Author's Note: And so, the tedious process of editing begins. I did tweak a quite a few scenes here and there, but it's essentially still the same story it's always been. I condensed a few of the shorter chapters into longer ones, and added in some new scenes to bulk up a couple chapters. Overall, I think that I like this version much better, and I hope you guys will, too. After all, it's the best I can give you, which is what you deserve for being such amazing readers and reviewers.

For those of you who just clicked this story for the first time, hello! It's been a marvelous adventure working on this, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have writing it. And those of you who are returning readers, it's wonderfully nice to see you again, as always. :)

Disclaimer: I woke up this morning and thought to myself, "Wow, Joanne, you really are brilliant. Look at that magical book series you wrote. Look at all of your amazing fans who love your characters. Look at how your fans have held your story as number one in the Fan Fiction world." But then I remembered that I'm not Joanne and that my name is actually Caitlyn, and I sighed in disappointment as I realized it was all just a dream.

Chapter One

"Be careful." she whispered, her almond-shaped brown eyes widening anxiously as she looked up from her place in her boyfriend's arms.

"You know I will." The boy said, his gray orbs shining with honesty as she looked up at him. Her rose-colored lips parted as she sighed, her eyes closing as she turned her head away slightly.

"You can't say that." She murmured. She looked back up at him, her eyes sparkling with tears in the light. "People die doing this, Ced. It's not safe."

"I won't, Cho." Cedric replied, taking her chin and lifting it up to look at him. "I'll be fine." A single tear managed to escape, trailing down her face and glittering like a rare gem in the faint moonlight shining down on them from where they stood outside near the tents. He swiped it away gently with his thumb, tucking a few stray strands of her raven hair behind her ear. His eyes never left hers. "Trust me on this one, please."

She nodded slowly, swallowing hard. "O-okay." Her voice trembled as she spoke. They stood like that for a long moment, neither daring to move. They heard the call for Cedric and the others, and he sighed, taking one last look at Cho Chang before untangling his arms from around her waist and turning away, his natural bronze highlights gleaming in his wavy brown hair. "Cedric, wait." She said all of a sudden with a slight air of desperation in her voice, reaching out and lightly took his arm in one of her slender hands.

He turned, surprise written across his face and before he was able to ask, "What's the matter?" her lips brushed his softly. Cho pulled away slowly, lowering herself back to the ground. His face was absolutely blank.

"I-I'm sorry," she apologized quietly, blushing furiously and looking at the ground. "that was…" she trailed off, too embarrassed and ashamed to continue after her rash actions.

That broke Cedric from his vacant daze in an instant. A small smile crept its way across his lips and he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her full lips once more. "Never," he whispered, his lips barely a hair away from hers, "apologize for that." She blushed more, nodding shyly. The last call echoed across the grounds.

"I better go." Cedric said, pulling away from Cho and running a hand through his hair uneasily, his eyes glancing toward the final Triwizard Tournament challenge.

"I suppose so." Cho agreed, her voice faint. He turned back to look at her.

"Will you walk with me?" He asked, his voice giving away how truly terrified he was despite the calm and politely inquiring look upon his face.

"I-I can't." Cho answered. "I need to get my sweater from the tent." Cedric's expression fell slightly, but he covered his disappointment with an easy smile.

"Better hurry, then." He joked.

She gave him a small grin in return, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. Cedric could see that her blatant fear was still present, but he knew that there was nothing more he could do to take it away besides simply to finish the challenge. "Good luck." She said. He dipped his head in agreement and turned around, walking toward the maze.

As his retreating form finally disappeared, Cho allowed another tear to fall to the dirt. "Please," she whispered her eyes frozen to the spot where he had stood, "come back to me after this." She drew a shaky breath to compose herself, making her way to the stands.

She didn't really need that sweater anyway, it wasn't that cold. But she couldn't bring herself to accompany him and have him trying to comfort her when he was the one in need of it. She sighed, her stomach churning with self-disgust, wishing she was as strong as he was.

Cedric was so close the cup that he could already see the proud expression on Cho's face when they announced him as the winner in front of him.

Harry Potter was hot on his heels, though, and they both reached it at the same time. They looked at each other, emerald meeting molten steel. Cedric let out a puff of air and looked at the messy haired boy beside him. His eyes flickered to the goblet and back to Harry. "You should take it." Cedric said finally, emitting a sigh of resignation.

"Why?" Harry asked, pushing his round glasses back up the bridge of his nose. Both of their faces were smeared with dirt and sweat, and they breathed hard.

"You deserve it. It's yours." He replied honestly.

Harry quirked a dark eyebrow. "What makes you say that? I deserve it as much as everyone else in this tournament." He steadied his breathing before continuing. "You got here first, anyway."

Cedric eyed the trophy in all its glory, from its golden handles on both sides to its polished base. He knew that Potter was stubborn, possibly nearly as stubborn, if not more so than he was, so he decided a mutually beneficial agreement was in order. "Okay, let's make a compromise."

"Sure," Harry acquiesced. "What've you got?"

"We'll both grab it at the same time, that way we both win and Hogwarts gets to claim victory over the other schools. Sound like a deal?" Cedric asked.

"Yeah." Harry agreed. They both focused on the cup. "On three." Cedric nodded his agreement. "One."

"Two." Cedric said. They both looked at each other, locking gazes for a moment before looking back at the Goblet of Fire.

"Three!" they cried in unison, thrusting their hands toward the twin handles and taking hold of the smooth, cold metal. All of a sudden, with a sharp tug at his navel, Cedric realized that they weren't in the maze anymore. He landed on his side with a soft thud, the cup falling somewhere to his left. He sat up, rubbing his head and shaking out the stray flecks of dirt from his hair and took in his surroundings.

It was foggy. That was the first thing that came to his immediate attention.

He could make out distinct shapes in the fog; squares and rectangles for the most part, but a few others, too, all protruding up from the ground. The ground was cold and hard beneath him, and he stood up, glancing about himself somewhat suspiciously, his right hand reaching for his wand. Harry came up from somewhere to his right and touched him lightly on his arm, causing Cedric to jump with fright and nearly poke one of his emerald eyes out with the aforementioned wand.

"Sorry, mate." Harry said apologetically, staring in surprise at the wooden object that had been thrust into his face before Cedric gave him a sheepish smile and lowered it. They looked at each other for another moment before they continued scanning their environment. "Where are we?" Harry asked, voicing the very question that Cedric was thinking aloud.

He took a few steps forward, his breath coming out in puffs of steam in front of his face. He shivered, just realizing how bitter the weather was there, before kneeling in front of one of the rectangles, barely making out words engraved into the smooth, gray stone. His eyes widened, realization dawning on him. "A graveyard?" He mumbled, blinking in shock.

Why would the cup take them there? It was supposed to port key them back to the maze entrance. Or maybe this was another part of the task…? Cedric shook his head. No, it was just too weird. Something strange and slightly terrifying was going on, and it stirred a fight or flight instinct deep within Cedric's body.

"Cedric," Harry muttered. Cedric turned to look at him and saw that his eyes were narrowed suspiciously. "it seems that we have company. Look." He pulled him quickly behind a tall tombstone, and they both watched with similar horrific expressions on their face as the scene before them played out.

A short hooded figure stood before an old towering marble headstone, holding something in their arms. The boys looked at each other, exchanging quizzical looks. 'A baby?' Cedric mouthed, confused. Harry shrugged and they both turned back to the figure, who they realized too late was staring straight at them. For a second, Harry and Cedric and the person, whose face was obscured by the shadow of their hood, simply stared at one another. The rest happened too fast for any of them to comprehend what was going on.

Harry fell to the ground, his face contorted in pain and he clutched his forehead tightly, his wand lying fallen beside him. "Cedric," he moaned, his eyes clenched tightly shut, "get back...to the cup..."

Cedric was still so shocked that he couldn't move or utter a word, but all of his thoughts came to a startling halt when a high, cold voice spoke sharply from the direction that the figure stood. "Kill the spare."

His blood froze in his veins and his heart skipped a beat, his head snapping up to look at the hooded figure. He held his breath, though he had no idea why, his heart suddenly pounding in his ears. And with a swish of its robes and a flick of a wand followed by the words, "Avada Kedavra!" screeched into the night, his breath came out in a long, drawn out whoosh. All of a sudden, everything was in slow motion. It didn't even seem real, not really. It was all too vivid; Cedric knew it just couldn't be real...

The green light seemed to slowly inch its way toward him, as if it were allowing him a moment to compose himself. Cedric knew that he didn't have time to run. This was it. After all the hard work he had put into his future, carefully building up what he wanted to become, this was how it all ended up. Cho wouldn't one day be his bride and he wouldn't ever come home to a house filled with his beautiful family. Maybe that wasn't what he was meant for, anyway.

For some reason, he thought of his excitement when he had gotten his first broom. It had been his fourth birthday present. Memories flitted too quickly for him to distinguish the time gaps between them, pieces of the past that he had long since outgrown. There was the mini-lessons he used to have with his father over simple wandless charms between the ages of five to ten, back before he was old enough to have a wand of his own, and then the overwhelming feeling that overcame him when he found the perfect wand for himself at Ollivander's. His first glimpse of Hogwarts from the window of the Hogwarts Express came next, followed by his enthusiasm in his studies, enthralled by his magical heritage and everything having to do with Quidditch. The look of pride upon his mother's face when he unwrapped his prefect's badge.

The bright green jet of light coming towards him was so enthralling; so vivid and bright that he couldn't draw his eyes from it. It was nearly halfway there, now.

Cedric took the time to send Cho his deepest apologies. He couldn't sit with her and hold her and stroke her hair and tell her that 'everything's going to be alright' because in a matter of seconds, he would no longer be standing there, breathing in the frigid night air. Then he started to worry. Not about himself, but about how she would get along without him. This would take a while for her to get over, and even after she had, she might still think about him and shed a tear for him from time to time.

No, he thought, the memory of earlier tonight flowing back to him. He could see the tear of worry she had shed and his wiping it away once more. She shouldn't cry for him. She would be okay. He smiled at the thought. Yes, she'd be okay and she'd most definitely find someone else eventually. It was inevitable, even expected. He wanted nothing more than for her to be happy.

But wait, he thought, a flash of selfishness flitting across his mind. He wasn't ready to go just yet! He hadn't seen his mother in months because she hadn't been able to get off from work to come see him for the Tournament, and he hadn't taken that major test in Transfiguration. He had studied so hard for that bloody thing!

Why? Why him? What had he done to deserve such a terrible fate? He was going to be murdered right there in the middle of the graveyard with only Harry Potter as a witness, and he wasn't even sure if he, the Boy Who Lived, would survive the night.

His thoughts from earlier came trickling back to him. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. Tomorrow, he decided, he would wake up, greet the day with a smile on his face - hell, he would even go up and hug Professor Snape and ask him to a romantic lunch at Madame Puddifoot's if that's what it took for him to show his gratefulness for life!

Cedric swallowed his vomit. Okay, maybe not that.

The point was, he wasn't ready yet, not when he was nearly seventeen and pretty much guaranteed the Head Boy position next -

The green light finally reached him, barreling into his chest at what was actually an unimaginable speed. Green light exploded across his vision, and he fell. Down, down, down he fell...

Cedric Diggory and his denial were dead before he even hit the ground.

Hermione Jean Granger was more than acquainted with death.

It was all around her; she had witnessed more than her fair share of it. She knew that one day, everyone's time would come and all that. What was it that she had read about it in a very popular piece of modern muggle fiction? Oh, right. Living was merely a side effect of dying, so worrying about it was pointless.

Every second death loomed ever closer in her book, just waiting for a misstep or a miscalculation to snatch up yet another soul in its cold, dark clutches. True to form, it seemed to be on the winning team – whichever team that was – and had a great many new additions to its collection all the time. Despite knowing all of this however, she was still just as shocked as the rest of the school when one of her best friends, Harry Potter, staggered out the foggy maze with Cedric Diggory's limp form in his arms. All of a sudden, it didn't matter what everyone else in the stands were doing. Something was terribly wrong with how dreadfully still Diggory was.

She rushed down to where Harry stood, his hair more unkempt than usual and his clothes dirty, torn, and disheveled. The moment she arrived and he looked up at her with cloudy, diluted green eyes she knew. Her own brown eyes widened in shock, and she had to put a hand over her mouth to stifle a choked gasp. Harry's knees buckled beneath a mixture of the stress of Merlin-knows-what that went on in the maze and the weight of Cedric's body draped over his side and he released him. Hermione knelt beside her best friend and pulled him close to her, allowing him a moment to compose himself and to shield him from the rest of the world. "Oh, Harry…" she murmured into his unkempt hair, rubbing comforting circled into his back. "I am so sorry…"

After a little bit, Hermione finally allowed her gaze to travel to Cedric's face. He lay on his back, his deep gray orbs staring blankly into the cloudy night sky. Tears pricked at her eyes as she took in his completely neutral facial expression and she reached out a shaky hand to close his eyelids. If she hadn't known the truth, she would've thought him to be asleep. She buried her face in Harry's thick black hair and allowed a few tears to fall before taking a deep breath and pulling her head away. She needed to be at her strongest if she was going to be any help at all to Harry, because if she knew anything, she knew that this year would be a hard one. "I-it's a-all my fault, H-H-Hermione!" he whimpered softly. "This w-wouldn't h-h-have h-happened i-if-"

"Shhh…" Hermione said quietly. "There was nothing you could've done to change this. Nothing." Harry, too exhausted to argue any longer, nodded into her chest and went back to his silent sobbing. Hermione rested her cheek upon the top of his head and let a few more tears leak out, half of which were for the boy who would never see another day and the other for the boy who had the weight of the wizarding world upon his shoulders. And even though she knew that none of this was her fault, her heart was still breaking nonetheless as she attempted to take at least a bit of the burden her friend had been forced to carry practically since birth.

It had been exactly two years since that time. Nearly everyone at Hogwarts mourned for Cedric for a while (nearly everyone because, of course, the Slytherins couldn't give two knuts about him), but nothing lasts forever - another thing Hermione had learned from that muggle book she had read. Some infinities are smaller than other infinities. In the case of Cedric Diggory and his mourners, the infinity following his death lasted a matter of about a month.

There were candlelight vigils held all over the campus for the first few weeks after his death, and many students attended them even if they hadn't really known him. That was how great of a person he was - nearly everyone felt the grief that came with his absence. He had been such a bright student, lighting up the days of others without even realizing it. Eventually, the only ones that continued to lament their woes were the Hufflepuffs, as it was their duty as his Hogwarts housemates, and Cho Chang and her friends.

Hermione took the death in a different way. She wasn't as completely distraught as Cho and Cedric's friends, but she still expressed her grief for his memory. Every night, her dreams were haunted with those daunting, lifeless gray eyes that were void of all the emotion that they used to hold and she would wake up every night after one of those nightmares and weep well into the early hours of the morning. She had only one encounter with him, and it was one that she held onto dearly if only to keep the image of the living being he had been fresh in her mind. She would replay it over and over during those nights to remind herself of what depths those empty eyes had once been capable of.

It had been one of those kinds of days.

Second Year Hermione Granger was at her wits' end, retreating to the library after a particularly dreadful morning. It had started off well enough. She had been coming down to the Great Hall with Harry at her side, chatting excitedly about what sort of creature that Hagrid would be showing them that afternoon during Care of Magical Creatures - because, by Merlin, Hermione had done her research and was determined to make sure that Harry understood the importance of making sure that a proper Silencing Charm was placed on a fwooper, because if a person listened to its song, they would be driven insane - when Ron joined them.

He hadn't meant to intrude, Hermione knew that much, but she just couldn't believe how quickly the conversation had taken such a pitiful downward spiral that ended with herself and Ron in an argument that led them to separating on bitter terms. She had been positively fuming, both mentally and physically when she had decided to go to her only sanctuary - the library - which was conveniently the one place he wouldn't dare follow her, to clear her head. Or at least, that was where she had intended to go.

On her way, she was unfortunate enough to run into Malfoy, also known as the biggest prat in the entire universe, and his two beefy cronies. They had been on their way to the Great Hall for breakfast, but the opportunity to harrass the buck-toothed mudblood had proven itself once again to be much too good for them to pass up. Malfoy knew how to push her buttons, that was for sure, and when they were finished with her they left a much angrier, bushy haired, watery-eyed Hermione Granger on the floor. All of her textbooks, library books, notes, and homework papers were scattered all abound the corridor, and her bum was giving her quite the smarting after they had pushed her down.

If they hadn't snatched her wand and tossed it down the corridor after stumbling across her, those three would have found themselves with a second head growing from their right ears, or worse.

She sniffled a few times and blinked rapidly to get rid of the tears of frustration that were forming in her eyes, but to no avail. Warm, salty tears rolled down her cheeks and soaked into her wrinkled robes as she struggled to pull herself together. She knew better than to let their taunts get under her skin, but it worked like a bloody charm every time they called her that accursed "m" word. She swallowed hard and had just gotten on her hands and knees to gather up her things when a boy began walking down the corridor.

His bright gray eyes landed on her within an instant, and she flushed a dark shade of scarlet from embarrassment at having been found in such a terrible predicament. The boy made his way over to her and knelt in front of her, gathering up a few of her books and pieces of parchment before looking up at her, a curious expression on his face. "How'd this happen?" he asked, handing her wand back to her, which she promptly pocketed gratefully.

"It doesn't really matter." Hermione mumbled, coming back from her shocked stupor and stacking a few more books together.

"Sure it does," The boy said, his brows furrowing. He placed the last book on top of the others and helped Hermione neatly pack her papers and assortment of inkwells and quills away into her bag before she clasped it shut once more. Hermione just didn't understand it. Why was this boy wasting his time talking to her instead of getting to breakfast?

"But…" she sniffed and wiped at her eyes, her dark lashes fluttering a few times as she tried again to dispel the tears, and to her relief, they finally evaporated from her sight. "you don't even know my name."

"Of course I do!"He exclaimed, his voice rich and almost music-like. "You're Hermione Granger, second year Griffindor."

"How'd you-?"

"You've made quite the reputation for yourself." Hermione held back a very unladylike snort at that, reminded yet again that her friendship with Harry Potter did not go unnoticed by her peers. "I can hardly believe that you haven't been put into any of my classes yet." The boy chuckled, his eyes shining.

"Oh." Hermione stood up and balanced all seven of her books in her arms, pleasantly surprised that he knew about her through her academic achievements rather than the heroic (and, admittedly, rather stupidly dangerous) adventures she had partaken in with her two best friends. After all, it wasn't every day that you heard about three First Years taking down a fully grown mountain troll, or coming face-to-face with a three-headed dog and living to tell the tale.

"Here," he said, reaching out for her books, "let me help you." Hermione nodded shyly and let him take a few from the top. Now she only had three. She looked down and scuffed her shoe with the tip of her other one. "Is something else wrong?"

"Well," she started, and then bit her bottom lip. She looked up and saw the boy taking her words in and waiting patiently for her to continue. "You've been unbelievably kind to me this morning and you know who I am, yet I've never met you before."

"Of course!" his smile broadened, revealing a few white, straight teeth. Hermione blushed ever so slightly upon noticing that this boy was fairly attractive with his big gray eyes, brown wavy hair that was spiked up slightly in the front, and friendly smile. His presence was refreshing. "Cedric Diggory, at your service. Hufflepuff. I'm a third year, you know." Hermione nodded, smiling slightly despite herself. Hufflepuffs were known for their nice, polite qualities.

"Thank you for all of your help," Hermione said earnestly, shifting the weight of the books a little bit in her arms. "And for giving me back my wand," she added as an afterthought, recalling her bitter frustration at the thought of having to track down where exactly it had fallen.

He merely smiled his warm, friendly smile, causing Hermione to stumble a bit. "Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders," he said, winking playfully at her.

Hermione laughed and they kept walking.

They reached the Great Hall doors in no time and stood outside for a minute. Cedric looked at Hermione around his stack of books. "How do you carry all of these, anyway?"

She shrugged. "I manage." He grinned and nodded thoughtfully.

"I always wondered." He said, as if answering an unspoken question. A beat of silence passed, but it wasn't uncomfortable.

"Thanks again." Hermione repeated, smiling.

His eyes brightened, amusement twinkling in them, and his brows rose almost to his hairline. "I would hardly call this helping, Miss Granger. If I'd have gotten to you earlier I could've really given you some help with…" he glanced at the tall double doors and back at her, his expression changing into a more serious one. "whoever it was."

"No, this was helpful enough, I promise. I have a feeling," the corners of her lips twitched, and she had to fight to keep them from creasing into a scowl, "that the stupid blonde-haired prat wouldn't be persuaded to leave his favorite means of entertainment any time soon."

His smile fell slightly, but he didn't push her to say anything more. Instead, he said, "How about I walk you to your table? I could show you this charm that'll shrink these books down to pocket-size, if you'd like." Hermione nodded enthusiastically, her eyes lighting up at the thought of learning some new information. He did exactly as he said, and acted the perfect gentleman the entire way.

Hermione never got the chance to talk to him again after that. He sort of disappeared, in his own way. He was still there, of course, but they were a year apart and in different houses, so the likelihood of something like that ever happening again was a slim one. Obviously Hermione's chances hadn't been too good. However, she was content with that one conversation; it was one more that she'd had with him than some students.

Author's Note: Oh, I love the changes! I feel a lot better about it now. I felt like the story was also a bit too sullen and serious all the time, so I tried adding a bit more humor to it. Not to worry, though - I never intended for it to be a comedy. But I do think that a little comedic relief every now and again isn't a terribly bad thing.

Please review and tell me your opinions on the changes (those of you who read the original)! And as for those of you who are new readers, I'd love hearing from you, too, of course. :)

I love each and every one of you, and because of that, I'm off to work on more chapters for you beautiful, wonderful people.

-Caitlyn