Prompt: A letter
Word Limit: 2000+
Word Count: 2149
Pairing: Hermione Granger/Cedric Diggory
A/N: I'm back again. Still not J.K. Rowling.
Cedric Diggory sighed and rubbed his eyes. He was sitting in the Hufflepuff common room and was surrounded by a chattering crowd. He hated being popular. He just wanted to hang out with his friends that were with him for who he was. He knew that people only liked him because he got good grades and was so nice to everybody. But he could never break away from everybody surrounding him and just chill out.
Today, the chattering crowd was larger than usual. Cedric had just been chosen for Hogwarts champion for the Triwizard Tournament. But then he was overshadowed by Harry Potter's name coming out of the goblet of fire, causing some very dramatic moments of Professor Dumbledore yelling. Needless to say, the entirety of Hufflepuff was very upset.
Cedric was a little frustrated, but he could understand that Harry did not ask for this. He was very clearly scared of what would happen in the tournament, and Cedric wouldn't be salty towards him. But that was not the case for the rest of Hufflepuff.
And that was why there was a huge chattering crowd around him now. They were all bad mouthing Harry and Gryffindor. Cedric was sick of the negtativity. The last straw was when a fourth year named Ernie Macmillan exclaimed that Harry Potter was a cheater and a liar. Cedric stood up and everybody looked at him.
"Okay, that is enough!" Cedric yelled, causing everybody to fall silent and look confused as to why he was yelling, "Why can't you understand how cruel you are being? Harry is a fourteen year old, do you really think that he wants this? Do you actually think that he doesn't want a normal year for once in his life? I just don't get how you guys are being so mean! Now I'm going to go and support Harry and you guys can lag behind and make this year miserable for him, I've learned that I can't stop you. But I would strongly suggest you doing the same and lifting him up in this awful situation like a Hufflepuff should." Cedric finished his rant and looked around the room, full of many now ashamed looking Hufflepuffs. Cedric scoffed and pushed past the crowd and went to his dorm room. His dorm mates came in a little later and tried to talk to him, but Cedric would just ignore them. He was sick of everything. It was a long time before he was able to fall asleep.
Cedric woke again at five in the morning. He could tell that he was the only one awake. He suddenly got an idea. It probably would not make everything feel okay for Harry, but the kid needed as much support as he could get. So Cedric got up and snuck out of the dormitory. He was technically allowed out of the dormitory as early as four in the morning in special circumstances. The school rule book specifically stated that you were allowed out of your dormitory after four in the morning, but most students would sleep in.
Cedric walked throughout the hallways, taking the longest was possible to the Owlrey. He had time to burn and nothing else to do. He was already caught up on his homework for the week. When Cedric finally reached the Owlrey, he took out a piece of parchment and a quill.
Cedric was planning on writing a letter to Harry, letting him know that he was there for him and would help him if he needed it. The younger Gryffindor would probably just ignore it, but it was the thought that counted.
It took him about thirty minutes to decide what to say. It took another fifteen for him to write it out. Satisfied with his letter, Cedric tied the letter to the leg of a school owl (He had a cat) and, looking at the time, decided to go down to breakfast to get out of the Great Hall early.
Hopefully Harry would at the very least acknowledge what the letter said.
Harry was so thankful that Hermione was supporting him, especially with Ron being awful to him. And then there was the rest of the school thinking that he was an attention seeking liar. Classes with the Slytherins would be awful this year.
Hermione and him were walking around the lake, him munching on toast and her ranting about how Ron was being unsupportive and immature. Both of them didn't notice the owl until it landed on Harry's shoulder and squawked, scaring him out of his wits.
It was a beautiful, snowy owl with piercing eyes. It got sick of waiting for Harry to take the scroll on it's leg and just dropped it in front of him and flew off. Harry muttered a thanks to the owl that could no longer hear him, sent a confused look over to Hermione, who looked equally puzzled, and unscrolled the scroll. He read it out loud for Hermione's benefit.
Dear Harry,
You will probably think that this whole letter is a joke, but I can assure you that it is not. I wouldn't be writing this at five in the morning if it was. I just want to say that you don't deserve all of the stuff your going to get from the rest of the school. I tried to stop the Hufflepuffs from bad mouthing you, but I doubt that they would listen. I just really wanted to say that I feel so bad for you and your situation. I just wanted to say that I'm here for you if you need anything at all. Like help with spellcasting or just a friend to talk to. Just thought that I should offer, as it is clear that you did not put your name in the Goblet of Fire. I believe you. Just wanted to let you know.
Sincerely,
Cedric Diggory
Harry paused on the signature. He was sure that Cedric would hate him by now. Harry had sort of stolen his spotlight, after all, though it was by accident. Hermione looked even more confused and asked to see the letter again, rereading it several times. She then looked up at Harry.
"That was nice of him. I would expect Cedric to be against you," Hermione stated, "And I don't think that this was a joke. He's too nice for that, he's helped me reach several books that I was too short to reach at the library." Harry tried not to snort at her recollections about Cedric. He didn't want anything to be taken the wrong way. Hopefully, Harry would not have to take him up on his offer.
Cedric was studying at a table in the library, alone for once. If you are excluding all of the fan girls surrounding the shelves near him, trying to be inconspicuous but still chattering loud enough that Madam Pince looked ready to kick them out. It annoyed Cedric to no end that they thought that they could just watch him creepily for hours on end.
What he wasn't counting on was seeing a fourth year with insanely frizzy hair appearing right in front of him and staring him down. Cedric raised his eyebrows at her. He knew her name vaguely to be Hermione. He had helped her with reaching several books in the library in the past. Cedric put down his pencil.
"Do you need something?" Cedric asked. Hermione sat down right across from him and placed a piece of paper on the table. Cedric recognized it immediately as the letter he sent Harry.
"I thought that I told the owl to find Harry. I must have accidentally said the wrong name," Cedric said dryly, "How did you get that?" Hermione fixed him with a look.
"Harry told me about it. I just wanted to know why you're being so nice to him," Hermione stated, dropping her voice so the fan girls couldn't hear. Cedric looked at her, puzzled.
"Why wouldn't I? He didn't ask for this, and I don't want him to get hurt. Also, nobody else is planning on it," Cedric shrugged, "Need any help with your Arithmancy homework?" Hermione looked surprised at that.
"Well, I actually do. Thanks for offering," Hermione said, pulling out her textbook. Cedric walked her through the problem and maide sure that she understood what was going on in the problem. Hermione made sure to thank him before she left to go talk to Harry about something or other and said that they should hang out more. Cedric agreed.
It turned out that Harry needed Cedric's help faster than he would have thought. Harry had decided to start preparing for the second task early, and he asked Hermione and Cedric to help him with learning spells. Cedric had come up with a list of useful ones that would be worthwhile to be able to cast. They and Ron had been practicing until curfew. They probably could have practiced longer, as Cedric was a prefect, but the four didn't want to risk it.
Ron had already left with Harry, making sure to send a nasty look Cedric's way. It was clear that he didn't like Cedric at all, and Cedric had no clue why. He was putting the room to rights when Hermione came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around with an eyebrow raised to see Hermione standing there, looking very sheepish and awkward.
"Cedric, I wanted to ask you to the Yule ball," Hermione said. Seeing Cedric's eyes widen, she quickly added, "As friends, I forgot to mention that part. I just know that Ron is going to ask me as a last resort and I don't want to deal with him ruining my night. We've never been that close." Hearing this, Cedric accepted. Of course he would help his friend get somebody off their back. And it would also save him from being asked by literally every girl in the school who crushed on him, which was a lot now that he thought about it. Hermione thanked him over and over before leaving before she was caught outside after curfew.
It was needless to say that it got out quickly that Cedric had a date to the Yule ball. It was probably because Cho Chang asked him and he told her why he couldn't. She was one of the most gossipy, popular girls in her grade. Everybody wanted to know who, but Cedric simply smiled and said that they would have to wait and see. The night of the Yule ball would be very interesting.
It was the eve of the Yule ball and Cedric was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Hermione. He could feel all of the girl's watching him, waiting to see who came towards him. It was so annoying how everybody was so invested in his life.
Finally, Hermione came down the staircase. Her hair was in a fancy up do and she was wearing a stunning periwinkle dress that suited her very well. Cedric grinned and took her arm, stunning all of the people around him. Nobody expected the very popular Cedric Diggory to date the very unpopular Hermione Granger. He was doing this as a favor for a friend. But it also helped that he had developed a huge crush on Hermione after spending so much time with her. But he knew that she would never like him in return.
They had fun that night and danced up a storm. And then Ron decided to tell Hermione that she was fraternizing with the supposed enemy and was being a generally awful person. Cedric heard him and marched over to the group, returning from getting punch and gave Ron a stern talking to about how to not be a rude, awful person. To his credit, Ron did look a tiny bit ashamed, though he did still make snide remarks about Cedric after he had walked away. Cedric sighed and went to find Hermione.
She was in the courtyard, sniffling and sitting on a bench. She looked up when Cedric sat down next to her.
"Thanks, Cedric," Hermione said quietly. She took a deep breath and turned to Cedric, "Oh, I can't take it anymore. Cedric, I've had a crush on you ever since you sent Harry that letter. You are too nice for your own good and such a good person, and I have to say that I have fallen for you." Hermione looked embarrassed and looked down at her hands. Cedric chuckled.
"That's funny, it seems that I have too," Cedric said quietly. Hermione looked up at that. He leaned over and kissed her, a kiss that she returned. For the rest of the night, they stayed there, hand in hand, leaning against each other and chatting quietly. All was well.
