Smile

The taunting of those horrid Slytherin girls rang in my ears causing more of the hot, painful tears to spill from my eyes. Why was I always the one they picked on? No one should be bullied just because of their intelligence.

'Stupid, ignorant cows,' I thought harshly as I forced my way through the crowded stone corridors. The last class of the day had just finished and I'd just left Ancient Runes when I accidently bumped into Pansy Parkinson and her band of Slytherin cronies on their way to the Great Hall for dinner.

'Bloody inbred whores,' I mentally shouted as I remembered how they had pushed and shoved me, calling me nasty names, made fun of my hair and jeered about my muggle family. More tears fell as I pushed a second year Ravenclaw into a wall and shoved a bunch of fifth year Hufflepuff girls into each other. Soon I found myself in a relatively empty corridor and just as soon as I had leaned against a wall to try and sober myself I heard a voice which made my blood run cold.

"Granger. Crying again? Guess you met Pansy after class," sneered Draco Malfoy as he sauntered towards me with his bodyguard friends trailing after him.

"Leave me alone Malfoy," I snarled as he stood in front of me, a hate inducing smirk on his ghostly pale face.

"I can leave you well alone as I see Pansy has already accomplished what I wanted today." His bodyguards guffawed as I clutched the books I'd taken from the Ancient Runes classroom tightly to my chest.

"You're completely heartless," I growled as I tried to give him my best evil-glare. Clearly I failed as he laughed in my face causing my cheeks to burn in frustration and embarrassment.

"Tough words coming from a pathetic little Mudblood." My ears burned and I swallowed the bile that had risen in the back of my throat. Malfoy said something to his goons that I didn't quite catch and as he made to leave he hit the top of the books that I held to my chest so hard that it caused them to fall all around me.

"See you at dinner," Malfoy shouted as he strode down the corridor and just before he went completely out of sight he took his wand out of his pocket and cast a spell in my direction. It felt like my heart stopped as I heard my book bag rip open and its contents spill to the floor. I stood rooted to the spot for a moment or two trying to regain some composure but I failed miserably. As I sank to the floor a sob escaped my lips. Holding my hand up to my mouth to quiet myself I shook as sobs started to vibrate through my body.

"Are you alright?" a voice asked from somewhere above me. My bloodshot eyes blinked away tears and landed on the person who had stopped in front of me and the mess.

"Need a hand?" Cedric Diggory asked me tenderly. I couldn't answer him properly as I sniffed and hiccupped violently so instead I nodded my head. The sixth year Triwizard Champion got to his knees and started clearing up the broken bottles of ink.

"I saw what he did to you," he muttered softly as I wiped my eyes and nose with a pure white handkerchief. Again I couldn't answer so I merely looked at him as he cleaned the stained Ancient Runes books. He looked up at me, his mercury coloured eyes burning with hatred for the people who turned me into my current state.

"Does this happen a lot?" he asked, concern evident in his calming tenor.

"Yes," I whispered my voice breaking slightly as I continued to dab at my eyes. His brow furrowed as he continued to help me clean up the terrible mess.

"Why?" The question was simple and it had a simple answer but I couldn't bring myself to answer him so I remained silent, hoping he would get the picture and stop asking. Oh if I should be so lucky.

"Is it because of your heritage?" the kindly Hufflepuff asked in a deathly silent whisper. I paused for so long that I really didn't need to nod my head. I heard him sigh heavily and then curse under his breath.

"Somebody should teach that brat a lesson," he muttered finally getting my books cleared of all ink stains. As I stacked the books and prepared myself to pick them up I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Would you like me to kill him for you?" My head snapped up. Cedric looked completely serious as my eyes bulged out of my head in shock. Was he serious? He couldn't actually be serious? I stared at him for a couple of seconds more before his serious face dissolved into a smile.

"Geez Hermione I wasn't serious," he said as he started to laugh. My face fell and my cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. As the Hufflepuff champion continued to laugh by my side he put a finger under my chin and forced my head up from my knees.

"I was only trying to get you to smile. You look so much better that way." My heart skipped a beat; he was still smiling at me, his pearly white teeth almost glinting in the light. For some reason I suddenly realised the funny side to his statement. Although not being a laugh out loud joke the prospect of the Golden Boy of Hufflepuff, Mr. Nice himself actually killing someone was so ludicrous that you just had to smile at the sheer stupidity of it. I felt my mouth turn up at the corners and before I knew it a smile had spread across my face.

"There we are, much better! Girls like you should never be sad."

"Ever the charmer Mr. Diggory," I said with a chuckle as he got up and helped me to my feet. After he handed me my books he smiled his brilliant smile at me again and the sun decided to shine in through the windows illuminating him so that he looked like some sort of angel. For some reason my heart decided to flutter.

"That I am Miss. Granger."

"Thanks for helping me," I mumbled as the sun continued to shine. Cedric waved his hand in the air in a gesture which implied that it hadn't bothered him at all to help me out. Could this guy get any nicer?

"Anything for you Hermione, listen I have to run back to my dormitory so I'll see you at dinner alright?" As he ran off down the corridor I couldn't help but let another smile grace my lips. Whoever said that Hogwarts didn't have any nice guys had clearly never met Cedric Diggory.

Later on at dinner I found myself sitting in between Harry and Ron eating a comforting bowl of stew. As I ate another warming forkful and piece of parchment folded up into the shape of a bird landed beside my glass of pumpkin juice.

"What the?" Ron asked as he went to grab the parchment. I slapped his hand away and indicated to him that it was addressed to me. He rolled his eyes and went back to his steak dinner, chewing grumpily.

"Who's it from?" asked Harry who'd barely touched his food at all.

"I don't know. I'll tell you now in a minute." I opened the letter and didn't recognise the small, neat writing. Usually when I received notes it was either from Harry, Ron or Ginny and neither one of them had particularly good handwriting.

Hermione,

I think you deserve another smile. Watch Malfoy for the next couple of minutes. I guarantee that you will be smiling for the rest of the night.

Cedric x

"Well?" asked Harry impatiently. I glanced at him and then turned my eyes toward Malfoy. He was chatting enthusiastically to the person opposite him and had finished eating.

"It's from Cedric," I informed the eagerly waiting Gryffindor champion. I then went on to explain what had occurred after I'd left Ancient Runes and how Cedric had helped me when no one else was around. Harry seemed impressed however Ron snorted and made a sly comment about Cedric. I slapped him on the arm as Harry and I kept our eyes on Malfoy. The minutes ticked by and soon dessert was on the table. Harry and I blindly reached for whatever was in front of us and waited. Before we knew it it had happened.

"ARGH!" yelled Malfoy as the cream from his dessert flew up into his face. As it continued to propel into his pale face I turned in my seat and scanned the Hufflepuff table. Soon enough I found Cedric looking right back at me and a broad smile spread across my face.

'Brilliant!' I mouthed to him. He winked at me and pointed towards the Great Hall doors. I turned round just in time to witness Malfoy darting out of the hall yelling profanities at the top of his lungs. Just as Cedric had guaranteed I had a smile on my lips for the rest of the night. Justice had been served, quite literally.

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed! I know it's been a while since I've updated so all I can say is sorry for that :(. I know it doesn't live up to some of the previous chapters but I still think it's cute, I hope you do too. Please REVIEW with all of your thoughts.