Chapter 4: Nothing Spectacular But Sometimes Special

On Friday, they were playful.

"Are you... An item?"

"No."

"A person then?"

"Yes."

They were sitting by that window spot in the library again and instead of facing one another, they are now sitting in an adjacent manner.

"Alright," Hermione Granger said, face full on concentration. "A muggle?"

"Maybe."

She hit his arm.

"That hurt!" Cedric Diggory complained, his grin proving otherwise.

"You can't say 'maybe', Cedric!" She protested. "Either yes or no."

He poked her shoulder. "You forgot that I started this game. I command the rules."

It was true. Here Hermione was, writing her History of Magic homework due in a week, when Cedric sat next to her and said, "Guess who I am." And before she questioned, he told her that it was a guessing game.

"You can't just change the rules like that!" She continued. "You're unfair!"

He grinned. "Take me or leave me, Granger. But I suggest you take me instead because primarily, you adore my impeccable humor, and second, you're not that cruel to leave this pitiful bloke alone."

"And you'll never leave me alone, anyway."

"Of course there's that, too."

She sighed dramatically. "Do I even have a choice?"

"I would wisely say no."

"Fine." She said. He raised his arms in triumph.

"But no 'maybe's'."

"You're no fun, Granger." He pouted.

She raised a hand to him. "Take me or leave me."

He narrowed his eyes at her but didn't say anything. He then took her hand and held it between their seats.

"Do you really think I'd say no?" He raised his eyebrow. "Fine. It's a yes."

"That you're a muggle?"

He nodded.

"Are you in Hogwarts?"

"Yes."

She bit her lip. Her senses seemed to be working more appropriately than her brain.

"A student."

"Yes."

"Are you yourself?" She asked suspiciously.

He scoffed. "Really, now? How narcissistic do you think I am? Thank you for the moral boost, Granger. Helped a lot." He said sarcastically.

"Being melodramatic is unbecoming for you." She rolled her eyes. "A female, then?"

He nodded, looking at her.

Somehow she felt that the answer is in front of her. But for an odd reason, she found herself somewhat distracted.

After a minute of silence she spoke up. "I hate this game." She said.

He chuckled. "Do you give up?"

"Not quite." She said determinedly. "Moaning Myrtle."

He fought the urge to smile. "Far from her."

She swatted him playfully. "Penelope Clearwater?"

He shook his head.

"Charity Burbage?"

He looked at her pointedly. "She's a Muggle Studies Professor, not a student."

She sighed loudly. "Alright, I give up. Who are you?"

He grinned cheekily.

"I'm Hermione Granger."

There was a moment of silence, followed by a hard arm slap.

"Ouch! That's three times today, Miss Granger! You're pressing your luck!" He complained, laughing all the while.

"It's my turn now." She said after a moment, still slightly smiling. "You're never going to guess what I am!"

"Are you Hogwarts, A History?"

There was another moment of silence, when she hit his arm hard again.

He complained while laughing softly, because they're in the library after all.

That hand that he held still remained intact for the rest of the night.

On Monday, they were personal.

"When I saw how my father reacted about that Hufflepuff and Gryffindor match, I knew right then and there that I was somehow a trophy son for him."

Hermione stayed silent. She knows he just wanted to let it out, than to hear other's opinions.

"He's proud of me, I get that. But I'm not that daft. I know he sees me as what he would have wanted to be when he was young. He was in Hufflepuff too, you know. But he's always been the blend- in type. He told me that. He doesn't have a lot of friends, doesn't play Quidditch, doesn't have the highest marks. I was always in his constant reminder not to be like him." He sighed. "Telling me to be friends with everyone, to be a good role model, to be great at Quidditch. Not good, 'Mione. Great."

Her heart wrenched for him, because she knows he's been trying hard in that sport. She was quite surprised he called her by her first name. Well, sort of. She doesn't think he even noticed it.

He chuckled dryly. "You should have seen the look on his face when I was owled to inform of my Prefect duties. He kept bragging to our neighbors of how 'his boy's a Prefect'." He shook his head, and Hermione pursed her lips in sympathy. "I've been plenty embarassed of his vocal pride of my achievements, and I remained silent because that's what makes him happy. I keep it quiet even though I know people call me, 'Daddy's boy'. I'm not complaining, but it just makes me sad to think that I'm sort of a prize for him. Something of his achievement, not mine."

His voice became dangerously soft at that point, that Hermione gave in the urge to curl her arm around his.

"Sometimes," She started. "We don't get that acknowledgement we should have, not because we don't deserve it, but because other people need it than we do."

She said it with such emotion that he couldn't help to look at her. She's looking straightforward, but her eyes are clouded with a hint of sadness. He frowned at this.

"How does this apply to you?" He was curious. But more than that, he was worried. It sent a small miserable feeling in his stomach when he saw her eyes like that.

She stiffed slightly. "It doesn't." She said flatly. He knows she's putting up her wall again after it unexpectedly went down.

"Liar."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you sort of are."

"How would you know?"

"Because I know you."

She stayed silent at this. He thinks, because he forgot that he's her friend, and he's not going to leave her. He knows it's hard for her to share personal stories, especially about insecurities, because she had a lot of them. And step by step, she's slowly allowing him to enter at that hidden part of her, one where not even her closest friends knew about. And he realizes, that he's doing the same for her, too. She's becoming one of the most important people in Cedric's life.

"You can trust me, Hermione. I'm not going anywhere." He still told her. He's got a feeling she needs to hear it.

At this, he was her close her eyes and give in.

"Harry's the Boy-Who-Lived, isn't he? He's in constant danger. Ron is his best friend. And I'm his other best friend." She gave him a small, sad smile.

He understood now.

"I'm the brainy one. I'm doing the best I can not to let him die in dangerous times. He's suffered for eleven years without his real identity, real family. He deserves this appreciation and care. But, at the end of the day, Harry and Ron are normal students. I'm the bookworm who gets constantly teased, constantly bullied. I'm getting good grades, but it doesn't work that way. Society is cruel. I'm not really complaining about how I don't get the acknowledgement. I'm actually fine with that. But being treated an outcast gets to me sometimes."

Cedric was looking down at her worriedly. He released her curled arm to wrap his own around her fiercely. She's right. Out of the Golden Trio, it was Hermione that was treated in this school the worst. Sure, there was that time that Harry Potter was the outcast last year, but he regained it. Hermione however, remained in the shadows since she first entered Hogwarts.

"Sometimes, I wonder why Harry are Ron are friends with me. What might have been if they didn't save me from the Troll."

"They would have been buried by now, and You-Know-Who is running about." He said it with such earnesty that Hermione had to smile.

"I wonder everyday why you're friends with me." Hermione said.

Before Cedric can say something, she cut him off. "I'm not trying yo get compliments from you, Cedric. Now am I pitying myself. It's just, you have to admit that this friendship is peculiar."

He shook his head. "No it's not, Granger."

"It's not peculiar in a bad way." She sighed, trying to get to her point. "It just is."

"It's not peculiar at all." He said firmly. "It's natural."

He wasn't lying. He never found their friendship odd or any of that matter. As a rule, Cedric doesn't judge people, or tries not to anyway. If anything, he sees Hermione with pride and respect even before he even knew her.

"Natural?" She asked skeptically.

He nodded. "We work. We both love books. We can talk for hours without getting uncomfortable. We always agree to disagree, or disgree to agree. We get along better than well. We are so complientary that not knowing one another may cause harm to the natural order od the universe."

It worked. Hermione's serious expression then turned to a full blown grin as they both chuckled together. He stared at her smiling face, feeling warm and happy.

A/N:

I'm sorry it took a long time for this to be uploaded! Thank you for those who reviewed, and please continue to review! :D

By the way, the game they did was in reference to the game played in Big Bang Theory by Sheldon, Howard, Raj and Leonard. :)