Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Lioness And The Badgers	By : sawahhaych Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Cedric Views: 7550 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter (Although I am British I am unfortunately not the amazing JK Rowling!). I do not make any money from the writing of this fic.

Chapter List
- 11
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- 13
Walking down the stairs towards the Great Hall in heels isn't something I would recommend, I have to hold up the bottom of my dress robes with one hand and grip the banister with the other, it makes for a very slow decent.

The entranceway outside the Great Hall is pretty empty at the moment, from the sounds coming from the hall I would say everyone is already in there.

Viktor is waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs looking tremendously handsome in his blood red robes lined with fur. As I get to the bottom step he holds his hand out to me, I take it.

“You look beautiful.” He states simply.

I feel myself blush. “So do you.” I send him an impish smile, he laughs.

“I do try.” He says arching his brows before offering me his arm. “Shall ve?”

Placing my hand on his arm I agree. “We shall.”

With a smile to each other we proceed to towards the great hall where the other champions are waiting for us.

I try not to look at Cedric, really I do, but when there are just six of us it is inevitable that I cannot avoid him.

His dress robes are a crisp new black, his shirt the whitest of whites, my eyes trail from his impossibly shiny shoes, up his legs to his bow tie, I pause before looking up further, taking a steadying breath. His hair, which is always in disarray, still hasn’t been totally tamed, but it looks more purposely put together in it's chaos. I meet his eyes which shine in the candle light, I smile at him, he doesn’t return it, just turns, takes Cho by the arm and leads the way into the hall.

Fleur goes ahead of me and Viktor, giving me precious seconds to sniff and scrunch my eyes shut so tears cannot fall. Why is he being like this? For the last week Cedric hasn't spoken to me. I have even caught him actively avoiding me, leaving the library when he sees me enter, walking in the opposite direction once he spots me.

Viktor puts his arm around my shoulder and squeezes me to his side for a second. “Forget about that Lainar” Viktor says.

I give him an appraising look.

“It means shit head.” Viktor simply states dropping his arm from my shoulder to offer it to me, I smile at him and we walk into the hall slowly.

I take in the scene before me, it is so different to how I have seen the great hall before, the house tables are gone, only the head table is still present, other tables are now scattered around, round ones seating maybe twelve people each, it reminds me of a wedding.

Viktor leads me over to the table Harry and Ron are currently sitting at, Harry is predictably mooning over Cho sitting with Cedric on a table across the room, if I didn’t have so much pride I suppose I would do the same, so as not to temp myself I make sure I have my back towards Cedric. He is not going to ruin my night, I am going to have a great night with Viktor and my friends.

“You look great Hermione.” Neville comments not quite looking me in the eye.

I smile at him. “You look great too Neville.” And he really does, happy and smiling sitting next to Ginny who as usual looks stunning.

The table fills, some of Viktor's school mates come to sit with us as does Seamus and Dean, both dateless but not caring.

The food is even more amazing than usual which is unimaginable but true, once I have finished I sit back in my chair, wondering if I should really have ate that much considering I plan to dance.

Talk at the table has gone from the difference in our schools, to the general difference in the countries to Ginny getting the Durmstrang students to teach her some new and exciting swear words. Usually I would be appalled by this type of behaviour but I cannot seem to care today, and at least she is learning something.

The plates clear themselves and it's time. The champions and their partners open the dancing, Viktor holds his hand out, I take it and he leads me onto the dance floor. I keep my eyes firmly on Viktor's so I don’t have to see how happy Cedric is with Cho.

The music starts and we begin to move, it is at this moment in time I am glad of my mother sending me to dance lessons as a child, first ballet and then at the insistence of my ballet teacher to jazz, tap and ballroom, this dance doesn’t really fit in with the others but because of my lessons I can keep up and let Viktor lead me around the room.

Soon other couples are joining in the dancing, I grin up at Viktor. “You are very good at this.” He states.

I giggle as Viktor spins me.

-xXx-

As the night wares on I find myself subconsciously looking around the room for Cedric, big mistake. He is sitting with his friends and Cho, drinking punch and laughing, bumping Cho on the shoulder with his.

I sit to rest my feet whilst Viktor goes to fetch us some drinks, the line is long so I guess he will be a while. “Hey Granger.” I look up to see Luke standing in front of me. “Having a good time?” He asks before taking a seat.

I smile at him and nod. “Yeah, nothing better than hanging out with friends is there?” I ask trying to keep the resentfulness out of my voice.

“Well.” He says either not noticing my pointed comment at Cedric or just plain ignoring it. “Max broke her heel and I still feel like dancing and since you were over here all alone, I thought you might like to join me so I don’t look like a complete spaz by myself?” He offers me a smirk.

“Well, when you put it that way it would be cruel not to accept wouldn’t it?” I ask smirking back.

“Like kicking a puppy!” He comments holding out his hand, I take it and he leads me back to the dance floor where Will and Tony are jumping up and down to the music with their dates.

We dance, laughing at each other as we do, Luke tries to pull off the funky chicken but ends up flat on his face, at which point Max, minus her shoes, comes to help him up. “Sorry about the 'tard” She says to me with a wink. I laugh and then excuse myself to go find Viktor, it isn't really fair to disappear on him.

I find Viktor sitting at a table with a few of his classmates. “Sorry.” I say sitting next to him.

Viktor waves me off. “You vant to dance vith your friends then you do that, you do not need my permission.”

I smile at him.

-xXx-

Viktor and I say goodbye at the main doors, he hugs me tightly then kisses the top of my head. “I had a great time.” He says with a smile.

I grin back at him. “Me too.” I say.

Viktor smiles at me. “I vill see you tomorrow.” With that he turns and walks out into the night, I watch him go for a second, hugging myself to keep out the cold before turning to go towards the stairs.

Cedric is standing leaning again the staircase, watching me with his arms folded and eyes narrowed.

The smile falls from my face as my own eyes narrow. Who the hell does he think he is? Here I was having arguably the best night of my life and here he is, ruining it.

Head held high I stride past him towards the girls bathroom only to be followed.

“Have fun with Krum did you?” Cedric spits at me.

I turn to stare at him. “I don’t see how that is any of your business.” I shoot back.

Cedric scoffs. “Looked pretty cosy to me.”

“Not as much as you and Cho.”

Cedric raises his voice. “Cho is just my friend, you didn’t see me getting all cuddly and kissy with her did you?”

“You were plenty cuddly thank you.” I say back, not raising my voice.

“Don't be so fucking ridiculous Hermione, Cho doesn’t like me like that, she likes Harry.” His voice is again on the edge of shouting.

I huff. “If that's true then why the hell didn't she go with Harry tonight?” I ask smugly.

“Because he didn’t ask her.” Cedric replies sarcastically.

“Well that's your own fucking fault then, you should have asked someone who actually wanted to go with you, don’t blame me just because she doesn’t like you.” I say, my voice on the edge of yelling.

“It isn't that fucking simple!” Cedric shouts back at me.

I walk forward towards Cedric, poking him in the chest with my finger. “Yes it is that fucking simple Cedric, you ask who you want to go with and you don’t get to get angry with other people because you aren't with who you wanted to be.”

Cedric runs his hand through his hair manically. “You were going with Viktor!”

I take a step back, this is not where I thought this was going. I don’t shout as I answer. “I...I don’t see what me going with Viktor has to do with anything.”

“Really?” Cedric asks in disbelief. “You go to the ball with Viktor Krum, famous, athletic, tall, dark and handsome Viktor Krum and you don’t see why I have a fucking problem with it?” Cedric is shouting again.

“No I really don’t!” I shout back. “Who I am or am not friends with is nothing to do with you.”

Cedric snorts throwing up his hands. “Friends!”

“Yes friends!” I shout back.

“Well you might want to be careful who you are friends with Hermione, you might get hurt!” Cedric points at me as he speaks. “Krum isn't known for his treatment of the ladies, drops them as soon as he gets what he wants!”

I see red and start screaming at Cedric. “Do not talk about him like that!”

“I'm just telling you the truth Hermione, not my fault it stings.” Cedric replies.

“You don’t even know him you twat! So don’t even...” I stop speaking and let out a frustrated grunt. “Why are you being so spiteful?”

“Hey, I’m just looking out for you.”

I laugh at this. “No you fucking well aren't, you are just being a dick!”

“Fine!” Cedric shouts. “If you want to end up hurt and in trouble then be my fucking guest!”

I don’t think before I speak back. “He isn’t going to get me in trouble he's gay!”

Cedric's mouth drops open as he gasps. “What?” he asks quietly.

I groan at my stupidity. “Nothing, forget I said anything.” I say pushing past him.

“Hermione wait!” Cedric calls after me.

I stop but don’t turn towards him, face flaming from the slip of my tongue, I really hope Cedric doesn’t tell anyone. Cedric comes to stand in front of me, I don’t meet his eye.

“I'm sorry, I did this all wrong.” Cedric admits, I simply nod not trusting myself to think, now the adrenaline is leaving my head all I want to do is curl up in my bed and cry. “I wanted to come to the ball with you.” Cedric says gently.

Now I do look up into his eyes. “But you went with Cho...”

Cedric smiles sadly down at me. “Because you were going with Krum.”

“I only went with Viktor because you didn't ask me. He didn’t ask until last week.” I say looking to the floor.

“Everywhere you went you were with people, my friends, your friends, Krum...” Cedric says bringing his hand up to my chin, lifting it so I meet his eyes. “... I couldn’t get you alone to ask...”

I let out an amused sigh. “We've been really stupid haven't we?”

Cedric nods. “Yeah we have.” He says releasing my chin to let his hand fall limply at his side.

I stare at the floor, watching his feet for a few minutes breathing deeply, wondering what will happen now. In the silence I hear Cedric take a few deep breathes as if he is going to speak but he doesn’t.

“I never got to dance with you.” Cedric whispers. I look up to him with a small smile tugging at the side of my lips. Taking a chance I step forwards and wrap my arms around his neck, resting my head on his shoulder, Cedric gets the hint and wraps his arms around my middle, we sway gently in the cold and deserted corridor.

After a few minutes I remove my head from his shoulder and take a step back, signalling the end of the non existent song.

Cedric takes my hands, running his thumbs over my knuckles still not speaking. Finally Cedric looks up at me, I meet his eyes shyly. “I'm going to kiss you now.” He says simply.

I don’t speak just nod gently, Cedric licks his lips, I bite mine. I watch as he slowly lowers his face towards mine, his breath tinged with the smell of pumpkin juice. I close my eyes as his nose gently brushes mine, tilting my face slightly to the right, his lips brush mine gently and I feel his hand on the side of my face, fingers going into my hair.

He pulls back slightly, my eyes half open to see he is pursing his lips together, I lean into him again wrapping my arms around his neck as his snake around my waist.
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- 13
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The Lioness And The Badgers