Yes! I finished another chapter! Enjoy! (Thanks for all the wonderful reviews... they encourage me to update faster so I won't disappoint everyone who's waiting for the next update!)
Neville Longbottom didn't quite understand what was going on. Then again it was rare when he did. He'd been returning to the Ball after seeing Ginny back to the Common Room and had stopped by the doors just to appreciate the décor, like his gran had always taught him to. "Your parents loved decorations, so I had better not ever hear of you not appreciating such, even if it's just a bit of tinsel!"
Footsteps from the Great Hall made him turn and then start forward. Hermione Granger, his savior in Potions, looked stunning in her robes, but to his surprise and utter shock she burst into tears and ran out the doors. Then Cedric Diggory rushed past him, calling for Hermione.
Neville Longbottom didn't quite understand what was going on, but he understood enough to know that it wasn't any of his business. With a sigh he went inside to go get himself a drink to while away the remaining hour.
He found her curled up in a tiny periwinkle blue ball in the library. She was crying without making a sound, and suddenly Cedric wondered how long it must have taken her to learn to do that, to cry without sobbing or breathing harshly. And then his mind jumped to that next inevitable step. How long would it take her to learn not to cry at all?
He went down to his knees beside her and gathered her up in his arms. "Hermione, Hermione, it's okay, I'm here, it's okay."
She buried her head in his chest. 'It's not okay!" Her protest, though muffled, was still audible to his ears.
"It can't be that bad. So you think that Longbottom boy is your secret admirer. It's not the end of the world," he said soothingly as he began undoing the knot she had pinned her hair up into.
"That's not all that happened." The miserable tone in her voice made him stiffen with sudden anger.
"Krum didn't… hurt you… did he?" His anger did not go unnoticed and Hermione pulled back so she could look him in the eye. In the moonlight and the dimmed illumination that came from downstairs she looked ethereal, her hair tumbling down her back in graceful curls, robes accentuating her figure and her tear-streaked face giving her an immortal look.
"What?" She questioned, touching his arm in an intimate gesture that was not lost on the Hufflepuff.
"He didn't touch you… or try to do anything… inappropriate… did he?" Cedric looked away, trying to control his anger. If Krum had done something the previously peaceful Hufflepuff decided he would kill him.
"No." Hermione's firm voice brought him out of the rage he had been working himself into. She brought her hand up to place it on his cheek and try to get him to look at her. "No. And as for how it was awful, Ron and I just got into the most horrid argument, and all because he's such a stupid hypocrite!"
Cedric hugged her close to him, now calmed and in control. "Well that's no reason to cry!"
Hermione sighed, and Cedric knew that she wasn't crying any longer. "It's just… this evening was supposed to be perfect, and it wasn't. I don't usually cry over things like this but I just got so overwhelmed."
"It's okay. We all get overwhelmed sometimes."
"Still… Ron just… he…" Hermione was biting her lip in anger as she tried to explain everything. "It's just… to him, I wasn't good enough."
He frowned, dark grey eyes looking into hers. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well… he kept telling me that the only reasons Viktor would have asked me to go with him were to get close to Harry, or, or to get help with his egg. I know it's not true but… it's as if he doesn't consider me to be good enough to be asked out because someone likes me… And now that I think about it he's right. I mean, who in their right mind would want me for… me?" There were tears forming in her eyes again and Cedric felt horrified at the sound of dull belief and acceptance in her voice.
"Neville likes you." Cedric cursed himself silently; he had wanted to say that he liked her, that he wanted her, that it was he who sent the note and not Neville. Somehow his mouth and his brain (traitorous gits that they were) were in cahoots against him.
Hermione's voice turned sharp. "Neville this, Neville that! Got an odd fixation on him, do you? Funny, I never figured you for a fairy!"
"I am not a fairy!" He replied hotly, flushing. "I just don't think you should say nobody likes you when somebody does and just… quit with the whole 'Woe is me' attitude!"
The sharp edge to her words quickly dulled. "You're right. I should be grateful."
His own voice and posture quickly relaxed as he lost the will to fight. "Hermione, I didn't mean it that way."
There was a long pause, and then Hermione spoke hesitantly. "I'm sorry for calling you a fairy."
"You should be, you bloody well know that's a lie." Her startled gaze made him chuckle as he ran his fingers through one of her soft, silky tresses. He leaned closer until their faces were only inches apart and said, "After all, you kissed me."
"That doesn't prove anything! Until you're the one kissing the girl you being a fairy is still debatable!" Hermione retorted laughingly, missing the wicked gleam that entered Cedric's eyes at the implied challenge.
"Oh? Is that so?' He tightened his grip around her and leaned in. "Guess I'll just have to kiss the girl then. To prove my non-fairy status and whatnot."
Comprehension dawned in her eyes at just what he was saying. "Umm, I don't… we really shouldn't… uh…"
He moved in even closer until their noses were almost touching. "What's holding you back?" The question was asked teasingly but Hermione's answer once she found her words was most definitely not.
It was at times like these that the Gryffindor 4th year wished she could keep her mouth shut. "It's not what's holding me back but who's holding you. And it isn't me."
Cedric closed his eyes and pulled back, the laughter and fun leaving the conversation. "I see."
"I will not be some sort of… scarlet woman!" She finished, moving out of the circle of his arms. Both missed the other for an instant, but quickly regained composure. "I deserve a… a real relationship! Not just… just something on the side!" She was both angry and heartbroken, because he was offering her something that she would not take and what she wanted he could not give.
"You're right. You deserve only the best." There was something so sad about the way his shoulders were slumped and his eyes were downcast, so defeated. "And the best is something I cannot give."
Hermione nodded slowly. "Then I guess this is the end of the road for us.'
The Hufflepuff 6th year suddenly found himself reduced to begging. "Hermione… please. Could I… kiss you? Just once?" He looked so handsome, kneeling in his dress robes before her that she smiled. The great Hogwarts Champion, reduced to pleading!
"Yes."
There was no romantic pause, no bating of breath, no shyness. Cedric moved forward instantly, capturing her lips with his own. What had been intended and begun as soft and sweet quickly turned passionate and fiery. Still, gentleman that he was, Cedric waited for Hermione to deepen the kiss. He had always believed in the idea of 'Ladies first.'
However, it was Cedric who broke the kiss many seconds later. Hermione must have had quite the pair of lungs to keep up with the athletic youth. Perhaps a product of shouting at Potter and Weasley…
They were both panting slightly and flushed with their 'exertions.' Then Cedric happened to glance at his wristwatch.
"Curses, it's almost midnight! We'd better get back!"
Hermione shot to her feet. "Come on!" She ordered and soon Cedric was racing after her, their robes billowing out behind them like wings as they rushed through corridors and down staircases.
They skidded into the Entrance Hall just in time, and Hermione straightened Cedric's tie (which she'd almost ripped off during their kiss) and he quickly pinned up her hair as best he could. They grinned foolishly at each other at what they were doing.
Cedric turned to leave first, knowing that reality (a.k.a. Cho) called, when Hermione reached out and tugged the sleeve of his robes in a manner he found endearing.
"I think I could be… umm… very happy with less. Than the best, I mean." He smiled at her shy 'confession.'
"Thank you Cedric. For everything." Her eyes looked up at him earnestly, so earnestly that he couldn't resist kissing her one last time. He kept it short and chaste this time, but judging by the way Hermione was blushing and the red he knew was creeping up his neck, the kiss had been rather romantic.
"It was my pleasure." And it was. It was the pleasure of that short, sweet, almost hour that kept him going for the next few weeks, that kept him going until the next time he happened on Hermione Granger alone.
Strange that those times always seemed to occur in a library.