***

Canon Characters and Situations aren't mine.

Cedric got home and levitated his trunk to the kitchen. He emptied his dirty clothes out onto the floor and went up to his room to put his books onto bookshelves and let his owl, Max, out of his cage. Cedric sighed and threw himself onto his bed. Then grimaced as he remembered that he had thrown his blankets over a pile of books that he didn't have time to tidy up before leaving for school. He stood and chucked the books into his trunk for now and lay back on his bed, staring out of the skylight in his ceiling. He watched the clowds go by in the mellow, evening sky. It was July so the sky was still light despite the fact that it was almost seven thirty. Cedric thought back to the tournament, he still couldn't believe Potter had let the vines get him. He would have helped Potter if it was the other way around. He was glad though, if Potter hadn't left him then he wouldn't have met Hermione afterwards. If Potter hadn't left him he probably would have been killed by Voldermort.

A fluttering caught Cedric's attention and a small owl landed on the window above his head. He flicked his wand at it and it flew open, the owl flew in and landed on the bedpost. Cedric felt his heart beat a little faster as he thought of Hermione writing to him already. He plucked the letter from the owls leg and unrolled it quickly. Cedric sighed, it was a letter from his friend asking if he was home already. Cedric wrote his reply and gave the owl a treat before it flew off. He left the window open to wait for the owl again. However, a couple of minutes later he heard a loud crack from outside. Cedric jumped up on his bed and stuck his head out of the skylight window.

"Alright, Ced?"

"Alright Mal, what you doing here?"

"Been hearing some rumours, Ced..."

"Have you now?"

"Can I come in?"

"Course, come on up..."

Cedric lay back down on his bed and frowned. People had obviously seen him and Hermione, either on the train or in the entrance hall. The door to his bedroom opened and Malcolm Preece walked in.

"Come on Ced, spill it."

Cedric chuckled and turned onto his side to face his friend, who had sat on a seat opposite him.

"What have you heard?"

"They're saying you and Cho have finished. I knew that anyway. But, they're saying you finished with her for Granger, that 4th year Gryffindor..."

Cedric said nothing.

"People said they saw her kiss you in the entrance hall... and again on the train...So?"

"So...?"

"So is it true, Ced?!" Malcolm asked, clearly getting annoyed with his friends non-compliance in telling him.

"Yeah, it's true. We've been talking for a while... In the library and stuff. Well, she helped me after the third task and things just got a bit carried away. She broke up with Krum for me and then I eventually broke up with Cho for Hermione. Sort of. There was also the fact that she fancied Potter. She can get with him now if she likes."

Malcolm gaped at Cedric, clearly thinking he was crazy.

"Ced, you dumped Cho for a fourteen year old girl?"

"She's fifteen, she's one of the oldest in her year. She's sixteen in September so I'm not that much older than her."

"You know a lot about her..."

"Yeah, like I said. We spent a lot of time in the library talking. Well, whispering anyway."

Malcolm shook his head, as though he completely disapproved with what Cedric had done. Cedric shifted on his bed and lay on his back again, he stared up at the darkening sky as Malcolm tried to think of something to say.

"Just... don't let her interfere with Quidditch practise."

Cedric laughed and turned back to Malcolm, he threw a cushion at his head.

"Is Quidditch all you think about?"

"And girls!" Malcolm defended.

Malcolm threw the cushion back at Cedric, who took a hit squarely in the face.

**********************************************************************************************************

Hermione walked into her house and let Crookshanks out of his travel basket before collapsing onto the couch in her living room. Her parents laughed as they carried her trunk in from the car for her. They put the trunk down and Mr. Granger went into the kitchen to make some tea. Mrs Granger walked to the couch that Hermione was slumped on and motioned for her to sit up. Hermione did so and her mother sat next to her, draping one arm around he shoulders and pulling her close.

"So, who's the boy?"

Hermione stared at her mother wide eyed. She moved away slightly and leaned back onto the arm of the chair.

"Wh..what?"

"Come on now, you don't think your own mum knows that wasn't a just friends look you gave that boy before he and his father disappeared down that alleyway. Well, I assume it was his father. How terrible of me, he could be his guardian or his uncle..."

"Mum, you're rambling. Just because I looked at him in a certain way doesn't mean anything. I could give anyone that look and it doesn't mean I like them. And yes, that was Cedric's father."

"Ooh, Cedric is it?"

Hermione groaned and covered her eyes. She felt heat rising in her neck from talking to her mother about this. Thankfully her father chose that moment to come bustling in the room with a tray laden with three mugs of tea and a plate of biscuits.

"I don't suppose you get tea in Hogwarts? It's not a very magical drink really is it?"

"We do get tea dad" Hermione said, but seeing his face fall slightly she added, "but it's not nearly as nice as this tea. Tea at Hogwarts tastes like bark."

The Granger family spent the next few hours catching up. Hermione told them all about the Tri-Wizard tournament and the tasks that Harry had to do. When she got to the bit about Voldermort returning Mrs. Granger had her hand over her mouth and Mr. Granger looked aghast. Mr Granger cleared his throat.

"So... He's back properly now. I don't pretend to understand everything, but he's back. He has a body and isn't just the back of some idiots head?"

"Dad, calm down. Please. At least we know he's back. We can fight him this way. He has a body now so we have to be able to kill him!"

Neither of the Granger adults looked pacified by this but put a brave face on for their wonderful daughter. Hermione finished her tea and stood, she kissed her parents on the cheek and carted her trunk up to her room. She took her books out of her trunk and placed them carefully on her bookshelves, the door behind her creaked open quietly and she felt a large furry object brush up against her legs. Hermione bent down and picked her ginger familiar up before walking to her bed and sitting on it, letting Crookshanks climb from her lap to lie on her pillows. She gently scratched behind his ears before going back to empty her trunk of quills, parchment and clothes. She put her clean clothes away in her wardrobe and put her dirty clothes in a basket which she would take downstairs to the wasing machine later.

Hermione opened her bedroom window and leant out, looking around her house at the sights she hadn't seen for months. She looked down and saw the illuminated sign of her parents Dental Practise. As they lived above the practise Hermione's bedroom was in the converted loft and her parents room was next to the living room and kitchen. Both she and her parents had en suite bathrooms with a toilet, basin and shower to try and save space by not having a large communal bathroom. It suited them perfectly as Hermione generally took quite a while in the bathroom trying to tame her hair. After giving up on magical solutions as too much effort, having to perform charms as well as put thick, foul smellings pastes on her hair for mediocre results. Instead, Hermione had found a muggle shampoo which worked a treat. Most of the time.

Hermione smiled slightly as she saw the familiar sight of an owl flying towards her house. She assumed it wasn't Cedric as he had told her he would write the next day. Hedwig perched on her windowsill and held out her leg. Hermione took the rolled up parchment from her leg and opened it. She groaned as she read what it said:

Hermione,

Guess we know the real reason why you weren't there when Harry got back.
Some friend you are.
What did I say about fraternizing with the enemy?
Now you're snogging Diggory as well as Krum?

Don't expect an invitation to the burrow this summer.

Ron.

Tears threatened to spill from Hermione's eyes but she held them back. She set her jaw and sniffed slightly before picking up her quill and unstopping her ink. She wrote on the back of Ron's parchment not bothering to get a clean piece.

Ron,

I assume you saw Cedric and I, or that someone told you about us.
I don't understand why you are so angry.
How was I supposed to know that Voldermort would come back?
I dropped divination remember?
You already knew the real reason I wasn't there. I was helping Cedric after
he was almost flayed by those hedges.
I would have done it for anyone.

Hermione.

Hermione tied the note to Hedgwig's leg and she flew off before Hermione had a chance to give her an owl treat. Hermione shrugged and carried her basket of dirty clothes downstairs and loaded the washing machine. Rifling through the fridge and kitchen cupboards she looked for something to snack on. Finding a bar of chocolate and a bag of dried fruit she went back upstairs to relax and watch television or read a book.

Lying on her bed, feeling a piece of chocolate melt on her tongue she thought about the train ride with Cedric. She smiled as she thought of the playful banter that they had shared and how at ease she felt in his company. She didn't feel like the bookworm everyone made her out to be, he made her feel like a normal, care free 15 year old girl. Well, sixteen if you counted the time added on from the use of the time turner. She still hadn't told her parents about that. Hermione felt tired. It was strange how a day of doing nothing could exhaust you so.

Hermione fell asleep in the fading light, with thoughts of the day on her mind.

***