Hermione was researching in the library one evening after classes, her mind whirring with different topics as she buried herself in the back of the library. She had a large pile of books on her table and had her nose firmly buried in one when she was interrupted.
"Creatures of the Subterranean?"
Hermione looked up to see Cedric Diggory looking down at her, looking amused. She flushed.
"I was curious," she said, as Cedric sat down across the small table from her.
"About subterranean creatures?" He grinned. "You're not even in Care of Magical Creatures yet, Hermione."
"Well, no." Her cheeks were red. "I was curious about dwarfs, and this is just what the library's card catalog recommended. I didn't even know the wizarding world had dwarfs until Lockhart brought them in."
Cedric looked thoughtful.
"I know that they're a thing, but I couldn't rightly tell you what they are or where they live," he admitted. "Just that I see them occasionally in Diagon Alley."
"That's exactly why I wanted to research," Hermione told him emphatically. "No one seemed to know."
Cedric raised an eyebrow at her with a smirk.
"So?" he said, challenging. "What have you learned?"
"They live underground and mostly work in tunnels, mining," Hermione said. "They live in a clan-based structure. They're very strong for their size, apparently, and they use axes whenever possible." She paused. "Reading between the lines, I'm guessing that they live wherever the goblins live and exist alongside them. Goblins certainly aren't going to do their own mining if they don't have to, and dwarfs live underground too."
Cedric looked thoughtful.
"All of this, just from Valentine's Day?" he asked.
"I don't like it when I don't know something," Hermione said, smiling even as she rolled her eyes. "With the library nearby, it was easy enough to fix."
Cedric paused.
"So," he said, then he grinned. "Valentine's Day was certainly interesting this year, wasn't it?"
"Merlin alive, don't remind me," Hermione groaned, thunking her head on the table. "What a disaster. I don't think any of the professors actually taught anything."
Cedric laughed.
"Slytherin had the worst of it, I think," he said. "I had classes with each house that day – the one with Slytherin was constantly getting interrupted for all manner of small gifts."
"There's a custom to get small chocolates of obligation for your friends of the opposite sex," Hermione said. "Don't ask me how it popped up – Valentine's Day isn't really a wizarding holiday, so I have no idea how customs around it developed – but it did result in an obscene amount of interruptions."
Cedric grinned.
"Aw, it couldn't have been that bad," he teased.
Hermione scoffed.
"It was. Consider: in my class, there are five boys and five girls. Each of the girls will have sent a small chocolate to each of the boys." She sketched out a quick stick figure drawing, putting small circles by each figure. "That's twenty-five individual chocolates going to the boys, each one with its own dwarf messenger. Then double that figure for the chocolates the boys sent the girls. Already we're at fifty dwarf messengers, and that's before we even start to get into actual Valentines and real gifts."
Cedric paused.
"…alright, it was that bad," he said conceded. "I don't think my class got anywhere near two dozen dwarfs throughout the day."
"Thank you," Hermione said primly, and Cedric laughed.
"About Valentine's Day…" he said, a glint in his eyes. "You were wearing something very interesting in your hair at dinner that night…"
His eyes were holding hers, and Hermione could feel herself blush. She was getting sick of her face reacting and getting red against her will – if she could hold it together and act normal around an attractive boy, why couldn't her body obey her and do the same?
"I know you sent it to me," she said. "It was beautiful, and the sonnet as well. I never thanked you."
Cedric waved away her thanks.
"You shouldn't have to thank someone for a Valentine," he said. "And the rose wasn't what I was referring to."
His eyes held hers, and Hermione's breath caught in her throat.
He took a scrap of parchment, a piece she'd ruined with a large ink blot and splatter, turning it over in his hands thoughtfully before folding it.
"I sent a beautiful girl a flower from afar," he said, carefully creasing the paper. "When I saw her wear it to dinner, I felt my heart sing. But when I saw what sat on that flower…"
A murmur of his wand charmed the folded parchment, and a paper butterfly danced through the air. Its paper wings flapped with a crinkling sound, its flat antennae streaks of ink in the air, before it fluttered over to her, coming to land on her shoulder.
Hermione blushed a vermillion red.
"It—it wasn't my choice," she said, not looking at him. "Someone sent me a crystal butterfly. I got one last year too, so I didn't think anything of it. But this year it wouldn't stop fluttering around, and I couldn't get off me until the end of the day."
She bit her lip, glancing up at him.
"If it were a month ago, I don't think it would have flown around me," she said carefully. "I think its interest is… a recent development, we'll say."
Cedric's eyes flashed with understanding.
"It wasn't your choice?" he asked.
"I couldn't get the butterfly off," she emphasized. "I didn't—I didn't want to wear one yet. It's traditionally done during a formal debut to society at large, not during school. Wearing one at school seemed inappropriate and a bit crass."
"If it helps to reassure you, it wasn't," Cedric told her. "A lot of girls wear their butterfly accessories for a while, especially in the younger years."
"That's good, but…" she sighed. "Cedric, I didn't want to 'debut', or however it's considered. I want to lay low the rest of the year until all this Chamber of Secrets nonsense is over. After that, I can then have my 'debut' or whatever in Diagon Alley this summer, when I'll be nearly fourteen."
Cedric sat back, looking at her.
"So what I'm hearing you saying," he said, a slow grin spreading across his face, "is that you don't want me to ask you out again yet, despite having chrysalized."
Hermione's face bloomed red.
"I—"
"No, it's fine," Cedric said with a smirk, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "I know how Slytherins speak – you can't just come out and directly say a thing. That's alright – I'll do the direct talking for both of us."
If it was possible, her face turned even redder.
"So I won't ask you out again," he told her, smiling. "You're not ready for that and don't want to date yet, and I respect that." He paused, meeting her eyes. "I will ask you, though, if you'd mind a new study partner and friend."
"A—a study partner?" Hermione looked at him quizzically. "Cedric, you're two years above me. Studying with me couldn't possibly benefit you in any way."
Cedric laughed.
"It'd benefit you," he pointed out, and Hermione scoffed.
"Cedric, I'm perfectly capable of completing my own work without help—"
Cedric laughed again.
"Hermione, I know that." His eyes danced with amusement. "I was thinking more that you could study with me. You're well capable of absorbing fourth year material now, I'd wager, and with how easily you take to magic, I thought it might be fun."
Hermione's breath caught in her throat.
A study group was one thing. She had a few of those, scattered amongst her friends in various houses. They were functional, tiny clusters. A study group was one thing, an inconsequential thing.
A tutor for advanced magic was quite another.
"You'd—you'd teach me what you learned in your lessons?" she said, her eyes wide. "You'd really do that for me?"
Cedric gave her a soft smile. "I thought you'd like that."
"I would," Hermione emphasized. She looked up at him. "But Cedric, I don't—you'd have to tutor me immensely to get me anywhere near to caught up with you. With all that's been going on this year, I haven't had the time I'd wanted to study ahead. I'm sure to be terribly behind."
"Then I'll tutor you," Cedric said easily, shrugging. "You're whip-smart and ambitious, and at the top of your class. You'll catch up to me in no time at all."
"It will be a hassle for you, though." Hermione frowned. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd love to study ahead with you, but you're going to end up reviewing old material for ages. This is incredibly generous of you, but you're not exactly going to be getting anything out of it for a while."
Cedric rolled his eyes with a dramatic sigh, before looking back at her with a hidden sort of smile playing about his lips.
"Hermione," Cedric prompted. "What do you know about me?"
The part of Hermione that liked tests immediately perked up.
"Your full name is Cedric Amos Diggory," she said. "You're fifteen, and your birthday is in early September. Your classmates think you're a shoo-in for prefect next year but are undecided if you'll accept it or not." She paused. "You play seeker on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, and you're very good."
Cedric raised an eyebrow.
"Is that all?" he said mildly.
Hermione bit her lip.
"You come from a pureblood family, but you seem to be rather familiar with some parts of muggle culture," she said, hesitant. "You're familiar with muggle literature, and you know that muggles shake hands upon meeting instead of bowing. You also seem to know some origami, which I don't think is a wizarding thing yet."
Cedric grinned and flicked with his wand, and his paper butterfly began to flutter around them again.
"Very good," he said. "What else?"
Hermione wracked her brain.
"You—you've given me roses," she said. "Light pink and lavender ones. You've given me three now—"
"And why, Hermione," Cedric interrupted gently, "have I given you roses?"
Hermione paused, her cheeks slowly starting to heat.
"You—you like me," she said, not looking at him. "You told me yourself that you fancy me and want to date me."
"Excellent," Cedric said. He tilted his head at her, his eyes sparkling with amusement as he gave her a half-smile. "And, knowing that, Hermione – can you truly think of no reason I'd want to spend large amounts of time with you?"
Hermione's face was a bright red, and Cedric laughed.
"You're going to need to start considering people's motives a bit differently soon, I suspect," he teased her. "You're very good in analyzing people, but you'll need to consider their interest in you as a factor soon. I doubt I'm the only one who's interested in you."
Hermione's mind flitted back to the Valentine's day gifts she'd received. "That may be true." She looked back up at him. "But you're the only one to express is plainly without anything ulterior going on."
"What? Slytherins, have hidden motives?" Cedric held a hand to his mouth in mock horror, and Hermione couldn't help but laugh. He grinned at her, his eyes softening. "Really though, Hermione – I'd like to spend more time with you and get to know you. And I'd love to teach you magic."
His eyes held hers, soft and sincere, and Hermione could feel her heart skip in her chest.
"I—I'd really like that," she admitted, and Cedric grinned widely.
"It's a deal, then?" he said, holding out his hand.
Hermione considered for a moment longer before nodding once, decisively.
"It's a deal," she said firmly, taking his hand.
She was expecting to shake his hand, as one would shake on a deal, but Cedric merely turned their linked hands and bent over, pressing a kiss to the back of hers, his eyes holding hers. Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat, and Cedric gave her a slow smile, his eyes dark.
"It will be my joy and honor, Hermione."
"I—thanks—"
Hermione wondered if she'd ever learn how not to blush around him.