25

Hermione's grasp around Harry was cut short by the cough of Professor Snape.

"Miss Granger, once again, your love life should not be shoved in my face. I will not tolerate your diffy-daffy behaviour any longer. Fifteen points from Gryffindor," he snarled, giving Harry a side eye filled with so much hate that Harry might die, should looks be able to kill.

Harry went to shoot back an insult at the Professor, but Hermione held out her hand in an attempt to keep him quiet. "Not now," she whispered. "We already got points taken away." He nodded and kept his mouth shut, though Hermione could tell that he was saying some pretty nasty things about Snape in his head, many of which he would later be repeating furiously to Ron and Hermione.

The two fourth year's watched as Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall dragged Barty Crouch Jr. down the corridors and to the ministry officials that waited outside. They turned to find that the real Professor Moody had emerged from the large trunk and was wearing his false eye and leg.

"I'm getting too old to do these things, Albus. Don't know how long this leg will put up with the weight of being an ex-Auror. Maybe I shouldn't come back next year. Consider me resigned," he said grabbing his staff and marching out the door. As he passed Harry and Hermione he gave them a rough nod and patted Harry on the shoulder before exiting the castle.

Hermione checked her watch.

7:28 p.m.

She had forty six minutes before having to go up to the Headmaster's office again, but she was dying to see Cedric, so she left Harry and Professor Dumbledore alone in the office and ran to the kitchens, where she knew he would be. He wasn't supposed to stay in the Hufflepuff common room that night, and the teachers would definitely want to hide him somewhere they thought students didn't know how to get in to.

Hermione approached the portrait of the bowl of fruit and tickled the pear. The painting swung forwards and she looked inside the kitchens, but was surprised to see that Cedric was not sitting in the kitchens, but in his place was Ian, and many of Cedric's other friends. Maybe they had hid him in Professor Dumbledore's office. Hermione closed the painting as swiftly and quietly as she could and checked her watch again.

7:57 p.m.

She walked to the closest staircase and looked around to see if Filch of Ms. Norris were around and quickly ran towards the staircase that lead to the Headmaster's tower. She followed it up three long flights until she reached the gargoyle at the entrance of the office and was about to say the password when she heard someone coming up the stairs behind her. She ran to the nearest statue and hid behind it, and when she looked around the statue she watched her alternate self say the password ("cockroach clusters!") and enter the headmasters office. She waited several minutes and then did the same thing, waited for the gargoyle to move, and then ran up the stairs to the office. She peered through the crack in the door and finally when she saw her past self start to disintegrate, she rushed in to the room and stood exactly where her alternate self stood before, trying to create the illusion that she had stood still the entire time.

Hermione took a large breath as she was filled with memories that had happened over the past eight hours in her past self's brain. Studying in the library, finishing her potions essay with Harry, reading Hogwarts: A History for the one hundred and thirteenth time, watching the final task, crying when Cedric came back alive, and many more happy memories with her friends. Hermione wiped the tears of joy that started to form in her eyes and paid attention to what the Professors were saying.

"So, Miss Granger, if we could just have the time turner back, we will send you on your way. We are extremely proud that you succeeded in your mission," said Professor McGonagall.

Hermione felt a twinge of joy when she heard the professor who she had been for so long trying to impress express her pride in Hermione. She gave the professor a quick nod and gave a small "thank you."

"No, Miss Granger. Thank you. Without you, Cedric Diggory would be dead and Barty Crouch Jr. would have escaped. Unfortunately we had to allow Lord Voldemort to return, but I'm sure we can fix that problem in due time," said Professor Dumbledore, not noticing the small gasp that escaped Professor McGonagall's lips at the Dark Lord's name.

Hermione was dismissed soon after, being sent off with an additional twenty points to Gryffindor, and no hint of where Cedric was, much to her dismay.

She smiled and made her way towards the kitchens, where she remembered that Ian, Calvin, Marcus and Nathaniel were eating a late night snack. She tickled the pear in the portrait, and with a small giggle the large painting swung forwards on it's invisible hinges. Looking in the space to find her Hufflepuff friends, she was surprised to find only Cedric, shirtless, sitting on a chair, eating a sandwich.

Hermione's heart filled with joy as she walked inside the kitchens to sit next to him. Cedric turned to face her and smiled, holding out a half of his peanut butter sandwich to her. She gladly accepted the sandwich and started happily munching on it.

The two sat in silence for quite some time, both finishing their respective halves of the sandwich and drinking from the cup of milk that sat in front of Cedric. Halfway through their meal they watched as the house elves scurried out of the kitchen, most likely to go to sleep after a long day. When they were alone, Hermione felt a tear streak down her cheek, and a hand on her shoulder. She gave a small smile to Cedric and buried herself into his bare chest. His arms wrapped around the girl, who was still covered in dirt.

"It's okay, Hermione. It's all okay."

"I know, I was just so scared. I didn't want you to die." Again.

"But I didn't. Thanks to what you told me earlier, when the man shot the killing curse at me, it hit the tombstone that I ducked behind and I was knocked out from the impact. The man thought that I was dead and when I woke up, there was all this mist and Harry grabbed me and the portkey and we came back, and I passed out again. All I got was a scratch. Harry got much worse, but we're okay."

"Good."

"H-Hermione... there's something I need to tell you," he whispered.

"Yes?" She Asked.

"I can't get you out of my head," he said. "The whole task, all I could think about was you. About how I was going to win the tournament and buy you anything that you wanted it with the money that I got."

"Cedric, the only thing I need from you is your love," she whispered with a smile. "Because I love you."

Cedric's face turned into a smile that spread from his cheeks to his eyes and throughout his entire face. He leaned forward and gave Hermione a passionate kiss. Hermione pulled away and looked back up at Cedric with a smile so large that she could have compared it to the feather of a full grown owl and the feather would look tiny. She looked down for a second , and noticed that she had covered Cedric's chest in dirt. She quickly took off her tattered yellow 'DIGGORY' jumper and placed it on the chair that she had been sitting on less than a minute ago, leaving her in a tank top.

Hermione pulled her hair back into the scrunchie that was on her arm and grabbed Cedric's face, pulling him into another kiss. This kiss was tender and soft, their lips brushed against each other like a cool breeze rustling in the branches of a tree on a warm summer day. Slowly, the kiss gained more and more passion and Cedric's hands cupped Hermione's cheeks. They continued to kiss passionately as they both sank to their knees on the cold floor, but they were soon interrupted by the sound of a pan clattering to the floor. They jumped apart and Hermione ran behind Cedric's body to hide herself from whoever was in the kitchens. She heard several pairs of footsteps walk in and she started to shake out of anxiety and the fear of getting caught or embarrassed. She was going to look around Cedric's body but stopped when she heard the voices.

"Is sir wanting of any more foods?" A house elf asked Cedric, not noticing Hermione, who had sighed in relief at the sound of the elf's voice.

"No thank you, Twinkle. The sandwich was enough for me," Cedric replied, red in the face. Hermione poked him in the gut and Cedric yelped. "I'm still hungry!" She whispered.

"Actually, Twinkle, could I please have another sandwich?"

"Of course, sir. Twinkle is delighted to make you a sandwich." Twinkle snapped her fingers and meats, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and mustard neatly stacked themselves between two slices of bread on their plate.

"If sir is needing of any more foods, please sir, ring the bell," Twinkle said before leaving the room with the flock of house elves behind her.

"I don't think this is the right place or time for this," Cedric chuckled as Hermione came out and faced Cedric, a deep flush covering her cheeks.

"Me neither!" Hermione giggled along. As their laugher died down, they heard someone approach the kitchen door. Hermione stuffed Cedric behind a counter to hide and sat down where the plate was, forgetting her jersey.

Fred and George Weasley walked into the kitchens along with Lee Jordan. They had delightful grins on their faces and ran towards the pantries, not noticing Hermione.

"Accio shirt!" Hermione whispered, moving her arm to catch the flying object, which landed right in her hand. She quickly pulled it on before the others noticed her. .

"Hello Hermione!" They grinned after turning around to see her with half a sandwich in her hands, pretending to act casual, and miserably failing.

"Hello," Hermione said timidly, a wave of heat rising to her face, making it turn red.

"You seem to be having a lot fun, but you know what's even more fun than your private sandwich eating?" Asked Fred mischievously.

"What?" Said Hermione, a bit of embarrassment showing in his cheeks.

"Helping us bring even more food up to the Gryffindor common room!" Cheered George. Lee laughed and walked over to Hermione, handing her an armful of treats and sweets.

"Usually we sneak in to honey dukes, but Hogsmede is filled with teachers, and we don't want any more detentions." Said Lee.

"What are the professors doing in Hogsmeade?" She asked.

"Reckon they're trying to get sloshed after the eventful day today. I would too, honestly, but we can't get firewhiskey from The Three Broomsticks because Dumbledore's in there with McGonagall," explained George as he grabbed another armful of sweets. .

The three other boys, armfuls full of snacks, made their way up to the Gryffindor common room, followed by Hermione, who sighed in relief that none of them had seen Cedric. When they reached the common room, they were greeted with cheers and shouts. They placed the food on the tables and the music started back up again, quietly.

Hermione danced in between her solemn gryffindor classmates, some of whom were crying, for they didn't know that Cedric was still alive. Nearly all of them stared at her in shock.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Ron Asked. "Your boyfriend is dead! Shouldn't you be crying? Why are you dancing?"

"Ron! Relax! I cried all that I could. Now I just need to dance. I need to get the rest of my stress out," She lied.

"Oh, okay," Ron said slowly. Then he looked over to the people near the muggle radio and called out: "hey! Turn up the music!"

Lee Jordan turned the radio to full volume and Hermione started dancing even harder, joined in by Ron, Harry and several other gryffindor students who thought they felt the same way. They all danced until they were breathless and sweating and sitting on the floor, gasping for breath.

"I'm going to bed," Hermione announced.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Ron Asked.

"Yeah," Hermione grinned. "I'm quite alright."

Hermione went up to her dorm and jumped into her bed, not bothering to change out of her filthy clothes, and pulled the covers over herself. She drifted away to the feeling of relief and utter euphoria.

END OF BOOK ONE