Strawberry and Vanilla (Cedric Diggory AU)

Chapter Twelve: Perspicacious

A/N: one of my favourite chapters to write, EVER

Cedric, you came!" Hermione hugged Cedric quickly and beckoned for him to sit. It had been a while since he had visited the Hog's Head, as it was a place where he used to go to drink and snog Violet in a quiet, sequestered place. The concept of it made him cringe, now, seeing how he went downhill to Cho, who was a hopeless romantic. Hermione's hug made him smile, being she had never done that before and he quite cherished it. She smelled as sweet as ever, despite the smell of goats the dirty pub gave off.

The Hog's Head was buzzing, with faces he recognized, along with others he didn't. He noticed Cho Chang, the Weasley twins (Fred and George), Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil along with her sister Padma, Neville-something (he couldn't remember the lad's surname), Justin Finch-Fletchly, Ernie Macmillan... the other faces weren't where his attention was. His attention was turned to Hermione and Harry who stood at the front. Harry looked worried and Hermione looked nervous.

He couldn't help but wonder what everyone was doing there. He appeared to be the eldest in the room, out of the students.

Hermione looked extraordinarily nice, Cedric noted. She wore her jeans and her sweater as usual but her cheeks were pink and she sat at what would be the front of the group with her hands fiddling with the clip in her hair. She was... beautiful.

People began to pull up chairs and Cedric only readied himself to listen. Once everyone was seated, the talking stopped. Eyes turned on Harry, though Cedric kept his on Hermione.

"Er, well, hi," Hermione greeted the group of students. It was obvious she was nervous. "You all know why you're here. I had the idea that it might be a good idea if people who wanted to study Defence Against the Dark Arts- and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge teaches us... Because nobody could call the Defence Against the Dark Arts. Well, I thought it would be good if we took matters into our own hands. And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but doing real spells-"

"You want to pass your O.W.L in Defence Against the Dark Arts too, I bet?" Said a boy Cedric regret not knowing the name of.

"Of course I do," Hermione replied quite quickly. "But more than that I want to be able to defend myself because-" She took a large breath, "-Lord Voldemort is back."

And everyone had their proper response. Butterbeer spilled, there were small shrieks, but Hermione continued. Cedric was proud, for reasons he couldn't place.

"Well, that's the plan, anyway. If you plan on joining us, we need to decide on-"

"Where's the proof You-Know-Who is back?" Asked Hufflepuff Zacharias Smith, quite aggressively.

Cedric turned, "Hey- let her speak. There's plenty of proof. You think I'm disabled because I want to be? He's back."
Hermione flushed and commented as well. "Dumbledore believes it-"

"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," Zach gestured to Harry.

"Dumbledore believes two of us. Harry and I both saw him, remember?" Cedric spoke through his teeth.

"How do I know it's not just some joke-"

"And who are you?" Ron cut in, rather rudely. Zach deserved it, if anything.

"Zacharias Smith. And I think we've got the right to know what makes Harry say You-Know-Who is back?"

"That's not what this meeting is about," Hermione said, intervening swiftly.