Entry for "Divination" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Task: Write about an enormous change to someone's life. Min 700 words

Entry for the "Ultimate Hermione Granger Pairings Challenge" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Pairing: Hermione/Cedric Diggory

Entry for the "February Event: My Love" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Prompt: (dialogue) "I will love you until the last rose dies." / "But one is fake." / "And, therefore, will never die."

Entry for the "Word Prompt Express" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Prompt: 23. anxiety

Entry for the "Gringotts Prompt Bank"

Character Pairing: Hermione/Cedric Diggory

Charmed Prompts:

(Action) Enjoying a bubble bath

(Action) Falling asleep at your desk

(Action) Kissing someone on the neck

(Action) Kissing someone on the forehead

(Action) Waking up screaming after a dream

(Word) Dream

(Word) Flowers

(Object) Letter opener

(Object) Sponge

(Dialogue) "Love is a magic between two people that cannot be explained and cannot be conjured."

(1250 Words)

Nothing Stays As It Is

"I wished you wouldn't have to go," Hermione sighed as she closed her eyes and leaned back against her boyfriend Cedric, deeply inhaling the scent of their vanilla bubble bath. Cedric chuckled lightly and pressed a kiss on her neck as he ran a sponge up her arm, squeezing some of the warm water onto her skin as he answered:"You will be working the whole weekend. I know you, Mione, you won't even notice that I am gone until I come back on Sunday evening."

"That sounds awfully like I don't care if you're here or not," she mumbled unhappily, but Cedric did not seem to be bothered that much, as he responded:"Love is a magic between two people that cannot be explained and cannot be conjured. And well, though I cannot explain it, I never felt like you are not loving me just because you are so focussed on your work that you forget to give me a kiss."

"You just said this randomnly because you wanted to prove that you've read my last book more than briefly," Hermione giggled, her cheeks red as Cedric hummed approvingly and started to reign more kisses over her neck, his hands starting to wander.

The next morning, Hermione was woken by the smell of freshly brewed tea and a soft kiss that landed on her forehead. Cedric was sitting on the edge of the bed, a loving smile on his lips as he gestured towards the tablet with tea and croissants that he had placed on his side of the bed. Additionally, there stood a huge vase with beautiful roses on her nightstand – the flowers Cedric would give to her whenever he had to go on a business trip. As if he had to apologise for that – Hermione and Cedric were both working hard, and they also understood each other very well, so it never had been a problem to them when one of them was spending time away from home to help his or her career.

"I already miss you," Hermione admitted and pulled him down to her, her arms slung around his neck. They kissed softly, and Cedric looked her into the eyes deeply as he whispered:"I will love you until the last rose dies, Hermione Granger."

"But one is fake," Hermione frowned, throwing her boyfriend a sceptic look.

"And, therefore, will never die," Cedric explained, causing Hermione to blush slightlyas she responded:"You're so sweet it should be forbidden."

"I know, but well, that is exactly why you love me. And because I am the only one who volunatirely bought a S.P.E.W. badge from you."

"You only did that because you wanted to have an excuse to flirt with me," Hermione commented and Cedric grinned mischievously as he declared:"Well, that was not my only intention..."

Suddenly, he looked at the watch he wore around his wrist and sighed:"I have to go, or I'll miss my portkey... I love you so much."

"I love you too... Be careful."

Cedric kissed her deeply one last time before standing up and leaving the bedroom. A minute later, Hermione could hear him leaving the house, and she sighed sadly as she propped herself up in her bed to reach for the tea.

After finishing her little breakfast in bed, she went to the bathroom to take a shower before settling down in her little office to continue working on her newest book.

As Cedric had predicted, she missed him less when she was working, and she also barely noticed how fast the time seemed to be flowing by. When she looked up from her parchment, it already was midnight, but she just could not stop – she had just reached an important point in the current chapter and she absolutely never stopped then, as she always feared that she could forget her point.

So she continued to write, ignoring how she was getting more and more tired. Her eyelids were getting heavier with every word her quill scribbled onto the parchment and eventually, they closed. Before she could react, Hermione was overwhelmed by sleep and slowly, her head fell forwards until her forehead came to rest on the parchment as she slipped into the land of dreams.

Hours later, she jerked awake, screaming in panic while her arms were punching into the air all around her.

"No, Cedric!"

Her right hand hit a stack of parchments and sent them flying to the ground, together with the old letter opener of her father. The loud noise seemed to rip Hermione out of the nightmare she had had completely.

She tried to calm herself down with deep, steady breaths while her heart was pounding so hard in her chest that she thought that it would cause her ribcage to break open. Though the dream was over, she still felt extreme anxiety pulsing through her veins and her knees were so weak that she had to sit down again, but not before she had opened the window to allow the cool night air to fill the room and sooth her.

It had been a horrible nightmare, really, and she did not dare to close her eyes as she was afraid of seeing the scene again – of seeing Cedric die again. In this moment, she wished that he was there to embrace her and tell her that everything was okay, and it really feared her a little bit that he of course was not there. Maybe she should just try to contact him via the floo network...

Nodding to herself, she had already got up when she suddenly heard the hoot of an owl from the window. Turning around, she felt her stomach drop as she saw that it was a foreign owl with only a small note in its beak. It was maybe three in the morning, so it had to be an emergency and therefore her hands were shaking as she hurried to take the note from the owl.

When she read the words that had been scribbled down very fast, she felt as if something had hit her in the stomach with full force, knocking the air out of her.

Miss Granger,

your boyfriend Mr. Diggory was brought to St. Mungos an hour ago with severe injuries. It is my sad duty to inform you that he did not survive.

My condolences

Healer Thompson

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't cry. She couldn't think of anything, her mind was just blank as she read the letter again and again, not able to take in the words that were written black on white on the parchment. This could not be true... Cedric couldn't be gone, no... they surely had mistaken him for someone else...

But when she had calmed down and had been able to take the Floo network to get to the St. Mungos, she had to realise that it was bitter reality. A healer had brought her into a small room, in which Cedric had been laying on a bed, his skin as white as the sheets. When she had kissed him, he had felt cold against her lips, and it was as if her own warmth was being taken away.

Her life had been thrown out of its track, and she was barely able to handle it.