Rare || Harry Potter Rare Pairs

Always McLaggen | Cormac/Hermione

A/N: Here's the companion peace to 'Returning Favours'. Enjoy!

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Always McLaggen
Cormac/Hermione
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Summary: It had been McLaggen. Always McLaggen. Now, Hermione felt like a bloody idiot for thinking otherwise. Hermione's POV. Companion piece for 'Returning Favours'. Part 2 of 3.
Rating: T, a very hard one
Warnings: Some cussing, implied sex

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December 25, 1994

This was supposed to be one of the best nights she ever had. Merlin, she even relented and used some beauty potions and spells to make herself feel like a girl today – well, one of the girls. But then, idiot Ronald had to open his bloody trap and ruin everything.

Hermione angrily brushed her tears away and scowled at the uneven ground. On the day when she actually felt pretty, Ron had to stomp on her confidence and blabber about the stupidest things she had ever heard. All right, she did want to rub against his face that someone would actually ask her out for the Yule Ball. The look on his face when he saw her in the arms of Viktor Krum was enough to make her gloat. She even dared hope that he'd at least compliment her today, but of course, she had forgotten this was Ronald Weasley she was talking about.

"That was quite a scene, Granger."

She audibly groaned and hid her face away. 'Some night you have, Hermione,' she mentally snarled to herself. "Go away, McLaggen."

She heard him snort. "Last time I checked, this is a free country," he pointed out.

Hermione released a long, deep sigh and glared at him through her tears. "What do you want?" she asked.

His eyes clouded a bit as he took on her appearance, and Hermione actually felt a little embarrassed at being caught crying her eyes out. Glancing around the corridor, she hoped that there would be some familiar face she could catch so that she could run away from the fifth year Gryffindor. She was sorely disappointed though, that most of the students had gone back to the dormitories.

"Weasley's a right git," he said as a slow smirk grew on his face.

Hermione sniffed and wiped her tears away. Horrified, she looked at her hands to see if her make-up had smudged, but then remembered that Lavender had taught her some waterproof make-up spells earlier. "He's always a git," she finally replied.

"I'm sure he's just a tiny bit shocked," he continued. "I mean, Viktor Krum? Really?"

She frowned and lifted her chin up. "Is it really so surprising a great Quidditch player like him will ask a girl like me to be his date?" she scathingly asked. She admittedly felt hurt that her schoolmates thought that she could actually look beautiful with just the right dress and the right amount of make-up. Who knew plain, ol', boring Hermione Granger had it in her? And how in Merlin's name was she able to snag a famous International Quidditch player? Even Hermione didn't bloody know the answer.

"I'm more surprised you agreed to become one, to be honest," he said, sincerity in his green eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Cormac continued as he placed his chin on top of his hand, "I clearly remembered someone hiding away from Krum's gaggle of giggling fangirls." A handsome smirk slid onto his face once more as he peered down at Hermione. "If I remember correctly, you were terrified of them, Hermione."