Brown

It had started with a simple plan… get her to notice him. What hadn't been planned was the words yellow, red and brown.

The fifth year Hufflepuff did well up until now… he had it planed out. In his head they had been talking for going on nearly four months now but in reality they had barely said more then three words to each other.

Three words were exactly what was said on her part: "I'm so sorry"

It was more like a half mumbled word on his part: "k"

At first he couldn't understand how any girl could make him feel like that and a third year to top it all off. But she wasn't like the girls her age in fact she wasn't like any of the girls in Hogwarts at all and that was what had really made him pay attention to her.

The first time he show -a time when he wished he could have kicked his younger self- was when she crept to the sorting hat.

Over the past three years she had become etched in to his mind and his memory how could she not after what she and her best friends had done.

But that did nothing to help him in his plans… he planned to enter the library and find her only to ask to join her at her table. After that he had to admit his mind wondered and it always led to her falling madly in love with him and kissing -snogging- him senseless.

Instead he had come in found her but rather then being alone one of her best friends were sitting beside her trying to calm her down.

So he opted to sit on the table in front of her sneaking glances at her over the top of his book, a little happy to see her friend giving up and bidding her a goodbye he walked away.

But it still messed up the plan because he couldn't go over their and ask to join her because he she even looked up she would see him sitting there on his own table.

Now she looked ready to leave and his courage was waning; this was it he knew for sure this was the day he would make her notice him and hopefully his charming nature was going to make her fall in love with him.

With a jerk he jumped to his feet and moved towards her, coming to a stop he watched as she finished up writing her essay after closing her books.

He couldn't help but stare down at her, her messy hair tied back with two sticks that looked out of place to him. Her lips had been turned rose red from the amount of chewing she had done, a small smudge graced her cheeks from the ink.

"Can I help you" her voice broke through his musings not even looking up from the parchment before her. Staring at her he still couldn't get his mouth to work, it might have been the colours of her robes supporting such proud and daring colours of red.

Blue and Yellow made green; green equalled Slytherin and he was sure he hated them.

"What colour does Yellow and Red make" he found himself asking out loud mentally slapping himself wondering if you had to set up a time for the ground to swallow you whole or if random events like that just popped up when they felt like it.

He watched however as brown eyes looked up to his grey eyes and a smirk twitch at her lips, amusement just pouring from her.

"I'm sorry" she questioned meekly causing him to swallow again knowing the heat was raising to his face, his hands attempting to drag out half of his by now.

"Red and Yellow rather… what colour do they make when they mix" he asked again watching as the thoughtful look, an adorable look on her.

"I believe it makes orange" she admitted ready to look back to her work before he jumped forward not willing to give up the hope to make her think of some stumbling idiot.

"What about Yellow and Burgundy" he asked as she looked back up at him a mixture of annoyance and patience spread across her face.

"Um a darker shade of Orange… brown most likely" she offered as he nodded seemingly happy with the answer but he was far from it.

"I like brown" he suddenly announced causing her to raise her eyebrows at him but say nothing else probably waiting for him to explain a little more.

"Th-the colour it's unique is all" he stutters as she shakes her head and gives a small giggle before folding her hands across the table. At least he had gotten her to look at him for more then a few fleeting looks.

"Not really if you think about it… most people find it dull and common" she offers as he looks at her appalled at her response. With seeker movement he slipped into the chair opposite her waving a hand towards her winching when she flinched back at the hand.

"It's anything but… I mean… I mean look at you" he took a wavering breath when she clenched her fists and almost bared her teeth.

"Your eyes are brown sure but they have flecks to them and sometimes they seem to swirl like melted chocolate" he declared watching her face flush, her no unclenched fists moved to her face to push hair back.

"Your hair isn't just one shade of brown it has several in it, it's golden one moment then rich another… if anything brown is very mysterious and no doubt be studied further" he finished causing the girl across from him to blush bright red ducking her head and stuttering out strange noises.

Then her eyes snapped up to meet his and he swallowed again knowing the plan was shot to pieces and hoping the world, fate or anyone else with the power to make the earth open up beneath could hear him now and take pity.

"Well I'm… that's to say… it was sweet but" she cut herself off scrambling to understand what had just happened.

Without another word he stood up and muttered a thanks, sorry and goodbye all merged into one sentence before he attempted to flee.

"Diggory" her sweet honey voice called and he almost tripped when he came to a stop looking at her while she stood up from the table looking at him sweetly with her small fingers brushing away some of her hair.

"Could you help me… in all fairness I did answer your question" she told him boldly causing him to nod mutely at her before leaving his bag on the chair and following her to the stacks of books, knowing he would follow her anywhere after saying his name.

"What do you need" he asked sure he sounded muffle while his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, he was so intent on finding the book she wanted that he missed her standing close to him.

"Well I thought that seeing as you must have good eyesight you could find a book up on that shelf about werewolves" She asked sweetly as he nodded feverously turning his eyes to the books just happy to do anything for her.

"um… what makes you think I have good eyesight" he questioned retrieving a book that he thought might help her.

"Well consider how far away you are when you stare at me I assume you must have good eyes to notice the colour of my eyes" she declared as she took the book from him not even covering the fact that she was smirking up at him.

Gapping he watched her smile brightly at him… for him he didn't care because she was smiling just at him.

"Thanks" she chirped before she walked back to her table quickly emerging herself in her book, blindly he walked back to the table and grabbed his bag. With one last fleeting look he stumbled out of the library only to stop as her words finally sunk in.

Blushing he wouldn't wipe the smile from his lips nor the swagger in his steps, the whistling happened on it's own accord.

Of course it was strange to think that a Lioness would ever fall for a badger… it had never be heard of.

But he was sure in hell going to make sure all of Hogwarts would remember the day badger not only fell for a Lioness but got her attention.

Don't ask... no really don't ask because I have no idea as to what I was thinking while writing this. My Hermione/Cedric addiction is coming along just fine and I'm not planning on getting any help any time soon.