Do you ever get that feeling in the pit of your stomach? It is like a thousand butterflies had been set free? It feels like your heart speeds up and slows down all at the same time. It's the time when your hands get all sweaty and your whole body becomes numb. You are oblivious to any sound around you except the beating of your heart. You struggle so hard to catch your breath because you are just so damn nervous!

Well, this wasn't one of those moments.

"Where the hell are we?"

"We're in a corridor."

"Yeah no duh, which corridor?"

"Do corridors have names? You just call them corridors so obviously we would be in a CORRIDOR!"

"Like I said. Lost."

Hermione narrowed her eyes to tiny little slits as she glared at Cedric. They were on their way to the lake when suddenly, Cedric was struck by the rock of brilliance.

"This way is too long." He whined. He was right. The normal way to the Black Lake was a very long route, especially when you came from the opposite side of the castle.

"Diggory, we came from the West side of the castle. Of course it is a long way there. As I said, we are in the opposite side of the castle." she rolled her eyes.

"But I know a short cut." he exclaimed.

"You tell me this now?"

"Well at least I told you didn't I?" he smirked. Oh he was good. Too good.

"Fine. Let us take your short cut. Lead the way." Instantly, she felt Cedric take a hold of her hand and she was dragged towards his so called "Shortcut".

"Some shortcut." she muttered. Short cut usually implied that it would be a shorter path toward the desired destination. At first, it did seem like that, but three hours, ten minutes and twenty five seconds tended to change one's mind.

"Come again?"

"Oh nothing." she replied, but deep inside, she was boiling with the fire of a hundred suns. He had led her on a wild goose chase for goodness sake!

"Well this is awkward." Cedric commented as he continued trudging the unknown path. "Why don't we talk?"

"After leading me through this scenic route of cobwebs and dust? I think not." she instantly protested. Some people thought that Hermione Granger was above petty childish behavior. They were dead wrong. She was just as immature as the rest of them.

"Come on. I'll even spark the conversation by simply asking what was the very reason for this trip to the Black Lake." he said nonchalantly.

Hermione sighed. Apparently, he was as immature as they came too. "If I were to immerse in this suggested conversation, I guess I would reply that the goal of this expedition was to find my friend Ron."

"Interesting. If you did reply like that, which you didn't I must stress, then I guess I would have to be intrigued as to this mysterious rendezvous with your so called male friend...I stress male."

"Well, if you actually did comment in such a manner, oh which you didn't by the way" she followed his suit of mock ambiguity, "I would have to chastise you by silencing your malicious mind. In this utterly hypothetical conversation, I think I would just tell you that the reason would be of fraternal matters and not that of romance." she told him. Really now. The idea of her and Ron sounded like utter incest. She forced to suppress a shudder. "But then again, we are not having the conversation are we Diggory?" she smirked. She had to admit that this was fun. So being lost with Cedric Diggory did have its advantages.

"We are most certainly not having the conversation." he smirked back as he nodded for emphasis.

He continued walking along. They had most certainly had enough childishness for one afternoon. She would not tolerate another chiding remark like that. But being the guy Cedric was, he just couldn't help himself. "But humor me for a moment and let as continue this little charade. If we were indeed having the aforementioned dialog, I would have to press on the matter of what these fraternal affairs were."

Hermione laughed. He was the epitome of persistence, her Diggory.

'Wait! Did I just call him my Diggory. He is not my Diggory. He is Cho's Diggory. Not my Diggory. Definitely not my Diggory. Why do I even have to say his name this much. Diggory. It just rolls of the tongue doesn't it. It so much fun to say. Diggory. Diggory. Diggory. Oh no. I am starting it again. I am not some nut job that keeps talking to herself every ten minutes. Focus. Think of a witty comment Mione.'

"If you did press the matter, then , I believe I would have to tell you that I am currently an owl."

That got his attention. 'If it is possible to increase the attention I am paying to her now.' Oh yes. Cedric was noticing every bit of movement Hermione was making. They way she swished hair while she walked. The way she had no dimples, even when she smiled. The way she seemed to pin her hair in between two of her fingers and play with it. It could be concluded that Cedric was in fact scrutinizing Hermione a little too much. "Now that would strike the curiosity of my hypothetical self. Care to elaborate?" That was the wittiest remark he could think off.

"Very well, if indeed it did strike your curiosity, I would simply reply by telling you that it was none of your business and that silence was golden."She mocked him. Actually, she was going to tell him, but as the old saying implied, no race was fun if you did not enjoy the chase.

"Ah, but I doubt that that would stop me in this imaginary interlude. I think, I would simply continue in pressing the matter until you caved. You underestimate my hypothetical persuasiveness." he smiled triumphantly.

"Indeed I am. My my, you tend to prove me wrong often...do you think I am losing my hypothetical touch?" she feigned worry. She had never known anybody where she could have this much fun with. Cedric was definitely unique. She couldn't find any other word for him. He defined the uniformity Hogwarts had in terms of people in houses and he also smudged the borders of her idea of guys. He was one for changing opinions.

"Oh well, I have that effect on girls. It is not my hypothetical self's fault." he laughed. "Have you had enough of the ego yet? Because, I think I would like to morph to my real self now and talk normally." That laugh could have enthralled anyone in a snap, including Hermione.

"Oh well, you talked me into it." she looked at him defeated. "There goes my constitution."

"It would be rude of us not so send it off properly, but you can't have everything." he pretended to mourn for the loss of her resolve not to talk to him. If that was the only thing preventing him from having a conversation with her, then good riddance to it. "So on the matter of you being an owl? I have to say that I am still very confused."

Instantly, Hermione's face went dark. She remembered how she had been the middle person in Ron and Harry's little feud. She was going to start ranting very soon, and Cedric was unfortunate enough to be in the scene. "Oh those two idiotic, pig-headed, utterly immature, hopelessly inconsiderate, wankers! They have made me their little owl in the middle of their whole little thing. I have better things to do than play little messenger girl for them. I mean I have to study and...well...study and I don't have time to go back and forth between them! Oh if I could just wring Harry's neck. He is supposed to be the mature one. I mean I expected this from Ron but not Harry. Oh, but I can't very well kill him since he represents Hogwarts in this little thingy...match...tournament...OH!" she said this whole thing in a very quick pace and in merely one breath. This, of course, left Cedric in a bigger puddle than he was in before.

"I didn't understand a word you said, but if it will make you feel better, go on." he said politely and as knowingly as he could. It was not everyday that Cedric found himself utterly dumbfounded. Sure, he wasn't head boy, but he wasn't an idiot either.

"Oh I am so sorry you had to be witness to...that. Ugh! It is just something I happen do to...you know...release the negative energy."

"Negative energy. Alright then." he nodded. Hermione was Muggleborn, so there were bound to be a lot of things that he couldn't understand about her. Muggleborns and Purebloods never understood each other instantly. It took time, and Cedric was absolutely willing to sacrifice his time in understanding her. In fact, he would be more than thrilled.

"You don't get it do you?" she tilted her head to the side. It reminded Cedric of a cute puppy.

'She reminds you of a puppy, come on. She should remind you of an Elizabeth I or an Amelia Bones, not a dog. Well, dogs are cute. I mean they are cuddly, furry and affectionate. Affectionate. Yup. Dog sounds good.' Cedric was now beginning to think that he had issues. "No." he was saying it more to himself rather than her, but it did answer the question so no harm done.

"Well you know, Feng Shui. The harmony of the cosmos. You are Cho's boyfriend, hasn't she ever told you anything about that?" Probably not the best thing for her to say. Cedric really didn't want to be reminded of Cho...his girlfriend...the girl he was committed to...the girl that he felt he was cheating on since he enjoyed Hermione's company too much than he really should. Cho.

"Nope. No mention of Fung Shi." he said, though he did have a strong notion that he had said it wrong, judging by her snickers. "But she did tell me once that I didn't have enough wood in me. Clueless to what that means."

"Yup. That is Feng Shui. And I do think not having enough wood makes you a push over. Then again, I could be wrong." she said as an after thought. What did Hermione really know about Feng Shui anyway. She would have to research on it later. "Back to the topic, I am an owl because I am playing messenger boy in Ron and Harry's Silent Treatment wars."

"Ah." he nodded. So he was a push over. Duly noted. "And on that thing about Potter and Weasley, you can't blame them. They are guys. They are supposed to be like that." he laughed. It was a fact that he accepted. Men were immature. There was no going around it really. He was living proof of that. No matter how hard you try to steer clear of it, you end up crashing into a pit of immaturity every time.

"So what you are saying is that I should toughen it out until the eventually stop being pricks and start acting like sensible gentlemen?"

"I wouldn't go as far as sensible gentlemen, but yeah, I am sure they'll come around to it sooner or later."

"I hope that it is sooner because I am so tired of playing wizard's chess with Ron. He keeps doing a weird victory dance on the table whenever he wins and it is starting to tick me off." she grumbled.

"Not an image I want in my head. The notion of Weasley giving you a table dance is not a pleasant thought."

"It is an even worse image."

"I'll take your word for it." he laughed. There it was again. That boyish laugh. Hermione cursed him for having that laugh. Why couldn't he just laugh like Ron, one big blast of air. That didn't attract her one bit. No. He had to laugh like a playful, handsome guy. Really, he had to have a flaw. Yes. A flaw better show up sometime soon.

"If it is any consolation, I am an idiot at dancing. My mother tried to teach me and I let her, but I just has two left feet." That was not a flaw in Hermione's book. That was an endearing thing that would have made her sigh if she wasn't careful. A guy loving his mother enough to let her teach him to dance, then admitting that he never learned was something that could really have gotten her attention, but he already had it.

"That is sweet." she smiled. "I remember that my mother and I used to twirl in the living room, we would just twirl and twirl and twirl until we were so dizzy that we would just fall to the ground laughing. She always told me that it was what falling in love felt like. Twirling." she savored the sweet memory. They had not done that in a while.

All Cedric could do was smile. "So have you? Fallen in love I mean." It just came out of his mouth before he knew that he was even saying it. It just came naturally after seeing her in a reverie like that.

"No. Never." she replied as she shook her head.

They had not been walking for a while. They were just standing and talking, like two friends. Both hadn't noticed it at the time, but they were now standing in front of the arch that led to the Lake. Perhaps, they were too distracted to even notice that Ron was calling Hermione.

"HERMIONE! HERMIONE!" his voice suddenly boomed into Hermione's head. Not the kind of thing you want to interrupt you.

Cedric whipped into alertness too. The moment had ended. Their three hours, fifty five minutes and thirty two seconds had just ended.

"I guess I better go now." she laughed. But deep inside, she wanted to stay and laugh with him some more. Impossible now that their moment had fleeted. Luckily though, Ron couldn't see Cedric since he was leaning on a wall, which covered him from the red head's sight.

"I guess you should." he nodded. She started walking away from him, leaving the place, something that they could safely say was their place. "Oh May..." He called to her, using his name for her.

"Yeah?" she turned around and looked back at him.

"Tomorrow. In between screaming your lungs out in support for Potter..." he started. "Spare a few shouts for me?" he laughed. But in truth, this was a sincere request. A request that one would ask of a close friend.

"Of course I would." she laughed in turn. "Why wouldn't I." she smiled. She turned around and walked away once again.

From the arch near the Lake, a boy and a girl went their separate ways. Both of them had peculiar smiles on their faces, smiles that could only have been started by a delightful time in the company of another, but both also had an overwhelming feeling that they had done something that shouldn't have happened.

A/N: ha! I have updated! Yes! I am alive! RITA LIVES! I mean, yeah, i am writing again :D...hope you liked it :D Thanks to all who reviewed in between my college madness :D

Next chapter will be the first tasky goodness in which we will see what happened from cedric and Hermione's point of view and not from harry's :D

PS. please go to my dearly beloved author page and take a peek at my RPG: Beauty In Madness, tis oodles of fun and I am sure you will not regret it :D

chao;;

&rita