HP fic: Unexpected Part 3: Constant Vigilance (Cedric/Hermione)
Title: Part 3: Constant Vigilance (G)
Characters: Cedric/Hermione
Disclaimer: None because they're useless
Notes: First there was Part 1: A Small Change of Fate. Then there was Part 2: Unexpected which was inspired by a manip by ginger001. Now this one was written after staring for a long time at a mesmerising manip by the talented dhfreak. I really hope that there are many more manips and icons created because they are incredibly helpful! Icon creator names are in the file name.
In fact, there's a wonderful icon created by hazy_crazy that I saw jazzchang using that totally sums up how I feel :)
"Granger?"
The voice sounded as though it was coming from very far away.
"Granger!" the voice said more insistently, a touch of anxiety mixed in with the impatience.
Cedric stared down at Hermione's pale face, reached down and tucked the scarf around her securely, his face concerned. He allowed his fingers to brush against her smooth skin, allowed his fingers to reach up to brush the hair from her face. Hermione didn't look up, she was too busy staring ahead, deep in thought, a trace of a frown in her dark eyes.
Cedric had been standing there for a long time before he had finally spoken, just watching her, his gaze resting lingeringly on her face. He knew her face better than he knew his own. He had studied all her smiles and frowns. The two of them had risked the ire of Madam Pince as they passed one another notes in the library, exchanged kisses in the dark corners of the library, fingers tangled and mouths locked.
"You're starting to worry me, Granger," Cedric commented. "Ignoring me so early in our relationship - not a good sign, you know," he murmured, lowering his head to brush his lips across hers and he found himself smiling when she responded, her lips clinging to his.
"That's better," he murmured and a faint smile curved her mouth. She suddenly seemed to realise that he was there.
"Sorry - have you been there long?" she asked him.
"Forever," he said, reaching down and playing with the ends of her scarf. "I could have tied your scarf around your head and made you have bunny ears and you wouldn't have noticed," he teased her.
"Hardly," she said tartly, reaching up to put her hand in his and draw him down to side beside her on the stone steps.
"Granger, you have to stop this," he said softly, his eyes very serious. "You've done what you can. I'll be as careful as I can be but there are no guarantees in this life". When she opened her mouth to protest, he put a fingertip to her lips. "If I'd known that I'd make my nightmare yours - I never would have told you about my dream," he told her soberly.
"And where would that have got you?" she demanded crossly. "Such a boy thing to do, being all heroic and stupid," she said tartly. She sighed as he put his arm around her and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head affectionately.
"Stop being so cranky. Be nice to your Cedric ... he's going into the maze tomorrow. It might be the last time you see him," he reminded her. To his surprise she didn't snap at him, didn't tell him not to make stupid jokes like that. A faint frown crossed his brow at her decidedly uncharacteristic lack of response.
In fact, she looked almost serene which was not like her at all given how tense and positively psychotic she had been over the last few days as the day of the final challenge approached.
Cedric looked at her warily. "What are you up to now, Hermione Granger?" he asked her.
"Cedric," she said with a sweet smile, her hand in his and her dark eyes very alluring.
"Yeah?" he asked her suspiciously.
"You like me, don't you?" she asked him unexpectedly.
"Very much," he said promptly.
"How much?"
"Unquantifiable," he told her, his head tilted to the side questioningly.
"But a lot, yes?"
"Positively buckets of affection".
"When a boy likes a girl he should be able to deny her nothing, is that not correct?" she asked him, a trace of anxiety in her voice.
"Just where you going with this, Granger?" he asked her cautiously.
"You just said you like me very much," she reminded him.
"You know I do".
"There's something I want," she said wistfully, her fingers twitching in his convulsively, her dark eyes very pleading. "I want it very, very much ...." her voice became a whisper.
Cedric's mouth went dry. "I .... uhh ......." Hermione's smile was slow and feminine and she leaned towards him, her mouth was soft and sweet, tasted of vanilla and sin as she kissed him. His thoughts were clouded by her very nearness, by the softness of her body pressing against his and the way she breathed his name against his mouth.
"If I asked you for ..something ... you'd agree, wouldn't you?" she asked him, her mouth trailing along his jaw lingeringly.
"Are you sure?" he asked her, his thoughts in a whirl, unable to think straight.
"Yes?" she asked him and he nodded.
"Yes, anything," he told her.
"Promise?" she asked him.
"Yes, yes, I promise," he blurted out. "When?"
"I'm going into the maze with you tomorrow," she said calmly, drawing back from him as he stared at her in complete and utter shock.
"What the hell?" he demanded furiously.
Hermione slanted a sly smile at him, her mouth quivering slightly as she asked him demurely. "Why Cedric - whatever were you thinking I was asking you for?" she asked him, her brows lifted with innocent inquiry.
"You're bloody barking mad if you think I'm letting you into that maze!" he said explosively.
"You already agreed," she said calmly. "You can't take it back .. you promised even," she said thoughtfully. "Besides, I've thought it all out and discussed it with Harry".
"There's no way he agreed to this," Cedric said furiously.
Hermione's brows drew together. "He was a little reluctant at first but he knows how serious this is". Harry's dreams had intensified as well. His visions of the graveyard, a blinding flash of sickening green and a harsh voice hissing the Killing Curse were making his scar burn with increased pain and he knew that they were more than simply dreams.
"He said he'd help me if you agreed to let me go with you - which you just have," Hermione said calmly. "I'm going to borrow his cloak ... I'll be invisible," she told him. "Everyone's attention will be on the champions so there will be no one to notice that I'm sneaking into the maze at the same time".
"No," Cedric said flatly. "Absolutely not".
Hermione smiled and her smile was disarmingly sweet. "You've already agreed," she repeated. "I'm going in, there's no more discussion. I've decided. It's the only way. I'm not going to sit and wait outside the maze. I'm not going to wait around doing nothing - not knowing the outcome, not knowing what's happening to the two of you."
"Granger, think about what you're saying. It's dangerous," he told her.
"Exactly. And the three of us together have got more of a chance of beating whatever is out there. I'm going in with you - you can't change my mind," she told him and the expression in her eyes was fiercely determined.
Cedric rested his brow against hers and exhaled slowly. "Bloody hell ....." he muttered and the slight trace of resignation in his voice made Hermione smile in relief. Despite everything, she hadn't been sure that he would agree to her plan.
"Stubborn, bossy, unfeminine, unmanageable......" he was muttering to himself furiously, angry at her and even angrier at himself for having been persuaded into this insanity.
"Cedric...."
".... obstinate, impossible ... what?" he demanded with rough impatience, interrupting his mutterings to look at her inquiringly. She put her hand up to push his unruly dark hair from his face so that she could look into his brilliant grey eyes.
"Am I still your girl?" she asked him wistfully and the anger drained from him and he pulled her close, holding her tightly.
"Of course you bloody are," he said fiercely.
The day of the final challenge.
"I guess I should have known that she'd persuade you," Harry commented, clearing his throat. He could feel the excitement and anticipation in the air. He had been pacing the corridors, almost overwhelmed by his own tension.
Hermione had been standing before Cedric, looking up at him and speaking in a quiet voice. The two of them hadn't even been touching, but the intensity of their voices and the way Cedric was looking down into her face made Harry feel as though he was intruding into a very private moment. At the sound of Harry's voice, they turned to face him.
Harry studied them both. Cedric stood in his Champion's colours, his face calm and determined. Standing in front of him, facing Harry with cool defiance in her eyes was Hermione. Her unbuttoned coat hung loosely around her and her hair was temporarily tamed although Harry had no doubt that in no time at all it would be its normal flyaway self. He no longer felt surprise at the thought of the young Hufflepuff and his bossy friend together. There was a rightness about them when they were together that he was surprised that neither of them had ever considered the possibilities before they had.
"Not surprising given that she's smarter than all of us put together," Harry continued.
"Don't remind me," Cedric said wryly.
"Well?" Hermione asked coolly, lifting one eyebrow quizzically and Harry rolled his eyes.
"I wasn't likely to forget, Hermione. You only went over the plan .... half a dozen times," he told her and handed over the Invisibility cloak. He grinned, his green eyes glinting behind his glasses. "To be honest, I can't say I'm sorry you tricked us .... I feel a lot better at the thought of having you in there with us," he said.
"Harry, what are you saying? You know how dangerous it is," Cedric said in a low voice and grimaced as Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.
"And you should know by now that no one tells Hermione Granger what to do," Harry said with a grin and walked past the pair.
"Got us both wrapped around your little finger, haven't you, Granger?" Cedric asked her dryly, staring down into Hermione's resolute face.
"Regretting getting involved with me?" she asked him challengingly. "You and me as a couple don't make sense at all after all."
"And now you're just fishing for compliments," he said with a wicked grin as he took a step towards her.
She took a step backwards. "Not at all. I've heard what your mates say about us. What does he see in her?" she mimicked and Cedric shook his head.
"Don't try and pretend you care what anyone else thinks about us," he said, a smile of wicked enjoyment curving his mouth. She stepped away from him.
"Don't be so smug," she told him.
"Smug? You know that there's something right about the two of us being together .... " He began to swearing laughingly as Hermione pulled the cloak about herself and vanished from sight. "Now that's mature," he said, reaching out his hand to try to find her.
At that moment, he heard his name being called and he made his way towards the maze. "Am I walking too fast for you?" he taunted her and then grinned at the sniff of outrage he heard from the air.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each - Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!"
The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky.
"In second place, with eighty points - Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!" There was more applause.
"And in third place - Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!" Cedric didn't bother to look up, concentrating on the quiet breathing coming from the air by his side.
"Keep hyperventilating like an asthmatic donkey and there's no point being invisible," he muttered.
"Shut up!" she hissed and he bit back a smile.
"So ... on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" Bagman told them. "Three - two - one -"
He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry and Cedric exchanged glances and then stepped forward into the maze.
The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and thick or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment they entered the maze. "Lumos," Cedric and Harry muttered at the same time.
There was no thought of splitting up. They were going to work through this together. Gone were thoughts of individual glory and trying to win the Cup. All that mattered was finding out who was behind the devious plot to get Harry to the graveyard - and staying alive to tell the tale.
"What do you think? Left or right?" Cedric wondered aloud.
"Let's just go straight and see what happens," Harry said and took the path first.
Cedric hesitated a moment before following. He glanced back.
"Still my girl?" He asked the air, a faint question in his eyes.
A kiss brushed against his mouth and a small hand tugged on his and pulled him into the heavy darkness of the maze.
"Always ...."
The End
The 'Unexpected' Series
Part 1: A Small change of fate | Part 2: | Unexpected | Part 3: Constant Vigilance | Part 4: 15minuteficlets: Word 155 | Part 5: Outside the Maze
Characters: Cedric/Hermione
Disclaimer: None because they're useless
Notes: First there was Part 1: A Small Change of Fate. Then there was Part 2: Unexpected which was inspired by a manip by ginger001. Now this one was written after staring for a long time at a mesmerising manip by the talented dhfreak. I really hope that there are many more manips and icons created because they are incredibly helpful! Icon creator names are in the file name.
In fact, there's a wonderful icon created by hazy_crazy that I saw jazzchang using that totally sums up how I feel :)
"Granger?"
The voice sounded as though it was coming from very far away.
"Granger!" the voice said more insistently, a touch of anxiety mixed in with the impatience.
Cedric stared down at Hermione's pale face, reached down and tucked the scarf around her securely, his face concerned. He allowed his fingers to brush against her smooth skin, allowed his fingers to reach up to brush the hair from her face. Hermione didn't look up, she was too busy staring ahead, deep in thought, a trace of a frown in her dark eyes.
Cedric had been standing there for a long time before he had finally spoken, just watching her, his gaze resting lingeringly on her face. He knew her face better than he knew his own. He had studied all her smiles and frowns. The two of them had risked the ire of Madam Pince as they passed one another notes in the library, exchanged kisses in the dark corners of the library, fingers tangled and mouths locked.
"You're starting to worry me, Granger," Cedric commented. "Ignoring me so early in our relationship - not a good sign, you know," he murmured, lowering his head to brush his lips across hers and he found himself smiling when she responded, her lips clinging to his.
"That's better," he murmured and a faint smile curved her mouth. She suddenly seemed to realise that he was there.
"Sorry - have you been there long?" she asked him.
"Forever," he said, reaching down and playing with the ends of her scarf. "I could have tied your scarf around your head and made you have bunny ears and you wouldn't have noticed," he teased her.
"Hardly," she said tartly, reaching up to put her hand in his and draw him down to side beside her on the stone steps.
"Granger, you have to stop this," he said softly, his eyes very serious. "You've done what you can. I'll be as careful as I can be but there are no guarantees in this life". When she opened her mouth to protest, he put a fingertip to her lips. "If I'd known that I'd make my nightmare yours - I never would have told you about my dream," he told her soberly.
"And where would that have got you?" she demanded crossly. "Such a boy thing to do, being all heroic and stupid," she said tartly. She sighed as he put his arm around her and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head affectionately.
"Stop being so cranky. Be nice to your Cedric ... he's going into the maze tomorrow. It might be the last time you see him," he reminded her. To his surprise she didn't snap at him, didn't tell him not to make stupid jokes like that. A faint frown crossed his brow at her decidedly uncharacteristic lack of response.
In fact, she looked almost serene which was not like her at all given how tense and positively psychotic she had been over the last few days as the day of the final challenge approached.
Cedric looked at her warily. "What are you up to now, Hermione Granger?" he asked her.
"Cedric," she said with a sweet smile, her hand in his and her dark eyes very alluring.
"Yeah?" he asked her suspiciously.
"You like me, don't you?" she asked him unexpectedly.
"Very much," he said promptly.
"How much?"
"Unquantifiable," he told her, his head tilted to the side questioningly.
"But a lot, yes?"
"Positively buckets of affection".
"When a boy likes a girl he should be able to deny her nothing, is that not correct?" she asked him, a trace of anxiety in her voice.
"Just where you going with this, Granger?" he asked her cautiously.
"You just said you like me very much," she reminded him.
"You know I do".
"There's something I want," she said wistfully, her fingers twitching in his convulsively, her dark eyes very pleading. "I want it very, very much ...." her voice became a whisper.
Cedric's mouth went dry. "I .... uhh ......." Hermione's smile was slow and feminine and she leaned towards him, her mouth was soft and sweet, tasted of vanilla and sin as she kissed him. His thoughts were clouded by her very nearness, by the softness of her body pressing against his and the way she breathed his name against his mouth.
"If I asked you for ..something ... you'd agree, wouldn't you?" she asked him, her mouth trailing along his jaw lingeringly.
"Are you sure?" he asked her, his thoughts in a whirl, unable to think straight.
"Yes?" she asked him and he nodded.
"Yes, anything," he told her.
"Promise?" she asked him.
"Yes, yes, I promise," he blurted out. "When?"
"I'm going into the maze with you tomorrow," she said calmly, drawing back from him as he stared at her in complete and utter shock.
"What the hell?" he demanded furiously.
Hermione slanted a sly smile at him, her mouth quivering slightly as she asked him demurely. "Why Cedric - whatever were you thinking I was asking you for?" she asked him, her brows lifted with innocent inquiry.
"You're bloody barking mad if you think I'm letting you into that maze!" he said explosively.
"You already agreed," she said calmly. "You can't take it back .. you promised even," she said thoughtfully. "Besides, I've thought it all out and discussed it with Harry".
"There's no way he agreed to this," Cedric said furiously.
Hermione's brows drew together. "He was a little reluctant at first but he knows how serious this is". Harry's dreams had intensified as well. His visions of the graveyard, a blinding flash of sickening green and a harsh voice hissing the Killing Curse were making his scar burn with increased pain and he knew that they were more than simply dreams.
"He said he'd help me if you agreed to let me go with you - which you just have," Hermione said calmly. "I'm going to borrow his cloak ... I'll be invisible," she told him. "Everyone's attention will be on the champions so there will be no one to notice that I'm sneaking into the maze at the same time".
"No," Cedric said flatly. "Absolutely not".
Hermione smiled and her smile was disarmingly sweet. "You've already agreed," she repeated. "I'm going in, there's no more discussion. I've decided. It's the only way. I'm not going to sit and wait outside the maze. I'm not going to wait around doing nothing - not knowing the outcome, not knowing what's happening to the two of you."
"Granger, think about what you're saying. It's dangerous," he told her.
"Exactly. And the three of us together have got more of a chance of beating whatever is out there. I'm going in with you - you can't change my mind," she told him and the expression in her eyes was fiercely determined.
Cedric rested his brow against hers and exhaled slowly. "Bloody hell ....." he muttered and the slight trace of resignation in his voice made Hermione smile in relief. Despite everything, she hadn't been sure that he would agree to her plan.
"Stubborn, bossy, unfeminine, unmanageable......" he was muttering to himself furiously, angry at her and even angrier at himself for having been persuaded into this insanity.
"Cedric...."
".... obstinate, impossible ... what?" he demanded with rough impatience, interrupting his mutterings to look at her inquiringly. She put her hand up to push his unruly dark hair from his face so that she could look into his brilliant grey eyes.
"Am I still your girl?" she asked him wistfully and the anger drained from him and he pulled her close, holding her tightly.
"Of course you bloody are," he said fiercely.
The day of the final challenge.
"I guess I should have known that she'd persuade you," Harry commented, clearing his throat. He could feel the excitement and anticipation in the air. He had been pacing the corridors, almost overwhelmed by his own tension.
Hermione had been standing before Cedric, looking up at him and speaking in a quiet voice. The two of them hadn't even been touching, but the intensity of their voices and the way Cedric was looking down into her face made Harry feel as though he was intruding into a very private moment. At the sound of Harry's voice, they turned to face him.
Harry studied them both. Cedric stood in his Champion's colours, his face calm and determined. Standing in front of him, facing Harry with cool defiance in her eyes was Hermione. Her unbuttoned coat hung loosely around her and her hair was temporarily tamed although Harry had no doubt that in no time at all it would be its normal flyaway self. He no longer felt surprise at the thought of the young Hufflepuff and his bossy friend together. There was a rightness about them when they were together that he was surprised that neither of them had ever considered the possibilities before they had.
"Not surprising given that she's smarter than all of us put together," Harry continued.
"Don't remind me," Cedric said wryly.
"Well?" Hermione asked coolly, lifting one eyebrow quizzically and Harry rolled his eyes.
"I wasn't likely to forget, Hermione. You only went over the plan .... half a dozen times," he told her and handed over the Invisibility cloak. He grinned, his green eyes glinting behind his glasses. "To be honest, I can't say I'm sorry you tricked us .... I feel a lot better at the thought of having you in there with us," he said.
"Harry, what are you saying? You know how dangerous it is," Cedric said in a low voice and grimaced as Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.
"And you should know by now that no one tells Hermione Granger what to do," Harry said with a grin and walked past the pair.
"Got us both wrapped around your little finger, haven't you, Granger?" Cedric asked her dryly, staring down into Hermione's resolute face.
"Regretting getting involved with me?" she asked him challengingly. "You and me as a couple don't make sense at all after all."
"And now you're just fishing for compliments," he said with a wicked grin as he took a step towards her.
She took a step backwards. "Not at all. I've heard what your mates say about us. What does he see in her?" she mimicked and Cedric shook his head.
"Don't try and pretend you care what anyone else thinks about us," he said, a smile of wicked enjoyment curving his mouth. She stepped away from him.
"Don't be so smug," she told him.
"Smug? You know that there's something right about the two of us being together .... " He began to swearing laughingly as Hermione pulled the cloak about herself and vanished from sight. "Now that's mature," he said, reaching out his hand to try to find her.
At that moment, he heard his name being called and he made his way towards the maze. "Am I walking too fast for you?" he taunted her and then grinned at the sniff of outrage he heard from the air.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each - Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!"
The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky.
"In second place, with eighty points - Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!" There was more applause.
"And in third place - Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!" Cedric didn't bother to look up, concentrating on the quiet breathing coming from the air by his side.
"Keep hyperventilating like an asthmatic donkey and there's no point being invisible," he muttered.
"Shut up!" she hissed and he bit back a smile.
"So ... on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" Bagman told them. "Three - two - one -"
He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry and Cedric exchanged glances and then stepped forward into the maze.
The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and thick or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment they entered the maze. "Lumos," Cedric and Harry muttered at the same time.
There was no thought of splitting up. They were going to work through this together. Gone were thoughts of individual glory and trying to win the Cup. All that mattered was finding out who was behind the devious plot to get Harry to the graveyard - and staying alive to tell the tale.
"What do you think? Left or right?" Cedric wondered aloud.
"Let's just go straight and see what happens," Harry said and took the path first.
Cedric hesitated a moment before following. He glanced back.
"Still my girl?" He asked the air, a faint question in his eyes.
A kiss brushed against his mouth and a small hand tugged on his and pulled him into the heavy darkness of the maze.
"Always ...."
The End
The 'Unexpected' Series
Part 1: A Small change of fate | Part 2: | Unexpected | Part 3: Constant Vigilance | Part 4: 15minuteficlets: Word 155 | Part 5: Outside the Maze