Just Like Magic (Cedric Diggory and Hermione Granger Fan fiction)

Chapter 3: Caring

When I woke, I showered and put on my dress robes while attempting to tame my hair. It was an impossibility but I made it presentable. The effects of the previous night were still making themselves known in my thighs. Cedric had a way of allowing me to let down my guard and follow my heart instead of over thinking every situation. The Hermione I was when not with Cedric would've never condoned exhibitionism. Especially on school grounds but there I was pressed against a stone wall as Cedric brought me pleasure I didn't know existed until several nights ago.

After slipping on my Mary Jane's, I made my way down to the Gryffindor common room. There pacing on the burgundy carpet was Harry and leaning against the couch attempting to reason with him was Ron. I could only assume Harry figured out the clue.

"What is it?" I asked.

Harry stopped immediately and looked up at me. His tie was tugged down and off to the right, and his hair looked like he repeatedly was tugging on it. Harry was distraught—this couldn't be good. I walked right towards him and gripped his arms.

Harry spoke in a far away voice. "Come seek us where our voices sound. We cannot sing above the ground. An hour long you'll have to look, to recover what we took."

"You figured it out!" I smiled up at him. "Mermaids, I'm assuming."

He nodded. "Hermione..."

"I know. I know." My hands drifted down his arms to grip his fingers with mine. "We have to figure out a way for you to breathe underwater for an hour."

Ron stepped towards us and stared at where our hands were joined. I could care less. If he didn't understand our relationship by now then there was no getting through that thick skull. Harry and Ron's relationship had shifted slightly since Harry was chosen in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. I didn't believe for a second that Harry put his name in the Goblet of Fire, but Ron had his doubts. Even though they worked it out between themselves the way boys do something changed. Their friendship, while still tight, seemed to be fraying at the ends. Any huge fight would be the fallout and I only hoped it didn't happen while we were trying to help him.

"Hermione, there is no way I can bloody breathe underwater for an hour!"

I squeezed his hands. "There is only one place to figure that out." I paused and when neither of them answered and I stated the answer in a bored voice. "The library."

"Knowledge is power and all that, Hermione?" Ron sneered jokingly.

"Precisely."

"Do you mind if I join?" A small voice called out.

I turned to see Neville looking at us with a hopeful expression, and carrying quite a few books in his skinny arms. Neville had grown since we started Hogwarts four years ago. He was now taller than even Ron and Harry. Neville was still as shy and cautious as ever, but there was a strength in him that I wasn't sure others saw. He knew true tragedy in his life. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Longbottom—Neville's parents—were driven mad by the use of the Cruciatus curse and Neville was forced to move in with his Grandmother. She was an old woman who couldn't possibly relate to a young wizard grieving over his parents. She had her own grief to deal with and she often snapped at Neville. The only solace he found was in his study of Herbology.

"Of course, Neville." Harry answered.

The four of us made our way out of the Gryffindor common room and towards the Library. Ron asked Neville about his books and I went on in a tangent about how Mad-Eye Moody acted towards him in class. Mad-Eye was filling in as our Defense Against the Dark Arts—a job that no teacher survived more than a year since we arrived at Hogwarts. Mad-Eye was an Auror—someone who catches Death Eaters and a job Harry was looking to pursue—and he certainly looked the part. He had one leg and one eye. In the spot where his other eye should be was a mechanical eye that looked more machine than human. He limped around and rambled while constantly drinking from his flask—which certainly didn't contain pumpkin juice.