A/N: the update is finally up! Wahoo to me! Oreos to all that reviewed! I am really sorry that I haven't found any time to reply your reviews! I am immensely remorseful! Please forgive me as I give you this long update!
Disclaimer: I don't own it therefore I will make no more efforts to deny that fact!
'Honestly! I don't even know if they just forget to return them or if they do it just to make Madame Pince crankier than she already is.'
Hermione was in the library. She practically lived there, so she figured that she might as well work there too. She convinced Madame Pince to take her in as an assistant librarian. The old Librarian readily agreed. Taking care of the enormous Hogwarts library was no easy task so she figured that she might as well let Hermione help.
The brunette was made in charge of organizing the haphazard books that students failed to return to their shelves. Mind you, there were a lot.
She was working in the Potions sections that day. It was the worst mess of all. Almost all of the books taken from the shelves were never returned. She had a feeling that the students didn't want to be around anything that had to do with Potions more than necessary.
'But still, that doesn't give them the right to be like pigs.'
She was irritable that day. She didn't really know why. Maybe it had something to of with how one strand of her hair refused to stay pinned behind her ear. She took a quill from her pocket and used it to put her hair up into a bun. That finally tamed the rebellious lock.
'Much better.' She smiled. 'Now… Pimples Be Gone: A Helpful Guide in Annihilating Acne…Oh I don't even want to think of why someone borrowed this.' She laughed.
She whipped around in search of the proper shelf, but in turning, she bumped into someone who was standing behind her.
"Ouch!" apparently, she not only managed to knock the person down but the quill in her hair also poked the person's eye ever so slightly.
"I am so sorry!" she rushed to help him to his feet. "Did it hurt?"
"Of course it bloody damn well hurt! AHHH!" he said as he fingered his injured eye.
"Oh I am really so sorry." She said as she led him to the nearest desk and sat him down. "Let me see it?" She knelt down beside him.
"NO…it hurts when I try to open it."
'Whiney aren't we.' "Oh come on, don't be such a baby...open your eyes."
The guy reluctantly opened his eyes only to see that a pair of coffee eyes was examining his grey ones. "Is it ok?" he asked.
"You'll live." She smiled. She stood up and picked the weird acne book up again. She walked up to a certain shelf and attempted to put it up in a shelf that was clearly beyond her reach.
He took the book from the tiptoeing Hermione and put it back himself. "You must be the assistant librarian."
"Yup…was there anything you needed?" she turned to look at him.
She saw that in front of her was a tall russet haired young man. He looked quite handsome, but Hermione didn't dwell on that fact for too long…but mind you, she did dwell upon it.
"Yeah…I was looking for a book on the Triwizard Tournament…Madame Pince sent me to you."
"Oh…I think I know what book she meant…follow me please." And she led him across the library.
"Excuse me…but haven't I seen you before?" he asked her as she climbed a ladder that led to the high shelves.
"I don't know…do I look familiar?" she asked as she fingered a few books. 'Now that he mentions it, he does look familiar.'
"Ah I know… you're the girl that came with the Weasley family for the World Cup aren't you…Hermione right?" He said as he looked at her face from below.
"Yeah…oh and you're the boy that came with us on the Portkey weren't you…what's your name again…"
"Cedric…Cedric Diggory." He smiled. That had never happened to him before. No one had ever forgotten his name before. This was new…and yet refreshing at the same time.
"Oh yeah…Cedric. I'm sorry. I'm just not myself today. Don't actually know why." She laughed as she took a book. "Nope it isn't this one."
"We all have days like that." He smiled. "Aren't you just a fourth year?" he asked.
"Uhuh…why do you ask." She replied as she scanned a book, just to see if it was the right one. "Nope, isn't this one either." She got down from the ladder and started walking to a different shelf.
"Nothing really, it's just that it's surprising the way you know the library. Most seventh years don't even know where the library is." He laughed. Hermione liked the way he laughed. It was cute…but again, she didn't dwell on this.
"It's just that I like reading. The first thing that I looked for when I got to Hogwarts was the library. Been going here ever since." She found the shelf that she was searching for and climbed another ladder.
"Oh." That was all that he could say. He liked reading too, but not enough to know the library like the back of his hand. He admired this girl for that.
"So why do you need the book anyway?" she said as she fingered a few more book spines. "Are you thinking of joining?" she looked at him from above.
"Thinking. I'm not sure yet. That's why I need the book. I wanna know what to expect."
"Don't like surprises?"
"Depends on the surprise." He smirked.
"Ok then." She said as she returned her focus to the books. "Aha!" she quietly shouted. (a/n: oxymoron? I think so! LOL!)
"What!" he was startled by her exclamation. He had been leaning on the ladder and when she shouted and this caused him to move the ladder, consequently throwing her off balance.
She wobbled in the highest step until the ladder was knocked to the ground. The book dropped to the ground and Cedric was shocked to what he saw above him.
"Oh my GOD!" she held on to the shelf. Hermione was dangling on the shelf and hardly anybody was there…since this was one of the most remote areas of the library. 'Why did the book have to be in the most unvisited place in the library?' Naturally, this was the History of Magic section. "HELP!"
"Just let go!" he shouted to her.
"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! DO YOU KNOW HOW HIGH THIS SHELF IS!" her fingers were beginning to get sweaty. 'This is not good!'
"Just let go! I'll catch you!" Cedric said as he situated himself underneath her. He desperately tried not to look up her skirt, but it was inevitable.
"JUST GET THE LADDER UP! MY FINGERS ARE GETTING SWEATY!" she was dangling there and her panic just made her fingers sweatier and sweatier.
"Just let go! There's no time to get the ladder up. I promise that I won't let you fall!" 'Why is she being so difficult?'
"You promise?" she asked, but just then her left arm slipped. "AHHHH!"
This got Cedric in a panic! This girl was about to plummet to the ground and yet she found time to be difficult. "YES! I PROMISE!"
With reluctancy, Hermione let go of the shelf. As promised, Cedric caught her, but the impact of her fall had caused them both to fall flat on the ground.
"I told you I'd catch you. Do you mind getting off?" he asked. Naturally, he was at the bottom and Hermione was sitting on him.
"Oh sorry…" she quickly got up and dusted her robes. She noticed that the book was on the floor and so she picked it up. Hermione turned around to find that Cedric was already on his feet and dusting off his own robes. "This is the book you needed.
Thanks for catching me." She gave him the book.
He took the book from her hands and looked at it. It was called The Treacherous Tales of The Triwizard Tournament.
'Quite a mouthful to say.' He thought. When he raised his head to thank her, he realized that she was gone.
The mishap in the library rendered her oblivious of the time. When she had given Cedric the book, she caught a glance at the library's clock and realized that it was only a mere five minutes till her History of Magic class. She ran as fast as she could.
Upon entering the class, Hermione was left out of breath and exhausted... but still on time.
'Never fails.' There was a note on her table. It was short and kind of unexpected.
I NEED MORE TO GO ON.
His notes have never been this vague. He always put either a response to a previous question or a quick quip of wisdom. But this was different. It made no sense at all.
'What does he mean?' She sat down at her table and wondered what the guy meant.
'Does he want to know more about me? I can't very well carve my entire biography on this table?' she didn't know what to do.
She got out her knife and decided to ask him what he meant. But just as she bent down to her bag, a piece of parchment caught her eye. It was wedged in between a crack on the left leg of the table. Naturally, her curiosity got to her and so she took it out. It had something written on the front.
Open me.
Being the obedient girl that she was, she opened the parchment. The scribbles lay inside made her smile.
Hello there fellow vandal!
It made her laugh. She never would have guessed that one day, she would be considered as a vandal.
I really need more to go on here…so I kind of made this questionnaire for you to answer.
'Questionnaire? What kind of a nerd have I been talking to?' she inwardly laughed.
I know what you are thinking…and I am no nerd.
'Mind-reader.'
I'm not a mind-reader either.
'Ok…this is getting kind of weird.' She thought. It was either this guy had the super human powers of telekinesis or he just really knew her well…both virtually impossible.
If all my responses have been right…then I agree. This is getting weird. Strangely enough, I think I just know you well that's all.
'Ok… this has got to stop.'
If I was right about that too…then I really think that this should stop. On to the questions! Haha! This is going to be fun! (Please insert a sinister laugh right here. Thank you.)
'Ok then. It's confirmed. I've been talking to a weirdo.'
I know what you think…and I am not a weirdo. I would thank you very much not to think that of me. Ok then…first off…are you a girl? Coz I think that you are…please don't crush a poor guy's hopes. Besides…it would be just plain weird to think that I've been talking to a guy about my inner most thoughts.
'Thank God he's a guy! What does he mean! Of course I'm a girl! I'd be surprised if I wasn't.'
Next…I'd want to know what house you're in. I really hope that you're not Slytherin, coz that be disastrous. Let's just say that they aren't my cup of tea.
'Ok…so at least he's not in Slytherin. Whew! That's a load off my mind!' she sighed with relief. He agreed with him…if he was a Slytherin…then that would be disastrous.
Third…its kinda hard to address you as 'girl' or 'the girl' (hope against hope that you are a girl!) and we know how awkward it is to call you 'fellow vandal'. So I kinda need something to call you.
'Fine.' She knew what he meant. Even in her thoughts, she didn't know what to call him. It would be nice to pin a name along with the notes.
Finally…I kinda wanna know if you are more of a sunny type of girl or do you like the rain.
'Again, he is starting to get weird.'
This is not a weird question…it actually has a purpose. Most people who like the rain are people who like to stay at home or cuddle up with a nice book. People who like the sun are the kind of people that you often see outside or in the Quidditch pitch. So see by telling me which one you like, you're telling me your hobbies.
'There he goes again with the twisted wisdom.' She laughed. She had never met a person like him. 'Well technically, I haven't met him…but…oh…this just makes my head hurt.'
She looked at the bottom and realized that the letter was coming to an end. She was a little bit disappointed.
Well, all good things must come to an end. One can only write so much on a piece of paper. Please reply. If you don't, I'll know. (Creepy huh.) Just put your reply in the crack on the left leg of the table. Thanks: )
'Ok then. Time to write up a reply.' She smiled and got a piece of parchment, a pen and a quill from her bag. She unrolled the parchment, dipped her quill in her ink and started to write.
BLOODY IMPORTANT NOTE (DON'T IGNORE!):
I WILL NOT BE UPDATING ANY OF MY STORIES TILL MARCH 6, 2006 SINCE FANFICTION HAS DELETED SOME OF MY STORIES...I AM NOW RESTRICTED FROM UPADTING TILL THE GIVEN TIME. I'M SO SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE AND I HOPE THAT YOU WILL ALL BE PATIENT WITH ME. I LOVE YA'LL AND THANKS!
A/N: Aha! It is done! The fourth chappie is now finally up! All hail me! I don't really have much to say right now…only that I urge you all to read the teasers on my web page and expect the teaser for Mr. Brightside (the sequel to Never Would Have Imagined) to come out in a few days! Love ya'll! Oreos to each and every one of you!
The Tofuubeaver