A/N: I know, I know... I should be working on A Love Through Time, but this one-shot was just nagging at the back of my mind, so I couldn't concentrate properly until I wrote it and got it out of the way. It is inspired by a song that I've been listening to call I'm Already Taken by Steve Wariner. I haven't used the lyrics, but I'm sure you'll recognize what parts I got ideas sparked from in the song. Hope you enjoy it...
To Those Who Wait
Cedric grabbed Cho's hand, placing his other hand on her waist just above her hip as she smiled sweetly up at him. He returned the gesture with a curt grin before she looked at her friends who were all smiling broadly, twittering excitedly, and giggling secretively. Cedric's eyes, however, landed on the other three couples who were preparing to waltz across the floor. Fleur and Davies. Harry and Parvati Patil. And finally, Viktor Krum and Hermione Granger.
Diggory let out a doleful sigh which Cho didn't notice as they began twirling about the dance area. He picked her up and spun in a small circle before returning her to her feet and moving off in another direction. Cho was still smiling as she watched him, but he was watching another couple, feeling melancholy as they drew closer to Krum and his partner.
"Something wrong?" Cho whispered when she noticed he seemed distracted by something that wasn't her.
"Nothing," he lied as he looked back to his date, all the while thinking about how he would love to trade places with Viktor.
Cedric had actually asked Hermione to the Yule Ball. In fact, he had nervously rehearsed what he would say for a week after finding out about the formal dance. Even as he thought about it now, his ears tinged at the tips, and he bowed his head slightly to hide the embarrassment.
"Hermione Granger!" he called as he raced across the snow-covered lawns of Hogwarts toward her retreating figure.
She turned around just in time to see him slip on an icy patch in the path and fall into the snow face first.
"Cedric Diggory?" she said as she rushed over to help him up. "What are you doing?"
"I just came from the greenhouses... Professor Sprout wanted to see me. And you?"
"I just came from a visit with Viktor Krum," she replied. "But what I meant was what are you doing running after me and yelling my name?"
"Well, I figured that since I saw you, I should ask you something that I've been meaning to all week," he explained as his face flushed a splotchy red color.
"Maybe we should go inside first," Hermione suggested. "Your face is reddening from the cold, and your cheeks will chap if you stay outside much longer."
He forced an awkward smile as he nodded his agreement and gestured for her to lead the way up to the castle. He blushed more, embarrassed that she had noticed the rose of his cheeks, but happy that she cared enough to remark on his well-being. It was that same kind-hearted manner that had made her seem so endearing to him to begin with.
Cedric reminisced on that time when he had initially realized that he had feelings for her. It was during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, and the four champions were nervously pacing the tent, awaiting their cue to face their first trial. Hermione had come down to the tent and beckoned Harry over to an opening where she confessed her worries for him before throwing her arms around his neck in a tearful embrace.
Cedric had felt slightly empty and even a bit envious of Potter as he watched the two friends continue to talk. Cho was his girlfriend, and she hadn't even expressed that much worry nor had she given him a hug to wish him good luck. In the second that he had made the comparison between Cho and Hermione, Cedric had realized he really wasn't going to have a future with his girlfriend. Thinking hard on who would fill that space, his mind kept picturing Hermione Granger and telling him how she would make the perfect girlfriend.
In the days that followed the first task, he thought more and more on that fact as he saw Hermione in the hallways. He had even caught her scolding Harry one day about getting to work on the egg and its clue. Again Diggory made the comparison between Granger and Chang. Cho didn't show much concern as to whether he had figured out his egg or not, in fact, she didn't even ask him about it. Once more, he wished he was with Hermione instead.
"Cedric?" Hermione prompted, bringing him back from his reverie.
Now was his chance to express the wish he held pent up inside of himself, and the best way to do that was to ask Hermione to the Yule Ball. But his mouth had suddenly gone dry and his palm were sweaty as he arranged the words in his head.
"Inside already, eh?" he chuckled somewhat nervously. She said nothing as he inhaled deeply and continued, "I wanted to ask you if you would... go to the Yule Ball with me?"
"I... I'm sorry," she fumbled, a bit taken aback by his request. "Someone has already asked me. You spoke up too late I'm afraid. I'm going with a friend, so... I guess you'll just have to wait until there's another dance to ask me."
With that, she went on her way back up to Gryffindor Tower, leaving a down-hearted champion standing in the entrance hall, not feeling very much like a champion at all.
Now as Diggory watched her spinning about the dance floor with Krum, he wondered if he would ever get another chance.
Turning the corner from Zonko's joke shop, Cedric spotted Hermione standing outside the Three Broomsticks. She was alone, obviously waiting on someone as she held a lone shopping bag in her hand and looked up the road towards the school. He bowed his head, studying his shoes as he pondered something to himself. Could she be waiting on him? Was this the second chance he had been praying for?
After he had narrowly escaped the terror of Voldemort a little less than a half a year ago, Cedric had decided that he and Cho were a thing of the past and that he was going to spend everyday waiting for the one he loved while trying to live his life to the fullest. Today was the day that he had waited for, he was sure of it as he took a deep breath and set off down the sidewalk. As he approached her, he smiled inwardly at the way her curls bounced when she turned her head from left to right, her brilliant brown eyes searching for someone. He hoped against hope that that person was him.
"Hi."
"Oh!" she exclaimed, startled by his appearance out of the crowd. "Hello Cedric," she beamed, looking up to where he stood before her with his own broad smile.
"Fall air is a little chilly... would you like to go in for a butterbeer?" he asked while nodding toward the entrance of the pub.
"I'm sorry, but I'm waiting on someone," she replied, her eyes sincerely apologetic as she gazed up into his faltering face.
"Maybe next weekend, then?" he pressed on, trying to keep the promise of a second chance alive inside himself. "We could make it a date and-"
"I truly am sorry," she interrupted.
"Are you busy then, too?" he frowned.
"It's just that I'm already taken. You spoke up too late. I love somebody else, so I fear you'll just have to wait," she sighed.
She bowed her head, unable to look at him any longer as she walked away to join a red-headed boy who was waiting for her across the main road. He looked back over his shoulder at Cedric as the pair of them set off for Honeyduke's, appearing as though he were giving Cedric a warning to stay away from Hermione. The frown lines deepened on Diggory's face as he felt defeat rack his body. He started off up the opposite sidewalk in the direction of the castle, dark clouds forming behind Hogwarts and his heart.
Walking in the front door, Cedric took off his cloak and hung it on the hook behind the door. He sighed in exhaustion and headed over to the stairs. He had had a long day at the Ministry and wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed for some relaxation. As he ascended the stairs, he could hear muffled voices coming from the second floor. When he topped the landing, he recognized them as the tones of his wife and his son as she read him a bedtime story.
Smiling tiredly, Cedric leaned against the wall outside the room they occupied and thought back on the day he had finally gotten the chance with the woman he loved.
As he wandered around the edges of a dance floor, politely greeting all his fellow Ministry workers, Cedric tried to find a good spot from which he could watch the bride and groom cut the cake. He looked to his left as bells rang and the laugh of the blissful bride reached his ears. In that second that he had been distracted, he had bumped into someone.
"Excuse me," Cedric remarked as he moved aside to let them pass.
"Cedric Diggory?" said a female voice. "Why... it's been about five years since I last seen you. Back at Hogwarts, remember?"
Needless to say, he was quite surprised to see Hermione Granger standing before him. She looked absolutely beautiful in a floral-print summer dress with her hair pulled up into a bun of curls. He was instantly mesmerized, and the only thing that brought him back from his stupor was the clinking of a knife on a glass as the best man called attention to the main table.
"Shall we take a seat?" Cedric asked as he pulled out a vacant chair.
She sat down, and he joined her as they listened to the groom's best mate wish the newly weds a happy and healthy life together. When the speech was over, Hermione turned to Diggory and struck up a conversation, which his heart was thankful for. Even if he had been discouraged after five years of not seeing her, his heart still held onto the prayer that he would one day get that second chance she promised him.
"So, who are you here with?" she inquired.
"Myself," he answered in a flat tone, feeling like an utter imbecile after saying it. She giggled nonetheless and he asked the same of her.
"No one, sadly enough," she uttered while tracing the rim of an empty wine glass with her fingertip. "I was too busy with work to find a date at the last minute."
"So you're not dating anyone?" he quizzed, feeling his pulse double in speed when his breathing hitched at the jumping of his heart.
"Nope," she half laughed.
"You say you're working now?" he proceeded in an attempt to keep the awkward silence at bay.
"Yes. I'm Junior Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. I've been working there for three years now," she commented proudly, bringing a glorious sparkle to her eyes.
"Well done," he glossed while staring directly at her glittering chocolate orbs.
"Thanks," she blushed. "And you? What are you doing?"
"I've just completed my first year as an official Auror," he informed with a none-too-important kind of shrug.
"That's fantastic!"
"Yeah," he muttered with a quick smirk; he really didn't know what else to say.
That awkward silence that he wanted to keep away was preparing to settle between them, and his brain was searching frantically for something to keep the conversation going. He thought about telling her how lovely she looked, but he rejected that idea as too cliché. Thank Merlin the maid of honor began calling all the women out onto the dance floor so that the bride could toss her bouquet.
"You had better get out there and get a good spot," Cedric advised with a grin.
"That's all right," Hermione declined as she bowed her head and folded her hands in her lap.
"Are you sure?" he urged, hoping to change her mind so that he might get her away long enough to come up with more things to talk about.
Hermione only nodded, and the two of them turned to watch as the bride called 'ready' to her friends before turning her back to them. Counting down from three, the happy newly wed threw the flowers over her head, and the ladies on the floor became a mass of jumping feet and reaching and flailing hands. It looked as though one girl had caught it, but another knocked it from her hands and sent the bouquet flying through the air and over the dance floor. The lilies finally landed with a dull, somewhat gentle thud on the table before Hermione who seemed shocked by the unexpected gift.
She picked them up off the table, gazing to Cedric who was snickering in amusement as the group of ladies who had been fighting for the prize let out a single, collective groan.
"Congratulations, Hermione!" shouted the bride as she rejoined her groom.
Seeing that as his cue, Cedric boldly spoke up.
"So, I've been meaning to ask you... have I waited long enough?"
"What?" Hermione voiced as she furrowed her brow and looked genuinely confused.
"You once said you loved somebody else and that I would have to wait. Since you aren't with anyone right now, I thought it was a good time to ask you if I've waited long enough and to see if you might consider giving me that second chance."
She just sat there, not saying a word and gaping at him which made him wonder if she thought him a fool. What other kind of guy would honestly wait that long for a girl to finally give him an opportunity? A devoted one, and that's exactly what Cedric was. He was devoted and determined to get his chance with Hermione. He only hoped that she would give it to him now and not make him wait a minute more.
And she had done just what he had wanted her too. They had dated for a little more than a year after meeting at that wedding before tying the knot themselves. Two years into their marriage, Hermione gave birth to their son who had his father's smile, patience, and determination and his mother's eyes, brains, and light brown hair.
Cedric laughed to himself as he listened to Hermione denying their boy another chapter of the book she had been reading. Peering into the room, he saw her stand from her chair by the bed and then tuck their little boy in while placing a kiss on his forehead.
"Mommy?" he spoke softly as she brushed his hair back and gave him his teddy.
"Hmm?"
"You know I love you, right?"
"Mmhmm," she hummed in response as she stared down at the four-year-old with love shining brightly in her eyes.
"Then will you marry me like the girl from the book married her prince?" he questioned bravely with puppy dog eyes.
Hermione shook her head amusedly, and Cedric watched on with intent to see how she would handle this.
"That's a flattering offer, but I'm sorry, love," she whispered. "I'm already taken. You spoke up too late; I love you daddy very much, so you'll just have to wait until your true love comes along."
Their son looked disappointed for a moment before shrugging and snuggling under the covers.
"All right, then. Good night, Mum."
"Good night," Hermione bid as Cedric moved away from the door so as not to disturb them.
He felt pride and love flood his body as he headed for the bedroom he shared with his wife. For once in his life, he was glad to have heard her say the words she had because this time it wasn't he who was waiting, but he who she was with. He knew that he would never have to wait for her again, and he also knew that the old saying of 'good things come to those who wait' was true.