A/N: again, not mine!

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The next morning, Hermione awoke to an empty dorm room. Pulling the hangings back, she found a note on the bedside table that read,

Hermione,

How are you feeling? I didn't want to wake you this morning, you looked completely bombed. You need your rest. Stay here as long as you want, but do leave sometime. You can't avoid Krum forever, and no offense but I want my bed back... without the fourth year in it.

Sincerely,

Ced

"Lousy git." she muttered, standing up and stretching her arms. Grabbing her robe, she snuck out of the Hufflepuff dormitories as quietly as possible, and made her way back to Gryffindor tower. Walking up to the Fat Lady, she muttered the password and slid into the common room, expecting it to be crammed full of people. Strangely, she was met with silence. Peaceful silence. Reassuring silence.

That is, until Ron walked in.

"HERMIONE!"

Jerking her head around, she looked him over quickly, then continued walking toward the steps to the girls dormitories.

"Wait, Hermione!" he called out, shuffling after her.

"Shove off Ronald, there's nothing left to see."

"Yes there is." he said. Grabbing her elbow, he spun her around to face him.

"And what would that be?" she asked.

"The simple fact that I was right. Admit it: I was right." said Ron, smirking like he had just seen Malfoy expelled.

"Ron, I don't have the time OR the patience to deal with you," Hermione started, "now if you'll excuse me..."

"NO, you're going to admit that you were wrong. No, I take that back, I want an apology."

"Apology? You're asking ME for an apology?!"

"Yea." Ron stated simply.

"For what Ronald? For the fact that you were right about Krum? For the fact that he was only using me for sex? Or for the fact that he humiliated me last night, and the only person that even bothered to try and comfort me was Cedric? HMM?! OUT WITH IT RON!" By this point, Hermione's eyes were filled with tears.

"Pretty boy? First Krum, now him?!"

This reply threw her over the edge of reason. Before she realized what she was doing, she reached into her robes, yanked out her wand, and angrily fired every spell she could possibly think of at him, begging at least one of the spells to strike its mark...

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That night, Hermione found herself walking down the steep steps to the dungeons for her first of many detentions, her head swimming with thoughts.

"I can't believe I did that to Ron."

"He deserved it, saying that about Ced."

Shocked that she was actually having an argument with herself, she continued.

"Sure, he deserved it, but that didn't give me the right to do that."

"Yes it did. He was being thick. He needed to be smacked, especially after that comment he made about Ced. Your Ced."

"Wait a minute, MY Ced?"

"Yes, your Ced."

"He isn't mine."

Coming to the bottom of the steps, she turned and started walking down the dimly lit corridor to the Potion's classroom.

"But you WANT him to be yours."

"No I don't. I was upset, and he helped make me feel better."

"...By letting you sleep with him in his bed?..."

"NO! Well... yes..."

"Uh huh...you fancy him..."

"No I don't..."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't.

"YES YOU DO!"

"Do I?..."

Hermione always prized herself in the fact that most of the time, she kept a level head. Most girls constantly babbled on and on about how their hair looked, or how much mascara is TOO much mascara, or which guy they were going to try and lure next. Hermione, on the other hand, was always focused on her books, independence, and keen eye for the not so obvious things that would happen all around her. It was just who she was. Falling head over heels for a guy, having no control whatsoever of her feelings, was something she didn't fancy the least bit.

"Well, thankfully I'll probably not see him for a while anyway. He's in his sixth year after all, N.E.W.T classes galore, and I'm only in my fourth year."

Walking into the abandoned Potion's room, Hermione sat her bag down and pulled up one of the empty wooden chairs. Taking in the sight of the emptiness, she realized that the musty old classroom wasn't nearly as intimidating as she once thought, that is, until Snape walked in and shattered that illusion.

"Look, I don't want to be here Granger, so let's just make this simple. I don't feel like dealing with you, so for tonight, and tonight only, you are going to assist a prefect in doing their rounds. "Please don't let it be the prefect I think it will be..." You are to follow this prefect's orders down to the letter, and if you don't I will hear about it, and you will receive a worse punishment. Understand?"

"Yes sir." she muttered, looking at her feet to avoid his glare.

"Good, now get out of my sight."

Walking out into the dark corridor, she reached for her wand, and just as she was about to utter Lumos, she found that someone had beat her to it.

Standing two feet away was Cedric Diggory, wand lit and his face plastered with a smirk. The light from his wand softly bathed his handsome face in a warm light that stirred something inside Hermione, something that couldn't be explained.

"Uh huh... told you you fancied him..."

Butterflies slowly started flapping in her stomach, and as Hermione pocketed her wand, she tried despirately to avoid eye contact with the oh-so-handsome boy right in front of her. Feeling his gaze on her, she felt herself starting to blush, the rosy pink color creeping up her neck to her cheeks. Trying to banish those thoughts about the hot Hufflepuff in front of her, she nervously looked around, looking for something, ANYTHING, to take the attention off of her.

"Wow... I never thought I'd see this. Hermione Granger in detention." he said, amazed, "What a rebel."

"Go ahead... lay it on thick..." Hermione said, stumbling on her words.

"What did you do to land detention with Snape?"

"Umm...nothing..." she said.

Raising an eyebrow, Cedric gave her that all-too-familiar 'I don't believe a single word of that' look. The same one he had worn the night he found her...

the same one that snagged every girl at Hogwarts without fail...

and the same one that began kindling the sparks flickering inside her into that of a slow burn.

"It would take me forever to explain." Hermione said finally, shaking her head.

"Well, isn't that convenient, we have all night." Glancing at her watch, it read nine pm exactly.

"But...err..."

"Come on..." he said, grabbing her reluctant hand and leading her down the hall.

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A/N: sorry everyone i was tryin to hurry and finish this chapter before I have to start on homework this weekend. I just started 10th grade and theyre already loading us with essays and other homework (still isnt an excuse but w/e). hope this chapter sounds ok... tell me what you think! the next one will be longer, ill make sure of it.