17

"Congrats Cedric!"

"Well done, ced!"

"Ceddie boy, my man!"

Cedric's walk back up to the castle was filled with not only compliments, but also several very uncomfortable physical and verbal contacts with other Hogwarts students. He grabbed Hermione's hand as Maxine O'Malley and Heidi Macavoy, a beater and chaser on the Hufflepuff quidditch team, confronted them in the middle of the castle grounds.

"Cedric! Party in the Hufflepuff common room! Hermione, you're invited as well, tell the other Gryffindors that they can come too!" Exclaimed Heidi.

"Snacks will be provided!" Shouted Maxine over her shoulder as the two ran towards the castle.

"What do you say, Hermione? Come to the party?"

"I'm not sure, Cedric. I have lots of school work to catch up on. I haven't been prioritizing it as much lately," Hermione excused.

"Just for an hour, then we can go to the library," convinced Cedric as he pulled his hand from hers and put it around her shoulders.

"Oh, alright. But only because it's celebrating your victory," she sighed. "Only an hour though. And we'll be going to the library afterwards whether you like it or not. I have a potions essay to finish."

Hermione tapped the second barrel from the bottom in the second row in the rhythm of Hel-ga Huff-le-puff, accompanied by the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan, who's arms were filled with various treats from Hogsmede. Suddenly, the barrels moved aside and revealed an entryway to the Hufflepuff common room, where the party had already begun. There was loads of people cheering and laughing and shouting as bodies were close and the air was warm with laughter and movement. Hermione spotter Cedric in the middle of the crowd, on Ian and Nathaniel's shoulders as many students around them shouted "Cedric! Cedric!"

Hermione made her way over to the three boys and was enveloped into a hug by Ian as Cedric fell to the floor, Nathaniel beneath him.

"Bloody hell, Ian!" Exclaimed Cedric as he stood up and gave him a playful push. "First you hurt me, now you try to steal my girl? This is bizarre, but of course my Mia wouldn't leave me for someone who hurts other people, would you Mia?"

"Of course not," Hermione laughed and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. She could hear the entryway open again as they pulled apart and saw a confused Viktor Krum staring at the two of them.

"Bloody hell, this idiot. He's got a thing for you, you know," Cedric muttered to Hermione.

"He clearly doesn't. If he did, he'd do something about it."

"Well he asked you to the ball," stated Cedric.

"But we only danced, and he never suggested that he wanted to do otherwise."

"Oh, alright, you win," Cedric sighed, giving in, though he clearly still had his doubts.

Cedric got up and wrapped his arms around Hermione. She smiled and leaned into his chest and they swayed to the music of the Magician's Xylophone, a new wizarding band. This was nice, but Hermione couldn't get one specific thought out of her head. A thought that had been bugging her since the first task.

Hermione sat by the roaring fire, watching Cedric play a game of Gobstones with Ian and the Weasley twins when she noticed as Ron, Dean and Seamus walked in to the Hufflepuff common room. Thankfully, their arms were filled with sweets and butterbeer because the snacks were nearly gone and people were starting to get cranky that there were no liquorice wands left. The boys placed the treats on a table and sat down on the couch next to Hermione.

"Hullo Hermione," Said Ron as he sank into the sofa.

"Hello, Ron. I thought you said that you weren't coming?"

"Fred and George said that there was a snack emergency, so I brought Dean and Seamus to Honeydukes through the one- eyed witch passage and we brought some sweets and some butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks. I dunno why they couldn't go get it themselves." He grumbled.

Hermione laughed and Cedric looked over at them, not realizing that he had lost the round of Gobstones and got sprayed in the face with a foul smelling puss. Hermione's laughs got louder and she stood up and walked towards her boyfriend.

"Oh, you think this is funny, do you?" Cedric smiled. Hermione nodded and giggled but before she knew it, Cedric rubbed his face on Hermione's and she too was covered in the awful smelling puss.

"Oh, you little!" She screeched as she wiped the slime out of her eyes and chased him around the Hufflepuff common room, but after a few minutes she grew tired and fell back down onto her chair. Cedric, Ian and the twins laughed and Ron shifted uncomfortably as Hermione let out a sigh.

"Nice one Cedric!" Cheered the twins.

At this, Ron scowled before getting off of the couch to sit at the other side of the room.

It had been well past an hour into the party when Hermione fell asleep on the chair by the fire. She woke up in the strong arms of her boyfriend, who was carrying her bridal style across the common room. She barely opened her eyes, but through the crack between her eyelids she could see Ron snogging a black haired Ravenclaw girl. She closed her eyes again at the sight and fell back into a deep sleep.

Hermione awoke the next morning to see four boys staring at her, Ian, Calvin, Marcus and Nathaniel, Cedric's roommates. Then she noticed Cedric Diggory, her boyfriend. Laying on the floor with a cloak covering his body as a blanket and a small pillow under his head. She got out of bed and tapped him on the shoulder. He opened his eyes a little and smiled.

"How was your sleep?" He asked in a whisper.

"Much better than yours. Now come up here and get in the bed because it looks awful down there and you look cold."

Cedric stumbled up and Hermione pulled the covers next to her back and Cedric crawled into the bed. Hermione closed her eyes and Cedric put his arm on Hermione's waist and tilted his head so that it touched hers.

"I love you, Mia," he grumbled after she yawned silently.

Hermione's eyes opened quickly and her mouth opened slightly with shock. The other boys all ran out of the room at the mere mention of love and she could hear them laughing and shouting down in the common room.

Hermione smiled when Cedric stared into her eyes with a long, adoring look. She lifted her hand to his face and stroked his cheek.

"I love you too," she grinned.

That early Sunday morning, Cedric and Hermione laid under the yellow sheets of the middle bed in the sixth year Hufflepuff Boys' unoccupied dormitory.

"I can tell you have something on your mind. Just tell me," Cedric begged. After hours of silence, Cedric figured that Hermione's brain was filled with questions and concerns.

"Okay, you're right. I've been meaning to ask you this since we took a bath before the second task, but I never got round to it."

"Go on, spit it out."

"Why did you push me off your back when we were play fighting? Was I making you uncomfortable?"

"Erm- actually, this is quite embarrassing, you see- I got a little... excited. And it wasn't supposed to happen, I swear! But sometimes I can't control myself, and I haven't been out of control since I was in my fourth year with Susie Whitmore... I am so, extremely sorry, Mia..."

Cedric was expecting Hermione to be outraged, but instead she let out a laugh and pushed his shoulder.

"Don't worry, it happens to the best of us. Trust me- I'm honestly grateful for that response. I was thinking that your reaction was for the exact opposite reason, and that you were repulsed by me."

"I could never be repulsed by you. I love you too much, Hermione Granger" Cedric cooed.

"And I love you more, Cedric Diggory."