House : Slytherin
Position : Year 2
Category : Additional
Prompt : Hermione/Cedric
Word Count : 691
Hermione sat alone in the Leaky Cauldron, her second Firewhiskey in front of her. It had been a long day. A crumpled piece of paper lay in front of her. It was an invitation to Ron and Lavender's wedding. Hermione knew she should be happy for them, but she had always felt that she and Ron would end up together. Nothing concrete had ever really happened between them, but the parchment in front of her confirmed it never would.
She didn't really know why she was so surprised. She had never been good around guys. When she was little, all the boys were frightened of her. At Hogwarts, no boy ever showed an interest in her. Well, except for Cormac McLaggen, but he was closer to troll than human. Who would be? she thought to herself, running her fingers through her bushy mess of hair.
On the other side of the pub sat Cedric Diggory. He had been staring at her for almost half an hour, desperately trying to work up the courage to go talk to her. He had always been the confident type, never one to hesitate to go talk to someone, but he found that around the brilliant witch he wasn't quite the smooth operator he thought he was.
Downing the last of his Butterbeer, he walked over to her. 'Hi.'
'Oh, hey Cedric,' Hermione replied, slightly startled.
He gestured to the empty seat next to her. 'Mind if I sit?'
'Not at all.' She didn't mind, but she was slightly confused as to why he wanted to - they worked in the same department at the Ministry, but they didn't have much interaction. Besides, he was Cedric Diggory, the dashing Hogwarts Golden Boy. What was he doing alone in a pub on a Friday night?
'So, how are you?'
She shrugged. 'Fine, I guess.'
He glanced down at the paper on the bar. 'Is everything okay?'
She sighed. 'Not really. I mean, it's nothing, though, don't worry about it.'
'What's wrong?'
'It doesn't matter.'
'It does to me.'
Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose. 'It's stupid. It's just that Ron is marrying Lavender, and I always kinda assumed something would happen between us, but it won't, and it's a bit of a punch in the gut. But I've never been good with guys, I shouldn't be surprised.'
'But do you want something to happen between you two?' asked Cedric tentatively.
She paused. 'No, I don't think so. It's just that I felt he was one of my only shots at love.'
He felt himself relax slightly. At least she wasn't in love with someone else. 'You're being preposterous. You've never even had to try with guys. You snagged an international Quidditch star at 14.'
She smiled a little. 'I guess I was lucky just that once.'
'He's not the only one that noticed you that year,' he mumbled.
She furrowed her brows. 'What do you mean?'
He gulped, his mouth dry and his brain blank. All of his signature confidence and cheek had abandoned him. 'Me.'
'You what?'
'I noticed you.'
She shook her head and laughed ruefully. 'Very funny. You, the most handsome guy in the school, 'noticing' me, the bushy-haired, buck-toothed book lover? A likely story.'
'I'm being serious,' he said quietly.
'Oh.'
The pair were silent for a moment before Cedric spoke, a hint of a grin on his lips. 'So, you think I'm handsome?'
'Maybe,' she admitted, blushing slightly.
'Would you like to go to dinner? I know a good place just down the road.'
'I'd love that.' Perhaps she wasn't so bad with guys after all.
An incredible evening later, Cedric offered to walk her home. She accepted. After the soft kiss they shared on her doorstep, full of promises and questions and tentative tenderness, she asked him if he would like to have one last drink at hers. He accepted.
The next morning, Hermione was barely surprised to wake up next to a naked Cedric Diggory. She had never slept with someone on the first night before, but, then again, she was discovering she wasn't quite who she thought she was.