A quick note to say that in most of these one shots Cedric will have survived the 4th book, but in some he won't have :(. A big shout out for my first 4 reviewer: Kag20, Sindoll, Silverbirch (who is also taking part in the 100 stories challenge WOOT!) and fire dragonheart thank you guys so much for your great reviews .... Enjoy!!

Disclaimer: Again I own nothing

Love

Does love really exist? Hermione Granger didn't believe so. In fact she'd given up on love. When the man she adored failed to realise that she had obvious feelings for him she decided that enough was enough.

"Hermione?" Her blood bubbled in irritation, why couldn't he just keep quiet?
"Hermione?!" A nerve twitched in her eye as she dipped her quill into the ink pot next to her. Silence, she wondered how long it would last? "Hermione?" Not long enough it would seem.

"Shut up Ronald!" Hermione snapped rather loudly. Madam Pince shot Hermione and Ron Weasley a deathly glare and Ron quickly buried his head in a book. After a couple of seconds he peeped over the book to see if the librarian was still watching.

"Why won't you help me out with my Potions essay?" Hermione inwardly sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Because Ronald you won't learn anything if I do it for you!" she hissed as Ron doodled on a piece of parchment. There had been a time when she had absolutely adored the boy sitting next to her. She used to get butterflies each time he said her name and her stomach used to do back-flips whenever they touched even slightly, but as the years had passed she realised that they were not a match for each other. He was an ignorant fool and she was too much into her studies for him to care.

"I'm not asking you to do it for me I'm only asking if you'll help me," Ron whispered in a whinny tone. It hurt when she gritted her teeth but she couldn't help it, he was so foolish. "Any time I try to just help you I end up doing half of your essay for you!" Ron gave her a cheeky grin and she huffed loudly. "You can forget it. How about you do something for yourself for a change. Now keep quiet and let me do my work."

Time was passing unusually quickly. Hermione glanced at her watch, it was 8 o'clock already and she'd barely even touched her Charms essay which was due in 4 weeks time, let alone her transfiguration and potions essays. Ron had gotten fed up about 45 minutes ago and had left to go and play exploding snap with Fred and George. She sighed lightly and heaved herself up from her chair to go and find some books for her more urgent essays. Her feet took her automatically to the back of the Library where the transfiguration books were kept. Inhaling deeply she smiled and started to trace her fingers down the spines of the books, reading each one very carefully. She became so engrossed in trying to find good books that she didn't realise that she was not alone. As Hermione's finger started to trace one book another finger started to do the same. Hermione, who jumped slightly, turned to her left to find Cedric Diggory standing mere inches away from her. How could she not have noticed his presence?

"Oh! Hello Hermione, I didn't see you there," Cedric said brightly, his voice smooth and charismatic. "I was just so immersed in trying to find books that I didn't realise that I wasn't the only one in the isle." Hermione's cheeks started to turn a light pink. "Hey Cedric. I didn't see you here either," she said quietly, highly embarrassed of her ignorance. Cedric however simply smiled and picked out the book they were both looking at.

"McArthur's guide to Transfiguring Inanimate objects. Now this is a book that has gotten me out of many tight spots." His tone was cheerful and his eyes hinted that he was reminiscing about the past. As he looked, rather adoringly, at the book Hermione found herself smiling. He looked so angelic and innocent, it was refreshing.

"Yes it's a wonderful book. Are you going to be using it again?" she enquired. Hermione was very interested in this book and if he told her that he was she didn't know what she was going to do.

"I am yes, but if you want to use it too, please feel free to join me. I would only be too happy to share the book with you." His charm and kindness knew no bounds and Hermione felt her spirits lift a little. "That would be great thank you so much."

Hermione settled herself in a chair opposite Cedric, who had a greatly superior selection of books than she did sitting on the table beside him. Her books which were levitating behind her moved and landed on the table with a soft thud. Cedric beamed at her and moved the book that they were going to share into the middle of their workspace.

"Take it whenever you like and don't worry about losing places or anything. If you need some help don't hesitate to ask either." It was the first time someone, other than a teacher, had ever offered Hermione help. It was odd but she felt a sort of pressure being lifted from her chest.

"Thank you. You can ask me for help too," she said to him as she flattened out her transfiguration essay. Immediately she blushed, realising how stupid she must have sounded to the 7th year Hufflepuff, Quidditch Captain, Prefect who scored the highest in his year in every class.

"I might just take the smartest witch of our age up on that offer," Cedric told her giving her a small wink which caused her pink face to turn a brilliant shade of beetroot. Her head snapped down to her essay and she grabbed her quill a bit too aggressively but within seconds both she and Cedric were scribbling energetically on long pieces of parchment. All too soon Hermione found herself reaching for the book in the middle of the table and as her hand rested on top of it another rested upon hers. Their eyes met and both students stared at the other with embarrassed and shocked expressions. Hermione could literally hear her heart pounding against her chest as a response to the warmth of Cedric's hand.

"I'm sorry Hermione," Cedric said softly, pulling his hand away in an almost reluctant manner. The Gryffindor's skin burned as the Hufflepuff lifted his hand. What had just happened? Hermione had never experienced anything like that before. Her palms were sweating, her heart was racing, her vision was ever so slightly blurred and her skin was practically on fire. Cedric nudged the book towards her and she lifted it gingerly and started to flip through the pages. Finding what she was looking for she scrawled the information down on a separate piece of parchment and gave the book to the boy in front of her. For another 30 minutes the pair worked in complete silence.

"Hmm?" Cedric muttered to himself as he set down another book. Hermione peeked up from under her eyelashes to find the 7th year boy sitting deep in thought while staring at his essay. He was biting his lip every so delicately and his brow was furrowed. A supple tuft of his shiny, chocolate brown hair was resting neatly against his forehead and Hermione felt a sudden urge to touch it and to move it back into place. After another moment of her curious peeking Cedric finally looked up from his page and coughed subtly.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked him, holding back a grin. Cedric ran a hand through his hair, fixing the tuft that had escaped from its place and causing him to look dishevelled and faintly flushed.

"How much do you know about the 'Mantium Spell'?" The flustered Hufflepuff asked her softly. Hermione set her quill down and thought for a moment.

"I know the theory behind it but I don't know how to cast it. I assume that is what your essay is on?" she asked him politely. He gave her a small wink again and this time Hermione could feel her flush creeping up her neck and tinting her cheeks.

"Yes it is. You see I've gotten most of the way through it but I'm stuck at this part here," Cedric informed her and at that he leaned over the desk and pushed his essay towards her indicating what his problem was. Hermione leaned forward to get a better look. His hand writing was immaculate; in fact it was the most elegant handwriting she had ever seen any boy produce before. She scanned his work, it was already 'O' standard but she soon picked up where he'd gone wrong.

"You've mixed up the 'Mantium Spell' here with the 'Montio Spell'. All you have to do is rewrite that and you're done," Hermione stated matter-of-factly. She and Cedric both looked up at the same time and were practically nose to nose with each other. Her eyes shot open and he smiled and whispered graciously, "Thanks Hermione. You really are intelligent." His breath smelled like a mint forest. It was hot against her skin and as she inhaled she became intoxicated. His lips were so voluptuous and inviting that her intoxicated brain was urging her to move closer. He, however, slowly moved away from her and sat back down on his chair, frantically fixing his essay.

It was 10 minutes to 9 and Hermione could feel Madam Pince glaring at the back of her head. "10 minutes until the library closes!" the woman squawked in their direction. Hermione gritted her teeth. Cedric, who was now engrossed in a Charms book, shifted in his seat and as Hermione began the fourth paragraph of her Potions essay she felt his feet touch hers under the desk. Giddy butterflies flew into her stomach immediately. This had started occurring ever since their close encounter over the desk. Anytime he accidently touched her under the table, spoke her name or glanced in her general direction, swarms of butterflies hurtled around in her abdomen. This time his feet did not move away from hers. He mustn't have felt the connection. Was the book he was reading that good? Suddenly she felt his feet on either side of hers, like they were caging them in. A sly peek over the top of his book gave him away and Hermione stared at him.

'Don't leave just yet,' he mouthed to her. Was it getting warm in this library? Hermione tried to focus her mind on her work again, she hadn't intended to leave as soon as the Librarian had spoken and now she didn't want to. His larger shoes totally enclosed her tiny size 4 feet and in some strange way this seemed to comfort her.

'I wonder if I could...' Hermione started to think to herself but she stopped herself suddenly as she realised where her train of thought was leading her. Could she get away with something as bold and brass as that? Could she actually do it? What would he think? Who cared?

Gently Hermione tried to lift her leg but found that she couldn't move her feet at all. 'Oh this might be interesting. Hermione Granger what has gotten into you?' Carefully she slipped a slender foot out of her shoe and crossed her leg. Ever so subtly she moved her now free foot to rest against the calf of Cedric's right leg. Peeking at him slyly from her essay she noticed him move slightly. His book lowered by an inch and he peeked over the rim. Hermione buried herself in her essay and pretended to not notice a thing. When he went back to his reading she peered at him again and bit her lip to stop herself from giggling.

Slowly she started to move her foot to an unknown beat causing her foot to rub up against Cedric's calf. Noticeably this time he lowered his book and gave Hermione a look which she was surprised to see. A smirk, which really should have been on the face of Draco Malfoy, rested on his amazing lips. Pretending not to notice anything she continued to rub her foot up and down his calf muscle, each motion getting slower and longer than the previous one. It soon got to the stage where Hermione was running her foot from the bottom of Cedric's ankle all the way up to his knee.

"2 minutes!" called out Madam Pince. Hermione faltered at the sound and looked up. Immediately she was captured by a pair of burning, steel grey eyes. As she became lost in them a faint voice in her head was telling her to keep going while another scolded her for her brass move. Her foot started from the bottom of his ankle once more, their eyes remained connected as she started her ascent. His toned leg was now familiar to her tiny foot and once she got to his knee his burning eye told her not to stop. Millimetre by millimetre she passed his knee and reached uncharted territory. His thigh was so strong and powerful and as her cheeks glowed and her breathing started to increase she jumped. He'd grabbed her foot.

"I didn't know you had that in you Miss. Granger," Cedric murmured as he held Hermione's foot gently.

"Neither did I Mr. Diggory." What was she saying? Who was this girl that was talking in her place? Hermione mentally kicked herself but secretly enjoyed the fact that he was now running his free hand over her tiny foot. It was soothing and exciting at the same time. She wished he would continue but unfortunately she was not going to get her wish.

"The Library is now closed. Pack up your things and go to you common rooms." Stupid bird-woman!

In that instant Cedric let go of her foot, tidied up his things and waited for her to do the same. Once Hermione was finished, and had her foot back in her shoe, they headed out of the library into the deserted hall.

"I think I like studying with you Hermione," Cedric told her, his smooth tenor trembling delicately. Hermione cleared her throat. As she looked at him she couldn't push away the feeling that she was actually going to miss this boy when they parted.

"I like studying with you too." Her answer was docile which caused Cedric to chuckle. His hand made its way to her chin and he lifted her head up to meet his. The burning quality was back in his eyes. They looked like liquid mercury.

"We should study together more often," and as he said that he moved in closer to her and kissed her confidently on the lips. Electricity was all she could feel coursing through her body. Her mind felt numb and her arms just didn't know what to do with themselves and before she knew it she lost the chance to figure out what to do with them. He broke away leaving her with a feeling of sudden loneliness.

"Tomorrow same time, same place?" he asked her in a murmur which made her skin tingle. "I'd like that." His grin filled her with emotions she never knew she had and as he left for his dormitory Hermione Granger concluded that maybe she shouldn't give up on love as it might exist after all.

A/N: Any good? Surprisingly I found that chapter quite difficult to write....odd lol REVIEW :D