Hi Everyone, thank you so so much for all the comments and kudos, I was blown away by how many comments I got after the last chapter. It got me so inspired to get the next one out. I hope you enjoy the chapter ahead, our key players shall be entering the scene soon so this is getting the last pieces in place for that. Enjoy!-Dayin
A loud popping noise alerted Hermione to the arrival of the Diggorys in her backyard, she quickly called out to her parents who were sitting in the living room having coffee, the early hour enough to convince them to forgo their regular cup of tea in favour of some caffeine.
While the wait for the World Cup had only been a few days it felt like it had been ages since she had seen Cedric and she was dying to tell him about her results and hear how his summer has been.
As she opened the door to the backyard she was greeted by the sight of Cedric and an older wizard who she instantly knew must be his dad.
"Cedric hi!" she exclaimed excitedly while running over to hug the younger of the two wizards. He enveloped her in his arms returning her hug as the scent of what she believed to be his aftershave wafted over her. She found it to be an almost calming scent, she must have missed him more than she had realised.
"Hey there Mione-bee how are you doing?" He said before taking her hand and giving her a quick kiss on the knuckles. This sweet but rather formal greeting was quickly followed by him ruffling her hair with a chuckle.
"I am doing well thank you" She responded before remembering the presence of her parents who were standing behind her "Oh I am being rude sorry may I introduce my parents Linda and Gerald Granger" she said gesturing to her parents behind her. They moved forward at her introduction.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Mr and Mrs Granger", Cedric said surprising them when he gave a small bow, before taking Mrs Granger's hand and kissing her knuckles followed quickly by giving Mr Granger a firm handshake.
"Please let me introduce my father, Amos Diggory" He said stepping to the side to allow his father to walk forward.
Amos Diggory was an imposingly tall man, who looked down at Hermione with a serious expression causing her to subconsciously shift around on the balls of her feet. In that moment she felt somewhat like a bug under a microscope she only hoped she wouldn't make a bad impression in front of Cedric.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr Diggory" she awkwardly said voice barely above a whisper, it wasn't often that she got so intimidated but in this moment making full eye contact with the serious man seemed all but impossible. She suddenly felt oddly cold despite her double layers subconsciously crossing her arms to rub at the goosebumps that had risen.
A deep rumbling chuckle from Cedric's dad suddenly broke the momentary silence. Before he gave a gentle smile bowed and gave her hand a polite kiss, alleviating her moment of awkwardness.
"Now now, no need for that. Amos is just fine and I assure you the pleasure is all mine, Cedric has been talking about you and his other friends all summer, not to mention if the rumours whispered around the ministry have any truth I am honoured to meet the girl that has the exam board in such a stir," he said making her cheeks flush red at the praise.
"Thank you, sir" she murmured looking down
"Only the truth, I will let you kids catch up while I get to know your parents a bit more"
Amos turned and greeted her parents in much the same way as Cedric had just minutes before, Hermione made a mental note to ask Cedric about the bow and hand kiss as it was not the first time she had seen him use the formal greeting.
Once all the parents had greeted each other pleasantly they began to chat between themselves. Hermione was pleased to see them getting along so well as she was not sure how Cedric's dad would react to her muggle parents. But they seemed to be engrossed in talking about their jobs, with her parents happy to hear more detail on how the wizard government worked and Amos excitedly asking questions about dentistry.
She felt a gentle tug on one of her curls breaking her focus on their parent's conversation and bringing it back to Cedric.
"So what is this I hear about you having the ministry in a stir? Did you get up to some mischief in your exams?" He said with a good-natured grin causing her cheeks to turn red.
"Oh I am not sure why the ministries in a stir exactly but it was wonderful finding out my results I have been so excited to get your opinion, I got all O's and a few people reached out to me to see if I would be interested in taking up an apprenticeship with them!" she said her words coming out in one fast burst as she couldn't wait to get them out.
Cedric's eyebrows raised in surprise "Apprenticeships?" he said astounded "Wow your results must have been really good those are so rare and normally kept until after NEWT results, well done Mione!" He said grabbing her in another hug.
"Yes I would love it if you would look over some of the offers with me if you have the time even if it's just my top 10 choices, I am not sure what would suit me exactly"
"Top…10?" He said not hiding his complete shock this time "Are you saying you got more than 10 apprenticeship offers?"
"Oh yes, I received around 50 offers," she said pleased. He remained quiet for a few moments
"Merlin 50!" He exclaimed his face showing how shocked and impressed he was.
"50 what Cedric?" his father said coming over " What's all this shouting about".
"Hermione received 50 Apprenticeship offers!" Cedric crowed in admiration, she noticed her parents exchanging an amused look at his excitement for their daughter.
"Merlin 50 offers! Now that is something Hermione" Cedric's dad said letting out an impressed whistle "I had heard rumours that you had broken a few records but I didn't know that you had done that well, well done!"
"Thank you sir, I was just asking Cedric if he would help me look over them later if he had time, your opinion would be extremely valuable as well if you wouldn't mind," Hermione said shyly, Amos was the first adult that understood the scope of her success that she had spoken to since the exams department at the ministry.
"Why of course I would be honoured if you would like you can bring them with you to the game and I can cast my eyes over them tonight to get a lay of the land so to speak, better yet since we will be travelling and camping perhaps we can make a copy of them and of your results too and that way the originals can stay here safe and sound," he suggested sensibly and was met with enthusiastic nods from her and her parents.
"That's very kind of you Amos thank you for doing this for Hermione and for inviting her she has been so excited to go to this game and it is nice to know somebody who knows a bit more about the magic world can also give her a bit of insight on her offers," her mom said sounding relieved.
Her parents always did their best to be supportive and provide for her but she did sometimes sense that they felt a bit out of their depth when it came to the magical side of her life. As excited as they were to see her get exciting offers they were not sure what advice to give, with Amos' position in the ministry he would be a great resource of information and advice.
"Of course, Linda, your daughter has been such a blessing to us this year her study group with Cedric, she helped him to achieve even higher results than he typically would have gotten and like I say, if my colleagues heard I was getting to talk to Mrs Granger about her results they would be quite envious I suspect she may even have some offers from them, I promise I will remain impartial however" He said with a chuckle which was returned by her parents.
"The portkey is going to be leaving soon Dad" Cedric said drawing his father's attention away from the conversation.
"Right you are my boy, Hermione if you would like those copies made, nip and get them quickly and then we shall be off." He said kindly his instruction spurring her into action before she fully realised she was moving.
She quickly went to her room grabbed her flip file that she had stored her results and letters in and ran back down. Amos cast a quick duplication charm over it and soon a perfect replica was made as her parents watched in fascination.
A small alarm started to ring from Amos' wand letting them know the portkey was just about ready to leave. Hermione handed her parents the file of her letters before taking the copies from Amos and packing it into her backpack. They all bid each other farewell and held on to the large ring that seemed to be a door knocker that Amos produced from his robes.
It wasn't long before the familiar pull began on her navel and they were spinning away, soon they set down in an open field.
"All right we are meeting up with the Weasley bunch in the clearing just ahead of us before we hike to get the public portkey into the stadium campsite," Amos explained
Hermione felt a flash of nerves flash through her at the mention of the Weasleys she just hoped Ron would leave her alone and wouldn't make a fuss over her being here.
"You kids start walking ahead I am just going to send a quick patronus to your mum to let her know we have arrived at the meeting spot with Hermione"
They nodded their agreement and began walking to the clearing that Amos had indicated was the set meeting spot.
"You alright?" Cedric asked having noticed the distressed look on her face earlier when his dad was talking.
"Yeah I'm fine, I just wasn't expecting us to travel in with the Weasleys is all" she explained feeling instantly horrible, she knew she must sound so ungrateful for being upset over the plans of a trip she was invited to and on top of that, she must seem like a terrible friend.
"Is that a problem, I thought you were friends with Ron and the others?" he said the confusion and worry clear in his voice.
"I am, it's fine!" She said doing her best to reassure him and falling flat if the look of disbelief on his face was any indication.
"Mione you are clearly upset, tell me the truth what happened?" He ordered sounding serious.
"I am telling the truth, I am friends with the twins and Ginny," She said defensively.
"But not Ron?" He said catching on to the name she had clearly left out.
"Ron and I have gone different ways in our friendship" she said trying to play it off nonchalantly
"That's a very diplomatic way of saying no," he admonished "Tell me the truth, did he do something? I am not going to let you be in an uncomfortable situation if he has hurt you"
"It's nothing like that, he didn't hurt me" Cedric's eyes flashed warningly at the falseness ringing out in her tone "Well not physically, you know Ron he speaks without thinking half the time and the other half he is mostly thinking about what would be of benefit to him. He said a few mean things, especially at the leaving feast and he chose to invite Harry but not me to the cup even though he had a ticket for me so I feel awkward being here when he didn't want me here"
"Well that's just too damn bad for him he doesn't get to decide where you go and you are here as my guest if he says anything rude he will have me to handle." he said fiercely, "Are you sure you are okay with seeing him right now? We will be coming up on the clearing in a few minutes"
"Yes I will be completely fine" she assured him so grateful to have a friend on her side if Ron did decide to kick off.
"Alright but I will expect the full story later, I want to hear exactly what has been said, no excuses okay?"
"Okay," She agreed as they continued walking forward through the thicket of trees.
"So are you excited for the big game?" He asked wiggling his eyebrows
"I am, I think it will be interesting to see the difference between our school games and professional quidditch and I can't wait to see the wizard tent!" she said enthusiastically which seemed to spur on Cedric's own excitement.
"Oh yes I had forgotten you wouldn't have seen a magic tent before, there's only you and the other girls so you will each have your own room and then there is a small kitchen and bathroom to share"
"That sounds wonderful," she said
"Hermione what the hell are you doing here?!" a voice called from directly in front of her.
And there we are I hope you enjoyed! My husband and I spent a good half hour joking about what the talk between Amos and Hermione's parents must have sounded like as Amos tried to understand dentistry. Please let me know what you think and if you have any ideas for where the story should go feel free to drop them in the comments! I love incorporating as many ideas as possible! Thanks for reading-Dayout