“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.