Original Author's Note (11/24/2011): I can't wait to start this story. I was a little nervous about how to go about this but I think I've got a pretty good idea now. This is the introduction to the story, and we all know what happens but I decided to write about it anyway. I hope I don't disappoint! Those of you who voted on that poll on my profile page for this couple, thank you! This story is dedicated to you.

Updated Author's Note (5/26/2020): For those of you who just clicked this story for the first time, hello ! And to those of you who are returning readers, it's wonderfully nice to see you again, as always. I have embarked on the tedious process of revising this story because it's undoubtedly one that I am infinitely proud of so I wanted to make it better. During my revision process, I moved some things around and edited other parts that I thought needed clarity, which has made me feel more content with this story.

It's been the most marvelous adventure working on this, so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. :-)

Disclaimer: I do not in any way, form, or fashion, claim the rights to the Harry Potter franchise or any of its original characters and/or settings. This entire story is purely written to practice the nuances of writing—and also because I adore this beautiful world that J.K. Rowling has created!

Prologue

It had been one of those kinds of days.

Second Year Hermione Granger was at her wits' end, retreating to the library after a particularly dreadful morning. It had started off well enough.

She had been coming down to the Great Hall with Harry at her side, chatting excitedly about what sort of creature that Hagrid would be showing them that afternoon during Care of Magical Creatures - because, by Merlin, Hermione had done her research and was determined to that Harry understood the importance of a proper Silencing Charm when dealing with fwoopers. Ron joined them just as she was passionately explaining how, if a person listened to its song, they would slowly and excruciatingly be driven insane.

The conversation quickly took a downward spiral that ended with herself and Ron in an argument and separating on bitter terms. She was positively fuming, mentally and physically, as she stomped off to the library. Conveniently, it was also the one place he wouldn't dare follow her.

On the way, she was unfortunate enough to run into Malfoy and his entourage. They had been on their way to the Great Hall for breakfast, but the opportunity to harass their favorite buck-toothed mudblood was too amusing for them to pass up. When they were finished, they left an infuriated, watery-eyed Hermione Granger on the floor.

Her textbooks, notes, and homework were strewn across the corridor and her bum hurt after they pushed her down. If they hadn't snatched her wand and tossed it away, those three would have found themselves with a second head growing from their right ear… Or worse.

She sniffled a few times and blinked rapidly as warm, salty tears rolled down her cheeks and soaked into her wrinkled robes. She knew better than to let their taunts get under her skin, but it worked like a bloody charm every time they called her a mud—the "m" word.

She swallowed hard and had just gotten on her hands and knees to gather her things when a boy began walking down the corridor.

His bright gray eyes landed on her in an instant, and she flushed in embarrassment at being found in such a predicament. Undeterred, the boy knelt in front of her to scoop up a few of her books.

"How'd this happen?" he asked as he reached for her wand, returning it to her grateful hands.

"It doesn't matter," Hermione mumbled as she pocketed her wand. She straightened her stack of books.

He placed the last book on top of the others and helped Hermione neatly stow her other things away into her bag before she clasped it shut. "Sure it does."

"But…" she sniffed and wiped at her eyes, her dark lashes fluttering a few times as she tried again to dispel the tears, "you don't even know who I am."

"Of course I do!" He chuckled. "You're Hermione Granger, Second Year Griffindor."

Hermione stared at him, incredulous. "How'd you—?"

He shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "You've made quite the reputation for yourself."

Hermione held back a very unladylike snort at that, reminded yet again that her friendship with Harry Potter did not go unnoticed by her peers.

"I can hardly believe that you haven't been put into any of my classes yet," he continued, his eyes shining.

Hermione smiled at that despite herself, sniffling. She was pleasantly surprised that he knew about her through her academic achievements rather than the heroic feats she had accomplished with her two best friends. After all, it wasn't every day that you heard about three First Years taking down a fully grown mountain troll or coming face-to-face with a three-headed dog and living to tell the tale.

Hermione stood up and balanced all seven of her books in her arms.

"Here," he said, reaching for the books, "let me help you."

Now she only had three. She stared at him, once again baffled by his odd, chivalrous behavior. Who was he?

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

Hermione swallowed. "You've been unbelievably kind to me this morning and, er, you know who I am, but…" She wasn't sure how to put it. "Well, I don't believe we've met. Formally, that is."

His smile broadened, revealing a row of straight, gleaming teeth. Hermione's parents would be proud.

"Cedric Diggory," he said warmly, "Hufflepuff. I'm a Third Year."

They reached the Great Hall doors in no time and stood outside for a minute. Cedric peered at Hermione around his stack of books. "How do you carry all of these, anyway?"

"I manage," she shrugged meekly.

A beat of silence passed between them, but it wasn't uncomfortable.

"Thanks for your help," Hermione said finally, a grateful smile gracing her lips.

His brows rose almost to his hairline. "I would hardly call this helping, Miss Granger. If I'd have gotten to you earlier, I could've really given you some help with…" He glanced at the tall double doors and back at her, frowning. "Well, whoever it was."

"No, no," she said shifting slightly to accommodate the weight of her books, "this was more than enough."

He stared at the books. "I could show you a charm that'll shrink them down to pocket-size, if you'd like. It's the least I can do."

Hermione nodded enthusiastically, eyes lighting up at the thought of learning a new enchantment. Magic really was extraordinary.

O-O-O

Two years later:

Cedric stood still, arms wrapped around a girl with long, dark hair—Cho Chang.

"Be careful," Cho whispered.

He tightened the hug. "You know I will."

Her eyes sparkled with tears against his shirt. "People die doing this, Ced. It's not safe."

His breath was warm, gentle against her hair. "I'll be fine."

A single tear managed to escape, trailing down her face. It glittered in the faint moonlight shining down on them from where they stood outside near the Champions' tents. Cedric pulled back and swiped it away gently with his thumb, tucking a few loose strands of her hair behind her ear.

"Trust me." His eyes were sincere and imploring as he gazed at her. "Please."

Cho nodded slowly, swallowing hard. She could barely conceal the tremor in her voice as she said, "Okay."

They stood like that for a long moment, neither daring to move. They heard the call for Cedric and the others, and he sighed, taking one last look at his girlfriend before untangling his arms from around her waist and turning away.

"Cedric, w-wait," Cho said all of a sudden, desperately reaching out to catch his arm with one of her slender hands.

He turned, surprise written across his face and before he was able to ask, "What's the matter?" her lips brushed his softly.

Cho pulled away slowly, lowering herself back to the ground. His face was absolutely blank.

"I-I'm sorry," she apologized quietly, blushing furiously and looking at the ground. "that was…" she trailed off, clearly embarrassed by her own brazen actions.

That broke Cedric from his vacant daze in an instant. A small smile crept its way across his lips and he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her full lips once more. "Never," he whispered, his lips barely a hair away from hers, "apologize for that."

She blushed again, nodding shyly. The last call echoed across the grounds.

"I better go." Cedric said, pulling away from Cho and running a hand through his hair uneasily, his eyes glancing toward the final Triwizard Tournament challenge.

Cho felt faint as he retreated. He turned toward her suddenly.

"Will you walk with me?" He asked, his voice giving away how truly terrified he was despite the politely inquiring look upon his face.

She hesitated, wavering between what she wanted to do and what she had to do. The truth was, she was afraid that if she went with him, she wouldn't be able to let him disappear into the maze. There were so many unknowns beyond its tangled hedges, so many dangers and challenges, and she felt like her world was going to bottom out at the thought that he—

"I-I can't," Cho whispered. She coughed to cover up the way her throat constricted with each word. "I need to get my sweater from the tent."

Cedric's expression fell slightly, but he covered his disappointment with an easy smile. "Better hurry, then."

She gave him a weak grin in return, though it didn't quite reach her eyes and they both knew it. "Good luck," she said.

He dipped his head in agreement and turned around, walking toward the maze.

As his retreating form finally disappeared, Cho allowed another tear to fall to the dirt. She drew a shaky breath to compose herself before making her way to the stands.

O-O-O

Cedric was so close the cup that he could already see the proud expression on Cho's face when they announced him as the winner of the Triwizard Tournament.

Harry Potter was hot on his heels, though, and they both reached it at the same time. They looked at each other, emerald meeting molten steel. Cedric let out a puff of air and looked at the messy haired boy beside him. His eyes flickered to the goblet and back to Harry. "You should take it." Cedric said finally, emitting a sigh of resignation.

"Why?" Harry asked, pushing his round glasses back up the bridge of his nose. Both of their faces were smeared with dirt and sweat, and they breathed hard.

"You deserve it. It's yours." Cedric replied honestly.

Harry quirked a dark eyebrow. "What makes you say that? I deserve it as much as everyone else in this tournament." He steadied his breathing before continuing. "You got here first, anyway."

Cedric eyed the trophy in all its glory, from its golden handles on both sides to its polished base. He knew that Potter was stubborn, possibly nearly as stubborn as he was, so he decided that a mutually beneficial agreement was in order.

"Okay, let's make a compromise."

"Sure," Harry said shakily. "What've you got?"

"We'll both grab it at the same time, that way we both win and Hogwarts gets to claim victory over the other schools." Cedric breathed hard between breaths. "Sound like a deal?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed.

They both steeled their faces with determination and turned to face the cup.

"On three."

Cedric nodded his agreement.

"One."

"Two," Cedric said.

They both looked at each other, locking gazes for a moment before looking back at the Goblet of Fire.

"Three!" they cried in unison, thrusting their hands toward the twin handles and taking hold of the smooth, cold metal.

All of a sudden, with a sharp tug at his navel, Cedric realized that they weren't in the maze anymore. He landed on his side with a soft thud, the cup falling somewhere to his left. He sat up, rubbing his head and shaking out the stray flecks of dirt from his hair and took in his surroundings.

It was foggy. That was the first thing that came to his immediate attention. He could make out distinct shapes in the fog; squares and rectangles for the most part, but a few others, too, all protruding up from the ground.

The ground was cold and hard beneath him, and he stood up, glancing about himself somewhat suspiciously, his right hand immediately drawing his wand. Harry came up from somewhere to his right and touched him lightly on his arm, causing Cedric to jump with fright and nearly poke one of his emerald eyes out with the wand.

"Sorry, mate." Harry said apologetically. He stared in surprise at the wooden object that had been thrust into his face before Cedric gave him a sheepish smile and lowered it. They looked at each other for another moment before they continued scanning their environment. "Where are we?" Harry asked, voicing the very question that Cedric was thinking aloud.

He took a few steps forward, his breath coming out in puffs of steam in front of his face. He shivered, just realizing how bitter the weather was there, before kneeling in front of one of the rectangles, barely making out words engraved into the smooth, gray stone. His eyes widened, realization dawning on him.

"A graveyard?" He mumbled, blinking in shock.

Why would the cup take them there? It was supposed to port key them back to the maze entrance. Or maybe this was another part of the task…?

Cedric shook his head. No, it was just too weird. Something strange was going on, and it stirred a fight or flight instinct deep within Cedric's body.

"Cedric," Harry muttered. Cedric turned to look at him and saw that his eyes were narrowed suspiciously. "it seems that we have company. Look."

He pulled him quickly behind a tall tombstone, and they both watched with similar horrific expressions on their face as the scene before them played out.

A short, hooded figure stood before a towering old marble headstone, holding something in its arms. The boys looked at each other, exchanging quizzical looks. 'A baby?' Cedric mouthed, confused.

Harry shrugged and they both turned back to the figure, who they realized too late was staring straight at them. For a second, Harry and Cedric and the person, whose face was obscured by the shadow of their hood, simply stared at one another. The rest happened too fast for any of them to comprehend what was going on.

Harry fell to the ground, his face contorted in pain. He clutched his forehead tightly, his wand lying fallen beside him.

"Cedric," he moaned, his eyes clenched tightly shut, "get back...to the cup..."

Cedric was still so shocked that he couldn't move or utter a word. All of his thoughts came to a startling halt when a high, cold voice spoke sharply from the direction that the figure stood. "Kill the spare."

His blood froze in his veins and his heart skipped a beat, his head snapping up to look at the hooded figure. He held his breath, though he had no idea why, his heart suddenly pounding in his ears.

With a swish of billowing robes and a flick of a wand followed by the words, "Avada Kedavra!" screeched into the night, Cedric's breath came out in a long, drawn out whoosh.

All of a sudden, everything was in slow motion. Cedric knew that he didn't have time to run. This was it. After all the hard work he had put into his future, carefully building up what he wanted to become, this was how it all ended up.

For some reason, he thought of his excitement when he had gotten his first broom. It had been his fourth birthday present. Memories flitted too quickly for him to distinguish the time gaps between them, pieces of the past that he had long since outgrown.

There was the mini-lessons he used to have with his father over simple wandless charms between the ages of five to ten, back before he was old enough to have a wand of his own, and then the overwhelming feeling that overcame him when he found the perfect wand for himself at Ollivander's.

His first glimpse of Hogwarts from the window of the Hogwarts Express came next, followed by his enthusiasm in his studies, enthralled by his magical heritage and everything having to do with Quidditch.

The look of pride upon his mother's face when he unwrapped his prefect's badge.

The green light finally reached him, barreling into his chest at what was actually an unimaginable speed. Green light exploded across his vision, and he fell. Down, down, down he fell...

Cedric Diggory was dead before he even hit the ground.

O-O-O

Hermione Granger was just as shocked as the rest of the school when one of her best friends, Harry Potter, staggered out the foggy maze with Cedric Diggory in his arms. Suddenly, it didn't matter what everyone else in the stands were doing. Something was terribly wrong with how dreadfully still Diggory was.

She rushed down to where Harry stood, his hair more unkempt than usual and his clothes dirty, torn, and disheveled. The moment she arrived and he looked up at her with cloudy, diluted green eyes she knew. Her own brown eyes widened in shock, and she had to put a hand over her mouth to stifle a choked gasp.

Harry's knees buckled—most likely caused by a mixture of the stress from Merlin-knows-what that happened in the maze and the weight of Cedric's body draped over his side—and he collapsed. Hermione knelt beside her best friend and pulled him close to her, allowing him a moment to compose himself and to shield him from the rest of the world.

"Oh, Harry…" she murmured into his unkempt hair, rubbing comforting circled into his back. "I am so sorry…"

After a little bit, Hermione finally allowed her gaze to travel to Cedric's body—to his face. He was laying on his back, face slack as his deep gray eyes stared blankly into the cloudy night sky.

Tears pricked at her eyes as she reached out a shaky hand to close his eyelids. She buried her face in Harry's thick black hair and allowed a few tears to fall before taking a deep breath and pulling her head away.

Her arms tightened around Harry as his body shook with sobs. Hermione needed to be at her strongest now—for Harry, for herself, and—and—

Just two years ago, those vacant eyes had been alight with concern, warmth, as he helped her in the corridor. A smile had stretched across his lips, dimpling his cheeks. He had been kind, gentle…

For him.