A/n: Hey all! I'm in a hurry, so this will be pretty short. I hope it's all good. :) This chapter touches on "one of the climaxes", as I like to call them, of this story. I hope you all enjoy, and as always, review me and give me some feedback. It's nice and helpful. :D

Chapter 16

The next three days passed rather similarly. She did her homework, attended Quidditch practice, and spent a minimal amount of time with Cedric. She sat with Ally during Wednesday's Charms class and paired off with Pansy for the duration of Friday's Care of Magical Creatures class. She acted neutral to Cedric, which was definitely noticeably different from her previous warmth.

Nights became quite sleepless due to guilt and dread, amplified by the nightmares that seemed to get worse each night. In those three days, it was suddenly a regular occurrence to wake up twice in a terrified sweat with images of a murdered Cedric swimming before her eyes.

Saturday was the Hogsmeade weekend and Hermione made herself solidly promise, that no matter what, she would explain everything. And no matter how badly he reacted, she would tell Cedric the truth.

It didn't exactly quell her unease, but she felt somehow comforted nonetheless.

Saturday turned out to have rather gloomy weather, which of course did nothing to lighten Hermione's mood. She had butterflies in her stomach that felt as though they were multiplying with every passing minute. She still was worried about Cedric's reaction to her telling the truth and even more concerned about how she was going to word it.

"Have you told him yet?" Ally asked, her hands in her coat pockets as she and Hermione walked ahead of Draco and Pansy on the way to Hogsmeade.

Hermione shook her sullenly.

Ally groaned. "Hermion-neeee!"

"I know, I know!" Hermione said. "But I'm going to tell him today. For sure – I've decided." For some reason, saying it out loud made the butterflies become bats.

Ally sighed. "It'll be all right, Hermione. I'm sure it will."

Hermione nodded mutely. She and Ally were quiet the rest of the time it took to reach the Three Broomsticks, listening Draco and Pansy's animated laughter-filled conversation behind them.

At the Three Broomsticks, Hermione and her friends settled at a table that was in full view of the door. They each got a Butterbeer and Hermione finally gave up trying to rehearse what she was going to say to Cedric.

Draco was telling a funny story which made Pansy and Ally burst out laughing, but Hermione wasn't really listening.

"Remember that one time when we let loose fireworks in McGonagall's office?" Draco said breathlessly after another bout of laughter.

The others laughed heartily at the memory, wiping the tears from their eyes.

Hermione smiled a little, and instead was remembering the time Fred and George Weasley had set off fireworks all over Hogwarts to make Umbridge crazy just before their showy exit from the school. She smiled a little wider, thinking of Harry and Ron. Then she thought of Cedric of how still needed to talk to him about what had really happened to her, and the smile disappeared.

The others carried on raucously and Hermione paid them no attention. She slowly sipped her Butterbeer in between clutching her bottle and staring into space. She tried to keep her mind blank by alternating concentrating on the label on her bottle and at the picture of a lake across the room.

Some time later, when her bottle was empty and her friends were moving on to more serious topics, the door to the Three Broomsticks opened and in walked Cedric. Alone.

He stared right at her and didn't look very happy. Her heart jumped in her throat and she looked quickly down at her hands which were suddenly holding her Butterbeer bottle very tightly. Her knuckles slowly turned white and her hearts started pounding. She didn't remember to inhale or blink. The bats in her stomach were more like full-fledged Albatross.

She heard her friends greet him and ask him to join the table. He politely said hello, and that he would have to later. Then she felt his eyes on her.

"Hermione," he said, his tone extremely neutral. "I'd like to talk to you. Alone, if that's all right."

Ally stared with her eyebrows raised at Hermione, then Cedric. Pansy and Draco exchanged glances before Draco cleared his throat quietly.

Hermione reluctantly looked up, but didn't quite meet Cedric's eyes. "Sure." She said tightly and stood up robotically. She fumbled with her bottle inadvertently knocking it over. Ally caught it and offered a small smile.

Cedric was already heading out the door. Hermione followed, not looking at anywhere but where her feet were going. The next thing she knew, she was walking outside in the chilly, bleak weather a step behind Cedric. He seemed to have a specific destination in mind, so Hermione merely continued to follow.

Neither of them said a word until Cedric stopped at the fence near the Shrieking Shack. That's when she snapped out of her numbness and noticed the confusion and hurt on his face. She didn't know how to start a conversation with him at that moment, especially considering he was the one who wanted to talk to her.

She waited another moment before he finally spoke.

"It's not Quidditch, is it." He said, and it was a statement more than a question.

"What?"

"Why you've been acting all standoffish this past week. It has nothing to do with Quidditch, does it?" he turned his eyes to her and instead of the usual sparkling soft silver, they looked sharp grey.

Hermione stared back at him for a moment before shaking her head.

"I didn't think so." He said edgily. "What is it then?"

Hermione exhaled. This was it. That was the opening for her to explain. This was literally the moment of truth. She could not and would not back down with a lame excuse like before. She steeled herself to explain and even had her mouth open when Cedric asked,

"Is it me? Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong? Did I do something to upset you?"

"No, of course not!" she swiftly protested, irritated he had even asked. Then again, he had no reason not to assume the problem was him.

"Is it another guy? Because you were dating Draco all that time and I knew I should have never showed my interest – and then you were somehow different and - " he sounded as angry with himself as he seemed to be at her. "It's because I almost kissed you at the birthday party, isn't it?"

"No!" she said loudly, nearly cutting him off. Again, she was very irritated he had even thought those things. And again, she silently admitted she'd given him no reason to think otherwise.

"Then what is it, then?" he prompted, crossing his arms over his chest.

Hermione took another deep breath and plunged head-first into her explanation without thinking and without giving him any time to jump in with anymore questions.

"At the start of the term, I made a wish on a wishing coin I'd found. I wished for everything to be different. The next morning I woke up to find everyone I knew to be in Slytherin, in the Gryffindor Common Room, and according to them, everything was normal and fine. I found that everyone I knew as Hufflepuff were now Ravenclaw and Ravenclaw were Hufflepuff. My best friends were in Slytherin and knew me as nothing better than pond scum."

She took another breath. Even though it'd happened a few weeks ago, the memory of the way Ron and Harry had treated her that day still stung. She couldn't read any emotion on Cedric's face as she continued speaking.

"This past month I've been working to reverse the wish to get back to what I know, all the while becoming more and more… attached to this world." She gulped. This was going to be the hardest part. "You see, the thing is, in my world, the one I belong to, you're… you're gone. You don't exist. I can't fall in l – I c-can't be close to you, only to go back to where I can never be with you." She quickly blinked back the tears threatening to overflow down her cheeks.

"That's why I've been avoiding you." She finished quietly.

Cedric blinked and looked away, out to the Shrieking Shack in the distance. Hermione's gaze also landed on the crumbling old building, and she fleetingly thought of the night she, Harry and Ron had discovered Scabbers was actually Peter Pettigrew and that Sirius Black was actually Harry's godfather. In the next instant, she briefly wondered if the Shack was still named the Shrieking Shack in this alternate world.

Almost a full minute had gone by and Cedric was still staring at the Shack. Hermione nervously shifted from foot to foot, desperately wanting to know what was going through his mind.

"Ced?" She twisted her hands nervously and swallowed. "Say something."

At that moment, he turned to her and she was deeply shocked by how angry he looked. His eyes were blazing and his mouth was set in a grim line. He looked furious, and yet the look of extreme hurt seemed to overshadow the anger by a mile.

"If you didn't want to be around me anymore, you could have just said so." He said in a low, dangerous voice.

Hermione gaped in stunned silence as he pushed past her.

"If you wanted me to back off, you could have just asked me to!" he yelled over his shoulder.

"Cedric!" Hermione called.

He stopped to face her again. "You didn't need to spend so much time coming up with this bloody elaborate story to get me to leave you alone!" he shouted. "I'm a normal guy! 'Hey Ced, let's be friends' would have sufficed for me!"

Hermione could feel her own hurt and anger flaring at his reaction. Though she'd fretted and feared he might very well react in such a way, she'd believed deep down that he would end up being calm and understanding. He was going to smile and give her a hug and say he understood and believed her, even though it sounded crazy and unfathomable…

"I did think you were different, Hermione. Especially the past month." He shook his head. "Obviously I was wrong."

"You want to know what I was doing all this week while I was coming off cold?" Hermione was nearly shouting as well now. "I spent the whole week trying to gather the courage to tell you the ruddy truth, and here you are, flipping out, exactly like I knew you would."

"What do you mean, you 'knew I would'?" Cedric demanded.

"I had really hoped you wouldn't be angry – "

"With a sodding tall tale like that?" Cedric snorted in disgust. "How could I not be?"

"It's the truth!" Hermione insisted.

"Yes, I'm sure." He said sarcastically. "So I 'don't exist'? What is that supposed to mean? Does it mean I – "

"It means you're dead!" Hermione burst out, furious tears blurring her vision. "You were murdered. So when I go back, all you'll be is a tombstone and a coffin."

Cedric stared at her. And for a split instant, she thought it was going to end right there. It was going to end up being all right after all. He could see how sincere she was being and how she was wiping the tears from her eyes. He would apologize and then so would she. Then she would go into detail about everything and it would all work out after all…

But it was only an instant.

For then his face contorted and he said disgustedly, "Where do you come up with this stuff?"

Hermione made a pained and exasperated noise before rubbing the rest of the tears from her eyes forcefully with her palms. "I did not make it up! I've been having terrible nightmares all week because of – "

"Yes, I'm sure you have, I don't even want hear about them." Cedric waved his hand dismissively and began huffily stalking away.

"So that's it then?" she hollered after him.

"Yup!" he barked over his shoulder.

"Well, when I do go back, I know there's one thing I'm definitely not going to miss after all!" She added an obnoxious "Hah!" to hit her jab home.

"Fine!" he bellowed.

"Fine!" she yelled.

Hermione stomped her foot hard on the ground and tramped several feet away from the fence. She frustratedly collapsed on a moss-covered log and made several "hmph" sounds, while trying to reassure herself that she had done the right thing. She didn't need Cedric anyways, because she had Ron back where she belonged. She, in fact, couldn't wait to get back and to think she had ever thought she had feelings for him. What a jerk. She would definitely, truly, not miss him when she returned to her time and place.

Of course, it didn't take long for those thoughts to run out, and admit to herself how completely untrue they all were. Then the tears finally came, splashing down across her cheeks and falling to her lap or her hands. She cried quite deeply and steadily for many minutes, knowing her heart was breaking, possibly beyond repair.

What she didn't know was that someone else's was too.

A/n: A bit shorter then usual, I know. But I had to end it there. Anyways, review me if it pleases you to! :D