01

Three days later

Hermione Granger woke up to the sound of her mother opening her bedroom door. Peeking her head in the bedroom, she smiled at her groggy daughter and started to whisper.

"Hermione, honey, breakfast is ready."

Hermione rubbed her eyes and pushed herself out of bed, her hair messy and wild and her chin covered in drool. She walked into the bathroom and wiped her face and brushed her teeth with water quickly. She walked downstairs and sat next to Cedric, her boyfriend who had been staying with her for the summer, on her left, and her father on her right.

"So, What do you two plan on doing today?" Asked Hermione's mother with a smile as the young couple held hands.

"We're not sure. Maybe later we'll take a walk downtown, or go to the beach," Hermione suggested. Cedric nodded in agreement.

"Alright, well your father and I have work at eight, so we'll be home around ten tonight, we have a lot of kids coming in today with their parents, and we have a surgery today, so there's going to be loads of paperwork."

"Alright, mum." Hermione nodded before taking a bite of her breakfast sausage.

"Actually, Miss and Mister Granger, I was wondering if I could take Hermione out on a date tonight," said Cedric.

Hermione's father dropped his fork and her mother abruptly stopped drinking her orange juice.

"And what would you two be doing on this date?" Asked Mister Granger with uncertainty.

"Well, last week when we were walking through town, I saw this fancy restaurant that I would like to take Mia to," he said casually.

"Well, Alright. But if you need any money for food, just let us know," said Hermione's mom.

"And there will be no funny business on this date, young man!" Hermione's father barked, which was highly unusual with his normally calm demeanour.

"Yessir," said cedric as she shuffled in his seat, clearly uncomfortable.

"Okay dad, we get it. Thank you, and we'll be fine, we're going to get ready and go," said hermione before her father could burst out again she pulled Cedric by the arm to her room and sat him down on the bed next to her.

"Thank you," was all she said before she gave him a long, passionate kiss on the lips. Cedric was shocked, as he thought that he was going to receive a scolding, but he kissed her back.

When they broke apart, Cedric spoke up. "For what?" He asked.

"For everything. For staying here instead of with your family, for being safe, for whatever you're planning tonight. For being alive."

"I know that I apparently died over the school year, but I'm not dead anymore. I'm here, and I'm with you, and I'm not planning on leaving you anytime soon," cooed Cedric. "Now let's get dressed and ready, shall we?" Cedric left to the guest bedroom to get changed and Hermione went to her dresser and pulled out a white sundress and some undergarments. She changed from her pyjamas to her day clothes and started attempting to brush her hair into a sleek ponytail, but her small hairs kept creeping out, and she gave up trying to look neat. Using one of her scrunchies, hermione pulled her hair up into a high pony and tied it up. After brushing her teeth, she made her way downstairs, where she was greeted to the sound of a knock on the door. She walked over and opened the door.

"Hello?" She Asked.

"MIA! HOW ARE YOU?!" Shouted Ian Somerset from the other side of the door, enclosing her in a bear hug.

"Uh... Ian? What are you doing here?" Asked Hermione.

"I heard Cedric was staying with you from Mrs. Weasley. I was in the area and wanted to see how you two are doing!" He said a little too loudly, earning glares from Hermione's neighbours.

"Ian, calm down. You can come in but you can't start shouting or else Crookshanks might claw your eyes out. He's quite aggressive nowadays." She ushered him inside and closed the door behind them. As they walked inside Cedric was making his way down the stairs and saw Ian. He immediately ran down the stairs and the boys started hugging and jumping.

"IAN! WHAT! IAN!" Cedric shouted continuously as they jumped and spun in a circle.

"CEDDIE! CEDDIE YOU'RE HERE!"

"Er- Boys? boys? BOYS, CALM DOWN!" Shouted Hermione as her parents made their way into the hall.

"Hermione, who is this?" Asked Hermione's mother.

"This is Ian, Cedric's best friend," said Hermione.

Her parents chucked at the boys who were still hugging and patted Hermione on the back.

"He's not staying with us," laughed Hermione's father.

"Oh, no. Ian is leaving soon, right Ian?" Hermione glared at the boy.

"Oh, yeah, right. I just came to say hello," said Ian.

Hermione's parents laughed at Ian's scared face and turned back to hermione.

"Well, honey, we have to go to the office, but have fun tonight, you two. We'll see you tomorrow." Said Hermione's mother as they walked towards the door.

"Goodbye mum, goodbye dad," she said. They smiled at her and left.

*

Two hours later, Cedric and Ian sat on the sofa as Hermione was looking through the movie selection that was on the bookshelf. She pulled out the VHS for her favourite movie, Grease. She took it out of the case and popped it into the VHS player and started to rewind it, much to Ian's amazement.

"Whoa! What is this muggle device? Why is there a picture that's moving backwards?" He asked. "Why is there a fuzzy line that goes across? Why is is moving so fast? How do people do that? Muggles are weird."

Hermione sighed and pressed play once the movie was back at the beginning and sat down in between Cedric and Ian, but moved closer into Cedric's arms. Ian was still confused about the TV and VHS and wouldn't stop asking questions, to which Hermione glared at him. Finally, after twenty minutes of Ian's unanswered questions and Cedric's annoyance, Hermione stood up.

"Ian, I know you said you wanted to see Cedric, but I'm sure we'll see you soon enough, please just go, we've had barely any time alone since the school year!" Hermione complained.

Ian stood from the couch and gave Hermione a hug. "You're right, I'm sorry, I have to go anyways, I've got a little cousin staying at our house for two weeks, and he's been bugging me to play quidditch for the whole time. But I understand, you two need to be alone together," he said as he let go of hermione and gave Cedric a hug as well.

"Thanks, mate," grinned Cedric as Ian left let go of him as well and moved towards his empty shoes. He slipped them on and Hermione and Cedric followed him to the door.

"Goodbye, Ian. We'll see you soon," said Hermione.

"Bye bye, Mia, Bye Cedric. You two have fun... but not too much fun!" He called and gave the couple a wink before leaving the house and summoning the Knight Bus. The double decker bus appears and the boy had a conversation with a man who very loudly introduced himself as Stan Shunpike before Ian handed him some currency and the two boys got on the bus. As it zoomed away, Cedric and Hermione stepped back into the house.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't handle him anymore," started Hermione with a guilty face.

"It's alright, love. I was about to kick him out myself."

"I know. Your muscles were so tense that I thought that you turned to stone when I wasn't looking." Hermione laughed and gave Cedric a hug.

"That wasn't the only reason I was tense."

Hermione looked up to see Cedric smirking at her and she playfully hit his arm. "Shut up," she muttered, as she felt the butterflies come to life in her stomach. She pushed him back on to the couch to finish the movie.

*

Hermione applied light makeup for her date with Cedric. She put mascara on her eyelashes and a small amount of eyeshadow on the lids of her eyes, and applied a light pink lipgloss before giving herself a once-over. She stared at herself in the mirror and couldn't help smile at the thought of her first official date with Cedric. She thought she looked fancy enough for a dinner date, so she made her way down to the bottom of the stairs, where Cedric was waiting.

At the sight of his girlfriend looking so beautiful, Cedric smiled. He took Hermione's hand as she reached the bottom of the steps and linked arms with her. They left the house and Hermione locked the door with her key before they took off for the mystery restaurant.

*

They entered the Bon Patron gourmet restaurant and were greeted by a waitress in fancy attire. She gave the young couple a once over and a snarky look before leading them to a table in the back corner of the restaurant. She gave them their menus and strutted back to the front desk.

Hermione and Cedric both read through the menu carefully before discussing it.

"What do you think I should get?" Asked Cedric.

"I'm not sure, I haven't decided either. Why don't we choose for each other? That way we can try something different," Hermione replied.

Cedric thought for a moment before agreeing. "Okay, Fine. But no mushrooms, they have a weird texture that make me gag."

Hermione laughed and brushed her fingers against Cedric's, who's hand was on the table. Cedric took Hermione's hand in his and gave it a light squeeze, making her smile. They continued to look through the menu, sneaking glances at each other before a new waitress came.

"Hi, my name is Tara, I'll be your waitress today. Have you two made up your minds yet?" She Asked with a smile.

"Actually, we're going to be deciding what to get for each other, so can he get the Chicken Tikka Masala, please?" Said Hermione.

"Of course, and for the lady?"

"Er- I think she can have- the specialty Shepherds Pie, please," Cedric replied with an unsure grin.

"And to drink?" Asked Tara.

"Just water, for the both of us," replied Hermione.

"Okay, coming right up." Tara, their waitress, left with their menus and went to the kitchen to give in their orders.

*
WARNING: mature content ahead. Read at your own risk.

After eating and paying, Cedric and Hermione left the restaurant. As they walked on the cobblestone streets, they watched as the sun set in the distance, turning the sky into mixes of oranges and pinks that they had never seen before. They held hands as they walked towards the calm, deserted beach. The water was still when they approached, and they saw birds flying high in the sky, undoubtedly going home to their families for the night, the only sound was the waves lightly splashing from the ocean to their feet and back again.

"I love you," said Cedric as they sat in the sand, their now bare feet at the edge of the waves.

Hermione looked at Cedric with soft eyes and her lips parted slightly before looking at his soft mouth. She crashed her mouth onto his with such passion that he was taken aback. When he broke the kiss she whispered.

"I love you, too."

He kissed her again with just as much passion. They sat still until Hermione moved herself onto his lap, one leg on either side of him. The kiss deepened and Hermione started to unbutton Cedric's shirt, revealing his smooth chest. He shrugged the shirt off and threw it out of the way before going back in to the kiss. He pulled at the bottom of her dress as she helped him guide it over her head, leaving her solely in her undergarments. She hovered over him as he pulled off his pants and they stared at each other.

"Only if you want to," said Cedric seriously.

"Bloody hell, Cedric I'm in my underwear, obviously I want to!" She exclaimed before pulling him into the water. They ventured deeper into the water before throwing their undergarments to the shore and Hermione held on to Cedric's back. Cedric was shoulders deep in water before Hermione moved herself onto his front, kissing his mouth passionately before feeling him brush against her. She deepened the kiss at the touch.

*

Hermione and Cedric emerged from the water completely naked and gasping for breath. They reached down for their clothes with smiles as they redressed themselves, giving each other quick looks as they did so. Hermione laughed as she watched Cedric struggle to put on his pants with his wet legs. He smiled and pulled out his wand, tapping it on his arm to completely dry himself, and moved forwards to do the same to Hermione. She thanked him quietly and put on the rest of her clothes.

The sun had completely set and the couple were surrounded by the lights from the lampposts as they made their way down the street. They held hands and swung their arms as they giddily made their way back to Hermione's home.