8

11. 24. 94

"Good evening." said a rather chipper voice coming from the boy who was approaching her study spot.

Hermione looked up in surprise at the Hufflepuff, who still had bandages wrapped around his head. "Cedric! I didn't think you'd be allowed out of the Hospital Wing."

The boy smiled sheepishly, "Snuck out," he said simply, "got a bit of studying to do for Charms."

Hermione frowned, "I'm sure they'd excuse you, you're our champion, after all. And you placed first as well, Flitwick would understand."

He shrugged as he sat down, "They've already excused me, but I can't just stay in bed all day until I heal up, can I?"

"But you're hurt!" she pressed.

"Worried about me?" he teased, trying to wag his eyebrows but ending up with a wince of pain.

She glared at him, used to his teasing by now.. "The only thing I'm worried about is how much your head will deflate when they tell you the damage to your face is irreparable and you lose all your adoring fans."

This drew a laugh from him as he was pulling out a book from his bag.

"Congratulations, by the way. Inanimate-Animate Transfiguration is tricky enough without having the added stress of a dragon breathing fire at you. It's a wonder any of you didn't die."

"Underestimating my abilities now, are we?" he asked, green eyes twinkling mischievously.

"There's only so much a Sixth Year can do against a dragon, Cedric." she said simply, "I am glad you're alright, though."

"Ha! So you do care!" he said triumphantly.

"Only because the elves would be inconsolable if you died. There'd be no one to devour the leftover pudding, then." she said, barely looking up at him from her Potions text.

"You're cold as ice, Hermione." Cedric grumbled.

"Thank you." Hermione replied primly.

11. 27. 94

She wondered to herself how she gotten into this position. She was up high on one of the Quidditch stands sitting next to Padma, bored out of her mind. She had resorted to sketching onto a piece of spare parchment after being there for ten minutes.

When she had mentioned offhandedly to Su that Cedric had said something about wanting to play a game of pick-up Quidditch two nights before, she had not expected her best friend to force her into organizing the game, and watch it as well.

She had been lazily following the match as students from all three schools whizzed past. Even Krum had gotten on his broom to play. A whistle drew her attention, it seemed as though words were being exchanged by Ron Weasley and a Beauxbaton boy. Cedric can flying towards the stands, coming to a halt in front of them. His eyes landed on her, and the parchment she had been sketching on.

"Need a model, Hermione?" he asked playfully.

"No," she said, rolling her eyes, "but when I do, you'll be the first person I'll ask."

His lips quirked up into a grin, "Want a ride?"

"No." she said flatly, her face set in a serious mask.

"Come on, it'll be fun." he said, offering his hand.

"Not in a million years, Cedric." she said, a hint of warning in her tone.

This was the wrong thing to say, apparently. The Hufflepuff, taking her no as as a challenge, surged forward, muttering a charm under his breath to get her to levitate, flew behind her and canceled the spell so that she was now sitting on the broom, with him behind her. Hermione could faintly hear Padma squealing behind her as he flew away.

"I'm going to kill you." she hissed, clutching on to the broom, knuckles almost white with effort. She barely registered his hands over her own so that she was safely in his arms. "As soon as you put me down, I'm murdering you and throwing your body to giant squid!"

"Guess I'll never put you down then." he said, laughing as the wind blew against them.

"Cedric, put me down!" she demanded as they flew farther away from the ground. Her heart was beating rapidly in fear. The Hufflepuff merely laughed.

"Cedric! I'm afraid of heights!" she pleaded, "Please!"

The laughter finally stopped and they descended slowly onto the field. Hermione scrambled off the broom, for the first time ever, not caring about poise or grace.

"Hermione, I'm sorry-"

"I told you no, Cedric!" she said, eyes blazing.

"It was just a bit of fun-"

"Well, it wasn't fun for me." she scowled, "I'm leaving. Enjoy your bloody game."

Draco had been flying next to Krum when Diggory suddenly swooped down to take Granger for an impromptu ride. His eyes followed their movement as they flew around the field.

"Who is that?" Krum asked, nodding to the couple.

"The girl Diggory's with? That's Granger." he said, trying to sound as emotionless as possible. The flare of jealousy that sparked with watching Diggory wrap his arms around Granger did not go unnoticed.

"I vos thinking of asking her to Ball." Krum frowned, "Is Diggory and she together?"

Draco frowned, finally looking at the older boy, "No, not that I know of." he said, "She's a muggleborn, you know."

"So vot?" Krum asked, keeping his gaze on the two.

"You're a pureblood, she's dirty." Draco said, the words feeling wrong in his mouth.

Krum finally looked at him, eyes piercing, "That is kind of thinking that brings var. Blood is blood."

Draco ducked his head, unable to meet Krum's glare.

"What use is 'good blood' if soul is poisoned?"

12. 03. 94

It took one week for Cedric to finally find her. She had been hiding from him ever since the Quidditch incident. After the initial shock and anger had passed, she was left with embarrassment at having gotten so mad at Cedric. Thinking about her overreaction made her blush every time. Su had told her to forgive him when Padma had filled her in. Hufflepuffs could sometimes be a bit too fun loving, she said.

But forgiving him meant having to talk to him, which was something she could not see herself doing without fainting out of sheer embarrassment.

She had not ventured into the kitchen since then. Every time he tried to get her attention, she walked away. She would go straight to her studio after meals and study there, and wait until it was almost curfew to head back to Ravenclaw Tower.

On the seventh night of doing this, just as she was about to raise her hand to the knocker of the tower, a hand grabbed her wrist, halting her movement.

"What-" she twisted to look at the offender, moving to reach for her wand. When she saw a pair familiar green eyes peering down at her, Hermione froze. "Cedric."

"Hermione, I'm sorry, I never should've forced you to-"

"No, I'm sorry, I overreacted-"

"You should have." he pressed, "I was out of line and I was just trying to impress you."

"Impress me?" she asked, brows turned down in confusion. It was not lost on her that he still held her wrist in his grip.

Out of character, he blushed, the pink staining his cheeks rather charmingly, "Er, yes. It was stupid - I been, um, - I have -"

"You've what, Cedric?" she said impatiently.

"I can't explain when you keep interrupting me, witch!" he said, exasperatedly, though his grin made it lighthearted.

"Well, I can't understand you if you keep stuttering." she huffed, tipping her chin up.

"I want you to go to the Yule Ball with me." he said, smiling at her.

Out of all the things in the universe, that definitely was not what she had been expecting.

"Excuse me?" she said, eyes wide.

Cedric smirked, "Don't play dumb with me, Hermione. You know what I said."

"But why?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"You're the only one who doesn't recoil at my hideousness." he quipped, earning a soft slap on the arm from her.

"I'm joking." he laughed, "I dunno, Hermione, maybe because you're funny, smart, and beautiful?"

Her blush reached epic proportions at that. "Thank you." she whispered, unsure of what to say.

"So, should I take that as a yes?" he asked, grinning at the dumbfounded look on her face.

"You never asked." she said absently.

"What?" he frowned.

"You just said you wanted to go the the ball with me. You never asked." she pointed out

"You're too smart for your own good." he growled, "Will you go the Yule Ball with me, Hermione?"

She smiled prettily at him, "I would."

"Does that mean you'll come back to the kitchens? The house elves have been hounding me for days."

12. 05. 94

To say that her father's reaction to her having a date to the Yule Ball was bad would have been an understatement. She was fortunate that her family didn't have any magic because the Howler Ralph Percy would have sent following her letter telling them that a boy - a sixteen year old boy - would have been so horrendous that she would wish she'd never been born with magic at all.

Her mother - bless her soul - had sent a letter to follow her father's, telling her that she would deal with the matter, as well as reminding her to take pictures and to keep her eyes out for her dress, which would be delivered within the week.

Her friends' reactions were a different thing altogether. Padma had already started gushing about their possible wedding - which automatically drew a strangled gasp from Hermione the first time she heard the girl's babbling. Su had been over the moon, and did not miss any chance she got to tease her horribly. Hermione was just as happy for her, though, since one of the Quidditch boys she had gotten to know - Nasir - had asked her just the other day.

She and Cedric had agreed not to tell anyone besides their friends that they were going together, both of them not seeing the need to draw unwanted attention. Lisa Turpin had been more dreadful than normal ever since she had somehow tricked Anthony Goldstein into taking her.

She had resumed studying in the kitchens, much to the house elves' glee. And with the second task not until February, Cedric had become much more laid back - she had not known that was possible. He liked telling stories, mostly about his childhood - which had been as mischievous as she had expected. It was astounding to her, really, to listen to him and compare her own childhood to his. She had not taken into account how not normal her life was until it was pointed out to her, which Cedric succeeded perfectly.

She had not told him about her secret. It was too soon for that. She was smart enough not to bungle up her life over a silly school crush. Sometimes, while she was lost in thought, she wondered whether he would hate her if he ever became important enough that she'd tell him everything. The nagging voice in her head would sometimes tell her that they were too different, but she brushed it aside. Her grandfather would have never have approved of him, yes, but he had wanted her to marry Prince William, which was never going to happen.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Cedric tugging on one of the curls that had escaped her bun. "You in there, Hermione?" he asked, grinning at her from across the table.

"Sorry," she said, smiling apologetically, "what was it you were saying?"

"How different were your children's stories from ours? You asked me about Babbity Rabbity the other night, I never got to ask what stories you had."

"Oh, there are several." she grinned, pushing aside her homework, "A lot of them are princess stories, which usually have some form of magic. My favorite used to be Rapunzel. It's a story of a princess with long, beautiful hair that got locked in a tower."

"Relate to it much, do you, princess?" he joked.

Hermione smiled knowingly, "Don't be silly, I could never be a princess."

"Course you could," Cedric scoffed, "Just takes a crown a pretty dress and a beautiful girl, and you've already got the dress and the beautiful part down."

She laughed, "It takes more than that to be a princess, Cedric."

"Whatever you say, dear." he said in a sing-song voice.

"No, truly, they have to study specific things, go through several classes through their youth and are expected to be perfect all the time because they're supposed to be figureheads of the country, and a whole lot more, I figure."

Cedric laughed, "Maybe that's what they want you to think. All those royals are probably just spoiled to the bone and have everyone do everything for them."

Hermione frowned, unable to defend herself without risking her secret, "Maybe." she said a moment later.

"Why are you going with Ron Weasley?" Hermione frowned, with Su nodding feverishly next to her.

Padma shrugged, "It's a favor for Parvati, she's going with Potter and she's been dying to have him look her way for months."

"I don't know what she sees in him." Su said, "And why does she have to drag you into it?"

"It's not as if boys are lining up to ask me to the Ball, Su." Padma said, rolling her eyes.

"You could have done a lot better than Weasley." Hermione said, "Have you seen how he eats? I don't think he even knows how to use a napkin."

This earned a guffaw from Su and a small furrowing of brows from Padma, "He isn't all that bad. Vati says he's funny."

"Let's hope he makes you laugh enough to forget his horrid table manners, then." she said.

Parvati shook her head at her friend, just as the morning mail owls came fluttering in. A group of three owls flew in carrying a sizable package, dropping it in front of Hermione. It was unremarkable, to say the most, just normal manila wrapping tied by twine, like she had asked.

"Is that your dress?" Padma asked excitedly.

"Most likely." she said, waving her wand to banish it to her trunk.

"Aren't you going to look at it?" Su asked, put out that she wouldn't get a preview.

"I know what it looks -"

"Why would she need to know? No one's going to see it anyways." a snarky voice said a few ways down the Ravenclaw table.

Three annoyed heads turned to look at the offender, to find, predictably, Lisa Turpin sneering at them.

"What are you going on about now?" Su asked, sounding annoyed.

"Oh, just that Hermione won't get to wear her dress anyways, since she's not had anyone ask her." Lisa laughed haughtily.

"At least she didn't have to force her date to go with her." Su spat, ignoring Hermione's look of warning.

Lisa glowered at the other girl, "It's too bad she couldn't even force anyone to go with her."

"Why you little-"

"Su." Hermione said softly, "Don't."

"But Hermione she -"

"Don't, Su. It doesn't matter." she said, getting up, "I have to go."

With a firm shake of hr head signaling she did not want her friends to follow her she stood, making her way out of the Great Hall.

"You don't believe her, do you, Granger?" asked a voice behind her.

She twirled around, only to be surprised by the sight of Draco Malfoy staring at her with a curious look on his face.

"What?" she asked dumbly.

"Turpin, she's being a right bint." Malfoy said offhandedly.

"How did you even hear what she said?"

He shrugged, "I was passing by."

"And why do you care?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

One more shrug. "You should know that you're better than her. Just because you don't have a date and she does -"

"I do."

"What?" he said, this time is turn to narrow his eyes.

"I do have a date." she said.

"Oh." Malfoy said simply, looking confused.

"Anyways, I don't see how this involves you." she said, awkwardly, "Thank you, I guess."

"No problem, Granger." came his reply as she started walking away.

Hermione had brushed off their last encounter as a freak accident, but Malfoy was getting weirder and weirder by the day, and it could not be ignored.

He was losing his bloody mind.

This was the only thought that was running through his mind as he watched Hermione walk away. Well, maybe not the only thought - the other was who in the bloody hell was her date to the ball.

It could only be Diggory. They had been acting rather chummy as of late. He knew this because more often than not he was watching her, which may have been a little creepy, and a tad disconcerting but she was a thorn on his side that would not go away.

Draco didn't know what came over him to cause him to talk to her. Maybe Blaise or Theo had pranked him with a charm that made him do things that would embarrass him. For Merlin's sake the look on her face when she had seen his was akin to one's reaction when first encountering a Blast-Ended Skrewt.

He needed to get his wits together and soon.

And maybe find a way to render Diggory unconscious until after Yule.