Started With a Kiss

Story is set in fourth year where Cedric is still alive.

It starts off after Harry tells Cedric about the first task Dragons,

Hope you all give it a try.

~~~~

Hermione watched sadly as Harry headed to the empty classroom. She should've just left with him but she had a feeling he wanted a bit of time alone.

"Well Terry asked me out this afternoon to go out with him to Hogsmeade this weekend." Lavender said trying to act nonplussed.

"Well Rick said he'd tutor me in Herbology tonight but... I'm not sure how much studying we'll get." Parvati said giving a wink. Then both girls broke into a fit of giggles.

Hermione snorted as she tried her hardest to ignore the two girls sitting across from her.

The two girls turned to look at her. "What's wrong Hermione?" Lavender asked faux sweetly.

"What's wrong is that we have a transfiguration test in two days and you two are here talking about... snogging boys." Hermione wrinkled her nose.

"Yes well we're not all stunningly pretty and dating Harry Potter." Parvarti said referring to the Rita Skeeter article.

"I'm not dating Harry. He's my best friend. Like my brother even!" Hermione exclaimed.

"You know Parv she can't be dating Harry, she's probably never dated anyone before, much less snogged a boy." Lavender said somewhat snidely.

Hermione pursed her lips and she stared down the two girls.

"Anyway what guy would want to snog her, she's so prudish." Lavender offered.

"I am not prudish." Hermione seethed ready to hex the hair off both girls at this point, especially the blonde.

Lavender turned to look at her then from the corner of her eye she saw both Malfoy and Goyle enter the hall. She smirked as she realized that Crabbe would most certainly be next after all you could never find the three Slytherins apart.

"Is that so. Well I dare you to kiss the next boy that enters through those doors." Lavender smirked.

Hermione's eyes flamed as she caught Lavender's smirk. Hermione knew that the two girls were just egging her on but she wanted to shut them up and prove to them once and for all.

From the corner of her eyes she saw a guy enter the hall and strode purposefully toward him keeping an eye only on his shoes not wanting to look at his face in case it was a Slytherin or anyone that would stop her in her tracks.

She glimpsed up just enough to see a Hufflepuff emblem on his robes then grabbed the yellow and black tie, closing her eyes and hoping to god that their lips wouldn't miss. How embarrassing would that be already added on to the whole mess.

Let's just say they didn't miss.

!

Cedric had been preoccupied thinking about the first task. Dragons. Merlin's beard, dragons? How was he supposed to get past a dragon? He was so lost in thought that he missed the fact that a determined Gryffindor was headed straight towards him.

!

Lavender and Parvarti stared in shock, slack jawed. So did many others in the hall that stared at the spectacle. Bookworm goody-two-shoes Hermione Granger was kissing pretty-boy Triwizard champion Cedric Diggory.

Without much though Cedric pulled the girl higher so she now stood on his toes. He noted for a second that she was very petite and barely weighted much, at least to him. But merlin her lips were soft and distracting enough that all thoughts of dragons flew out of his mind.

Hermione didn't want to admit that she very much enjoyed the kiss but she was. But now she was afraid of opening her eyes to see who it was. What if it was a disappointment like Crabbe or Goyle? But wait it was a Hufflepuff...

Crabbe accidentally bumped into the pair as he didn't wear he was going, fully concentrating on his treackle tart.

Hermione and Cedric broke apart at last. Brown eyes opened to stare into gray ones.

Hermione's eyes widened like a doe's caught in the headlights. She just kissed Cedric Diggory!

"Wai-" Cedric began as he saw the panicked look on Hermione Granger's face but was too late. Hermione already ran out the door.

Lavender and Parvarti turned to look at each other mouths still agape.

!

"What was that mate?" Ian a fellow Hufflepuff was the first to speak as Cedric sat down at the Hufflepuff table.

"I don't know." Cedric said a bit shell shocked.

"That looked like on hell of a kiss, no wonder Potter's always all over her." One of the other guys commented.

"So was it good?" Ian joked.

There was silence as the people around him waited for his reply.

"It was unbelievable." Cedric replied finally.

"You sound almost in awe Ced." Ian said not sure if his ears were deceiving him.

"Well we know why now Potter's dating the girl, cause she's a mighty fine kisser, to be able to leave Cedric almost speechless." One of the guys joked.

!

Hermione ran all the way to the empty classroom where Harry was waiting for her.

Harry whirled around as he saw Hermione enter, flushed.

"You okay Hermione?" He asked after a bit.

"Yes, I'm fine. Um have you practiced the summoning spell since you left?"

!

Cedric laid in bed that night thinking about the dragons and thinking through his plan to get past the dragon but he found his mind drift towards a certain someone.

Hermione Granger. He didn't know why but when they kissed he felt a spark as cheesy as that sounded. Cedric found that the first glimpse at her she was a bit on the plain side. Then the second glimpse, she was a simple kind of pretty. A heart shaped face, brown hair, and brown eyes. But the third look blew him away. Her toffee colored eyes were so full of expression. Whoever said the quote that 'eyes were windows to a person's soul', must've known someone like Hermione Granger. Her hair was a caramel color and a bit unruly but he could tell it was all natural, no magicked highlights or straighten charms. Right now it didn't quite fit but Cedric bet that in a few years, she would grow into her hair and become a knock out.

Cedric finally went to sleep that night dreaming of toffee and caramel.