Authors Note: I was inspired to write this fanfiction after hearing the song "Waking Dream" by Nathile Walker. The writing in italic is the present and the past events/ dream sequence is in normal writing. This is because to Hermione the present is like a dream.
Summery: "Pinch Me is this real?" Hermione has lost Cedric. All she is left with is their memories.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters or events which happenin the series J K Rowling does!
Beta : IceKitten08
Pinch Me by Pygmypuff20
Hermione watched as Harry wept over her lover's body. It seemed like only yesterday that he and Hermione were children playing in his back garden. Now, Cedric was dead. Stone-cold. She would never be able to feel his strong arms around her small frame, nor would she be able to look into his reassuring grey orbs. Hermione closed her eyes. She'd never see his melting smile or hear his deep voice which used to smother all her worries.
No; she was alone from now on. She never really could confide in Harry or Ron. Cedric was the only one who knew the real Hermione, the only person she could tell her deepest darkest secrets. Now, he was gone forever.
Hermione fled from the stalls. Tears blurred her vision. She didn't care if she ran into a wall or fell and hurt herself. What was life without Cedric? She ran and ran until she got to her dorm room which she shared with Lavender and Padma. They weren't there. They were down on the Quidditch pitch gawping at her love's still body.
Hermione threw herself to the floor and cried out in pain. Her Cedric, her one and only Cedric, had been taken from her. The tears kept falling, they would not stop. She wanted to wake up from this dreadful dream.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breathe.
"Come on Hermy!" calls an eight year old Cedric. "Follow me!"
A six year old bushy-haired Hermione runs out from behind a bush. She's smiling as she grabs Cedric's hand.
"Cedwic, where are we going?" asks Hermione out of curiosity.
"You'll see when we get there, silly" says Cedric in a matter-of-fact tone as he pulls little Hermione along the lush green grass of his back garden.
The sun is beating down on the both of them. Cedric is leading Hermione to a thicket.
Hermione notices the shaded and scary-looking woods. A look of fear passes through her eyes.
"Cedwic, it looks scary in there! I don't want to go in!" Hermione says reluctantly as she tugs her hand loose from Cedric's grip and edges backwards towards the house.
Cedric turns around to face Hermione. She notices the look of disappoint meant on his face. She realizes she has upset him by not wanting see what he wants to show her. She runs back to him and flings her arms around him and cuddles him. She nuzzles into his chest and looks up at him with her chocolate brown eyes smiling.
"Let's go then" laughs Hermione. "Last one there is a blast-ended skrewt!" she says as she runs towards the thicket. Cedric laughs and catches up with her.
They both slow down as they reach the edge of the thicket.
"So where are we going?" Hermione asks again.
"Come this ways and you'll find out" Cedric tells her as he climbs into the thicket. Hermione is reluctant to go in. Cedric extends his hand to her and she grips it tightly with her smaller one.
They climb over broken branches. The ground is thick with moss. It is soft under their feet. They stop in front of a curtain of ivy, which is hanging from the tree above.
Cedric turns to face Hermione. "Close your eyes" he says to her.
As he says this, she closes her eyes tightly and squeezes his hand.
Cedric leads Hermione through the ivy.
"Ok. Open your eyes," whispers Cedric into Hermione's ear.
Hermione opens her eyes quickly. Her mouth drops into an "O" shape.
"Oh Cedwic it is wonderful!" squeals Hermione as she jumps up and down.
They are standing in front of an oak two story tree house. A rope ladder was leading up to the door of the tree house. Hermione was so excited. She had always wanted a tree house.
Cedric disrupts her from her thinking.
"Do you wanna go in?" asks Cedric excitedly.
"Yeah!" answers Hermione.
-------------------------------------------------------------
The Hogwart's Express has just drawn in to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Hermione is clinging onto an eleven year old Cedric.
"Please don't go!" Hermione pleads as she looks up into Cedric's face with her chocolate, puppy dog eyes.
"I'm sorry Herms, but I have to go. You'll be at Hogwarts with me sooner than you think!" Cedric tells her.
Hermione cuddles closer to Cedric.
"Promise me that you won't forget me," Hermione says with tears building up in her eyes.
Cedric looks taken aback. He crouches down to her level, puts his hands on her shoulders and looks her in the eye.
"Hermione, I could never forget you, you're my best friend in the whole wide world!" he says as he hugs her close.
"Hogwart'sExpress; last boarding!" calls a man's voice.
Ellen Diggory tries to usher Cedric away from Hermione and onto the train.
"Come along Cedric say your goodbyes to Hermione, she'll see you at Yule"
Cedric looks from his mother to Hermione.
"I'll really miss you Hermy," calls Cedric as he walks up to the train door.
A tear trickles down the nine year old Hermione's face.
She runs up to Cedric and plants a small kiss on his cheek. Cedric smiles and boards the train. Hermione waves as her Cedric leaves her behind for the first time.
"Hermione! Hermione! Hermione!" calls Ellen.
Hermione woke up to a loud banging on her dorm room's door.
"Hermione! Open this door! Hermione! Hermione!" came Lavender Brown's voice from the other side of the door.
Hermione ignored the banging. She blocked out the voices. She put her hand up to her face, it was plastered with tears. She unstuck the damp hair which was attached to her face.
Where was Cedric when she needed him?
Dead.
She had been so worried the day he had left on the Hogwart's Express that he would leave her for good. How naïve she had been; he was just going to school. This was far worse. He would never come back now. She was truly alone.
She couldn't even think what it would be like to return home or to their tree house. She didn't even want to leave the room. She was safe in here, inside her head, with her memories of Cedric to comfort her.
Hermione stood up slowly and flopped herself onto her soft bed, closed her eyes once again and drifted off to sleep, to her Cedric.
The downstairs of the tree house has a homely feel to it. It has a blazing fireplace in the middle. In front of which there are two comfy, red tartan sofas. The walls are lined with bookshelves which are full of all kinds of books.
"This year is going to be so exciting, Cedric!" smiles an eleven year old Hermione as she sits up from her previous laying down position on her sofa. "I mean I'm actually going to Hogwarts!"
Cedric smiles at Hermione. "Well, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. The lessons are awesome and most of the professors are nice, except Professor Snape. Though the worst thing is the end of term exams."
Hermione giggles.
"Oh, Cedric! You know how much I enjoy exams, I always used to beat you at the small tests your mum used to give us," says Hermione cheekily.
"Yes, I do remember…" Cedric says with a fake tone of annoyance in his voice.
Hermione giggles again and Cedric gives a few chuckles.
"Cedric" says Hermione once she calmed down from her giggling fit.
"Yes?" answers Cedric as he sits up on his sofa.
"As long as I have you at Hogwarts with me, I'll be ok," Hermione says as she gets up and snuggles up next to Cedric.
A worried look passes across Cedric's face. As much as he cares for Hermione, he is worried about what his friends will think if he hangs round with a first year or if she is in a different house than he.
Hermione notices the look on Cedric's face. She climbs onto his lap and faces him.
"What is wrong? Don't you want me around you when we get to Hogwarts?" asks Hermione shyly as tears start welling up in her eyes.
Cedric looks deep into her brown orbs.
"Nothing is wrong. I just hope you're in Hufflepuff!" answers Cedric as he hugs Hermione close to him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hermione runs down the deserted corridors of Hogwarts. Tears are dripping down her face. Cedric had been avoiding her since she started at Hogwarts. None of the first years in her house wanted to be her friends. She wishes she wasn't in Gryffindor and that she was in Hufflepuff with Cedric.
She runs into the girl's toilets into the first cubicle and locks the door behind her. She starts to cry.
Questions are running through her head.
Why is Cedric ignoring me? Why doesn't he want to be my friend? Does he hate me? Have I done something wrong? Has he found better friends?
After a while Hermione hears the door to the girl's toilet open. She dries her eyes and opens her cubicle door. She looks up to see that there is a large mountain troll with a massive wooden club clasped in its hand. The troll swings his club and lunges at the cubicles. Hermione screams and runs to hide under a sink.
Suddenly the door bursts open and Ron and Harry race in.
"Confuse it!" Harry shouts to Ron.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It has been two hours after Hermione's meeting with the mountain troll. She slowly gets out of bed and slips into a pair of her slippers and sneaks out of the Gryffindor Tower to meet Cedric in the Astronomy Tower. Though it was on the other side of the castle and, yes, both the Prefects and Filch were doing their rounds. Hermione knew she could get there without being seen as she had been perfecting a "See-Me-Not" charm, so that when people passed her, they would either be directed to look a different way or in her place they would see a painting or a suit of armor.
Hermione clutches the letter that Cedric had sent her after he heard about her collision with the mountain troll. She had been debating whether to see him or not. He had been avoiding her after all and it were Ron and Harry who saved her, not Cedric. But then she realized how much she'd missed Cedric and decided to go.
Hermione walks up the steep stone steps to the Astronomy Tower. It is cold and she pulls her robe closer to herself.
She reaches the top of the stairs and spots Cedric who is pacing the length of the tower. He turns around and sees her. He runs over to her and picks her up and hugs her close.
"I was so worried about you, Hermy! I will never ever ignore you again!"
Hermione nuzzled into Cedric's neck. Tears of joy and anger build up and start to fall.
"Why have you been ignoring me? Have you found better friends than me?" chokes Hermione.
"No! I could have no friend better than you, Hermione," answers Cedric as Hermione leans back to face him.
"Then why were you avoiding me?" asks Hermione with a matter-of-fact tone "I was so scared, Cedric. It was a good thing Ron and Harry came when they did or else I'd be dead"
"I'm stupid; that's why I was avoiding you," Cedric says as he looks down at the floor, ashamed.
Hermione lifts up his head with her hand on his chin.
"You're not stupid, Cedric." She smiles as she says this.
Cedric smiles back.
"Your safe with me, Hermione," he tells her as he holds her closer. "I'll never leave you. I promise!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I just cannot believe you have two years left at Hogwarts," says a fourteen year old Hermione as she puts down her favorite book Hogwarts: A History.
Cedric stops looking out the window of the tree house and turns to Hermione.
"I know, I'll really miss you, Hermione," Cedric says honestly.
Hermione stands up and walks over to Cedric. She slips her arms round his waist and leans her head against his chest.
"So will I," whispers Hermione as she looks up into his handsome face, into his deep, grey eyes.
Cedric leans in and kisses Hermione full on the mouth. Hermione is in a state of shock and takes an intake of breath and, as she does this, Cedric deepens the kiss and Hermione responds. Her cheeks are blushing as red as roses. Cedric pulls Hermione into him and holds her close.
Once they break the kiss both are bashful and look away.
There is a short silence
Cedric is the first to speak.
"I-I love you Hermione"
Hermione's cheeks redden again. Cedric pulls her face towards him by her chin and kisses her again.
"I love you too Cedric," she says with a smile on her face as she nuzzles into his chest.
Hermione woke with a start. Her body felt cold with sweat. She sat up slowly and reality hit her hard once more.
Cedric is dead.
Tears flood again. She remembers he told her that he would never leave her and that she promised that she would never leave him.
He had.
She had.
She knew what she had to do.
Where does Lavender keep her sleeping pills? Aha, in her jewelry box, thought Hermione
She grabbed the bottle.
Now I will never wake up and I can be with Cedric forever.
Hermione tipped the whole bottle down her throat, climbed into her bed and closed her eyes.
I love you, too, Cedric.
The End.
I hope you liked it.
Please review to let me know what you thought about it!
A Prologue may be made if there is enough interest to have one. It would be the lead up , from when they were children to his death. So if you are interested in one please let a review.
Thank you for reading my oneshot.
Pygmypuff20
xxx