Disclaimer: I don't own HP, okay? Okay.
Chapter Eighteen
"Hermione."
She blinked, unmoving, staring with unfocused eyes at the blank parchment before her.
"Hermione Jean Granger, I will not repeat myself again."
She emitted a sigh and looked up at the girl sitting before her. Naomi's brown eyes shone with worry for her friend, her dark brows knitted together as she gazed at her friend's vacant expression. She had cut her long dark locks of hair off to donate to a muggle company to make into a wig for cancer patients, her hair now styled into a fashionable bob. She tucked her hair behind her ear and reached out for her friend's hand.
"Hermione, you're worrying yourself to death over this." Naomi said softly.
Hermione shook her head. "I'm not." She argued.
Naomi gave her a stern look. "You've barely left his bedside for the past month, only excusing yourself when Madam Pomfrey forced you out to attend your classes." Hermione's face burned shamefully at the truth in her friend's words, any excuses for her actions dying in her throat. "You've lost some weight, too, from barely eating. It's got to stop, Hermione. You're going to kill yourself if you keep this up."
Hermione roughly pulled her hand away from Naomi's, turning away from her. "You wouldn't understand, Naomi."
"Of course I understand!" Naomi exclaimed passionately, her expression showing the offence she took at Hermione's harsh tone. "Don't you dare think for one second that if the roles were reversed and I was you and Cedric was Andrew that I wouldn't be as much of an emotional wreck as you!"
Hermione whipped around in surprise. "What makes you think that Ced and I are like you and Andrew?"
Naomi's lips spread into an impish smile. "Scott told me about you two."
"But we didn't—,"
"Maybe not," Naomi interrupted with a laugh, "but Scott said that Cedric treated you differently than any other girl, Cho Chang included." That bit of information shocked Hermione. Naomi's expression shifted, softening a little. "Look, I understand that you're doing what you are because you care, but Cedric wouldn't want you to act this way. You need to come back to the land of the living, Hermione."
Hermione knew that in her heart of hearts Naomi was right—Cedric most certainly wouldn't want her to be on the brink of an emotional breakdown all the time—but she couldn't be bothered to think about that now. He needed her, and whether he was conscious or not, Hermione was going to be there for him. "I know," Hermione finally said. "I know that he wouldn't want this for me. I'll be better soon," she promised, "just give me some time."
Naomi nodded understandingly. "I know it's hard for you. Trust me, I know. But you've got to remember, you're not the only person he meant something to. Imagine how Scott must be feeling right now, knowing that his best friend is back but that he might never wake up from his coma."
Hermione nodded, her lips quivering. She loved Naomi and she knew that she was trying to be a good friend, but she couldn't stand being inside the library any longer. The walls were beginning to close in around her and she could feel herself choking on the hard lump forming in her throat. With shaking hands, she packed her things into her bag and slung it over her shoulder, barely glancing at Naomi's surprised expression. "I'll talk to you later." She murmured as she hurried past her, feeling the tears building up in the back of her eyes.
Hermione's feet carried her to the nearest lavatory, and she dropped her bookbag at her feet and slumped over a sink, her hands holding her up. She turned the tap on and splashed some of the cool water on her face, which had heated up as she found herself getting flustered. She took deep breaths and closed her eyes, just feeling the rivulets of water running down her face and dropping off of her jaw back into the sink.
"Why are you crying?"
Hermione jumped, startled, before grabbing a hand towel and drying her face. "Please leave me alone, Myrtle." She muttered.
Moaning Myrtle let out a girlish giggle and continued talking. If she had heard Hermione, she didn't show any indications of it. "It's about a boy, isn't it?" she giggled again. "The cute one in the private room of the infirmary?"
Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself before turning around to see Myrtle floating along in the air, her long pigtails floating along behind her head. "Yes," Hermione sighed, "that's the one."
"I heard the other ghosts talking," Myrtle said slowly, "and they said that he might not wake up." Hermione dropped her gaze. Myrtle let out another peal of light laughter. "If he dies, do you think he would haunt the castle? Maybe this very bathroom…"
"He's going to wake up." Hermione said firmly, looking up.
Myrtle's wistful expression faded off of her face, and her smile twisted into an angry sneer, flying to hover right in front of Hermione's face in an instant. "Maybe I deserve someone!" she shrieked. "Maybe I should get a boy for myself!" Her lips turned into a quivering frown, her eyes welling up with translucent tears. "But I'm just Moaning Myrtle. No boy would want Moaning Myrtle…" she blubbered before opening her mouth widely and letting out a miserable howl as she flew into her toilet.
"No, wait, Myrtle!" Hermione cried, but it was too late. Her heart clenched guiltily, but she had to remind herself that she was dealing with Myrtle, after all. The moody, unpredictable ghost was hard to console, and it was impossible to tell when the pleasant, giggling Myrtle would flip out and become enraged or depressed.
By that point, she had calmed down enough to leave, so she scooped up her bag and left, trying to ignore Myrtle's despondent wails as she walked out of the corridor, on her way to the hospital wing to see Cedric. She made her way back to his room without much of a protest from the mediwitch, ditching her bag by the door as the portrait swung closed and sitting in her chair by his bedside. She smiled at his sleeping form, reaching out to grab his large, warm hand and placing it to her lips.
"I miss you," she whispered, her breath lightly fanning across his knuckles. She drew in a shuddery breath and exhaled slowly, closing her eyes and pressing a gentle kiss to each knuckle before placing her head down on the soft mattress. "I miss you a lot."
And no sooner had the words left her did she fall asleep, her exhaustion overtaking her. Madam Pomfrey poked her head into the room an hour after the fact and took a step towards the sleeping Gryffindor, preparing to wake her and send her off to her dorm room for bed, before she saw the two students' twined hands and thought better of it. With a twinkle in her eye, she stepped out of the room, pretending that she had never come across them in the first place.
The first thing that registered in Hermione Granger's brain when consciousness took hold of her was her aching limbs. She blearily opened her eyes, blinking rapidly to get them used to the contrast of light around her compared to the darkness behind her eyelids, and lifted up her head from the crisp white sheets to look around, momentarily unaware of her surroundings. She was surprised to find herself still in Cedric's private room, but shrugged off the thought and released Cedric's hand to stretch her arms over her head. She smiled with satisfaction after hearing a few pops, her muscles groaning pleasurably as she stretched them.
It was only after that did she decide to spare a glance toward Cedric, and found herself staring directly into his curious gray eyes. For a moment, she wasn't sure what to do or say, too surprised and still groggy after just having woken up to react to the fact that he was clearly awake.
He blinked once, his handsome face displaying innocent inquisitiveness. "Hermione Granger?" he asked, his voice surprisingly clear.
And as soon as he spoke, Hermione snapped out of her trance and tears sprang to her eyes, her whole body overwhelmed by happiness because he was awake and alive. She leapt up out of her chair and drew his torso to herself, hugging him tightly. When she released him, his expression seemed more perplexed than before.
"Hermione Granger," he repeated her name, slowly, "what are you doing here?"
Hermione had rehearsed what she would say the moment he was awake a million times, and all of the words seemed to have left her. In fact, all of the words in the history of the English language, it seemed, had abandoned her, and her mouth opened and closed a few times before a sheepish smile fell into place on her pink lips. "I waited for you to wake up, just like I promised I would."
Cedric raised an eyebrow, seemingly confused by this. "What are you talking about? And why am I—" He looked around and his dark brows knitted together. "Well, actually, where am I?"
Hermione let out a laugh. "You're in the hospital wing, Cedric. Madam Pomfrey had to put you in the private room so that you wouldn't startle anyone who happened to come across you while you were unconscious."
"Okay, I guess I see what you mean…" Cedric murmured, a thoughtful look on his face. "But why would I startle anyone? And why was I unconscious?" he asked, then sat up a little straighter in his bed as realization dawned on his face. "Wait a minute. Krum knocked me out in the maze, didn't he? Harry did say he was under the Imperius…"
It was Hermione's turn to be confused. "What does Viktor Krum have to do with you coming back from the dead, Cedric?"
Cedric's eyes widened. "Coming back from the—? What?"
Hermione gave him a puzzled look. "You died, remember?"
Cedric shook his head. "No, the last thing I remember was…" he trailed off, his eyes taking on a distant quality as he sifted through his memories to elaborate. "Oh," He said softly, bewildered. "Perhaps I did." He looked at Hermione, still utterly befuddled. "But I still don't understand why you're here."
By that point, Hermione was honestly feeling a little hurt. Why was he questioning her so much when he knew very well her part in things? He should have known better than to think that she would perform the spell and leave! What kind of person did he take her for, anyway? She cared about him, for Merlin's sake, so obviously she wasn't just going to abandon him!
"I performed the resurrection spell, Cedric, so of course I was going to stay and wait for you to wake up." She finally said, her tone coming out a little sharper than she'd have liked.
"Oh," Cedric said, apparently stunned by that. "Well, er, thanks, I suppose." He grew quiet for a minute before asking, "How long was I unconscious for?"
"Two months." Hermione answered.
"And…you mentioned that I was dead. How long was that?"
Her reply came out a little rawer than before. "Almost three years."
"Oh," He said. Another beat of silence passed before he finally asked, "Do you think you could find Cho Chang for me and bring her to see me?"
Hermione broke eye contact after he said that, her eyes pricking with tears. Of course he'd want to see Cho. He loved her, after all. She could feel her heart breaking within her chest, each heartbeat a little more painful than the last. "Um, yeah. Of course," she murmured, standing up quickly and grabbing her bag.
She was so stupid. Who was she to think that he was interested in her when he had Cho bloody Chang? Hermione Granger had never felt like such a fool in her life.
"Are you okay, Granger?" He called out to her just as the portrait swung open for her to step through.
Granger. He hadn't been awake for a whole twenty-four hours yet and she was already back to her surname.
"I'm fine." She muttered without turning around, her eyes already glazing over with tears. She passed Madam Pomfrey tending one of her patients and said, "He's awake now," as she passed her, taking hurried steps towards the door.
Just as she was about to open it, Scott walked in. Upon seeing her, he rushed to her. "What happened, Hermione?"
"He's awake." Hermione's voice cracked and she looked away, squeezing her eyes shut to hold in her tears.
"That still doesn't explain why you're such a wreck." Scott murmured, gently tucking a loose ringlet behind her ear. "Tell me what's wrong."
"He…" she swallowed and looked up at him, a tear escaping. She bit her quivering bottom lip before continuing. "He just…he just wanted Cho, Scott. I was right there for him and he wanted Cho Chang." And right then, Scott collected her in his arms and held her tightly as she broke down.
Author's Note: Despite all my editing craziness of adding in things and combining shorter chapters into fuller ones, I felt that this chapter needed to stand alone like I originally intended it to. There is just so much that happened in this chapter that it needed its own space for the emotional stuff to get the proper recognition it needs.
I love you guys and I hope you're having a lovely day. :)
-Caitlyn