Remembering

The next day he was anxiously awaiting Hermione's return. He had his pillows stacked high behind his back so that he sat upright, he had tidied up the room as much as he could before he got exhausted and he had put on his best, comfortable clothes (a dress robe felt too formal). He was more than ready and just a little nervous.

When a soft knock on the door sounded, his heart skipped a beat but he managed to sound semi-confident when he said, "Come in."

The door creaked open and Hermione's head appeared with a big, luminous grin plastered on her lips.

"Hey!" she exclaimed happily. "How are you today? Rested enough?"

"Completely rested," he laughed as she sat down in the same chair she had used yesterday. "I'm glad to see you again."

"Glad to be back. I can't tell you how great it is to be out of the spotlight for just a few hours."

It wasn't really what he wanted to hear. But so what if she wasn't there solely for him. The point was that she was there.

"So," she said and sat back comfortably and drew her knees up to her chest, "what do you want to know?"

"I'd really like to know more about you."

When Hermione's brows knitted together he quickly added, "I'd just like to know why it is I seem to remember you more clearly than anybody else."

"I'd actually like to know that too," Hermione admitted thoughtfully.

"So, I thought you could tell about things me might have shared, things we have done together and stuff like that."

Her smile returned and she wrapped her arms around her knees saying, "I can do that. Well, when I came to Hogwarts you in your 3rd year and I'm pretty certain that you didn't know I existed at least not until the end of that year. You see, being Harry Potter's best friend really puts you on the map."

As she told the story of how she and her two friends battle against the most evil wizard of all time repeatedly, how she was petrified and how she travelled through time to save a man's life he felt himself getting completely pulled in by her soft, melodic voice. It felt like a balm against his frayed nerve endings. It was smooth honey running down his scalding throat. It was soothing and calming. When she laughed of something funny she remembered, like when she punched a boy in her year, he felt himself get pulled into her laugh and laugh alongside her.

"And that was the summer you and I actually met," she finally said. He sad up straighter and strained his ears to pay full attention on the part of the story.

"I was going to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasley's and we were meeting you and your father at the same Portkey to the site of the Cup."

She hesitated in her story so Cedric urged her on, saying, "What happened then? Did we talk?"

"Uh, no," she answered, looking a little apologetic. "You said 'hi' and we all said it back. Well, except for Fred and George. They hadn't yet forgiven you for beating them in a Quidditch match the year before."

He liked the way she smiled at the memory, but he knew that she smiled because of the boys she had mentioned and not because of him. Suddenly, as he watched her, the smile disappeared and tears welled in her eyes. Her lips quivered and she quickly hid her face in the crook of her elbow. But he still heard her sniffle to stifle the tears.

"What's wrong?" he asked in concern. He reached out to put a comforting hand on her hers, when he realised that she probably wouldn't be comfortable with that. To her, they weren't friends. Even if she was the only friend he knew.

She sniffed again before she raised her head and looked sadly at him with big, glassy eyes.

"We lost Fred in the battle," she sobbed. Though he didn't know who Fred was, he felt a stab of pain tear through him. A picture of a two identical read-haired boys with big, goofy grins flashed through his head but he didn't linger on it. Hermione gingerly brushed away the tears and sent him a shaky smile. "Fred and George were twins, so you can imagine how devastated George is."

With a frown Cedric asked, "They wouldn't happen to be red haired, would they?"

Hermione nodded absentmindedly.

"Yeah, the entire Weasley family has…" she trailed off and her eyes widened in shock. "You remember them?"

"It seems that I do," he smiled proudly.

A huge smile erupted on Hermione's face and she jumped out of the chair to sit on the bed next to him, taking his hands in hers.

"That's wonderful!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Anything else?"

"No, not really. But if I get this reaction from you every time I remember something I'll try to make it habit whenever you're around."

He smirked at her and a blush instantly settled on her cheeks. She released his hands and moved back into the chair.

"Sorry about that," she murmured, the blush turning a deeper pink. "About the jumping and the crying and all."

"Don't be," he said. "I liked it. Well, not the crying part so much. But the rest was just right."

His words made her smile, one corner of her mouth turning up against her will. He vowed to make her smile more often.

"What happened then, you know, at the Quidditch Cup?"

It was still weird for him to talk about things like these. He knew that he was supposed to love Quidditch and that he was said to be really good at it. He just didn't remember it. His father had explained it to him a few times, but it still didn't ring any bells.

"Well, we went there and didn't see each other again before the start of the new school year," she answered matter-of-factly.

"So what did we do when we were in school?"

She hesitated, as if she was uncomfortable with this part of the story.

"Hermione, I know about the Tournament. And I know about the dying part. I just want to know what the year was like for you."

She seemed to be comforted by those words and started telling about her 4th year at Hogwarts. Apparently the Tournament seemed to have taken as much of her time as it had his, since her best friend was also a contestant. For some silly reason he felt himself getting a little jealous, hearing endless story about her two best friends who both happened to be guys. He was well aware that his jealousy had no grounds but he couldn't shake it off. Seeing the light in her eyes when she said their names, hearing her laugh when she recalled something they'd done together was enough to make his chest ache. And then suddenly there was another guy thrown into the mix. He was also a contestant in the Tournament and he seemed to be interested in Hermione. Much like he himself was. When she started telling about an upcoming dance another image flashed before her eyes.

"Wait a minute," he said and silenced her stream of words. She looked curiously at him but he ignored it and focused on the image behind his eyelids. He saw Hermione, but there was something different about her. Her hair wasn't bushy, it was smooth and polished and gathered in a sophisticated bun. Her smile was nervous, but her eyes were sparkling and she was wearing a blue, flowing dress. "Were you wearing a blue dress for that dance?"

Again her eyes widened but this time she didn't jump onto his bed (curse it!).

"Yes, I was!" she exclaimed happily. "You remember that too?"

"Yup," he said, feeling almost giddy. In less than two hours he had remembered more than he had in the last month. A miracle, perhaps. Or perhaps it was Hermione. "You looked beautiful."

"Thank you," she said with a little, shy blush. It was absolutely adorable.

Just then there was a knock on the door and Amos Diggory showed himself.

"Hey you two," he said way too cheerful. "How's everything going?"

Cedric wanted to say something snappish to get him to leave as soon as possible, but Hermione didn't give him the chance.

"Amazingly," she said. "Cedric has been remembering some things."

Amos' eyes widened to the point where Cedric feared that they were going to pop out.

"You're serious?" he asked and Hermione nodded. "That's wonderful!"

"Yeah," Cedric seconded, feeling less than enthusiastic. He wanted to be alone with her again, but when his father entered the room and sat down in the foot end of his bed it was clear that that wasn't going to happen any time soon. And then Hermione rose from the chair with an overbearing smile.

"I think I'll leave you two alone," she said.

"But you'll be back tomorrow?" Cedric asked before she could leave.

"Sure," she said and then she was gone once again.

I'm starting to feel this story now, so the updates might be coming pretty fast. I hope you all liked this chapter.

Please oh please review, it makes my fingers work faster when writing. Uh, and request if you want me to do something for you.

Other than that… have a great day! And remember to go see the last HP movie, it's awesome! I'm actually on my way to see it a second time right now. I know, double nerd!