A/n: Yahoo! A new chapter is up! This one might be a little boring, but... ya. It's long! So there's that. In response to a few reviews: Plot twists aren't in this chapter, but they're coming. ;)

Chapter 10

Hermione sat in the library, about five minutes to seven, patiently waiting for Cedric to show up for their study session. She sat with her legs crossed neatly under the table and her hands folded across the papers and books spread out in front of her. She kept trying to scan the books she had brought with her, but every time there was movement near the library door, she found herself looking up.

She didn't have to wait long, and he arrived, nearly right on time, just at four after seven.

"I'm not late, am I?" Cedric asked, smiling widely as he plopped down into the chair across the table from Hermione. He dumped his bag onto the chair on his left.

Hermione's heart beat faster and she didn't know why. Maybe it was the way he smiling... "Nope! I was a little early." she tried to smile as nicely back.

"Ah, I see."

They were quiet for a short moment before Hermione said, "Do you have Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, by Newt Scamander with you?"

Cedric nodded. "Sure do." he produced it from his bag and tossed it lightly onto the table.

"So what - or where - er, okay." Hermione's cheeks tinted a little more pink. "Let's try that again." She was oddly distracted by that smile... she almost wanted to ask him not to, but she rather liked it... "What are you having trouble with exactly?" She finally managed to ask, her hands still resting on top of her own copy of the book.

Finally Cedric seemed to tone down on his amazing smile. "Mostly just putting a name to descriptions. I can tell what it is by seeing it, but for some reason it's not translating into words." He shrugged. "I have no clue why. Maybe I'm a visual person." He raked his fingers through his thick curly hair.

Hermione forced herself to look away from him. "Right. Well that's easy enough to fix." She flipped open her book and turned to the page with the heading, An A-Z of Fantastic Beasts. "Shall we start at the beginning, then?" she chanced a glance at Cedric.

Cedric had dropped his own eyes to his own book. "Sure..." he reluctantly turned to the same page she was on.

"We'll do the A's and B's today, okay? I'll write down the ones we go over today, and then next time you'll get a small quiz." Cedric let out a mock choked gasping noise. Hermione half-smiled but otherwise ignore him. "That way you'll be forced to study them."

"A quiz? Are you training to be a Professor or something?"

Hermione giggled. "It'll help you remember! Honest!"

Cedric sighed fakely and over dramatically. "Right then. I guess I gotta pay attention. No more staring at you." He flashed her that smile.

The color of Hermione's cheeks moved up several more notches of tints and she quickly cleared her throat and focused her eyes and thoughts on the text before her. "Acromantula..."

From there they went through all the A's and headed into the B's: Acromantula, Ashwinder, Augurey, and Basillisk. When they began the Basillisk, Hermione smiled reminiscently and began talking without thinking.

"Remember, when I was in second year, how the Chamber of Secrets was opened? That was scary times... I was petrified by the Basillisk. I'd just figured out that seeing its reflection petrifies you - because we knew looking directly at it killed you - " She was talking fast, and hardly looking at Cedric, lost in her memories. She barely even heard him speaking to her.

"What? Chamber of Secrets? A Basillisk in the school? Never! What - " He tried to stem her flow of words with his questions, but Hermione stupidly and forgetfully talked over him.

"Yes, I remember it was Mrs. Norris first, then Colin Creevey - annoying little first year, he was - and Nearly Headless Nick - "

"Nearly - what? Who!"

" - and then Justin Flinch-Fletchley. Of course everyone thought poor Harry did it because he was a Parseltongue. And after that awful business with Ginny and Riddle in the Chamber - well, Ron and Harry told me all about it after of course - "

Finally Cedric put his hands up almost in her face. "What - are - you - talking - about?" he spoke slowly and with great emphasis on every word.

Hermione's cheeks, though a shade of darker pink earlier now flushed to a brilliant red that rivaled Ron's ears when he was uncomfortable. She had completely forgotten who she was talking to and hadn't heard a word Cedric had said until that moment. She felt like a fool and had no idea how to explain herself.

Cedric stared at her expectantly and lowered his hands, having finally gotten her attention. She said nothing for a moment, trying desperately to think of something to say to him - something, anything to explain her behavior.

"Well?" he said, slightly irritated at her for talking do fast so that he only caught parts of it, and very confused at to what she was indeed talking about. He crossed his arms from his chest.

Hermione swallowed and then cleared her throat. Ignore it? "Well... ahem... yes. Well... there's an explanation for this... I..." Not meeting his eyes, and still panicked and searching for something to say to him, her eyes fell on the book and papers before her. Her mind was as blank as spare parchment.

Cedric sighed, and uncrossed his arms. "Look, if you don't want to talk about it - "

"I don't." she said, much quicker and harsher then she'd intended. He looked slightly startled. "I mean - I'm sorry. I-I... someday. Someday I'll tell you."

In no mood to further pry, Cedric sighed lightly again and pulled his book toward him. "I'll hold you to that." he mumbled.

Hermione let her breath out slightly, praying her cheeks would return to their normal color faster than they were, and also pulled her own book towards herself more. "Billywig... yes, interesting creature..."

After that, the pair moved through the rest of the B's: Billywig, Bowtruckle, and Bundimun. As they discussed the Bowtruckle, Hermione vividly remembered just last year, their fifth, when Professor Grubbly-Plank had had them study and sketch the Bowtruckle. She smiled small, but forced her mouth to stay sealed shut against anymore memories that might spill over.

Thursday morning came, and with it came very similar weather to that of Wednesday: cold, wet and very windy. Hermione was heading down to the Great Hall with Ally and Pansy at her side, and was relating the events of the previous night's study session.

"But I just rambled on like a mindless idiot about things that happened in my other life." She lightly smacked her forehead. "Of course he knew nothing about what I was talking about. And all I could do was promise him that 'someday' I would tell him what I was talking about."

Pansy muffled a giggle and said, "I'm sure it wasn't that bad!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and the three girls entered the Great Hall. "Oh yes it was. Before that I couldn't take my eyes off his ruddy smile and then after that my face was as red as tomato. I think he probably expected me to run my mouth off again at any second."

Both Ally and Pansy giggled this time. "Other than that, it sounds nice." Ally said.

"Yes, real nice." Hermione rolled her eyes again, but chuckled a little in spite of herself.

The three girls settled at the table together and began dishing themselves up. After a few minutes of comfortable silence as the girls ate their fill, it became apparent Pansy wanted to talk about something again. She kept shooting Hermione looks as if waiting for the right moment, but didn't actually say anything until Hermione drained the last of her orange juice.

Pansy cocked her head to one side as Ally dished herself a touch more eggs and said, "Hermione, can you tell us about - you know - your 'other life'?" She grabbed the last two pieces of bacon and jammed them into her mouth as she waited for Hermione's reply.

Hermione was a bit startled by the request and actually wasn't entirely sure how to answer. It was easily one of the strangest question she'd ever been asked, but at the same time, she was surprised the others had not asked sooner. "Well, what exactly do you want to know about?"

Pansy sort of shrugged and sipped her apple juice. "I don't know..."

"What was Cedric like?" Ally piped up.

"He was - " Hermione stopped. 'He was dead.' she thought grimly.

"Hermione...?" Ally leaned forward and looked at Hermione with concern. "Are you alright? You suddenly look a little pale..."

Hermione didn't answer for a moment. Her eyes dropped to her dirty plate. The scene of the Last Task in the Triwizard Tournament had just popped into her mind like a movie on pause waiting to be played. She'd cheered as Harry and Cedric had grabbed the trophy together and disappeared... then when Harry had returned, looking beaten and bloody, he'd been clutching an unnaturally limp Cedric...

"Hermione?" Pansy looked a little wide-eyed as Hermione raised her eyes to survey her friends. "You don't have to tell us..."

"No, it's okay." Hermione managed to say. She swallowed. They'd ask. She'd tell. "He was dead." she whispered it so quietly that the girls had to lean in close. Pansy sitting closest to Hermione on her left, then Ally beside Pansy, leaning across her to hear properly. Hermione had whispered it so quietly, in fact, she was hardly sure herself whether she had said it or thought it.

"Pardon?" Ally said. Neither girl had heard what Hermione had said.

A couple of tears suddenly threatened to break lose as they lightly stung her eyes, but she blinked them back. Why was she upset? She hadn't even known him at the time! "He was..." she started and the other two girls leaned closer still. "...dead."

Both girls recoiled and gasped loudly, Pansy clapping both hands over her mouth, wearing a truly horrified expression. Ally looked at the remaining food on her plate and pushed it away. Hermione clenched her jaw.

"Oh... I'm so sorry! I didn't - I wouldn't have asked - I shouldn't have - I..." Pansy apologized in a stumble of rapid words.

"Hermione..." Ally stared at her sympathetically. "You don't have to say anymore if you don't want to."

For an instant, Hermione considered not saying anything. But then she felt like she might feel better if someone else knew other things that she knew, even if it was just by her telling them. She started to sigh, but didn't. "I don't mind."

Pansy glanced at Ally and still looked a little horror stricken at the prospect of Cedric being dead in Hermione's other life. "Is it... if it's okay... if I ask... you know..." Ally seemed to search her words in order to word her question in the best way possible, but was not finding the best way. "...um... just... how? How did he... you know..."

Hermione nodded slightly, understanding what she was trying to ask. "How did he die?"

Ally nodded fully.

Pansy cut in before Hermione answered. "You don't have to - if it's too painful or weird or anything - you don't have to say anything at all." Ally quickly agreed.

"No, it's all right." She took a deep breath. "Ally, do you remember that evil wizard I told you about before?"

"Uh, I think so. What was his name again? Volly... Voladee... Voledean..."

Hermione quickly stopped her. "Yes, that's the one. V-voldemort." It was oddly unnerving to hear Ally butcher the name, and especially odd for neither Pansy nor Ally to flinch when Hermione actually said the name.

Pansy shivered slightly and rubbed her arm. "Pretty creepy name."

"Yes, well," Hermione nodded. "This wizard was way beyond creepy. He was the most evil wizard alive, and he had many followers, called Death Eaters. They killed many, many people: good wizards, wizards who opposed him or his followers, wizards who weren't pure blood. And sometimes if they weren't killed, they were tortured into madness using one of the Unforgivable Curses. Poor Neville Longbottom's parents were tortured into madness by a woman named Bellatrix Lestrange. Neville has to live with his grandma because his parents live at St. Mungo's."

Pansy opened her mouth to protest about Neville's parents. "No, they're not, they're - "

"My world, remember?" Hermione said simply, holding her hand up.

"Oh right." Pansy said then added, "And its St. Mango's."

"Keep going." Ally prompted, as both her and Hermione waved Pansy's last comment off.

"Well," Hermione continued. "After Harry's parents, James and Lily Potter had stood up to Voldemort and his followers, he became a little determined to do away with them. Part of it too, I think, was that they were so loyal to Dumbledore. Anyways, I won't give you all the details because then we could be here all day. Let's just say that one night Voldemort found them and raided their home. He murdered James first and Lily died saving baby Harry."

Hermione took a small breath before moving on. "When Voldemort tried to kill little Harry, something happened and no one, not even Voldemort, knows what. Somehow Voldemort's curse backfired onto him and Harry lived."

Pansy gave a small gasp. "So the bad wizard died then?"

Hermione sighed. "Well, many believed so. But in actuality, the curse reduced him to a state of near-death, and he spent the next fourteen years trying to return to power. Harry managed to foil him in both his first and second year at Hogwarts - which were also both times that Voldemort tried to kill Harry.

"Then, in Harry's fourth year, the Triwizard Tournament came around, and again I'll spare you the details, and just say that Harry and Cedric were in it. The final task that the tournament champions had to perform was a giant maze filled with puzzles and obstacles. Harry and Cedric made it to the trophy, and they grabbed it together. Then they disappeared off the field."

"Was that supposed to happen?" Ally couldn't help asking.

Hermione shook her head grimly. "An imposter in the castle - disguised as a Professor - had changed the trophy into a Portkey. Harry and Cedric were taken away to some graveyard, where Cedric was murdered and Harry watched Voldemort return to power. No one except Harry, Cedric and any Death Eaters present that night, know exactly what happened and how it happened."

Hermione took another breath. This was the hard part. "When Harry finally returned to the field, he was holding tightly onto the wrist of a dead Cedric."

Both Ally and Pansy gasped. Pansy actually had the beginnings of tears shining in her eyes at Hermione's tale. "What happened next?" she said in a voice so quiet it was hard to hear.

"Well, after that, he got a lot of his power back. Because Voldemort's curse had backfired on him all those years ago, he'd left Harry with a scar on his forehead. This scar was essentially a connection between Voldemort and Harry. Harry could often feel when Voldemort was near, then later when he was having strong emotions, and lastly Voldemort's mood in general. In his fifth year, he even got visions of what Voldemort was doing. He watched Ron's dad get attacked by a massive snake and we were able to save him. After that, Dumbledore insisted Harry learn to close off his mind to any more visions, worried Voldemort knew Harry could see these visions, and that he would take advantage of this connection."

Hermione sighed heavily and her own eyes filled with tears. "Well, he finally did, making Harry believe the person closest to his heart, his godfather Sirius, was being tortured in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. We all faced Voldemort and his followers there in the Department, and Sirius was not being tortured.

"Remember Bellatrix?" The other two girls nodded. "She k-killed Sirius in the Department of Mysteries." Hermione stopped as the tears spilled over her eyes. She personally hadn't been that close to Sirius, by no means as close as Harry, but the fact that he was dead and he was someone close to someone she was close to... it hurt to know how bad her world was becoming.

Pansy and Ally looked shocked and empathetic, and now Ally had tears in her eyes. Neither said anything for a moment.

"I - we returned for our sixth year with no idea what would happen this year. The strange thing was that... that everything was completely... normal." She paused and sniffed. "And then I had to go and make that stupid wish."

All three girls were quiet, no longer touching their food. All around them people laughed and talked and ate. Shortly, students began to exit the Great Hall and get ready for the day's classes. Hermione stood silently, and Ally and Pansy followed suite. They gathered up their books and plodded out of the Great Hall.

Just before they were about to ascend the beautiful marble staircase from the Entrance Hall, Ally stopped them and gave Hermione a large hug. Pansy smiled a little tearfully still, and hugged Hermione at the same time. Surprised by the gesture, by nonetheless deeply appreciative, Hermione wrapped one around Ally and the other around Pansy, creating a group hug.

"It's real nice to have friends like you." she said quietly.

A/n: Well? How was it? Great? Stunk? Let me know, I'd love to hear from you no matter what.

I think the whole Hermione telling Pansy and Ally everything was boring to us because we know all that stuff, but I felt like I had to put it into the story because Ally and Pansy need to really know where she's coming from. Anyways, some things to look forward to in coming chapters (teasers, mwah ha): Getting to work on that potion, a bad confrontation, a birthday, and more...