Title: Out of her tree

Characters: Cedric/Hermione, Ron
Word Count: 3,974 approximately
Disclaimer: None because they're useless
Notes: 3 related ficlets. Although I usually base my fics on the books rather than the movie, darksilvermoon has been using an icon that makes me smile each time I see it. So these are 3 movie-inspired tree ficlets. Not AU.

Important: This story is FINISHED but I have only posted the first chapter here. To read the whole story please click on my USER NAME, this will take you to a link to my livejournal where you can read the complete story. A lot of people have not realised that the fragment on fanfiction is just a fragment - the complete story is at my livejournal.

Ficlet #1

Hermione shivered. She, Harry and the Weasleys had set out very early that morning. It had taken been hard to get up when it was so cold and dark. She shivered slightly as she walked beside Ginny. Trekking in darkness wasn't her preferred way of spending a cold and dark morning.

"All this, for Quidditch?" she muttered beneath her breath as she and Ginny drew up to the rear of the group. Glancing up among the trees, she saw a tall figure standing on his own beneath a large tree. He was a ruddy-faced wizard with a scrubby brown beard and he grinned at them broadly as he was introduced as Amos Diggory.

Just as Hermione was registering his very familiar surname, something dropped out of the branches of the tree with a loud sound. The falling object promptly rose from his crouch and glanced around at them in a cheerful and inquiring manner.

Hermione and Ginny immediately exchanged very speaking glances as they recognised the tall boy with the tousled dark hair as Cedric Diggory. The Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team had grown taller over the holidays and appeared to have grown even more handsome in the intervening time if that was possible.

Looking completely unperturbed by his unconventional arrival, he smiled at them all and his grey eyes were alight with excitement and pleasure as he listened to the introductions.

Although Fred and George merely nodded brusquely, still sore at him and blaming him unfairly for Gryffindor's defeat at Quidditch in the earlier year, Ginny and Hermione glanced at one another again with mischievous smiles. Cedric was very well-liked and respected and his good-looks were definitely not wasted on the two of them.

"Right, we're off," Mr Diggory announced as they started the walk towards the Portkey located at Stoatshead Hill.

It proved to be a very long and arduous walk and they walked in silence down the dark lane toward the village. Hermione's hands and feet were freezing and it was with an effort that she stopped her teeth from chattering.

As she realised that she had lost all sensation in her toes, she noted that Mr Weasley was continually checking his watch although he didn't reproach them for their slowness and merely encouraged them to maintain a brisk pace.

"Are we there yet?" she muttered irritably beneath her breath which proved to be a mistake as her slip in concentration led to her stumbling awkwardly on the wet grass.

"Careful!... I've got you!" Cedric exclaimed, reaching out to steady her. He had been walking alongside her but hadn't said a word. No one was speaking on that long walk, there was no time and no breath to spare.

"You all right?" he asked her and she nodded, walking quickly to try to keep up with the group. To her dismay, she had already discovered that she was falling behind a little and now with the stumble she was trailing even further behind. No one else had even noticed but Cedric stayed back to accompany her.

"I huff have puff a puff question gasp," she managed to pant breathlessly as she walked and Cedric laughed.

"Feel free to ask but I'm not sure if I should be encouraging you to talk should given that you seem to need all the breath you can get. You sound a bit like my old gran when she's having one of her anxiety attacks," he teased her mischievously.

"Gasp not funny," she wheezed. She found that she had to stop for a moment and paused, gasping, bending over and clutching at the stitch in her side while she grimaced in pain.

"Yeah rest a tick," he told her, pausing beside her.

"Just gasp for a gasp moment," she agreed and pushed her heavy dark hair from her face. "Why were you lurking in that puff tree?" she asked him.

He gave a short shout of laughter which made the others turn around inquiringly.

"Get a move on!" Ron called out scathingly and Hermione shot him a resentful glance.

"Shall we?" Cedric asked, holding out his hand. She hesitated, put her hand in his and allowed him to tug her along. He released her hand once they'd started walking again.

"You don't think it's a bit weird to be sitting in a tree?" she asked him breathlessly, her words slightly more even after her short rest although there was still a gasp in her voice.

The climb up Stoatshead Hill was even more tortuous and there was much stumbling in hidden rabbit holes, slipping and muttered imprecations.

"I've got you," Cedric said when Hermione slipped again, gripping firmly on her wrist to stop her from falling. With a firm jerk he hauled her up and pointed to a clump of grass. "Hold onto that for balance..." She nodded and pulled herself up.

"Well we'd been waiting for you all for quite a while this morning. I got a bit bored, so climbed up into the tree to see if I could catch a glimpse of you". He grinned boyishly.

She reached up for a rock which came away in her hand and she found herself stumbling again. Cedric who had been watching over her like a hawk was not unawares and he reached out almost casually and caught her before she could fall.

"So you decided you'd just sit in a tree - like a bird?" she asked him as he held her against him for a brief moment. She noted enviously that he was only slightly out of breath. He smiled down at her.

"Sitting in a tree does wonders for your head," he said. "Admiring the view ... it clears your thoughts ... works like a charm," he told her. "You should try it sometime," he suggested.

He released her. "Careful," he told her encouragingly and she nodded. Each breath Hermione took was sharp in her chest and her legs were starting to seize up on her.

"Not far yet, chin up, Granger," he said encouragingly and there was no note of condescension in his voice.

Despite the seizing up of her cold and exhausted limbs and the lack of oxygen in her lungs, Hermione found herself smiling at Cedric and the grey-eyed prefect smiled right back at her. She had never felt warmer.

Recap note: As mentioned - this story is FINISHED, to read the rest please click on my USER NAME, this will take you to a link to my livejournal where you can read the complete story. A lot of people have not realised that the fragment on fanfiction is just a fragment - the complete story is at my livejournal.