This is an updated chapter. Please review! :)


Cedric Diggory was hungry. And when he was hungry, he couldn't sleep.

He sat up in his bed and glared at his stomach, "You couldn't have been hungry at dinner, could you? Of course not, you have to wake me up in the middle of night with your bloody growling."

To which his stomach growled again. Loudly. For a long time. "Fine," Cedric huffed, "I'll go eat something."

Grabbing the shirt that was nearest to him, which he absently noticed was a bright canary yellow, he pulled it over his pajama bottoms. Tiptoeing quietly, he slipped out of his dorm and out of the common room. He had been walking for a few minutes when he realized that maybe he shouldn't have chosen such a bright shirt to wear, or he should have gotten a coat to wear over it at least. Was that his imagination or was that Mrs. Norris?

Just then, a disembodied voice said, "Diggory, don't scream!"

So, of course, Cedric screamed.

And then, Granger's head popped out of nowhere. It was as if it was floating in the dark, cold, hallway but Cedric knew that couldn't be the case. Could it? Cedric gave an involuntary shudder. Her arm then joined her head in the air and grabbed Cedric's hand. "Diggory listen! One, don't talk. Two, get under this." In a heartbeat, Hermione threw a piece of silky fabric over both of them. It was made for one, Cedric had time to notice that and it's unique texture before he couldn't see it at all. "Three, crouch down. Four, you scream like a girl."

"What? I do not, Granger!" Cedric shouted in a stage whisper. Hermione gave him a very pointed look and pulled out her wand. Absently, Cedric wondered where she had kept it, it hadn't been in her hand when he had first seen her. Hermione touched it to the cloak, and whispered a couple spells, making the fabric bigger and the air around them warmer.

"Now hush, I think Filch is coming." Hermione quieted him.

"Aren't you cold in that?" Cedric asked her. She was wearing a long white nightgown but she wasn't shivering like he was.

"No," Hermione whispered, "I'm wearing shorts and a tank top under it."

"Does that even help?" He asked her, scrunching his eyebrows together, with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Eh, not really," she replied nonchalantly, "Now shush, here comes Filch."

Moments later Filch and Mrs. Norris rounded the corner, "Hm, do you see anyone Mrs. Norris?"

His cat meowed, "But I could have sworn I heard voices. Where do you think those children are hiding Mrs. Norris?" Filch swung his light around.

Cedric stifled a snort, and with the moonlight seeping through the fabric he could see that Hermione was smiling too.

Filch and Mrs. Norris walked away and Cedric turned to Hermione, "So is this an invisibility cloak?"

"Yes," She responded, "Harry usually keeps it in his trunk where I can find it because he knows I take it sometimes to go to the kitchens after hours."

"Wait, so you snuck into the boys' dormitory in the middle of the night to get an invisibility cloak to go to the kitchens? How many rules are you breaking?" Cedric couldn't believe it.

"What?" Hermione practically shouted, making Cedric worrying about Filch and Mrs. Norris coming back, her cheeks getting redder and her eyes flashing with anger, "You can't believe that Bookworm Granger does things like that?"

"What no-" Cedric tried to placate her.

"Admit it, Diggory. That's what you and half the world thinks." Hermione looked positively livid, and a few strands of hair had escaped from the bun she had tied it in and were snaking around her neck and face. "And the other half," she continued, "Thinks I'm a gold digger who's after the Triwizard Champions. Now even I don't know who I really am." As she said the last bit, her voice was sad and soft and Cedric had the sudden urge to give her a hug. But he restrained himself because he knew she would probably hex him if he tried.

"Granger!" Cedric said and he tentatively reached out and took one of her hands, it was small and freezing cold in his large, warm ones, he noticed with concern. "You're not a bookworm, you've helped Potter fight You-know-who so many times. And you proved you don't look like one either at the Yule Ball."

He wasn't sure but he thought he saw a tentative smile break out on Hermione's face.

"And as for the gold digger thing. Well, I can tell Rita Skeeter that you haven't tried to woo me yet. I don't know about the others though." He said this with a mischievous smile.

This time he was sure that Hermione was smiling.

"And who you really are? Well you," He squeezed her hand, "Are Granger."

After a few seconds of silence, Hermione, in a very sarcastic tone she reserved especially for the Weasley twins, said, "Wow, you're so deep."

"I know right?" He chuckled but he had succeeded in making her smile again.

"Idiot." She said with a grin tugging at her lips.

"Merlin's beard!" Cedric exclaimed, "I try to help you and you insult me?"

They continued their banter even when they had got into the kitchens and the elves had given them their food (a slice of pie and warm cider for Hermione and a treacle tart and pumpkin juice for Cedric). Then he made the mistake of calling her "bushy-haired".

The next thing he knew, Hermione threw something at his face. "Ouch, what is this? A badge?" He picked it up, "S.P.E.W.?"

"Yes," Hermione replied, a bit more calmly than before,"Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

"Oh," he said, Hermione couldn't quite read the expression on his face, "Well you are a muggleborn."

"What?" Hermione asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"No, don't get mad again," Cedric said quickly, "I'm just saying muggles are the ones who wage war, make treaties and even establish a new country for the sake of freedom, right? So since you're a muggleborn of course you'd feel that way about house elves." He paused for a moment, "And you may not realize it, and it isn't the case most of the time but, house elves depend on their wizards as much as wizards depend on them. Some people may mistreat them but most don't."

Hermione was still looking at him with a guarded expression on his face.

"Look," Cedric sighed, "House elves have been serving wizards forever. Trying to change it is probably impossible. But working to make sure that they are well looked after and taken care of is something you can do."

Cedric sat back in his seat and waited to see if she would blow up.

"Huh," Hermione responded, "You really are deep."

"Yes, yes," Cedric said, "Bow to my wisdom."

"Well," Hermione stood up, since she had finished eating, "I should go."

"Yeah," Cedric stood up as well. He watched as Hermione gave her plate and cup to a house-elf she called 'Dobby' while thanking him profusely. Dobby in turn asked her to give his greetings to Master and his Wheezy. Cedric gave his own plate and cup to another elf near him.

When they were parting ways to go their respective common rooms, Hermione grabbed Cedric's hand, "Thank you, Cedric."

"For what?" Cedric asked her.

She shrugged at him and smiled.

"Well, a big, brave Triwizard Champion such as yourself can walk back to his common room without getting caught, right?" Hermione asked and even with just the faint moonlight, Cedric could see the mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Of course I can," And with that Cedric and Hermione parted ways.

It was only when Cedric was halfway to his common room when he realized two things. One, she had called him Cedric. Two, he had forgotten to give back the S.P.E.W. badge to her.

"Oh well," He thought to himself, "maybe it will come in handy."