"Cedric, do you, fancy Granger?"
Cedric nearly fell on his face, getting out of bed, at the curious voice of his best friend's voice, Steve Summers. It was early morning and he was half asleep. So he was very much caught off guard by the blunt direct questions. It was only him and Steve in the room- the rest of the dorm mates had already run off on to the Hogsmeade trip that was planned that day.
"What?" he asked and he felt his cheeks heat up.
Steve was smiling, slyly.
"By Helga's pickle barrels, you fancy Hermione Granger!"
Cedric wanted to deny it. It would make his life so much easier if he denied it. But, he could never hide a secret from Steve. Or at least, hide it when he was asking him directly about it.
"That's neither here nor there, Steve," he responded hotly, his face burning.
Steve just smiled, like a bloody kneazle who had caught the snitch, wide and unrelenting. He went over to Cedric's bed, pillow and hand as he stalked closer.
"Is she the one you've been writing too?"
Cedric felt his face fall into his hands
"Circe's left tit Ced, Granger?" said Steve and Cedric felt surprised at the surprise in his best friend's voice.
He looked up and frowned.
"What's wrong with Hermione?"
His friend was looking straight at him, eyes green and vivid, firm and strong. He sat across from him and placed his pillow in his lap. He was looking at him strangely.
"She's not that pretty, Ced."
Cedric's frown deepened. He felt his eyes narrow.
"She's very pretty."
Steve's expression did not change.
"She's a prissy swot and a second year. She's younger than us-"
"She's intelligent and cares deeply about honing her magic, of understanding her new world. She's not young by much Steve, she's thirteen to my fifteen-"
Steve placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You know that Cho Chang fancies you right?"
Cedric blinked. He had helped Chang last year over some sort of Potions assignment and they had spoken a little bit of Quidditch every once and awhile. She was gorgeous, exotic, extremely intelligent and with a sort of grace that he knew always turned the male eye. But in comparison to Hermione, well, he hardly knew the girl.
"What does that have to do with Hermione?"
Steve sighed.
"It'd be more expected, mate."
Cedric blinked.
"Expected?"
Steve raised a brow. Steve was probably the smartest man in the room at the moment, frightfully insightful and though, laissez-faire in application, Cedric had no doubt that his best friend had thought about this a long time. He was insanely conscious of the climate and tenure of Wizarding society- His father was a diplomat after all.
"Yeah, you're popular at school Ced and also, how would your family react to well, a younger, muggleborn witch as a girlfriend?"
Cedric wanted to punch his friend in the face for being an insensitive toerag, despite the fact that Steve himself was a half-blood himself. He legitimately wanted to punch him strongly enough to crush his nose or knock a tooth out. But he didn't deny that his father would hesitate to Hermione, as much as he loved his father and most of his family, he didn't deny that, well, a muggleborn wasn't the best thing to bring home to meet the parents. He had a cousin, Serenity, who had married a muggleborn and his father had legitimately hesitated in attending the wedding(he had relented in the end, simply because his mother had threatened him with divorce if his ambition would come between her and their family).
His parents were both purebloods, not the sacred twenty-eight level, but still pretty up there when it came to status in the world(more so his mother's family, as the Diggorys were more of a newcomer and in Pureblood society, that even a decade made a difference). They were not opposed to muggleborns or muggles themselves, had not been behind You-Know-Who in the War, but… He couldn't deny that his father, ever conscious of his stand in society, would look at Hermione and-
"I don't care," Cedric said, bluntly and he was surprised by his firmness.
Steve suddenly smiled, true and large.
"Good. Granger doesn't deserve you being a half-assed about this," Steve leaned back, bare feet wiggling as he rested against the bedpost with a smile, "She's very pretty and she's incredibly kind, but she has a temper."
There was something there, a hesitation that Cedric did not miss.
"Steve do you-"
"For a bit, yeah, I did fancy her," he grinned, "Her first year, she came to our compartment and asked for a toad. Looked a bit nervous but she didn't hesitate to talk to us. I like that in a girl. And that hair of hers! But that went away when I saw my best mate was swooning after her."
Cedric frowned, he hadn't remembered her coming to the compartment. And he did not swoon.
"Do you mind that I fancy her?"
Steve smirked.
"No, and if you fuck it up I can snap her up."
Cedric didn't hesitate to punch his best friend in the arm.
"Shut up, Steve."