In the last chapter, I put it was Saturday. It's actually Sunday….:S sorry.

If I replace the chapter; do I lose the reviews?

Thanks for all the reviews, when I get over 75 reviews, I will update!



Chapter 11 Interruption

"CEDRIC!"

Cedric abruptly rolled off Hermione and onto the damn grass. He quickly looked at Hermione who had visibly stiffened in shock. Her face had paled and her eyes had widened. Damn. Who is that?

He looked up to see the last person he wanted to talk to storm over to them. He pulled Hermione up and went to meet her.

"What?" he growled angrily. What the hell does she want? What right does she have to come over here and talk to us? How did she find us anyway?! This had better be good. If she makes a scene, I swear I will hex her into oblivion.

"What are you doing with her?" She spat.

"What do you mean by that? Why in Merlin do you care? We were messing around-nothing happened, you saw that" He retorted furiously.

Hermione stood embarrassed by Cedric's side. What does she want with him? She must still like him. I wonder if she is still going out with that guy in 6th year….She felt waves of jealousy run through her, which she didn't completely understand. Why am I feeling jealous? It's Cho, I mean, sure they have a history, but he never liked her. He hated his relationship with her. I remember his expression and I know he felt that day when they broke up! He was a completely different person. Surely Cho knows that. No doubt she will jump to conclusions…

Sure enough, Cho replied shrilly,

"Excuse me; you were on top of her! How is that messing around? I thought you were 'just friends' with her."

Hermione blushed at what she implied, "Cho, that's really not what happened. He tickled me and chased me round, and then he caught me and dragged me down. That's when you came in. Completely innocent! And besides I don't see how it's any of your business."

Cedric glanced at her. She seemed pleased that she had managed to argue with Cho, when Cho had completely ignored her. She looked up at him and urged him to agree with her.

"Besides, we are just friends. Aren't we Cedric?" Hermione asked, as she nudged him with her elbow. Cedric glanced at her. He could see she was pleading with him. Why does she want me to say that? Can't we tell Cho the truth? That we were about to kiss?

Cedric sighed. I need to talk to her later in private.

"Yes Cho, can't a girl and a boy be friends without everyone thinking they are in a relationship? Besides, I agree with 'Mione, it really isn't any of your business of who I'm friends with. Now if you'll excuse us," And with that, he pushed Hermione in the direction of the castle, leaving Cho standing there with a bemused expression on her face.


They walked up to the castle and once they had entered the entrance hall, they knew that lunch was over. Students were filing out and many of them noticed Hermione and Cedric. Why is everyone looking at us? Surely we don't look that strange? Hermione tried to picture the scene in her head. We came into the hall, missing lunch. Cedric's in his Quidditch robes and we are covered in damp grass…..oh, I can see what they are thinking.

Hermione tilted her head upwards to make eye contact with him. He was already looking at her.

"Let's get out of here," he whispered in her ear. She nodded in agreement, shivering slightly at the feel of his breath on her ear, and they walked past the marble staircase.

"What do you think they were thinking?" Cedric asked her as they he led her down a small passageway.

Hermione pondered for a while before she replied, "I'm not really sure. I mean, it's not like they know of our friendship. We've made an effort to avoid the crowded corridors and the gossipers. They probably think we were 'fooling around' like Cho thought."

Cedric didn't respond. He seems lost in thought. Did I say the wrong thing? Was he embarrassed down there? Does he want everyone to know of our friendship? It isn't a big deal if you really think about it. Hufflepuff's and Gryffindor's are very friendly to each other. If one of us was a Slytherin, then that would cause more problems….

"Cedric? Are you OK?" she asked him nervously.

He seemed to snap out of his thoughts and he looked at her sharply.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking about things," Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but Cedric quickly added, "Personal things. Don't worry about me 'Mione."

He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"So, we haven't really talked yet, what with one thing or another," Cedric laughed, "What did you do yesterday…?"

He wants to change the subject. He must be worried about something which he doesn't want me to know.

"Well, me and Ron went to watch Harry practise yesterday. But there was a slight mishap with the schedule. It seemed that Snape provided the Slytherins with permission to practise instead of the Gryffindor's," Hermione paused, wincing slightly at the memory, "Malfoy got mad when I 'disrespected' him and called me a mudblood."

Cedric stopped outside a portrait of a bowl of fruit.

"He-c-call-called……he called you a mudblood?" Cedric asked her suddenly trembling with anger. Merlin, he is really mad!

"Yes, the whole team were shocked and Ron got extremely angry and attempted to curse Malfoy. Unfortunately it didn't work, and the spell backfired onto Ron. He spent the remainder of the day belching slugs, which wasn't a very nice sight. Last night he had to do a detention cleaning trophies and he had to re-clean a trophy about 5 times," she giggled nervously, in an attempt to calm Cedric down. He smirked slightly and he stopped shaking. That's an improvement.

They carried on walking; it was getting darker, as they walked further away from the entrance hall. The passage was lit by burning torches.

"Belching slugs? If only that spell had worked, it would have brought Malfoy down a peg or two."

"Yes, Colin Creevey was there too, I would have made him take so many pictures to put around the school, and also to put into my private collection."

"Your private collection?" he questioned, eyes suddenly lit with curiosity.

Hermione blushed slightly. Damn, why did I mention that? No-one knows about that. Not even Ron or Harry know about my private collection. But, Cedric is different to them. It's like we have a special connection, which I don't have with the others. But I trust Cedric.

"Well, since I knew I was coming to Hogwarts, I decided to take lots of pictures. When I went to Diagon Alley with McGonagall, she showed me a little photography shop, in one of the side-streets. The owner of the shop showed me some potions, and I browsed his collection of books on wizards' photography. With the money that Professor McGonagall had given me, I bought some of the high quality potions, that would keep the photos preserved for longer. Apparently they would survive an explosion, but I haven't tried that yet," she laughed then continued, "When I came here, I took photos of the station, the train, the grounds, Hogwarts itself. I wanted to document my entire year. When I made new friends, I took photographs of them too."

"Have you taken any of me? I don't remember a camera…." Cedric asked.

"Well, I was reading the book one night, and I came upon an unusual spell. It took me a while to learn. It was a N.E.W.T level spell."

A N.E.W.T level spell! She is such a talented witch….

"And…." Cedric prompted, "What was it for?"

"Well, it was a non verbal spell, and there was to ways the camera took pictures. Either something special happened, and it would invisibly appear to take a photo of the moment, or I call it and it takes a picture that way….I can lend you the book if you want, it has a really detailed explanation in it," she explained. Why can't I explain that? I should have memorised the definition as well.

"Oh," he said, "Could I have a look of them?"

She paused. I don't want him to see. What happens if he laughs? I could be really embarrassed.

"Not at this moment in time…..soon though…I promise," she replied.

"Why? Are you afraid I will laugh or something? It's your private collection, it's personal, if you truly don't want me to see, then that's OK. But I would like to."

"How about I give you a rain check?" she asked him.

"A rain check?"

Confusion appeared in his features. His eyes scrunched up slightly and he tried to think of what a rain check was. He looks cute when he is confused.

"Yeah, a rain check," Hermione laughed, "It's basically when if you have to cancel a plan or reject a plan, you promise to do it in the future, even if you don't know exactly when it would be. Does that make sense?"

Cedric appeared to think for a moment. Then he nodded.

"Sure, a rain check. Do you want to come in?" he asked suddenly. Hermione was taken aback. Where am I? I was so engrossed in our conversation that I had no clue where I was walking.

She looked around and saw a dimly lit corridor. They stood outside a still life painting of a field filled with sheep with a setting sun in the background.

"Where are we?" she asked Cedric dumbfounded.

He chuckled.

"In the basements, they aren't as cold as the dungeons but we are on the same level apparently. They're underneath the lake, and we are the closest to the kitchens, so we have really good parties. Do you want to come in then?"

Hermione stared at the painting, it was beautiful and it was the first portrait she had seen at Hogwarts that didn't move.

"Am I allowed in?" she asked worriedly. She knew she was weakening and she realised that she was actually excited at the prospect of seeing his common room.

"Sure," he replied. He tapped on the painting. He whispered the password and the small portrait suddenly grew.

He stepped back as the portrait grew. The portrait seemed to be like the wall at Diagon Alley. Finally it stopped and the portrait swung open. It was the right size and they managed to walk through comfortably. Cedric held onto her elbow in a careless manner. The Hufflepuffs that were relaxing in the common room looked at them. Most of them had shocked expressions on their faces, others had looks of outrage. Look at them; I know what they must be thinking 'why is she here?'

Hermione pulled out of his loose grip and murmured, "I don't think this was a good idea Cedric."

He glanced at her, bemused.

"Why not? I thought you wanted to see my common room…"

"I do, but look. Everyone is staring at us."

"Not all of them," he looked around. Everyone hurriedly turned back to what they had been doing before they entered the room, "OK, maybe they are but so what? You're my friend, and I don't care who knows it. It shouldn't matter what house you're in, it's all about who you are."

Hermione smiled. Just then, Claire came down from her dormitory. She beamed when she saw that Hermione was there. She went up to join them.

"So, Cedric finally brought you here! About time too!" she laughed.

"Hey Claire, how've you been?"

She stayed in the Hufflepuff Common Room to talk to her. Slowly, the stares and whispers stopped as they got accustomed to her. Hermione didn't see the unfriendly glares Cedric was giving everytime someone looked at her. Many 2nd and 4th years joined them. Justin Finch Fletchly, Hannah Abbott, Tom, Edward and Daniel were the ones who stayed the longest.

She went to dinner with them and even when she sat at the Gryffindor table, she couldn't believe how calm and happy she felt being with her Hufflepuff friends. Ron and Harry talked to her, as they hadn't seen her all day. They could see that she was distant with them, and they knew why. She was getting closer and closer to Cedric with each passing day, even making friends with the Hufflepuff's. They didn't mind her friendship, as they realised that they couldn't tell Hermione what to do. They just didn't want her to forget that they were her friends too.


I think that's my longest chapter…..

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