"What happened?" Hermione heard Ron squeak but she was too tired to open her eyes. She felt a huge headache overwhelming her brain as she regained consciousness. Hermione could barely think, much less remember what had happened to put her in this state.

"She was with her grandmother in America and she fainted in a bookstore," replied who Hermione thought was Mr. Weasley.

Mrs. Weasley shushed them all, "Be quiet! The poor dear probably has a splitting headache. What time is it Arthur?"

"Around 4'o clock," he replied.

"Well, we best be waking her up and if she doesn't feel good you'll just have to owl Amos and cancel for tonight and tomorrow," stated Mrs. Weasley.

"How long has she been asleep, mum?" asked Ginny.

"About 17 hours," replied Mrs. Weasley.

"Cancel for tomorrow!" shouted Fred and George.

"Shhhh, how could you be so insensitive? She passed out." Harry said like the protective brother he was to her. Hermione would be smiling if she could remember how to move. She felt as if she was in a dream with no real control. Just listening skills.

"Calm down, Harry," Hermione heard Ginny scold him," they didn't mean it like that."

"Hermione, dear," She felt someone brush the hair from her forehead," wake up, love."

Hermione fluttered her eyes open slowly because the light hurt to look at.

She saw all the Weasleys and Harry staring down at her. She tried to get up but Harry gently pushed her back down.

"Hermione," he smirked," give yourself a minute." His scar stood out prominently. It was deep and red. Probably as deep and red as the day he got it he got it because of its magical properties.

"Harry, if she's feeling fine let her get up. We have to get ready," smiled Ginny," the Diggorys are coming for dinner."

"Why," Hermione asked, sitting up successfully this time, yet slowly and cautiously.

"They got us all tickets to the Quidditch World Cup," smiled Ginny barely able to contain her excitement. That explained the twins alarm at the thought of their trip getting canceled.

"Oh," Hermione replied," how very generous of them." It didn't surprise Hermione that the Diggorys had bought them all tickets. Hermione knew Cedric to be a very kind and selfless person. Hermione and Cedric had become some sort of friends, nothing close, last year. He helped her with her Divination work. Though this she had learned a bit about him. He was extremely intelligent, which comes to a shock to some people.

"Hermione deary if you are alright I need to go and cook and get the house clean for dinner tonight." Mrs. Weasley smiled at her.

"Of course." Hermione replied swinging her legs over the spare bed in Ginny's room that she'd been laying on. She then proceeded to try and stand up. Bad idea. She wasn't ready for that yet. "I'll be fine in a couple of minutes. You need to go prepare dinner."

Mrs. Weasley couldn't argue with that although she did still seem worried. But that was part of her charm and why Hermione loved her so much. She was a mother to all and like Hermione's second mother. Mrs. Weasley shooed everyone but her and Ginny out and immediately started delegating tasks for them to do to get the house ready.

"What're you doing," Hermione asked as she watched Ginny tear her closet apart and draw her wand.

"Getting you ready for Diggory," she smirked. She said his last name like it was a game you'd play at a teenage party. Hermione was quite taken aback. She didn't like where Ginny was going with this.

Ginny was picking out clothes and holding them up to Hermione at rapid speed. "This is absurd!" She declared in an attempt to take hold of the situation. When that didn't work she grabbed the current dress Ginny was holding up to her to get her attention. "I'm choosing what I'm wearing and I'm not dressing up for Ced." She declared throwing the dress onto Ginny's bed.

"Come on, not even just a little bit of make-up." Ginny asked holding up her bag of make-up.

"Oh no," Hermione said sternly waving her hands to show Ginny her displeasure, "Are you off your rocker? What is all this for?" she asked confused.

"It's for Diggory. I already told you. You two had such a thing going last year. The sexual tension I had to deal with whenever you would have your intellectual conversations was intense." Ginny smiled had faded a bit. She didn't want her friend upset. But she did want to make Hermione look good.

She held up a cream summer dress. "This one will make him go mad. Try it on."

"Ginny, I don't know what you think is going on. But, Cedric happens to be my friend and this is uncomfortable and inappropriate. Our friendship isn't like that." She almost added he wouldn't fancy me anyway. But, thought it best not to say that out loud. It would make Ginny think she liked Cedric as more than a friend.

The whole thing was utter and complete madness. The thought of Cedric taking any interest in Hermione was laughable. It was insane. She was a ratty-haired little bookworm. Not popular or pretty or anything. Plus, they were friends. And that was bizarre enough. But him ever taking a fancy to her in a romantic way was absurd.

"Fine. But you're wrong. He definitely fancies you and I can tell you fancy him. I know these things." Ginny gave up and left to go take a shower. Hermione sighed as she walked over to her suitcase to pick out clothes to get changed into. She picked out a nice floral print dress, not as showy as the one Ginny had told her would make Cedric go mad. Even though she wasn't wearing the one Ginny had picked out she felt was no reason not to look respectable. But it wasn't for Cedric. Definitely not, that would be absurd. Hermione looked at herself in the mirror. And a little make-up wouldn't hurt anyone, she thought.

After Ginny and Hermione had finished getting ready they had gone outside to help Mrs. Weasley's minions, all the Weasleys and Harry, "set up". They were "setting up the table" with Bill and Charlie, who were home for the occasion. And by "setting up the tables" she meant they were actually watching Bill and Charlie make the furniture fight. The table seemed to have the upper hand when Mrs. Wesley walked out with her guests. Her face was horror struck as she spotted her two eldest boys engaged in such shenanigans.

But Hermione was more focused on taking in the odd mix that was the Diggory family. Mrs. Diggory was a pale woman with striking features. Her aura didn't seem mean. But she wasn't as fun loving as her husband or son seemed to be. She seemed somewhat out of place. But then again so did Mr. Diggory. Mr. Diggory was a jolly man who seemed to think that his son was some type of god. Then, there was Cedric. Thankfully, he seemed so oblivious to her staring; he might think something of it. He had such perfect golden hair. His eyes were so captivating. They seemed to change different types of gray with his emotions. Right now, they were happy and peaceful, like a nice fluffy cloud. Hermione wasn't noticing these things in a romantic way in the slightest. She noticed them in an appreciative way. Like admiring art. Cedric was like an expensive art piece. So, unreal.

He smiled and walked over to the group of teenagers after politely shaking hands with the adults. He was always so cordial and he had impeccable manners. It was almost as annoying as it was admirable.

"Hullo, pretty boy," snarled Fred, obviously feeling the same way about his manners. Fred waited until Cedric was closer to us thought, he obviously didn't want his mum to hear and yell. Cedric politely nodded as usual.

"Hi, Ced," smiled Ginny with a slight blush. That girl was so boy crazy sometimes.

"Hullo, Ginny," he said shaking her hand.

"Hey, Granger," he smiled. She thought he was going to shake her hand but he hugged her instead. Not a tight hug. Just a loose one, a greeting among friends. Hermione was intensely shocked by this gesture. She didn't know he thought we were that good of friends. Of course Hermione accepted it. He was a good friend and it would be rude not to. He let go and dropped his hands picking up Hermione's and kissing it like a gentleman," I missed speaking with you." And that gesture mixed with those words, she most definitely did not expect.

"Everyone sit down for dinner." Mrs. Weasley clapped her hands together. Oblivious to the awkward moment that just occurred on the other side of her yard. With that everyone rushed to the table to grab Mrs. Weasley's food. Only the most mature slowly walked over to the table. But that didn't mean they were any less excited. Mrs. Weasley made the best food in the entire world. It took restraint not to pig out on it.

Hermione had chosen to sit across from Ginny. So they could talk and laugh as they always did. But that plan changed when Hermione was pleasantly surprised to see Cedric sit down next to her seconds later.

"Hope you don't mind." He whispered noticing Hermione's surprise.

"Of course not." Hermione replied politely.

"So how was your summer?" Cedric asked casually. He seemed to be going back to his old self which made Hermione feel both happy and sad at the same time.

"It was alright. I was with my grandmother most of it. I just got here. How about you?" She neglected to tell about the fainting in a bookstore or the mysterious book she found. She had thought about the book all morning and decided to write it off as a coincidence.

"It was mostly boring. But the World Cup tomorrow is going to be awesome." He said with more excitement then Hermione had ever thought she had gotten out of him. Not that she had known him that long.

"I'm not one for Quidditch." Hermione replied. Then she instantly felt badly for being a downer on his excitement.

"Well that is just way wrong. I'll convince you yet." With that the food was placed down on the table and everyone began to pig in. Hermione resisted the urge. And it looked like Cedric might just lose that battle.

"Ladies and gentlemen..." Fred started like a ring leader at a circus as everyone sat down in the Weasley's living room, squished together on couches. The room was not meant to hold the amount of people it currently was holding.

"Boys, girls, and magical beasts of all kinds..." George finished winking at Lupin.

"We present to you the most wonderful new invention by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes." Mrs. Weasley looked up in shock. They told Mrs. Weasley it was a puppet show but it was actually fireworks.

Hermione knew this because Fred had just set off their latest invention. IN HER LIVING ROOM! Bright colors and shapes exploded then proceeded to magically dance all across the living room. Mrs. Weasley really should've known better. Hermione would've been surprised if she hadn't seen that coming. Mrs. Weasley was freaking out. But the whole room had erupted in laughter, even from the most surprising people. One of them being Hermione and as she did she couldn't help but to glance over at Cedric. He was already looking at her and laughing. They met eyes, unnoticed, and they seemed to be laughing together. The fireworks ended by spelling out WWW. The three "W"s danced around the room before dying out.

"Fred and George Wesley!" Mrs. Weasley breathlessly shouted while shooing the boys out as everyone clapped. They were in so much trouble. But they didn't care, they were laughing themselves. They had made their point.

Once people realized the show was over everyone got up and moved. Some out of the room and some just to different spots in the room. Hermione was sitting next to Ron. But he had gotten up to go congratulate his brothers on their shows. Hermione smiled after him but was distracted to see Cedric had sat down next to her.

"You and Ron are quite the unlikely couple I feel like." Cedric joked to show he didn't mean any harm.

Hermione would've laughed if she wasn't so horrified by that statement. "Ronald and I are just close friends. Whatever gave you the impression we were seeing each other?" She said with more grace in the last half of the statement then in the beginning.

"I don't know. It just seemed that way." Cedric replied nonchalantly.

"How's Cho," Hermione asked trying to gulp out the question without showing the emotions she truly felt for that girl. Honestly, she couldn't stand the girl. She has some nerve treating Harry the way that she does. She's always acting like she likes him and leading him on. It's not right. Especially since she's with Cedric.

"What about her," he asked the smile completely wiped from his face.

"Well you're ummm…seeing her," Hermione asked confused, "aren't you?"

"You mean like dating," he asked more seriously. "Cause we aren't. Not anymore..." Cedric was way more serious now. He seemed to be shaking off some sort of bad memory.

"Oh..." Hermione didn't quite know what to say to that. Cedric seemed to be reliving something awful and he didn't seem to notice her anymore.

"It's alright." he said. "I'm sorry." Cedric smiled trying to lighten the mood. "I've been really weird today."

"It's alright. Our friendship just seems to have progressed so quickly." Hermione said bluntly. Then she cautiously continued on. "But I feel like it's because we get each other. I really like being friends with you."

With that the air seemed to be clear. Their friendship had gained a bunch of notches over the summer and they both knew why more or less. Hermione had just been the one to announce it. She wasn't one for beating around the bush in most cases. But she felt he understood that and respected it.

"Exactly. This is weird but nice at the same time. I like being your friend also." He said. The words seemed to be coming out of their mouths uncontrollably. Like everything unspoken was suddenly been put out there.

Suddenly they were both just staring at each other. Hermione felt hypnotized and she was really confused. She felt almost drunk. Cedric seemed to be getting closer to her but she doubted that was true. That is until his mouth was suddenly inches from hers. But it wasn't like a kiss. It just stopped. They were just staring at each other. It was both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. They were studying each other. Both unsure of what was happening. Both in a daze.

"Eh hem." They both looked up, noticing for the first time they were the only ones left in the room. Hermione blushed because of what that must have looked like to Mrs. Diggory as she stood strong in the doorway to the living room. "We're leaving now Cedric. You and your father have an early start tomorrow." Mrs. Diggory stated matter-of-a-factly. She was eying Hermione with intensity. Hermione didn't think Mrs. Diggory was sure what was going on. She didn't seem angry, just very very skeptical. Like she knew exactly what had just happened. Or she assumed. But Hermione was sure Mrs. Diggory's assumption didn't have anything to do with what really happened. Not that Hermione herself knew what just happened.

Writer's Notes:

Guess I'm starting from scratch. I think all my old followers are long gone. PM if your still here! Anywho I have some new readers. I hope you all like it. (All 5, if I'm even that lucky, of you). I didn't get any questions so I assume I did a good job of clarifying. But again if anyone has any question, just PM me.