Hermione sat patiently while Cedric pondered what she had just told him.

"It's a simple idea, really, and it's quite common." Hermione told him. A perplexed look adorned his face. His grey/blue eyes were slightly closed, as he was concentrating, trying to understand what she was telling him.

"Is he broken?" Cedric asked, finally breaking his silence. Hermione stifled a giggle.

"No, he's not broken." Hermione said with a laugh. Cedric still looked confused.

"Then why fix him? It makes no sense to fix something that's not broken." Cedric said looking at her like she had gone mad.

She laughed again, clutching her side. This was turning out to be more complicated then she had anticipated.

"No. It's a muggle term for when you get an animal, like a dog or a cat, spayed or neutered." Hermione said. She could see the confusion in Cedric's eyes.

"Spay? Neutered? What does that mean?"

"Well, you know how animals reproduce?"

Cedric's mouth fell open. "Yes, of course. This isn't a sex talk, is it Hermione? Because I'm afraid I've already had this with my dad."

A slight blush crept up Hermione's cheeks.

"No. Getting an animal, like Crookshanks, neutered, means to remove his... Well… it means to remove his sexual organs, to prevent him from reproducing with another cat". She had said this rather quickly, and had to pause a moment to catch her breath.

Cedric looked appalled, and grimaced slightly.

"And muggles call that "getting fixed"? Cedric asked. He was still confused.

"Well, yes. And don't ask why, because I'm not sure." She said, just as he was opening his mouth.

Cedric opened it, and closed it again, looking at her intently.

"Muggles sure are weird." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, what do wizards call it?" Hermione asked curiously.

"We don't call it anything. If you don't want your pet to reproduce, you simply say a spell, like a protection charm that people use. It's a lot less barbaric."

Hermione just shrugged. It was too late to change her method of getting Crookshanks fixed, since he was already at the vet.

"Well, Crookshanks is just going to have to do it the muggle way." Hermione said with a small smile.

"And what, exactly, does the muggle way involve?"

"Trust me you really don't want to know." Hermione said, laughing as Cedric visibly paled.