointment well and bringing her in close, he pretended she was not who she appeared. He struggled to find happiness by her side so he closed his eyes and let the world slip away from him. The scent of cinnamon whirled around the dance floor in whips of blue and white and the crystalline glasses sparkled when tickled with starlight, reflecting a joy Cedric could not experience.

“Are you having a good time, Er-my-ninny?” Viktor whispered hotly into her ear.

“The best,” she replied. Stardust danced between their eyes. Giggles left their lips and played like children only to run when shadow flanked them.

Leading Cho nearer to Hermione was not Cedric’s intention. However, as though a power from the Cosmo’s had propelled him, he advanced to her leading his beast of burden. Quietly he gazed upon her looking away as often as he could spare.

The scent of peppermint tickled Hermione’s senses and pushing away old feelings brought anew, she buried herself in the strong, stone body of Viktor.

Resting her face on Viktor’s chest, Hermione watched Ron and Harry fight back and forth over a mug of butterbeer. She tittered softly. Feeling eyes burning on the back of her head, she looked to the side and caught a glimpse of Cedric.

He looked away quickly, breathing deeply and fondly playing with Cho’s hair. He closed his eyes and pretended to be enjoying his dance with her. Cho tossed back her head and laughed at nothing. She tried to look deeply into Cedric’s eyes but was turned down.

Hermione felt uncomfortable and she turned away. Viktor sensed her discomfort and lead them off the dance floor.

“Wood you like some-ting to dreenk?”

“I would love something,” she replied and sat down.

Viktor returned with two Butterbeers and they seated themselves at a table. Hermione took the first sip and Viktor followed.

“So-- do you have any siblings?”

“Seeblings?”

“Brothers and sisters?”

“Oh yes, I have a seester.”

“What is her name?” she asked.

“Nadezhda.”

“Gesundheit!”

“Huh?” Viktor questioned and she froze.

“Oh-" she paused for a moment, "that’s her name! What a… lovely and… unique name!”

“Yes, Nadezhda was also ‘ze name of my grandmoder. She was very booty-full.”

“Is your sister beautiful also?”

“No, she ‘ees very man-like. She has great big arms and a leetle beet of a-- how do you say? Moo-stash problem.”

“Moo-stash? Oh you mean Mustache! She has a-- oh, how terrible.”

“My grandmoders booty meesed her. My father fears he weel never get reed of her,” he explained.

“Mhmm” grunted Hermione as she took another large gulp of Butterbeer.

“I have to yoose ‘ze men’s room, I shall come back soon.”

Hermione nodded from under her Butterbeer and watched him leave the hall. She looked out at the dance floor, shuddering when she saw Pansy Parkinson teasing Draco for a kiss. She saw Neville and Ginny doing a vivacious two-step around the dance floor.

Crabbe and Goyle were dancing with two small and frail Slytherin girls who she assumed must have been under the Imperious Curse as no one in their right mind would agree to attend any sort of public function with them. Her eyes fluttered from face to face until she saw Cedric and Cho dancing with one another. Jealousy tickled her insides as her gaze lingered.

“Er-my-ninny?” said Viktor from the doorway.

Hermione jumped slightly and turned around.

“Come, I vant to show you some-ting.”

“Sure,” she said and took one last glance at Cedric who was staring at her before getting up.

Viktor put out his arm for her and she accepted it. He led her gently down the hallway until they reached a window.

“It’s very beautiful outside tonight,” Hermione said.

“You look very booty-full tonight.”

“Thank you,” she said, masking the discomfort in her voice.

“Ve do not have girls like you where I come from.”

“They all have mustaches in Bulgaria?” she joked.

“Actually… yes, they do,” he laughed.

Hermione smiled and looked out onto the grounds once more.

“I love how you did yoar hair tonight,” Viktor said awkwardly and brushing aside her hair he closed his eyes and leaned in.

She stood in shock for moment or two, wondering why Viktor was pushing out his lips and making for her face. Clueing in, she thanked her quick reflexes while she ducked left to get out of the path of Viktor’s menacing lips.

“Umm…” Hermione said quickly, “Look at the bird!”

Viktor snapped his head upright and squinted out into the distance. Once convinced that he saw no bird, he looked back at Hermione.

“Oh darn, you’ve missed it! Maybe if we look really hard it will come back!”

“Er-my-ninny, I don’t think ‘dis is ‘de time for bird watching.”

“No. It’s not.”

“I saw de way Cedric Deegory was looking at you,” Vicktor said quietly and Hermione’s heart stopped for a moment. She knew this was coming...

“Cedric? He’s just a friend.”

“Does he know ‘zat?”

“He does, he was the one who suggested it.”

“Hmm…” he grunted.

“Viktor, I wouldn’t have come with you unless I wanted to,” she lied and Viktor smiled.