Chapter 3 - The Quidditch World Cup

Hermione was surprised when she got into her tent at the campsite. It looked so small at the outside and she had wondered, how all the boys and Mr. Weasley could be in the tent that stood beside hers and Ginny's. It wasn't much bigger. It didn't look like more than three people could manage to be in the tent. And when Percy, Charlie and the oldest son, Bill would apparate, there would be seven boys and Mr. Weasley and they had to share the little tent together.

But that was just proof for her that it wasn't the outside that counted.

The tent inside was much bigger. It was like a house. There was a bathroom, a kitchen and two rooms for the girls. She was shocked. This was magic.

And oh, how I love it …

The boys' tent was – of course – much bigger. But they were also six people more to share it.

After her shock, and Harry's too, they and Ron went across the campsite to get water by Mr. Weasley's request.

On their way she saw Cedric Diggory. He had just got out of his tent and looked in her way. When he spotted her he smiled and waved. Hermione looked at Harry and Ron; it didn't look like they had seen him. She looked back at Cedric and saw he still looked at her, now with a big grin on his face. She didn't know what to do, so she just looked away again and started to go faster, hoping Harry and Ron would follow her.

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To her surprise she had enjoyed the Quidditch World Cup. She had thought it would be boring, but was glad to be wrong. Of course she had felt sad for Winky, a house-elf, because of her frighten of high. She had really felt pity for her, and wanted to help her, - to do something.

And Draco Malfoy's stupid face hadn't helped the slightest, she had just got angry and upset. And she had been quite annoyed and a little jealous of Ron's drooling over the veela's, but apart from that she had practically enjoyed the Quidditch match.

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He had watched her from afar. He could see her from where he stood at the Quidditch match. He was glad to see her smiling when the game started. It seemed like she enjoyed it to his surprise. He didn't know her, but he didn't think she was one for Quidditch. Maybe he had been wrong about that.

As far as he knew, he had only heard small stuff from other people, and that didn't even have to be true. He believed it though, because he didn't have anything else to believe.

He let out a small chuckle when he thought back at how she reacted when he waved at her. He could see her confusion about it, but it made him smile. She looked so innocent.

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She was angry.

How could he!

She was frightened almost to death!

She doesn't deserve to be treated that way!

How could he!

These were the thoughts that were running through Hermione Granger's head.

They were just on their way home to Mrs. Weasley.

She was angry because Mr. Crouch had sacked his house-elf, and not just any house-elf, he had sacked Winky. Just because she was in the wrong place, in the wrong time. Just because she had hold a wand, to be precisely, Harry's wand. He had lost it in the panic of the Death Eaters' arriving and poor Winky had taken it up.

The weird part was that Harry's wand was the one, which had used the spell to get the dark mark up into the sky.

But everyone knew that it couldn't have been Winky. The person, who hadsaid the spell, should have a lot of power, and Winky wouldn't even know the spell.

No, - Winky got sacked because she hadn't obeyed Mr. Crouch's order.

She has feelings too! She was scared! …

She definitely wanted to do something about house-elves' rights.

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They were on their way to Hogwarts on the train. There wasn't the best mood in the compartment right now.

Malfoy had just walked out with Grabbe and Goyle, and had left a pissed Ron.

"Reparo," Hermione said after Ron had shut the door hard enough to break the window glass.

She couldn't stand the mood and had to get out of there, so she left the boys to find another compartment. She was quite lucky. After she had walked for a while, she had found a compartment that wasn't used. Smiling for herself she got in.

There were silent in the compartment and she liked it. She thought about her former years and was hoping this year would be easier and for Harry's sake, safer. But that wasn't very likely so she could only pray.

The silence was broken by a tall guy that opened the door.

"Sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if I sit here, in some minutes? I need some time to think without all that noise out there, but I can't find a compartment that isn't used, so?"

Cedric.

"It's okay," Hermione answered. She couldn't just say no. It wasn't like she owned the place.

"You're Hermione Granger, right? From the the Quidditch World Cup, right?" Cedric asked.

I thought he wanted some time without noise…

"Yes, that's me, and you're Cedric Diggory," She replied, half polite, half annoyed.

He grinned and she looked up at him. He had sat right opposite her. His brown hair fell down into his grey eyes, but it didn't look like it annoyed him. He hadn't taking his school robes on yet and was wearing a shirt and pants that was fitting him quite well. All in all he looked good and handsome, but Hermione didn't really care.

She tried to ignore his grin but found it impossible.

"Sorry, is there something wrong?" She finally asked, trying to sound polite.

"I don't know, is there?" He teased and his grin got wider.

"Then what is it you find so terrible funny?" She tried again, ignoring his stupid comeback. It was getting harder to sound polite.

"You, of course."

She was taken aback by his answer. What was funny about me? She didn't know.

"Me?!" She was starting to get upset but not just because of him. She was already irritated after Malfoy had walked out of the compartment she had shared with Harry and Ron, and it didn't help much more that Cedric was so annoying. "What's so funny about me?"

He just shook his head and turned his attention to the window, staring out to see the different trees passing by every second.

Hermione was furious at him for grinning at her and not telling why, but she held her mouth shut, didn't want to speak to him. Why was he here and not with his fan club of girls, anyway? Cedric was popular. He had a lot of friends, girls as much as boys. She didn't know why, for her, right now he was just a pain in the ass.

Why don't I just walk back to Harry and Ron? Surely the mood is better now there, than here.

She got up and walked over to the compartment door.

"Where're you going?" Hermione heard Cedric voice asks.

She sighed.

"I'm just trying to be nice and leave the compartment alone for you," she said, trying to sound nice but didn't know if she succeeded.

"Are you sure that's why or just an excuse to get away from me?"

"And why would I want to get away from you when you just laughed at me?" She was losing her temper – again.

"You take everything too seriously. That's your problem. You really need to relax," he said, calm but bitter. There was silence for a minute.

"Don't leave," Cedric then said but still sounding bitter.

She was a bit startled at that. Why shouldn't I leave?

As if reading her mind he said, "I'm leaving myself." And then he himself got up to his feet and walked out of the compartment.

Oh …

Authors note: (Changed) That was the next chapter! Hope you liked it. please leave a review! Thanks!